Sparks Fly [Book Two in the "Fire And Lighting" Series]

Chapter Five- Betrayal

They say that since water conducts electricity, they don't mix.

But for a while, they did.

But after a while, one of us was bound to get hurt.

January 6, 2016. 20:32.

En Route Malina Island

~~Emma~~ 

I put a hand on Mara's chair in front of me. Richard was steering, Bruce was at the front, Tim across from Mara, and Barbra directly across from me. Our regular Bat-family road trip. Not to mention Mara's first mission with the team! Batman and the rest of us were there to watch her back, so Bruce approved having her come along on the mission with us. 

And where is the mission, you ask? Malina Island, where M'gann discovered the location of the backup krolotean base. Another League-team team-up! well, not exactly, since only a few members of the team are coming. 

"Remember this is primarily a recon mission," Batman said for the third time, "We want to discover all we can about the krolotean's invasion strategy before we shut them down and deliver them to the Green Lantern Corp," I could feel Mara's excitement and remembered my first mission. With Wally, and Richard, and Kaldur. Add Superboy to the mix, and we were an unstoppable quintet. And then came Miss Martian, Artemis, and Willow. The first girls who I had officially considered my "friends" in years. The best times of my life were spent with the team, and I only hoped that it would be the same for Tim and Mara and every single member of the team, no matter what age.

"Approaching drop zone beta," Nightwing announced, knocking me out of my daydreams. Sure it could be fun, but it was dangerous. You had to keep your mind in the game 100% of the time, a single misstep could get you dead.

Below us, in the cargo hold of the bioship, Lagoon Boy and Aquaman dropped out of a small hold in the cargo hold and into the water.

Nightwing steered the bioship, in camelfloudge mode, around the mountain of Malina Island. At the back of the island was a large metal door guarded by men in black armor. Manta Troopers. I could feel my blood run hot at the sight of them.

"Drop zone gamma!" Nightwing affirmed, and we all ran out of the ship as fast as we could. Stealth was the key here.

Finch and I took out the guards closest to the door, Batman took out the lone one who had strayed from the pack, and we followed Nightwing, Robin, and Batgirl to the secret passage into the mountain.

The five "Bat-kids" landed silently on a catwalk high above the floor of the chamber. Manta troopers were everywhere, and in the center of the volcano, the kroloteans were building what looked like a giant ship. Which makes sense, seeing how they destroyed their old one.

Batgirl and I took one catwalk, Robin and Finch took another, Nightwing took a third, and Batman did his Batman thing and disappeared into the shadows.

In the pool next to the ship under construction, there was a Manta Flyer, and I knew Aquaman and Lagoon Boy were recording who came and went aboard the ship. It was hardly surprising when Black Manta came out and took a look around, but what wasn't expected was for him to suddenly turn and shoot his laser beams into the water, right where Aquaman and La'gaan were! No matter how annoying La'gaan was, he was still a team member, and every team member is valuable, especially when you're the leader.

"Lagoon Boy, come in!" I shouted into my comm as Batgirl and I started to fight the Manta troopers who had suddenly converged on us.

"I'm fine, no need to get your wings all caught up!" La'gaan replied, and I found myself breathing easier.