Two Sides of the Same Coin | Young Justice

Chapter Twenty Five | The Homefront

Bruce accepted the call, and the face of Squidkid appeared on the screen.

"Aqualad," he greeted.

"Batman," Kaldur stood alone in the main room of the base with a somber look on his face. "I... have some news I believe it's time I shared with you."

I watched Bruce sit up straighter, his head momentarily turning to me. I was out of range from the computer camera so Squidkid had no idea I was there, and if this call was as serious as it seemed, I assumed Bruce was going to try and kick me out.

"Aqualad—"

"Batman, please," Kaldur interrupted. "It is my fault, and I take full responsibility as leader of this team for not telling you sooner."

A slight pause.

"I believe there may be a mole on the team."

My eyes widened and I dropped the tablet in my hand. Now, this was much more interesting than filling out dumb forms. I stood up and walked over next to Bruce so Kaldur could see me on the screen.

"Mole?" I repeated, giving him a curious look. "Like, the small animal? Or a snitch?"

Shock passed over Kaldur's face. "Blackout... I... was not aware you were there."

I put a hand on my hip. "Well now you are, so you'd better start talking, Squidkid."

He sighed. "It was during the Taipei mission with Red Arrow, Sportsmaster revealed the possibility of a mole. I was hesitant of telling anyone— even you, Batman— for a rumor could cause unwanted tension amongst the team. I did not want to raise any concern without further evidence, but I figured it would be best to, at the very least, keep you informed."

"You made a smart choice, Kaldur," Bruce said, before pulling up another screen that I assume showed on Squidkid's end as well. "I've already had suspicion of a mole on the team for a while."

A video began playing of security footage from what I'm guessing was the Taipei mission. Roy and Kaldur were in a fight with Sportsmaster and, the most irritating criminal ever in my opinion, Cheshire. (She constantly tries to play me at my own game— like, listen, sweetie, there's only room for one hot, sarcastic, tightly-costumed teenaged assassin here, and it's not you).

"Not bad, Lad," Sportsmaster said casually. "Better than your team did at Santa Prisca or Bialya."

Kaldur remained emotionless, but his voice gave away his concern. "How did you...?"

"Let's just say I have an inside source. Very inside," Sportsmaster replied before the fighting continued.

The video stopped.

"I assume you've come to deductions of your own on who the mole could potentially be," Bruce said. "But as of right now, I believe the most logical suspects would be Superboy, Artemis, and Blackout."

I froze.

Oh, I know he did not just say me. After I've saved his ass on numerous occasions? Is he forgetting about the time when I fell out of a three-story window for him?

"Uh, hello?" I narrowed my eyes. "Sorry to burst your bubbles, boys, but if I was the mole we wouldn't even be having this conversation, because none of you would ever know. My bets are on Artemis— Conner is too stupid to be able to pull it off, and she seems like the type to make a rookie mistake like that. Also, that's straight-up her family in the video!"

"Artemis' family ties do raise some suspicion," Kaldur explained. "But that does not automatically make her the mole. Just like your affiliation with the criminal world does not make you one either, Blackout."