The Last One (young justice/robin)

22. last chance

"We'll talk about this again."

    "Recognized: Wonder Woman 0-3."

    "Everything okay?" Wally's hand landed on my shoulder, and out of reflex I shrugged it off. "That talk with Wonder Woman seemed kind of intense."

    "I'm fine." I rejoined the group, ignoring their odd looks. "You realize we were set up, right?"

    "Yes," Aqualad agreed, "Cheshire and Riddler were tipped, and ready for us."

    "Not the mole thing, again!"

    "Mole thing?" Raquel repeated. "Again?"

    "We had intel that there was a traitor on the Team."

    "Namely Artemis, M'gann, Iris, or me."

"It is more complicated than that," Kaldur tried to put a hand on Conner's shoulder, but in the same manner he shrugged it off. "But your recent behavior does concern me. Your attack on Mammoth nearly got Artemis killed—Superboy?"

    "There's something I need to do, something I need to tell you... Last month, on Thanksgiving, I went back to Cadmus, and found a few things out. When I was cloned, only half the DNA was Superman's. The other half was human. That's why I don't have—never have—full Kryptonian powers."

    "Then the heat vision?" I brought up. "And the flying earlier?"

    "I've been using these." He rolled his sleeve up. "Shields. They suppress my human DNA. I get the flight, the heat vision, but I think I also get angry—well, angrier. I'm sorry."

    "Where did you get those?"

    "From my human father, Lex Luthor."

    "Lex Luthor... is your dad?" Robin repeated in disbelief.

    "He summoned me to Santa Prisca."

    I had barely begun to process Superboy's confession, when Artemis spoke up, "Uh, listen. Superboy's not the only one suffering from bad DNA. My mother is Huntress, an ex-con. Rest of my family aren't even 'ex-'. My dad's Sportsmaster. And he's sending my sister, Cheshire, to fly me to Santa Prisca, too."

    "That's why..."

    "Yeah," Artemis cut Wally off. "I was so desperate to make sure none of you found out."

    "I knew."

    My neck craned towards Robin.

    "Hey, I'm a detective. But it never mattered. You aren't your family. You're one of us."

    Wally accepted it quickly, putting a hand on Artemis' shoulder. "So... who's next?"

    "I am."

    "I swear I was kidding."

    "Queen Bee's been blackmailing me," M'gann admitted. "She wants me in Santa Prisca, too."

    "Blackmailing? How?"

    "She knows my true Martian form."

    "Bald M'gann? Who cares if—"

    "No." She shifted into a large white... Martian. Nothing like what she had shown us before.

    "Woah," Raquel muttered.

    "I realized you would never accept me if you saw what I really am."

    "M'gann, did we truly seem so shallow?"