YJ:ABOMINATION Mission 10/Academy

The teens chattered and whispered anxiously amongst each other. They couldn't contain their excitement over the new announcement yet some seemed to be dreading it though it was no mystery why.

"What's with this new student?"

"Why would the headmistress let a newbie into H.I.V.E. near the end of the semester?"

"I know, right?"

"Makes no sense."

"Ssh! Here comes the headmistress!"

Everyone grew quiet as the double doors opened to reveal Queen Bee standing next to a teenage girl. The girl had long, neon purple hair; her lips and the markings on her arms were the same color. She wore a mask; covering her eyes. Her clothing consisted of black leather pants with gloves of the same, if not similar, material; a black tank top and vest with belted combat boots. Lastly, there was a neon purple bandana around her neck.
"Everyone," Queen Bee started in a loud voice, silencing the last of the whispers, "Welcome the newest student of H.I.V.E., Neon."

"I wonder why she's called that." Someone let the sarcastic comment disrupt the other students and a small echo of laughter passed through the crowd.

"Now, now. I want you all to be nice to the young lady," She looked at Neon. "I have some business to attend to so I'll leave you in the hands of your fellow students." She exited the room, doors closing behind her.

"We'll take great care of her." Someone jested.

"Hey, newbie! What's your power? You glow in the dark?" Even more laughter erupted.

Underestimating her; she predicted this. "I don't know. If you're so interested why don't you come here and find out?" It grew quiet as a large man emerged from the crowd and confronted her. He may have been young but his was almost as tall as Mammoth.

"You say something to me?"

"Why, are you deaf? Because I said it pretty loud." He growled at her. "Come on, use your words." She taunted him.

"You little-!" She jumped to avoid his reach and planted her foot in his face. He fell to the ground under the force of her boot.

She blew a strand of hair out of her face. "Any other losers want a speech lesson? The cost is licking the bottom of my boots." Her devilish smile seemed to unsettle the crowd. 

"Alright! Move out of the way!" A group of girls cut the tension as they emerged. The one speaking had short, fiery red hair. She was followed by a girl with long, creamy blond hair, pale scale-like skin, and murky swamp like eyes. On her other side was a girl with cloudy blue eyes and a pair of angel wings that seemed very real. "My name is Ember; this is Siren and Angel." She turned to the crowd and gave them a burning glare. "Don't you guys have something better to do?" This made the others students scatter off whether it was out of annoyance or fear. "Stupid underclassmen don't understand that when the Headmistress wants them to play nice; its for their own safety."

"Welcome to our humble academy." Angel smiled. "You'll be rooming with us."

"Where the students are not so humble." Siren joked. "So-!"

"Welcome to H.I.V.E.!" They said in unison, each trying their hardest not to giggle.

November 19th. 12:18 P.M. EST. 
Mt. Justice. Happy Harbor, Rhode Island.
Wally sprawled himself across the couch, staring at the ceiling. He almost jumped when he saw Artemis's face a foot or so above his own. "What are you wasting a Saturday here for?" She pushed his feet off the couch, forcing him to sit up as she plopped onto the couch next to him. "Shouldn't you be hanging out with your friends?"

"They're all on family trips. What about you?"

"Same here. Besides, I wanted to talk to my favorite person." She teased.
"Aw, babe."
She chuckled as she watched him place his hand over his heart, acting touched. "Cat told me you bought us concert tickets."

"Oh, yeah. I heard you guys talking about a band you liked and I figured the concert could cheer her up. She's been kind of off lately."

"Well, thanks." she smiled. "I can't think of any other two people I'd rather go with."

"You are welcome."

"Speaking of Cat, I wonder why she was so worked up."

Wally paused as he thought back to her little "headache" moment, deciding to keep that moment to himself. "Who knows? Maybe she just needs to vent after that thing with Marshall-what-ever-his-name-was."

"What about Conner? He's been kind of off lately too. Do you think it has anything to do with Cat?"

"I don't know. It does seem like he has something on his mind." He put feet up on the table. "Maybe he was jealous over about that football guy."

"Oh! Come on, Wally! He and M'gann have been dating for a while now!"

Wally groaned, sinking further into the couch, "I know. They've been kind of weird lately too. Do you think they broke up?"

"It's none of our business but I'd be lying if I said I didn't think Cat had nothing to do with it."

"You know the truth though; Cat's totally head over heels and she doesn't even know it!"

"She told me she just wants two of her best friends to be happy," Artemis shook her head. "Which honestly makes me feel worse."

"I don't know. Is it kind of bad that I'm rooting for her instead of M'gann?" Her eyebrows shot straight up. "Right? It is bad!"

"It's not like he's the only guy out there."

"Yeah. Did you see how many guys were treating her like eye candy at the game? It's not like she doesn't have options."

"Since we're already talking about him, where is Conner?" Artemis asked, glancing around. 

"I'm not sure. I haven't seen M'gann either. I just kind of rolled onto the couch and chose not to get move again."

"Kaldur is keeping an eye on things with Cat and Robin is off doing his dynamic duo thing or whatever."

"I don't know but M'gann is supposed to go to Byalya later so that Kaldur has a way to get in touch with Cat." he sighed. "Meanwhile, we're left in the cave with nothing to do."

Artemis shifted, a thought had popped into her head. "We could go out."

"W-what?"

"We've both got nothing to do. What's the harm in going out and getting a bite to eat or something. Unless you'd rather stay bored."

"No. No! I'd be happy to. Mhmm! It's a date."

"Okay then, it's a date." Artemis smiled.

Conner walked past Cat's room, noticing a blanket had stopped the door from fully closing. He picked up the article as he entered the room. He could spy signs of her franticness all over. Her bed was made yet her stuffed monkey was partially hanging off the side of the bed. Her shelves were organized but he could spy papers stuffed between books. Her scrapbook was resting on the top shelf next to a large picture of the team. He removed it from his stand before sitting on her bed. He opened it to the Halloween section first. There were several Halloween costume-clad pictures arranged on the pages; at the top was a goofy group photo. It made him smile as he thought back on how excited Cat was to take it even with Conner and Megan's friends from school. He skimmed through the next couple of pages, a large block of writing catching his attention as it was accompanied with an envelope stapled to the page.

'I didn't know she was so popular.' he thought as he looked over the paper, shaking away the idea to look inside as he kept reading.

Conner stopped himself, 'Should I really be reading this?' After a moment of deliberation, he continued to read.

He stopped again Did he really want to know? Did he have a right to know? What if she wrote the name of the person she was "in love with?"
'What if she did really like Marshall?' Wait. Why did it matter to him? Why was he worrying? He was always worried about her, all the time. 'Why am I always so worried? Why does it matter so much to me what she does? Or who she's with?' Several thoughts raced through his mind as he squeezed his eyes shut, different feelings and memories.

["Maybe it's a matter of who she feels closest to."] He remembered what Kaldur had said.

["-I had to be near someone."] Cat, the night before Halloween.

'Why didn't she go to M'gann? She tells her everything.'

'It hurts to see her sad. I always have to wonder if I'm saying the right thing,'

'I can never find myself saying no to her.'

Conner looked back at the book, taking a deep breath before he continued reading.

'She could mean Wally... no...' the more he thought about it, the more incorrect that assumption seemed. "It's me?" He realized the corner of the next page was folded; the latest entry. 

"So, you read it?" Conner looked up to see M'gann standing in the doorway with a solemn expression that was strangely followed by a saddening smile.

"Yeah." he grimaced at his own turmoil, "M'gann, I-!"

"Don't. You don't have to say anything, Conner. I knew before she did." She walked up to him. "I knew but I didn't want to acknowledge it. I mean- hello, M'gann! It's kind of obvious. It seems so silly now. We can't just keep pretending everything is okay anymore."
"M'gann, you'll always be my first love; you know that right?"
"Yeah, that won't ever change." She kissed him on the forehead. "Talk to her, okay? Before she changes her mind."

November 19th. 4:30 P.M.
H.I.V.E. Academy. Byalya.
Neon ducked under a spinning blade and flipped over the next one, easily navigating the mechanized obstacle course. She turned spun from side to side, dodging an array of lazers fired at her. When she reached the pendulum blades, she flipped on top and jumped from blade to blade before jumping back on to the ground.

"She's amazing." Siren smiled, giddy with excitement.

"There's something about the way she moves. It's not exactly… graceful; it's faster and edgy." Ember pointed out as she observed. "Not at all like that unlucky little acrobat, the Black Cat." She groaned as she said the name.

"Neon is so amazing. How come the headmistress didn't enroll her before?"

"You don't know?" Ember turned Angel as she asked. "They just found her."

"Really?"

"She caught Sportsmaster's attention." A dark-haired boy who was standing next to them interjected. His hair was shaggy and his eyes were a grey, almost clear color and his pupils were faded. Metal music blared from the headphones around his neck. The most unusual part about him was that he was much taller than the others. "She broke into a bank vault in broad daylight; just walked behind the counter and ripped the vault door right off its hinges in front of everyone. She bested Superman, Icon and Hawkgirl on her way out."

"Wow. Then why isn't she with the higher ups?" Siren asked.

"The same reason I'm not." he responded. "Hasn't proven herself yet."

Neon broke an arm off of an android and decapitated it with its own blade, turned around and stabbed the other android through the chest with the arm. The artificial foes dropped to the ground with sparks spewing out of them. She very casually walked to the pedestal and hit the finish button.

"She beat the record time!"

"With two minutes to spare!"

She walked towards Ember and the gang. "Good job!" Angel congratulated her first.

"You're definitely S-class material," Ember added. "The elite class. We get to go on actual mission with the big guys. It consists of Siren, Angel and Kid Wykkid. Oh, and him." She pointed to the dark haired boy.

"Shade." He held out his hand and received a warm shake.

"Neon."

"You were pretty impressive." His smile vanished as he noticed her confused look, "Is there something wrong?"

"You don't look like the picture I saw."

"Yeah. Why are you walking around so casually?" Ember agreed, posing the question.

"I can't keep my shadow out all the time. It gets annoying, not to mention exhausting."
"Yeah but you usually keep it up anyway."
"Around you-know-who maybe." His attention went back to Neon, "Because my shadow covers me, I don't have to worry about costumes or anything like that."

"Talk about convenient. Try hiding this mane." she laughed as she ran her fingers through her hair.

"Why hide it? It looks awesome." he chuckled. "So hey, you're new and all. Want me to give you the tour?"

"Well…" she glanced at the girls who were already giggling and motioning for her to go. "What the heck, why not?"

"Great."

The students hadn't noticed Queen Bee and her "guest" watching from above, enjoying the display, "Sportsmaster was right. She is quite skilled."

"I told you. He knows talent when he sees it."

"She might be on the same level as Shade and Maestro."

"What about our little pyro?"

"Ember still doesn't have enough self-control," She shook her head, "She needs more focus."

"Trying to tame a wild flame is like trying to find out who Batman is; pointless and exhausting."

"I heard Surge is on the premises. Red Fox, how about you tell me why you're here?"

"Alright. Let's get down to business then."

"-and this is the gym." Shade stopped in front of the large, empty room filled with exercise equipment.

"Wow, nice setup. Where is everyone?" Neon looked around, absorbing every detail.

"Probably in the dining hall." he sat on one of the benches. 

"Want me to spot you?" She joked, eyes flashing to the barbells for a moment.

"Puh-lease," he smirked as his shadow lifted off of the ground and snatched a barbell with several large weights; it lifted it like it was a twig. "Too easy." His shadow put the barbell back down and vanished back into the ground.

"That was pretty cool."

"Yeah, but I bomb when it comes to bright lights. What about you?"
"Best combination of martial arts and superhuman abilities but unfortunately I'm bad at following orders and I don't know when to quit."

"Haha. So you improvise and never back down; what's so bad about that?"

"Easy for you to say. That story about me going around is off by a small margin. I was winning that fight because Superman wouldn't "hit a kid" and I was barely winning at that."

"Well, I'm still impressed that you managed to take on three Leaguers at once." his compliment earned a smile from her. "So, I know you're new and all but do you have a date for the dance tomorrow?"

"Dance? What dance?"

"I'll take that as a no. The Final Fall Formal is tomorrow and I still don't have a date-"

"Wait, are you asking me out?"

"Too soon?"

"No-no! I mean, yes. I'll go with you."

"I take it you don't get asked out much."

"Not really."

"That's surprising."

"I'm surprised someone like you doesn't have a date already."

"Eh, turned the offers down. Those girls just weren't a good fit."

"Wow. Good to know I'm a good fit."

"I don't know, just talking to you today and I already feel like I know you... is that strange? I guess I'm just comfortable around you." he shrugged.
"No, I don't think that's strange. In fact, I get it."
"Well, I better let you get back to your friends. I wouldn't want to invoke Ember's wrath." He stopped at the door and snapped his fingers as if a realization had hit him. He looked back at her, "Oh yeah! It's Calvin, by the way."

"Huh?"

"My name; Calvin Murray."

"Oh." He turned to leave again but her call stopped him. "Sheila! My name is Sheila Isles."

"It suits you." he laughed and walked out. After he was a far enough distance away, he started cheering. "Yes!" He stuck his hands in his pockets and walked off, whistling to himself.

"Wow~ You're in a good mood. Did you just come from a funeral, shadow boy?" Red Fox stood in a doorway, leaning on one side of the frame.

"What do you want?" He frowned, cursing to himself. "Darn. And I was having a good day too."

"Boo~ What kind of attitude is that? You act like I put tacks in your shoes."

"No, but every time you show up I get on the old man's bad side for going along with your crazy schemes."

"Aw~ but you have to admit it. It's always fun."

"Yeah, what do you want?"

"I was just visiting. Why? You busy?"

"For your information, I'm going to tomorrow's dance so I have no time for your antics."

"Oh? So the creepster got a date?"

"That's Shade to you. Don't you have someone about ye tall with an ego the size of Texas and electrical powers to annoy?"

She seemed dissatisfied with his response, "Can't you do your shadow thing? I liked you better when you didn't talk."

"Whatever." he started walking off.

"Oh yeah. By the way," she clapped her hands together. "You been to her grave recently? Lady Shiva was there yesterday," He stopped yet again, this time with more malice than the last. The whites of his eyes turned black and his shadow lunged off of the ground and wrapping around her throat.

"Don't speak of my mother so casually in front of me." His voice was raspy and metallic. His eyes turned back to normal and his shadow sunk into the ground. "My apologies, milady."

She sighed. "It's not like it doesn't bother me too. She was my mentor, you know." she watched him vanish down the hallway.

November 19th. 6:30 P.M.
???. Byalya.
Kaldur was lost in thought as he sat in the pilot's seat of the bioship.
"Aqualad." Conner caught his attention as he jumped through the opening.

"Superboy, I trust everything is still quiet." 

"For now," He noticed Kaldur's miffed expression. "Is something wrong?"

"The Black Cat has failed to check in."

"What?"

"It may be that she hasn't had a chance to check in yet." M'gann attempted to calm him.

"Or her cover was blown!"

"Calm down," Kaldur ordered. "We understand that you're worried but Cat made the choice to do this mission on her own. We should have faith in her abilities." Conner hurt expression didn't escape Kaldur's sympathy. "She's quite capable, Conner."

"I know but you can't blame me for worrying."

"She's my best friend, Conner. I'm worried too." M'gann said. "I promise, the second I hear something, I'll let you know."

November 19th. 7:02 P.M.
H.I.V.E. Academy. Byalya.
Neon changed into her pajamas, making sure it even the top button was in place before she fixed her hair in the mirror.
"Neon! Hurry up!"  Siren's voice rang through the door.

"Oh coming!" She opened the door and shut the lights out behind her. Ember, Siren and Angel along with some other girls she didn't know as well were gathered in a circle in the center of the room. Pillows and blankets were laid out under each of them. "What's this?"
"Duh! Your welcome party!" Siren laughed.

"Well, technically it's a slumber party but same diff." Angel shrugged but ultimately agreed.

"So~ since we're off the clock, my real name is Emily Nash." Ember smiled. "At least that was the legal name I was adopted with."

"La Sire`ne la Bailene. Just Siren is fine with me." Siren added.

"Angelique Snow." Angel added last. "So?" She leaned close to Neon, nudging her.

"Huh-? Oh! Sheila Isles."

"Sheila! A spicy name for a fiery personality." Ember laughed. "So, rumor is that you almost strangled another student for just mentioning Superboy's name in front of you. You got some kind of beef with him?"

"I'd rather not talk about it," she grumbled. "I'm not sure what I'd do if I saw him again."

Siren purred. "Meow! I totally get it. Total heartbreak hero. We all have feelings like that."

"Really?"

"Totally. I mean, that Kid Flash. I can totally feel the friction between our molecules." Ember laughed.

"And I wouldn't mind singing a few melodies for that electrifying Atlantian." Siren winked.

"Unlike them, I don't have the hots for any goody-goodies." Angel beamed proudly.

"Of course; she's in a top-secret relationship with the mysterious and dark Kid Wykkid." Angel's face turned red as Siren let the secret slip.

"Shut up!" She threw a pillow at her. "William is special!"

"So it's William, is it?" Neon smirked. "What's his last name?"

"…his full name is William Dragomir. He's Romanian. He doesn't talk much because he doesn't like his accent."

"Oh ho! Fancy." Ember joked.

"Oh shush! I heard Sheila is Shade's date to the dance tomorrow."

"Get out!" There were gasps all over the room. "Whoa! Dangerous choice!"

"Why?" Neon looked around curiously.

"You don't know? Shade is Ra's Al Ghul's apprentice; big-time danger zone. He treats him like a son. His mother was the dreaded Lady Beatrix aka the Shadow Walker; she was a villainess legend not to mention a role model to all aspiring villainesses everywhere."

"What I wouldn't do to be her." Angel sighed.

"Not only that, Arachne is not gonna like the idea of Shade going to the dance with someone else," Ember said.

"Why? Are they dating?"

"No, Arachne likes to walk around with him like a trophy; never giving him a choice in the matter. We're just lucky little miss Queen of Spiders is stuck on a mission."

"Makes me wonder with the way you all are talking about her, what happened to Shade's mom?"

"No one really knows but they say she died."

November 19th. 11:26 P.M.
The Watchtower.
Loud conversations and the escalating volumes of heroes attempting to shout over each other filled the meeting room. Batman slammed his hand on the table, silencing them as he stood up. "Everyone, quiet down!" He waited a moment to be sure he had the floor to continue, "It seems the team has lost contact with the Black Cat during her undercover mission into H.I.V.E."

"We need to agree on an appropriate course of action-!" The Atom started.

"Appropriate? I say we bust the place wide open-!" Flash shouted.

"That's far too reckless-!" Icon interjected.

"Reckless?" Hawkgirl interrupted. "We all know Guy would've set fire to the place already."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! We can not tell Guy about this." Hal stated.

"Yeah, I do not feel like pulling him off of some kid's bloody corpse." The Atom shook his head.

"Not if Conner gets to them first." Black Canary sighed. 

"Superboy? What does he have to do with this?" Hawkman asked.

"Superboy is very close with Cat." Red Tornado explained. "He objected strongly to this mission."

"I can't believe you guys!" Wonder Woman rose to her feet. "I can't believe we're even discussing this!"

"Diana, rushing in there won't help her."

"Bruce is right. Shiarra, Augustus and I went to great lengths to make our fight convincing and she didn't pull any many punches either." Superman explained. "If we go in now, we might ruin any chance she has of retrieving information."

"Yeah, she didn't. She might've switched teams."

"Ollie! How could you even suggest that?" Canary scolded him.

"Hey! It was just a suggestion. You guys know as well as me what happened before. I was just pointing out the white elephant in the room that everyone was ignoring."

"I really hope John hasn't told Guy yet," Captain Marvel whined.
"All of you just stop!" Wisteria spoke out, quieting them. "This is the team's mission so trust them to deal with it. I see no problem with the way they've done things thus far. Trust them." She walked out of the room.

Batman glanced at Martian Manhunter as he stood up. "J'onn."

"I'll go talk to her." He stalled just long enough to voice his say, "I agree with Wisteria, however. They are not just mere children as we all would like to think."

"He's right. What were we thinking?" Flash sighed.

"It may be because I'm kind of new but I have never seen that half of her get so upset." Icon added.

"Wisteria can be very emotional when it comes to the team. She's grown very attached to them." Canary explained.

"Haven't we all?" Wonder Woman agreed. 
"Look, I didn't mean to strike a nerve," Ollie spoke up again. "Cat has contact telepathy, making her an ideal candidate for information retrieval but-! And please let me finish, we all remember what she was like when she first came out of her coma. I'm going to guess that not all of those kids are bad people and something in the most empathic person? Cat might have decided to change what the mission is really about,"
"It is because she is that sort of person that I believe she was the best choice," Superman countered. "Cat has stuck to her morals from the moment she realized what they were. And I think you're right, they can't all be bad people so if Cat can find some way to set them back on the right path, then I hope she tries. Sorry, Ollie, I think you're wrong."

November 20th. 7:16 P.M.
H.I.V.E. Academy. Byalya.
Music shook the walls as technicolor lights flashed througout the dark ballroom. Teenage chatter hummed under the music as many teens struggled to hear each other. Neon adjusted her black dress, it collared around her neck. She wore stockings with a pretty Victorian pattern and lace-up Victorian styled heels. She walked over to her new friends whom she had spotted due to Ember's bright, fiery hair. They gasped and squealed as soon as they spotted her.

"Oh my gosh! You look gorgeous!" Siren grinned.

"And so does your date. Look, there he is." Ember pointed out Shade standing next to Kid Wykkid and a few other guys. "Oh Shade~!" She called out as they approached him. "Ta-da!" She motioned to Neon and his jaw dropped, though he wasn't the only guy who was impressed.

"Whoa! You look- whoa-! I mean, amazing."

"Thanks. You look pretty amazing yourself. I didn't know you owned a suit."

"It was a gift."

"Yeah. From Luthor for a job well done." Siren giggled. "Though I'm sure it needed to be adjusted because of your freakish height."

"You'd think they'd never seen a seven-foot-tall teenager before."

Neon laughed at his joke, noticing the song changed. "I love this song! Let's go dance."

"No thanks. I'm not too good on my feet." Shade said nervously.

"Want me to teach you?"
"Would you?"

"Just try to keep up." She smiled.

November 21st. 1:42 A.M.
H.I.V.E. Academy. Byalya.
Neon sat up in bed; she could sense activity not so far from her. She slowly and quietly crawled out of bed and exited the room; making sure Siren was still asleep. She could see a light emanating from the training room. She peeked around the corner and spotted Ember; the training bots were activated but the lights were still out. She blasted one and its chest plate melted almost immediately, circuits exploding into little streams of electricity. One got too close and she tripped back before blasting it. As she struggled to stay on her feet, she groaned and blasted another robot before stabilizing her stance.

"Not bad." Neon caught her attention. "You always train this late?"
"Training program, 5-Delta pause," she ordered before turning her attention back to Neon. "How long have you been standing there?"

"Don't worry, not long. You're pretty good at the fire thing."

"Not really… I'm not nearly as good as I should be."

"You're joking, right? You have the bots on 5-Delta,"

"It's still not good enough!" she snapped as she dropped to the ground, "No matter what I do, it's never good enough! Not for H.I.V.E., the Light- or even my own family. It's never good enough." She wrapped her arms around her knees defensively, a wave of insecurity coming off of her.

"You know, I get that. My family was the same way."

"No way. You're so amazing."

Neon sat down next to Ember. "It's true and I'm not amazing. Sure, I've got superhuman senses but you can make fire out of thin air. You can set a building ablaze in a matter of seconds and make things combust in the blink of an eye."

"Actually, I haven't been able to achieve spontaneous combustion in any of my pyro-kinesis training."

"Really? What kind of training are they giving you?"

"Honestly, my flames are magic, not science. I've been a vessel for elementals since I was a kid. …One of the higher-ups doesn't believe it. He thinks I'm trying to make myself appear more important so he refuses to listen to me and get me proper training. H.I.V.E. doesn't have any courses relating to my abilities so I've been taking basic telekinesis training. It only helped a little- with the focusing part, I mean."

"Then I guess we'll just have to improv." Neon rose to her feet and picked up an android's dismembered head. "This'll do." She walked a short distance away as Ember stood up. She placed it on the ground and walked back to her. "So, who's been burning your toast recently?" She eyed her curiously. "You know, hitting your sore spots; a nonbeliever, a naysayer, a know-it-all. Give me someone who's been giving you a hard time. They want you to focus; how about you focus your anger on them? From what I heard, emotions can affect your concentration of magic."

"Well…" she hesitated. "Okay, but you can't say a word!"

"Your secret is my secret."

"The Brain has been making fun of me a lot lately. I don't see why its any of his business what a H.I.V.E. member but he keeps busting my chops about every little thing I do and then he compares me to Surge and Red Fox. It makes me so mad-!"
"Good. But don't light up. Keep thinking about it and focus on that." She pointed to the android's head. "Just think, the Brain is always so self-centered and full of himself; what if his circuits accidentally overheated?"

"Okay, I gotcha." She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "Don't light up." She told herself. She focused on the head, a rush of anger beginning to bubble up as she thought back.

["You imbecilic little pyro! You've done it again! You keep ruining my experiments with your failures!"] Her eyes narrowed and KABOOM! The android head combusted, launching shrapnel across the room.

"Oh my god! I did it!"

"I knew you could."

"Oh! Thank you, Sheila!" she hugged her tightly.

"Anytime, Em." She hugged back. "Since we're up, want to spar a few rounds?  I can teach you a few moves that'll be helpful in a bind." She winked.

"Sure." They took some steps back and took fighting stances. "On three?"

"One…"

"Two…"

"Three!"

"So we just sit here and wait?" Wally asked, spinning in his chair.

"We have no choice. Superboy volunteered to go. Hopefully, he can establish communications with the Black Cat. If not, we have to assume the worst and pull out to contact the League."

"No way." Artemis shook his head. "We don't need them. School of villains or not, they're just students. Meaning half of them-!"

"Still have the training wheels on." Wally finished. He paused and noticed M'gann's distant expression. "Uh, Miss M?"

"I haven't been able to make telepathic contact with her at all since she entered the H.I.V.E. I can sense her mind but there's no response." She shook her head. "I'm wondering if maybe she saw Psimon or if the school houses some other telepath that she would dodge my calls like this,"
"M'gann, don't worry. Conner will find her and I'm sure she's okay." Kaldur added.

"I hope so."

"And that's a good way to get out of a hold," Neon smiled as she helped Ember up.

"I never would've guessed that you could get out of it that way."

"Keep practicing and no one will ever have you pinned for long."

"I'm too hot to handle as is, imagine if I had a few tricks up my sleeve. By the way, where did you learn all that stuff?"

She shrugged. "I've been in combat training for as long as I can remember."

"Really? Your family must have- Oh! My bad! Sorry. It's totally not my business."

"Thanks for keeping away from the touchy subject but it's really no big deal. My family dumped me in the street as soon as they thought I'd never live up to their standards."

"Hey! Ember! Neon!" A swarm of young villainesses came bouncing into the training room.

"Siren, what's up?"
"Guess what we found lurking around the dorms?" Angel asked gleefully.

"What?"

"Well, less of a what, more of a who." She corrected herself.

"Who?"

"Okay. So you know how you said you didn't know what you'd do if you saw Superboy again?" Siren moved aside to reveal Conner, his arms restrained by two other guys that had likely been roped into helping. He groaned and looked up at her as he heard Siren say "Ta da~!"

"Superboy...?"

"I'm not sure how he got here or why he was snooping around but we caught him, If he's here, then his team must be close behind." Angel laughed. "He's our gift to you."

"We should torch them before they show up-!"

"Hold up." Neon stopped Ember, a devious look on her face. "He's my gift, right? I've got a game in mind."

Neon sat back in a chair above the coliseum-like room, an alteration of the training room. In the arena not so far below stood Conner and several young villains across from him wearing vicious smiles. She snapped her fingers, giving the order. "Go." The teens rushed him; he dodged a blade, grabbing the boy by his arm and slammed him into another. He dodged a blast of energy, grabbed the next by the face and slammed him into the ground. He turned on his heel and slammed his boot into an oncomer's face.

"Wow~ What a fun little after party~" Red Fox walked up to where Neon was sitting. "If he keeps this up, everyone in H.I.V.E. will get a turn at him."

Neon watched closely as no seemed to keep pace with the Kryptonian. "You're right." She rose to her feet and, with two fingers, released a deafening whistle. They all froze as Conner pushed one of them into the ground. "I thought this would be entertaining but I guess I can only get satisfaction if I do it myself." The teens scattered as she jumped into the arena. "So," she smirked. "Let's make this one on one. Show me that Kryptonian might."

She blitzed towards him, jumped in the air and brought her boot down on him; his arms shot over his head to block her. The force pushed him back only a few inches before she landed on her feet, spun around and brought her fist crashing into the side of his ribs. He quickly turned, grabbed her wrist and pulled her closer. He swung but she quickly ducked. She punched him twice in the stomach, causing him to back up. He dodged her next few swings and pushed her back.

'She's not pulling any punches.' Conner thought.

'I still can't reach her telepathically.' M'gann's voice rang in his mind.

'Maybe the League has a point-!'

'Don't even suggest that, KF.' Artemis thought shrewdly.
'Not about the changing sides thing, the other thing!'

'She may just be trying to keep her cover.'

'Aqualad's right. Blowing her cover in a room full of angry super villains is not a good idea. Besides, the backup plan is already in motion.' Dick added.

'Kind of hard to focus on the fight with a conversation going on in my head.' Conner jumped back and dodged Neon's next kick. 'Wait, what backup plan?'

'Cat and I came up with it in case she was in a situation where her cover could be blown and there's no way out.'

Neon flipped backward to avoid Conner's fist as it dented the ground. "You know; when I imagined this battle, I imagined you putting up more of a fight."

"Now why would I put too much effort into a distraction?"

"A distraction-? You were stalling-!"

"Until your luck runs out." Suddenly the lights went out and the entirety of H.I.V.E. went black.

"Wha-? Hey! Hey! Get your hands off of me!" Neon shouted in the darkness as a few crashes and bangs echoed. The backup generator kicked in and the lights flickered back to life; Neon was nowhere to be seen.

"Neon? Neon!" Shade looked around frantically.

"Sorry." Cat appeared in the center of the room. "She ran into a bit of bad luck but I'll make sure she gets your message when she gets to Belle Revve if you'd like to leave one."
"It's-!"

"The Black Cat!" Ember growled. Cat teleported next to Conner, kicking a young villain in the face.

"Hey, Superboy. Mind if I steal a few of your playmates?"

"Steal? What are you, a cat burglar?" He joked.

"Oh, ha ha." She rolled her eyes and chuckled a little. "Let's see? Should I be selective? Or should we split 'em down the middle?"

"How about a free-for-all?"

"With one exception." Her eyes fixated on Red Fox who had made herself comfortable in the throne above, "It's been a while. What was it you said about fighting some other time? How about we go a few rounds? I'll even give your students a free lesson."

"What did you do with Neon?" Shade growled.

"Nothing too bad though she might break an arm if she keeps trying to wiggle out of her restraints like that." Cat shrugged.

"You mangy little stray!" He growled,his tone getting raspy as his eyes turned black. The shadow under his feet shifted and then shot up- covering him? No, that didn't seem to describe it right- consuming him. They shifted and settled into form, Shade- the villainous form they knew.

"I guess the time for talking is over." She flinched as she heard singing coming from Siren. Cat vanished and reappeared in front of her; she pulled Siren close, smashing heads with her and then flung her into the other teens. Now everyone was moving in one way or another. Cat dodged a kick and returned it in a roundhouse fashion. Conner dodged Shade's first whip, grabbed it and flung him. He turned and rolled sideways to avoid a blade as the swarm of students didn't let up.

Cat was gone again and then she dropped out of thin air, forcing a brute's head into the ground. She quickly tumbled out of the way of a fireball at her heels. 

"You!" Ember growled. As flames began to grow around her- she took Artemis's foot to the side of her cheek as the archer trapped an oncoming group in foam.

"Thanks but I could have done that myself."

"She had it coming," Artemis joked as she spun around and shot a smoke screen arrow into the crowd. There were several banging sounds and pain filled moans as the smoke blinded everyone. She shot an arrow straight up; it was a direct hit to the sprinkler and the system triggered immediately.

"I can't see!" As soon as the smoke started clearing, Ember could see them. The team had taken control of the training room as Robin knocked out the last underclassman.

"Wow~ You kids sure are special, aren't you?" Red Fox snapped her fingers and Angel, Kid Wykkyd, Siren and Shade gathered. "Elite class, time for finals. Take them down."

"With pleasure," Angel said.

"Sorry but-!" Cat teleported above Red Fox, "-I don't have any intention of fighting them!" She swung down; Fox leaned back to avoid her fist then dropped to the ground to sweep her feet. Cat used her hand as a spring to bounce back and avoid it. "What say you? Up for a catfight?"

Red Fox smirked as the "kachink!" sound of her claws releasing caught Cat's attention. "Why not? I was bored out of my mind until you showed up. Your friends can ask Ember to cremate you because when I'm done you won't have much of a body left."

"Ready, set, go." Cat joked as she vanished.

"You think sprinklers can douse my flames?" Ember felt insulted, the little water droplets evaporated into steam as they hit her body.

"Nah, but it's a good water source." Wally moved as Kaldur motioned a flood of water towards her. She barely avoided it before it came rushing at her again. She threw up a wall of fire before jumping out of the way. The water released a cloud of steam as it hit the wall of fire.

Artemis swung around quickly and kicked at Siren who dodged and swung back. She used her bow to knock Siren's arm away and swung up, hitting her in the jaw with it. As Siren rolled back, Artemis was thrown by a gust of wind coming from Angel's wings. The wind stopped as Wally sped by, grabbing the girls ankle and slamming her into Siren. As soon as he did, Kid Wykkyd rose out of the ground behind him. He dodged Kid's claws and then Artemis blasted him with an explosive arrow. She then ducked out of the way of Shade's grasp. She quickly shifted, pulled two arrows from her quiver and shot Shade. They exploded into a blinding flash, causing the entity to retreat back a few feet.

"Like that? Here, have more!" she hit him with two more before turning and bolting towards Siren who had risen to her feet. Siren took a deep breath and unleashed an opera like note that had the same shattering effect as a Canary Cry.

"Nice singing." Dick rolled to the side to avoid it before jumping to his feet to punch her. "It's too bad we don't have time for an encore." He turned and blasted Shade with two flash grenades of his own before rolling to the side to avoid Kid Wykkyd.

"Well, well." Surge's voice echoed through the training hall. He was watching from the balcony above, leaning over the railing. "It seems like a mongoose family has strayed too far into the viper's pit." he vaulted over the railing. Static danced around his gauntlets as he cracked his knuckles. "And I assumed this little business trip was gonna be boring." he spotted Cat and winked. "Hey, Kitty-Cat~ I'll be with you in a moment. As soon as I deal with Junior here." He motioned to Conner, "What? Get fed up with Daddy's negligence so you came here?"

"Shut your mouth," Conner growled.

"Oops. Seems I hit a sore spot. How 'bout I hit a few more?" he bolted towards Conner and they grappled practically immediately. Conner made him slide back a few feet before Surge shocked him. It made him release the villain long enough for Surge to sucker punch him.

Cat charged at Red Fox again, vanishing as she got close to her face. In a split second; she reappeared, crouched down at Fox's side. The assassin noticed but couldn't react in time. Instead, she got Cat's fist to her ribcage. She quickly swung around with a kick, expecting her to teleport and dodge when she didn't. She took Fox's kick with her upper arm and recoiled with her left fist to her jaw. Red Fox's body quickly retreated from the shock of the blow.

"Wow. I didn't expect to purposely take a hit you could have avoided just to strike back."

"Well, you don't know me very well, then-!" She flinched as the sharp pain in her head returned; M'gann could immediately sense the shock to her system.

"Arrgh..." Cat's stance became unstable as she flinched in pain.

"Cat!" Conner looked away for a moment and Surge socked him in the face as soon as he was distracted.

She shook the pain off and ducked under Red Fox's claws. "I'm okay." She rolled back and booted the villainess in the chest. 'Let's wreck these guys!'

'Now there's the Cat we know and love.' Wally thought. He dodged Kid Wykkyd again, turning on his heel as he arose from the ground close enough to touch. Angel attempted to knock M'gann from the sky with her next gust. She held strong and after a moment of focus, she blasted a force back towards Angel that swept through her winds and slammed her into the back wall. Dick ducked under Siren's fist and hit her in the stomach.

'We should get out of this fight while we still have an advantage.' M'gann thought.

'Yeah. Shade's recovering faster than before.' Artemis blasted him with explosive arrows. His body shifted and lunged at her again. 'And I'm all out of flash arrows.'

'Ember is not as timid as well.' Kaldur placed a wave of water between himself and a fire blast. He quickly rushed past it, rolled under another blast and was less than a foot from Ember. He moved to the side, grabbed her arm, turned her around and put a water blade to her throat; restraining her. "This fight is over."

"One of the many facts I know about Atlantians; they're not good with heat." Her hair moved like fire and he could feel her body temperature rising so fast he was isntantly beginning to sweat. The water in his blade began boiling. "Either you let go or you fry." Her eyes twitched as the blade burst. She moved forward, twisted and booted him in the chest. He only slid back a few feet but it was enough for her to get away from him. Water reformed as a mace in his bearer and the rest swirled into a wall around them, blocking them from the others. "Wow, private lesson."

"How much information did they give you about Atlantians?"

Her smiled vanished. "Huh, you're just like them, you know; always looking at me like I'm stupid or ignorant. It's not that hard to figure out by your physical structure, abilities and the fact that you lived underwater. I'm not stupid." She launched a fireball at him, forcing him to roll out of the way. "This time, I will fry you!"