Chapter Nine

Red Arrow, Artemis and Miss Martian reentered the building and the young extraterrestrial started searching mentally for the 'good' doctor and she had his location. The archers followed her lead, but as they were close to the panic room; they were met by some resistances…Genomorphs.

Miss Martian had a time fighting them as there were some, G-Goblins, as they were countering her telekinesis and there were a few G-Gnomes on the bigger ones and that made her telepathy pretty useless as well. The archers were launching every arrow they had at the huge G-Trolls but they were not very effective.

"Miss Martian; get to Desmond, you're the only one that can take him out quickly." Red Arrow ordered.

Miss Martian nodded and took off at her top speed to get to the panic room and soon enough she was there.

"So, the Martian comes after me; I wonder if you saw what I did to my Weapon. You erased a lot of programming, but it seems that before Superman came and freed him my G-Gnomes reinstated some of it." Desmond said as the panic room door slid open.

Miss Martian's eyes went red, but it wasn't what Desmond said that ticked her off…..it's the fact that Superman was forced to fight his brother and this man standing before her was happy about it. She entered his mind and found that Desmond was much more devious than the boys had realized.

YJYJYJYJYJYJ

Artemis had run out of arrows and Red Arrow had just launched his last one. The G-Trolls were closing in, but they suddenly stopped.

"What's going on?"

"Hello brother; and you seem to be a friend of his." A voice said in their heads.

"Okay, that was weird." Artemis remarked.

"I know that voice…Dubbilex." Red Arrow said.

"Yes, brother, I assume that Guardian has told you about me. I came when I heard at Cadmus that Desmond had returned to his human state.

"Please tell me you're on our side." Artemis said.

"Yes, green archer; I am. I came to free my fellow Genomorphs from his control." Dubbilex said, still talking mentally, then he came out of the shadows. "Oh dear, I sense that Superboy's girlfriend has found Desmond, but OUR priority is before us."

"You really want to trust this guy, Red Arrow?" Artemis asked; always the skeptic in situations like these.

"Jim told me that Dubbilex gave Conner a choice of what to do and he chose freedom. I trust him…..do you still not trust me?" Red questioned.

Artemis let out a sigh, and it was then that she realized that she had always trusted Roy, but it wasn't until now that she was willing to voice that opinion. "Alright, I do trust you….happy."

Dubbilex walked between the archers and Genomorphs and went to work. From Red Arrow and Artemis' point of view, nothing was happening, but within the minds of the G-Gnomes and G-Trolls; a storm was being quilled that there was no reason to have had in the first place.

"Please my brothers, you would fight one of your own brothers; let alone one that stands by his side." Dubbilex mentally told the Genomorphs.

They all calmed down and back in the physical world Red Arrow and Artemis were able to lower their bows.

"Thank you Dubbilex." Artemis remarked. "Let's go help M'gann."

With that Red Arrow nodded to Dubbilex in appreciation then took off after Artemis.

"Good luck, brother." Dubbilex said, and with that he went back into the Genomorphs minds to tell them what was going to happen next.

YJYJYJYJYJYJ

Inside Desmond's Mind

He was mentally fighting Miss Martian, but he was losing the fight as Miss Martian was angry about what happened to her teammates and the fact that Superman HAD TO beat up his own brother to save him.

"I'm going to make sure you can't hurt ANYONE ever again." Miss Martian's mental self said.

It was then that she unleashed all of her mental power.

Outside the Panic Room

Red Arrow and Artemis arrive to see Miss Martian and Desmond just standing there and figured she was inside the evil scientist's mind. It wasn't a second later that Desmond dropped to the floor and M'gann turned to them, blinking.

"He won't come after the team anymore." Miss Martian said as she started to walk over to her friends.

"What did you do?" Red Arrow asked; worried about what Miss Martian did to Desmond's mind.

"I put him in a coma. It can be reversed….once we get him to Belle Rev." Miss Martian said. "What about the Genomorphs?"

"I helped with them, young Martian. You care for my brother, Superboy, very much and I wished to aid you with getting vengeance for what Dr. Desmond did." Dubbilex said as he walked up behind Artemis and Red Arrow.

"Thank you for your help with the Genomorphs, but speaking of Superboy, I need to get back to our headquarters and help him; along with Robin, Kid Flash and Aqualad." Miss Martian said; and with that, Dubbilex took his leave to get the Genomorphs to NEW Genomorph City.

Red Arrow grabbed Desmond and the three heroes headed out to zeta to Belle Rev THEN Watchtower.

YJYJYJYJYJYJ

Watchtower; Just as Fight Ends

Aquaman and Flash were called in. When they arrived they were horrified at what they saw…..their protégés had cybernetic components.

"I am sorry, My King, but I do not think I can continue as Aqualad…..not without my magic." Kaldur'ahm said.

"You may still have your magic, and Wally will be able to use his super speed." Superman said.

"His cybernetics won't hold up." Flash said, worried about his nephew.

"That's just it; I used my X-ray vision on the three of them and they still have their limbs, the 'cybernetics' are nothing but sleeves of metal." Superman told the league members that were present.

"If that's so, then how come we can't feel our arms and legs?" Robin asked from his bed.

"The G-Gnomes; Desmond must have used them on us before using them on Conner." Wally remarked.

"That could be so; we will need J'onn to undo what they did, to ALL four of you." Batman said and with that he reached up to his comm. "J'onn; we need your help with a situation at Watchtower."

Just then the Watchtower computer activated as the Zeta Tubes started up.

"Recognized Red Arrow 21; Miss Martian B05; Artemis B07"

The three of them came running into med bay and were worried when they saw the other mentors there.

"It's not as bad as it looks; they'll be fine." Batman said as he pulled his cowl off.

"Recognized Martian Manhunter 07"

It wasn't long before the League Martian arrived.

"Uncle J'onn; I want to be the one to wipe the programming from Conner's mind. I've done it before." M'gann said.

"Very well, M'gann; what is wrong with Robin, Kid Flash and Aqualad." J'onn answered then asked.

"They have what APPEARS to be cybernetics that are just metal sleeves but they say that don't feel bone or anything in their arms and legs. Kid Flash said that Cadmus G-Gnomes may be behind them not feeling their limbs." Batman told J'onn.

"I will see what I can do. M'gann and I will need to be alone with the boys so we have total concentration." J'onn said, and with that the mentors, Red Arrow and Artemis left out to give the Martians the quiet they needed.

M'gann went over to the unconscious Conner and entered his mind. J'onn did the same with the other founding boys of the team to see what was blocking their nervous system's brain connection to their extremities.

Five Hours Later

Everyone waited in the main room while the Martians. Green Arrow had been called in to be there for his protégés and he didn't disappoint.

"Do you think the boys will be alright?" Artemis asked; having only heard of Desmond.

"J'onn and M'gann will get them back to their old selves." Ollie said, not wearing his mask right now.

"What I don't get is how Dubbilex got there so fast." Roy said, thinking about the Genomorph that called him brother.

Batman knew Roy was smart, but he didn't think the archer would catch on that fast. "He's helped us out enough over the past couple of years, so he has access to the Zeta Tubes. I called him when we were close to Watchtower."

Roy was about to say something when Superman came forth. "The ENTIRE League discussed it while you've been on hiatus. Dubbilex was helpful even though we couldn't find Speedy."

The mention of the original Roy caused Red Arrow to tense, but that was pushed away as he thought about his 'brothers' in med bay. Just then footsteps were heard and it sounded like a lot of them.

Everyone turned around and saw J'onn, M'gann, Dick, Wally and Kaldur come walking out of Med Bay and they ran to see their friends/protégés. The young male heroes were free of the so called cybernetics.

"Conner's mind has been cleared of the Cadmus programming, but he's going to need a couple of days. Thank goodness for Kryptonian healing." M'gann said.

Clark looked down at the floor, knowing that he did the damage to Conner that M'gann was talking about.

"You had no choice Clark, if you didn't fight back, Conner would have killed you." M'gann said, seeing the man of steel's sad face.

"I hope Desmond paid for what he did to all four of us." Wally said, upset that he didn't get his revenge.

"Oh he got it, Wally, don't worry about that." Roy said, remembering what M'gann said she did to Desmond.

"Batman, what's going to happen to Victor?" Artemis asked, knowing that the 17 year old helped them out.

The Dark Knight didn't say a word and reached up to his comm link. "Alright, you can enter."

"Recognized Victor Stone A07"

"Hey guys; how's Superboy doing?" Victor asked as he materialized and walked out of the Zeta Tubes.

"He's going to be fine, Victor. Thank you for contacting us." Superman said as he stepped forward.

"What Robin, Kid Flash and Aqualad said made some sense. I wanted to believe Desmond, but you know the saying; there are two sides to every story." Victor said as he looked at the three boys.

"Hey, we're just whelmed to be out of there. It seems that what Desmond did to you IS permanent, but hey, I'm sure you'd be a welcomed part of the team." Robin said; having hidden to get his domino mask back on.

"If you guys need any help with computers, I'm a wiz with programming." Victor said.

"Awesome, thanks Victor." Ollie said. "Think you could reconfigure some of my trick arrows, I'm sure I screwed up somewhere in their programming."

"No problem Green Arrow." Victor said.

While Superboy rested; everyone else started showing Victor around Watchtower as he would be allowed up here along with the senior members of the team.

YJYJYJYJYJYJ

Three Years Later; After the Reach Leaves Earth

As Aqualad was giving out assignments; Nightwing leaned against the wall near the door. "Business as usual."

With that said; the first Robin walked away for his time off. As he neared the main computer room, he saw a familiar person walking toward him.

"Hey Nightwing; I'm sorry about KF. I wish I could stay, but I'm late for my first Team briefing." The person said.

"I know you've been around the team for three years; but this will be your first official mission. Be careful out there Victor." Nightwing said, placing a hand on the 20 year old's shoulder.

"Thanks." Victor said, and with that the two heroes parted ways. It wasn't long before Victor arrived at the team meeting. "Sorry I'm late."

"That is alright, I was just getting to your assignment. Before I give it; I know that most of you know Victor; but for those of you that do not, he is OFFICIALLY joining the team as a member instead of just tech support." Aqualad said as he turned to greet the cyborg.

"When we're in the field…call me Cyborg." Victor said with a smile.

Those assembled all said their hellos then turned their attention back to Aqualad to finish the briefing as Cyborg headed over to the others. Aqualad gave the last assignment and Cyborg's team left out first.

"Recognized Lagoon Boy B18; Robin B20; Wondergirl B21; Blue Beetle B22; Static B26; Cyborg B27"

The other teams headed out for their missions and everything was, as Nightwing had put it 'business as usual'.