November 22nd
(Y/n) POV
I was working on decrypting Cadmus files. I think I've found a way to hack into them without alerting anyone at the SHD or Cadmus. The only problem is that it will take forever. ISAC's been slowly chipping away at their firewall and it could be days before I get access to anything relevant. I thought about taking my plan to Batman and running it by him first, but I refuse to believe that someone here is a traitor. I'm only doing this to confirm that there is none, or so I keep telling myself.
The truth is, the more I think about it, the more it seems possible, even likely.
Batman's voice boomed over the PA and I turned off my laptop.
Batman: "Robin, Kid Flash, Superboy, Miss Martian, Vanguard, report for mission briefing."
*Small Time Skip*
Everyone Batman called stood in the training area receiving information on our mission. I changed my combat outfit to desert camouflage to fit the environment we would be fighting in. Batman was sending us to Qurac to discover the reason behind a sudden political shift. The country, currently being led by president Rumaan Harjavti, has been vigorously against the neighbouring dictatorship of Bialya for as long as I can remember. Until five days ago when Harjavti announced the two countries will reunify in accordance with a baseless claim that they were once one nation in ancient times.
The leader of Bialya, Queen Bee, has the power to enthrall most men and some women but Batman seems confident she hasn't left Bialya. So we are being sent to find out what's going on in Qurac.
Batman: "Robin, you're team leader."
Kid Flash: "Sweet, promotion."
Kid Flash held his hand up for a high five from Robin but was completely ignored. Robin seems far more disappointed than excited about his new role as team leader.
Robin: "Me? Wh-what about Aqualad?"
Batman: "Busy helping Aquaman, you're the next logical choice."
Robin: "Great..."
Kid Flash: "Dude, you totally left me hanging."
I grabbed an MK18 and boarded the bio-ship with the team. Robin didn't seem to be all too excited to lead the team.
It wasn't long until we reached Qurac.
Robin: "We're right above the Quraci-Biaylan border.
(Y/n): "Biaylan tanks and infantry are crossing the border, our 8 o'clock."
Superboy: "No opposition. Guess, Harjavti really is in bed with Bialya."
Robin: "I wouldn't expect to find opposition here, it's an animal sanctuary."
Miss Martian: "The Logan animal sanctuary?!"
Robin: "You've heard of it?"
Kid Flash: "Guys, tanks have caused a stampede. With civilians in harm's way."
Superboy: "I see them. A woman and a small boy."
Miss Martian: "We have to help them!"
Robin: "We're way off mission here."
Robin was silent for a second and I could tell he was thinking about all the ways this could go wrong and I don't blame him.
Robin: "Deploy, but stealth mode. If the Bialyans know we hit them this becomes an international incident."
Robin and I dropped out of the bio-ship and took a defensive position behind a cluster of trees. Miss Martian fired the bio-ships weapon at the Biaylan tanks disabling both of them.
The Biaylan infantry were clustered together, Robin and I threw smoke grenades at their feet as Kid Flash disarmed all the soldiers.
We didn't need to fight many soldiers. The second they lost their weapons they took off running back across the border.
By now Superboy and Miss Martian had saved the civilians from the stampede of animals. We gathered in front of the civilians to ensure they are alright. The mom was star struck that she was saved but the kid was super excited.
Boy: "Mom! Mom! We were just saved by Robin and Kid Flash!"
Kid Flash: "Well Superboy, Miss Martian and Vanguard helped too."
Miss Martian lowered the animal she saved back to the ground as the boy ran to hug it.
Boy: "Oryx!"
Robin: "We diverted the Bialyans around the sanctuary, you should be safe now."
Kid Flash: "Uhh ya Miss M, coast is clear, you can de-camo now."
M'gann de-camouflaged and I realized she looks a lot like the lady we just saved. Like almost identical, M'gann was just younger looking and green but other than that they appeared to be the exact same.
Woman: "You may have made things worse. Biaylan border crossings are a way of life here. Usually they wreck a few fences and move on. Engaging them may have made us a target."
Boy: "Mom un-cool."
Woman: "I'm sorry I should thank you. This is my son Garfield."
This woman is right. They will be back and they will come back in bigger numbers. If we are going to stay here we need to prepare some sort of defence. After making these people a target we can't abandon them, so it looks like our mission just went off the rails for good.
Woman: "I'm-"
Miss Martian: "Marie Logan! I can't believe I'm actually meeting you in person. Uh I've-I've uh admire your stance on animal rights for years."
Conner (telepathic link): "You've only been on Earth for six months."
Marie: "That Oryx is sick and I think you injured this wildebeest."
Superboy: "Uh sorry."
Marie: "I suppose it was inevitable but both need to go to our clinic."
Miss Martian: "The boys can do that! You and I can uh... fix your fence!"
Robin: "That's not exactly our-"
Miss Martian and Garfield: "Please!"
(Y/n): "We will need to prepare some form of defence here, the Bialyan's will be back."
Robin: "Fine."
Robin, Kid Flash, Superboy and Garfield left to take the animals to the clinic next to the house. Miss Martian left to repair fences with Marie after landing the bio-ship for me so I could unload some heavier equipment. After the Injustice League I started storing heavy weapons on the bio-ship against the wishes of Batman and a few other leaguers. Despite their grievances, the gear proved to be useful. I assembled several small SAM launchers and scattered them around the perimeter of the house. I only had five so I focused them on the direction of the Bialyan border as any air assault would come from that direction. I finished placing the launchers and linked them with ISAC before heading back to the house.
Garfield: "Hello Megan the pilot episode."
Wait, what did he just say? I never got a chance to ask. ISAC spoke next, interpreting our conversation.
ISAC: "Incoming Hellfire drones detected."
Superboy: "I hear them. They're coming from the south."
South! That's parallel with the border; the launchers won't get a lock until they're right on top of us!
We ran outside just as M'gann and Marie were coming back to the house.
Miss Martian: "What is it?"
(Y/n): "Drones about to fire, find cover!"
Robin and I hid behind a tree as Superboy shielded M'gann and Marie from a hail of bullets shot down at our position.
Marie: "Where's Garfield?!"
Robin: "I ordered him to stay inside."
Marie: "He's eight he doesn't do orders!"
Garfield: "Mom it's ok I got the animals out!"
To our horror, Garfield was over at the makeshift clinic in the barn as a drone came in for a strafing run. Just before the drone was about to fire ISAC got a lock on the Bialyan drone.
(Y/n): "I have a lock, firing now."
I waited for the sound of the missile launching but it never came.
ISAC: "Error friendly drone detected, launch aborted."
What?! How could Bialyan drones be marked as friendlies by the SHD?!
BOOM!
I was snapped out of my troubled state by the massive fireball that formed from the explosion.
Garfield was sent flying through the air. Thankfully M'gann caught him before he hit the ground. We rushed over to see Garfield, he was badly injured and losing a lot of blood. Miss Martian handed Garfield to Marie and together with Superboy they fought and destroyed the drones.
Marie: "I told you there'd be consequences!"
Robin: "Always. Let's get him inside."
We got Garfield inside to his bedroom and his mother began assessing him.
Marie: "He's in shock. He needs a blood transfusion now. Is anyone here O negative?"
(Y/n): "No."
Robin: "No..."
Kid Flash: "Sorry."
Marie: "Neither am I. It's the hardest to match. I kept a supply in the clinic."
Kid Flash: "I can run him to the nearest hospital!"
Robin: "Closest hospital with a guaranteed blood supply is half an hour away at your top speed, longer by bio-ship.
Marie: "He doesn't have that much time! What's Superboy's blood type?"
Robin: "He's Kryptonian and Miss Martian-"
Miss Martian: "Might be able to help. My shape shifting occurs at the cellular level. I think I can morph my blood to match his."
Marie: "Please try."
Miss Martian: "I'll need to concentrate, no distractions."
Marie: "Right. Out! All of you OUT!"
We left the room and Marie slammed the door as I stepped into the hall. We walked back into the living room in silence. I couldn't understand what happened with the SAM launcher. I need to find one of those drones.
Robin: "You said you had the drone."
(Y/n): "ISAC had a lock on it! I don't know what happened. I've set up that SAM system almost a hundred times before and I did a check on it before the drones arrived. The launcher was working."
I'm not telling them about the drones being marked as friendly forces. That will bring the whole SHD and my loyalty to the Justice League into question. If I'm not careful I'll end up being the number one suspect in this mole investigation.
(Y/n): "Look, with the short time it took those drones to get here the airfield can't be that far. I'll cross the border and get our answers directly from the Bialyan Air Force."
Robin: "No. We have a mission already. We aren't starting another one."
(Y/n): "I need to know why my launcher didn't fire. If they have some sort of new jamming technology then Qurac won't have to be reunified; Bialya can just invade it without suffering major casualties."
Robin: "Fine, but be discreet and stay on comms."
(Y/n): "You got it boss."
I left the house and began making my way across the border. I stopped by the wreckage of the three drones, nothing was salvageable enough for ISAC to get anything useful.
*Time Skip*
I arrived at the airfield just after nightfall. Robin radioed me that Garfield was stable, I didn't respond. I don't want anyone who could be monitoring communications to be able to pinpoint my position.
The hangars for the drone are just beyond a fence marking the perimeter. I ran up to and climbed over the fence landing on the hot desert sand.
I hate sand, it's coarse, rough and it gets everywhere.
The drones the Bialyan Air Force uses are linked to a server network. I can use ISAC to copy all the information from the server through the drones main computer. All I need to do is get access to a drone and hopefully remain undetected.
I began to move to the closest hangar. I was about to walk in through the backdoor when a mechanic walked out and saw me. I reacted instantly and brutally. Before he got a word out I slammed the butt of my rifle into his face, knocking him out instantly.
I dragged his body just inside the hanger and left it by the corner. Thankfully he was the only one inside. I ran over to the closest drone and began the download.
ISAC: "Initiating download."
Alright, now I just need to not be spotted, which with my luck will go terribly wrong. It did almost instantly. A patrol of eight soldiers was walking towards the hangar. If I don't do something they're going to see me.
ISAC: "Download 25% complete."
I flicked the safety off on the MK18 and aimed it at the commander leading the patrol. I really don't want to kill anyone but I need this information. If the SHD has a traitor giving our technology to the enemy they need to be stopped. Even the ability to mark their forces as friendly so ISAC can't distinguish targets from friendly units is incredibly damaging.
ISAC: "Download 50% complete."
Right after the halfway mark the commander saw me. He yelled out for me to stop and pointed his rifle at me.
Well so much for stealth. I opened fire at the patrol taking three of them down including the commander while the rest scrambled away to opposite sides of the hanger door.
(Y/n): "ISAC, scramble their comms!"
ISAC: "Enemy communications jammed."
My suppressor will keep some of the noise down but the second the patrol fires a shot at me someone else on the base will hear it and sound the alarm. My jamming of the comms has bought me at least 30 seconds, I know that they will hesitate to fire at me because I'm sitting beside their drone and the fuel it uses, at least I hope they'll hesitate. If they miss they will blow up half their base and all the drones on it.
I took the advantage I gained from the soldiers' hesitation and used it. I ran up to the side of the hanger door, peeked around it and emptied what was left of my mag. I hit and killed three more leaving two on the opposite side of the building. I reloaded my rifle while running back behind cover. The two soldiers left opened fire at me hitting the hummvee I hid behind.
(Y/n): "Here we go."
The alarm sounded a few seconds after the soldiers started shooting. I dropped two seeker mines and watched them drive away towards the soldiers. The resulting explosion silenced the gunfire coming from the other side of the hangar.
ISAC: "Download complete."
(Y/n): "Well, time to leave."
I hopped into the hummvee and started it up.
(They don't require keys to start. I'm serious look it up.)
I heard the sound of gunshots hitting the hummvee as I accelerated out of the hangar and smashed through the fence at the end of the runway. I drove all the way back to the Logan Animal Sanctuary. I ditched the hummvee and threw an incendiary grenade into it to completely destroy it and remove any evidence. I walked the last kilometre to the Logan's house where the team waited for me. The sun was just coming up and the team waited outside the house.
Robin: "Did you get it?"
(Y/n): "Yep I'll start looking through it when we get back to the Cave."
We boarded the bio-ship and flew back to the cave. I immediately went to have a shower and get some much needed sleep. I let ISAC download the data I retrieved to my laptop so I could look it over in the coming days.
November 25th
(Y/n) POV:
Today's thanksgiving and I'm currently sitting in front of my laptop reading Cadmus files and going through the data from the Bialyan Air Force.
To be honest I've done enough of that. It's Thanksgiving and I should really be helping the others in the kitchen. M'gann, Conner, Zatanna and I are eating together. Everyone else has their own families to eat with.
I made my way to the kitchen and passed Conner on the way there. He didn't even acknowledge me when I said 'hey'. He almost looked like he was in a trance or deep thought about something. I stepped into the kitchen to see Zatanna and M'gann talking by the kitchen island.
Zatanna: "Hey (Y/n)!"
(Y/n): "Hey Zee, M'gann. How are you guys doing?"
M'gann: "We're alright just put the turkey in the oven. It will be a while until it's ready."
(Y/n): "Alright, I have to stop at headquarters to get some gear. I'll be back in time for dinner."
Zatanna: "Oh, well alright then..."
(Y/n): "Sorry, I'll help in the kitchen next time."
M'gann: "It's alright, we will manage."
*Small Time Skip*
I walked into the Division's headquarters at Langley. The bare metal walls and the grey tile floor make the place look rather depressing when compared to the cave. I stepped into the main hub, agents walking back and forth and military personnel working on computers. I stood in the doorway before I heard a familiar voice.
Maxwell: "Agent (L/n), you are a sight for sore eyes."
(Y/n): "Hey Charles, how are you?"
Maxwell: "I'm good, your gear is in the armoury, Kelso will help you get it."
(Y/n): "Alright well, happy Thanksgiving and I'll be heading out after I grab my equipment."
Maxwell: "Aww leaving so soon, I was hoping to get an update on the magician."
I glared at Maxwell for a second before turning to leave the hub. How did he find out about Zatanna and I? It must have been Keener. I honestly thought they didn't talk much since Keener's retirement, he must have asked how the date went. I never mentioned it to Maxwell or anyone at the SHD. I honestly don't know how he found out.
I opened the door to the armoury and stepped in. The wall was lined with weapons, body armour and gadgets of all kinds.
Kelso: "Hey kid, how are you?"
(Y/n): "Hey Kelso, I'm great thanks for asking."
Kelso: "Great eh, any particular reason that you're great? You usually hate being 'stuck in an office'."
(Y/n): "Yeah actually, I've met someone and we went on a date..."
Kelso: "Oh, well good for you."
(Y/n): "But I never told Maxwell about it, he somehow knows about her and the date but I can't figure out how."
Kelso: "I wouldn't worry too much about it. Old guys a master spy and he cares about you, so he was probably just checking up on you. You know, seeing how you're handling the 'big leagues' as he called it."
(Y/n): "Yeah maybe... anyways thanks for the gear."
Kelso: "Stay safe kid, we'd hate to lose you."
*Small Time Skip*
I arrived back at the Cave just as M'gann, Conner and Zatanna were sitting down for dinner.
(Y/n): "Hey. Sorry I'm late."
Zatanna: "I'll grab you a plate!"
(Y/n): "Zee you don't have to, I can get it."
Zatanna completely disregarded my last statement and went to get the food for me.
Zatanna: "What do you want to drink?"
(Y/n): "I'll get a glass of water thanks."
I grabbed a glass and got some water from the tap before Zee handed me my plate. We went and sat down with Conner and M'gann. Zatanna said grace, something she normally did with her Dad but sadly can't anymore.
M'gann: "Wait, we need to say what we're all thankful for!"
It was silent for a moment before Conner spoke.
Conner: "Well uh, you guys I guess."
Zatanna: "F-for this new family."
(Y/n): "For family."
M'gann: "For family. Happy Thanksgiving guys."
With that, we all ate the wonderful dinner M'gann and Zatanna prepared for us. The food was absolutely amazing.
After dinner, everyone cleaned up dishes before heading their separate ways for the night. Zatanna and I cuddled on the couch watching television.
Zatanna: "I just wanted you to know, I'm thankful for you."
(Y/n): "I'm thankful for you too Zee."
We spent hours cuddling on the couch but it felt like minutes. It's so easy to lose track of time with her.
(Y/n): "Hey Zee, we should probably go to bed. It's 1:30 and I'm tired."
Zatanna: "Just sleep here. I want to watch the end of the show."
(Y/n): "I'm not sleeping on the couch Zee, I'll stay up with you."
Zatanna laid down on the couch and used my lap as a pillow while we watched the television. I wasn't paying any attention to the show and couldn't even recall the name, it was some home renovation show and that's all I can remember about it.
I gently played with Zatanna's long black hair and before I knew it she was asleep on my lap. I gently moved her off of me just enough to lay down beside her. I wrapped my arms around Zatanna's waist and held her as we shared a pillow. I quickly fell asleep
*poke*
*poke*
Zatanna: "(Y/n), are you awake?"
(Y/n): "Uhh I am now Zee. What time is it?"
Zatanna: "4:30..."
(Y/n): "What? Why are you awake? Are you ok?"
Zatanna smiled at me, at least I think she did. It was hard to see her, all the lights in the cave automatically turned off after midnight.
Zatanna: "I'm just a little cold..."
(Y/n): "Alright, I'll get a blanket."
I got up and went back to my room to grab a blanket. ISAC was still running the decryption program on my laptop. The progress bar was almost done, it should finish later tomorrow night. I grabbed a blanket and went back to the couch in the living room.
Zatanna: "Thanks a lot."
(Y/n): "No problem Zee. Goodnight."
Zatanna: "Good night (Y/n)."
I laid down on the couch and Zatanna laid on top of me, I pulled the blanket up overtop of us and Zee quickly fell asleep with her head resting on my chest. She was so cute when she was sleeping. It wasn't long before I drifted off to sleep.