Location: Harbor
Interactions: Kilamanjaro

---

Quiver had been used to working in cover, most of his life he was trained in secret, operating in the dark, an assassin of the Court of Owls. A recon mission was not unlike that, except now - as an interim member of the League - he wouldn’t be required to kill anyone.

Since leaving the team the first time, Will had grown considerably. Not just in taking on a real name, but discovering himself outside of violence. Since leaving his first real “friends” he had become much more of a willing participant in his own existence. He’d made non super friends in Star City, gotten a day job, and had even been dragged on a double date when Arsenal had him double with his girlfriends younger sister.

But it wasn’t long before this new version of Will had started to miss his friends from the team. He felt he had more to offer them now, outside of a ball of angst and violence - he was someone who could communicate better, and he’d softened his stance on aggression.

Although if he was being honest, he wouldn’t mind throwing hands with Viktor.

But now here he was, back in the hero game with a bit more levity. And although he hadn’t introduced his identity to the others, he knew it likely that some of them would sense their old teammate beneath the new mask…

Or they could smell it on him with their animalistic instincts.

But that wasn’t what Quiver was most worried about when he turned to the other boy he had been paired with. Not too long ago, Metamorph had undergone some kind of bestial change, a complete rage. Quiver had seen warriors in similar states of targeted aggression, but never to that extent. Since the bank heist situation Quiver hadn’t interacted much with the others, he hadn’t joined them back at home base just yet. But he knew from Ollie and Dinah that Metamorph had taken the change hard.

Metamorph could be sensitive to that situation, and Quiver knew it was likely a sore subject. But now wasn’t the time to dwell.

Quiver had, in a past life, been a killing machine. But that’s not who he is. And not how he’d want to be judged. He’d thought the same of Metamorph.

“Meta - I lost track of Pei and Viktor, but the others are in a safe position. And I’d bet all of the 8 dollars in my savings account that purple flare of energy was our man Zatara.”

Quiver was looking through a pair of night vision goggles that were strung into his hood. GA had given him a sort of tech that would let him mark hostiles temporarily to help with positioning.

*SPING*

A bullet flashed not far from Quiver’s head, the spark of it temp blinding his goggles. He looked at Metamorph with wide eyes at the near hit, avoided by merely dumb luck.

“If anyone asks…tell Viktor I dodged that.”

Location: Harbor
Interactions: Zatara @Crimson Flame

---

Another day, another stealth mission. Or rather, recon. Whatever it was, Vincent was yet again delegated to sit by the sidelines. When he joined the team, he thought there would have been more chances to be in the thick of it. Sure, saving the hostages in his first mission felt good, but not as good as taking on a horde of bad guys. Besides, he didn't understand why they were only watching these groups, letting them complete their deal rather than take them out. Drugs are against the law, right? Breaking the law is bad, right? So, what's the harm in knocking some heads together to do good? he thought. At least, he thought it was drugs. That's what gangs usually traded, right? Truth be told, he zoned out a bit during the briefing.

In the time it took for the groups to meet up and conduct their business, Vincent had quickly grown bored and begun to pace, molding iron into intricate shapes above his hand while occasionally pestering Zach with games of "Guess What's Behind My Back," for no other reason than to stave off boredom. It was clear he had no interest in watching the proceedings, but he was still going to behave, at least until things went sideways.

Not only did things go sideways, but upside-down, too. Vincent had been sitting in a corner, dozing, when the first shots rang out. He was quickly up on his feet and standing next to Zach, an excited grin slowly spreading across his face. He heard Zatara say something, but Vincent was already rushing into the fray, his steel wings glinting as he flew through the air, practically skimming the ground as he hurried to join the fun before someone could stop him. When he was close enough, he drew in his wings, rolled, and jumped up to his feet as he waltzed into the midst of the gunfight.

The gunmen closest to him stopped firing at each other, stunned that there seemed to be someone crazy enough to leisurely walk into the middle of an active gunfight. "I guess the deal must've gone sour, huh?" Vincent asked, completely unaware of the injured civilian somewhere in the harbor. "You know, I've actually been wondering: how good is your health insurance, if you're so eager to start shooting at each other like this?"

He turned just in time to see someone take aim and fire. Vincent's reflexes took over right before his head rocked back. He staggered backward a couple of steps before he managed to steady himself. Chuckling, he straightened up, the squashed bullet falling away from his hardened forehead. "Apparently, it's pretty great!" he shouted. The steel casing around his implant burst open as he unfurled his wings and brought them down in a powerful sweep, launching himself at the man with the itchy trigger finger. As a reward for shooting Vincent in the head, the man received a hardened backhand to the side of his head.

As the first crumpled to the ground, unconscious, Vincent's body blackened as he hardened himself just as bullets began to ping off of his skin. He unfurled his wings and swept them around him, knocking everyone nearby off of their feet before he launched himself across no-man's-land to give the other side some attention. "Now, this is more like it!" he shouted, inadvertently drawing more attention to himself.

Location: City Harbor
Interactions: @Zoey Boey Pei and the Team

---

Ever since the mission briefing, Viktor found himself internally questioning its purpose. He found himself slightly conflicted due to the briefer being the Batman as he remembered the last time the two were in a conflict of opinions. Though he had chosen to back down at that time, he still disagreed with his senior’s opinions on some of the actions he took during the mission in Taos, New Mexico. The mission was simple, yet Viktor didn’t quite see its value. We could be accomplishing more. This mission could have been performed by a single commercial off-the-shelf drone.

Viktor briefly sneered beneath the visor of a subdued variation of his suit, watching the exchange between the rival gangs while he lay prone atop a stack of four shipping containers beside Pei whom he had been paired with. Of the newcomers, he spent the least amount of time with her. Despite the lack of contact, Viktor didnt have any serious issues with her but there was something about her he couldn’t comfortably absorb. Her exuberance. It was unlike anyone else’s on the team and quite polar to his own demeanor. If Viktor was a dull stone sitting at the bottom of the sea, Pei was a brilliant firework that sored and ignited the sky. Differences aside, Viktor felt positive about their working together, even if it was during a mission he had negative feelings toward. He hadn’t spoken much during the stakeout, only answering Pei whenever she spoke to him so he didn’t come across as rude. Well, that was the case until something caught his keen eyes. A change in the body language of the rival gang members.

“There’s a problem.” Viktor uttered steadily just before the first firearm was fired. He remained unmoving as a cacophony of gunfire enveloped the previous quiet harbor. His team was already moving and adjusting their positions as he expected, yet he remained, finding his and Pei’s position to be as he would say “superior” due to its height and his favoritism for the prone position in avoiding gunfire when cover was lacking. In essence, he and Pei was both difficult to see and hit Even with such confidence, he shifted his body several inches back. “Recon only.” He elevated the volume of his voice, mocking the order, something he had seldom done. His contempt toward the League had grown during his time on the team, something he had oddly never experienced when he was an agent of H.I.V.E.

It was a time he wasn’t particularly proud of, but he also didn’t completely regret it. It was during that same he might have been assigned to dispatch the very people he was now watching attempting to kill each other. Not acting would surely accomplish the mission as briefed, but it felt wrong. It was against everything they had done since the formation of this team and that was made even more apparent when Vincent swooped in to engage the gang members.

“Iceburn. Let’s- Wait.” His words might have come off as confusing, but the faint sound of groaning halted his initial intentions. The sound had only reached his ears due to a pause in the firefight due to Vincent’s sudden appearance. Viktor’s head moved on a swivel as he attempted to seek out the sound over the continued gunfire that ensued during Vincent’s offensive. “Someone’s in pain. Possibly hit by a stray bullet.” Viktor raised from his position and turned from the gunfire. He made glances toward where he guessed some of his team might be, noticing a lack of reaction to the sound he heard. “On me. Your abilities might be the closest thing to providing treatment to a gunshot wound.” Viktor quickly jumped off of the stack of containers and to the ground to quicken his descent before looking up toward Pei who could use the surrounding smaller stacks of containers to reach or she could…

I doubt anyone on this team would expect me to catch them.

“Team, me and Iceburn are going to address a possible casualty. Talos needs backup… Forget the mission objective.” Those last words were not easy for Viktor to say, especially for the first time in his life living by the notion of unquestionably “completing the objective.”

Location Gotham Harbor
Interactions The Team

---

This was a far cry from a bank raid. Sitting in the dark for hours when Cora’s eyes glowed in the dark, around old electrical lights and harbor rigging when she set that stuff off by being around it. This was the kind of mission that Stormcaller’s powers were downright antithetical to. It was for this reason she had her helmet fitted with a tinted visor like the kind people wear for riding motorcycles. Not to prevent herself from getting flashbanged- she couldn’t be- but to make sure no one saw Cora coming. Of course, there was nothing she could do about the fact that some electronics around her were just allergic to Stormcaller’s presence. Nothing except hope for the best.

Core sat on top of a shipping container, watching the armed thugs bicker with each other from a distance. Nymph seemed a little quiet, but that was fine. She didn’t know a lot about the girl, but Daphne Al gave her the impression she felt overwhelmed, which was weird given she was here long before Cora, but oh well. She had to wonder what the odds were that these guys were possibly dealing weapons. Weapons that fired bolts of energy such as the ones she looted during the bank robbery. It was a slim chance, but surely the bad guys had crime rings they kept up with, right? A Crimebook, a Felonsapp, or something? Things like that were bound to get around.

If this was a connection, it would help her side investigation with Rain. He’d eat that stuff up. It could-

”Ohhhhh shit.”

There were bullets flying suddenly- Ballidtic bullets, not high powered lasers. Not immediately ruling out the weapons, but definitely not helping their case if they were selling speciality fuck-off broomsticks. Stormcaller swung her upper body behind the shipping container, back to where she and Nynph had posted up. They were pretty far away, so there was little chance that they could be bit. Nynph could probably take several bullets with that weird royal form of hers, but Cora was unfortunately unable to turn into a bolt of lightning.

If she was being honest with herself, she wasn’t sure what the procedure for this was. If the bad guys were shooting at her then she’d swing a thunderclap, and lift over their heads. But they were shooting each other and Batman ordered them not to get involved. Would they kill each other? Or would they scurry off with injuries less than fatal?

The decision was made, however, when Rain reported a civilian in the crossfire. At least, she hoped it was civilian, since they wouldn’t be armed with so many guns. Talos went in for the attack, and Rain and Iceburn went in for the injured… Cora thought for a second and came up with an idea.

”I’m going in, joining Talos.” When she relayed this, Stormcaller turned to Nynph. ”Our powers can stun the thugs easiest. Let’s go.” Stormcaller scurried over the shipping container, and soared above the ground in a straight line. Cora saw Talos swooping about and eating bullets like donuts. What Talos didn’t see was the thug about to take a shot at him from behind. Cora fell out of the air and landed on him. She planted a metallic, gloves hand on his back and blasted him with a staggering voltage. It was a trained shock, measured enough to stun the man into incapacitation, without causing an harm to him. More importantly, it didn’t cause a blinding burst like a lightning bolt would. Nothing worse than the barrel of a gun.

”Keep them away from the injured so Rain and Iceburn can help. Nynph should be right me,” Stormcaller said to Talos, as she drifted up to search for another in the immediate vicinity. Sure, Batman wouldn’t be particularly happy with them, but that guy’s family wouldn’t be happy if a family member died on them. So as far as Cora was concerned, Batman could go fuck himself.

For now, anyway.

---

Pei drummed her fingers on the shipping container. Her outfit and general...pinkness and blueness didn't really lend itself very well to staying blended in. Fortunately her outfit was always black in color. Now it had blue outlines and symbology instead of pink, and Pei had even dyed her hair a dark blue for the mission using temporary dye that would wash out after a couple of showers. But her skin was still a light blue and her top was still cropped and sleeveless. Just how it had to be! However, this outfit was made much more tactical by the addition of a utility belt around her hips with a few pouches.

Viktor answered her questions succinctly and without much dialogue. That left Iceburn to do most of the talking. To her credit, she kept her voice to a low whisper the entire time.

"So. You ever been on a stakeout before?"

"Have you ever been to a steak restaraunt before? I know this really delicious place back in Coast City."

"Can you see easily out of that thing?"

"Ice and Rain. With our powers combined, we are: Sleet!"

"Fuck, Marry, Kill...nevermind."

"See the Big Dipper? Yeah, I can't either."

"This seems like a stupid mission for like an entire team to be on. Is it just me?"

"What do you think they're talking about? 'Grr, I'm a big scary gangster. I kick puppies.' 'Oh, yeah? Well, I burnt down an orphanage!' 'That's nothin'! I drink milk right from the jug and put it back in the fridge.' 'What the hell's wrong with you?! Get him!'

"I can picture you meditating at the bottom of a river holding a heavy stone in each hand."

"I'm not annoying you, am I? I don't want to chase my team partner off again."

"I spy with my little eye...something...illegal."

"...♫He's gotta be strong, and he's gotta be fast, and he's gotta be fresh from the fight~♫..."

"Problem? What prob- oh crap!" At the sound of gunshots, Iceburn paradoxically pushed herself onto her hands and knees to get a better look at what was going on, while Viktor shifted a few inches back. When Viktor said recon only, she turned at him and grinned a little.

"Yeah, that's what he said: ReCoN oNlY!" She made her voice nasally and stupid. "He said it just like that, in that exact tone of voice. What did you wanna do, Rain? We obviously can't sit back and watch people die." She said. Sensing his interfering intent, she almost vaulted off the edge, but Rain told her to wait, so she did.

At the mention of someone getting hit with a stray bullet, she pressed her lips together in contemplation. "Well, we gotta find 'em. I'm with you."

As he jumped off the crate with confidence, Iceburn glanced down at the considerable distance below. It was big enough to sprain an ankle if she messed up the landing. The chances of that were low- she was good on her feet. But... not non-existant. That would be no good. And though gunshots were going off, her powers weren't exactly subtle. When he looked back up at her, she knew they were on the exact same wavelength! "Catch me, Rain!" She rolled off the side. There was a brief drop in her stomach before she landed safely in his super serumy arms. She hopped out, her boots hitting the floor.

"Xiexie! Now, let's go." She said, before going into a low profiled run.

"Forget the mission objective!" Iceburn repeated. "Let's get shit done."

With Viktor's lead, the pair managed to find the injured civilian. Iceburn lowered her voice a bit and spoke more boldly. "Don't worry, sir! The good guys are here!" She said, moving over to assist him. She blasted some Misty Ice onto the ground that formed a five foot tall ice wall to protect from bullets. Then she looped his arm over her shoulder and guided him around the steel crate into more solid cover as the ice wall began to quickly crack and break due to the low amount of time she afforded it. "I got him, we got him, we got you." She said to everyone around her.

Iceburn spoke to herself. "The three P's of first aid: Preserving life, preventing deterioration, and promoting recovery. " Letting out a breathe, she summoned the knowledge from those first aid classes she took.

She bid the civilian to sit down against the crate. "I'm gonna treat your injuries. Then, just stay here until the shooting dies down a bit, okay? I don't wanna risk movin' you while you're still bleeding and the fighting is happening." Iceburn said to the civilian.

Reaching into one of her utility belt pouches, she produced a green zipper bag with a big white plus on it. It was a first-aid back. She reached inside. "I gotta cut away your clothes a bit." She said. From her fingertips she produced an iceknife, and cut with extreme precision into his pants and shirt to isolate and reveal the wounds.

"Oh, easy peasy! You'll be fine and dandy after some bed rest and tomato soup, I guarantee it." Iceburn said reassuringly, dismissing the ice knife. With that, she began treating the man's injury to prevent further bloodloss, cleaning the wound "This might sting a bit-" and using gauze to bandage them. But that would pre-occupy her for the time being.

-

Location: Harbor
Interactions: Metamorph

---

“Oh now the mission is aborted.” Quiver spat to himself after hearing Rain’s instructions over comms. It was irksome hearing that from Viktor. The same guy who gave anyone shit who made a different call during missions. Quiver hadn’t forgotten the man’s rigidity. What’s changed now? He looked over at Metamorph. Quiver attributed his mood to pure focus on the sudden shift in the environment. It quick had gone from one of stealth and quiet to a bullet hell free for all. He looked back at the carnage as violent criminals screamed out at each other, and giant sheet of ice erupted across the way from where He and Metamorph were camped. Iceburn’s powers dwarfed anything Quiver could contribute. Again he felt that familiar sting he thought he had shaken off in his new life as Will. Meanwhile the man he was partnered alongside with had the abilities of what Quiver assumed was the entire animal kingdom. A walking apex predator. What was it that Nightwing and Ollie had saw in Quiver to join a team like this? Everyone here had a quality that made them a kind of monster.

What was Quiver’s monster? His past. All the violence.

Everyone else on this team was here to do good, but Quiver? He was the only one here that seemed to be on an atonement scholarship. And that was strikingly clear every time the team was put into action. Beneath the metal crates they were crouched upon, two gangsters were running away from the scene. One was running full speed while the other fired their automatic weapon back into the chaos. The sour mood that was creeping back into Will’s head needed shaking.

He pulled his collapsible bow out from it’s holster while simultaneously drawing an arrow. With absolute precision he released the bolt, an arrow with a metallic baton at the end of it. It cracked into one of the fleeing criminals square in the back. Before his target had even hit the pavement, Quiver was upon the second thug, the one with the automatic. His bow had the ability to collapse into a staff-like weapon, and he deftly swung it at a downward arc across the trigger happy gun-thug’s hands. The man screamed out in pain, firing off another round. Quiver grabbed the man’s trigger hand in his fist, seeing that the fingers were broken, already purpling over. The man screamed out in pain, unable to stop firing with his now rapidly swelling hand.

“Quiet.” Quiver opened the man’s broken hand and the man cried out again. The young hero tossed the rifle up to where Metamorph remained. Over his shoulder, the first thug lay collapsed unconscious. So Will turned the one in his grasp away, pulling him into swift headlock. The mission itself had collapsed – though not through any fault of the team. But it could be salvaged. Quiver could find out more about this illegal trade. If he employed some of his previously retired skills. His interrogation skills from his time as a Talon in the court of owls….

Location: City Harbor
Interactions: @Zoey Boey Pei

---

Viktor raised his brows behind his visor when Pei told him to catch her. Though he was ready for such an assist, he didn't quite expect her to actually go through with it. To Viktor's liking, the execution of their actions was seamless, quickly transitioning to making their way to the person needing their aid.

Viktor led the way, keying into the groans and labored breathing in the midst of shouting and gunfire. It helped that the closer they moved toward the injured, the fainter the sounds of battle became.

Once upon the wounded man, the two would notice that the man had been living in the abandoned empty shipping container he was now sitting up in while clenching his leg. Even with his enhancement, Viktor was a beat slower in engaging him. Pei sprung into action and began treating the leg wounds with efficiency. “Impressive.” The words more so slipped from Viktor's mouth before he took a defensive position. Reaching over his right shoulder, he retrieved his holstered newly equipped gun-metal-gray folded rifle. Unfolding the weapon, Viktor hugged the nearest corner of the container with the barrel aimed down the uneven corridor of containers leading to the shootout. The weapon was a creation he was proud of and wouldn't have been as effectively possible without Cora's knack for ingenuity.

He seemed completely focused on his vector of fire but in truth, he diverted some of his attention on Pei's performance of giving medical aid. It was a skill he had mostly discarded due to his healing factor and overlooking the need to treat others. He had to keep adapting, and it was a moment like this when he identified an area he needed to improve upon.

No longer was Rain simply behind a swift blade in the shadows or a lethal far-reaching bullet. With this team, he was able to be so much more. Viktor would continue to grow until he could look into the mirror and finally see himself as a hero.

...♫He's gotta be strong, and he's gotta be fast, and he's gotta be fresh from the fight~♫…

Viktor narrowed his eyes slightly in irritation.

She got it stuck in my head.

Location: Harbor
Interactions: Stormcaller @Blizz

---

Before Talos joined up with the team, any time he fought was in a ring or cage, so he rarely had the chance to cut loose against a group of people. Save for the occasional street fight, of course, which would always end with a chastisement from his mentor. To Talos, there was nothing quite like going up against impossible odds--For regular people, anyway--and coming out on top. As he carved his way through the people firing at him from both sides, he felt the same familiar surge of adrenaline flood his system, his face split in a wide grin as he felt each bullet bounce harmlessly off of his dermal armor, doing less damage than bug bites. "Come on, don't you guys have anything stronger? Give me a challenge, already!" he shouted as he slammed a man against a shipping container. The metal warped around him and crossed over his chest and around his wrists, binding the man to the container.

He heard a gun cock behind him and turned to meet his new 'friend,' only to watch as Stormcaller fell from the sky, using the unlucky man as a landing platform. There was a brief flash and the man was still, aside from the occasional groan or twitch. "Good looking out, Sparky," Talos said with a nod. "And don't worry. If there's one thing I'm good at, it's keeping someone's attention." He watched as she drifted upward, then brought his gaze back downward as another gunman took aim at her.

Talos's wings flapped downward and he shot toward the man just as he started to pull the trigger on his pistol. His hand was suddenly in front of the end of the barrel, but thanks to his carbon armor, the round collided with his palm, then fell harmlessly to the ground. "Uh-uh," Talos said in a singsong voice, complete with a wag of his finger. The criminal was quick to turn swivel his aim at Talos's head, but the young hero simply rolled his eyes. "If that shot didn't do anything to my hand, you really think you'd have any better luck shooting me in the head?"

Talos didn't give him a chance to answer. The pistol suddenly fell apart in the man's hands, each neatly disassembled piece clattering on the ground. The would-be shooter slowly looked up from the pieces of his gun and met Talos's eyes. The hero shrugged, then suddenly lunged forward. His forehead connected cleanly with the criminal's, knocking him out cold. Before the man fell to the ground, Talos was already gone, laughing as he eagerly sped off toward his next encounter. "It's been way too long since I've had this much fun!"

Location: Harbor
Interactions: Stormcaller, Talos

---

Daphne worriedly observed from the sidelines, staying low to keep out of reach of the flying bullets. Unlike Vincent who swooped down into the fray heroically she was more cautious.

During her time with the Team so far she had mostly stayed on the sidelines, helping her Team from the backline. The role came naturally to her. It was counter intuitive to her powers, which made her strong and durable. It was ironic then to see that she put herself more on the forefront now that her powers had transformed into something soft and more fragile.

"Alright I'll be right behind you."

She watched Cora take out one of the thugs by landing right on top of him. That was impressive. Seeing Cora take on the bad guys made her more eager to join in. Daphne singled out a shooter positioned on the high ground. He could freely keep shooting from higher up. It was a smart move, if it wasn't for the interference of the Team. She transformed and let the air currents carry her up to the shooter. At first the man was unfazed and kept his wits about him. He started shooting at Daphne in mid air, only to realize each shot when right through her. The fluttering humanoid reformed effortlessly.

When the man realized his weapon was useless against Daphne he tried to make a run for it. Before he could jump down the container to join his allies he was caught in a cloud of petals. Daphne overwhelmed his senses with the pacifying pheromone that surrounded her. Their close proximity quickly made the shooter abandon his aggression. He was left standing still, weapon lowered. Without missing a beat Daphne transformed back and relieved the man of his firearm. It took her a minute before her training kicked back in and she was able to unload the handgun, just as Viktor trained her to.

Daphne took out two more shooters and fluttered down to Cora and Vincent.
"Nice landing Stormcaller.."

She turned to Vincent and smiled confidently.
"You don't look like you need any help, but we're here anyway."

C I T Y H A R B O R

---

The homeless man’s eyes seemed to wildly wander around the rapidly formed battlefield while Pei had dragged him off to safety. While she spoke, he seemed to be elsewhere mentally but nodded after each statement. He let her do her medical work as needed without much resistance, simply breathing and watching as she worked. When she warned him about the pain soon to follow, the dark skinned hobo chuckled breathily albeit clearly still feeling some discomfort.

“Don’ werry dallin’. Dem don’ be da first bullets to scratch this old rock.”

Still, he winced when it was time for the last bit. Digging through his beat up trench coat, he pulled out a vape and put it to his lips. Suddenly, his eyes clicked back across the harbor when the sound of several bullets bouncing off metal came.

“Thank you lot fur ya help.”

Was all he said before taking a long drag, and sighing out smoke.

---

---

Metamorph was uncharacteristically quiet during this recon mission. Although their mission this time was simply to watch the transaction, something felt off about the situation. Something within him felt agitated, especially as he’d been paired with Quiver. His codename may have changed, and his methods, but the young lion recognized his scent and mannerisms. Ja recalled that Talon was Young Justice’s first field leader…That Ja had failed him during that first mission, when he’d gotten spotted. Ja recalled that soon after Mirage’s outburst, Talon had left. When the team was nearing its lowest, he was nowhere to be found…

Forgiveness and kindness was a side of him that he tried his earnest to show to others…Though, some wounds still lingered. Even when Zatara had left and came back, which wasn’t as long, the bushbaby felt the pain of a loss. To have to leave was one thing; To willingly abandon them was another. These were all the thoughts that had culminated in these moments when his mind had time to wander.

All, until this point, that had kept him from physically sneaking around to try shaking off the feeling were two things. The first was his long instilled training. The second, and probably more effective, were the snacks that the team had brought along. Daphne more or less always brought snacks for the ride to wherever they were going, though for this particular mission, some…none of his stayed on the jet.

Though, they weren’t infinite, and just as he was to run out the situation quickly escalated. His ears perked up as he caught another, foreign voice. An innocent was mixed in among the gangsters and gunfire. His eyes shifted to Quiver as his mind rolled on what they were meant to do. Clearly the shootout could have been a possibility, even if the civilian wasn’t there, and their instructions were to watch. Metamorph’s reasoning behind the order was that they were likely to follow one or both gangs to their hideouts.

Yet, as the situation got messier, the line in which they were meant to act did the same. They couldn’t let the innocent person die…His head whipped as a bullet ricocheted and nearly hit Quiver. After seeing the other young hero was alright, given his quip, Metamorph was soon to inform the team about the innocent somewhere in the midst of this, but Rain had caught on as well. Not only that, he shockingly gave them the order to betray the mission objective in favor of helping Talos subdue the gunmen.

With the situation being rash enough for even Viktor to ‘go rogue’, Metamorph took a breath. Watching as Quiver went off into action, he made a crucial decision. That if for whatever reason…their superiors came down on them for this, he would rather face punishment with his teammates than praise without them. Thus, when the others went into action, Metamorph followed suit.

Effortlessly vaulting atop the half open container they were hiding in, the Meta’s suit shifted from the sandy tones of a caracal to gain some height on his jump, to the green and white of a hummingbird to hover in the air above the battle. As he’d done many times in training training, since he could fly, he was the one to use a bird’s eye view to see where support was most needed.

So far, Talos was covered by Nymph, Cora, and Zatara as they were wrangling criminals. Iceburn and Rain were swiftly on the task of dealing with the innocent, raggedly dressed man who clearly had gotten injured to some extent during the firefight.

In the current circumstances, the only outliers were himself, Quiver, and Kassy with Cybergirl, likely to move to action. For now, he focused on his partner who had taken one of the men aside. If Metamorph was given a guess, Quiver took the task of interrogating the man. However, the Meta wasn’t the only one keeping an eye on him, as he caught sight of a thug aiming a pistol at Quiver.

Dive-bombing to the space between them, the Prince of the Red guessed the man’s aim. On landing, Iwisa’s gauntlets deflected a bullet intended for his teammate. Seemingly in disbelief, several more shots clapped from the weapon, but they too were defended no matter where the man had aimed. When ammo had run out, the gangster decided that it was his time to run out too. Metamorph wasn’t so sure about his chances after turning his back to a predator.

Yet, just as he was going to give chase, Ja stumbled to a stop. A tinge of fear dropped down his spine, before the rest of his body dropped to his knees. Holding his head, all he could do was scream.

”GRAAAAAAAAAHH!!!”

Kassandra was assisting the other cool-handed girl with getting the civilian to safety. She'd carried the man out of the firefight, and while Iceburn patched him up, she banadged a bullet graze soaking into her coat. Her usual bright costume had been replaced with a version that was dark, deep-water blue and black.

When all hell broke loose, she'd almost physically bitten her tongue to keep from convincing the team to take action. What was the point of being a hero if they were to stand by and watch? It was Viktor, of all people, who broke rank first. That was a surprise. But not an unwelcome one.

As the old man pulled out one of those strange devices and puffed away. She sneezed before backing up. "You're welcome, sir. You should get-" She stopped midsentence, as her mind - then her ears, picked up a cry of anguish. A yell she knew.

"Iceburn, can you see him to safety and return?" This was bad. Very bad. She would have been on her way already, if not for the two of them.

Location: Harbor
Interactions: Metamorph

---

Quiver’s focus on the collapsing criminal in front of him prevented him from the threat of yet another would-be-assailant. The young vigilante barely had time to register that there was another baddie nearby before a flash of color descended between the two of them. Metamorph was in full hero mode, effortlessly demonstrating his reaction time by repeatedly deflecting shots aimed for the two of them.

The shots bounced off of Metamorph’s gauntlets as if they did no more damage than common houseflies. Quiver was able to keep his attention on the criminal he had in his grasp, and was annoyed to find that the bastard had fainted - either from the pain or the fear of being shot at, saved (even if incidentally) or just in the presence of Metamorph.

Quiver eased the man back down to the ground before leaning him against one of the large metal shipping containers. He started to loot the man’s pockets for anything that could be considered useful, but shot up when he heard his teammate's sudden agonized scream.

Quiver pulled his bow as fast as he turned around, expecting Metamorph to be in a fight with another of their targets. Instead, Quiver was shocked to see his bestial teammate on his knees, gripping the sides of his head. His screams permeated deep within Quiver’s skull. He thought he could feel it bouncing off of the fillings in his teeth.

The scream was part human, mostly animal. But which animal was hard to tell. It was like a whole herd. Will reached into his actual Quiver, recognizing things could go even more sour than they already had.

Quiver got closer to his teammate with the intention of trying to talk him down, but he stopped in place as he looked into Metamorph's eyes. They were straining incredibly hard, and the young hero’s black hair was whipping violently as if caught up in a great gust of wind. Not only that, but Quiver could hear a sickening crack and snapping, as if Kilamanjaro’s skeleton was breaking all at once, shifting or moving. Quiver barely even registered that the man’s suit was now changing to a shade of crimson red.

Quiver didn’t think there was anything he could do, and felt for a proper arrow in his Arsenal.



“You didn’t see him. It wasn’t like one of the Talon’s. When we did what we did, it was methodical, we knew what we were doing. But Meta…it’s like he wasn’t there. Or something else entirely just took his place. Without Nymph? He’d have tried to rip through all of us.”

It was only a few days after Quiver’s reintroduction to the team during the bank heist, and Will was in the middle of a more heated conversation than usual with Green Arrow.

Ollie shook his head.
“He’s your teammate. Maybe even could be a friend of yours. You know how many times I’ve had to talk down a friend of mine who that week just decided they wanted to try and take over the world? Or were suddenly possessed by the literal manifestation of fear and the color yellow? Or something like that, to be honest Hal never really cleared that up for me.”

“Ollie this is serious. Where I come from? If someone ever got out of line like that, we’d put them down. What would I do if it happened again? What if Nymph wasn’t there? Just try and hug it out? I’ve let go of a lot of violence but I don’t see an exit strategy for a rogue hero turned animalistic killing machine. And I don’t have the wherewithal to try and get through to someone on this team. Why would they listen to me? I’m not the team leader, I’m not Kassy. I’m not YOU.”

Will was getting himself worked up, and Oliver knew it. When confronted with a difficult situation, it was obvious that Will was reverting back to his ways from the court of owls.

“I know all about the Tower of Babel. I know every hero has a failsafe plan to take them down if they were suddenly fighting for the other side. And I’ve got my own plan for Metamorph.” The young hero turned to the desk in front of him, it was clear he was constructing and assembling trick arrows. His arrows were nonlethal, typically meant to stun or trap. But the arrowhead in front of him now looked particularly menacing.

“Will. I think Batman would tell you that having plans to neutralize his friends was a mistake, it hurt a lot of people."

"Yeah I'm sure that's what he would say."

Will's back was to Ollie now, as he finished construction. The Green Arrow watched his young ward. They'd made a lot of progress in a short time, but there was still a long way to go. A part of him wondered if sending him back to the team was counterintuitive to Will's growth. But Ollie was an optimistic guy. He felt, deep down...that Quiver would do the right thing when the time came.



Now Quiver held that same menacing looking tranquilizer arrow and slowly nocked it. It was a special grade arrow tip, sharp enough for piercing a Metahuman. It was also incredibly dangerous. Now was the perfect time to fire it between Metamorph's ribs…

Will’s head flashed with imagery of Metamorph at Mt Justice, at the circus, their first training exercises together. And then all the times Metamorph was the social one, the one who moved around with a sense of ease at all times, as if he was the coolest person in the room.

And he thought of Ollie, of the team. What would the rest of them do in a situation like this that he he himself could do too? Could he do anything but hurt people?

Quiver held the bow at full draw, but hesitated.

Why wasn’t he firing it?

He felt himself slowly lower the bow, begin to loosen the drawstring.

“Kila…it’s going to be alri-“ he never got the words out. The Red got to him first.

---

Iceburn smiled as Mirage appeared. Her smile faded when she heard the big roar in the distance.

“Uh oh. That wasn’t..? I told him that-! Whatever.” She shook her head, pushing past her frustration and her incomplete thoughts.

“Iceburn, can you see him to safety and return?” Kassy requested.

Iceburn nodded. "We’ve got this." She said confidently as Kassy departed. "Good luck with that."
—

“Well, I’m happy to hear that, sir.” Iceburn said with a smile and a little laugh at the hardiness of the bystander. Most people don’t handle being shot so well, in her limited experience with it.

“Um,” She was briefly taken aback when he elected to, at that moment, partake in a vape.

“M’kay, that’s fine, I guess. At least it’s not a cigarette. That’d really be throwing my life-saving attempting in my face.” Iceburn joked.

“Metamorph is compromised.” Quiver informed over comms. There were sounds that were similar to the shuffling and feedback of a mic being dropped to the ground, it seemed someone's earpiece was knocked out.

She realized with growing annoyance that a vast majority of their team was being sidetracked by…yup. The message came through: Metamoprh had been compromised.

“Guess it’s just you and me, Rain. Operation Sleet is a go. First things first, I’m getting this guy to safety. Then we gotta reduce casualties in the gang war. Hopefully, our teammate comes to his senses soon.” Iceburn said.

“...Again.”

“Negative. Place him into a different container.” Viktor's voice was tenser than usual, and that was saying something. Again KJ had lost himself, and again Viktor found himself responsible for addressing a completely different objective. To believe it was a one-time occurrence made him feel naive, foolish even.

“Found them. They’re by the water. Quiver’s down. I’m going to lend a hand.” Vincent suddenly announced over comms while a sort of howl could be heard in the background of his transmission.

“Is someone with Quiver? I’m close to the water’s edge but it might take me a bit.” Daphne's voice followed.

Am I losing my sharpness? He gripped his rifle tightly before focusing his mind on what he should be doing rather than what he desired. No. We can do this. He lowered the weapon and half turned toward Pei.

“But if you believe it's not safe enough. I will respect your decision. I'll press forward with or without you, Iceburn. Cybergirl should be able to back me up during your absence.”

“No no no, that’s a good idea, I didn’t think of that!” Iceburn said, taking her powers to the container they were hiding behind. She froze and cracked open the lock. She glanced around inside to see what was in there. Inside was a bunch of boxes, but enough room to fit a dude or two.

“Nothing evil going on in here. Excuse me, sir, I know it’s not exactly ideal,” She opened the door with an apologetic grimace.

“But hey, you won’t get shot again! Don’t worry, I won’t lock you in.” She made a block of ice in the shape of a door stopper and used it to stop the crate from closing all the way.

Once he was safely inside, she returned to Viktor’s side. At this point, she gave a probably noticeable frown towards his rifle. “That’s not a real gun, is it?”

He made a glance at her before walking forward, raising the rifle as they proceeded through the corridor of stacked containers.

“No. It's… safe?” He tried to keep the description simple. Using guns with hollow point bullets may have been his answer to this situation over a year ago but that's not who he was anymore.

“I’m gonna pretend you stated that instead of asked it.” Iceburn said, pushing past her reservations about gun-adjacent weapons for the mission at hand.

A thunderclap echoes across the entire harbor, likely from Cora with the night sky being as clear as it was. The sound pulled their attention toward the sky for brief moment before Viktor made the mental call to maintain focus on Iceburn and himself.

“You'll just have to see it in action.” Viktor replied before he pressed a button on his helmet to speak over comms. “Cybergirl. You, me, and Iceburn are going to take on the gangs. Go after stragglers. That is our objective. The rest of the team has the other situation under control. Over and out.”

There was no sign of a ceasefire ahead of the pair, which meant the situation was still at its worst despite what the others were able to accomplish.

“I'll get their attention. You do what you do best.” He gave a nod before running forward and jumping left onto a parallel container. Running along it he aimed his weapon slightly upwards before using its tube attachment to fire a canister from a that covered two gunmen with a gray foam on impact. In seconds, the foam began to harden over parts of their body. Here we go.

“Cool!” Iceburn shouted out, seeing the true function of the gun. Now they just needed to work on making it less gun shaped… but that could wait!

Iceburn increased her speed by creating a layer of ice beneath her feet, and attached ice skates beneath her shoes. Leaning forward she skated into the open. Opening up her palms, she began to spray a cone of mist and snow shards. She was aiming for upper bodies, trying to strike guns and hands to disable the usage of the dangerous weapons. Then she skated behind cover to prevent her exposure to gunfire herself. Rain was coming from above, and snow was building up from below.

Awesome!
Exceptional...

Viktor found their rhythm quite synchronized as when either of them put attention on themselves, the other took the chance to strike. Perhaps if it was just one gang, the enemies could accomplish the same thing but their cooperation was simply a necessity for survival. Right now the gang members were taking cover against the two young heroes while firing when they could. The shooters were being oddly reserved with their ammunition while others were grabbing whatever they could swing to engage Pei directly.

“I think they're running low!” Viktor called, both to be informative and demoralizing.

“I noticed!” Iceburn said with wide eyes as a six-foot bruiser charged at her with a heavy metal pipe. Can’t freeze the inner mechanisms of that bad boy. She ducked it and was forced to melt her skates lest she lose her balance from the crouch. The swing clanged loudly into the container she was hiding behind, denting it. She blasted the bruiser away with some forcefully generated snow, but he was heavy and sturdy enough to not fall over. Iceburn looked wistfully at the short but infinite distance between her and the ocean. From its cold water, she could draw a huge amount of power.

Another one rushed up to grab her while she was crouched, but she generated a puddle beneath her and fell onto it, rocketing away with some snow power, sliding to take cover behind a big yellow forklift. Iceburn retreated from the bullets, her heart pounding. Thankfully the melee goons were reluctant to charge into the line of fire to chase after her, so she had a moment to think. The gunman that was keeping her suppressed was standing on a container himself, twenty feet in the air. He even had a retractable ladder up there that he had pulled up so no one could follow him.

Frowning, Iceburn froze and snapped off the two prongs on the front of the forklift. She flung them, and they launched like icy missiles. The gunman took cover by crouching low, but they weren’t aimed at him, she knew she’d miss. Instead, they stuck into his containers, creating two ‘stepping stones’ for a particularly athletic person to use. “Perfect.” Viktor commented after he had finished firing a taser round into a gang member running after Pei. Folding the rifle, he holstered onto his back, something he had spent hours practicing.

In a dead sprint, Viktor leaped toward the first prong, using it and his momentum to swing to the other. Executing a precise landing on the second prong, Viktor launched himself up, ascending to the top of the containers while drawing his sword. The gunman turned around to fire but Viktor had already closed the distance. All it took was one precise slash. One precise slash to neutralize his enemy…

“It's over for you,” Viktor said as the upper receiver of his weapon was split in two by the vanadium alloy blade. The gunman stared at his hand only holding the lower receiver and faithfully squeezed the trigger to no effect. With a swift step forward Viktor knocked him out with be hilt of his sword.

Meanwhile, down below Iceburn was having to deal with the goons that were free to assault her now that bullets were no longer flying. Gotta take the good with the bad. Two approached her quickly with a third on the way. She wished it was like the TV shows where the bad guys all took turns attacking, but that wasn’t the case. They were practically falling over themselves to grab her at the same time. Speaking of which- with a mischievous little “Heh” she fired a blast of ice to create a frozen puddle beneath their feet, causing both to eat shit.

“Fuck!” One swore. Before they could get up, Iceburn harshly kicked the top, bigger guy in the ribs. Her technique was basic but she could still generate enough force on a distracted target.

After that she blasted them both with a gust of mist that froze into a blanket of cold ice, locking them in place on the ground. “I think you guys can keep each other warm.” Iceburn said, dusting off her hands and taking a breath.

Hearing a heavy set of footsteps, she whirled around to see a young woman in civilian clothes approaching. She had short black hair and a pair of glasses, and a scowl on her face.

“Don’t worry, ma’am,” Iceburn began. “It’s all under control-” She was cut off as the woman grabbed a nearby crate, cracked into the wood with her fingers, and flung it at Iceburn at high speed.

“Oogh!” Iceburn’s eyes bulged as the box broke against her, scattering packing beads and electronics everywhere- as well as sending the young heroine sprawling. Thankfully the mist that surrounded her in combat also acted as a cushion. That stopped her ribs from cracking but it didn’t stop her from needing a moment to stand, gasping loudly for breath.

“Get up, you idiots.” The woman said, stomping on the ice and freeing the two henchwoman.

“Get off me!” The littler guy on the bottom shouted as the bruiser got to his feet.

“Alright, fuck! Let’s just get the scrawny bitch.” He said, hefting his heavy metal pipe.

THUD!

THUD!

Viktor jumped down from one container to another before dropping down to the ground level adjacent to the three remaining enemies. He sheathed his sword before charging forward and performing a flying kick into the smaller guy's side. The smaller man crashed into the bruiser beside him, leaving them toppled and open for Iceburn's next attack. Viktor kept himself moving, only stopping to square up with the woman who had enhanced strength.

“Tch.” Unlike Iceburn, the meta wasn’t impressed. She stepped forward and did a massive push kick toward Viktor.

Iceburn meanwhile got to her feet, recovering. As the two bad guys tried to recover their balance, Iceburn once again created a puddle beneath their boots causing them to slip and fall. Short of creating ice spikes, which she never did against humans, Iceburn didn’t have much in the way of causing immediate harm to someone. Instead, she grabbed up the heavy metal pipe and froze it, before breaking it over the shoulders of the bigger man. With another swear word, he dropped onto the ice puddle, leaving Iceburn to toss the shattered weapon aside.

She raised her hands towards them. “Give up!” Then she once again sprayed them with mist and ice that froze them to the puddle underneath. Thanks to Viktor she had managed to recapture them. Now they just had to keep that strong lady from freeing them. Or, uh, breaking their bones.

Ahead of her Viktor and the woman were engaged in combat, the woman being a much more adept fighter than the rest of her goons.

“Heh.” Viktor let out as the two found themselves circling each other after a brief exchange of blows.

“Funny?!”

“Mildly. Facing off against women is just becoming quite a pattern.”

The woman taking advantage of Viktor addressing her used her strength to chuck a crate at Viktor to screen her next move of running for her allies. Viktor ducked. “Iceburn!” He alerted as he grabbed and threw his equipped bolas at the legs of the woman in mid-stride.

“Now don’t get up again, or-” She was lecturing the thugs when she glanced up at Viktor’s warning. The crate slammed into Iceburn’s upper body and she was sent ass over teakettle onto the ground.

“Uhhuggh….ohoh, fucking- man…” Iceburn wheezed and pushed herself onto all fours.

She used a nearby box to support her as she got to her feet. “You Donkey Kong-ass bitch…quit throwin’ shit!” She began to move over to assist Viktor as he kept the meta engaged.

As the strong person steadied herself and reached down to rip the bolas right off, Iceburn went with old reliable- she got low herself and made a motion like she was skipping a rock across a pond. With a misty crackle, a puddle appeared beneath her opponent’s boots, and with a grunt, Viktor ran in to throw a powerful haymaker while the meta's hands were still down. His fist connected with her jaw with a brain-rattling punch.

With the ice beneath her boots, the woman went sliding until she crashed into the same types of crates she had been throwing at the duo.

Iceburn created a snowball of ice above her head and like a caveman committing the first murder, chucked it at the woman and the crates. It smacked into her and caused the crates to topple all on top of her until she was basically buried in them.

Iceburn spat onto the ground and sat her hands on her knees, bending over. “Woo….woo hoo! Woo hoo?” She glanced around to see if there was any more danger.

Viktor crouched down next to her, giving her a thumbs up. “You did well. I just hope the others are fairing just the same…” He said as he looked toward the faint sounds of battle in the distance he was able to pick up with his hearing.
Iceburn gave a somewhat breathless thumbs up, standing and setting a hand on Viktor’s shoulder, leaning into him a little bit.

He gave a nod before he stood back up and briefly looked at the broken contents from the crates, taking note.

The sound of tremendous roar sounded across the harbor where Viktor guess the rest of the team was located.

“We should regroup with the oth- Shit. The homeless man. I guess we should… go to him, yes?” He almost fought with his better judgment but following up with the casualty was the right call. And that's exactly what the two did next.

When they walked to the crate, Iceburn knocked first. “Knock knock, sir. It’s me, Iceburn. How you doin’? The coast should be clear-” When she opened it up, her jaw dropped. The man was nowhere to be seen.

Panicking, Iceburn turned her head inside the container like she somehow missed him. She picked up a box inside and lifted it like he might be underneath. “He- he’s gone!?”

There were no signs of a struggle or anything like that, but that didn’t stop Iceburn from freaking out, rushing to Viktor’s side and whirling her upper body around the docks. “Hello?! Sir?! Where are you?!”

“Iceburn, stay calm but vigilant. I don't think he was taken by anyone. No struggle, no blood… and there was no reason for anyone to come looking for him… Something's not right.” Viktor said as looked around the area for any more clues or indicators of a nearby threat.

Iceburn calmed down, still glancing around. “S-sorry, I was just- that woulda been stupid to lose him like that. I wonder where he went off too? And what’s been going on with our teammates?”

“Likewise… Likewise.”

C I T Y H A R B O R

---

The Beast found himself in unfamiliar circumstances, yet a quite familiar pain panged through the body. From all fours, his eyes quickly switched between looking at the giant metal boxes, darkness, flashes of light, but stopped in place on one person. He was there the last time his peace was disturbed. The Beast remembered him. Remembered the anger and hurt that the Arrow boy brought from within.

It was him!!

His posture was that of a savage predator, and yet his body launched from his four limbs like a frog. All that kept claws from tearing into Quiver was his reflex to bring his bow up in defense at the very last second. However the seemingly impossible strength difference was enough to make them both topple over. The glow of the Beast’s eyes cast the light of two blood moons looming over Quiver in the night. His fanged jaws snapped down at his head, barely held back by the stringed weapon.

Frustrated, the Beast grabbed hold to throw it, and subsequently Quiver, over his shoulder towards another of the metal containers. The thunderous clap of a tiger’s roar erupted from deep in his diaphragm, echoing through the harbor.

Quiver looked up into the eyes of his teammate, save the look that was peering back at him belonged to someone else entirely. Quiver knew he wouldn’t have the strength to hold whatever was inhabiting Metamorph. Quiver would have to try and use his strength against him. At least that’s what the young man would have tried if Meta didn’t grab him and throw him, essentially hurling him several feet away. He crashed hard into the same crate the two of them had been hidden in earlier.

The mission went to hell in a handbasket fast. That wasn’t a surprise, and Zach should have been used to that by now. He came in, and turned some gangsters' guns into flowers with a spell.

Then he heard KJ scream, and ran over to check what the fuss was about, only to see him throw Quiver over his shoulder and into the metal containers. “What was that for?!” Zach exclaimed as he went over to check on Quiver.

Quiver reached up to Zatara, who promptly pulled him up to his feet.

“Don’t ask questions: make this arrow hit harder.”

With a grimace, Quiver pulled back on his bow - an explosive tipped arrow with its sights set on The Beast.

Zach’s eyes went wide. “We’re shooting arrows at our teammates now? Seriously? You know Kassy… Mirage is going to stick that arrow up your… quiver if you harm a hair on his head.” Zach shook his head. “What is even going on? Did you two get in a fight or something?”

Quiver wasn’t listening. Instead he was watching Metamorph rear up - like a wild animal increasing its size to threaten prey.

No chances. He fired at the ground beneath Metamorph’s feet. More concussion than outright destructive, it would at least give off a smokescreen of debris, or else even a second for Quiver to regroup.

Talos had just introduced a man’s face to the ground when he heard a bloodcurdling roar, followed shortly by the sound of an explosion. He turned toward the sound and saw Quiver standing with Zach, a dust cloud not too far away. Well, shit, if there’s someone dangerous enough for explosives, maybe I should get over there, he thought as he, without looking, backhanded a gunman that had tried to sneak up on him.

As he dashed over to his allies, he ran his hand along the side of a shipping container. The steel shed its flaking red paint and gathered around his hands, forming a pair of large fists, far too heavy for him to lift without his power. He put himself in between his comrades and the dust cloud, dermal armor coating his arms and chest. He raised his steel-clad fists, eager for this new challenge.

Instead, the dust cleared just enough for Talos to make out who it was. His memory flashed back to the bank, back to the last time Metamorph had lost control, though he hadn’t seen firsthand exactly what that meant. “Someone wanna give me the rundown?” he asked, keeping his eyes locked on Metamorph’s silhouette, not sure what to expect.

Quiver glanced over at Talos, unwilling to take his eyes off of this version of Metamorph for too long. He spoke quickly, all while loading up another round. He did however have the wherewithal to report his next message over comms.

“Metamorph has been compromised.”

The silhouette of the Beast started off standing, but suddenly crouched to the ground. Then, jumping upward out of the smoke, the Beast took to the air. After briefly glazing over Metal Boy and Zzz, his stare refocused on Arrow boy. Backflipping in the air to angle his body downward, his body propelled forward, directly diving at him.

Talos was quick to react. He kept himself between Quiver and the missile that was Metamorph, his steel fists rippling briefly. When Metamorph was in range, Talos reached out and his steel fist extended out toward his comrade, the fingers opening up, then spreading out as they slim down into cables, forming a net. "Let's all calm down, now," he said, "and talk about this like rational super teens."

Zach was still confused about what was happening. “Compromised? Compromised how? Does someone here have mind control powers or something?” He asked and looked around for any Gangster being weird.

Sometime during all of this, Stormcaller floated over the heads of the boys present. That scream scared her. She wasn’t confident she could outrun KJ like this if she was on the ground. She floated downwards until she was just a few feet above Talos’ shoulder. ”How long can you hold him like that?”

All the while, the Beast thrashed against the bonds that Metal had put him in. It was quickly becoming dented in places, as though trying to contain a charging rhinoceros with each hit. Metal boy protecting Arrow Boy…Held him in cage. Him be caged no longer! With a seemingly new resolve, he built up momentum and burst a hole through the steel cables. Rolling across the ground, his claws dug into the ground to stop himself.

“About that long, apparently,” Talos remarked as he recalled the snapped cables, reforming his steel fist.

Quiver could tell that Metamorph was burning a hole through him with his stare. He’d grown up surrounded by that kind of bloodlust. The others on the team were hesitating to engage - he didn’t blame them. They didn’t want to hurt their friend. But the friend they were trying to help wasn’t home right now - and they were all in incredible danger.

From his quiver he pulled the Canary arrow. Modeled after Black Canary’s sonic scream, the Canary arrow has a fletching that emitted a similar sonic blast. A loud enough pitch that would bring a kryptonian to a stop. At least briefly. Quiver would plant its talon-like arrowhead into a surface for the back-end to fire the blast. If it came to it he’d hook it into the wall behind him, moving out of the way for its radius to engulf Metamorph.

While holding on to that one, he fired a standard arrow right down the middle, straight at Metamorph. Get him to head right this way.

The Beast started to charge, but stopped on the second stride. Clearly wary of the projectile this time, he dodged it, looking back from whence it came. The Fury of the Red also seemed to take note of the small crowd now forming where he once was. His view briefly cast onto Zatara standing among them, and he bared his fangs, but his eyes seemed to tell the story of…confusion?

Regardless, he glanced briefly back to Arrow boy before disappearing into the shadows of more nearby containers.

“Yeah you better run.” Quiver groaned, before he fired off his grappling arrow and turned to Zatara and the others.

“Find a way to talk him down if you can, but he’s dangerous. Whatever took him over at the bank seems to have a real stronger hold today.” With that, he released the grappling pin and zip lined up to higher ground

Atop a nearby container, Quiver started scanning the alleyways between the giant metal crates. He’d be lying if part of him wasn’t excited at the chance to fight Metamorph. An awesomely talented warrior with ability to envy, Will would have jumped at the chance to fight him if he was still the way he once was, as a Talon.

Daphne continued disarming more of the shooters. The heat was on her all of the sudden. She didn’t even get the chance to unload any of their weapons. Reforming was too dangerous and she would definitely get shot. While fluttering around the harbor she started to understand why. Most of the Team had gathered at Metamorph’s position.

With considerable effort on her part she extended to her limit, forming a large cloud which ambushed a group of three unsuspecting gang members. After a short struggle they were dazed by the scent trail. It cleared the way to the Team and she rushed over to their side.

“Where’s…..”

She came to a stop, panting. Supporting herself against one of the crates she looked at everyone.

“Metamorph?”

“Your guess is as good as mine,” Talos replied. He separated the steel fists from his arms and let them float around him as a pair of large spheres. He spread his wings and said, “I’ll let you guys know if I spot him from the air.” With that, he took off, his wings glinting in the ambient light. “Come out, come out wherever you are, bud! Make this easier on both of us!”

”I bet I can try to stun him if we need. But I really don’t want to risk actually hurting him.” Cora had been practicing using a precise amount of lightning to stun people, but people were different every time. Some people were stunned a little less and others were stunned a little harder.

She pushed off the ground, and scanned across the harbor for any movements in the dark. ”If I see him, I’ll try to keep him distracted.”

---

With the others taking flight, Quiver continued to move from crate to crate, scrutinizing any movement he could make out as Metamorph. At this point any of the rounded up gangsters were presumably taken care of by the members of the team who hadn’t moved on Metamorph’s position. Quiver knew Metamorph was a Hunter, and he’d keep well out of sight from airborne heroes. He moved further from the others, thinking he’d find Meta before them. But what then? Would he engage defensively? Or otherwise? He leapt another crate, bringing him close to the end of the shipping yard.

An eerie silence was slowly coming to the harbor as the gunshots were fading in frequency. Instead, near the edge of the harbor, the rhythmic splash of the ocean’s waves were the predominant sound. It was often believed that the ocean was where life began. At first microscopic, though through time, it evolved into bigger more complex creatures of the deep. Where the first predators were born.

Then, a violent swash as the sea seemed to vomit up the Beast, flying directly at Quiver.

But the hooded hero saw it coming. With peak reflexes, Quiver’s bow collapsed back into it’s staff. He was already mid-swing, slamming the weapon directly into the chest of his compromised teammate. Will had caught The Meta Beast Thing dead to rights, then used all of his strength to lift him up and over with the staff, with the intent to slam him downward into the metal crate he was using for footing. It worked in theory - Meta landed with cat-like reflexes of his own, on both his feet. At the same time, the animalistic hero shoved the staff away from him, as though wary of what it could do.

Quiver could see a lack of of friendliness in Meta’s eyes, and felt a chill. The eyes of a killer. A bit too familiar. With a severe disadvantage in strength, Quiver spun the collapsed bow around and tried to connect with his target, but Meta moved gracefully. 3, 4, 5 swings before Quiver could make contact, and knocked Meta across the face.

Seeming to recognize that the staff itself had no destructive properties, the Meta used his incredible chimp-like grip strength to snap the end of it off. Will tossed the rest of it aside. And he really liked that bow.

The Meta charged at Quiver, a near howl piercing the night sky from the thrashing hero. He swung his vicious clawing swings at Quiver’s face. Will was operating as much on instinct as he could, as this heightened version of his teammate had a speed advantage on top of his overwhelming strength. The only chance he had was to use Meta’s strength against him, so as he swiped for Quiver, Quiver brushed his wrist aside, trying to knock him off balance. In doing so, he went for a knee to Meta.

Meta looked shocked but not injured, and he snarled with what looked like the sharpest canines Quiver had ever seen. He grabbed Quiver’s knee and rolled through the strike, trapping Quiver like a hunter with a snare trip. Will could feel his leg muscle straining as Meta pulled on it from on top of him. Quiver felt his earpiece for comms go sliding across the ground. He couldn’t break the hold, and cried out. He grabbed the first arrow he could reach at his side and held the arrowtip at Meta’s back.

A zap of electricity surged through the tip onto Meta’s back - Stun Gun Arrow.

Meta was forced to let go, and hopped off of Quiver. Quiver tried to stand and could feel the pain in his leg. But Meta was already back on him. Quiver went down against a taller metal crate beside them, and Meta’s claws tore through the metal crate, shredding through like it gave up no resistance at all.

Quiver pulled his grapnel gun from the belt at his side, and fired it at Meta’s shoulder, where its metallic grips dug in. He released the mechanism, and it pulled against Meta’s frame while he rolled away. He was up on his feet quick, meaning to reach out to the team on Comms, but Meta was undeniable.

Having cut the grapnel’s line and pulled the clamps out, the Beast started throwing vicious haymakers - not with the discipline that the Usual Metamorph was capable of, but with reckless volatile abandon. Quiver took another hit to the gut, feeling nearly lifted off the floor from the contact. The wind was knocked out of him, and as Meta went for another kick, Will threw up his arm to block.

It was a feint.

Quiver felt a warm splash on his chest and feet, a rush of nausea. He looked down to see a dark red liquid spreading across his abdomen. Meta had sliced four claw-like marks across Quiver’s oblique. Bluntly, the Beast kicked Quiver in the chest, sending him across the shipping container, precariously close to falling into the depths of the ocean.

Talos had been circling the area when he caught a flash of movement near the water. He turned his attention to it just in time to see Quiver go down, kicked to the edge of the container by Metamorph. "Found them," Vincent said into his earpiece. "They're by the water. Quiver's down, I'm gonna go lend a hand."

He tucked his wings in and dove toward the scene of Quiver and the Beast's fight. He landed on the far end of the container and saw that Quiver's injuries seemed quite a bit worse than he expected. He then turned his attention toward Metamorph and, for the first time since his transformation, regarded the thing that had been his comrade, but was now something else entirely.

He had a wild look to him and the things that made Metamorph who he was were gone, replaced by pure, animalistic instinct. Talos wanted nothing more than to charge out of the gate, to take this new challenge head-on, but figured he owed it to Metamorph to at least try…what was the word? Right, reason.

He held his hands up, and his steel spheres lowered slightly, though remained at the ready as they hovered around his waist. "Easy does it," he said to the Beast. "Let's just all go ahead and calm down, huh? I'll be glad to fight you, but it won't go the way you want. I won't go down easy." He cast a quick glance at Quiver and added, "No offense."

Quiver coughed and rolled to his side.

“No, I’ve got him right where I want him.” He said, starting to pass out.

“You sure do, buddy,” Talos replied as he cautiously took a step closer, putting Quiver within his range. A black mist appeared around Quiver’s torso as Vincent pulled carbon out of the air and fitted it around his teammate’s chest, forming a sort of compression band of carbon fiber.

“Not as good as a bandage, but hopefully it’ll keep you from bleeding out, for now.”

Stormcaller drifted above the scene happening between the Beast, Quiver and Talos. Quiver looked a little beat to shit, and Talos was fine. Good, he could distract KJ- or was it B now?- While she made her move.

Stormcaller stopped magnetizing herself, causing her to fall out of the sky. She spread her arms out, and electricity began to crackle between her fingers. Hopefully he couldn’t smell static, otherwise she was fucked, but she aimed straight for him and reached to grapple him with her entire body. Electricity exploded from her like a human stun gun; slamming into…nothing?

While she was falling, the predatory creature’s headbush seemed to slowly stand on end, as though a dog’s ears perked, alerting him to something approaching. Lightning? His head swiveled upward towards the sky to see the falling lightning person, instinct driving him to jump backwards, away from it and back onto the docks a little ways away.

Talos barely had enough time to take to the air, shearing off the section of steel Quiver laid on to bring him up with him just as Stormcaller fell from the sky and electrocuted the shipping container. “Jesus, maybe warn me, next time?!” he called out as he kept an eye on whatever Metamorph had become.

He and Quiver landed on another container and he was about to chase after Metamorph, but stopped when he looked down at his injured teammate. He thought about getting Quiver out of there and getting him some help, but his instincts told him that wouldn't be so easy, not so long as this Beast was prowling around. Plus, he still wanted a chance to try his hand against it.

"Hang tight," he told Quiver as his armor spread across his arms, "we'll get you sorted soon as we can." With that, he dropped down from the container, alert for his misbehaving teammate.

Stormcaller bounced above the ground, not even touching it but repulsing herself away with her weird magnetic field. Her hands spring upwards in front of her, and let more electricity crackle upwards. She immediately took off in Metamorph’s direction like she was intent on rushing him down and punching the shit out of him. That was not what she did though. She leapt into the air again, propelled by her powers.

When she was about 15 feet above the ground, and still soaring towards him, Stormcaller brought her hands together to cause a thunderclap. Lightning from her fingertips compressed inwards, forming a vibrant ball of electricity. The energy immediately exploded back outwards in an intense, blinding flash in front of Metamorph. The entire harbor shook with the sound, but the flash was directed between Stormcaller’s metal gloves so it would only blind one person.

Talos watched as Stormcaller unleashed a flash of light at Metamorph and took that as his cue. The steel spheres that had been floating around him spread out and enveloped his body before taking the shape of a suit of armor. Directing his power on himself, Talos shot toward Metamorph, his arms outstretched in an attempt to tackle him.

Zach still wasn’t sure why KJ was attacking everyone, but he still felt like he had to do something to keep his teammate from getting killed. He approached Quiver, and exclaimed “egadnab otni latem.” Turning that carbon fiber Talos had made into a proper bandage. “Dleifecrof!” He brought up another darkviolet forcefield of magic around the two of them. “I don’t know what you all did to piss him off. But I’m glad it’s not me.”

---

After Vincent’s message over comms Daphne immediately rushed back into the night sky. She moved as fast as she could to the water’s edge. There was a feeling of heaviness spreading throughout her dispersed body. It increased gradually and she was losing altitude. It forced her to land in between the crates, still a ways away from the water. The landing was rough. She reformed while still airborne and managed to grab onto some loose hanging ropes, making her way down.

Daphne leaned her back against the cold metal of a crate. Catching her breath she turned on comms.

“Is someone with Quiver? I’m close to the water’s edge but it might take me a bit.”

There was a flash of light and a deafening thunder clap. It sounded like it was very close to her and she subconsciously covered her ears. She hated thunderstorms. Get a grip Daphne….

That must have been Cora.

The Daughter of the Green upon getting closer would be met with the sight of the Red Beast catching Talos. Having rolled backwards, their darkened teammate reversed the tackle.

With the armored hero pinned below, a bull elephant’s roar bellowed down at him, planting his feet against Talos’ chestplate. And yet, as his weight increased to try crushing him…The Beast paused in his attack, turning his head instead to where a familiar scent was. The flower seemed…hurt.

Talos laid beneath the Beast’s feet as he did his best to throw him off, but his increasing weight made it almost impossible. He could feel his carbon armor being tested to its limit as hairline cracks spidered across his chest, blood seeping through the hairline gaps in his armor. He couldn’t breathe, he could feel his ribs groaning in protest, ready to snap at any moment. For the first time in a long time, he was skirting the line between life and death…but he wasn’t afraid.

No, he was pissed. He had made peace with the possibility of dying a long time ago, but if it was his time, he would prefer it to be on his feet. Slowly crushed to death on his back, helpless and meek like he was all those years ago? Fucking…pathetic…! he growled inwardly as his anger at himself and the situation he was in grew.

A chill ran down Daphne’s spine. She could make out Vincent as Kila’s victim, pinned down under his foot. The animal cries coming from within Kila were terrifying. It resonated through her entire being. In any other given situation this would have pinned her in place, but Vincent was in very real danger now. If this was the animal she thought it was she needed to get him out of there right now.

She bravely stepped forward, searching for Kila’s red glowing eyes, wanting to connect. He’d turned his head towards her…..but his eyes were closed. Why?

“Kila….can you hear me?” Her voice wavered. She went up even closer.

The young man-thing seemed to recognize her voice, and crawled off of Talos, approaching her instead…Almost unnaturally odd for a human body, yet naturally similar to a spider, his body was on the ground, limb flowing over limb to drag forward. The mesh of his mane writhed around his face and his head seemed to twitch about on his shoulders. Although blinded in the eyes, the Beast seemed not to lose much awareness.

With the Beast finally off of his chest, Talos rolled onto his stomach, coughing as he fought to regain his breath. His carbon armor receded, his costume warm and damp with blood from his split skin underneath. His ribs were more or less intact, maybe a crack or two here and there, but so long as he could breathe, he could handle the pain.

The Red and The Green edged closer to each other until Daphne stopped moving. The unmistakable scent of fear could not be masked, not even by her powers. She whimpered quietly. The edges of her costume started to be picked apart piece by piece, the petals floating aimlessly into the air around her. The dispersion stopped there. Something was holding her back.

“Please stop Kila…” She choked up with fear, fear she had tried to push down ever since the mission at the bank. Where she first saw him like this.

The Beast too came to a halt, hearing her fear, smelling it, feeling it. Why? The flower was retreating subtly.

Stop…? Stop what? “stop Kila...” Him stop? Her scared more than before. Her feared Him? No, Him her friend. Her said ‘stop Kila’…but Her still scared. Her scared of them. Arrow boy with Them. Metal boy with Them. Them still fight, them hurt Him…Them hurt Her? No…NO.-

”NOOO!!!” His voice boomed almost as loud as the thunderclap moments ago. It was deeply pitched, yet freakish, causing Nymph to flinch backwards. It was neither like Kila nor Ja. It was someone else. Someone worse.

Talos heard the roar, but he didn’t flinch. His armor shifted and liquid metal dripped from the plates as he shed extra mass. If hitting hard wasn’t going to work, he was going to hit fast. ”I’m still here, pal!” he shouted. ”And you aren’t the only one with anger issues!” He shot forward, moving faster than he had earlier and lashed out with a kick aimed at his teammate’s head. Restraining Metamorph wasn’t going to work, he realized, especially given his still-limited understanding of his abilities. He was going for a knockout, this time, deciding to apologize for it later.

The kick connected solidly and Vincent was barely able to duck out of the way when the Beast gave a wild swing in his direction, only to dash back in with a right cross. Talos’ movements were becoming more refined as he sidestepped another strike from his comrade and countered with a blow from his left, drawing from what he had learned from his mentor. Against the thugs earlier, he was just having fun, but now that he was up against someone that he had learned could actually hurt him, let alone kill him, the gloves had come off.

For a little while, he thought he was doing well and his blows were having some effect. The lighter armor made it easier for him to weave between and even counter the Beast’s wild strikes, but it didn’t take long for Talos to realize something was wrong. It was when he delivered his second kick, the fifth strike of his combo, that the Beast just didn’t budge. ”Damn it,” Talos growled. He redirected his focus to the back of his breastplate and threw himself backward to put some space between himself and his teammate.

From his crouched position, the Beast’s head was briefly aimed toward the aged tarmac of the harbor. Then between the wisp-like billowing of the headbush, two flashes of scarlet blazed to life. Instantly they seemed to lock onto Talos’ retreating form. For once since the battle started, the Fury of the Red didn’t make a sound in response.

”Think I made him mad.”

That was the last thing Talos said before the Beast was on him. Without realizing it, he found himself in the same situation Quiver had been in earlier. He was on the back foot, just barely able to dodge the Beast’s strikes, even with his powers helping him out, while at the same time, looking for an opening to strike back that just didn’t come. It was frustrating. Talos was used to being the aggressive one. If it were anyone else, he’d push back and force an opening, but something was holding him back.

He twisted to dodge a lunge and a container flipped over just behind him, he felt his chest sting. Was that it? Now that his armor was compromised, was he…afraid? No, no way! I don’t do fear! he thought. He tried to hold his ground, but with the Beast bearing down on him, he found himself backpedaling almost instinctively. Something, an alien feeling, started to overtake him. All he knew was that it was no longer excitement.

---

Kassy barely heard anything Iceburn said past 'we got this'. The moment she knew it was okay, she turned and ran toward KJ. The fact that something was wrong wasn't the worst part of things. No, the worst part -

"Metamorph has been compromised."

She turned her comm off. Hearing out loud what was obvious wouldn't help. She could just pick out the sounds of battle and pain. Faster. Why couldn't she run faster? Her friends were hurting each other. The boy she loved was suffering. She couldn't just watch it happen.

If she couldn't prevent pain as a hero, then what was the point of all this work?

Her hand gripped the shortened handle of her elemental staff. There had been less reason to use it lately. Between Daphne's reawakening, Cora's lightning command, and Pei's ice power, what she could do with the forces of nature paled in comparison to their strength.

But no illusion would get her body across the pier quicker. The staff lit in the night as she summoned control over air. Around her body, the air seemed to loosen, somehow, friction around her body and clothes fading. And at her back, it pushed, forcing her forward. She nearly stumbled and fell with the sudden shove of wind, before getting her footing.

The distance shrank in seconds, and she stopped the spell just in time to skid to a stop.

Carnage was before her. She could smell blood in the air, and picked out her teammates in the gloom. The lavender tint of Zatara's magic, the scent of ozone that always surrounded Stormcaller. While she couldn't see Nymph, she had a sense that the other girl was very close by. Talos in front of her, running. Being hunted by -

"..." His hands and front were coated in blood. Whose it was didn't bear thinking about, in this moment. Healing and apology could come later. For now...

She whipped her staff in the air and slammed it, base first, into the ground. The fire runes lit with a burst of light, revealing Mirage in full force. If this didn't make her an appealing target, nothing would.

"Kilamanjaro! You need to STOP!"

The ringing of his name perked the ears of the young Beast, and his body froze in the air with the spread of his arms. The voice that called to his name caught his attention, staring down at her bright shining form against the darkness. The predator’s head snapped back at his prey as it made more distance between them. Although inclined to follow, the command conflicted with his instincts. The indignance of his mind was expressed through a bear’s groan.

Kass said Him to stop. ”Kilamanjaro…STOP!” Why?

Kassy's eyes too, flicked to Talos as he started moving again. She understood why, but the worst thing to give a predator was a reason to chase you. "We are your friends. I know you don't want to hurt your friends." She walked toward him slowly, staff tapping the ground with each step. Her free hand, just hidden in shadow, signaled Talos to 'hold'. Hopefully he'd see it, and decide to obey. "It's going to be okay. I promise."

The staff’s tapping caught his eye next, and with each, the Beast lowered in altitude. All the while, his face twisted in confusion with her words. Friends…Kass Him friend. Flower Him friend. Zzz…yes, Zzz Him friend…Arrow Boy hurt Him. Bright and Metal Boy protect Arrow.— Kass protect Metal Boy…? But…but Kass Him friend. Kass not with Them. ’It’s going to be okay……Kass promise?

Once on the ground, his eyes switched from the staff to Kass herself.

"That's right. It's just me." She kept her pace slow, and even. "I'm your… your friend." Her gaze was soft, despite her fear. "Come on." Kneeling, she set her staff down, not breaking eye contact. "We need to go home."

Home…

It was subtle at first, his breathing slowed down. His headbush was less wily, rather calmer but no less wild. Gradually the pulsating crimson of the metamorph suit faded into its more natural black and brown tones. Similarly if one were to look closer, the glowing scarlet of his eyes withdrew with a few blinks to a golden hue. With his lowered positioning of being down on all fours, he opted to sit on his knees instead. One of his hands came up to hold the side of his temple, pressing against a sore pain.

That was when the smell hit him, and his hand slowly pulled away from his head. Blood…His recollecting view moved on, to the glowing body in front of him in the darkness. Kassy? His eyes traversed his surroundings more. They were on a mission on the docks…did he doze off…? As his view caught his other teammates, he found himself sobering very quickly to the fact that this wasn’t some kind of dream. No…This was a nightmare.

Farthest away from him, he could see Zach leaning over Quiver’s unconscious form. Above were Stormcaller and Talos, the latter clearly having seen better days. His eyes started to burn. No…not again…did…did he…? His eyes turned back to Kassy’s direction but stopped on seeing something in the darkness a little ways away. Even in the shadows, he could still see her. She shared the look that they all did. A feeling that he could sense in his core; They were afraid. Afraid of…

”No…” He fell on his backside. His eyes shuffled fast between his teammates once again as the realization hit him. ”No no no…I…I-I didn’t..-“ His voice trembled in tandem with his lips. Tears rolled down his cheeks while he crawled backwards, away. What did he do?!

”I didn’t mean it…I d-didn’t mean it…I’m…”

Kassy crossed the distance between them, kneeling and wrapping her arms around him. "I know. I know you didn't. It's going to be okay. I've got you." Her fingers slipped through his hair in a gentle motion. Soothing him with shaking hands. "You need to rest." There was a subtle tinge of mental magic in her voice. Asking, not commanding, telling him it was okay to just sleep.

Ja’s eyes whirled around the damage to both teammates and containers, still stumbling through repeating himself. He initially flinched at Kassy’s touch, but quickly his breathing calmed. Yet, his body was still tense despite the coaxing. He felt that the shadows were watching them. Then one of them moved— His eyes had drifted towards the darkened sky when he noticed a figure suddenly drop from a crane. Was fast moving at first but then quickly slowed. By now, they would surely recognize the winged silhouette drifting down as a phantom towards the shoreline.

How long had he been there?

The Bat landed near to where Quiver was being protected by Zatara’s forcefield, seeming to study his condition. A moment passed before a sharp turning of his head to stare in Metamorph’s direction. A familiar cold chilled his spine upon feeling the glare. The Bushbaby felt his eyes fluttering closed as a new voice took over the comm lines.

“Get Quiver to the jet. This mission is over…”

---

Iceburn wasn’t happy. For everyone in the base, this was probably a new look on her. Her hair was still temporarily dyed dark blue, though the white underneath was beginning to show through in some places. Wearing an off-shoulder blue t-shirt, leggings, and sneakers, Pei had resorted to pacing after failing to outrun her anxieties.

“D’ohhh…” She groaned.

This mission is over…

What did that mean? Of course the mission was over! We did everything!

This mission is over…you’ve all disappointed me.

Was it like that? It wasn’t our fault, right?! We saved the day. It was just some infighting, it won’t happen again!

This mission is over…as in I’m disbanding the team.

No way! There was no way that was it! The mission was never over, not until we saved all the days that will ever day!

I may have a no-kill rule, but for your hopes and dreams, Iceburn, I’ll make an exception!

“NOOO! Damn you and your perfect jawline!!!” Pei shouted, elbowing herself in the gut out of dismay.

“What happened?!” She shouted, throwing her hands up into the air. “Is this an everyday thing for you guys?! We made ourselves look STUPID in front of BATMAN! BATMAN! I won’t be able to sleep at night until we make this right! What went wrong?!” She finished shouting, breathing heavily, setting a hand on her heart.

Viktor had been seated on one of the couches in the lounge, touching up a small wood carving of a… shipping container. He had only been stealing glances toward Pei and her pacing until she abruptly shouted upon reaching some sort of breaking point. He sighed putting his full attention on his liveliest teammate.

Zach was there too. “Everyone in this group has made themselves look stupid in front of Batman. Even me! I’m pretty sure the only reason he tolerates me is because of my cousin.”

“That doesn't help, Zach. She wants to conduct an AAR. Right, Pei?” Viktor asked with his ever so full expression on his face.

Turning her glare away from Zach, Pei slapped her hands together and pointed at Viktor. “Yyyes. An…” She looked up and to the left. Then back at Viktor. “After Action Report! The Action is over, I wanted it reported! So nobody gets damaged torsos on the next mission!”

“Perfect. I agree with conducting this. We cannot repeat what occured.” Viktor set his carving knife and nearly-finished shipping container between his feet. “Seeing as Pei and I were dealing with the gang and a casualty. I think it's best if we hear of what occured from those that were present, yes?”

“From my point of view, Kila, Ja, whatever he’s calling himself… Went nuts… and started attacking the rest of the team.”

Vincent, after sneaking out of the infirmary, had been walking past the lounge, uncharacteristically lost in his thoughts, and stopped when he heard everyone talking about what had happened. With a shrug, he walked into the room and took a spot near the door as he quietly listened.

“It’s the same thing that happened at the bank robbery. Suddenly, he’s asleep at the wheel and someone else is in charge…” Cora was floating back and forth, laying sideways like she was asleep. She lazily drifted past Pei and over to Zach, and then past him. “Maybe there’s a link there? Metamorph is in the middle of something, on a mission, and something happened on both that caused it. Anyone have a clue?”

“No! Well, I don’t.” Pei crossed her arms. “I left him alone for two seconds in the bank. I think he got shot? Not even injured by the looks of it. How can we count on Kila- on- Metamorph? He attacked two of us!” She held up two fingers. “Two! In front of Batman! Sorry.” She covered her face. “Let’s keep AARing.”

“I don’t know what happened to him, either,” he said, his voice unusually quiet, due in part to his cracked ribs and in part to the unfamiliar doubts now racing through his head. “All I know is that I tried to talk him down, but Cora fell from the sky before I had much of a chance. Then he was on the attack and I…” He winced at the memory, gingerly rubbing his ribs.

“Faltered.” Viktor cut in. “I should have been there. I wanted to be there. This other is a recent change in him. Normally there is ‘Ja’ and ‘Kila.’” Viktor put up two fingers himself. “Two personas inhabiting our teammate that swap with slight effect on the team's objectives.” Viktor then raised his other hand with one finger up. “This third persona is the issue. I'm unsure if it's new or just laid dormant until now… but I believe it makes him unfit for any future missions.”

”I don’t. You make it sound like he’s just downright irredeemable. That’s shitty. Sure, this is a problem, but it’s a problem he’s going through too. Metamorph’s still our friend. I really doubt he just let this third personality out without a fight.”

Pei scoffed. It was a cynical noise so alien to her she put her hand up to her throat and cleared it. “That’s nice, but he can’t be on any more missions. Obviously. Not until this is actually fixed. We can be his friend while keeping him from hurting us. Vincent’s hurt and Will is literally in the hospital.” She said. Then she glanced at Vincent. “...Shouldn’t you also be in the hospital?”

Vincent shrugged at Pei’s question, but didn’t offer anything more for an answer. Instead, he said, ”I agree with Cora. I get wanting to bench him, but punishing him for something he didn’t do is like throwing the victim in prison. And whatever that was, it definitely wasn’t him.”

Pei blinked, and looked at Viktor for reassurance before continuing. “Yeah, but- okay. Inviting him would be like…bringing the perpetrator along. We have to bench him. If we had two twins on the team who were bound at the hip, and one was good and one was evil- I’m not bringin’ em along just to spare the good twins' feelings! In fact, I’m sure the good twin would be understanding! That analogy makes sense, right?” Pei nodded quickly.

”And if excluding him puts him in some weird mental state that makes whatever that was take control, again?” Vincent asked. ”We don’t know what triggers that change, whether it’s tied to his emotions or something else.”

”I'm with Vince. We need to think about how he feels. He’s still a person. It’s not fair to throw Metamorph under the bus just like that, we should at least ask him how he feels before we make some kind of decision.”

“So, what we’re just going to walk up to him and go hey Metamorph, we’re gonna bench you for a bit. How do you feel about that? Can’t imagine that will go over well. I dunno… maybe we can actually help him somehow?”

“Him sitting out on missions is the best option until we can figure out his problem. It doesn't have to be permanent. It's too much of a risk to put him out there in the state that he's in.” Viktor looked at each and everyone present. “If he needs help, bringing him on missions is not the answer.”

“Thank you!” Pei said, having started to look a little exasperated.

“God, I wish my magic could affect people. Then I could actually do something useful.”

“Can’t we just ask him what he thinks is the best thing to do?” Vincent asked, his voice raising as he felt his temper do the same. “We keep talking about this like how he might feel or think doesn’t matter when he’s the goddamn topic!”

“Because it doesn’t matter how he feels!” Pei said, eyes wide. “Why would it? If he says everything is fine and we should just keep going on missions with him, that’s bullshit! I already bought into it once.” Pei pouted and turned away, lowering her gaze. Viktor was looking between Pei and Vincent, silently watching the tension swelling between them.

Vincent could feel his anger rising, his current mental state doing no favors to quell it. ”Fuck this,” he growled as he turned away. ”You guys do what you want. I’m done.” With that, he turned and stormed off to relieve some of his anger.

“Y-you should go to the hospital!” She called out after him.

”I think there’s a misunderstanding here. Kila, Ja, they’re both our friends. The third personality hurting any of us doesn’t change the fact that there’s two other people trapped in there with it. Those two need our help, and I can guarantee KJ feels awful about how this happened a second time. So yeah, Pei. It absolutely matters how he feels. How would you feel if you were hurting people without being able to control yourself? Would you just think your feelings don’t matter? Or would you think something else? And if you do, then what’s the difference?”

“I would feel like I should not go on important missions of life-and-death!” Pei exclaimed, raising her hands.

“Feelings should be considered, yes but we aren't imprisoning our friend. Just removing him from missions until there's a remedy to his situation. At the moment he's unfit. Anyone of us, if unfit, physically or mentally, should not participate in missions that require our level of fitness. We wouldn't take Quiver on a mission right now, would we? It's the same. Ja and Kila need help. Healing. Something. Anything. If he kills someone, then what? How do you think Kila and Ja would feel? I at least have an idea. I saw him at the end of the mission. He couldn't believe what he had done. He was devastated.”

”Right… I guess. Fuck, I dunno. I’m just scared we’re gonna make this worse if we don’t take him seriously when we actually do something. I get that he could seriously hurt someone, but I’m worried about him still.”

“Could seriously hurt someone…pfft.” Pei ran her hands through her hair.

“So what do we do then?”

“Exclude him from missions until his condition improves. If it can't be improved, I don't see him having a place on the team. It's not something I want. It's just what is best. For everyone.” Viktor crossed his arms over his chest, standing on his words.

“Yeah! We either get him fixed, or we get him off the team.” Pei said with a nod.

"What did you just say, Pei?" Kassandra's voice seemed to come out of nowhere. Pei startled, bringing one of her legs up and doing karate chop motions. Kassandra stepped into the midst of the group, the young Atlantean looking downright exhausted.

"Fixed? Please tell me this is just… me misunderstanding the language again." She stared straight at Pei, no trace of the nervous guppy from months ago present. Everyone's attention was drawn to her now.

“Y-yes you, I mean I, That’s not- Wh- um, I mean like, y’know-.”

“Her word choice is poor, Kass. We're thinking it's best for Ja and Kila to sit out on missions until their condition is resolved… If it can be resolved.”

“Y-yeah, that! That.” She nodded at Kassandra and pat Viktor on the arm emphatically. He made a sour face toward Pei's touching but kept silent to listen to what Kass might say next.

"Mm." She made a non-committal noise before slumping onto the nearest empty seat. "I can agree with that point, at least. He's asleep, finally." And hopefully KJ would stay asleep, for longer than an hour or two. "I just wish I knew how to help him."

“You look like you need a nap.” Pei said, scratching her head. “But yeah. There’s gotta be a medicine for it. Or maybe a guru on a mountain somewhere. But until then.” She shrugs meaningfully.

“Now we just gotta see what Quiver thinks, right? Unlike Vince he should actually be in the infirmary.” Pei added. ”I think I need to improve on my meeting calling skills.” She said, a little embarrassed that this whole thing started because she was very frustrated. ”Daphne’s not even here, either.”

“I think your shouting works well enough as a meeting summons.” Quiver was leaning against the entry way of the lounge. It was clear he was in some pain, although he was through the worst of it. A large bandage was wrapped around his torso. The layering of bandage couldn’t hide the dark stain, the sewed up wound sustained from Metamorph’s outburst. Quiver made his way over to a seat and carefully put himself down on it. In spite of the pain he felt humming through his painkillers, he wanted to take part in what his team was talking about.

“There’s no could in this conversation. Metamorph would have killed any of us, had he the chance. That’s less of a hindrance and more of a liability.”

“Oh, good!” Pei said, seeing Quiver. “Wait, you too? We were just about to- I guess you’re already sitting down.”

“Liability is a perfect way to put it.” Viktor remarked as his eyes scanned over Quiver's injuries.

Quiver sat forward and looked at Rain, but was addressing everyone in the room.

“Having said that, people are going too easy on him. He isn’t whillingly doing this, but he’s still infected with whatever it is. If he had a cold, we’d quarantine him. I don’t think it makes sense to walk on eggshells around him. Especially if he isn’t even aware of what his condition is. It shouldn’t be put on us to cater to him.” He felt a light sweat dampen his forehead with the effort he was making to speak.

Kassy looked at "Quiver" with a worried glance. "I apologize, especially considering the extent of your injuries, but… I don't think that's exactly right. If he wanted to have killed anyone in that state, I would probably be as injured as you are." She'd made a target of herself on purpose. And crimson eyed Ja could have taken her down without losing a breath.

“So his targets were intentional and not circumstantial. Interesting… It lines up with the incident at the bank but what do gun carrying bank robbers have in common with Quiver and Vincent? Why would the ‘other’ perceive them as threats?” Viktor was staring right at Quiver. “Hm?” He forced the question.

Quiver smirked at Rain in spite of himself.
“Isn’t it obvious? He’s threatened by us. Probably why he didn’t swing at you.” Viktor let out a low grunt as he raised an eyebrow, refraining from saying anything.

Quiver half groaned at the pain the effort of joking at Rain’s expense did to his injury. He wrapped an arm around his bruised ribs.

“Mirage I understand that you want to give Metamorph the benefit of the doubt. And I appreciate your help in the infirmary last night. But think about it, are you putting your biases aside? We shouldn’t be engaged with a teammate who would aggressively try and kill anyone. Whether that be them out there in the world, or anybody on this team. The fact that he only gutted me, that an expendable move to you? Or anyone else here? Or was I asking for it because I don’t have Atlantean physiology or a cybernetic body?” At this last point Quiver had let his own hurt feelings start to slip. He had heard what the others had said while he was making his way over from the infirmary.

“You say that, but believe he's threatened by you? What's obvious is that he doesn't trust you or Vincent. It's understandable. You're both new to the team. Strangers.” Viktor deduced.

"Well. Vincent's a stranger." She flicked a dull orange gaze at Will before addressing the room in general. "I think Viktor is on to something. I think… I think whatever is within KJ is triggered by…" Her hand ran through her dim curls. There was no way this was going to go well. "Look, I'm sorry for bringing this up now. Instead of… months back." No sense in drawing it out.

"In Atlantis, I saw it happen. We were fighting the Deluge, he and I. I got hurt, and he… changed." She picked at the hem of her borrowed scrubs. "I had to keep him from killing the person who hurt me." Forcing herself into his mind was never going to sit well with her, no matter how KJ felt about it.

Viktor leaned in, almost glaring at Kassy upon hearing her revelation. She knew about this?

"But here's the thing. He only changed when I got hurt. He went for the one who hurt me, none of who hurt him." Pick, pick, pick; the thread started to loosen. "I never put the pieces together until now. I'm not quite sure that I have."

Cora stopped floating around, and looked up over to Kassy. “But at the bank, he wasn’t with you, was he? You were on different teams, he had no way of knowing if you were hurt- Wait. Hold on a minute…”

She floated up onto her feet, “The robbers were using some weird weapons. Me, Quiver and Daphne were together when I got blasted by one of them with some sort of repulsor glove- It shot you with kinetic energy and just sent you backwards. I rounded up at least ten or more of their weapons- Viktor saw a couple of them. They were laser rifles, launchers for electrified bola things, and some weird signal emitter thing. That last one’s the only weird one out of those…I took it apart and learned it could cause someone to get real nauseous and disoriented real quick. Like scrambling someone’s brain. Maybe at the bank, he was hit with that?”

“Pei? Can you confirm or deny that?” Viktor posed to her with raised eyebrows before shooting a glare at Kassy again. He wasn't going to let what she said just seconds ago slip through the cracks.

Pei scratched her jaw. “The robber had a weird looking gun. I wasn’t in the room when he left. Only the civilians were. Not like he came after me or anything- he only went after the robbers. To be honest, I just thought he got really mad. When I walked to him afterwards, he said he could guide his anger. But to turn on his own teammates like that is downright… feral. There’s no way to control that.” Pei said, her voice solemn.

Kassy narrowed her eyes at Pei. "Feral." She pulled her phone from her pocket; the battery was about as drained as she was. Still, she had enough energy to look up the word. "...Are you fucking kidding me, Iceburn?" She spat the curse like a bone stuck in her throat.

Silently, Cora was thinking to herself, Well, she’s dead.

Pei blinked. “What? Sorry.” Sorry that she offended Kassy somehow. “Wh- what word would you use?”

Kassy raised her chin. "Uncharacteristic, perhaps? Unusual? Maybe something that doesn't treat him like a mindless monster?" There was a bite to her tone that only Viktor would have been truly familiar with. The voice of a soft soul at the end of her limit.

Pei was flustered. “Well, geez, lady. He only put two of us in the hospital. They’d be here right now if they weren’t so silly.” She laughed nervously, trying to lighten the mood to get that bite off her.

“Mirage why don’t you give Iceburn half the amount of grace you’re giving Metamorph?” Quiver said, at this point laying back in his chair with his eyes closed. It took an effort to speak up more but he was getting angrier at the situation by the second.

“Whether or not Metamorph was conscious of it or not, he DID those things and he had no control over it. And those actions by definition were feral. Let’s not pretend there’s some high ground in this situation when you’ve kept the fact he’s done this even BEFORE the bank. And YOU-“ Quiver turned to Rain, pointing a bandaged finger at him.

“YOU even knew he had some sort of dual personality. Apparently before even HE knew. Don’t you think you owed it to him to tell him? And now there’s potentially this third person, who has no issue with going into a bloody rage and attacking anyone who isn’t a romantic interest?”

“I'd correct you but I'm sure everyone else knows you have no idea what you're talking about.” Viktor shot back.

"Why are you all treating KJ like a child?!" The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them. "HE KNOWS! He's the smartest of all of us, by far, of course he knows!" Her eyes were growing dark with fury. "I thought he had lost his temper in Atlantis! That's all, and given my own fuck-ups, I forgot about it until the bank." Her voice was trembling, as well as her fists. "And do you know why I didn't say anything, hm?" She glared between Viktor and Will. "Because I trusted him to handle himself, more than I trusted any of you to handle it!"

“Um… He-”

“Doubt it.” Viktor's eyes met Kassy's, his expression unwavering. “You didn't say anything because you were afraid. We both know what happened when you lost control. We both know what the League let happen to you. I said my piece on this matter.” Viktor reached down to grab his things before standing up. “It's clear that none of you have additional answers to Kila and Ja's problem, yes?” He asked, swiveling his head around to see if anyone had anything new to add to the conversation.

“Is that what this is? You’re looking for us to give you answers?” Quiver eyed Rain now standing as if to leave the lounge.

“Or is this getting a little too tough for you, worrying you made a bad judgment call? You’re quick to point out lapses in the rest of us, but what about yours?” Quiver struggled to his feet, just about the time when Mirage spoke up again, pulling his and Rain’s attention back to her.

Kassy's fists trembled. "Of course I'm afraid for him, you fool, he doesn't deserve to be treated like…" A barely audible whine from her bracelet stalled her tongue. "...Look. Forget everything else but this. I don't think it's feral, or out of control. He's doing that in response to something. What, I don't know."

Viktor shook his head at Kassy. He couldn't speak to her like this. Not when her guard seemed so high against him. He would have simply left, but Will's words pricked at him enough to bring a response.

“You have no place to talk. Coming from someone who left the team
when things got tough. It's easy for you to discard any one of us. It's who you are, Quiver.” As tense as it was between the two, Viktor and Will's spat was just the eye of the storm that was to come.

Pei glanced back and forth between the three of them, nervous, making some mental calculation. She stepped towards Kass. “Kass, you’re tired.” She said, trying to be helpful. “You should probably get some sleep? We can figure it out.”

”That wasn’t Kila…”

Kass snorted, her ire choosing a new target. "You want me to leave him alone with someone who keeps treating him like he's broken? No thank you."

“No, I just- think you should get some sleep.” Pei said. She glanced at the two guys who were really getting into it with each other and frowned.

”Stop it. All of you- Just STOP IT!” Cora shouted, and her hair started floating as if it had a mind of its own. ”Aside from me, Pei and Vince, you all have known each other for what, a year? Two? Something like that? You’re all friends and you’ve risked your lives together, and you’ve saved each other probably a hundred times, but now you’re all acting like you’re ready to kill each other! Kassy’s just trying to tell you that Metamorph’s not a fucking animal! He’s our friend, so why’s this the time when you guys start hating each other?!”

And now, her hands were shaking too.

Viktor simply sighed before walking from the lounge but deliberately made his way by Kassy.

“We'll talk after you rest,” He declared as he passed her on his way out.

Kassy cast Viktor an icy look, but there was nothing she could say to him at the moment. Instead, she nodded to Cora. "Thank you, Cora. I'm glad someone here has proper hearing." A ghost of a smile played on her lips. "...I need a bath." With that, she exited, not bothering to mask her steps.

“Good talk everyone.” Zach finally said. Then he pulled out his phone and started texting Mateo.

Cora turned and practically balked at Zach for tuning the entire fucking situation out. Between that and the others just walking away… She was a little frustrated.

”Okay. Yeah, sure, good talk. If everyone else is gonna throw shit fits and try to lock their friends up like they’re circus animals, then I’m gonna go and do something productive.” Cora spun around and stormed out of the room. She wasn’t going to talk to Batman about this, her time around Viktor made her doubt the big guy. But she was going to figure this out somehow, for Metamorph’s sake first and the team’s sake second.

Pei tossed her hands up, looking around. It was just her and Quiver now. “That wasn’t a good talk at all!” She sat down on the floor next to her teammate.

“I don’t know why people are getting more worked up about the idea of Metamorph getting benched than the fact of you nearly getting gored.” She laid on her back, setting her hands on her forehead.

“I used to be a firefighter.” She said. ”If I had a teammate who was the most helpful, bravest, most courageous and talented firefighter in the world, but every once in a while he had the chance to burst into flames? It doesn’t matter! It shouldn’t be personal to…do something about that, right?”

Quiver looked down at his teammate. So far, he was impressed with her abilities as a superhero. And her appearance was striking from the get-go. Her pale blue skin, and her ever changing hair color. Team reports described her as loud and brash, but in this moment among the whole team, Quiver felt that she was demonstrating a real maturity, even if she didn’t feel like she was getting her words out the way she wanted to. He was impressed with her as a hero. Using her abilities to do good as a firefighter in a past life? Not all heroes did that. That said a lot about her as a person.

“Maybe his feelings are more important to them. I guess that’s just the way it goes sometimes. They know him better than they know me, they are a lot closer. I don’t really know how to say this. I feel crossed up. It’s like I understand why they would feel that way. He’s their friend. But at the same time, it doesn’t make me feel…good?”

Quiver tried to smile, managed what he thought was something of a successful one. Pei smiled back; It came easy to her.

“Yeah, I can imagine that doesn’t feel great. Cora and Vincent are new like me, but I don’t think they’ve been on teams before.” She mused. “Trust is the most important thing. Of all of us, you had that trust broken the most. It’s a really big deal, we can’t just brush that off.” She rubbed her face, sighing. ”This isn’t how I pictured it at all, to be honest.”

“A-anyway. You need help getting back to the infirmary, Quiver?” She stood up.

“Help? Me? You’re talking to the guy who went one on one with Kill-Mode Kila. I can handle mys-”as he tried to stand up he immediately felt woozy, a rush to his head, and had to grab the back of the couch for support.

“You know on second thought, I think I may have opened up a stitch or two.”

Pei went in to grab and steady his shoulders for support. “Whoopsy!”

“Err, I mean…oh, shit!” She laughed a bit. “Let’s get those stitches back in so you can get back to handling yourself.”

“You all done yelling at each other yet? You people need a snickers.” Zach said without looking up from his phone. “I’m concerned about Kila too, but we’re not going to accomplish it by arguing with each other.”

“Well, Zach, we’d get even less accomplished if we just ignored the problem. The arguments’ll happen either way. Clearly!” Pei indicated the now mostly empty room around them with the arm that wasn’t on Quiver.

“Not like I wanted that to turn into an argument…I just had to do a little shouting. That’s not weird, right? Sometimes you just gotta yell your feelings? Ah, damn it.” She murmured to herself, though Quiver could definitely hear her.
beans
Quiver was grateful for the support, both emotionally and physically. Hearing Pei work out her own thoughts and feelings out loud reminded him of himself, back during his struggles for communication and otherwise.

“Shouting is acceptable in this line of work. There’s a lot to yell about. The others were too hard on you for being concerned. For what it’s worth, I didn’t think you were being unreasonable. I don’t even think you were insulting Metamorph himself. The whole thing is just fucked. And a lot of this team is walking a thin line between supporters and enablers. Or don’t know the difference between the two.”

She smiled at Quiver, but at that last sentence her mouth formed a small ‘o’. “Woah…that’s deep.” Pei said, guiding him out of the room to where he could get some rest.

---

Cora was a touch disappointed with the way things had gone post-mission. It made sense to keep KJ off of the missions, but the others were way too willing to write Metamorph off as a monster, or just a bad person. Of course they were upset, and of course Cora understood why they were. But he wasn’t broken. He just needed help, and nothing they did would happen without him there, or with his input.

Cora couldn’t imagine how he was feeling. But she was going to figure it out. Gently, she knocked on his door. Several seconds of silence followed.

Then, a voice came through the door, slightly muffled. ”…Yes, Sparky?” It was close, as if right on the other side. His tone seemed calm but rather cautious in manner for the typically confident meta.

”Hey… I wanted to see how you’re feeling. Can I come in?” She asked, gently.

”Oh…sure, yeah.”

The door tugged open to the interior of KJ’s room. Animal patterned carpets lined the floor. A wing chun dummy stood guard near the entrance and across near the window sat a bean bag chair. Guitars lined the wall opposite the closet, above a bed that didn’t seem used. At least not as the hammock that hung in a corner of the ceiling, which seemed to be decorated with painted handprints.

The boy himself was nowhere to be seen, that is, unless one were to look up and see him scaling across the ceiling like a lizard. He stopped on the wall near the window, sitting to face her.

”Is everyone okay?”

”They will be. Everyone else keeps talking about what to do with you, and how they’re upset. But no one said anything about how you’re feeling.” Cora looked up at Ja, concern was etched on her face, but not anger, or frustration. ”No one else stopped to ask, “How does he feel after that?” You shouldn’t have to be alone right now.”

The bushbaby’s lips pursed, shifting a little on the wall uncomfortably. ”I’m…not in pain in the body. Kassy made sure. His hands clasped the sides of his head and shut his eyes.

”I…I couldn’t stop the Beast from hurting my teammates…” His head shook. ”I couldn’t stop it…but…there is something else that is keeping me awake at night.”

”You can’t be blamed for something that’s not in your control. What’s on your mind? You can tell me, I won’t tell the others if you don’t want to.” She stepped out of the doorway, and closed the door behind her.

”Red Robot told me that I sometimes will have bad memories rush at me, like a dream while I am awake. A ‘flash-back’ in english.” He sighed, only looking down at Cora for a moment before looking back through the wall.

”I have had them before, many times…but this was different…On the mission…I think…I fear I heard something, before the Beast took over. Something from…home.

”From home? What is it? I thought you couldn’t remember much from then.”

”…I don’t remember much from Zambesi…I was taken when I was very little…Buredunia though…that is where I was trained…Where I spent most of my life…where a lot of…”

Cora floated up to eye level with him, but he seemed to look on through her.

”A lot of…?”

”A lot of bad things happened…I didn’t know they were…not until my amai found me….” Ja blinked, now focusing on the blue hues of his silver-haired teammate’s eyes.

”…amai promised they wouldn’t hurt me anymore…That things with the Justice League would be different…but they are feeling more the same…Now that the Beast is back…I don’t want to be locked away. Not again.” His eyes aimed to the floor.

”Not… Not again? Ja, did- Did someone imprison you? Because of the Beast, and not because of you? I won’t let them do that to you. You are not the Beast.-”

”No, Sparky. I am…I was locked away because they wanted to control it…but they can’t…No one can…except me. I just…I don’t know how.”

”Maybe we can find a way. Back at the bank mission, one of the robbers had a weapon that fired a subsonic wave meant to disorient people. I saw it and dismantled it in the lab. I found out that it caused a person’s brain to… Confuse itself. The brain tells the body what to do with electrical signals, everything from movement to being asleep. Were you affected by something like that?”

Ja paused to think but through pursed lips, he shut his eyes and shook his head. ”Those are many of what I do not remember…when I try…my head hurts and becomes filled with fog.”

”Okay…” Cora knew about the fact that Ja couldn’t remember things that Kila did completely, or the other way around. She couldn’t frame it that way, this wasn’t the time to tell him that. ”Have you ever been able to remember things that happened when the Beast was in control? Or the specific circumstances that happened just before then?” Smooth.

Ja slowly nodded. ”The memories usually come back to haunt me in time…”

”If you don’t want to talk about them, that’s okay. But, can you think of anything common? A certain something that usually always happens at the start? Something happening to you, a certain sight or sound. At the shootout, the gangs started attacking each other, there was that wounded guy. Anything like that, maybe?”

”I am unsure…Last mission has not fully come to me yet…the other times…the situations are different.” A small groan of discomfort grumbled from within his diaphragm; the sound of an orangutan. ”The pain is getting worse…”

”…Ja, have you had anything to eat today?”

The question actually seemed to jar him from his lost expression of seconds ago into something more of a soft humored smile. ”I…suppose I forgot to.”

If she had discernible pupils, they might have given away some of the concern Cora was feeling. ”Okay. Before you do anything else, you’re eating. We’ll figure this out after. C’mon, let's find something.”

---

Vincent’s bare fists slammed against the punching bag, each punch fueled by his anger. At first, his mind focused on the debriefing, how almost everyone was so ready to, the way he saw it, punish KJ for something he didn’t do. In hindsight, however much he didn’t want to admit it, he knew they were right. It would be best if he didn’t join them on any missions, at least until he could get…whatever that was under control. But that wasn’t why he was pissed.

He knew why he was angry. The real reason. He was furious with himself. Furious at letting himself end up in the position he did, furious at the way his ribs screamed at him with every breath. He was angry that he had let himself be weak, again, like he was when his parents were killed or when he didn’t stand up to himself when his cousins were being cruel, or when–

He grit his teeth and let out a roar as he slammed his fist into the punching bag with all he had. He felt his knuckles split open as the bag bounced on its chain, but other than the warm blood that seeped from his knuckles, he hardly felt it. He stood there, breathing heavily as he glared at his shaking hand, irritated that he couldn’t tell if it was shaking from anger, pain, or something else.

Pei peeked around the corner of the gym. When he wasn’t in the training area or the infirmary, she guessed he might be in the gym. He didn’t seem to be the type to lock himself in his room. Compressing her lips, she saw the emotional state he was in. Screaming and punching himself bloody. Not great signs. A far cry from the happy-go-lucky guy she first chatted too about fighting Nightwing. It was a little scary. She stepped back, took a deep breath to compose herself, and then stepped into the gym.

She walked slowly, meanderingly, taking steps to the side. Slow, unsteady progress towards him. ”Hey, buddy. How, uh, how ya holdin’ up?” She asked.

Hearing Pei’s voice, Vincent looked up from his hand. Pulled from his thoughts, his body reminded him that he was injured and he winced. Unsure of whether to rub his knuckles or his ribs, he settled for both, rubbing his ribs with his injured hand while he placed his other hand on top. ”Peachy,” he grumbled. He was quiet for a few moments after that, then asked, ”Did you guys decide what to do?”

Locking and unlocking her fingers, Pei grimaced. ”Well, yeah. We gotta bench him, Vincent.” She said quietly. ”Are you mad?”

A long sigh, then Vincent spoke. ”No. No, not about that. It sucks, but I understand why we have to. I just hope he understands, too.”

He walked over to one of the benches against the wall and slowly sat down with a groan. ”Damn ribs,” he muttered, more to himself than anything. To Pei, he added, ”Sorry I blew up like that. I’ve never had the greatest handle on my temper and I’ve got shit on my mind, so…yeah.”

Pei brightened. Vincent had given her an opening. She planned on taking it. She plopped herself down next to him, swinging her legs a little. Reaching into a zipped bag in a belt around her waist, a fanny bag if you will, she produced a first aid kit.

”So, you’re not mad about that. But if I had to hazard a guess, you’re definitely mad about something. That shit on your mind; Could I take a look?” She asked, absent-mindedly fiddling with some soap to clean Vincent’s cut knuckles.

”Gonna have to take a look at that, too.” She murmured so quietly Vincent could barely hear her.

Then she spoke up again. ”My dad says: Words have weight. You gotta say the words you’re thinking, otherwise your head’ll get too heavy and you’ll fall over. Something like that, anyway. Kind of like a bunch of people were doing out there in that AAR. Just hopefully less scary this time.” She said with a little smile.

Vincent looked at the soap in Pei’s hand, then down at his own hand before he held it out to her. ”Go nuts,” he said with a shrug. A moment later, he added, ”Thanks, I mean.”

”Oh, uh. Okay. We’d have to get it washed and stuff, too.” She muttered, wrapping his hand with some Justice League supplied bandages. ”If nothing else it’ll stop all the dripping.”

After that, he was quiet for a little while. On the one hand, he hardly knew Pei and he wasn’t sure about baring his soul to someone who was essentially a stranger. Though, on the other hand, after their first one-on-one talk, he could consider her the first friend he made since he had joined the team. He sighed quietly, then said, ”I hate feeling weak. If I have to die, I don’t mind it so long as I’m on my feet and I can do something about it. But when I was pinned on my back, underneath whatever Kila had become…I was as helpless as I was the night my parents died…”

Pei bit her lip. She set her hand on Vincent’s shoulder and stared into the middle distance, trying to choose her next words carefully. Both the AAR and her conversation with Kila after the bank had been playing on loop in her memory. Clearly, if she was capable of choosing the right words, she hadn’t done it yet. Her heart rattled against the bars of her ribcage. Do something right for once! It can’t be that hard, right?

”Uhh…hey. I’m sorry that happened.” Pei said. Still not really sure what else to say to someone’s trauma. But she still felt like she had something to offer. ”But no way you’re weak. I don’t really buy that. Losing doesn’t make you weak, y’know. When you’re a superhero, you’re taking hits for people who can’t take them for themselves. That means you’re gonna fall over sometimes.” Pei said.

”Maybe even a lot times.” She added.

”I get what you’re saying and I appreciate it,” Vincent replied, ”but it’s not just the fact that I lost that’s getting to me, it’s the way I lost.”

He sighed and looked at his hand. ”The Old Man got me as far as he could, he quietly said. ”I wouldn’t be who I am without him and what he did for me…but it’s not enough, not anymore.” His fingers curled and he clenched his fist. ”I need to talk to Nightwing. If anyone can help me get stronger, it’s gotta be the bat’s first sidekick.”

”I mean, go for it. By all means.” Pei said. ”Nothing wrong with, y’know, training montages. Running up and down mountains, doing handstands on wooden poles at the top of a mountain. Carrying water in two pots up a mountain. Lots of mountains. Maybe if you found a training mountain- y’know we live on a mountain now.” At that last revelation Pei gasped and smacked Vincent’s shoulder with the back of her hand.

”Still might lose, though. In embarrassing ways. Like running into a burning building, bonking your head on one of those pull-up bars some people put in their door frames, not realizing it dislodged your mask and then passing out on the stairs. Just uh, y’know, as a hypothetical example.” Pei said.

Vincent looked at Pei for a few long moments before he finally burst out into laughter. ”Can you…can you imagine? I go flying into a fight, like at the docks, ready to fight, and get taken out by a fucking crane?”

Pei grinned wide, doing an exaggerated shrug. ”I dunno! It could be dark!” She laughed.

He probably laughed more than he should have, but given how he had been feeling since the previous night, he didn’t care. He felt himself relax and the anger he had been feeling all morning fade, not completely, but enough to not be so intrusive at the moment. He wiped his eyes, gave Pei a pat on the back, and said, ”Thanks, Pei. I needed that.”

Pei was over the moon. ”Always happy to do a help. To help.” She said.

”Think you might be done with boxing practice for the day, or..?” Pei asked.

”Yeah, I think so,” Vincent said as he looked down at his bandaged hand and added, ”I gotta go get this treated and figure out lunch for everyone. Might cobble together a pizza or something. Other than that, thanks for coming to check on me, Pei. I appreciate it.”

Pei stood up and saluted. ”What are friends for, right? Good luck with the treatment. And the cobbled pizza.” Pei said. ”I’m gonna head on out.”

Rounding the corner and out of Vincent’s sight, Pei pumped her fists. ”Yesss!” She raised them victoriously. ”Iceburn!”

---

“But that’s the thing, Cain, it’s what he does…”
Daphne entered the gym and beelined to the boxing area, throwing down her bag with a huff. She took out her hand wraps and started to put them on. She was wearing a matching pink two-piece set, white sneakers, and her hair was tied into two French braids.
“He does something nice to lure you back in. It makes you think that this time he’s finally making an effort. Only to disappoint you even more…”

“I know Daph. I just didn’t think it was this bad. Maybe I haven’t noticed it because he’s been so obsessed with you and his work the last couple of months. He asked me how things were at the car shop. He thinks I’m a mechanic, he doesn’t even remember I’ve been a firefighter for nearly a year now.”

“You know what it is Cain…” Daphne could feel herself getting angry again while putting on her custom boxing gloves. She started hitting the sandbag not really minding her technique. As the conversation continued so did her ferocity.
“We shouldn’t have to explain to him how to be a dad”

“He should just be our dad!”

Daphne threw all of her weight into the next punch. It made her headphones fly out and tumble onto the gym floor. Cain luckily did not catch her swearing. She immediately recoiled feeling a sharp pain in her wrist.

“And you should be less reckless.” A hand scooped up one of her earbuds. Viktor held the earbuds in his palm with his eyes slightly furrowed. “She's fine, Cain.” Viktor commented to the earbud. Viktor was dressed in all black, wearing a tank top, athletic shorts, and a pair of Flash Free running shoes. The light beads of sweat on his face revealed he had already been using the vast gym within Mount Justice.

Daphne disconnected her earbuds and used her good hand to continue talking to Cain while glancing sideways at Viktor.
“Yes that was Viktor….”
“No you can’t….what do you want to say?”
“Can you calm down for a second…”

“No…”
She ended the call and tossed the phone back into the half-opened gym bag on the bench next to her. Sitting down she let out a sigh. With her other hand, she managed to peel off the boxing glove. Her hand seemed fine, slightly red was all.

Both Daphne and Viktor had been in the gym more frequently than usual. Daphne only started to pick up on this after she made the gym part of her routine. No matter what time she would go, Viktor was always there. Either arriving at the same time as her or already mid-workout. He usually exercised daily but since Alisa's departure and Kilamanjaro's incident, Viktor had increased his frequency by five. Something indeed impossible by the average person but due to the young hero's healing factor, Viktor could take advantage of his quick recovery speed. He had to become stronger, faster, and more capable in combat than he had been previously. At least that's how he reasoned it.

Daphne was curious why he did this. It felt more difficult than usual to start up a conversation with him too. She had her suspicions as to what might be going on with him. Deciding to bite the bullet she looked up at him.

“So…you’ve been in here a lot lately…” She said as he took a seat beside her.

Viktor handed her earbuds over while examining her hand.

“I have.” He answered plainly. “Surprisingly, so have you.” He grabbed her wrist and held up her reddish hand and with his other hand, he lightly traced a finger over her palm.

Daphne's skin tingled and she closed her eyes. A foreign feeling came over her. Her heart was beating faster and she felt her cheeks getting hot. At the same time, there was something familiar about this interaction, she couldn't put her finger on it.

She tried to pull her hand back but it was like her body wasn't listening. What she did next surprised her too.

Reaching up to Viktor's head she ran her hand through the front of his slightly damp hair. He nearly flinched, not expecting her to do that.
"Your hair's getting long"

His usual spiky hair was starting to fold down a little. Daphne liked the way it looked but Viktor slightly narrowed his eyes at the stated observation.

“And your hands are callusing.” Viktor gently returned her hand. There was a long silence between the two, yet it wasn't unsettling or a sign of detachment. It was a calm moment that the two didn't think they needed until it occurred. “Why… Why are you training this hard? Th-There's nothing wrong with it.” He was quick to soften his approach. “It's just, I know I'm doing it and I hope you're not doing the same. Trading one pain for another.”

“I want to be stronger.” She replied confidently. With everything that had happened to her and the Team in the last two months, she was now more determined than ever to not be a burden. Her answer being a desire to improve should have relieved Viktor but all it did was make him feel alone on his set path.

However, Daphne was getting better at reading between the lines with Viktor. It wasn’t easy, but she was picking up on his cues, which revealed bits and pieces of his otherwise hidden inner world. Trading one pain for another. That’s why he was here all the time. Alisa was his friend, maybe even….

She glanced to her side. In his own way, he looked downcast, maybe even sad. Seeing him like this tugged at her heartstrings. The pity was all over her face so she resumed staring at the punching bag.

After another short silence, she got up to get something from her bag. It was a water bottle with painted flowers on it. One of the gifts that Alisa gave her when she was in a coma. A gift that showed Alisa always hoped Daphne would recover and she did.

There were a lot of things the teen girls had in common. Most of them were either terrible or traumatizing, usually both.

“I miss Alisa….”

She took a sip and stayed quiet, tracing her fingers over the flowers on the water bottle. Viktor kept silent and his head slightly dipped up on hearing his best friend's name.

Maybe he doesn’t want to talk about it now….

“I miss her too…” Viktor sounded so different, his voice projecting so quietly and weakly. His eyes hadn't even met Daphne's as he spoke. “It's not as bad as when she was destroyed but it still… hurts. Then there's Kila and Ja… I very easily said I wanted them to be benched but I just want them to get better. Until then and without Alisa… I have to be stronger.” His words were similar to Daphne's but he made it seem obligatory.

Daphne shifted closer so she could lean her head against his shoulder. He almost moved but before he could, he realized the comfort was something he wanted as well. It didn't completely take away from how he felt, but Daphne's closeness put him at ease.

“I wish we could just go back to our first week. We didn’t have the weight of the world on our shoulders yet. Everyone would still be together, not caged, comatose, or destroyed. Our biggest problem was me choking Talon by accident.” She chuckled, but it was half-hearted and misplaced. Viktor nodded along with her until he noticed her awkward laugh slowly turned into quiet sobs. It looked like there was no stopping the waterworks. Daphne tried to talk through the crying while getting a towel to wipe her face.

“Da-” He didn't get his words out as he shifted himself so he could look at her. Viktor wasn't sure what he should say or what to even do.

“I…I’m so… ss-sorry.” She sniffed. “This all just sucks…I–I wa–wanted to make you fe-feel better.”
Her chest heaved after taking a couple of shuddered breaths. All the while, Viktor was speechless. He felt as if a precious tree that was Daphne had suddenly started to fall against him. He could move out of the way. It was something he figured he would have done in the past, during the “easier” times Daphne mentioned. However, Viktor wouldn't do such a thing now, even with such a clueless look on his face “I’m sorry I’m usually not like this” Daphne apologized again as he sat ever so still.

“I’ve barely slept this past week and I'm on my period too.”

P-Period?

And now Viktor felt entirely ill-equipped for the task at hand. Lost for words and his mind muddled, he simply acted. Reaching around her, Viktor embraced Daphne with a hug.

“You don't need to apologize, Daph… It takes a lot of strength to be that honest.” Viktor took a deep breath. This wasn't so hard. It was foreign to him but it felt natural to try to put Daphne at ease.

The feeling of two arms pulling her in surprised Daphne.
Viktor is hugging me…..
The firm but gentle way in which he held her, steadied the whirlwind of emotions inside her. His closeness made her feel safe and protected. This moment seemed familiar, but she would have remembered something like this happening….right?

This was a far cry from where they started. He didn’t make her feel like she didn’t belong or that he was only doing this because of a mission objective. Viktor was being considerate of her feelings and he was making an attempt to comfort her.

“We… We are all hurting but… we can get through this. There's no going back, so it's better to move forward the best we can. One day at a time, right Daph?”

One day at a time….
Something connected and a memory came rushing back. It was a mixture of not just images but strong sensory impressions. The skin on her right shoulder and upper arm tingled. Daphne gently moved away from Viktor’s arms so she could turn around and face him. They looked at each other and her eyes searched his. There was so much she wanted to say, but didn’t know how to. Instead, she took his hand softly and guided his finger across her collarbone and her arm, his eyes following as she recreated her resurfaced memory.
“One day at a time…”

“Yes?” Viktor felt lost for a moment, perking up one of his eyebrows before he realized what Daphne was doing. She couldn't have…

“You remember.” His eyes averted from her as he tried to recall every time he visited Daphne while she dwelled as a tree. He reached up to touch his face which was becoming unfamiliarly warm.

Daphne similarly turned away, staring at her hands. Reality started to set in. She quickly let go of Viktor’s hand. She talked while staring at the gym equipment behind them.
“I do. This is the first time I remember something specific. Usually, it’s just……”
“Feelings…” She finished in a softer voice. It was something she still didn’t understand herself, but this memory seemed to explain a part of it.

How or why she didn’t know, but her feelings for Viktor had changed. Ever since she woke up from her coma, seeing and talking to him was different. He still made her nervous, but not in the same way as he did before. A blush formed on her cheeks.

“Apologies.” He sat and leaned forward with a sigh. “I was there a lot. Perhaps too much… Pestering you… every single day.” He whispered the last admittance. “I was cruel in the beginning.” He looked at her from the corner of his eye. “I blamed you. For your state. For the outcome of the mission in your absence. So I apologize.”

She reclaimed the spot next to him on the gym bench. There was a forlorn look on her face.
“It’s okay…”
“I blame myself too….sometimes I think it would be better if….”
“If it was me instead of Alisa.”

Viktor silently shook his head. At this point in the months he's been with everyone on the team, he didn't see any better option for someone leaving the team. It was Kila who truly opened his eyes to that. Links in a chain.

“And…” Daphne played with the ends of her braids, searching for the right words. She was going to admit to something scary. Scared of what it meant.
“I was happy you were there. There were times when I couldn’t tell my own thoughts apart from the Green. I was scared I would lose my mind and not even realize it. It would be like I never existed.”

“I don’t think I would have made it back on my own….”
Not without you…

“Everyone that could, contributed to your recovery.” Viktor stood up from the bench but kept his eyes on her. “And making it back with help, isn't a bad thing. It just means we helped you realize your strength. The Red. The Green. To rein in such powerful things is remarkable.” Viktor reached out his hand to her. “To still be amicable with someone like me after the things I've said and done, is even more so.” There was a slight smile on his face. A smile of reassurance to show Daphne things weren't so grim. The team was lacking the glue that kept them together but the strength of their bonds was not so easily dissipated.

---

An entire day had passed after the AAR before Viktor found it appropriate to approach Kassy regarding KJ. This discussion between them was long overdue due to the sensitivity of the topic. Even as he walked to Kassy's room, he wondered if he was making the right call. Kassy had already gone to see KJ earlier and would be gearing up to go about the rest of her morning. Now was a better time than ever but he could feel something pushing against his advance. An apprehension. A fear.

It won't deter me. He reached the door and gave it three very firm knocks. “Kassy, it's Viktor. Do you have time to talk?”

There was quiet for several moments before Kassy’s voice hit his ears. "Yes, I suppose." The door opened to reveal the worn-looking girl. She didn't bother faking a smile. "I'm so tired… do you think you could make me some Atlantean coffee?" Truthfully it was more almond milk and sugar than coffee, but it didn't leave her crazy.

"We are overdue for a chat, aren't we?"

“We are.” Viktor was frowning at her current appearance. He folded his arms across his chest. “But you were supposed to get rest, Kass.” He should have expected that Kassy wouldn't have. A low grunt escaped him before he spoke again. “This can wait.” It wasn't what he wanted but Viktor didn't want to push the topic of interest if Kassy was tired.

"I… tried." She shrugged mildly. There was no point in discussing the nightmares that had shattered her sleep before she simply gave up.

"Let’s just get this done." With that said, she stepped past him. She was unbearably thirsty.

“Fine.” Viktor almost said begrudgingly as he followed behind her. “Kila and Ja. You and I. We both know things about their mind… You know how I feel about solving problems myself but… I need your help. And that starts with you telling me everything you know about his mind.” Viktor had tried to be softer with how he rolled his words out but he wanted to get to the point.

Kassy was quiet as they walked to the kitchen. She pulled out a large jug of what looked like water, labeled 'mermaid juice' in loopy, bubbly handwriting. (Zach had insisted on the name.) She popped the lid open and didn't bother with a cup, drinking straight from it. Almost 30 seconds later, it was empty and she felt marginally more sociable.

"I'm sure you do need my help. But I'm not telling you anything until you tell me exactly what you mean by solving problems." She tipped her chin up, her tired gaze still resolute. "If you're in agreement with anything Pei said, I'll not waste your time and go back to bed." She strode to the sink, putting the jug under the faucet. Viktor held back the desire to scowl at her back. He was not a fan of how everyone was looking at this scenario. There was too much emotion stewing in it for his liking. Too many extremes.

"Do you want to fix him? Or do you want to help him?"

“Quit it with that, alright. Fixing is solving. Helping is solving. Adding a different tone to choice words isn't getting anyone anywhere. We both know Pei is a poor orator so I'm not going to entertain whether or not I agree with what she said.” Now he was scowling… “It's as simple as this. Ja and Kila have an issue and they need our help. Benching them is just the beginning of what might happen. I don't want what happens next. Do you agree with that?”

"..." Kassy balked slightly at Viktor's words. He was right. Completely right - it was so obvious a cavefish could see it.

"No, I don't. I can't let him keep hurting, or hurt anyone else." The jug was overflowing. "I won't let the League lock him away." She shut the water off and lifted the very full jug. Water slopped on the floor; her hands were trembling. Viktor sighed, more so at himself for laying out how felt with such rawness.

“Kass…” He decided it might be best not to make the situation any worse. “They won't… We both know Ja and Kila respectively better than most. Two personas inhabiting the same body. Ja is deeply in tune with the Red. Kika, not so much but he seems to have a tighter grasp on his training with the BSF. The 'Red Beast' is what I believe we've been dealing with. What he's been dealing with… And you faced it twice, correct?” Viktor was aware of the closeness of Kass and KJ. This felt like a Hail Mary, but Viktor felt Kassy was a paramount piece to some sort of solution.

"I didn't realize what it was until recently. I should have, but…" She shook her head. "When he changed in Atlantis, it wasn't like now. He didn’t seem to be in the same sort of pain. Instead, he was just… furious. I got hurt, and he was at my defense before I could recover." Grabbing some paper towels, she wiped the wet floor, the rest of her story slipping free.

"I thought he was going to break that man's neck. So I … stopped him from the inside." The reluctance in her voice was palpable. Even now, what she had done didn't sit right. "There hadn't been enough time for another plan. I hated myself for it, but… he didn't." She straightened up, a soft look in her eyes.

"He thanked me for it. He said he'd… lost control." A half smile lit her face. "Heh. Ironic, right? I terrify an entire auditorium and he's the one who…" The smile flickered. Her thoughts spun, a whirlpool of things she'd been too close to see properly. "Viktor, if he lost control, wouldn't that mean he had it before?"

“Exactly…” Viktor was about to continue but felt the need to say something to her “I… I can hear the guilt in your voice. You didn't do anything wrong. At least not in my eyes.” Letting loose a sigh, he stepped closer to her. “Yes, I scolded you for not talking about this but I understand why.” Viktor made a curt nod toward her bracelet. “I am also prepared for you to return the favor…” He knew Kassy would set him straight if it needed to be done.

“I have been thinking about Ja and Kila for a while… months. I knew his mind was divided in a way but I was curious as I am with most things, especially concerning my team. So the Red Beast having already existed prior to the last two missions isn't a surprise to me. The way reacted toward the team… also isn't a surprise to me.” Viktor let that sink in before what he was about to explain next. He was being careful with taking his time with this. Ever so careful.

Kassy straightened up, silent in the wake of Viktor's blunt honesty. Love it or hate it, she always knew where she stood with him. "You're leagues ahead of me, aren't you?" She chuckled, then peered up at him sharply. "And what did I tell you before? Strike, or don't." This was said with a smile. "There's more, right?"

“Yes, there's more. And I don't know if it's leagues ahead but the goal here is to put both of us on equal ground concerning our friend.” He narrowed his eyes at her before his lip formed a slight smirk. “And you're correct. I shouldn't hesitate with you. You can take it.” Viktor rolled his shoulders as he felt his tenseness ease.

“Kila, Ja, and the Red Beast all inhabit one body. While one is free, the others are held back.” Viktor pressed his fingers together like a cage but… “It's like they're inside of a house and everything outside of it is… the rest of the world. Kila comes out. Ja goes inside, watching from… a window. Ja can remember what Kila was engaged in but from a limited perspective, so to speak. They've been swapping places, so it makes sense that they've formed similar connections. To me, Kila is almost like a rivaling close-in-age brother, while Ja is more like a whimsical younger brother… I don't have any siblings but…” Viktor's eyes lowered, feeling his lapse in knowing that type of bond could make his words seem empty. “Nevermind. What's important is that the Red Beast has been kept inside. I believe that it doesn't know what's supposed to happen when it's out. It just reacts. I don't know why it attacked Quiver or Talos but, I know them. They strike first. Even if they didn't, I'm sure they were prepared to…. I think we should try to communicate with the Red Beast. Maybe there's some way to meet it in the middle or teach it or just make it understand what it's causing.” His last bit of words gave off a subtle tone of desperation.

"I don't know, Viktor. I understand what you want to achieve, but… the only way to reach the Beast involves drawing him out of Ja. It hurts him, so that's not an option." She started to pace the kitchen. "I've been researching in my downtime. There are things that can cause… conditions… like he’s going through. The issue is that the more professional sources all point to one thing."

“Strike.” He requested, though his expression was serious now.

"The movies get it wrong. Though that's no surprise… there is no 'evil split personality', basically. Even the harsh ones are made for self-protection." She could only hope that Viktor would understand. "Whatever the Red Beast is… he's not evil. He is protecting Kilamanjaro, possibly the only way he knows how."

“But with that truth, it only makes more sense to communicate with it- the other persona. I read the post-mission report. You were able to talk him down…” Viktor reached for Kassy's arm and held it up, showing the bracelet in all its glory. “Without your powers. You assured him that everything was fine. That there was no threat. I don't think I could accomplish the same on my own. Kila, Ja, and the Red Beast trust you more than anyone else. And if Ja allows it, and with preparation on our side, we can commune with the Red Beast safely. I thought of asking Daphne to join us but I don't want him to think she's there to sedate him.” Viktor realized he was still holding Kassy's arm and released it. “And don't worry, this is not something I would enact without your presence.”

“I feel the Red’s fury boiling within me; wanting to lash out at you. If my resolve to contain it weakens, and it becomes a threat to both you and Zach: Does that mean that your best option is to kill me?”

The words echoed in Viktor's mind. It likely hates me…

Kassy looked off, pushing at the bracelet like it burned her. "...we have to present other options. All of them, any of them. I don't want to risk hurting him."

“It's the only idea I have the most faith in but yes, we should have other options.” Viktor couldn't help but frown. “We can't suppress the third persona. I think that would be impossible. Kila and Ja also have no control over who comes out. Are we sure we wouldn't just permanently remove the wrong persona from the equation or worse, only have Ja or Kila left at the forefront… Then there's the option of going into their mind and confronting the Red Beast, a capability we don't have... Or perhaps, Ja could do it but then you'd have to think about how it views him.” Viktor was making short work of the ideas he was listing off. “I doubt he can convince a persona that lacks faith in his ability to protect himself..” Viktor shrugged. “Your turn.”

"I think… I think you're adding a thought and emotion where none exists." She paced the cold tile, trying to organize her mind. "Anger is not the same as hate. Anger is…" How had Black Canary put it? "What you express when you feel you've been wronged. When your boundaries have been crossed. If we consider that the Beast's main priority is to protect Kila and Ja… trust and faith don't figure into it." Since the bank, she'd been researching various aspects of psychology and the mind. It was all very fascinating to her. Granted, some of it was well beyond her understanding.

"And if that's the case… then that is why I was not attacked. I didn't push a boundary, or threaten." But there was a glaring hole in her theory.

"It doesn't quite fit right, though."

“So more one-tracked is what you're getting at. It doesn't have a primary objective to protect… Its only objective is to protect. But you also say that observation doesn't fit. Why?” Viktor's manner of speaking always seemed like daggers were flying off his tongue but Kassy knew it was simply his typical directness. He raised an eyebrow inquisitively to hear her answer.

"It's as if…" She frowned and shut her eyes. "I need more information…" And time to parse it.

"Tell me what you remember about the bank mission, before things went wrong." Viktor shrugged before answering this. He wasn't there during the trigger but he could go by the aftermath and the information from the mission's debrief.

“Kila was leading us, and very well at that. He was on comms… Giving Squad A, my squad, orders to proceed from the lobby…” Viktor slightly squinted his eyes trying to piece it all together. “He was going to issue an order to Cora before he seemed to have been attacked. That part I can't be certain of since he simply grunted before he cut out. After that attacked every single robber in his path. He…” Viktor's eyes widened as new pieces of information from Kassy fit in place with the old pieces he had studied on his own. “Hmm… Many if not all were left with broken limbs. Brutal, yes. But also the second most effective way to eliminate threats. I am now more certain he was attacked before his message was cut short.”

"I was thinking the same thing. Something had to have pushed him into that state. But… what?" She rubbed the back of her head in a subconscious way, thinking out loud. "The missions had nothing in common aside from a leader…"

Viktor remained quiet as he walked by Kassy to access the refrigerator. Retrieving an espresso coffee pod he made his way over to the coffee maker.

“I disagree.” He said plainly as he shut the pod inside the coffee maker. “I found both missions to be oddly assigned. We are heroes but given the purpose of our team, bank robbers and city gangs aren't adversaries I'd ever see us dealing with.” He pressed the brew button and set his black mug beneath the dispenser. “Besides that, Quiver is also a variable attached to both missions… But I don't suspect him as being a direct cause of the third persona surfacing. There was also the difference of Kila being present during one mission, while Ja was present during the other… Lastly, the missions both have two respective instances that I cannot figure out, though they don't seem connected in the slightest.” He frowned, feeling like he was just spinning his wheels in place. He felt so close but there was a piece he was failing to connect.

"You have a point. Gang busting seems like a job for the city police, and aside from the amount of them - and the weird weapons Cora found - the criminals in the bank weren't anything special. I mean, what were they even there for?" She followed him, leaning on the counter while the scent of coffee filled the air. "And what do you mean by 'instances'?"

“I have my theories on the bank heist but I'll first explain the two instances. The weapons are one. They were all hi-tech but their capabilities did not match the intent of their users. Electrified bolas, hardening foam, shockwave generation, and sound emission. If you were holding hostages, you'd want to threaten with the most lethal weapon. A standard firearm would have served them better. At the docks, it was the wounded man who disappeared from Pei's provided shelter. The detail seems miniscule and didn't affect our mission but I found it abnormal.”

Kassy frowned, looking up at him. "What do you mean, he disappeared? Wasn't he hurt?"

“He was injured, yes. It was a flesh wound. He could have gotten away but Pei made sure the container we placed him in couldn't be easily opened. Now, even if he found a way to break out, the thought of leaving a shelter after being wounded due to your exposure is unfavorable.” He grabbed his mug filled with freshly brewed coffee and took a quick sip.

“It is indeed strange but it doesn't seem connected to the problem at hand. I suspect the sound-emitting weapon to be the culprit of his first… episode. But at the docks, there wasn't anything like that weapon present. I've even tried to connect these instances to his unconsciousness in Taos, which was also abnormal despite there being no Red Beast…” Viktor narrowed his eyes as he took another sip.

Kassy made a non-committal noise, lost in thought. "In Taos, I always thought that green-eyed cloaca ambushed him somehow. I mean, the Beast only becomes present when KJ is conscious."

“KJ?” Viktor raised an eyebrow. “Kila-Ja… Hmm… KJ.” He briefly mumbled to himself. “She did ambush him but after I faced her, I had my doubts she could put him in that state with her abilities so quickly. It was also out of the ordinary. Will was made into a slave. Mateo was made into a slave. Riley and the other teens were made into slaves. Ja was incapacitated. I was going to be made into a slave. What happened to him doesn't fit the pattern.” Viktor set his mug down and crossed his arms.

“She did something different. Specific to him... It was intentional.” Viktor started to nod his head. “That might be why his episode at the docks was different than at the bank. The sound emitter was a fluke… This is not good. Not good at all.” Viktor's hands balled tightly.

Kassy's hands were the same but for perhaps a different reason. "...I know we're heroes and all, but I am going to knock that girl's teeth into her skull when I see her next." There was a frigid edge to her tone. "She won't be pretty once I'm through with her."

“Focus, Kass.” Viktor shook his head at her contempt against the Kobra agent. “What's important is that she may be involved. If she has something or an ability that manipulates his mind, she could prove to make our friend into our most deadly adversary. If what she did is connected to what's happening now, she doesn't need to get close to influence him.” Kassy snorted lightly as Viktor admonished her. He wasn't wrong, though; saving KJ was much more important than revenge.

Viktor's face formed a scowl before continuing. “And at worst, if it isn't an innate ability, that means she may not be the only person capable of doing so. I suspect it's the worst case… Remote, invisible, instant, targeting.” Viktor seemed to be rambling more to himself toward the end until he simply uttered. “A signal. A frequency.”

She listened, trying to follow his rapidly moving thought process. His theory caused a twist of dread in her stomach. It was plausible, far too plausible to dismiss.

I could test it…

"A frequency. Something only he could hear. And the rest of us would be unaware." She dug her fingers into her curls. "How would we know, if that's true?"

“What else could it be? I almost dismissed the idea due to my own acute senses picking up on higher frequencies but… Ja. When it comes to sensory prowess, he is unrivaled. I…” He narrowed his eyes. “My new weapon is capable of producing the same frequency… I could test it, yes. Will I, no. Confronting Red Beast and our friend requires delicacy. Not force.” Viktor grabbed his mug once more and started drinking his coffee again.

Kaasy let out a faint sigh, her shoulders slumping. There was a sudden relief tension in her. "Viktor, can I… can I say something important?"

“Hm… Strike.” Viktor raised an eyebrow, wondering what she might have to say.

"I know before, you said you forgave me for before, but… I still need to say this out loud." She fidgeted for a moment, then sighed. "I was awful to you, before. Yes, I was frustrated, but some of the things I said to you? They were just meant to hurt your feelings." Despite looking Viktor in the eye, there was a deep shame in her posture. "I don't like who I become when I'm mad. And I am working on fixing it." A wan smile lifted her lips. "You aren't the same person you were in Atlantis. Not by a long shot. You've truly changed… and I recognize that now."

There was a slight dip of his head as his eyes averted from hers. However, he quickly recovered himself.

“You were awful, yes, but I was worse. I put the mission before everyone else. I failed to trust my team.” He placed a gentle hand on Kassy's shoulder. “I couldn't have changed without you… or Kila. So… don't fix yourself. Use that anger. That passion. Use it in a better way. You recognize your shortcoming, yes? So, make use of it. A pitfall is but a hole. Do what you want with it.” Viktor shrugged but his eyes also glanced at her bracelet.

Kassy offered up a vague smile, but she too, looked at the binding weight around her wrist. "I will. Sooner than you think." Her weary gaze turned upward. "You've made me change as well. The support and caring of the others, and… well." A grin lit her eyes, just for a moment. "You can't build strength without resistance, right?" But her statement was punctuated by a toothy yawn. "Ugh… I feel like I fought a riptide."

“At least you can say you survived the fight.” He managed to jest as his hand left her shoulder. “Unfortunately, it seems we both have a new fight on our hands. We know more but we can't move forward without Kila and Ja or ‘KJ’. KJ… I don't know if I like that name yet, but it does simplify things.” Viktor nodded, quite pleased with what he and Kassy had discerned so far about the Red Beast.

"Well, you don't have to call him KJ if it's weird. I mean, I can't do nicknames for people either." She poorly stifled another yawn.

“And one more thing…” He stepped toward her, his eyes peering down at hers with displeasure. “Go. To. Bed. You can't help anyone if you don't get rest, yes?”

"I'm not that tired-" Kassy's own body betrayed her quickly, as she yawned mid-sentence. "Hah. Nevermind, point taken. I'll go. But you wake me immediately if anything happens, okay?" She strode in the direction of the elevators but turned just before leaving.

"...Thank you, Viktor."