9

The sun had long set as we approached Santa Prisca in the bioship, the living vessel having stayed under the speed of sound to keep us from being too noticeable. The trip hadn't been terribly long, plus the seats on the commend deck were surprisingly comfortable (or so the others had told me). My own seat accommodated my armored form quite well, in any case. Talk between my teammates had died down, and now the deck was filled with a sort of quiet anticipation.

Glancing to my right at Starfire though, she was staring out the window at the ocean, her brow slightly furrowed. My mouth twisted as I wondered if I should ask her about it. I didn't want to pester her just before the mission started, but if it was actually a problem with the mission I should ask now, but it was probably just some minor thing, and I really should stop overanalyzing this-

Finally I let out a small sigh and leaned closer to her. "Something bothering you?" I asked softly, though I doubted the conversation wouldn't be heard by the others in the enclosed space.

She gave a small start as she looked at me. "Oh, nothing important. This... just was not quite what I expected we would be doing when we joined this team."

"You thought we'd be more directly deployed against threats." I guessed.

She nodded. "I do not doubt the importance of more covert work, it is simply... not me."

I hummed in acknowledgment. "I know what you mean. To be honest I thought we'd be doing something... a bit less complicated to start off with, but I guess Batman has confidence in us. But that's something else." I waved of. "I'm sure something more open and straightforward will be brought to the team at some point. And that aside, our cover stories have just been finished, so I think technically we can go out on our own if we want."

To be honest 'cover stories' wasn't really the right term; they were almost entirely true save for a few details here and there. The League was claiming that Green Lantern had meet Starfire while off world and the two had worked together before, and that I had worked as a technician for a company that was a Justice League affiliate before I was transformed by the standard lab-accident-gone-horribly-wrong sort of deal. This was mostly to justify us being declared associate League members, thus giving us free access to the Zeta Tubes and explaining why we might suddenly pop up anywhere in the world.

Starfire perked up as I mentioned that. "That's true! And I've already made plans with Wonder Woman."

I stopped and blinked in confusion. "You... wait, what?"

"I had tried to get updates on when we could go out from League members, but it was difficult finding someone who could give me a straight answer. Red Tornado told me that that it 'wasn't his responsibility', and Batman would merely say 'it will be ready when it's ready'. While I was trying to think of another League member to talk to, I saw a news report on the United Nations and learned that Diana is the Ambassador for her nation! And Ambassadors had offices! So I just called her office directly."

"...and that actually worked?" I asked incredulously.

"Of course it did. She seemed surprised by it too for some reason. In any case, she didn't know, but we got talking and she is really wonderful! She told me about her homeland and the campaigns she has been in! And I told her about Tamaran and some of the history of my people, and she was really interested! Apparently there is some parallel to be drawn between my home world and this 'Themyscria'."

"...Huh." I said nonplussed. Who'd have thought that the figurative amazonian warrior princess would have hit it off with the literal amazonian warrior princess- never mind, I feel dumb.

Starfire continued. "We can go out as soon as this mission is done, but Dianna invited us to come on patrol with her in a few days. Something about 'adding to your legitimacy if you're seen with a League member'."

That did make sense, though I was still a little surprised that Wonder Woman was being so accommodating. I mean, it's not like I didn't expect League members to even give us the time of day, but for one of the big three to actually invite us… I guess Starfire made a really good impression.

"Drop zone A in 30." Miss Martian announced loudly. The two of us glanced at her before we looked back at each other and nodded. Time to focus on the mission.

We were still speeding over the water, but Aqualad got up from his seat and tapped the emblem on his belt. His uniform (which was a sleeveless version of Aquaman's with a red top and black bottoms) changed as it shifted to a dark grey coloration. "Ready."

"Putting bioship in camouflage mode." She said back. While I didn't see the exterior change, the floor next to Aqualad opened up and the sound of rushing wind filled the command deck as we got a clear view of the water below. He gave us a salute before he dived out of the hatch and disappeared out of sight.

Aqualad's job as our point man was to disable the island's perimeter sensors before the rest of us showed up, so that the bioship wouldn't have to worry about the Surface to Air missile launchers that dotted the island. Technically the bioship's camouflage mode would have been enough for that, but we were erring on the side of caution in case something went wrong and the camo dropped.

The bioship slowed as we waited for the signal. A few minutes later we got it as Aqualad's voice sounded on the coms. "Heat and motion sensors are patched. Data's now on a continuous loop. Move in."

The ship started to move again, and we finally passed over the island. The clear night plus my own enhanced vision gave me a clear view of the mountainous jungle that covered most of the landmass. Santa Prisca had only really developed towns and cities around the coast, leaving the inland mostly untouched South American rainforest. 'Mostly' being the operative term here, as that also meant it was easy to seclude things you didn't want people to find, like an illegal chemical factory. It was located on the other side of a small mountain from where we were setting down, but we opted to travel the rest of the way on foot so we wouldn't be surprised by anything.

The ship slowed to a stop over a small clearing, and Miss Martian announced "Drop zone B." We all stood up as our chairs and the console merged back into the floor of the ship, and a drop line formed from the ceiling before lowering in front of Robin, Kid Flash and myself. The previous two hooked theirs onto their belts, but I just grabbed a hold of mine. As Kid Flash tapped his chest emblem and his yellow body suit shifted to black, he looked back at Miss Martain. "How cool is this?"

"Very cool." She said with a slight smile as she closed her eyes. A second later her body rippled upwards from her feet, and the skirt and shirt of her outfit was replaced by a formfitting black bodysuit, though the red x and blue cloak were unaffected. It was very close to what Martian Manhunter wore normally, and I actually thought it looked better than her normal outfit.

Wally looked stunned for a moment before he said. "Uh, that works too." He glanced at Starfire and asked "How about you? Does that outfit have the new stealth tech?"

"I wouldn't exactly call making your clothes darker 'stealth tech'." I remarked. I mean, yes it made him harder to see in the dark, but it didn't really compare to optical camo, which did exist in this world. And Batman hadn't gotten me any because it was 'military tech'. No, I wasn't mad about that. Honest.

For her part Starfire let out a little sigh and said "Yes," before tapping the green stone on her chest. In matter of seconds, a black hue spread throughout her clothes, dulling the colors and... well, from an aesthetic standpoint it didn't look that great. Dull and dark colors really didn't compliment Starfire that well. No wonder she looked mildly put out.

Superboy seemed similarly disaffected with the apparel, and he spoke up as Kid Flash turned to talk to him. "No capes, no tights. No offense."

"It totally works for you." The lot of us turned to look at Miss Martian, who gave a start at the attention. "I mean, that you can do good work in those clothes!"

The cabin was filled with an awkward silence for a long moment before I leaned in to Miss Martian, my hand covering my mouth as I said in a stage whisper "Smooth recovery." She flushed at that, and I almost chuckled just before the floor suddenly opened beneath me. I gave a small start of surprise, but fortunately my grip on my tether kept me from plummeting. I glanced back at Miss Martian to see her smirking at me. Touché.

All of us of us then were lowered or flew down to the ground, landing deftly on the overgrowth. Well, almost all of us, as a second later we were forced to dodge out of the way as Superboy decided to take the express route down and cratered the forest floor as he leapt from the bioship. "Knew I didn't need a line."

"And yet creating a seismic event may not have helped us much with the covert!" Robin yelled at him. The other boy just shrugged at that.

And we're off to a great start, I thought with a mental sigh as I dusted myself off. I took a quick glance at my environment before my body started to change, my armor thinning as my limbs became more wiry, my claws becoming more pronounced and my tail growing from where the base of my spine should be.

From behind me I head Kid Flash groan. "Seriously? You're changing into that?"

A speaker formed at the base of my neck as my mouth and throat changed to something incapable of human speech. "It's the best form I have for stealth, and it should work perfectly for a jungle environment." I said as my transition to xenomorph finished. "Don't worry, I'll be hanging back in the underbrush, so you won't even see me."

"That makes it worse." The speedster complained.

"Aqualad, Drop B is go." Miss Martian said over coms, ignoring the two of us.

We got the response back quickly. "Head for the factory. I'll track your GPS and rendezvous ASAP."

The lot of us nodded and headed out.

--------------------​

The six of us made good time as we traveled through the jungle, though there was some awkwardness at the start as we tried to settle on a pace for everyone. Superboy and Kid Flash almost got too far ahead of the group, and Starfire couldn't fly too fast without her hair igniting (not great for stealth). Robin ended up setting the pace as he was the sole one of us without super-human movement, though it also helped that his wrist mounted computer had a holographic map of the island.

I had no problems following the rest of them, even as we were forced to travel though rough terrain. I could scale any surface with ease, and moving on all fours allowed me to slip through the undergrowth with little disturbance. I may not have had the training that Robin did, but even back when I was physically human I was good at being light on my feet and maneuvering through spaces, and my new form made that even easier. I was also enjoying another trait of my new body which I hadn't realized until recently: near perfect balance, if I focused on it. Rather than being an organ or device I create, it seemed to be an innate function of the nanites themselves, shifting around my internal mass so that I could stay upright in precarious footing. Useful, though I imagine it will be difficult to maintain the more of my mass I dedicate to shapeshifting solid forms.

All that aside, I was also enjoying everything my enhanced senses were picking up. I could hear the sounds of wildlife a hundred meters away, pick out the heat signatures of my teammates as they moved through the forest, and catch the slightest movement of anything around me. Still, for all of the extra sensory data I was taking in, I still hadn't quite mastered parsing it all at the same time. Which is why, after about an hour of travel, it was Superboy who noticed a sound out of place before I did. "Did you hear that?" He said as he came to a stop.

The moment he spoke, my blindsight caught Robin ducking into the bushes and out of sight. I felt mildly annoyed as I stopped as well and closed my eyes, trying to pinpoint the sound he heard. "No…" Kid Flash said. "Wait, is this a super hearing thing?"

"It is, and I can hear it." I said after I found what I was looking for. "Footsteps. A bunch of them."

"Robin, can you-" Kid Flash started to say before he looked around and saw that we were one teammate down. "Man, I hate it when he does that."

"I saw where he went, I'll find him." I said as I slipped through the underbrush after the boy, radioing him as I did so. "Robin, we lost track of you, where are you going?"

Meanwhile, Aqualad spoke up over the radio. "Superboy, Kid, Machina, switch to infrared. See if we are being tracked."

I already had my visual spectrum widened, so I just stood up a little straighter to do a wide sweep of the section of jungle in front of the group. After a second I spotted what Superboy had heard in a long open clearing up ahead, though Kid Flash beat me to the punch. "Got a squad of armed bozos incoming."

"Two squads." Superboy added. "But they'll meet each other before they find us."

"And Robin is getting front row seats." I said, having finally found the Boy Wonder skulking through the bushes towards the edge of the clearing. I addressed my next comment to him. "You know, next time you might want to let us know you're scouting ahead rather than disappearing on us."

This time he replied in a hushed voice. "What, do I have to hold your hand? Are you guys even in position?"

"…No?" I said. "We just stopped where we were and you vanished. What-"

Whatever I was about to say was interrupted by the sounds of gunfire echoing through the jungle. I focused my attention back on the two groups of men and was surprised to find them shooting at each other. "Oh. I guess they're not friends then." I remarked.

"Everyone, swing wide!" Aqualad said over the coms, his breathing now picking up speed. "I am almost there, do not engage!"

"Hey, you're not in charge here!" Robin whispered back fiercely.

I stopped myself from rolling my eyes before I said "No, but we are trying to stay covert, so it's a good plan anyway." I took a glance around and took a headcount. "I've got eyes on all of us. Starfire, Miss Martian, Superboy, Kid Flash, if you move about ten meters to your left into the underbrush it will move you closer to us and give you better cover."

The rest of my team moved to do so and I returned my attention to the two groups of men shooting at each other, who had moved to hiding behind whatever cover they could find. The first group was dressed in the sort of assorted camo gear and casual clothes I would expect from South American criminals, but the other group was actually clothed in dull red robes, with oddly shaped hoods covering their heads. "Who are these guys…" I mused over the coms.

"I recognize those outfits, that is the Cult of the Kobra." Robin said, still crouched behind a tree and watching with interest. "International terrorist organization, seeks world domination, pretty standard affair."

Kobra? Like in G.I. Joe? But that… oh, now I remember! They were in that episode of Batman Beyond where they tried to warm the Earth via volcanoes and turn themselves into dinosaurs or something. Man, it's weird living in a world where an organization as insane and goofy as that actually exists. I had to stifle a laugh as I thought about someone seriously threatening the world with a dino-transmogrifier bomb-

Suddenly one of the Kobra men's head snapped back with a small spray of blood before he collapsed. I froze and all of my mirth disappeared. That… I had never seen a human being killed before. It… oh.

The skirmish didn't last very long. Kobra had a few more men, but it was clear that the natives knew how to fight in the jungle terrain better. The locals quickly moved to flank the cultists and caught them where they were exposed, mowing two more of them down. Seeing the direction the fight was going, the ones remaining moved to retreat. One of them wasn't fast enough though, and was caught by a huge man who rushed forward and grabbed the cultist from behind. The victim briefly struggled before the larger man snapped his neck, crumpling to the ground like a rag doll. It was then the larger man swung his head around to look at his men, and I saw that it was covered by a mask. Specifically, a black and white luchador's mask.

Bane.

He started to say something to what I assumed were his henchmen, but I couldn't understand his Spanish. Besides which, I had a hard time paying attention when I could see the bodies around them gradually start to cool with my thermal vision. I shut my eyes and shook my head. Come on man, these are terrorists in a superhero universe. They're about as 'Acceptable Targets' as you can get, I tried to tell myself. Besides, you've already killed two sapients yourself annnnd the guilt has returned. Fuck.

After a moment I heard Aqualad's voice over the radio. "Machina, we have regrouped. Where are you?"

I gave a start and opened my eyes, and found that Bane's group was gone, and so was Robin. I mentally cursed for zoning out for so long and looked around for any sign of my team. Fortunately, they were not too far off and had gathered at the far end of the clearing. "Ah, sorry, I got distracted. I'll be with you in a second."

I made my way through the trees until I reached the others, shifting back into my humanoid shape as I caught the tail end of Robin's sentence. "-those cultists weren't on Venom, so they clearly have taken over the factory for something else. We can't leave, not until I know why."

Kid Flash scowled in annoyance at that. "Until you know why?"

"Yeah, I'm leading this mission, so I say we need to keep going!"

"We never actually agreed to that! You just decided you would be the leader!"

"Enough!" Starfire said loudly, getting everyone's attention. "Now is not the time for such arguments. We have no clear leader for the moment, so we must decide together. What is our course of action?"

"I agree with Robin." Aqualad said. "This situation is more complex than we thought. If Kobra could claim the factory from Bane without the League knowing, there is no telling what else is happening. We need to know more."

I hesitated for a moment before I nodded as well. "Same."

Superboy and Miss Martian looked at each other before they turned back to us and nodded as well. Kid Flash grumbled a little, but he could tell that he was outvoted. Starfire hummed before saying "Then we are agreed. We continue the mission as planned."

"But we now have to plan around Bane and his actions." The Atlantian remarked as he rubbed his chin. "Doubtless he intends to take his factory back, but we don't know how."

"Bane was telling something to the others, but he was speaking Spanish." I said. "Unfortunately, I have no idea what-"

"He mentioned something about a secret entrance." The lot of us turned towards Superboy, who gave a shrug. "He said 'These bastards haven't found my secret entrance yet, we'll come up from right underneath them'. Don't see how he can manage that with just a handful of guys, but…"

Kid Flash arched an eyebrow. "When did you have time to learn Spanish?"

"When I was in the pod." He said, shifting a little bit. "I got a pretty thorough education from the Genomorphs. I can speak most major Earth languages."

Aqualad hummed at that. "A most useful skill, particularly for this mission. We would have missed that otherwise."

"I agree." Starfire said. And before anyone else could do anything she floated over to Superboy and planted her lips on his.

Superboy went completely still, and everyone else let out cries of surprise at shock at this, but I just face palmed. Really… should have told someone about that beforehand. It was Miss Martian who managed to find her voice first. "W-w-what are you doing?!"

The Tamaranian broke contact and turned to the Martian. "Tamaranians have been gifted with the ability to assimilate language through physical contact. I was unaware of Superboy's linguistic knowledge until now, and I felt it would be wise if I had that knowledge for this mission as well."

And yet you didn't consider that it might be unwise to surprise our some-percentage Kyptonian teammate like that, I thought flatly. Hell, Superboy had almost thrown her the first time she tried hugging him a week ago. She was lucky that he seemed to still be in shock from the kiss to react. It was probably best to treat this like it was normal. "I've already had my turn." I remarked. "That's how she knew English when she got here."

Miss Martian stammered for a few moments before a look of confusion crossed her face. "But… that sounds like a psychic effect, and those don't work on Machina unless he's emulating Martian biotech. How did that work?"

I blinked. That… was a very good question. Now that I thought about it, by all rights it shouldn't have worked. So that meant the effect was… what, magical? Does that even make sense? Starfire herself frowned at this. "I am not sure. The Touch of Communion was studied long ago, but I never personally questioned it. For most the act of touching on first greeting has simply become a cultural standard."

The Martian thought about this for a moment before she shook her head and returned to more important matters. "Wait, if you only need to touch the person, why did you kiss Superboy?"

Starfire smiled slightly. "It's more fun."

I swear I saw the green girl's eyebrow twitch at that, but Kid Flash took this as his cue. "Oh, in that case, I know some French!"

She turned to him. "I know that language now. Do you know any others that might be useful?"

"Well, uh…" The boy said. "I know… ah man."

I shook my head. Too slow Wally, too slow, I thought in amusement. Still, he looked so dejected that I couldn't help but feel a little bad for him. Plus all this teenage nonsense was helping me get out of my own head. Maybe I could do something that will cheer him up… I glanced back at Starfire. "I don't know if any of us know any more earth languages than Superboy, but Miss Martian knows the native Martian language."

"Oh, that is a good point!" Starfire said.

"Wait, what-" Was as far as the green girl got before she found the much taller orange girl kissing her.

Yep, totally a mature influence on the team, I thought I Miss Martian flailed around in Starfire's grip, and Kid Flash started grinning like it was Christmas. Still might not want to put this in the debrief though.