Chapter Text
Before
“Piper ended it,” he said quietly. “That was months ago, way before the Burning Maze. Now, come on. Let’s go find Caligula.”
Jason considered. “I’m okay with Mellie blaming me. It’s probably better.”
Jason gripped the hilt of his gladius. “Where do we even start? How do we find Caligula in all of that?”
Now
New York City,
October 31st, 19:26 EDT
Police cars sit outside the Metropolitan Museum of Art with their sirens on.
On the inside, police mill about one of the display rooms, looking at a shattered glass case.
A detective stands near a curator, a notebook in his hand as he records the man's account, albeit with skepticism.
"So the perp bypasses your alarm system and disables every security camera in the place to steal a sword?" He checks, not even attempting to keep the doubt from his tone.
The curator wrings his hands together.
"Not a sword, Detective Daniels," He stresses, "The sword of Beowulf. It's priceless. Legend says it provides great power to the pure of heart. There's even an Old English incantation that's supposed to summon the power. Abanan aful Beowulf."
Daniels looks unimpressed.
"Great," He says, truly sounding like he doesn't care, "Look, the N.Y.P.D. Will do its best, but the thief is obviously long gone."
A voice pipes up from high up in the room.
"Let's not rush to judgment. Mediocrity such as this is never far from Harm."
Everyone's heads snap up.
A young man, maybe in his early twenties, stands on an outcrop at the top of the room. He has dark brown hair parted down the middle, green eyes a stark contrast against his pale skin, a grey trench coat open to his sculpted chest. He has four claw marks over one eye and a malicious grin.
In his hand is a sword, sheathed within what looks like a severed arm.
"Freeze!"
"Drop the sword!"
"Down on the ground!"
The police react all at once, guns drawn and pointing.
The man, Harm it seems, ignores them.
"Still, Harm should be grateful. Harm did need the words."
He switches the grip on the weapon, holding the sheath in one hand and the handle in the other.
"Abanan aful Beowulf!" He calls out.
The hand releases instantly, and Harm pulls out the weapon without much fuss. A red glow seems to emanate from it, and a mark appears over where his heart should be.
He tries it out in his hand for a moment, grinning, before swinging in in a great sweeping arc at the police.
Lightning erupts from it, taking all the police officers out at one.
He swings down from the skyline, walking through the room to the bodies with a frenzied calm.
"How monumentally unsatisfying," He notes, watching idly as blood begins to leak from the officers, "Harm and the sword will require greater challenges."
Harm turns to face the curator, who backs away in a panic, stumbling over and falling down.
"B- But the legend," He stumbles, "Only the pure of heart should be able to summon that power."
Harm grins, and his mouth curves unnaturally.
"The legend said the heart must be pure. It never said pure good."
...
Now
Mount Justice,
October 31st, 19:34 EDT
Wally, dressed as what is probably meant to be a werewolf but in reality just looks like a furry, howls at a fake moon.
He stares at Wolf, who is sleeping (and probably cursing him out in his sleep), offended at the lack of joining in.
"Really?" He asks, "You're not gonna join in at all? What kind of wolf are you?"
"Wally, stop torturing him," Conner grouches, from where he's getting wrapped up with bandages by M'gann.
She tuts at his jostling
"Hold still, please."
"Megan, stop torturing him," Wally jokes, mimicking Conner's earlier sentiment. "Awkward for him, being a third wheel on our date."
M'gann shifts slightly, before laughing a bit with a forced smile, a high pitched noise.
"Wally, I invited the entire team to the dance," She says, wrapping a bandage around Conner's wrist just a little too tight, "Zatanna too."
Wally speeds over, throwing his arm over her shoulder.
"Good. Keeps us on the down low."
M'gann looks uncomfortable, and brushes his arm off on the pretense of getting more bandages.
Wally remains undeterred, even as Conner begins to glare at him.
"So," He asks, "You going as my favorite Martian?"
M'gann smiles, a small but genuine one this time.
"Not exactly."
Her form shifts, green skin turning pale and black lipstick and eyeshadow forming on her face, as a withered, slightly dirty wedding dress unfolds onto her, complete with a moth-eaten veil.
A zombie bride.
"Whoa, babe," Wally says appreciatively, "Eat my brains anytime."
He lets out a small whistle, as she spins around and strikes the classic zombie pose.
Another voice pipes up.
"Great minds think alike."
Captain Marvel walks in, with badly done white face paint and panda eyes covering the majority of his face.
M'gann smiles.
"Captain, you look terrific," She compliments, "Are you going to a Halloween celebration too?"
His face twitches.
"Well, sure, I'm going with... Uh, I mean, you did invite the whole team, right?" He checks.
"Yeah, we'll all be at the dance," She reassures brightly, "So don't worry about us. Go. Have a good time at your party."
Recognized:
Artemis, B-08
Zatanna Zatara, A-03
The two girls arrive at almost the exact same time.
Zatanna is in a witch costume, complete with a pointy hat and white gloves. Artemis is in some mostly casual clothes of hers, with a vampire cape thrown over the top.
"Oh, hey, Zatanna," Artemis greets, "You look great."
The young magician grins.
"Oh, thanks. You too."
The girl looks around, not having seen the Cave since her last stint with Red Tornado a while back.
It looks... exactly the same.
"Oh, look, zombie Captain Marvel," She exclaims, a chuckle leaving her mouth as she notices the Leaguer, "That's hilarious. Is the Justice League having a party? Because my dad didn't mention it."
The hero shakes his head.
"No. No, no, no. See, I..."
He pauses, before sighing in resignation.
"Fine. I'm going trick-or-treating."
He stalks off towards the Zeta-tubes, powering them up at his very approach.
Recognized:
Captain Marvel, 1-5
"And I'm not sharing my candy."
He disappears in a beam of light.
Artemis and Zatanna share a look, of bemusement, before Zatanna looks around again and grins.
"So, when did Jason and Conner finally get together?" She asks.
She doesn't exactly know how she knows they're together, but her magic is allowing her to sense some kind of residue of Jason's magical aura (his very potent godly magical aura, may she add) on Conner, the kind that appears when people are in a relationship.
(Her mum always was essentially coated in her dad's aura because of how long they'd been together, and one of her first memories was attending Inza Nelson's funeral, and seeing a coffin encased in extremely powerful aura, built from a lifetime of marriage to Doctor Fate's host.)
"Together?" Artemis laughs, "No, they haven't..."
She trails off as she tunes into Conner and M'gann's conversation.
M'gann's laughing.
"Will you stop fidgeting? I will sick your man on you, I swear on M'arzz," She threatens, wielding the bandage roll at the Kryptonian like a weapon.
"... gotten together yet?" Artemis finishes, realization lighting her face.
Oh.
She didn't know.
Zatanna groans at her folly.
"Ugh, I'm sorry," She apologizes, "I thought Jason would've told you if it happened. I didn't realize that..."
She trails off as Artemis turns to leave.
"Wait, the dance."
"Not in the mood," The other girl grumbles. "Course, sitting at home with my mom doesn't sound any more appealing."
"Well, there is another option," Zatanna proposes, reaching inside of herself for both the spell and the power, "Egnahc sehtolc otni ruo smrofinu!"
Their outfits go up in smoke, transitioning into their hero fits as the smoke clears.
Artemis looks down and smirks.
Zatanna grins back.
"Girls' night out."
...
Now
Manhattan,
October 31st, 19:57 EDT
Recognized:
Artemis, B-08
Zatanna Zatara, A-03
Speeding out of a Zeta-tube hidden behind a billboard, on motorbikes Zatanna didn't even really know they had (where does this funding even come from?), Artemis is doing a bit of groaning.
"Why're we even in New York? Jason's patrolling tonight."
Zatanna glances over, confusion in her eyes.
"He's not going to the Halloween party?" She asks. He feels like the type who'd go to a Halloween party.
Artemis shakes her head from the peripheral of her vision.
"Doesn't like Halloween. Against the whole dressing up part," She explains, "When I asked him about it I got the vibe he's against the whole 'dressing up as a monster' thing. Said if he wanted to see a monster, he'd just find his father."
The girl rolls her eyes slightly, before muttering bitterly to herself, voice lost in the roaring sounds filling their ears.
"Course I shouldn't trust what he tells me anymore, given that he didn't tell me about Conner."
...
Now
Happy Harbor,
October 31st, 20:15 EDT
The gym is filled with three disco balls, streamers, and an array of costumed teenagers.
"Too bad the rest of the Team couldn't make it," Megan comments, as she surveys the room, attempting to find their friends.
Conner is surveying the room for an entirely different reason however.
Everyone is in superhero costumes, with a couple villains too.
"You gotta be kidding," He mutters to himself mainly, but Wally and Megan both catch it.
Some commotion from one side of them catches their attention, as a Black Canary drags some sort of bumblebee heroine, a Batman, and some much more stylish version of Superman over to them.
"You look amazing," The Black Canary, distinguishable by her voice as Wendy, gushes, over Megan, who smiles bashfully.
"Who did your make-up, girl?" Karen adds, dressed as a bee heroine.
From beside them, the better-Superman sides up to Conner.
"Burn victim?" Malcolm asks.
Conner grins slightly.
"Mummy. You?"
"Superman," The boy responds, pushing up his glasses slightly and flashing a cocky grin, "Done right."
Conner looks skeptical.
"Yeah," He says sarcastically, "Good luck with that."
Megan, from where she's been being gushed over by Wendy and Karen, remembers that she has to introduce Wally.
"Wally," She introduces, gesturing a hand towards each of their friends, "This is Wendy, Karen, Mal and..."
She goes to introduce Marvin, only to find him standing off to the side slightly, his phone with some bat stickers on to theme it (the Batphone, if you will), focused on it.
Wendy rolls her eyes.
"Ignore Marvin," She huffs, "He thinks we're being invaded by Martians."
Marvin's head shoots up, defense already on his lips.
"I never said that," He argues, "It's just reports are all over the inter-webs. And I'm not the only one getting them."
As if on cue, multiple phones around the auditorium light up, beeps bouncing off the walls.
Wendy and Karen check their phones, finding the very reports Marvin mentioned on them.
"I mean, Martians aren't invading," Marvin says, although he doesn't sound so sure, "It's just a prank gone viral, right?"
A man, their teacher, who's standing nearby at the punch bowl, with not only a bad haircut but a bad costume too (just an eyepatch? Come on), laughs.
"Of course it's a prank," He reassures, "Ever hear of Martian Manhunter? Martians aren't hostile."
Megan laughs, although it seems a bit forced.
"Of course not."
...
Now
Mount Justice,
October 31st, 20:19 EDT
"Computer, secure the room."
Secured.
"I'll cut to it. Do we believe there's a mole within the team?"
Batman's words are directed at Robin, Red Arrow, Aqualad, and Red Tornado, who all sit/stand in one of the smaller rooms of the Cave.
They're silent for a moment, before Aqualad begins to speak, his words carefully chosen after hours of pondering on this very topic.
"I am convinced there is none," He says firmly, "When Sportsmaster claimed he had an inside source, he was merely sowing dissent."
Robin hums in agreement.
"His intel could easily have come by comparing notes with the other villains working for the Injustice League," The boy notes, keeping logical. "Think about it. If anyone on the team was working with those creepoids he or she would have betrayed us during our fight against them."
Both hero's points are sound.
Red Arrow disagrees.
"I'm not convinced," He says, voice already taking on a fight tone, despite not fighting anyone, "Sure, you two and Kid Flash are above suspicion. But I know Artemis isn't shooting straight. For starters, she's not Green Arrow's niece."
Kaldur, who looks about ready to fistfight the trust issues out of his boyfriend, loses his retort on his tongue.
"What?" He gets out instead, very aware that if he was playing poker right now, he'd be losing.
"Well, yeah," Robin says, sounding a bit confused that Aqualad doesn't know this, "In fact, she's related to..."
Batman cuts him off.
"Enough," He orders, "Artemis' relations may indeed make her suspect but she's still entitled to a secret identity. I'm more concerned about Superboy. We still know very little about what Cadmus programmed into their weapon. Conner could be the mole and not know it."
Red Tornado, who's remained silent, shifts slightly uncomfortably at that sentiment.
Robin pipes up again.
"I mean I seriously doubt it, given my own interactions with him and Wonder Woman's trust in him, but we do have to consider Storm as a candidate," He decides, although he does sound almost guilty of even considering it, "We know almost nothing of his life before Themyscira, nothing meaningful that is, and we do know he had one, so it's possible that he was recruited before becoming an Amazon."
"That would be highly unlikely," Tornado counters, "They had no way of knowing that he would die, be selected as the first man ever in Amazonian history, or become the protege to Wonder Woman. It would be a highly risky gamble."
"He could've been an assassin, like the Jorogumo who ended up there, and kept his allegiance. It would explain the lack of information we could find on him in the records, and his apparent childhood training" Robin suggests, "In that case we'd assume that the Jorogumo's existence on Themyscira would also be part of the plan, as a secondary agent helping his cover."
He makes a face.
"I doubt it though. Someone would've picked up on something."
"And what about Miss Martian?" Red Arrow suggests, already back to accusing just as they began to start dismissing the claims, "She is Manhunter's niece but he told Black Canary he has a few hundred nieces and nephews. And the first time he met M'gann was five months ago. When she stowed away on his last trip from Mars to Earth."
He seems almost proud of himself for the accusation.
Something about that feels wrong to Kaldur'ahm.
Nevertheless, he decides to put his foot down.
"This changes nothing," Aqualad declares, standing up and levelling them all with a slight glare, "I have fought side by side with these people. None are traitors."