Born together, die apart (young justice)

Alpha-Male

Mount Justice; September 23rd, 06:34 EDT

Green Arrow placed a bowl of pretzels on the table. Wally had both his shoulders on the table, resting his chin on his crossed wrists. Artemis sat on the same side of the table as him, leaning her right elbow on the table as her head rested in her hand. Conner stood opposite of Arrow defensive in his body posture, but the worry is clear on his face. Wanda leaned on the front the table with her head down. M'gann sat across from Artemis, looking expectantly at the hero clearly mirroring the Boy Wonder who sat beside her. "Thanks, but no thanks," Wally said harshly.

Green Arrow backed off instantly. "Yeah, what we want are answers," Robin pointed out, looking to Wally as his only other means of support since Kaldur was not sitting with them. The redhead sat up straighter, following the Boy Wonder's trail of thought before they both turned towards the blonde hero. "about Red Tornado and his siblings."

Nothing showed on Green Arrows face, he didn't even flinch. "Exactly." Wally snarked, though it lost some of its heat as he saw Arrow reach for the bowl, starting to walk away with it. He didn't even manage to fully turn around before Wally's hands were around the bowl, taking it back. "Leave the bowl," he murmured quietly, taking a handful of pretzels into his hand and eating them. Wanda lifted her head, narrowing her eyes at Aqualad who was talking with Batman. She could tell he was hiding something by the way he lowered his voice so she decided to unblock his thoughts from her mind.

Could Sportsmaster be right? Was Tornado the mole this entire time and none of us were aware?

Her eyes widened as she blocked them once more. Apparently she wasn't the only one who was ease-dropping because Superboy launched himself at their leader, grabbing him by the shoulders. "YOU KNEW?" He put his super strength to use. "That android and his maniac family nearly killed M'Gann!"

M'gann flew over, confused. "Conner, what are you doing?"

"Kaldur knew we had a traitor among us and said nothing," Wanda stated, letting anger was over her for a brief moment before calming herself.

"You knew?" Robin questioned, betrayal clear in his voice.

"And didn't tell us?" Kid spoke so closely behind Robin that it was hard to tell if they're just that in sync or it was actually meant to be two separate questions.

"I sought to protect the Team from-" Kaldur only looked to Conner as he spoke.

"Sought to protect us from what?" Wanda asked, having heard that saying before.

Artemis finally spoke up, sounding just as mad as Robin and Wally. "Knowledge that might've saved our lives?"

Conner turned to a mostly silent M'gann. "You almost died." She didn't say anything but looked shaken nonetheless.

"Enough." Batman got the instantaneous respect he demanded. Everyone turned toward him and narrowing his eyes was all it took for Conner to release his hold on Kaldur's straps. "With Red Tornado... missing the Team will now be overseen by rotation supervisors. Captain Marvel has volunteered to take the first shift."

Wanda finally pushed herself off the table making her way to the team as Captain Marvel approached the Dark Knight, standing taller beside him. "I'm really looking forward to hanging with you guys."

Robin, Wally, Artemis, Wanda, and Megan all shared a look behind the still tense Conner and Kaldur. The clone turned to the leader, speaking in a low snarl. "After I dismantle Red Tornado, you and I are gonna-"

Batman started walking the second Conner looked away, clearly knowing what the teen was thinking as he unabashedly cut him off. "Red Tornado is a member of the Justice League. That makes him a League responsibility. You will leave him to us." No one said anything so he turned and called up a holoscreen of a newspaper article. "I have another assignment for this team."