Chapter 60: Aftermath

(General P.O.V)

"There you have it again folks. A display of the ineptitude that is a stark reminder of why we don't need these so called 'heroes' to save us. If they can't protect a simple town from losing a treasured landmark and a frankly beautiful beach, what hope does the earth as a whole have?"
G Gordon Godfrey took a sip of water from his glass and stared intently at the screen. His face was stretched out into an expression of mockery.

A scene of the destroyed Mount Justice base appeared on a tv screen behind him. The camera panned over the whole area, showing the devastation implicated on the banks of the Happy Harbor shore line.

"But G Gordon the Justice League tried their best! No lives were lost thankfully but that does not excuse the fact that the Justice League failed in safeguarding their old base…gasp." His mocking expression turned into a forced surprised one. He held it for a few seconds before his face settled into the smug grin from before.
"Surprised to hear that? Shocked? Exasperated?! That's right folks, my earlier point stands, poor showing on the League's part, exposing what they're actually good for… standing around and watching as another…freak wrecks havoc on our proud nations land. Ask yourself what they've actually…"

The screen shut off with a click from the remote in Kaldur's hands.

"Hey, I was watching that."
Connor complained.

Kaldur sighed and threw the remote at Superboy's direction. The clone caught it out of the air and turned the screen on, muting the sound in the process.
"Ugh thanks for the silence. I couldn't handle more of his trash talk. He's making the Flash and the others look bad!"
Wally said in anger.

Robin threw a concerned gaze at his teammate and sighed.
"I agree. Dude needs to stay whelmed."
Boy Wonder offered.
Kaldur got up from his seat and started walking towards the door.
"Where are you going Kaldur?"
M'gann asked.

The five of them were in the Star Labs facility at Taos, which was coincidentally the site of the Erdel initiative into Zeta beam technology research and the future Meta-human youth center. They were resting in a private waiting room while Artemis completed getting a check up, just like the rest of them.
"Out. I need…I need to think."
Kaldur answered M'gann and proceeded to leave.

The door opened before he could push it and in walked Artemis. She looked at Kaldur and sighed.
"So the mood is no less depressing inside this room as it was outside huh?"
She commented.
"Some might even say its worse."
Kaldur replied before looking at Wally's direction.
"Kaldur means Kid hasn't touched any of the nachos they brought us. Shocking right?"

Robin added.

Artemis and the others chuckled slightly amidst Wally's outcries of 'dude.' The loud crack of a remote getting crushed in Connor's hand drove everyone to silence. Connor rounded up on them.

"How can you laugh at a time like this?! Have you already forgotten what happened 2 hours ago? You know, the fight with Maelstrom, our teammate who we found out has been hiding a lot of things from us? Or did we move past that between the time we were all passed out from the ass kicking we got?!"

Connor finished with a shout.

"Hey, none of us intended for things to happen the way they did."

Artemis shot back while continuing to talk,

"The whole situation was fucked up from the moment some of us decided to break into Aden's room!"

Robin flinched at the accusatory tone in Artemis tone. He knew she was talking about him, Kaldur and Wally.

"That's so hypocritical Artemis , you were also there, you followed us in."

Wally responded getting up from his seat.

"I did, but I never wanted to in the first place. And maybe if we'd approached him in a less hostile way, the fight wouldn't have happened!"

Artemis replied vehemently.

"She's right."

M'gann sighed, silencing Wally's next words.

"Beautiful, that's not..."

Wally begun but trailed off upon M'gann shaking her head.

"No Wally, let's face it-" She studied everyone's faces, " - We messed up. Badly. If we'd been more understanding and patient with Aden's situation..."

Connor snapped.

"Fuck that. This is no one's fault other than his. No one told him to do what he did. He betrayed our trust..."

"And we betrayed his in return." Aqualad interjected, interrupting Connor's statement.

"Kaldur...you can't be serious right now...he lied to us and destroyed the mountain. Our base. How can you justify trying to let him get away with that?"

Wally hissed. Out of all of them, he felt the most conflicted about the whole situation. Wally disliked not seeing eye to eye with the others. It was not that he hated Aden. Not really. He just saw him for what he was.

"No one is trying to justify anything. Gah! All he's saying...all I am saying is that we could have handled it better."

Artemis tried to convince the stubborn speedster.

"I don't see what that would have accomplished. He was already off the team by then. Had we just kept quiet and watched him leave the cave, we would have lost the chance to confront him, letting him get away with the lies."

Wally remained insistent.

Why couldn't Artemis see his point of view? They were stressing out over someone who had not only betrayed their trust but even attacked them. Wally had woken up with his balls in pain. Aden had hit him while he was down, showing the kind of person he actually was.

The Speedster and the archer gave each other ugly looks. Artemis tightened her hands into fists while contemplating if she was fast enough to land a blow on the speedster's face.

"That's enough. Both of you stand down. We are not enemies."

Kaldur came in between them.

"Artemis, I understand where you're coming from. Truly I do. As the leader, I failed all of you by acting brashly and allowing us to invade the privacy of one of our own. That said, I am glad we did."

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Artemis and the others looked at him in surprise. Kaldur's face turned hard.

"Everyone has secrets. But it's not a secret anymore when it can put the rest of the team at risk."

Artemis looked away after Kaldur's statement. His words were like a gut punch to her. Kaldur rounded up to Wally.

"And Wally while you have a point, you're letting your dislike and suspicion get in the way of what actually matters, getting our friend back. We've fought together, laughed together and supported each other. That bond cannot be broken that easily. It's clear what we need to do."

Wally shook his head. He knew Kaldur was right yet...he didn't want to admit that he might have let his personal feelings of envy take control, due to how everything came easily to Aden. Aden didn't have problems with his powers like Wally did, M'gann and Artemis both liked him and the dude seemed to have an answer for everything. Wally wasn't dumb however, he knew that he could make or break the team dynamic. It all depended on what his next words were going to be. He took in a deep breath, wincing at the slight pain in his balls and nodded.

"You're...not wrong Kaldur."

The mood eased up somewhat and everyone calmed down.

"Now what? Are we simply going to stay here until the League decides what to do with us?"

Connor grumbled in annoyance.

Kaldur on the other hand, turned to look at Boy Wonder, who had been suspiciously silent during the whole conversation.

"Robin?"

Boy Wonder looked up from his spare holographic wrist computer, while smirking.

"While you guys have been in the real life equivalent of a sappy soap opera, I've... been busy. Aaaand done."

The projected screen of the wrist computer changed to reveal a clear satellite feed above Happy Harbor.

"I hacked into the Watchtower's satellites, they are much better than the ones currently in the market. Outfitted with cloaking functions and a monitoring system that is leagues beyond anything other than the best tech companies can provide."

The image showed it was Mount Justice, a few minutes before it was destroyed. With an inaudible blast, the whole mountain shook to it's core and was left in shambles and pieces.

The Justice League members were revealed along with Wonder Woman who was thrown towards the rest by a punch from Aden. Connor tightened his fists at the casual display of power. He still couldn't believe how deceptively powerful Aden was. It was leagues above his own to the point where Connor felt undeserving of the S on his chest. He was made from power and for power. So why did he feel so weak...

M'gann placed a hand on his shoulder and looked at him in understanding. Connor looked down, allowing the comfort.

"Thanks."

He softly murmured to which the Martian smiled slightly.

"By studying this, we can see which direction Maelstrom took and then I can use the feed to track his movements by enlarging the scope of the image."

Robin explained to the others.

"Good."

Kaldur said in determination. Although Batman had given them express orders not to go after Aden, that's exactly what they were gonna do. Aden was apart of their team not the Justice League. Hence, he was their responsibility. To get rid of the feeling of regret and guilt burning deep inside Kaldur, he would have to make sure Aden came back. One way or the other, they weren't going to abandon one of their own.

Everyone sucked in a breath when the screen showed the massive explosion that had happened, disintegrating the wrecked pieces of Mount Justice. Just before it could reach Superman and the others, Robin paused the clip.

"There."

He pointed at Aden, magnifying the video to show a clearer image of their wayward teammate.

Aden surveyed the scene of his blooming attack and then suddenly his gaze turned to the sky. Robin's heart nearly jumped up in surprise, thinking that he was looking at them, which would have been impossible. A second later, the action was explained when Aden was teleported out by a brief surge of light, undetectable due to the massive energy wave about to swallow the team's mentors.

"Whoa...You all saw that right? You all saw Aden get beamed up like a scene from Star Trek."

Artemis asked.

"Soooo...what does this mean? Was Aden abducted by aliens or something?"

Wally replied, unsure.

Robin ran a hand through his face.

"I was so sure that this would work...now all we have is a dead end."

The youngest member of the team said, disheartened.

Kaldur closed his eyes and when he opened them, they were calm.

"Do not worry. Just because we hit an obstacle does not mean we give up. We will find a way. A way to bring Aden back."

What Kaldur didn't tell the others was that he was afraid. Afraid of what would happen if the anti-thesis to the Justice League got their hands on someone like Aden. Neptune save them all if it came to that.

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