Superboy had a hard time not thinking about Kaldur recently. The hero turned villian who stormed Mount Justice and captured three of his friends.
They were lucky that Nightwing was able to find a shipment of people who were being taken by Tigress to the Light's mystery partner.
Superboy looked around the ship he had snuck aboard, slightly annoyed at how uncomfortable the suit he had to wear was. It was a suit stolen from Black Manta's troops.
And the real troops were none the wiser to his deception as Superboy helped push the test subject cart through the ship.
"I found Gar, Bart, and Laura. They're unconscious, but alive." Miss. Martian announced through the mind link. "No sign of Jaime or Lagon."
"We've got eyes on Lagoon Boy and Shimmer. Plus four civilians and all the teens we came with." Batgirl told us. "We're unsupervised now, but Blue is still unaccounted for and escape could trigger response. Do we wait?"
"Negative, Alpha Squad." Nightwing answered. "Make your move before you need rescuing too. You too, Miss. M. Get our boys."
Not a moment later, alarms started going off and the other Black Manta troops around Superboy started looking around for the cause.
"Impulse!" Miss. Martian called out.
"Gotta find Blue!" He called back.
Superboy moved away from the other troops, toward Tigress, who stood in the doorway. She held out an arm to stop him.
"Hold your position, trooper." She ordered.
Superboy lunged forward and grabbed her arm, before throwing the criminal to the side. She crashed into a wall farther away and he turned toward the other troops.
They charged, but were no match for the Kryptonian. He quickly knocked them out.
"Docking bay secured." He announced.
"Nice timing, handsome." Bee told him as she flew forward, the test subjects and Lagoon Boy behind her.
Lagoon Boy stopped next to Superboy as they passed. The bioship connected to the alien ship and the doors opened.
"Wraith was on the ship a few hours ago and attempted to help us escape. We were caught. I haven't seen her since." He told him.
Superboy's eyes widened.
"We need to secure the civilians first. We'll look for Wraith and Blue after they're safe in the bioship." Nightwing ordered.
Superboy frowned, but nodded. Batgirl and Robin ran into the room, having taken down the alien soldiers that were chasing them. Miss. Martian and Beastboy weren't back yet.
"Megan, where are you guys?" Superboy asked.
Then the link went down.
He looked at the others. "The link is down, I'm going in."
Before Superboy could get very far, Black Beetle suddenly appeared in the doorway and threw him back.
"Apologies, meat, but no one is going anywhere."
Wraith was this close to just attempting to blow up the entire Reach ship. Yeah, that's how frustrated she was.
Vandal Savage stepped through the doorway, his eyes on the pod that Wraith was currenly trapped in. Clear, tinted red, alien glass was in front of her face and neck, by Wraith's horribly shattered hands were hidden from sight.
Along with the extremely condensed ball of blue energy she had been letting pool out of them for hours.
Wraith glared at Savage as he approached the pod.
"What do you want?" She demanded.
"It isn't what I want that has presented a problem." He told her. "It is what Klarion desires."
"So what? You're going to take me to him? I'll escape." She assured him.
Savage shook his head. "Long ago my son and I ruled over an advanced and thriving civilization. One that Klarion sunk, reducing it to the little city of Atlantis. His magic is strong. That makes him a good ally for the Light."
He looked at her with a frown. "He is the most powerful magic user on this planet, now that you have gotten rid of Dr. Fate for us. The second most powerful would be you, if you were trained to use them by someone less pathetic than Zatara."
Wraith raised an eyebrow. "I remember a story about Zatara kicking your butt once."
"That is irrelevant." Savage replied cooly. "What bothers me is what Klarion would be capable of with an unlimited supply of blue magic and his own abilities with red."
"Lot of destruction?" Wraith guessed. "Surprise, surprise."
"Not the kind of destruction that the Light requires of him." Savage nodded. "So, no, Madison. I have not come to take you to Klarion. I have come to kill you."
Wraith smirked, slightly surprising the immortal villian. "It's a little too late for that."
The pod suddenly exploded outward, the ball of blue energy snapped in half and was thrust into the man's chest, sending him flying backward into the wall.
Wraith stepped out of her pod carefully, making sure not to move her hands. They remained bundled up tightly inside of her cloak. She looked down at Savage, who was unconscious.
"And that's what happens when you give a hero painkillers and not anesthetics." She told him before moving away.
"Blue butterflies also happen." Wraith noted under her breath as she stepped into the hallway.
She looked around, surprised to find that there was nobody in sight. Down the hall, the sound of something crashing caught her attention.
On any other day, Wraith would have ran from danger when she was on alien drugs and working off of a limited magic supply, but today, conflict was a good thing.
It meant the other heroes were here.
She speed walked forward, wincing at each step. The other half of the energy ball she shot at Vandal Savage floated near her head, waiting until she needed it.
It was energy already out of her, so Wraith didn't need to snap for it to act. Just like an already created illusion.
She turned another corner and saw Black Beetle. Immediately, Wraith mentally cursed, about to turn back and find another way out, but then Superboy ran through another doorway.
Black Beetle raised a cannon and shot the boy back, throwing him into another room.
"Apologies, meat, but no one is going anywhere." He told them darkly.
Wraith sneered and moved forward, the blue orb pulsing next to her right before it pushed forward, slamming into the villian and throwing him forward into the room.
She stepped into the doorway and looked at the fallen beetle. He groaned, his armour smoaking. Then Wraight looked at the other heroes.
"Get the civilians into the bioship before he recovers." Wraith ordered, snapping them out of their shock.
Immediately, the other heroes got to work, helping the rest of the people onto the bioship. Wondergirl moved forward, pounding the dazed Black Beetle out of the room.
The mindlink came back on and then Miss. Martian and Garfield walked in.
Wraith made her way inside.
"Wraith, where have you been?" Nightwing asked, looking relieved. "And is that blood yours or someone elses?"
"I'll explain everything when we get back to Mount Justice." Wraith said.
"Mount Justice was blown up." Superboy stated just as Impulse and Blue Beetle ran in with Wondergirl behind them. "I told you that yesterday."
"You've been on contact with her!?" Nightwing demanded as Megan began to pilot the ship out of the water and away from the Reach. "That's a direct violation of the Justice League's orders!"
"I told him to keep it quiet." Wraith interjected. "It's not his fault."
"Are we really arguing in front of the civilians?" Bumblebee chided.
"No. We're not." Wraith said with finality.
Nightwing sighed and shook his head before moving away.
"I'm glad you're back, Wraith!" Beastboy grinned.
She smiled softly.
"Me too, hermana, but uh, could you stop it with the butterflies?" Blue Beetle asked, swatting at one of the blue butterflies flying around the bioship.
"Oh, you see them too?" Wraith raised an eyebrow. "I thought I was hallucinating on all the alien drugs."
"You're on alien drugs!?" Superboy demanded, moving toward her in concern. "What happened?"
"They were being nice." Wraith assured him before pausing. "Or they were tired of me being loud. I don't know."
"I'll have you checked out when we get to Mount Justice." Batgirl assured her.
Wraith rolled her eyes. That would make such a difference.
Her life's ambition to be a superhero was ruined. She couldn't do most of her magic anymore. Her hands were ruined.
Wraith had failed.
After they dropped off the civilians, Wraith found herself sneaking out of the bioship. Both to get away from Nightwing's inevitable interrogation and from Batgirl's medical assistance.
Neither were things she looked forward to.
She'd have to deal with Nightwing's disappointment and Batgirl's pity. Madison missed the old days, back when it was just her and Kaldur against the world. They had their Team, the League, and their families.
But the League was off-world, facing the Team was painful in so many ways, and Madison's family was long gone.
She found herself in the civilian sector, which was closed down for the night. Madison sat down on the couch, wincing as her hands shifted.
"Nightwing is throwing a tantrum looking for you."
Madison looked up in surprise, her eyes landing on Bart Allen, or Impulse. The time traveling speedster that Connor told her about.
"Sorry." She stated dully.
"No, I think it's hilarious. The textbooks always depicted you as some peaceful saint, but you're like a chaotic kid. It's great." He told her, sitting down on the bench.
"I'm a chaotic kid now." Madison smiled humorously, scooting over for him. "Great."
He looked down. "Sorry I didn't get there in time."
"What?"
"Your hands." He pointed at her bloody cloak. "I came back in time for a few reasons. To stop Blue Beetle from turning evil and to stop Black Beetle from shattering all the bones your hands."
"Oh. Thanks?"
Bart sighed. "I'm not doing a very good job am I?"
Madison smiled sadly. "Neither am I. Guess it comes with the gig."