Mount Justice

  September 4th, 16:20 EDT

  I woke up on a glowing circular floor with square tiles. Up ahead was a giant funnel thing and a rocky ceiling. A cave. I was in a cave. Why the hell was I in a cave?

  I stood up and muttered, “Must have been one hell of a curse. Am I in a domain or something?”

  I tried to activate Infinity and immediately sensed something wrong. The technique activated in an instant, wrapping around me in an aura of energy that simulated an infinite space, only it was… different. It looked unaccountably different to my Six Eyes. Everything did.

  The pieces fell into place immediately. I was inside an illusion created by a Cursed Technique—but this illusion could not accurately recreate the feel of my cursed energy or technique activation. Of course.

  …How did I get out?

  Was I maybe meant to battle an avatar within this illusory world? Perhaps that was the binding vow that gave this technique enough strength to cross Infinity and affect me?

  “Come out, you bastard! I’ll kill you real quick,” I laughed, “You messed with the wrong guy!”

  “Would you like for me to initiate a training sequence?” I heard a voice come from the funnel above.

  Training sequence? “Just bring down whoever’s responsible for all of this.”

  A hatch in the rocky cave ceiling opened, and from it, descended a… red metallic man, his lower half wreathed in a red tornado. I blinked.

  “Cursed Technique Amplification,” I gestured, “Blue.”

  The technique that came out was also different. And much stronger. I grinned.

  The red man dodged away from the blue, evading it with extreme speed, “Satoru Gojo, what is the meaning of this?” Came a mechanical voice. And it was speaking to me in English. Why English?

  “Let me out of this illusion and I won’t kill you!”

  The Blue technique ripped rocks off the walls and broke bits of the overhead funnel as it chased down the metallic tornado man.

  “Stand down, Satoru Gojo, you are not in control of yourself.” It spoke to me in Japanese this time.

  Normally, I wouldn’t have listened to this command, but… what if my technique was running roughshod in the real world, wrecking everything in the way? I cancelled the technique and looked up at the red man, the… robot.

  “No way!” I laughed, “You’re some kind of superhero robot? What’s your name? Red Robot Tornado?”

  “I am Red Tornado,” he now spoke in perfect Japanese, “What is the last thing you remember?”

  Yaga had sent Suguru and I on our first mission for the school year.

  The giant red metal tube thing lit up on my right with a searing golden glow, and I turned to it in shock, preparing to reactivate my Blue when I saw who stepped through. “Suguru! What the hell’s going on?” I yelled, running over to him.

  He looked as clueless as I did, “I imagine we’re inside some kind of illusion. I’ve figured out some—“

  “Wait,” I said coldly. My Six Eyes didn’t recognize Suguru’s energy at all. I could barely even see his cursed energy. “Tell me something only the real Suguru would know?”

  He looked at me for a moment, and I could swear that I was feeling something disrupting my thoughts. Before I could properly focus on that, Suguru spoke, “I’ve stolen two girls from you, and you’ve taken none. You didn’t like that at all, so we stopped hanging out for a while and you didn’t tell anyone why.”

  “Shut up! Shut up!” I cried. I gritted my teeth and stomped over to him. He faced me confidently while I pressed my forehead against his, “That’s not the reason we stopped hanging that time and you know it. But whatever. Don’t you dare say another word.”

  “Alright,” Suguru said, raising his hands placatingly, “Let’s focus on getting out for now, okay?” Suguru summoned a worm-shaped green cursed spirit, only this one extruded from his hand, instead of being summoned from a black cloud. He looked at it in disgust, “Clearly, whoever made this illusion doesn’t understand our techniques very well.”

  “You’re telling me!” I yelled, laughing, “Even my techniques look different, and—“ I turned around, scanning for Red Tornado. He was gone. “There was a robot here just now.”

  “This cursed spirit is also the type to affect minds,” Suguru said, looking down at his gross hand-worm thing. It didn’t even feel like a cursed spirit. I sensed nothing from it, just like I sensed nothing from him, “I think, if we reinforce our minds, we can break the hold of this technique and get out. This will probably feel weird. But I need to free you first so you can take care of the curse.”

  I nodded, “Go right ahead. Assuming any of this will work.”

  Suguru, hand-worm growing out from his palm, pressed it against my head. Immediately, I felt my thoughts being laid bare.

  Then an all-encompassing command rang through my head.

  “REMEMBER.”

  The beginning of the second year, spring, missions, missions, more missions, Riko Amanai and—

  I threw myself away from ‘Suguru’, pushing him as hard as I could and crashing him into the Zeta Tube, but it was too late. I was remembering everything. The lip-scar bastard, suddenly appearing in Star City, and everything since then.

  Martian Manhunter transformed out of his guise as Suguru, groaning in pain as he slowly knitted his body back together from the damage that had destroyed one of the Zeta Tubes. I looked at him in shock and disgust—my pragmatism and understanding of his actions warring with this feeling of utter violation and soul-crushing disappointment. He had no right, I wanted to think, but… I would have done the same in his position.

  Goddammit.

  My phone rang. I looked down at my pocket and pulled the phone out. Batman was calling. I accepted the call.

  “How much do you remember?” Batman asked.

  “Everything,” I gritted out.

  “Good,” Batman said.

  I almost crushed my phone there and then. I wasn’t in control over myself. My emotions were running too hot, and I feared that I would say something I would regret soon. I had to step back—away from the situation, take a breath. As such, I just hung up. I approached J’onn slowly, “I’m sorry,” I said, because it was the right thing to say, even if I didn’t feel sorry, or anything else but angry. Murderous.

  “I’m just glad no one was hurt,” Manhunter said, and from a quick scan, it looked like he had pieced himself back together.

  “Except you,” I said, and finally I actually felt sorry, because this was M’gann’s family, and he deserved better—despite his trespasses, “I’m sorry.”

  Then I remembered. The others!

  I had maintained a line of spatial transportation—like a wormhole big enough to bring through Megan’s telepathic waves. I was supposed to be the guy on the chair while the rest of the team had disabled their communication devices while on-mission, unwilling to risk their comms being intercepted by the enemy. Batman had instructed them to do so after all.

  “I need to help them,” I said. I pulled my phone out and called Batman.

  “Yes?” Batman said.

  “I need to go to Bialya,” I said. “The others could be in trouble.”

  “I need not remind you how important stealth is for this mission, Infinity,” Batman said, “Work support. Rescue the other Titans in case of anything. But stay. Out. Of the way, while they work. Understood?”

  “Yeah, understood,” he hung up on me at that, “You absolute cockmonger.”

  “Infinity,” Manhunter said, and I turned to him, “Find Miss Martian first. She will be able to telepathically reverse the team’s memory loss. But make sure to filter yourself from telepathic waves at all times. Even M’gann’s. You cannot risk being subverted in the field.”

  I nodded. “I’ll make sure to bring the asshole in while I’m at it.”

  “I’ll remind you that you were given clear orders,” Manhunter said. I could tell he was only saying that so I didn’t get into shit with the Bat.

  “Fine. Fine!” I hissed. I looked down at myself and scowled. I needed my costume.

  000

  There were no Zeta Tubes in Bialya, so I had been forced to Zeta instead to Croatia. I flew the rest of the way to the Middle East, invisibly penetrating Bialya’s airspace and scanning the vast desert for my friends.

  All the while, I considered the sheer task it would be to just support the Titans without also bringing in that telepath or whoever that had done this. Come to think of it, wasn’t this entire nation ruled by a tyrannical despot? What would the League realistically lose in terms of public support to just send in some assassins and take her out of the picture?

  When I thought about it analytically, the answer became rather obvious—that wasn’t a guarantee of freedom for these people, or even victory. A more emphatic victory would take a lot more strategy and thoroughness than a singular death.

  Once the necessity of death came into the equation, things would begin to take on… a more genocidal tint. It was annoying to consider, the way a math problem would be annoying for most. But like math, things wouldn’t be simpler by brute force. You just had to get better, good enough to solve the problem more economically.

  And the problem of Bialya was manifold. A supervillainous queen, a coterie of superpowered enforcers, a military that was supernaturally loyal to the queen—and likely programmed with telepathic suggestions to cause massive harm if their queen ever got hurt or killed—and of course, the boring stuff like economic stability—boring, but that still meant the difference between a healthy nation and one riddled with disease, starvation and other kinds of preventable deaths.

  Though I hated his attitude, Batman was right. There was no way I could appreciably improve this country’s situation the way that I was. The best I could do was to protect my team. Help them complete the mission.

  Finally, I saw Wally and Artemis over a hundred and fifty kilometers away, huddled up underneath some rocks, avoiding a battalion of soldiers with a tank amidst them.

  I teleported in front of them.

  “Ah!” Wally cried, while Artemis drew her bow and fired off an arrow at me. It was stopped by my Infinity. I let it stay there.

  “I don’t have time for this,” I said, just grabbing them and teleporting them away from the violence.

  Once they were out of danger, Wally zipped away and tried to return for a punch, only to get caught in my Infinity. He backed away and tried again, probing at me from several directions.

  I tossed Artemis’ arrow back to her while she eyed me suspiciously—it was her last arrow, anyway.

  “You’ve all lost your memory,” I said, “That’s why you don’t remember anything from the last five months. And why you can stand to be in Kid Flash’s vicinity for any length of time.”

  Wally stopped and frowned at me, “And who are you?”

  “Only the strongest young hero in the modern age,” I said with a grin, lifting up my blindfold, “Alright, here’s the gist. We’re a team of heroes known as the Teen Titans. You’re Artemis Crock, you’re Wally West, I’m Satoru Gojo, and we’re all best buddies.”

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  “We’re heroes?” Artemis asked, frowning sharply, “Why’re we… here? And what did you mean by me being able to stand his presence?”

  “Yeah!” Wally said, looking affronted.

  I debated on the truth, but honestly…

  Yeah, screw the truth.

  “Ah, no, what I meant to say was, you being able to stand him after the fight you just had a moment ago,” I said, “You guys fight a lot, but that’s fine, because your relationship can totally handle it.”

  “Relationship?” Wally asked, shocked.

  “Yeah, relationship,” I said, “You two are dating.”

  “What? Really?” Artemis asked, looking Kid Flash up and down. “I mean… I can see it.”

  Wally blushed. Then he pumped his fist, “Heck yeah! That’s awesome.”

  Artemis chuckled, “You know, I wouldn’t hate getting to know you again all over. And maybe stop fighting all the time,” she grimaced.

  “Yeah, sure, of course!” Wally promised.

  “Hold your horses, love birds,” I said, trying my best to withhold my giggles, “We need to find the others.”

  “We need to find this big, rampaging guy that looks like Superman!” Wally said, eyes wide.

  “Oh crap,” I muttered, looking around and seriously scanning for him. Superboy was busy decimating a tank. I immediately warped close the moment he was about to throw the cannon at a group of soldiers. Instead, I grabbed him by the scruff of his shirt and teleported him to Wally and Artemis. “This guy?”

  “WRAAAAAAAAAAAGH!” Superboy roared, flailing and trying his best to get out of my grip. I held him up, suspending him in a cocoon of Infinity that also prevented sound from escaping.

  “Alright,” I said, nodding at Wally, “Carry your girlfriend. We need to make our way to the others—Kaldur and Robin.”

  “Kaldur and Robin?” Wally asked, looking jazzed, “They’re on our team, too!”

  “Yep,” I said, “But I’m the leader, Kid Flash. And I go by Infinity. I’ll let it slide for now, but usually, on this team, the Teen Titans, we have much higher standards of discipline. You haven’t even saluted me yet. Either of you.”

  Artemis’ eyes widened, and she straightened up, throwing me a salute, “Uh, yes, sir?”

  Kid Flash saw her and copied her form, “Yes, sir!”

  “At ease, Titans,” I said. “I’ll fly above, and you do your best to follow.”

  “I don’t think I could make the journey,” Kid Flash said, “I ran out of food, and… I can barely stand as it is.”

  I threw him a couple of his nutrition bars. He looked at them wide-eyed and started ripping them apart and digging in with superspeed, pocketing the plastic wraps. “I’m all ready, sir!” He said, before zipping up and lifting Artemis off her feet.

  “Whoah!” Artemis grinned at her pretend boyfriend. Wally grinned down at her.

  They were going to kill me for this, for sure.

  Wally refocused on me, “No wonder I’ve been so fast,” he said, “I guess I must have gotten all that training while in the Titans, right?”

  “Yep,” I said with a grin, “You know how to phase, too.”

  “I do?!” he asked, starry-eyed as he looked at me.

  “Yep. But we no longer have any time to waste. Let’s go.”

  I took off in the sky, and pushed my acceleration to its limits as I locked in on a delirious Kaldur, dehydrated from this desert. Kid Flash easily kept pace. I pushed myself even harder, and he only had to run a little bit faster to keep up. I wondered how much faster I would be if given time to accelerate. But then again, he would have that same time as well. In the end, we didn’t fly for nearly long enough that I could approach my top speed.

  I dropped down to the ground, Superboy still encased in Infinity above me, watching as Kaldur inched away on the sand, muttering deliriously in Atlantean.

  I pulled out a bottle of water from my jacket pocket and crouched before him. He didn’t see me as much as he saw the water—and grabbed it out of my hand, draining it in under a second.

  He laid down on his back, gasping.

  Kid Flash put Artemis down and zipped next to Kaldur, “You okay, man?”

  Kaldur kept gasping, “Kid… Flash?” I pulled out a second bottle of water, this one much larger than the first. Kaldur reached for it weakly.

  “You’ll get it once you stand up,” I said, “Move around and get your system to work, okay?”

  Kaldur groaned as he got up from the sand slowly. Once he stood up, I gave him the bottle and steadied him as he took deep, slow gulps from it.

  Then, when he looked up a little higher, his eyes widened. “What is that?!” he asked, taking a step back. I looked over my shoulder. Superboy. Right.

  “That’s our other teammate,” I said, “Turns out, when you erase every bit of memory a person has ever had, they default into rage monster-ness. Fun. Not really, but. Yeah. Give him the story, Kid,” I ordered Wally. He gave me a nod and launched into the explanation.

  “You’re a member of the Teen Titans, Aqualad. Like me. Artemis over there, and Infinity, our leader. That guy up there is Superboy. He’s… supposed to be one of the good guys, but we need to help him out first.”

  Aqualad looked at me with wide eyes, “You’re… our leader. Why are we a team? What happened to Aquaman?”

  “The League gave us this team,” I said, “To train us to one day join their team. This mission encountered a snag in the form of an enemy telepath that managed to override our telepathic link and cause us to forget the last five months or so.”

  “Then… it is September or August?” Kaldur asked.

  “September fourth,” I said. “Are you starting to feel better?”

  Aqualad nodded, “My strength is returning to me.”

  “Good,” I said, “Be on the lookout for Robin. He should be around here, somewhere,” I scanned around. Like always, his lack of powers made him harder to filter out from the general noise, even in this desert. But after a moment of effort, I located him. “That direction,” I pointed, “Avoid the troops at all costs. I’m going to find Miss Martian now.”

  I disappeared.

  And reappeared next to Megan, huddled up underneath a dune, frightened. I concealed Superboy as best as I could. I didn’t want to stress her out any more than she already felt. My heart clenched at the sight. “Hey.”

  Megan looked up in surprise and fear.

  “It’s okay,” I said, “I’m one of the good guys. I’ll explain everything to you, okay?”

  She tried to reach out with her telepathy.

  “No telepathy,” I said, “I’m sorry,” I stepped forward slowly, “But I can’t risk having my memory erased again. The same way it happened to you.”

  Her eyes widened, “Our memories were erased?”

  “Look within yourself, M’gann. Remember.” I was finally right before her. “Remember us.”

  Her eyes softened for a moment. “Us?”

  I opened myself up to her telepathy, “Reach out, but just for a moment. Feel what I feel. And remember. Please. I don’t know what I would do if I lost you.”

  She established the connection and remembered.

  Her eyes widened as she took in all the sealed memories once more, remembering everything, but most importantly, remembering us.

  A moment later, she smiled sadly, “Oh, Sa-chan,” we hugged tightly.

  “I’m glad you’re safe, Green Bean,” I said.

  “What about the others?” she asked, frantically, “What about…” her eyes became neutral and she looked at me in quiet anger and disappointment. “Was that really necessary?”

  “What was?” I asked with a shrug.

  “Lying to Artemis and Wally!” She shouted.

  “I mean,” I sighed, “Yeah.”

  She looked unimpressed.

  “When else was I going to get this chance to screw with them?” I asked.

  “Take us back to the team,” Megan said, “Now.”

  “Okay, okay,” I said, “Wait, first thing first,” I made Superboy visible again and lowered him. He was screaming soundlessly like a lunatic.

  Megan’s eyes widened in shock. “Oh no. He wasn’t even conscious five months ago. He’s completely reverted to an animalistic state.”

  “Can you fix him?” I asked urgently.

  “Yes,” she said, “To an extent. You and I have spent quite some time with him, so that should be enough to partially repair his shattered memories. The rest of the team’s input would be required. But I’ll do my best right now.”

  She floated, her eyes glowing white as she exerted her telepathy. I opened myself up to her, and combined with her own memories, we puzzled back Superboy’s shattered psyche.

  He stopped screaming and instead took on a fearful expression. I lowered him down and released Infinity on him.

  “Connor Kent,” I said to him.

  Superboy groaned, “Still not used to that.”

  “Connor?” Megan asked, “Your name is Connor?”

  “Just trying it out,” Connor muttered, “I’m still missing pieces. I need more.”

  “We will get you more,” Megan said, going up to him and putting a comforting hand on his shoulder. “But I’m glad you’re okay. Connor.”

  Superboy gave a grunt and a nod. He looked down at his bare chest. “What happened to my shirt?”

  “Maybe you felt hot,” I chuckled, “Alright, let’s get this show back on the road,” I said, warping us back into their midst while they were still helping Kaldur along. They hadn’t reached Robin yet, but mostly because he had gotten out of their way, waiting atop a rocky outcropping out of view, watching us.

  I teleported behind him, “We don’t have time for this, Robin.”

  He threw his bird knives at me. They looked dull—were these some nonlethal versions? They were stopped dead by my Infinity either way. “That’s your team down there,” I said, “The Teen Titans. Our team. You’ve lost your memories. Miss Martian will help us get them back because she has telepathy. Do you need anything more? A written report of the last five months you can’t seem to remember?”

  Robin’s mind was split between being ready for anything I could bring to bear, and considering my words. Finally, he just shrugged, “The memory erasure story checks out.”

  I teleported us down the valley. “Good, everyone is here. Time for Miss M’s field brain surgery. She needs all of us together in order for us to compare notes memory-wise.”

  Artemis and Wally held hands. Superboy looked at that with a raised eyebrow. Megan frowned at me.

  “Fine,” she said with a sigh. Her eyes started glowing white as she recreated the telepathic link, restarting the process of piecing our minds back together.

  Even I wasn’t spared from a lot of it. Memories I never even thought I had lost came back to me—in the form of extra training gains, too, learning about my new cursed energy and technique.

  When it was all over, Artemis and Wally stopped holding hands, looking at each other in disgust, and then at me in unbridled anger.

  For this one, I decided to lower Infinity.

  Wally’s punch came in instantly, striking at my stomach. While I staggered back from the blow, Artemis kicked me on the head. Wally struck me again, this time on the liver—OW, and right before I once again raised Infinity, Artemis punched me in the face hard enough to give me a slight nosebleed.

  I stood straight as they flailed against my defenses, “Alright, now that you’ve gotten that out of your systems, let’s go on with the mission.”

  I generated positive energy to heal my body, getting rid of the pain.

  “Three times,” Artemis said, raising three fingers. “I want to punch you in the face as hard as I want three times. Then I’m over it.”

  “After the mission,” I promised.

  “I want five times,” Wally demanded.

  “You get two, because I actually felt your hits.”

  “Then I want five,” Artemis growled, stepping forward.

  “Fine,” I said, “You can have five. Now please, let’s focus on the mission.”

  They seemed satisfied enough with that. They turned around and rejoined the main group. I floated by as I listened to Megan give her report.

  “It’s obvious they have a telepath in their midst,” Megan said.

  “Probably Psimon,” Robin supplied, “A known collaborator of Queen Bee.”

  “The last thing I remember was us finding a tent in the desert, reaching out and finding a… being that was being tortured,” Megan’s expression fell, “And when I reached out to help, there he was… and he told us to forget.”

  “I wish I could do something about that,” I groused, “But Batman was clear I’m only allowed to play support for this. Anyway, the tent’s over there,” I said, pointing into the distance, obstructed by dunes, “There’s a white-skinned guy with an exposed brain—honestly, he looks awesome. Shame he’s a dirtbag. I suggest that you guys go in wearing my Infinity. I can tune it to make sure it only blocks out telepathic waves, which will make communication harder, but nothing a bit of foreplanning won’t fix.” I imbued them all with my cursed technique as I spoke, gesturing with my hands at them.

  “Why can’t you make us invincible?” Kid Flash asked.

  Coating so many people in a generalized Infinity that also needed to last a while away from me sounded like a huge hassle. It might even completely put me out of the game—which was the point, since I was meant to play support and all. Still, it sounded annoying. I’d just keep an eye out in case any of them were about to die. And besides, Batman wouldn’t want me to do so much for them. I could use that as an excuse, actually.

  “Batman would get mad, probably,” I snorted, “Take it up with him, not me. Anyway, your call. Captain,” I gave a nod to Kaldur.

  “I’m afraid,” Kaldur rasped, “I won’t be of much use in this mission.”

  “The Bio-Ship is arriving in under a minute,” Miss Martian said, “You can hang back with Infinity while the rest of us complete the mission.”

  Kaldur nodded.

  “I need more arrows from the Bio-Ship,” Artemis said.

  “I need more food,” Wally groaned, patting his empty stomach.

  “What’s the plan, interim leader?” I asked Megan. Her eyes widened in shock.

  “Wait, no, that’s not—“

  I quickly appeared next to her and put both hands on her shoulder, “Miss Martian, I want you to know, there is no one right now more capable of coordinating this team than you. And if anything happens, I’ll be there, watching from the Bio-Ship, okay? But this is your time. Shine, baby.”

  The Bio-Ship, still cloaked, lowered before us and opened the onboarding ramp. Wally and Artemis helped walk Kaldur into the ship and I gave Megan one quick kiss on the lips.

  “Okay,” Megan said. Then she looked panicked, turning to Superboy and Robin, “If that’s okay with either of you, of course.”

  “Totally aster,” Robin grinned.

  “Aster, I guess,” Superboy shrugged.

  I walked into the Bio-Ship as well, just in time to hear the tail-end of some bickering, “—I knew it was impossible, deep down,” Artemis claimed, looking through the cabinets of the Bio-Ship for extra arrows, “I’d never stick around with someone I’d fight with every now and then. What am I, some vapid bimbo?”

  “Believe me,” Wally groaned, raiding the cabinets for snacks, “I was as shocked as you were. And also, you totally said you could see us happening.”

  “Uhhh—Gojo you jerk!” Artemis shouted when she saw me.

  “After the mission, Arty,” I promised. “We’ll totally look back and laugh at this someday. And also,” I looked at Wally, “I seem to remember you pumping your fist and celebrating at being Artemis’ boyfriend. What was that about?”

  “Not another word,” Wally hissed.

  I raised my hands in surrender, “Of course. Now go out there and save the world, you dynamic duo.”

  “Infinity,” Kaldur groaned, sitting on my chair, “Be quiet. For the love of all that is holy, be quiet. I cannot even feel the rest of my body from this pounding headache.”

  I chuckled, skipping over to float on top of the dashboard. “Sure!”

  Artemis and Wally alighted from the Bio-Ship, having gotten what they came for. After that, the ship just floated up and parked itself in the air.

  “How were you not affected?” Kaldur asked, “I remember that you were a part of our telepathic link, even all the way back in the Cave.”

  “I was,” I grinned, “And now the Cave needs a new Zeta Tube and Mission Room computer.”

  Kaldur sighed. “How did you get out of it?”

  My grin fell and I looked over my shoulder, at the windshield of the Ship showing off a vast desertscape. “A ghost from the past helped me out, I guess. Martian Manhunter shapeshifted into my best friend.” I sighed. “Sucked. I ended up breaking some stuff, but it could have been worse.”

  “How so?”

  I snorted at him. Did he really have to ask?