Overwatch Returns

Chapter 1: Clean Up

Metropolis 1200hrs

After the thwarted robotic invasion, there was still a lot of work to do for the heroes. Many villains saw the chaos and destruction as the opportune moment to further plan and scheme while the League was preoccupied with dealing with the Light's forces. Now these plans were coming into effect, with many of the JL members' rogues gallery popping up on the radar.

This of course made life extremely busy for the Justice League, with many of the core members like Superman, Batman, Flash, and Green Arrow needed in their respective cities to handle their usuals. However, these weren't exactly Justice League level threats and didn't require whole teams to be sent out. Instead it would usually just be the city's hero and their protege. This also grounded most of the Young Justice's operations for now, with Overwatch only taking out smaller teams for light recon work or the more common assignment nowadays; clean up duty.

With the current lineup consisting of Superboy, Kid Flash, Aqualad and himself, Overwatch's little group was currently in Metropolis assisting in the disposal of the Light's robotic soldiers and weapons. Around the world, local law enforcement and militaries would gather up the destroyed or deactivated cybernetics before destroying them, with a member of the Justice League watching close by under orders from the United Nations. Following an emergency session, the bulk of the world congress came to the agreement that these robots were too dangerous to be left laying around and would only serve as to cause more damage if allowed to be incorporated into countries' armed forces.

So alongside a squad of Army Rangers and a platoon of marines, the heroes got to work. Overwatch and the rangers were posted up on security amongst the rooftops and some sections of the street whilst the rest worked on clearing rubble, gathering up cybernetics or assisting construction crews wherever possible. Currently Superboy was helping move the heavy robots and Kid Flash would go around passing out water bottles in the sweltering heat. Aqualad was in the subway helping a construction crew fix a broken freshwater pipe, with the marines scattered around the area.

However, just as all seemed to be going well, the sound of gunfire could be heard as soldiers opened fire on a bot that had come online again. Jumping into action, Overwatch leapt off the side of the building before deploying his wingsuit and gliding over to the source of the conflict. Arriving just in time to see three more cybernetics come alive, the young hero took command of the situation. "Captain Matthews, I need you to position your marines in a protective cordon around the block and keep the civilians out. If the mechs get too close, light 'em up. I'll keep the rangers up on the rooftops, they'll have a much better view of the situation than either of us and will keep us updated."

"Copy that Overwatch!" The USMC captain hastily replied as the sound of Humvee engines roared in the background. Jumping behind some rubble for cover, the young hero narrowly dodged a hail of bullets from the bot as he pulled out his grappler. Aiming at a nearby skyscraper, Overwatch fired the grappling hook and pulled himself into the air before disengaging the line and diving straight at the mech.

Landing atop its main armour, the hero expertly placed some explosives at the shoulder joint before getting thrown off by the bot. Detonating the payload, Overwatch enjoyed the fiery view from behind cover as Kid Flash quickly pulled him away from the blast zone. "Thanks KF, I owe you one for that."

"Dude, just pay for my next shopping trip to the snack store and we'll call it even." The speedster prodigy quipped back before running off once more to continue helping out with the cleanup operation. As for the other two, the Kryptonian and Altantean made short work of the damaged cybernetics, with Superboy ripping it apart with his bare hands while Kaldur sliced his in half with his aquatic blades. Calling over the Marine captain, Overwatch gave him the all clear to move his men back into the area and continue with their previous tasks.

"Watchtower to Overwatch, report on Metropolis cleanup."

"This is Overwatch, cleanup is going good. We've had a rogue bot come online again but handled it accordingly. I recommend sending out a caution to the other sites and tell them to target the joints with explosives." Overwatch reported back, from what he could make out the space station was quite busy with a few voices talking in the background whilst Martian Manhunter manned the comm. "Will do, Watchtower out."

Looking down at the time, Overwatch's heart almost skipped a beat when he realized that he was probably going to miss the Wayne lunch happening at the manor later today. Calling over his team, the leader asked everyone if it would be alright if he dipped for an hour or two. "Overwatch, you've been on the clock since 3 o'clock this morning. Go, we got you covered."

"Thanks Superboy, I'll be back after lunch and we'll pick up from there." Overwatch thanked his team before zipping off to the subway Zeta platform near the Daily Planet. Usually lunch was something that either Bruce or himself would pass on given the amount of work they had nowadays, but today was different.

Today was the last day before both Dick and Tim would be heading back to Gotham High, so it was kind of a last chance for them to all be together for lunch and just be a normal-ish family. So missing this one was not an option, plus Alfred had made it pretty clear that whoever wasn't attending would have to go to the next gala with Bruce, something all three of the boys hated doing.

Wayne Manor 13:14hrs

"Arrival Overwatch 00"

After dashing out of the Zeta tube in the Batcave, Overwatch rushed over to the armoury to take off his armour. The magnetic plates were easy enough, a simple biometrically encoded release button on the gauntlet would release all the plates, causing them to drop from the bodysuit and onto the ground. The bulletproof bodysuit however was a different story, being incredibly annoying to take off when in a rush and often ending in a long and decorative line of curses. Hence being one of the reasons Jake usually just remained in the suit and just took the plates off.

However, Pennyworth had made it abundantly clear that there was going to be no suits at the table. So after putting on some civvies and hiding his utility belt underneath his pants, Jake quickly went upstairs and walked out onto the freshly mowed lawn where he spotted the newly appointed Robin doing some last minute holiday homework by the table. "Hey Tim, whatcha doing over there?"

"Finishing off the last bit of trigonometry homework that I had for the holidays." Drake announced with a smile before getting stuck back into his calculations. Contrary to Dick, Jake and the late Jason Todd, Tim Drake wasn't recruited by Batman to be Robin. Instead he volunteered after his parents died in a home invasion gone wrong. Long story short, the Drakes were another big name in the Gotham tech market, with Jack and Janet Drake amassing quite a fortune through their company by always being very hands on with operations.

Unfortunately, this left Tim quite alone, and with his massive intellect, he found criminology extremely interesting and started teaching himself at a very young age. So after finding his parents dead in their home, Tim dedicated all of his time into finding out Batman's true identity and begging Bruce to let him be the next Robin. Fair to say, Bruce was impressed with Tim's work and given the harsh situation back home, Wayne quickly adopted Drake into the family.

Say that the kid was a genius was an understatement, being only 13 and doing stuff that was at least two years ahead of him in school. When he was enrolled in Gotham Academy, it only took the staff a few days to realize how gifted Tim really was, putting him in Year 9 instead of Year 7 where other kids his age were. Not to mention that his detective skills were only topped by a handful of people like Batman and Overwatch.

"So Jake, how's it going with the cleanup? I saw you had rostered Conner, Wally and Kaldur to help you today in Metropolis." Bruce asked before taking a big bite out of his sandwich. Explaining what happened earlier with the bot reactivating again, Jake saw how both Bruce and Dick paused for a moment before he reassured them that the situation was handled. "I had Manhunter send out a notification to the other nations along with some tips on how to deal with the matter."

"Good, now listen Jake, there's something I need to tell you."

"Yeah Bruce, wassup?" Jake replied whilst chomping down on some food. "Umm, I need you to attend school for the rest of the year?"

"WAIT WHAT?!"