| Mount Justice - August 8
The hum of the Zeta-Tube faded as the teleportation sequence completed.
"Recognized: Nova, B-08," the system intoned.
Joseph stepped out with a yawn, still wiped from the chaos earlier. His Nova suit was singed in a few places and his signature gold Corinthian helmet was missing—he hadn't gotten around to asking Batman for a replacement since the events had happened mere hours ago.
The room was more crowded than usual.
Wally, dressed like he was heading to the beach, was mid-argument with an unfamiliar girl in a green costume standing beside Green Arrow. The Team had probably gone to the beach earlier today. Damn it. He missed the chance to see Kori in a bikini.
Red Tornado stood stoically by the side, flanked by Batman, and a new teen in red-and-black gear was in the middle of the room next. The rest of the Team was present too, all in uniform, glancing between holographic screens and one another.
Some mission briefing about a kidnapped scientist—Serling Roquette—and a nanotech weapon called the Fog, linked to a group called the League of Shadows.
League of Shadows? Joseph squinted at the screen. Sounds like something a bored thirteen-year-old would make up.
"Sorry I'm late," he said casually, walking over. "Overslept."
"Hi Joseph," Kori said warmly, floating over and giving him a hug.
"Hey," he murmured, returning it before nodding to the rest of the Team.
"Joseph?" the green-clad girl asked in surprise.
He turned to her, taking in her features—blonde hair, sharp eyes with a noticeable Asian slant, and a bow slung over her back.
"…Artemis?"
What was his next-door neighbor doing here?
"You know this nobody?" Wally cut in, shooting Artemis a glare. Strange—Wally usually defaulted to flirting with new girls. Artemis must've put him in his place fast.
Joseph blinked. "Uh… yeah. Didn't know she was a hero, though."
Green Arrow stepped forward. "She's my niece and new protege. Just joined."
Joseph looked at the red-and-black suited teen across the room. "So is that your old one? Speedy?"
The guy's jaw tightened. "Red Arrow now, Flux."
Robin's eyebrow twitched. It took a second, but Joseph saw the gears turning. Realization hit the boy wonder—Nova was Flux, the petty thief who had escaped him twice.
The rest of the room, other than Kori and Batman, didn't understand the exchange.
Joseph didn't care.
So what if Speedy recognized him? He'd never stolen from innocents, never hurt anyone who didn't deserve it. And he had turned over a new leaf doing a lot of good as a hero. Red Arrow's mentor, Green Arrow, had started as a vigilante who straight-up killed the corrupt, and now he sat in League meetings. Compared to that, Joseph was practically squeaky clean.
At least he let other people do the killing. Though Dizzy was currently in A.R.G.U.S., he still had Carla Viti.
He smirked at Red Arrow. "Good on you, tough guy. Let me guess—you tried the lone-wolf act and came crawling back? Needed your old team to bail you out? Thought you hated being a sidekick."
"I'm not a sidekick!" Red Arrow snapped. "Whatever. My job here is done."
He stormed toward the Zeta-Tube.
"Recognized: Speedy—"
"That's Red Arrow. B-06. Update," he corrected sharply before disappearing in a flash of light and sound.
Joseph watched him vanish, then turned to the room. "Swell guy. Anyway, Batman, I need a new suit."
**
| Happy Harbor - August 8
In Nova's opinion, the mission was hardly a challenge.
The Team in the stealth versions of their costumes, along with Dr. Serling Roquette, had set up inside Happy Harbor High School.
The threat? A swarm of microscopic robots called the Fog—a weapon capable of devouring concrete, steel, flesh, and bone with ease. Worse, it could hack any system and store everything it touched. The League of Shadows had kidnapped Dr. Roquette and forced her to build it. Red Arrow had managed to extract her from Infinity Island, but the Fog was already active.
Now, Roquette was racing to code a virus that could shut it down.
[Thank you for connecting us, M'gann,] Kori said through the mental link.
[This is so weird,] Artemis chimed in.
[And distracting,] Roquette muttered. [Coding on a school computer with less RAM than a smartwatch is hard enough. Now I've got teenage brain-chatter in my skull.]
[Lady, do you always complain when people try to help you?] Wally shot back.
[Pot, kettle,] Artemis retorted.
[Hey, I don't need sass from the newbie who threw Red Arrow off the team,] Wally replied.
[That is so not on me!] Artemis snapped.
[Fate of the world, people,] Roquette said dryly.
[She started it,] Wally muttered.
[Team. Focus.] Kori said firmly.
[How about I just help Miss Martian, Starfire, and Superboy patrol the perimeter?] Artemis suggested.
[Good idea,] Kaldur replied.
[Cut her some slack Kid Flash. Her arrow was the one that helped you take down Ivo's GORILLAs.] Nova said, recognizing the arrow sticking out of the GORILLA's head as the same ones in Artemis' quiver.
[Well I'm still not giving her the satisfaction] Wally replied.
[You know I can still hear you right?] Artemis replied.
Nova sighed and rubbed his temples. The scientist was snippy, the back-and-forth bickering echoed through his mind, and he was running on maybe an hour of sleep that while not affecting him physically was exhausting him mentally. Hopefully this mission could end soon.