Young Justice: Resurgence

[The Succubi Queen]

1/1 Roleplay with @Crysie Cuddles and @The Succubi Queen set in the Young Justice Universe of Earth-16.


Characters:


The Succubi Queen as: Richard "Dick" Grayson- Nightwing and Mansi Gobind- Karma


Crysie Cuddles as: La'gaan- Lagoon Boy and Serena Ace- Nightmare


Plot: Two years after the Invasion of the Reach, things are finally settling down for the Justice League and their Young Justice team of Covert Spies. Yet, trouble is never far around the corner for Earth-16, especially as researchers dig deeper into the mysterious origins of the biological phenomenon known only as a Metagene.

 

[The Succubi Queen]

Dick stood silently, alone in the hall. He was waiting, for his current team to arrive. Then, shortly after, the new ones would join them. It was always a bittersweet moment when new kids joined the team. One part of him was happy to have new faces, new people in their little mismatched family. Another part of him saw his own lost childhood in them. What kinds of things had they already seen, that children should never know? At 9, he was a crime fighter, a violent knight of darkness. And these new boys and girls were no different. It was a sad thought.


But he was determined not to show that. He gave a short nod as his present team came in. "La'gann. Good to see you swimming by this early. You feeling alright? You look a little green." He joked with a grin. Connor and Miss Martian were off world on a mission for the League, and most of the squads were deployed on clean-up missions after the leagues last battle with the Injustice Society. Messy stuff, but all in a days work for the Team.


"The new roster is short this year- two girls, one fresh out of the Birds of Prey's conversion program, and one that I don't actually know too much about. She doesn't have an official sponsor listed, but you know how some of the Leaguers can be- secrets, secrets, secrets."


He pressed a button on his ear. "Nightwing to Canary- you're free to tube in."


The Zeta Beam Tube flashed. "Recognized, Black Canary- 07. Recognized, Karma, 26."


Black Canary walked in, a short Indian girl behind her in a black set of flared pants and a fuschia blouse. Her features were obscured by a half-mask, but her pale olive eyes shone with a sort of cold look.


Dick laughed. "Well, we're still waiting on Nightmare, so you can take a moment to let your stomach settle, New Girl. You're probably all Zeta'd out."


The girl rolled her eyes, crossing her arms and leaning back into her hips. "Just my luck- first day on the job, and my new coworker is late. Aren't good guys supposed to be punctual?"

 

[Crysie Cuddles]

Outfit

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"Ha ha, I see what you did there, ha ha." La'gaan replied with a sarcastic hint to his tone as he walked up to Dick. "New people already? Man, we're gaining people just as we lose them." Some of the Young Justice members had quit the team, wanting to take a break and live their lives. No one blames them, they totally understand, but just as they left more people came in to replace them. "Ooooh, we getting some ladies, that's always good." La'gaan grinned as he crossed his arms. He was actually rather curious now after hearing that they were girls that were joining. "The Leaguers always have secrets, man even their secrets have secrets." La'gaan waited as she the Zeta Tube powered up, revealing Black Canary and an Indian girl walk in. His eyes quickly looked the girl up and down, taking in her appearance.


"Recognized, Nightmare 36." The AI voice announced as the Zeta Tube flashed, only to die down a few seconds after a girl about 5'4 walked in. She was dressed in an all black outfit with silver colored lining and black gloves. Her eyes were covered with a domino mask that was white where the eyeholes are (Outfit above). "I am punctual. They said eight o'clock, it's only 7:58." The girl said as she walked towards Karma. She had heard her say something about being punctual, and felt the need to speak up. Besides that, she said nothing more as she walked up to Canary's side. Her eyes looked both of the boys, taking in their appearance. Then, she took in the details of the room that she was in, engraving the image of the place into her mind.


Serena crosses her arms across her chest and leans onto one leg, jutting her hip out to the side slightly as she waited for what was going to happen next. She began to wonder why she agreed to all of this, this wasn't her in a way. She only agreed to join the Team because she felt like it was the only way to pay back the Justice League for saving her from the lab. Sighing internally, she decided to just give the life to go and see where this superhero life was going to go.


"Hello girls, welcome to the base. My name's La'gaan by the way if you've never heard." La'gaan said with a big grin while holding his arms out.

 

[The Succubi Queen]

Mansi rolled her eyes at the girl who has just Zeta'd in. No babysitter for miss goody goody in black- seems her superhero foster parent thought she was smart enough to come alone. "Oh, is it? Huh, it's almost like time goes slower when you're bored and waiting on someone." she clicked her tongue in displeasure. "But sure, sure, you get to keep your superhero card." She could feel a pair of eyes sliding up her- she didn't bother do dignify the stare with a response. Greeny over there was probably trying to figure out what her magic abilities where.


Dick bit back a laughing snort as the later of the two girls walked in, retorting at the sullen girl in Canary's shadow. He took a moment to assess both girls as they settled in. "Alright, alright, no catfights on the first day- not in that skintight outfit." He laughed, holding his hands out in a placating motion. A small part of him took a moment to appreciate both the girls- the one in black has a nice figure, but beneath all those flowy layers, he couldn't tell much about the indian girl in fuschia- except that she was really, really short. 4'11? Maybe 5 even? He looked up at Black Canary, flashing his signature grin. "You can leave her with us, Dinah. Having a babysitter around would cramp our style."


Black Canary sighed. "She didn't know my name until now. Karma, behave, alright- no burning down the cave." She told the girl with a wry smile. "Or I'll assign you to Shiva for the next year." With that, she headed back to the tube and Zeta'd out.


Mansi shuddered slightly, before she turned as she heard the Atlantian introduce himself. "Should we be telling each other our real names? Seems kinda sketch to me. Karma. That's what you can call me, until I decide otherwise."


Dick bit the inside of his lower lip, hiding his already forming exasperation. That one was going to be a handful, but he had known that since the moment Canary had decided to reform her. "Your secret identity is your secret to keep. I didn't tell the team my name for years. You likely know me as Nightwing." His eyes slid back to Karma, who shot him a sour look. "But if you want to get personal, you can call me Dick. You can't see under my mask, but I'm winking. Now then, you'll both be living here for the next little bit, since it's summer break and whatnot, so Lagoon Boy and I will be showing you around today. I know, I know. A clubhouse tour sounds boring, but if we get attacked here, you should know your way around." He began to walk, waving a hand for them to follow him. "La'gann, make sure we don't lose any of our very large crowd of new members."

 

[Crysie Cuddles]

"Hey, you had someone to show you where the Zeta Tube is, I had to find the thing myself." Serena scowled, crossing her arms across her chest. She didn't have a mentor like Karma, the only mentor she had was her mother. That's all that is going to be sad at the moment about her mentor. She wiped the scowl from her face and replaced it with a light smirk while rolling her eyes, of course they couldn't see her roll her eyes but by the motion that her head made they could make a good guess. She chuckled lightly at Dick's comment about the catfight. "Well, we can see who the flirt of the place is now." She bit out with a chuckle.


La'gaan rolled his eyes slightly at Karma's comment, "Well I don't have a secret identity unlike you three, plus if someone wanted to get me they'd have to swim all the way down to Atlantis, which I might add is unknown to everyone but the Justice League." He made a good point, he really had nothing to hide, he was pretty much himself on missions and everything. He had no masks or anything, so he found no point in hiding his real name from his teammates. He found Karma's little spunk amusing. He had a good feeling that he was going to get along with the girl just fine. "What about you?" He asked, looking at Serena, "Are you going to tell us your pretty name or are you going to be another Dick and not tell us until forever." La'gaan snickered, using Dick's name as an insult in a way.


"Just call me Nightmare." She didn't feel like telling her name yet, she found no need to. "I'll tell you my name in time, or until someone nosy goes around and digs it up." She added with a shrug of her shoulders. Serena followed behind Dick as he walked through the base. She paid attention to every turn and detail, engraving it in her mind as she made a mental map of the place. She had to admit, the place was spacious and she could see why Nightwing would want to give them a tour of the place. Serena was pretty sure that if she didn't get a tour of the place then she'd end up hopelessly lost around the place. "You make it sound like you've been attacked before, here, at your own base." She deadpanned as she thought about his words carefully.


La'gaan smiled as he walked behind Karma, zoning Dick out as he walked. He already knew the place like the back of his hand, no point in hearing and seeing everything again. His eyes bounced between the two girls, taking in their appearance and such. "Soooo, how are you feeling about all this so far?" He asked as they walked. "What mad you want to join all this awesome madness?" He didn't like the silence that followed after Dick told the girls what each place was as they passed it. The silence was to much for La'gaan, and it felt awkward.

 

[The Succubi Queen]

Karma made a sour face. Well, for being one of the supposed good guys, she was rather.. snotty, wasn't she? She was one of the good guys, since Mansi had never heard of her. "If you want, you can borrow my babysitter. She's fun, when she's not-" breaking your ribs and throwing you in prison, she almost said. "Yelling at you."


Dick grinned. "Oh, no- you want the flirt of the place? Just wait til you meet Connor." He winked at La'gann, asking him not to tell them the truth as he lead them through the catacombs of the cave. "And, yes. To answer your question. We have been attacked here. More than once, actually. A big part of what keeps this place secure is that it's hidden in plain sight. Of course, if you have flavoured sight, you'll find it pretty easily."


Karma scowled again. Was it all bad jokes and small talk with these guys? Her eyes drifted from the conversation, as she tookthe time to memorize the layout of the structure. Where the walls were exposed earth she could draw energy from, the solid steel rooms that would be draining to her- the usual things she did upon arriving someplace new. All the exits were marked clearly in her head, though she needed to figure out how the vent system worked. You never knew when you could escape through those.


Her head snapped up as La'gann asked them a question- great. Icebreakers. "Oh, yeah, ya know, I always wanted to be a superhero and defend the helpless while never taking credit for it." She said simply. She didn't want to go bragging about her past to the people on this team who didn't know it. La'gann and Nightmare were perfect examples of that group.


Dick forced a tight smile. He knew Karma's past pretty well, and he wasn't about to out her. They all had secrets, but she wasn't too good at pretending to be a good guy. "Well, aren't you just a little ball of spite. La'gann just asked you a question, you can lay off the sarcasm. Try again, with more casm."


Karma held back a snarl. She really, really hated the Nightwing. Had for a loooong time. She shrugged her shoulders, coming up with a lie on the spot. "Got involved in some street crime, tapped into my Meta-gene. Canary put me in my place, and from there, it was the Birds of Prey, or jail, tried as an adult. And apparently, the Junior Justice League came with the Birds of Prey package." It wasn't totally a lie. It was just missing a huge chunk of truth.


Dick nodded. Passable. "Now, if you've got any stuff you want to get settled in, you can-' at that moment, a short alarm ran through the cave, a a pulse of red lit up the room. "Wait to move it. We've apparently got a mission." He gave a quick thought to how many people he had- he couldn't let La'gann take the new girls alone... He might have to call in a favour. "Back to the briefing room, I guess."

 

[Crysie Cuddles]

"Nah, I'll pass, I like having no one control me." Serena said with a slight chuckle as she walked behind Dick. As she walked, she thought about La'gaan's questions. Why did she decide to join this wild circus? Honestly, she felt like her reason was rather slightly silly and stupid. Sure she wanted to make a difference in the world, but that wasn't the main reason. "Besides, why would I want someone to baby sit me? I'm an adult, don't need another parent." She grumbled, feeling slightly bitter at the thoughts of having an adult tell her what to do. She was already fairly independent and was use to that, she didn't want no adult jamming that.


Serena scoffed at what Dick said, "Great, you're not the big flirt of the place?" She bit that out rather sarcastically while rolling her eyes. She was somewhat surprised to hear that they've been attacked at their base more than once, like she thought that they'd learn after the second attack or something to relocate, but she understood the hiding in plain sight thing, it made sense to a point. She herself wouldn't expect them to be using the old Justice League base as their base, so it worked. "Well, at least the plain sight thing works. I mean, I would have never thought you guys used this place as a base, it just seems to easy, but eh." She was surprised that she was talking this much, although she felt a little awkward.


Then, she turned attention to La'gaan by turning her head back and looking at him. "Honestly, I joined this mad show because I feel like it's the least I could do in order to pay Arrow and Canary back for saving me from that wretched lab, but I also joined because I want to help." It was an honest answer, although the main point was paying back the debt. She was planning on staying on the Team until they didn't need her or until she became useless to them. "Though honestly, I'm probably going to stay in this crazy circus until you guys don't need me or I become useless to you." She said her thoughts out loud, not wanting her answer from before to make her sound like she was just doing this to repay a debt. She felt like they'd get a bad impression of her if they just saw that she was doing this as a method of repayment.


La'gaan rolled his eyes at Dick, he bit his tongue to hold back his snappy comment. He didn't like Connor because of how he held himself up, and because he's with M'gann. He listened as everyone talk, taking in what they were saying. "Well, looks like someone's had a rough past, but then again don't most of us." The last part was more of a statement then a question, mostly everyone on the Team has some kind of rough past, it really varied with each person. La'gaan was pretty sure that everyone on the Team has a tough past, none had it easy.


A grin made its way to the Atlantean's face when the alarm rang. "Sweet! Action time!" He pumped his air in the fist slightly as the the rush of excitement hit him. "Anything but gamma anything but gamma." He pleaded under his breath while crossing his fingers. He was really tired of being in Gamma Squad, even if the squads were equal, he felt like Gamma still had the grunt work out of the squads.


Serena followed Dick back into the briefing room along with the other two, wondering what was going to happen next because surely they wouldn't just dump her into a mission right off the bat like that... Right? She felt like it'd be stupid of them to because she had no training what so ever and has never been on a mission or anything of the sorts. She didn't know about Karma, but she assumes that Karma has some experience because her mentor is someone of the Justice League who most likely took her out on missions every now and then. "What about Karma and I? We gonna stay here or are you gonna toss us into the water just like that." She asked Dick.

 

[The Succubi Queen]

Karma was a bit confused- Canary had taken in this girl? So what wasn't she a Bird? How had Karma never seen her before? She had spent almost a year slaving away as one of their blacklist rogues, and this girl just got to join the Justice League Jr. like that? She blew a strand of hair out of her face, refraining from a snarky comment. "Awww, but we can share Canary as our mom! She can take us both to soccer practice and gymnastics and stuff!" She grinned, a cat-like evil to her wide teeth.


Her grin somehow widened when the alarm blared. "Nice, no more icebreakers." She dashed back to the command center, leaving the others behind her. "Get to let my hands do the talking now." She laughed at her own innuendo.


Dick and the others followed shortly after, but her enthusiasm was noted. "Alright, alright." He turned to La'gann. "Almost everyone is off world or already deployed. For this mission, I'll have to ask Z to watch over the Cave. You and I will take the girls, as Alpha. Sorry, but I'm gonna be leader." He gave a cheeky grin to the Atlantian.


The holo flickered to life as they entered, Batman's cowled face displayed on the screen. "Nightwing, how many operatives do you have currently?"


"Well, if you don't count the new girls and me..." he gestured at La'gann. "One."


"I'll send Canary and Red Tornado down to oversee the security of the Cave. League members have recently been following a trio of League of Assassins, but they disappeared somewhere in the South Rhealasian sea. About an hour ago, There was an explosion in the South Rhealasian Embassy in North Rhealasia. The Rhealasian's have been going through a new period of peace since the Reach incident, so this isn't a good diplomatic step for either nation. Find out if the League of Assassins is responsible, and capture or disable any operatives. Find out why this happened. Batman out."


"Well, then." Dick turned dramatically, pointing to each member dramatically. "La'gann, Nightmare, Karma- you're Alpha, lead by Nightwing- hey wait, that's me." He grinned. "We head out as soon as-"


"RECOGNIZED: RED TORNADO, 10, BLACK CANARY, 07."


"As soon as that. We'll Zeta to the Rhealasian border, and cross into the Capital of North Rhealasia." He said, pointing to the Zeta tube. "La'gann, you first, then the girls, then me. Alpha Squad, head out."





Karma grinned. "Well, then. Alpha Squad on day one. Just my Luck." She smiled, running a hand through her short bobbed locks. "Don't let me hold you big experts up- you can just leave me behind or whatever." She joked. She wouldn't really leave them- in all honesty, she wasn't sure how safe she was wherever the League of Assassins was.

 

[Crysie Cuddles]

Serena rolled her eyes at Karma's comment, she would have said something back, but she wasn't in the mood. Hearing the word 'mom' really dimmed her mood greatly. Some bad memories had surfaced by just hearing the word 'mom' coming from Karma's lips. Sighing, she looked ahead as she waited for orders. 'Hope it's nothing to hard. I mean, it's my first day. I don't know what the crap I'm doing or what the crap to do.' She thought as listened to Dick speak.


"Neptune's beard," Lagoon boy cursed, "Ah well, at least I'm not in Gamma. I'm in Alpha for once! Man, wait til I shove it in Superbly's face." He had this habit of shoving things in the older teen's face. He doesn't know why he does it sometimes, it was more of like a 'hey look who's better' kind of thing. He was still a little peeved that Miss Martian had chosen Connor over him, he was getting over it, but he was still butt hurt.


A small sigh left Serena's slightly parted lips after Batman told them their mission. 'So much for easing us into the whole thing.' She thought, straightening herself up and stretching her arms above her head. She quickly shoved her nerves aside, not letting them get the best of her. She knew a bit about the League of Assassins, she definitely knew that they were a force to be reckon with and how dangerous and deadly they are. She would be lying to herself and everyone else if she said that she wasn't nervous about going against the LoA because she was freaking the crap out, but there's no point in psyching herself out because that would make things worse.


"Sweet! Meet you guys there!" La'gaan grinned. He wasted not time going to the Zeta Tube and Zetaing out of there. He quickly hid in the surrounding scenery as he waited for the rest of his teammates to arrive. He was pumped about this whole mission. Although the fact that they were dealing with the League of Assassins shook him just a bit, he wasn't bothered a bit.


Serena wasted no time in going to the tube and transporting to the location. Her eyes quickly scanned the place for any danger the moment she arrived. Even though she saw no one, she wasn't taking any chances, she quickly hid in the nearby scenery as she waited for Dick to arrive. Serena looked around the place, trying to locate her Atlantean teammate, she relaxed slightly when she spotted him.

 

[The Succubi Queen]

Karma bit back a groan. This guy was all about labels, wasn't he? It didn't sit well with her. She watched in silence as La'gann zeta'd out, followed shortly by Nightmare. That girl had been awfully quiet- she had done this superpower thing before, right?


Dick rubbed the back of his head with one hand. It had been awhile since he'd gone into the field, and while the new girls were probably good, Nightmare lacked experience, and Karma... was a literal wild card. He knew she didn't want to go back to where she had come from. But he also knew she didn't want to be here.


Karma bit her lip, walking towards the Zeta Beam Tube. Before that, she turned slightly, looking over at Dick. "Hey, don't let them get me, kay?" She tried not to let the fear in her eyes show, but she knew it was there. Just her luck, she got scared on day one too.


Dick nodded. At least he knew where her current priorities lay. "You'd have to be really damn lucky if you think I'm letting you and Se- Nightmare out of my sight for a moment."


Karma sighed. "That's what I'm worried about." She nodded her head at Canary. "Later, Dinah." Her Cheshire Cat grin reset, she stepped into the tube, shooting out in the dark forest on the border of Rhealasia. Seemed the Zeta tube was located in a cell tower just short of the wall. "Nightmare? La'g- I mean, Lagoon boy? Positions?" She could barely see in this dark, but it was nice to be outdoors. Her bare feet could feel the soft tendrils of grass beneath her, and her whole body seemed more alive surrounded by nature. Something told her this feeling wasn't going to last long on this mission.


There was another flash of light, and Nightwing appeared, a small ball in his hand. He had forgotten to the give the girls communicators. He stepped as lightly as he could, tapping Karma on the shoulder, and catching her flying fist before it broke his nose.


"Don't sneak up on me, you-" She practically spat at him before he held a finger up to his lips to indicate silence.


"Communicator. Put it in your ear." He then pointed into the bushes where Nightmare sat, and a shadow nearby that he could identify as La'gann. "Listen, you've got more field experience than Nightmare, so if we ever need to split, stick with La'gann."


Karma followed his extended finger. What was that girl doing here then? Rescued form a lab and then just thrown into spy work??? Where had she trained? Who had taught her how to use her powers? Had she ever been stealthy in her life??? Still, she nodded. "Got it." In a whisper of wind, she slipped into the dark, reappearing in front of La'gann. "The Nightwing said to stick with you. He's taking Nightmare. Don't slow me down, fish boy." She jibed, not looking directly at him. "Also, you realize that when there's only one squad, Alpha and Gamma are the same?"


Nightwing then moved up to Serena, walking in plain view so she could see him. "Here, put this in your ear. If you get separated from us, stay where you are and maintain radio contact, ok? I'll try my best to make sure that doesn't happen, but it's always good to have a failsafe."

 

[Crysie Cuddles]

Serena watched as her other two teammates appeared. She started to reach out to Karma's mind in order to tell her the location, only Dick showed up before she could establish a mental link with Karma. She was starting to feel nervous about this whole thing, she's never done anything like this; she has had no prior training in these types of situations what so ever. The fact that she didn't have any experience was getting to her. She was afraid of screwing up badly which would cause the team to fail.


Serena remained calm as Dick approached her, taking the communicator from him. She quickly reached out to his mind and established a mental link, even if he did have a mental wall it was pretty easy to break down. 'Alright, but wouldn't communicating mentally be better? Enemy wouldn't hear us or anything. Sorry if this is invasive.' She really didn't want invade Dick's mind like that, but she didn't feel like speaking up and such. She popped the communication device into her ear and turned it on. 'You better not lose me on the first day of the job, that wouldn't be very nice or responsible of you.' She retorted with a slight sarcastic tone at the end while rolling her eyes.


She looked around the area briefly before looking at Dick, 'So, where to? I can talk if you aren't comfortable communication via mental link.' She felt like she should stop, but she really didn't want to verbally talk at the moment. Plus she felt like the staying silent was a big point in being hidden, and if they were talking, even if it was whispering and such, they would run a higher risk of being discovered. Sighing, she quickly ran a hand through her long chestnut brown hair before putting it into a quick side braid so that it wouldn't be all up in her face during the mission. 'Oh, and um sorry if you're stuck with me. I've never done anything like this before, so please bare with me.' She felt like she should tell him just incase he already didn't know.


"Holy mackerel, don't scare me like that. I could have punched you." La'gaan jumped slightly, letting out a sigh of relief when he saw that it was just Karma. He quickly calmed down before awaiting orders from Dick. He kinda expected to be stuck with Karma, but he didn't mind, he had a good feeling that the knew what she was doing, kinda. At least, he hoped that she knew what she was doing. "Shouldn't I be saying that to you though? The don't slow me down thing. Other than that, as of the moment, yes, they are the same... I think... Well there's only one team... Gah don't screw with my mind like that." He responded to her last comment.


"Hey Nightwing, what's area do Karma and I cover?" La'gaan asked Dick through the communicator. He wanted to make sure what area he had to cover before going out with Karma. He himself hasn't had that much experience, at least he didn't consider it much yet, but he felt like he could handle someone like Karma.

 

[The Succubi Queen]

Dick jumped a bit as Nightmare entered his mind. "Well, I didn't know you could do that." He thought back to her. Apparently a few things had been left out of the file he had. This girl had a few surprises up her sleeve. It was a pleasant surprise, for sure. "But I'll have to tell Karma and La'gann."


Karma snorted a bit. "Wow, your confidence is bulletproof, ain't it? Don't worry, fish boy. I won't steal what little thunder you have." She grinned. It hadn't taken much to shake up his attitude- he was going to be a lot of fun.


Nightwing's voice beeped in their ear. "Update- Nightmare has enough psychic ability to kick up a mental connection, so we'll use that. It's more reliable and less traceable than radio communication. But, we'll all make for the border gate, and then split into groups of two, and cross the gate on the West and East Guard houses. La'gann, Karma, there's a small river that leads under the East tower. Use that to sneak in. Nightmare and I will go over the trees that block the light on the West side. Switching to mental link any second."


He returned to the mental thread. "Alright, if you can link with Karma and La'gann, we can turn off the radio." He told her.


"Wait, wait, wait!" Just her luck. "I didn't say miss ninja could go sticking her psychic paws in my brain, what about my mental autonomy?" She looked at La'gann, hoping her would say something on her behalf. "Am I allowed to say no? You can't just force me to link minds with you all, that's totally personal stuff!"

 

[Crysie Cuddles]

'Yeah, letting them know would be the smart thing to do here. And there are a lot of things that I can do that you don't know about.' She replied with a nod. She was surprised that he didn't know. Then again, no one asked her what her abilities and powers were, so she wasn't that surprised. Her eyes looked up ahead to where the gate is, taking in the appearance of the hulking thing. She paid attention to Dick as he talked, taking in all his words and keeping it in her mind.


Serena linked up her, Dick, and La'gaan's minds together. 'Alright, connection secured.' She confirmed once she had linked them up. She began to reach out for Karma's mind until La'gann stopped her.


'Wait, Karma doesn't want you poking around in her brain.' He stopped Serena before she could pick at the brain of her teammate.


'Alright, just tell her to keep in touch with you and you relay it to us mentally.' Serena told La'gann before looking at Dick. 'Ready when you are, I'll stick right behind you.' Even if she wasn't ready she had no choice really.


La'gann looked at Karma, "She won't, and she's not. Just keep me updated and I'll relay things to them." He knew where Karma was getting from, it took him a while to get use to the whole mental link thing. To be honest, it totally freaked him out a bit at first when Miss Martian did it herself. Well, he found it cool and freaky at the same time, he just found it more creepy than cool. "And for your information, I've got to much thunder for you to steal, and I just saved your mental butt from being poked at. So, ha." He grinned cheekily at Karma.


Serena let out a deep breath as she shook the last of her nerves off. Just a mission, nothing more nothing less. All she had to do was follow Dick, and everything will be fine. Oh, and she just had to no screw up in any way or they could die. No pressure. No pressure at all. All she has to do is not think about how she has no experience what so ever, and how she was most likely going to screw this up some how and in some way.

 

[The Succubi Queen]

Dick nodded solemenly. Her file had been rather sparse, and he wasn't sure why- the information he had on Karma was extrememly detailed, and what he didn't know from her dossier, he knew from experience. "Alright, stay close- and don't be left behind." Outloud he giggled at his joke. Man, he was funny.


Karma blinked, her olive eyes going wide. He had actually stood up for her. He had helped her. "Thanks. It's just. Not the time for me to have someone in there." Not until she learned to hide her secrets.


"So, we're going above the river- weird that there'd be a tunnel through the wall that wasn't guarded. North Rhealasians must be really dumb to have such a gap in their security." She didn't understand that Nightwing had meant for them to swim through the river- it was just large enough for La'gann to fit through, so if she held her breath, she ought to be able to swim through it. If not, Dick had wagered that she had enough power to help her along.


Nightwing nodded to Serena. "Let's get going, Nightmare- follow me, tread lightly, and if you hear or see anything, let me know. If the mental link fails, switch to radio comm. If I fall, radio La'gann and Karma and get back to the cave, ASAP." He pointed into the forest, and began to walk in that direction, sinking low to the ground. He had debated running through the tree tops, but the breeze was too light- they'd disturb the leaves and alert someone.


Karma took a deep breath, pressing her toes into the earth. "That way." She gestured widely with her hand, pointing in the direction she had sensed running water. "You any good at disppearing?" She asked, her hands begin to gesture the beginnings of a magical incantation. She could manipulate the elements just enough to obscure her, but she couldn't count on La'gann being able to follow her.

 

[Crysie Cuddles]

Serena rolled her eyes at Dick, "I swear, you could be the next Joker if you keep that up." She joked as she rolled her shoulders a bit to loosen them up a bit before they actually started to head in. Serena silently followed Dick, staying right behind him as he made his way through the forest. Her eyes bounced between Dick and the wall. Her eyebrows furrowed together in confusion when she noticed the there were little to no guards on the wall. "Hey, shouldn't they have more guards up around the place? I mean, after an attack you'd think they'd up security." Serena stuck to the shadows as she followed Dick, keeping her wary eyes on the wall as well as the leader.


"If you fall then we're staying until we get you out, well I would, don't know about the others. But I follow the no man left behind rule." There was no way she was going to leave him there if he got captured or anything, that just wasn't her. Plus she felt like everyone would have her head along with Karma and La'gann's if they found out that they had just left Dick there and ran away with their tails between their legs. She wasn't going to leave him unless the situation was very dire to the point where it was either die or run away.


"No problem, I know the feeling, so don't worry." La'gann replied with a small smile. He started walking towards the river a bit, thinking about what she said about the guards and such. He too found it kind of strange with the lack of security. "You know, it is strange that they're lacking so much in security after all that just happened... Something about this is fishy, and it's not me." He said in a quiet voice as he dropped to the ground and crawling. He pretty much stood out in the forest, and only the bushes provided any kind of concealment for him.


"Oh, and if you don't like people poking at your brain then you might want to stay away from Miss Martian for a while, she has a bad habit err tendency to invade people's minds." He warned her as he crawled on the forest floor, sticking close to the green bushes. It was times like these that he wished that he wasn't full blown out green.

 

[The Succubi Queen]

Dick looked at her, a sort of darkness in his eyes. A bitter thought ran through his head, but he didn't communicate it. He shook his head. She hadn't meant anything by it. "We're still a bit away from the border itself, and South Rhealasian forces are likely occupied with protecting nearby centers of power. The North Rhealasians have always had better military anyways, so I suspect we'll run into them right.."


Karma froze, her fingers twitching. "Lagoon boy, something's coming." She summoned a bolt of bright purple energy, firing it into a nearby guard. However, the bolt somehow missed wildly and slammed into a tree near La'gann, which exploded into flame.


Right. She'd forgotten about that part of her power for a minute- she'd actually thought being a good guy would bring her more luck. She spat out an almost evil sounding laugh, defaulting to her usual tactic of 'fake it til you make it'. "Perfect shot! Get cover in the smoke, I'll meet you by the river!" She said, flipping out of the way of a stream of machine gun fire. She didn't want to fight with him around. The chances of something going wrong were too high. She had almost just hit him in the chest with her magic. She pulled the fire away from the tree, holding the burning ball in her hand and preparing to throw it at an officer. If things went well, there wouldn't be any more screw-ups tonight.


Of course, things literally never went well for her.


Dick sucked in a breath as the sound of gunfire rang out to the east. "That'd be them- hopefully that'll keep us from drawing too much-" at that moment, a voice shouted out in Rhealasian, less than a kilometer away. "Attention." He frowned, pulling out his batons and taking a battle stance.


"You ready for some rough stuff, new girl?"

 

[Crysie Cuddles]

Serena smirked at Dick and pulled out her black whip, "Bet I can take out more than you." She wanted to lighten up the mood a bit, and she always like competing. Her ears twitched at the sound of running foot steps. "Sounds like a lot," and she was right, it was a lot. There were at least twenty guys that had surrounded her and Dick. Her eyes scanned the area to see what she could use. There were mainly trees and bushes, things that were useless to her because she couldn't lift a freaking tree out of the ground... Yet.


Sighing, she licked her lips as she stood back to back with Dick, tensing her wrist, ready to snap her whip at any moments noticed. "So, what are the chances of this mission going smoothly after this? Because I feel like one of these idiots must have alerted someone from the inside." She was pretty sure at least one of them had, unless they were really that stupid or cocky. Then again, she could only hope that they ran into a stupid bunch.


"Holy mackerel....!" La'gann's sharp whisper came out as he ducked the magical bolt that nearly turned him into a giant main course seafood dish. "Gah, why'd you say that, now they know where we're headed." La'gann lightly groaned into the communicator as he crawled under the smoke to the river, slinking into the running body of water. "How many are there?" La'gann asked once he was in the water. He peeped his eyes up above the water's surface, keeping the lower half of his face along with the rest of his body submerged. He did a quick count with his eyes, "Hey, there aren't that many, let's quickly knock them out and book it. The less we run into the better."


La'gann quickly sent a water serpent at some nearby guards, slamming them against some trees, knocking them out. Him and Karma were pretty close to the wall, so he figured that there weren't many guards near besides the patrol that walked above, who would be here any minute. He knew that if the patrol saw what was going on then the alarm would be raised then the whole mission would go down the toilet. There was no way he was letting his first mission in the Alpha Squad go down like that.

 

[The Succubi Queen]

Dick laughed out loud, before sending a mental message to La'gann. "We have about 20 here, if you need to break ahead, go for it- priority is to figure out what happened at the embassy without drawing attention. If you see Assassins, do not pursue unless Nightmare and I are in proximity." He knocked the gun out of a guards hands, before slamming the back end of his tonfa on his head. "Careful with that whip, Nightmare. You never know who might get the wrong idea with a weapon like that." He teased her back. "Behind you!" He yelled on instinct, running up next to her and tackling a guard.


Karma laughed, slamming the ball of fire she held into an enemies face. "Sounds like a plan- where's the tunnel?" She dodged his snake construction, kicking down the last of the guards. She then switched on her communicator. "I changed my mind, being able to get in touch without using this staticy radio might be a good idea. Whenever you and Edgemaster have a minute."


She took a quick moment to bend the branches of a nearby bush to entangle the guards they had defeated. "That won't hold them long once they wake up, but it should buy us some time." She ran towards La'gann. "Hey.. isn't there supposed to be a passage? A t-tunnel or something?" She asked him, her eyes going a little wide with worry.

 

[Crysie Cuddles]

"How come I feel like you'd be the only one to get the wrong idea bird brain." Serena replied, chuckling out loud slightly before snapping her whip at a guard, knocking him back into another guard. A normal whip probably couldn't do that, but a whip paired up with some telekinesis could do some damage. She then snapped her whip again, making it wrap around a guard before tossing him into another, which sent the two of them against a tree. "Oh, thanks for that." She replied, using her telekinesis to disarm some of the guards. "Little boys like you should have big guns like these, someone could get hurt." She teased as she crumpled the guns into a ball.


Her eyes darted to a guard who was pulling out a walkie talkie, "Nah ah ah." She cracked her whip at the guard, making him drop the walkie talkie. She quickly used the whip to smash the walkie talkie before he could pick it up. She was pretty sure that he wasn't the only smart one of the group. "Think we better knock them out quickly, someone already tried to radio in, who knows when another will try." She really didn't want this whole mission to be a lot harder than it should be. She figured that if they knock the guards out then at least they'll have more time until things went downhill rather than right away if some guard informed someone on the inside.


Serena quickly reached out to Karma's mind, linking her along with everyone else. "Can you hear me? Don't worry, I won't dig through your brain, that ain't my thing." She assured Karma. It really wasn't her thing, it was just a huge invasion of privacy.


La'gann quickly dove back underwater, his eyes scanning the area. "Tunnel's underwater, it's not to long though. If you can hold your breath for a minute or so then you should be good. I can swim behind you and give you a push, that'll get you through faster." He resurfaced, peeping his head out of the water.


"The tunnel really isn't that long, and there's no other way through unless you want to climb the wall and deal with whoever or whatever is up at the top." La'gann said as he waited for her in the river. His eyes trailed around the place to make sure that there weren't anymore guards around. Then, his eyes went up to the wall to see if he could spot the lookout or patrol person. "Come on, we don't have much time until someone spots us." La'gann beckons her towards him with a wave of his hand.

 

[The Succubi Queen]

Dick kicked yet another guard into a tree, before pulling out a batarang and using it to pin another to a tree by his collar. "Yeowch, Lady. Remind me not to get on your bad side. Unless I get to be on the nice end of that whip." She was powerful- scarily so. He had to make sure she didn't lose control of that. Seemed Miss Martian would be teaching some one-on-one lessons with the Psychic over here. He did a quick count- they had taken down about 15, but Nightmare had done most of that. "Make for the trees, I'm about to see off some gas." He told her, using his tonfas to corral the remaining guards to those who were disarmed or already passed out.


He just needed her about 400 feet away. If he could get them to stay still just long enough, this would be a cinch. One of the disarmed guards ran at him, and he met him with a punch. "Now, now- the nice lady took your gun away so you wouldn't get hurt. Let's not make that for naught." He then made a comment in Rhealasian, before taking the man in his arms and kicking his legs in such a way that they broke.


"Just let me know when you're safe in the trees."


Karma took a moment to adjust to the voices in her head. "I'm going to trust you on that- if you go looking, you'll find some scary stuff, but it won't be my fault, got it?" Karma looked at the rushing water. "Wait- a minute? Underwater? I can't- I mean, I don't- I mean-" No, no, NO! She wasn't going to be that idiot who couldn't swim on her very first mission. No way in hell, heaven, or earth. "I mean, oh, yeah. That'll be a piece of cake- I thought we'd be underwater a lot longer than that. Only a minute? Sure, that shouldn't be a problem at all." She swallowed, before jumping into the water. Maybe she'd get lucky.


She surfaced quickly, clawing at the shore. "Holy sh- that's c-cold. Cold." She looked at La'gann, brushing her dripping hair out of her face. "Ohkay, l-let's get a move on, fishface" She said, before taking a deep breath and plunging into the water.


Now, how did she swim through a tunnel? Or swim at all?

 

[Crysie Cuddles]

Serena chuckled and sighed while shaking her head, "I swear, one of these days you're going to end up on the end of it. Good or bad depends on you." She didn't know why she was responding to him, it was only going to egg him on. Actually, she didn't even know why she was this talkative with him in the first place. Guess he must just have that effect on people.


She quickly took off to the trees, getting a good distance from the whole fight. She didn't know how far she ran, but she stopped after she could barely make out Dick and the guards. "Is this far enough? I can barely see you and the guards." She hid out in the trees as she waited for Dick, keeping an eye out for any other guards that might be making their way over. She was thankful when she spotted no one besides her, Dick, and what ever guards were still standing.


Patiently, she waited for Dick, hoping that the whole gas bomb thing went off without a hitch. "Don't worry, I won't prod. Are you and La'gann inside yet?" She wanted to know if the two were inside or close to being inside yet. She needed to know that at least those two were making some progress with the mission.


La'gann looked at Karma with an amused face. He could tell by the way she was that she had no clue how to swim. He bit back a chuckle that threatened to escape him. "Come on," he said, swimming over to her and wrapping an arm around her face while using the other to help guide him through the water. "Just hang onto me and relax." He told her as he swam up to the wall.


"Alright, take in a deep breath and hold it, and relax. I'll swim us through the tunnel in no time, just keep holding your breath until we're through." He told her, looking at her as he clung onto the wall, holding the both of them above the water. "We're about to swim through the tunnel." He replied to Serena as he kept his attention on Karma, waiting for her answer. The water didn't feel cold to him, then again, all water felt the same to him.

 

[The Succubi Queen]

Dick sucked his teeth, a slight hiss escaping his lips. She was gonna be trouble for his nerves, for sure. "Yup, that should do it!" He kicked one last guard, and dropped a small grenade, which began to leak a heavy smoke. He turned and bolted, his arm covering his mouth. He scrambled up the tree, clinging to the tree and facing her, trying to meet her eyes in the dark.


"If they breath it in, they'll pass out for about 5 minutes- long enough to us to disappear. We need to head about half a kilometer West to get out of sight of the guard tower- can you follow me through the trees?" Before he turned, he threw two more batarangs, which held a large net. The net landed on the now sleeping crowd of guards, entangling the already mess of bodies.


Karma looked at him- no, no, she couldn't do this. She could do anything but this- what if the tunnel collapsed, what if it was longer than they thought, what if someone attacked them in there? She knew how luck worked for her, and it never ended up in her favour. Something was going to go wrong, she just knew it.


But she hadn't come this far to let her bad luck kill her now. She would make it through. She could rely on La'gann for o moment. She had never relied on anyone, but what was a moment? She swallowed, holding back her fear. "Just do it quick, ok?" She wrapped her arms around his neck and used on hand to hold her nose before taking a deep breath. His shoulders were surprisingly broad, and she felt like a little kid clinging to him.


She hated him for it, a bit.

 

[Crysie Cuddles]

Serena waited for him to catch up, keeping her eyes on the knocked out guards. "Yeah, I can," she replied to his question. Besides, if she lost him then she could just tap deeper into his mind to see things through his eyes and locate him that way. Of course, she's only done that a very small hand full of times, and it takes a toll on both her and the person's mind who she taps into. So, she figured that she should just keep a close eye on him and follow him. Even if she did lose him, he told her where to go: half a kilometer west.


She quickly wound up her whip and reattached it to the strap on her waist. "Ready whenever you are." She told him, looking at him. Well she was facing fully at him, her eyes were hidden behind the whites of her domino mask. She licked her lips before quickly, and swiftly, climbing up the tree, perching next to him. "I should be able to keep up with you unless you got like some super speed or something." She told him with a slight chuckle.


La'gann nodded, holding onto her tightly. The moment she took a deep breath and held her nose shut, he dove. He kept a tight grip around her waist as he swam as fast as he could through the tunnel. He would periodically look over at her to check and make sure that she was okay as he swam the two of them through the tight spot.


He quickly resurfaced once they made it to the other side. "We're through to the other side." La'gann informed Dick and Serena through the mind link as he looked around the area for any signs of guards and such. "What's our next move?" He asked for the next orders and he kept himself and Karma hidden in the shadows.

 

[The Succubi Queen]

"Super speed?" He looked down at the ground, as though he expected to see something, before forcing a light laugh. "Nah, I'm more of a regular speed kind of guy. So long as you're not slow." Every moment, this girl became more troubesome- she kept saying just the right things to hurt him. He had thought Karma was going to be the trouble child- but at least he had a full dossier on her. He positioned himself for a jump, then took off, bounding from tree to tree, taking care to never be higher than her, as they made their way to the watch tower.


Karma did not like being underwater. At all. Frankly, she hated it. It was cold and felt oddly heavy on her- faster than air did- nd all she could think about was how the only thing between her and a cold watery grave in flipping Rhealasia were La'gann's arms. Granted, they were nice arms. But the chance of them failing and her dying was there, and so long as that existed, she couldn't feel safe. Her eyes were squeezed shut as she counted every second they swam through the tunnel, her face pressed into thr crook of La'gann's neck.


A small part of her sent out a mental relay, almost on instinct. "This isn't what I agreed to, Nightwing- no one told me my get-out-of-jail free card involved drowning!"


And just like that, it was over. Her head was above the water, spluttering and gasping for air, and his face was too close to hers, and his arms held her tight and her was the only warmth in this godforsaken cold and she clung to him as though he was the only safety she had ever known.


In a mere moment, however, she had wriggled out of his arms towards the shore. That wasn't happening again, she told herself. "Yes, Nightwing, what now?"


Dick and Nightmare weren't far from the tower by now, but time was running out- they couldn't waste the time to regroup. "Head for the embassy, do what you can to start calming the fire- follow the river about 4 Kilometers north from here, and it'll put you right by the embassy."


He then returned his attention to Serena- "See that guard tower? There's a blind spot right at the very base of it- but we have to get from here to there without being seen. How far do your psychic abilities work? There should be two guards in the tower- can you disable them for the 3 minutes it will take us to cross?"

 

[Crysie Cuddles]

Serena swiftly followed him, keeping pace with him as she kept a close eye on him so that she wouldn't lose him. "Trust me, I'm not slow," she chuckled as she showed no trouble keeping her pace with him. She kept a careful eyes on her surroundings as she swung and leap from tree to tree. Her eyes focused on the distant watch tower that they were headed towards.


She lightly clicked her tongue when she saw the two guards up in the tower, she had hoped that they were lucky and wouldn't run into anyone so soon. She carefully listened to him as he spoke while thinking of a way to get them through to the other side. "I can use it at this distance, but there's an easier way to get us to the wall. I can cast an illusion over us to hide us, it'll be more easier and simpler." She told him, leaping so that she was next to him. "I will mess with their minds if I have to later, but I rather see if we can slip by quietly first." She said, looking at him. She was starting to think that she should have told him her abilities before they went on this crazy adventure. Oh well, no time to chit chat now about all that, he was just going to have to experience them first hand.


"Just, stick close to me." She told him before casting an illusion over them. A transparent veil fell over them, distorting the view outside of it just very slightly, it wasn't distorting it much to the point where it was clearly noticeable. "Do not touch or cross over the veil. Other than that, lead the way, I'll be right behind you." She told him, nodding in the direction of the guard tower.


La'gann did one last sweep of the area before going to shore. "You feeling all right?" He asked Karma as he looked her over to make sure that she was okay.





He sighed at the next orders. "Come on, let's hurry before some guards or something show up. We're already tight on time, come on." He said, taking her hand and giving it a light tug in the direction that they were suppose to be headed. His wary eyes were constantly scanning the area for any guards.


"Uhh, how do we calm the fire exactly? We can't exactly just walk in and go 'hey stop fighting' now can we. Plus you're the talker, I'm not good at talking, if anything I'd probably make things worse." La'gann told Dick as he scratching his head slightly. He had no idea what to do once he and Karma got there. He felt as if any of them opened their mouths then it would just make things worse. The whole diplomatic and professional talking thing was Dick's thing, not his.