"So, the Light are making their own Boom Tubes?", I murmured as I looked at the information displayed in front of us, Dick frowning as well while Kaldur looked conflicted.
"We should really get this information back to the Justice League."
"We should, but if we did that, we'd be kept in the dark and we may need this information one day when we involuntarily cross paths with the Light again."
"I suppose that is true."
"Hey, you never told me how your visit back at Atlantis went," I spoke with a smile, trying to get his attention away from the topic and it seemed to work. However, it was not as I intended as I watched the guy frown before shaking his head.
"It went well for a while, but then Atlantis was attacked…and I found that Tula is now dating my best friend Garth."
'Oh, yeah. Forgot about that. Yeah, that one had to burn.'
"Oof~ That one had to bu-Ow!", I swatted Dick's head with a light tap as he spoke, the boy grumbling while I reached over and patted Kaldur's shoulder with a smile.
"You wanna go grab a drink?"
"We're 15 year old teenagers."
"And? I look like I'm over 21," I spoke with a smirk, watching as Dick blinked before I chuckled as Kaldur smiled and shook his head.
"I'll pass on that. Alcohol and Atlanteans does not mix well."
"Got it. So, Robin, have you gotten anything else from this other than just the information on them making Boom Tubes?"
"Honestly, nothing else because the computer here is not good enough to decipher the encrypted message."
"And I'm guessing the Bat-Cave has a computer powerful enough?", I asked with a raised eyebrow, Dick nodding as he closed the files and detached his computer before the two turned to me as I took out my phone.
"What are you doing?", Dick asked, to which I simply raised my free hand as I called the first number I saw and held it to my ear.
"This number is not to be called-"
"We have information that we may have forgotten to hand over and while we've gone through some of it, the computer at the base is too weak to decipher the encrypted coding. We'll hand the information over, but in exchange, we want copies of the information you find. No keeping anything away from us and no trying to keep ups out of the loop. I want you and every League member to swear on the lives of your loved ones that you'll do that or we'll continue to try and decipher the information on our own."
"…Tell Robin to send it."
"Got it. Thanks, Batman," I spoke with a smile before ending the call, closing the phone before laughing at Dick and Kaldur's gobsmacked looks.
"What…the hell?"
"Like I said, we may face off against the Light and its army later down the line and having this information may result in giving us an edge over them."
"True, but there was no needs for making them swear."
"Oh, I don't believe they will nor will I believe that Batman will send everything. Dick, how many files are there?"
"Hundreds if not thousands. It's over 20 TB of files."
"…How the hell does your portable gauntlet computer have the space for it?"
"Don't you worry and I think I get what you're trying to say. Give me a couple of minutes," he murmured as he went to work and I smirked before chuckling as I saw Kaldur's frown.
"Come on, I'll need some help with preparing dinner."
"It's not sea-food, is it?"
"You don't like seafood?"
"I can understand them," he said with a frown and I winced at that as the two of us made our way to the kitchen.
"Okay, then. I'm going to need you to stay out of the kitchen for a few minutes while I…take care of the food."
"Oh, by the tides, this is becoming more and more tiresome by the day."
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"Now, you chop up the onion. Remember, left index and ring fingers holding it down while the second knuckle of your middle finger is against the flat side of the blade," I instructed and demonstrated as well, watching Kaldur narrow his eyes as he replicated my movements.
"Where did you…learn to cook?", He stopped talking for a bit to get back on the rhythm and I smirked as I easily chopped up a few jalapenos before pushing them to the side as well.
"While Connor and the others had trained me in Cadmus, I was also taught the best skills that a young man of my age may need to fit into society."
"Truly?", Kaldur asked and I nodded while turning to flip the tortilla, quickly turning back to squeeze a lemon into the bowl that Kaldur put the onions and cilantro in before mixing in the avocado and jalapenos.
'That's olive oil, avocado, jalapenos, onions, cilantro, tomatoes…Is it tomatoes? Eh, I'm adding tomatoes. Tacos are on track, beef is done, chips are done…Yeah, we're on track.'
"Oh~ What smells so nice?"
"Just some tacos and some nachos for dinner," I spoke while making the last of the tacos, placing them on the platter.
"And the sushi?"
"That's for Wally. He wanted sushi," I answered, to which Raven hummed as she levitated a piece before narrowing her eyes at me as I reached up and pulled it back with a fork.
"Wait until the food is done and everyone is here."
"What if I don't want to?"
"Then, you'll be send to your room with no dinner. Now, sit. Kaldur, get the others please."
"M'gann and I are here and I see we have a feast waiting for us."
"I'll go get the other guys," I nodded as Kaldur left the room, turning back to the stove as M'gann and Artemis sat down next to Raven. A few moments later, I raised an eyebrow as I heard a pair of giggles behind me, turning my head to see two of the girls acting innocent while Raven sat with a disgruntled frown.
"Can I also hear the joke or not?"
"No! No, you can't," M'gann quickly spoke up and I blinked as Artemis nodded as well before narrowing my eyes and turning back around.
"They were talking about how cute and attractive you are. Quite frankly, I do not see the appeal."
"Ouch, right in the pride, but that's not news to me."
"Really? Because they believe they are doing a good job of hiding their attraction to you."
"M'gann? Maybe, but Artemis is not afraid to show it. She's a bit more outgoing than M'gann."
"Huh, and you don't have any attraction to them?"
"At the moment, yes, but that could change with time or it can grow stronger."
"…I wanted to read your mind for that and yet, I can't. That is quite a feat as one would need to have quite possibly one of the most powerful minds in the universe to repel my efforts."
'That or be a self-insert who doesn't want anyone to read his memories,' I thought with a smirk as I finished off the nachos and the guacamole, placing it on the countertop as well to see the girls staring hungrily at it.
"So, do you make this kind of food for your date as well?"
"If she's feeling for something casual yet fun, then I'll pick one of the cuisines or both of them. If she's feeling something a bit more fancy, I think I'd go a step above."
"Hmm, good to know," Artemis murmured before I looked to the entrance to see the guys entering, Wally immediately sitting down and reaching for the sushi while Kaldur, Dick, Match and Connor sat down around the table as well.
"You ate first, Wally. Say grace," I spoke with a smirk while closing my eyes, hearing everyone's chuckle and Wally's grumble before the speedster said grace.
"Can you cook like this every night from now on? Most of us are absolutely useless when it comes to the kitchen," Dick spoke with a smile as he bit into his taco and I snorted as everyone looked at me before Artemis and M'gann gave a mini-cheer when I shrugged.
"I don't mind, but that means someone else is going to have to do lunch and dinner."
"How about…you handle the cooking and we'll handle the cleaning and the maintenance?", Wally asked and I looked at him before nodding with a smile.
"Now that I can agree to. Speaking of maintenance, how are things going with your…cycle, was it?"
"Her name is Sphere and she's doing…okay, I suppose? That Batman person helped me understand the coding of Sphere's system a bit better, but according to him, it's going to take a while before she's operational again."
"Hmm, that means you're stuck here for a bit longer. Well, can you tell us a bit more about yourself?"
"No, I don't wish to."
"What if I played a game of 'Guess'?"
"And how does one play this game?"
"You two take turns guessing at each other pasts. If you're right, you get to continue, but if you're wrong, he gets to go," Dick explained and I smirked as Raven narrowed her eyes at me with a challenging look before nodding.
"Okay. Then, you shall go first."
"Okay. Ahem, let me start this off. From the way you keep us at a distance and flinch whenever we try to make physical contact as well as the times we try to say that we're family, I'm going to guess that you come from a complicated family.
One or more siblings that like to treat you like you're nothing compared to them, a father that isn't satisfied with anything that you do because he wants more and better from you and a mother…No, no mother. If there was a mother, you would have had a figure in your life that you could look up to. With the flickers of sadness in your eyes though, I'm going to say that your mother passed at a young age and you're stuck with what family you have left. Am I right?"
"…I do not wish to play this game anymore," Raven murmured with a frown and I gave an apologetic smile as the others nodded.
"Yeah, that's usually how it goes. He may look a bit stupid and naive, but Chris is actually one of the most observant people that you'll meet and don't give him time to analyse you. From what you've just seen, he's very good at that."
"And that's without telepathy, but I do apologize if I brought up bad memories with my words."
"Don't worry, it's nothing I'm not used to," Raven answered and I nodded before sitting back and letting them converse amongst each other. Watching as M'gann and Artemis tried their best to get Raven out of her shell, Kaldur and Dick making fun of Wally and Connor doing his best to teach Match how to eat a taco, I couldn't help the soft smile on my eyes as I watched the team finally relax around each other.
"What's wrong with him?"
"I don't know. He looks like how Flash would look like if he's looking at me. Like he's proud of me or something," I rolled my eyes at Wally's words before he whined as I took a California roll, going to pop it into my mouth only to blink as energy wrapped around it and pulled it to Raven's mouth.
She ate half of it before letting it float back to me, everyone blinking at her action while I simply smiled and ate it.
"…So, she can feed you, huh?"
"I mean, she did steal a roll from me," I answered with a shrug and Artemis smirked before I watched as she walked over to Wally and picked up the rest of the sushi with a glare aimed at him.
Sitting down beside me, I didn't say anything as the girl picked up a piece before holding it out to me.
"Say ah~"
"Why?", I asked before she fed it to me, making me narrow my eyes even as I chewed and swallowed it. However, I turned my gaze to M'gann and was not surprised at the jealous glare she aimed at Artemis, who looked smug as she picked up another piece.
Was this going to escalate into a fight? Probably.
Was I going to stop her from feeding me? Not in the slightest.
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"Boom Tubes and cloning appears to be the main focus of the Light, but what worries me is the fact that they are focusing solely on those two," Batman spoke with a frown as he opened up the file, a frown adorning some of the League's face as Superman leaned forward.
"What do you think their objectives are with these two things?"
"An army of supervillains and clones of heroes that are mind-controlled to do their bidding. They will then use their prototype Boom Tubes to send their army across the globe and attack numerous cities and countries at the same time."
"Thus, even if we stop one crime, twenty more will take its place," Batman finished Wonder Woman's theory and the League frowned as Green Lantern narrowed his eyes.
"What's our plan of action, then?"
"Martian Manhunter has read the mind of the prisoner the Titans brought in and I have deciphered the information sent to us by Robin. Some of the information was missing, but we managed to decipher four different bases that are currently set for their next plans."
"Which one has the closest date?", Aquaman asked and Batman pressed a button, watching the man's eyes widen slightly along with hearing Dr. Fate's growl as a tablet and a winged monster took the place of the holographic files.
"This information is not 100% accurate, but we have found out that the Light is looking for a temple called the Marduk's Temple in Bialya to unseal an ancient being known as-"
"Tiamat."
"You know it, Aqua?"
"I've only heard stories of it, but if the stories are correct, then this may be a lot worse than we thought. Tiamat is an alien superweapon that arrived on Earth long ago to destroy the planet, which it does have the power to do."
"Oh, a planetary superweapon? Not a galactic or universal bomb? That's a bit of a weaker one than we're used to," Flash spoke with a smirk and Wonder Woman just palmed her face as Superman shook his head.
"It is not to be underestimated. There is a reason the Light is looking for it and I do not wish to see what that reason is," Batman spoke up with a frown, Barry giving an apologetic smile before Captain Atom spoke up.
"What is our plan of action, then?"
"We do not have the exact location of where the temple is, but my satellites are already working on that. What we need to do is-", Batman's eyes snapped up to the alarms as they rang, the entirety of the Justice League standing up with frowns before Batman turned to the computer and began typing.
"Well, what is it?"
"…All children have vanished from the planet."
"What?", Superman asked, his eyes wide as Batman stepped to the side and showed the numerous reports going off.
"Justice League, through the Boom Tubes. We need to find the children and we need to find them now."
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"Robin, turn the alarm off!", I shouted as I walked to the main computer, my mind in mission mode as I tapped away and saw numerous reports flying up.
"What's wrong?!"
"There are no adults in the world," I spoke as I brought up surveillance footage to show off a pulse of red energy flashing across the planet and took every adult with it.
"From what I can see, everyone over the biological age of 18 has been forcibly removed from the world."
'That would also explain why M'gann vanished since she did say that she's in her late 40's.'
"Okay, what's our plan? If we can do anything at all," Wally asked with a frown and I stared at the numerous videos playing before walking to the exit.
"Titan, Aqualad! You are to dive into the oceans and save as many cruise ships as you can! Velocity! I want you to run across the world and save as many kids as you can!"
"Uh, that would be impossible! I'm not as fast as Uncle Barry!"
"I don't need you to be as fast as him! I just need you to go as fast as you can, understand?!", I spoke with a frown and he looked surprised at my words before nodding and raising off, Titan helping carry Aqualad off as well.
"Robin, Artemis, Goblin, you three are on comms. Keep us updated on any changes that could be happening at any time."
"You got it. Wait, what are you going to do?", Robin asked with a frown and I looked back at the footage at where hundreds of planes were slowly diving down to the planet, which they caught as well as Robin groaned.
"You're not thinking of doing that?"
"I am."
"Can you even…?"
"Not a matter of whether or not I can. I have to try," I spoke with a smile before shooting out of the cave, the air popping behind me as I accelerated over and over until I was nothing but a blur slicing through the skies.
The first plan was easy to find as I saw it falling low, quickly flying up to it before activating my TTK as I caught it.
'Keep it stabilized, Chris. Keep it stabilized,' I thought with a frown as I flew down to solid ground, placing the plane down in between the buildings before rushing up to catch the next one.
I'm not going to be able to save every single one, but I'm going to save as many as I can.
A/N: And we're ending it off here~! The Klarion Age-Gap spell has been activated early, which means more changes to the story~!
What kind of changes? We'll have to see later.
Next chapter: Just let me save one more.
Like always, you can go to my Pat-reon-.-com-/-KingCrimsonNova to read ahead on this as well as many other stories & even some that haven't been released out to this site yet. If you want to, you are free to, but if you don't want, all's good as I will still be uploading here. This is just me trying to get some extra cash.
As always, read, enjoy, review and until next week...
Ba-Bye~!