Location: Kobra Facility, New Mexico
Interactions: The Team, specifically Aleen’a @baraquiel

---

“Clean them up and then we'll use our secret weapon to breach the facility,”

Viktor clenched his jaw beneath his mask as he mentally went over the team’s hastily concocted plan. It wasn’t one he particularly enjoyed but he surprisingly had a bit of faith in it. It was a far cry from the squid debacle. He couldn’t afford to be so critical. Not when there was someone who needed rescuing. To have Riley be the bait for discovering this location was a dire risk but the team was left with few options after what occurred at the cafe with the mystery girl.

So the plan was laid out as such…

“We don’t have much to go on, yes, but waiting isn’t much of an option. Luckily we were provided with a rough layout of the facility due to the capabilities of our tracker. Courtesy of the League.”

“First, we’ll take out any security measures they have at the exterior of the base. Then we move into breaching the facility. We are unaware of any exterior electronic surveillance, so once we take out the guards, we’ll need to hit Kobra with some shock and awe. With a combined strike from a few of our heavy hitters and some flare from Zach… We’ll hit the enemy before they even have the chance to realize what’s happening…”

In real-time, Viktor positioned himself behind a boulder and equipped his collapsed bow. He strung a blunt-tipped arrow with his mark being the guard in the tower. With Aleen’a in position, and the others lacking much range, he released the arrow from the incredibly weighted drawstring. The arrow struck the tower guard with concussive force knocking him down and out.

“Brightheart. Strike him now.” He ordered over comms as he already had another blunt arrow strung. Without waiting any longer, he let the second arrow fly, hitting the guard with the same effect as the first. With Aleen’a already engaged, it was up to Alisa, Kassy, Ja, and Zach to perform the shock and awe. The first three would bust through the right side of the facility and stand back to allow Zach to add the flare.

---

Amidst the ride in the van, Ja had remained quiet, sat near to Kassy in the van’s interior to monitor her condition. His eyes had shut as he concentrated on what was to happen next. There was some suspense in the restaurant on multiple levels but could be considered a success. Although assuredly identifying who they were looking for, as well as their target though, they knew not much else.

That lack of knowledge was dangerous in itself, as with other missions they were given intel at least. All he knew was, he’d do his utmost to make sure that their teamwork would be fluid. Teens were lost every day, and ultimately society would only search for them for so long before giving up. Young Justice wouldn’t give up on them.

As though on the same line of thought, Rain’s voice came through the speakers, to which Ja simply nodded. Moreover one could notice that, from the beginning of the ride until now, Ja’s hair seemed to be slowly unraveling itself. That was the second reason his eyes were closed, with him deeming necessary that he’d need his senses in proper order with their mysterious conditions.

Right on cue with the van stopping, his eyes reopened, followed by his head shaken from left to right to loosen and splay his headbush. Once out, there was a deep inhale of the warm yet dry desert air and Ja sank to all fours, following the rest of the group. While surveying the situation, a knuckle gently tapped Kassy’s calf from his lowered position, looking up with something of an expression of reassurance.

Then, as soon as Rain gave the command to go clean up the guards, Metamorph jut a hand up before taking off on all fours. More specifically, the Wild Child raised his right, after Aleen’a called for the left roving one. With his hair rather naturally blending with the bush-like foliage of the New Mexican desert, Metamorph disappeared into the wilderness.

The guard seemed none the wiser, only briefly stopping as though he’d caught movement near one of the bushes. Weapon raised, he approached, only for a jack-rabbit to hop off away from the man. Seeing no threat from that direction, he continued his patrol elsewhere. His crucial mistake though, was turning his back to the wild.

Only when prey's back was turned was when predators followed, and followed one did. Not only was he followed, but a figure walked upright behind him. With a panther’s silence, it mimicked his cadence step for step to further mask its presence. By the time doubt crept in of something not being right, it was already too late. With the furious force of an elephant’s trunk, a palm struck the back of the guard’s helmet. Before the body could even properly hit the ground, the predator was forced to quickly snatch an arrow out of the air that nearly hit him.

Studying it momentarily, Metamorph looked up to see where it came from, seeing Rain. His eyes narrowed just a bit at their current mission leader’s impulsiveness but didn’t dwell on it long, dragging the body into the shrubbery before shifting his position to meet back with the others.

Mirage was absolutely silent as the team van rode through the desert. She was tired. A combination of the heat, the strangeness of the day, and past events were wearing her down like waves over a rock. That green eyed girl had touched her, and her skin was still crawling every time she thought about it. Also she’d made some kind of crack about her weight, which was equally unwelcome.

She watched, idly, as Metamorph’s quickly done twists slowly, but definitely, unraveled themselves. That was actually kind of fascinating. She was going to have to buy him a nice pick as a present.

When Rain came up over the loudspeaker, her immediate thought was to ask him who put him in charge? She felt a sudden burst of irritation. But it faded just as fast – who even cared anymore? There were people to save, and that was all that mattered.

Metamorph gently tapped her leg before he left, giving her a soft look. She flashed him the faintest of smiles and peered into the dark to watch the team work. Both takedowns were done quite well. Once the guards were downed, she got out of the van and approached the building. It looked very… average. Almost too average. If not for the security, and the tracker, she wouldn’t have suspected it.

She ran her hand along the outer wall, finding it to be some kind of red rock. Good. Silently, she removed her shortened staff from her belt and extended it to it’s full length. Then she infused it with her will, feeling the wall already starting to shudder under her magic.

---

---

Alisa spent the drive out to the desert in an amiable almost-silence with Viktor while she reliably read off directions to the location of the secret warehouse. She had been temporarily banned from driving, which was fine, but she could sit in the passenger seat! Alisa joked now and then in the gaps between turns and lane changes, trying to soothe her own anxieties. Her short conversation- if you could even call it that- with that girl had freaked her out. She had the hunch there was something the girl knew that the team didn’t, but Alisa couldn’t put her finger on it.

She did know, at least, that they were going into this mission nearly blind. They hadn’t gotten as much information rom the stake-out as they had hoped and tracking Riley had only led to the Kobra facility that was slowly coming into view from her spot in the passenger’s seat. The only advantage they had was surprise, and even that seemed flimsy to her- who was to say they didn’t know the team was coming?

Kassy, Zach, and her waited in the van, waiting for Aleen’a, Viktor, and Ja to clear out the guards. They were quiet; even Zach wasn’t joking over the intercom as he was wont to do.She couldn’t see either of them, but she peered out of the van, trying to see what was happening. She didn’t see much before she got the signal.

Silently, the three of them ran across the field to the building. Alisa watched Mirage use her magic on the wall before she approached and flicked a switch on the wrist of her right hand. She waited with baited breath as it charged up. “Stand back,” she told her, firmly, before she raised her hand, the skin bits folded away, and a circular blaster appeared. Alisa hadn’t actually used the blaster in the field before, so it was a bit of a shock to feel the energy being drained from her and then to feel the strong discharge from her hand. The recoil threw her back a few feet, sending her body skimming across the ground as the red brick crumbled with a loud boom.

“Ow,” she grumbled, standing up and brushing the dust off of her black bodysuit. “I really need to get around to decreasing the recoil on that. Jesus.” Alisa, however, could tell it would’ve been quite a bit worse if Mirage hadn’t weakened the wall beforehand. And there would’ve been less damage. There was now a large hole in the wall, exposing the innards of the warehouse. Thanks to Mirage’s work, it was large enough for the three of them to get in. “Let’s do this!”

---

"Listen up boys!"
Standing on top of a suspended bridge the dark haired girl spoke to the teens below. The tattered remains of their clothes hung to their unnaturally muscular frames. Most of them were staring up at the bridge, unable to act upon free will. They were lured to this facility after what seemed to be an innocent date with a beautiful girl and were subjected to some sort of experiment. Now they were unable to escape, not knowing if they would ever return to their normal lives.

“I’m hosting a contest tonight. Any minute now a bunch of do good heroes are going to infiltrate this facility. They’re going to try and rescue you all.”

One of the Kobra agents snapped his head into her direction. He left his post and stomped over to the center of the bridge. He grabbed and twisted her arm behind her back in one quick motion.
“What the hell did you just say?!”

Unbothered, she kept talking.
“Everyone who manages to not get captured is getting a prize. I’d love it if you can rough them up a litte. Test out your new muscles, but no casualties. That will make me very unhappy.”

The Kobra agent lost it, shaking her roughly to get her attention.
“What the fuck are you doing? Why didn’t you…”

BOOM!!!

In a split second the Kobra agent went from holding the girl to being in a deadly vice grip, with a leg twisted around his neck. He was forced down to the hard cold metal of the bridge, taking in shallow breaths.
“You didn’t pay for this bit of intel. I don’t do anything for free.”

The last thing he could see before losing consciousness were the mutated teens, scrambling to take their positions. The facility was designed around the main hangar, a large open space with a sublevel. From there a long hallway with multiple rooms reached out to the back of the estate.

After the chaos of the exploding wall subsided, the entire hangar was empty. The teens that were just there minutes ago had seemingly vanished. Outside of the breached wall the Team was ready to enter. Once they would set foot into the facility they would find themselves in near complete darkness. The lights had gone out. It was eerily quiet and desolate.

In the darkness, emerald green eyes were stalking the Team from up high. The agent was suspended from the drawbridge armed with a sniper rifle, loaded up with paralyzing darts. She had her legs hooked through the metal bars and was hanging upside down, adjusting her aim.

Who’s going first?

As soon as Zach was done with his milkshake date with Mateo, it was straight to work. He rode on the van with others in silence while Viktor gave the group directions to the secret base. Zach wanted to know who died and put Viktor in charge, but now wasn’t the time to question that out loud. There were people to save!

Besides, Zach was the secret weapon! Alisa, Kassy, and herself ran across the field to the building after the others took out the guards that were protecting the place. Kassy used her magic on the wall, before Alisa blasted a gaping hole in the wall with her hand blaster.

Zach giggled. “Nice going Cybergirl. Could you try to cause more damage next time? You hardly left a scratch.” Now it was his turn to contribute. He stepped through the hole, and pointed his wand. “Skrowerif! Selkraps!” Immediately, magic fired from the tip of his wand, that resulted in explosions of multicolored fireworks and light going off inside. Whoever was in there wouldn’t know what the heck was going on.

Location: Kobra Facility, New Mexico
Interactions: The Team, specifically Aleen’a @baraquiel

---

Viktor was in front of the wall by the time it was blasted open due to Kass’ and Alisa’s efforts. With the wall breached so suddenly (the shock). Zach only needed to add in the flash (the awe). The excitement Viktor had been feeling since the drive to the location had peaked the moment Zach spoke the magic words.

“Skrowerif! Selkraps!”

At La Hoya, he left to counter surveil. In Gotham, he deployed without his equipment. Then Atlantis had him completely out of his own element…. And Vegas… let’s not even bring that mission up. This was the first time in months that Viktor felt he could use everything he had at his disposal. One might assume he set things in motion to be this way.

“I know you’re all wondering what we’ll do once we break into the building in such a manner. It is very different than what we have typically done, but it is simple. As soon as Zatara disorientates our enemies within… We neutralize as many of them as possible. We lack the intel and waiting is not an option any of us should be comfortable with. So we overwhelm the enemy before they even realize what’s happening.”

This was Viktor’s guidance on the way to the facility, and it was current his objective, even now.

He lunged through the opening first as Zach’s magic not only visually and auditorily disoriented anyone in the large area but the sparkles, something Viktor assumed was something Zach had improvised due to how dark the inside of the facility was. Good thinking!

Only one person was in view, skillfully hanging from the overhead walkway equipped with a rifle. There was a brief moment where he felt he may have led everyone into a trap but there was no stopping now. No hesitation. Viktor leaped upward and grabbed the rifle by the barrel before punching toward her stomach, hoping a hard strike to her core would weaken the grip of her legs on the walkway. Whether she dropped or not, Viktor was taking her weapon with him.

---

The mystery girl had been waiting for the first of them to enter. Anticipation was always the worst part of her job. A job she performed very well. An experimental agent on the rise, that's what she her employers viewed her as, but who was she really?

Her upbringing actually wasn't much more extraordinary than the teens she now faced. If not for one cruel event in her recent past. Maybe if things had turned out differently she could have been down there, playing the hero. As an intelligence agent she rarely got surprised. Which is why the blow to her stomach and senses was also a blow to her ego. She couldn't see who hit her and the pain was spreading quickly throughout her mid section. She immediately let go of her rifle, refusing to be pulled down. After the initial hit she could feel her legs were starting to slip. Thinking quickly she contorted her upper body to be able to reach the safety of the suspended bridge. She rolled onto her side and clutched her stomach, drawing up her legs.

Breathe.....
Bastard..

Her pale cheeks were resting on the cold metal. She pressed on the earpiece in her left ear, while continuing to breathe and ride out the pain.
"Yeah I'm here what's going in out there?"
Riley's voice was tense. He was feeling on edge. Not only because they were waiting in ambush, he did not like the idea of her facing the entire Team alone.
"There's be.." A violent cough stole the end of her sentence. She cleared her throat and tried again.
"Get Warp...to close the wall" She croaked.

"Riley..."
"Yes?"
"Get me my rifle back....NOW!"

There was an eery silence after every member of the Team entered the hangar. It was palpable, like the calm before a storm. Out of multiple corners the sound of booming footsteps approaching could be heard. They were coming in fast, ambushing the Team in the near dark. Outfitted with night vision goggles they attacked. It was starting to become obvious they were trying to separate the Team, picking them off into different corners of the hangar. One of the teens had created a dome around the opening in the wall. Inside the dome it seemed like everything was going backwards. Stone and metal were melding back together. Slowly the hangar was being plunged back into darkness.

Meanwhile on the drawbridge the agent managed to crawl over to the Kobra operative she downed earlier. She'd confiscated his fire arm and planned to use it to cover Warp. Riley was frantically searching for the rifle, spotting it mid battle. He ordered the other teens to create a distraction while he planned to snatch the weapon from the guy who was holding it.

---

Metamorph had quietly crept back to the group by the time they Alisa had blown a hole through the wall. Although effective, he wondered why she had a weapon on her arm that she couldn’t quite handle. She appeared okay after the fall, which was really all that mattered. When the insides of the structure was exposed to be dark, the wild child felt a wave of suspicion. He doubted that they were led to an abandoned building. That just told him that they needed to be more cautious, as he’d displayed moments ago, predators were silent before they attacked their prey.

That wasn’t to say that the predators were always the ones who were successful. Those who were prey often came equipped with some form of defense. Some had the power to fight back directly, as well as confound and deter the danger from them. A tactic the team seemed to impose when Zatara shot fireworks into the darkness.

With that as the cue, Metamorph hopped in after the others. Between the flashing of light and dark, he could pick out bodies in motion taking up tactical positions in the room. Moreover, some among enemy ranks using their powers to lock them in by resealing the wall. An ambush to was ironically in wait for Young Justice’s own surprise attack?! It settled a minor worry in the back of Ja’s mind, when the girl at the diner stopped at the table when Aleen’a and Alisa were there. Regardless, the specific way that they’d been discovered could be dissected later. For now they needed to find the teens and free them.

As of currently, overcoming the attacking Kobra forces was the first priority. Taking on the posture of a Tree Frog, Metamorph hopped up onto one of the hangar walls to get a vantage point. From the increased height, he got a better view of the ensuing conflict, using the frog’s vision to peer perfectly through the darkness. Using the shadows, they seemed to be trying to separate everyone— to “divide and conquer” them. Predators of nature often did the same for pack animals, to separate the weaker from protection and take them.

While Metamorph believed that their troop was strong, he wouldn’t let the Kobra agents take any advantages. Thus, taking note of the positions of his teammates and their encroaching enemies, Metamorph jumped down into the fray. Combining the power of a tiger with the agility of the frog: His body flipped, kicked, and bounced like a pinball in between the groups.

While he did, he took note that, it didn’t seem to just be Kobra agents that they were fighting. An odd energy came to his senses that swirled around the room. The specific sort tipped him off to the fact that it seemed the super powered individuals were actually other teens…? Maybe they were the ones that were ‘kidnapped’? Was this whole endeavor a trap to bring Young Justice here? No, that couldn’t be it, because there were teens at the Youth Center that were afraid of being kidnapped. A form of mind control…?

Questions quickly swirled through his mind but were interrupted by the sound of someone speaking right above him. A girl’s voice, barking commands…or perhaps coughing them out seemed more accurate. The voice actually seemed rather familiar, the name of what was surely the boy Kassy mentioned earlier, confirmed her to the trouble making girl herself. Was she possibly their field leader? Neutralizing her could very well destabilize their ranks, giving his pack the advantage.

Noticing Rain still in battle close by, Metamorph ran forward to help him quickly. Rolling forward into a handspring, he launched his body upward legs first to kick an agent several feet away. With the small break, he looked up and spoke: ”Rain, we need to reestablish the light. Give one of the magic workers some time. I’m going to target Kobra’s field leader.”

Wasting no time, Metamorph made his way to the top of the drawbridge. A strange mixture of a tiger’s snarl and a frog’s rumbling croak escaped from between his enclosed teeth. The purpose was an attempt to draw her gun away from the conflict below, thus he prepared to possibly dodge quick-firing aim.

Mirage had her staff at the ready as she climbed through the smoking hole in the wall after the rest of the team. She still wasn’t sure about this “plan” of Rain’s. Shock and awe just wasn’t her style. But no one else had said a word about it, so neither did she. It was far too quiet as they all entered. She felt a prickling at the back of her neck. Something was watching, and it had teeth.

It started to go off the rails at a rapid pace. The wall started to close up behind them. There were multiple enemies pouring in on all sides. And of course, their “leader” went off without a word of instruction. Very well, then.

The uniforms on their enemies looked rather standard for human military. If she recalled right, those goggles were something to give humans some assistance in the dark. Perhaps -

Mirage twisted the staff upright in her hands and infused it with a burst of her will. The runes lit up red and a ball of orange flame lit the top. “Not enough!” She inhaled and pulled magic from deeper within. Gritting her sharp teeth, she brought the staff up and slammed it on the ground. A ball of searing hot, achingly bright white flame burst from her staff. The effect was immediate. Several soldiers nearest it stopped in their tracks, staggering backward.

“My goggles, I can’t see!”

“She blinded us!”

They didn’t waste time starting to strip the gear. But an opening was an opening. She let the flame’s power drop, ignoring the ringing in her ears. Then she rushed then, executing a swift combo to crack skulls, knees and ribs, dropping the soldiers before they could recover their bearings.

---

A heat signature was fast approaching. It was moving inhumanly, instead behaving more like an animal. Immediately and without hesitation she fired off of a couple of warning shots, forcing Metamporph to stay on the other side of the suspended bridge. With her hand still on the trigger she glanced down. She wanted to know what Riley and his team were up to. Why was he taking so long to get her weapon back?

Another bright flash off light blinded her, one from which she could feel the heat all the way up at the bridge. When her vision adjusted back to the darkness she spotted several of the kidnapped teens being downed by the heroes. Their bodies fell to the ground, completely limb.

"Do I have to do everything myself?" She hissed, staring daggers at her group.

The repeated failure of the enthralled teens was getting on her nerves. She pinched the bridge of her nose, feeling a headache coming on. It was so hard to find good help these days. With one eye on Metamorph she quickly turned and aimed down, shooting at both friend and foe. This light source had to go.

Only a handful of bullets shot out of the rifle before she emptied the magazine.

"You have got to be kidding me...."

She sighed and dropped the rifle, kicking it to the side in a mildly bored fashion. It was time to get out her other weapons. The agent confidently started to strut across the bridge towards Metamorph. While she walked the heels on her boots retracted and two metal spikes came down to replace them. The fangs inside her mouth lowered down from their hiding place.

He was not going to know what hit him. She prowled closer to him, preparing to strike.

---

---

Alisa stepped through the rubble after Mirage and Zach. For a moment, it was eerily silent in the facility. Then she heard footsteps. She noticed them a split second before everybody else, whipping her head around to see where they might be coming from, but they were coming from everywhere. She didn’t have any time to shout a warning before they were on them, coming at them from all sides. A tremor of panic ran through her before she started swinging.

Six of them managed to corner her, pushing her away from the group. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed the same thing going on with every single other member of her team still stuck in the fight. This was planned, wasn’t it? The soldiers seemed to be relying on her confusion, on their advantage with the goggles, but they knew nothing. She could see. Alisa punched and kicked wildly, simply trying to do as much damage as possible. It… kind of worked. She managed to clock one opponent in the temple, sending him sprawling onto the ground. There were several shouts, and then they started shooting at her.

Bullets pinged off her torso, shredding through her suit… but not her skin. She gave a shout of pain and shock as a few embedded themselves in her shoulders and torso. She felt one shred through the coating on her face, embedding itself in her scalp. That fucking hurt. She had never been shot before! The soldiers seemed… very surprised at the noise of bullets pinging off of steel and at the fact that Alisa wasn’t dead and stopped shooting.

“Well, now I’m mad,” she shouted, sounding genuinely peeved, and ran forward. Just then, a strong light emerged from nearby, blinding both the soldiers and Alisa. She blinked (something she normally didn’t do) as her vision spotted and came into focus again. That had been Kassy, right? She met the other girl's eyes across the room and gave her a thumbs up before grabbing one of the soldiers by the forearms and flinging him bodily into a shelf.

Location: Kobra Facility, New Mexico
Interactions: The Team

---

The slight resistance Viktor felt against the hanging sniper's stomach caused him to feel a tinge of regret. He should have punched harder! The amount of strength held back might have been adequate for a common person, but this foe seemed to be enhanced just from the way her abdomen tightened against his strike. Viktor's attack that was intended to both disarm and incapacitate was now limited to accomplishing only one. The sniper would either have to drop her weapon or remain entangled with him.

Her choice of the former caused Viktor to drop from the walkway with the rifle in hand, landing crouched as the rest of the team entered. When orders were barked from up above by the sniper, Viktor stood to a fighter's stance while rearranging his grip on the rifle. There was a brief feeling of discomfort in holding the weapon, but muscle memory and nostalgia pushed that to the wayside. The visor of his helmet allowed him to view the weapon clearly in the darkness. Its appearance and weight made Viktor aware of the type of rifle in his hands.

Taking time to consider whether or not he should use it was not afforded to him as the several large figures and Kobra agents moved in on the team. He was fixated on-

Did I hear say Riley?

The thought distracted him from an agent attacking from his blindspot but Metamorph was swift in covering him. Metamorph's recommendation was answered with a silent nod before aiming the rifle at the hulking teenager rushing over toward him. He fired, a dart releasing from it's barrel and into Riley's chest. However, it didn't slow him down. Viktor effortlessly side-stepped him but refrained from firing a second shot. He wasn't sure what was in the darts but he assumed a single shot wouldn't be lethal. One might later ask how he figured this, and he might explain… Or perhaps he wouldn't…

Regardless, with the threat of ballistic gunfire, Viktor needed to use the weapon he now held against those that wished to harm his team. All he needed was a quick diversion that would allow him to shoot freely at as many people as possible.

So instead of firing again he kept his distance from Riley who had been tasked with recovering the rifle from him. It was the perfect time to give the order to establish lighting again but Mirage ignited her staff with a bright hot flame he briefly shielded his sight from.

Perfect

The brightness was enough to make Riley and anyone else wearing night vision goggles recoil, but he also stumbled weakly as if dazed. Tranquilizer then. Viktor hadn't even let the thought settle before firing the rifle at other targets within the large space, prioritizing gunmen instead of the roided teenagers. Thanks to their various sparring matches Viktor had faith the team was better equipped to handle the physically enhanced than gunfire.

Click

The metallic sound indicated an empty magazine. Fortunately, his intended target was quickly grabbed and thrown by Cybergirl into a shelf. Viktor instinctively nodded at what perceived to be LMAO tho case of good timing by the team.

He quickly threw the spent rifle down to the floor and squared up with the swaying Riley who was seeing double, a product of both the sudden flash from Mirage and the tranquilizer. If it weren't for his boosted physical prowess, he would have been slumped on the floor a few seconds after taking the dart to the chest. In Riley's head he needed to get the rifle by any means necessary, but in his current state, he wouldn't stand much of a chance. He needed more strength. Enough to beat Viktor. Enough to put himself over the other enhanced guys. Enough to impress her. Gritting his teeth, Riley's gills flared open.

Viktor was ready to take him down but did not predict Riley suddenly retreating away and making a break for it out of the room

What's he? Viktor started after him.

“Team, I'm pursuing one of the large ones. Mirage, on me! Everyone else, continue taking out the others.” Viktor had to leave his personal feelings regarding Kassy aside. He considered taking Zatara but he didn't know what he'd find while going deeper into the facility. Viktor needed Mirage's versatility. She was a strong physical fighter with power over the elements, an obvious choice. However, there was a regretful feeling in the pit of his stomach.



The brief reminder of the pain he felt when she mentally attacked him caused him to stop in his tracks. His breathing became heavy as he felt the cold sweat beneath his suit.

“Stop.” He uttered before mentally shaking the in mentally induced paralysis away. Not here. Not now.

Continuing on, Viktor cautiously followed Riley's trail leading down a stairwell leading to a sublevel. It was here he noted additional lab equipment, opened holding cells, operating tables, and chemical vats. Oh and the additional Kobra agents, mostly in lab equipment attempting to pack everything up. Riley was nowhere in sight.

Unlike the agents above, these dozen or so Kobra agents lacked weapons. It appeared their primary purpose was operating lab and tearing it down if they were ever compromised.

As the fight continued, Mirage moved to back up her teammates. She’d gotten a decent look after the light of her staff faded to a reasonable glow. Cybergirl seemed to be doing quite well for herself. Despite looking like she had been shot more than once – a fact which scared Mirage quite a bit – she looked to be in high spirits. She flashed her a thumbs up before flinging a Kobra goon like a frisbee.

Kassy returned the gesture with a toothy grin. She hadn’t laid eyes on Metamorph since they’d entered. But frankly, she wasn’t worried about him. He could handle himself in battle better than the rest of the team. He’d be fine.

No, the one that most worried her most was Zatara. Between slobbering over Mateo, and all but blowing the team’s cover in the cafe, he’d been off the whole mission. Sure, they all mis-stepped sometimes. This time seemed so much worse. Was he unwell, she wondered? Knowing his talents weren’t made for this kind of fight, she searched for him in the battle the best she could. But between fighting off opponents, the still dim lighting, and Zach’s black uniform, she simply couldn’t locate him amid the chaos.

“Team, I'm pursuing one of the large ones. Mirage, on me! Everyone else, continue taking out the others.”

She turned at Rain’s call, very surprised to hear her name coming from his mouth. They had not spoken a word since Atlantis. There was a large part of her that really wanted to ignore him. He could pick someone else, right? But she could already see his back disappearing. Scowling faintly, Mirage took off after him.

She could hear Rain’s footsteps ahead, and she followed. The stairs led to a lab similar to the one back at home. Just bigger and much more equipped. The Kobra agents seemed to be ignoring the two heroes outright, far more focused on getting everything they could gone.

Her orange eyes darted from person to person. “Unless they’re hiding magic, I don’t think they’re dangerous.” But then again, with everything they had there, Kobra could start fresh in a new city. There would be more missing boys.

“What do you think we should do with them?”

As soon as they entered the secret hideout, they were ambushed by a bunch of people in the dark. Zach was well… he was a little worried… He could throw magic at these losers for while, but physical fighting was not his forte at all.

To be honest, Zach wasn’t doing that well. With all if these opponents, he had a hard time focusing on casting a decent spell. It was all he could do just to distract and hold them off. He was taking hit after hit.

“Neercsekoms!” Zach shouted. He was surrounded by a plume of smoke, and took advantage of the distraction to get away from these people. He made a call on the comms, out of breath. “Hey guys… I know the rest of you are really good with this fighting stuff… but… uh… I’m not… Could someone get these losers off my back so I can focus on actually damaging these idiots.” The smoke cleared, and Zach saw he was surrounded.

---

Metamorph was quickly closing the distance. Originally, he expected her to start firing at him, but instead, her secondary assault rifle remained down at the conflict. It made him wonder just what her training was. She fired with no particular aim while on the open battlefield, just seeking to cause damage. Whereas in more secular, social situations, she seemed to have the precision of a viper’s strike.

The irony of that comparison only hit harder as literal fangs seemed to pull from between her lips. What she hadn’t accounted for though, as she tossed her ranged weapon aside, was that Metamorph kept moving. A blur was his form as his body sprung to the ceiling to launch himself down at her from above. His arms extended in an attempt to pin her to the floor with the impact.

He was quick, she had to give him that. In no time at all he had her pinned to the floor of the bridge.

"I see you like being on top."

She didn't seem too impressed by Metamorph's power play. She refrained from fighting back right away, giving off the impression he overpowered her.

Their closeness was something she could use to her advantage, but he was holding her arms down. What he didn't account for was the girl's flexibility. She started to wrap her legs around his waist, slowly moving higher up his backside. Eventually she managed to cross her ankles behind his neck.

With a sudden surge of strength she forced his head down until their faces were inches apart. She stared into his golden irises. There was something primal in them, something that felt familiar. Initially her tug was met with resistance but on eye contact, he froze.

Although caught off guard by her sudden attempt at a reversal of sorts, he anticipated another attack….Another attack that never came. Why? The evil kobra girl’s eyes sent both the sun’s warmth and the mountain’s chill through him at once. It became difficult to determine whether the feeling of his heartbeat in his throat was adrenaline or something else. This strange feeling simmered through his being; his urge to attack her was fleeting.

What was happening?

For a split second, he felt his grip weaken. No, his pack needed him to focus!

With a quick exhale, Metamorph quickly turned his head away. In an effort to break away, his hands swiftly released from her arms to pull away her legs from his neck. He needed space to reposition his pin, something about her eyes must have been the cause.

She smirked at his hesitation. He was trying to pry off her legs and she took the opening to push herself up towards him. In one smooth motion she locked her lips with his. Waves of sleep inducing pheromones transferred into Metamorph’s system. The warm gold inside his iris was swallowed by pools of black, his pupils dilating widely. The air around them rippled, like the swaying hills of the hot deserts.

A hiss came from her throat and she broke the kiss leaning back on the floor. Her darkened eyes returned to emerald and she was breathing heavily. While she waited for sleep to overtake her opponent she turned on her ear piece.

“I got one of them neutralized, take him to the back room immediately.”

“On my way!” One of the Kobra agents answered confidently. A pair of heavy footsteps was approaching the pair from the other end of the bridge. He’d watched, this hired agent took down guys before and the fact that many were powerless against her was unnerving. As it would only be a matter of time before the enemy might employ someone like her and they were suddenly on different sides.

The man kneeled down and looked at Metamorph through his goggles. The teen was still struggling to stay conscious which made the man hesitate in picking him up.

“What are you waiting for?” The girl snapped at him, getting up from the floor. As soon as she did, a deep female voice with a mild south african dialect came through the comm in her ear:

“Your power of persuasion is strong, but not enough to tame the Prince. In approximately two minutes, the Beast will reawaken with vengeful rage that you are ill-equipped for single-handedly. This unassuming man will remain as a brief distraction to give you the several seconds you will need to follow my instructions. Timing is critical, do you understand?”

Soon after those words were uttered in her ear, the downed animal boy began to stir. While at first it seemed that she had him in a stupor, his body started to writhe, hands clawing the floor of the bridge in defiance. An unholy entanglement between a human scream and a Silverback Gorilla’s roar erupted from the back of his throat; echoing off of the walls.

“You are now a lure, so when he begins to stir, start moving towards the back room. When he is in position, you must repeat this phrase exactly: Yiba nobuqili. Make sure your pronunciation is correct— click your tongue or it will not work. Yiba nobuqili.”

There was barely enough time to grasp what was happening next. One minute she thought she had this in the bag and the next everything went to hell. Slowly she backed away from Metamorph, cleverly positioning herself behind the other agent.

His eyes took on a scarlet glow when they snapped open and his focus locked on the Kobra man standing over him. In a single motion, the Meta rolled over and swiped his arm at the man’s knees. Utterly unprepared for the sudden burst of inhuman strength, he was overtaken. Though he raised an arm in defense, the Red Beast bit his forearm, feeling bones shatter within his jaws. Several more grunts and vicious swings of his arms were hurled down on the victimized man before a sudden stop and shift in his posture.

Turning his head around at a 180 degree angle in an owl-like fashion, his vision now locked on her.

She screamed seeing Metamorph viciously take down the agent. A chill ran down her scaled spine when he focused his gaze on her. The sound of her chilling scream immediately drew the attention of the army of teens down on the ground. Many of them abandoning their objective in favor of her protection. She didn’t have time to issue out orders as she scrambled to get off the bridge.

Using her thermal vision she spotted one of her enthralled goons, lingering right below her.

She had to jump for it. The teen rushed to catch her and set her back down on the ground carefully, like he was handling a butterfly.

Without as much as a thank you she snapped at him.

“Get back to fighting now!”

She got a quick read on Metamorph’s position before rushing towards the back room. The girl was heading for the expiremantion area. Behind her she could hear heavy pouncing. It sounded like he was walking on all fours. Without her sniper she felt naked. Her pheromones didn’t work on him, how was that possible?

Her only weapon now was “Yiba nobuqili!”

She had caught the Red Beast mid-lunge, his body tumbling over itself a bit as he suddenly collapsed. With those two words, Metamorph was more thoroughly stunned, hands clasped at his head and his breaths heavy.

“You have survived,” The voice returned to the reptilian girl’s ears, “Good. Your next task is on the chemist desk in the room. You will find a device in the leftmost drawer. Collect it and hold it near the gauntlets on the Prince’s arms, it will attach and cloak itself. After which, your task regarding him is complete.”

Having escaped Metamorph’s brute strength for the second time the girl finally started to question her supposed savior. Instead of thanking the woman she resorted to asking her own questions, in a snooty and almost ungrateful tone. She was annoyed at herself for getting into this mess, she was supposed to be the one on top of things.

“What is his deal anyway?”

She located the device with little trouble and snapped it on Metamorph’s gauntlet.

“The Prince, in simple terms, has mental complications. Some intended, some not. What you invoked was one of the wildcards. For now, the deed is done, proceed as you were.”

“Of course I seduced a nutcase.”

She rolled her eyes nonchalantly. Actually did she say Prince?

“So he’s a prince? Something tells me he’s not the loaded kind of prince.”

She could smell money from miles away. This guy just looked like some kind of poser. Fake gold gauntlets and not to mention hideously designed. If they weren’t temporary enemies she would have given him the contact info of her jeweler. On second thought that was probably a waste.

Anyway she had to get out of there. This Kobra operation was done and dusted. Her part was more than done.

Location: Kobra Facility Sub-level, New Mexico
Interactions: Mirage, Metamorph, and the Mission

---

A slight look over his shoulder at Kassy was Viktor's way of acknowledging her presence as his company into the sublevel. He refrained from verbally answering her question on what the two should do about the Kobra scientists and instead pulled a throwing knife from his belt and quickly threw it through a table with a collection of laboratory glassware.

The sound of shattering glass caused most of the scurrying scientists to draw their attention toward Viktor who pulled out another throwing knife.

“If you don't leave this lab, the next one is going through one of you.” His flat tone lacked the wittiness of someone who might be bluffing…. Even if he was doing just that.

One of the lab workers looked at how the knife still managed to pierce the metallic outer panel of a piece of equipment. The sight caused many of them to drop whatever they were doing and head toward Viktor and Kassy, not to fight, but to flee from the main level.

“Danger's presence isn't always on the surface.” Viktor walked forward to allow the Kobra scientists to pass without having to get too close to him. He noted that Riley was not amongst them. “You should know that better than anyone.” With his head on a swivel, he continued deeper into the facility.

The echo of a pained groan and banging I'm the distance hastened Viktor's steps until he and Kassy found Ja collapsed in the middle of a room. The groaning continued elsewhere, but the status of his team member had his attention.

How did he get here? Viktor looked around the room as he approached Ja. The subtle but slow breathing caused him to grip the handle of his sword. Viktor was aware Ja was the last person to face off against the woman equipped with tranquilizer darts so he could only hypothesize that he fell victim to her powerful sedative. His thoughts didnt stop there as he found Ja's placement suspicious.

“Another trap is-” A sudden roar from the entryway behind Viktor and Kassy as an even bulkier Riley ducked through it. It was difficult to even recognize him with his eyes bloodshot red, his skin holding a pinkish hue, and his gills slowly releasing foam from them. “...is likely.”

“I'M…HERE! NO ONE CAN HAVE HER… BUT ME! NO ONE!” He cried out with his focus on Viktor who let go of the hilt of his sword, keeping it sheathed.

Doubling up on Riley and sacrificing Ja's well-being would have been optimal… The completion of the mission did not require him to be in good health… He had already failed to prove himself useful to the others…



“Mirage. Secure Metamorph.” Viktor took a deep breath as he prepared. “Riley. Stand down. I will only say it once.” Truth be told, Viktor wasn't entirely sure what Riley was capable of now. The only thing he could count on was the hulking teen's lack of combat experience.

Mirage watched calmly as the knife blurred from Rain’s hand and scattered the Kobra scientists. Her eyes watched each one as they darted past, but none of them dared attack. That was one way to get the job done. She was about to simply walk on, and then Rain opened his mouth.

His comment was one of the type that usually would have slid past her skin. She had heard worse, so much worse, all her life. More potent, harsh, and far cleverer barbs than that. But that was before Atlantis. Now Rain’s choice to bloody the water when there was no reason to, simply made her want to react in kind.

Her voice could have frozen ocean water. “The absence of intelligence is buried deep as well. A wall of stone may yet be made of sand and shark piss.” She carried on, just at his heel, watching his back as if she just hadn’t called him an idiot and a fraud in a very fancy way.

The two seemed to hear the groan at the same time, as they sped up as one. While Rain stopped to look around, Mirage went straight to Metamorph. “Metamorph?!” She took his pulse and checked his breathing swiftly. He was very much alive, but something was still wrong.

Then instinct spoke to her – predator! - and she whipped around to face the door.

“Shark!” It was the wrong word, sure, but the intent was right. Horror flitted across her face as she saw the bulking mass – and then recognized the boy within it. “Oh no.”

When Rain gave the order, she hesitated. It wasn’t that the order was bad. It was just that her instinct was still screaming in the base of her brain, that they were being circled…

“Understood.” Mirage shrunk her staff and lifted Metamorph as if he were made of glass. “Come on, my friend.” She started to carry him out of the room.

---

---

“Team, I'm pursuing one of the large ones. Mirage, on me! Everyone else, continue taking out the others.”

“On it!” Alisa said into her comms, watching Kass and Viktor out of the corner of her eye as they left the main room, following… whatever it was they were following. She had seen a few of the “large ones”, and they freaked her out. What was Kobra doing here to make those things? She continued working on her group of mercenaries and hulked-out teenagers, punching and kicking. They were starting to get nervous. They had stopped shooting at her and had instead resulted to hand to hand. Every so often, they got her down, but she just got up again and again.

Alisa was the aware of Zach’s smoke as it spread across the large space and heard his call over the comms.

“Hey guys… I know the rest of you are really good with this fighting stuff… but… uh… I’m not… Could someone get these losers off my back so I can focus on actually damaging these idiots?”

… Poor Zach. He really wasn’t good at this at all, was he? Alisa looked over to him, worried, seeing him surrounded. “Don’t worry! I’m coming!” With one last punch, she left the skirmish she was part of, making her way to Zach. She ripped one of the guys off of him, throwing him to the ground. “Hurry up, do something! I can cover your back, and Aleena is… wherever she is, I guess.” She glanced up. She really didn’t know where the other girl was, huh?

---

“Hurry up, do something! I can cover your back, and Aleena is… wherever she is, I guess.”

“How 'bout I do somethin'!” Bright flames suddenly ignited in all manner of places within the room as one of the roided teenagers stood amongst the Kobra agents still willing to fight and the other teens that had been enthralled by the sniper with flames rising from his outstretched arms. His night vision goggles had been discarded as he had been tired of fighting in the darkness. If he was going to protect his lady, he'd do it on his terms! If he could defeat the three up here, he'd definitely find a place beside her. With cocky smirk and the power of fire literally at his fingertips, he led the counterstrike.

“Rush 'em!” He ordered as he hurled a fireball toward Cybergirl. Whether she took the hit or dodged it, the several agents left to fight went on the offensive.