Titans #28 will be a tie-in to DC's next major event: DC-KO! The greatest heroes must fight each other in a massive battle royale to accumulate power to stop a seemingly invincible Darkside from dominating the universe! Meanwhile, the Titans must help evacuate Earth while Apokolips attempts to reshape it to its own liking!
The campers were all gathered in the cafeteria awaiting the Justice League to make an announcement. None of them knew what to expect, but figured it had something to do with what happened yesterday at Batman’s station.
The Young Justice group, minus Maria, Dick, and Cal, had found themselves a table closest to the stage. Every other one was taken due to them being the last to get there. They had just come back from visiting Cal to check up on her and weren’t keeping track of time.
The group sat in silence, still processing what had happened and worried about Cal’s state. She said she was fine, but it was pretty obvious that what had happened had shaken her up a bit. Though she would never admit it. It was a bit frustrating, but they couldn’t do much about it.
A screech from the microphone disrupted their train of thought, and when they looked up, they saw Superman, Wonder Woman, and Flash standing on stage.
Superman cleared his throat before speaking, “Good morning, campers. I’m sure you all have an idea as to why you’re here and what happened yesterday. So we would like to get to the heart of the matter. As of now, Camp Justice is officially over, and you will all be sent home today.”
The room burst out in chatter, but now was not the time. The League needed to wrap this up and send them home. They didn’t need another situation happening, especially with this many campers in one room.
Wonder Woman stepped up to the microphone, “Campers, we need you to cooperate with us and listen. This is not a situation to be taken lightly. Things have changed, and we need to get things moving. So please, cease the conversation and listen.”
The chatter stopped almost immediately. Once it was quiet again, Superman continued to speak.
“After we dismiss you, please head back to your cabins and gather your belongings. There will be signs on your cabin doors that have the name of the League member who will take you home. Your guardians have been made aware of the situation and should be ready for your arrival. We would like to apologize for this inconvenience and thank you all for choosing us to train you. We enjoyed our time with you and hope to see you again next summer. Wonder Woman, Flash, anything else to add?”
“Some of you have great potential to become a Justice League member in the near future, so keep up the good work,” Flash said.
“I agree, it was an honor to work with you, and I wish you the best in your endeavors. You may be dismissed.”
The campers left the cafeteria to get ready to leave. Which didn’t take long since they didn’t bring much.
Once they finished, they followed the instructions and rendezvoused in the area where the Justice League told them to go.
Everyone was exchanging hugs and goodbyes with each other as they waited to be let on their assigned aircraft. The Young Justice group, however, knew what awaited them when they got home, so there was no need to exchange goodbyes.
Cal observed from the steps of the Bat Plane as all her friends bid each other a see you later. She watched as Artemis just stared at Wally from afar and boarded Green Arrow's aircraft when he looked in her direction. Her eyes then wandered to an angry-looking Conner and an embarrassed M’gann as they boarded Martian Manhunter’s aircraft in complete silence.
‘Yikes. Wonder what happened to them?’ she thought.
Her eyes then shifted to her cousin and Kaldur. She could tell things were going well by their flirtatious body language.
Her eyes scanned the campers again to look for him. She hasn’t seen him since he visited with the group to the clinic earlier that day, and she needed to say goodbye. Unlike the others, she had no idea when she would ever see him again. I mean, he wasn’t even part of the original Young Justice group, and she didn’t know if he would ever be.
Her hopes gradually started to wither when she couldn’t spot him. That is, until a tall shadow engulfed her.
Cal didn’t even need to turn around to see who it was. She recognized that smell from anywhere. That’s not creepy, right?
“I was wondering where you were. I thought I scared you away or something.” Cal said as she turned to look at him with a smile.
Heron rubbed the back of his neck, “Sorry about that. I had a couple of things to do before leaving.”
“Oh? Like what?” Cal teased.
He brushed of her curiousity, “Nothing too important.”
Cal raised an eyebrow. His secrecy confused her, but she didn’t want to push. “I hope you were able to do everything because it’s just about time for us to go.”
Heron looked over her shoulder to see everyone, including his group, starting to board.
He then turned back to her, “I guess this is goodbye then.”
“I guess it is. Well, until you take me out on that date.”
“Date?”
“Don’t tell me you forgot, pretty boy.”
With all that was going on, Heron hated to admit that he had almost forgotten all about it. “I didn’t! I promise. As a matter of fact, I’m already planning everything out.”
“I love a man who plans ahead.”
Heron blushed, “I hope you equally love what I have planned because it is going to be a date you will never forget.”
“Ooo someone’s confident. Is it really that good?”
“It is. I promise.”
Cal held out her pinky, “Pinky swear?”
Heron hooked his with hers, “Pinky swear.”
He then used that opportunity to gently pull her in for a hug. Being mindful of her injuries.
When they separated, he looked down at her and was tempted to give her a kiss on the cheek. However, he felt someone, no, two someone's staring at him. It didn’t take a genius to know who it was.
He unwrapped his arms and awkwardly waved at her before swiftly walking back to his aircraft and boarded.
Cal ascended the steps to the Bat Plane and gave Bruce and Dick an irritated look.
“Thanks for scaring off a potential future boyfriend.”
Dick grinned, “No problem.”
She gritted her teeth, “If I wasn’t in so much pain right now, I’d deck you.”
“You couldn’t do it even if you tried.”
Before Cal could respond, a hand covered her mouth. “Can you two shut up, please? I would love to be able to take a nap before we get back, and I can’t do that if I hear you two bickering.”
Dick scoffed, “And if we don’t?”
“Then I’ll make sure you never get a good night’s rest. And you know not to take my threats lightly Dickie boy.”
He stared her down before muttering 'whatever', and taking a seat.
“And as for you, Cal. You need to rest too, so stop using your energy to start a fight and take a nap.”
“Yes, Mom. Whatever you say.”
If Cal was being honest, a nap sounded good right now. She needed to regain her energy and let the injuries heal so she could get back on the field as soon as possible.
When everyone was seated, Batman took off and headed back home. Thanks to the lack of turbulence, the ride home was smooth and relaxing. The only thing that could be heard was the engine and Bruce talking lowly to someone.
By the time they landed, it was close to evening. When they exited, they were welcomed by Amaya.
“My babies are finally home!” She said as she ran up to them, pulled all three of them into a hug.
“I’ve missed ya’ll so much.”
“But mom, you just saw us like two weeks ago.”
“Two weeks too long.”
“Auntie A, how did you get here before us?”
She squeezed lightly before releasing them. Leaving them at arm's length.
“I never stayed at the camp. I always left before the end of the day.”
“No wonder he was so miserable,” Dick mumbled.
“Say that again and I’ll show you the very definition of miserable,” Bruce said as he walked off the Bat Plane to greet his wife.
“Hello, my love,” he said as he cupped her face and kissed her.
As he wrapped his arms around her waist, she grabbed the back of his head to deepen the kiss. He sighed in contempt, finally feeling some sort of relief. However, it was interrupted by fake gagging noises by the three teens he had the misfortune of being in front of at this moment.
Fortunately, he didn’t need to tell them anything because Amaya beat him to it. “Oh, hush it now.”
The look combined with her tone stopped them in their tomfoolery, “Yes, ma’am,” they mumbled.
Bruce smirked in satisfaction, but it was soon replaced with a serious look when he looked at the time. Amaya felt her husband stiffen a bit and took note of his facial expression. She knew what that look meant and dismissed the kids, “As a matter of fact, go upstairs and get cleaned up. Alfred should be almost done preparing your food.”
No argument was made as they made their way upstairs. They missed the beloved butler and couldn’t wait to see him.
Once they were out of hearing range, Bruce looked back at Amaya, “He’s going to be here any minute, and I would very much prefer you not to be here.”
“You know I’m not going anywhere. This has to do with my child, and I would be damned if I’m not going to be involved.”
He sighed, “I know, but it's him.”
She cupped his face, “It’ll be fine, my love, I promise.”
Bruce leaned into her touch, wishing the moment could last. The unwanted guest, however, was not on the same page.
“Am I interrupting something?” A rough, condescending voice asked.
Amaya turned around to find a tall, muscular older man with almost shoulder-length white hair and an eye patch, standing at the bottom of the steps to the Batcave.
“Slade,” she breathed out in surprise.
“Hello Amaya, long time no see.”
A smirk graced his face as he looked her up and down with a mischievous glint in his eyes.
Bruce wanted to slap it right off of Slade’s face. He stepped in front of her when he noticed he was checking her out to block his view. Slade’s face showed visible disgust at the change of view.
“Territorial, I see. Scared she's gonna wake up and realize who's the better man, Wayne?”
Bruce started to walk to him, hostility clear as day in his posture. Amaya knew what was coming next and stood between the two, putting her hand on Bruce's chest to halt his movement.
"That's enough, you two. Now Slade, what is it you wanted to discuss?"
Slade straightened up before speaking, “While I was away, I was able to find out about who is after her and potential allies. Though I will admit things are moving a lot quicker than anticipated. I was hoping I was wrong when I warned you, and we’re lucky she was only able to escape with a couple of broken bones. Next, we might not be so lucky. Now I was thinking we could have her-”
Slade was disrupted by the sound of footsteps descending the steps and saw Cal making her way down while looking at her phone. She kept walking till she stopped a few feet away from Slade, completely unaware of her surroundings.
“Hey Mom, have you seen my Shanks t-shirt. I can’t find it for the life of me,” Cal asked.
When she didn’t get a response, she looked up. Irritation filled her as she made eye contact with the one person she did not want to see right now.
Cal narrowed her eyes, “What are you doing here? Don’t you have other lives to ruin?”
Slade looked down at her with a smirk, “Well, hello to you, too... daughter.”
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the DC characters or universes. The only characters and universes I own are the ones I create.
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A/N: Bet you weren't expecting that ending :) And I know Slade had long hair in Young Justice in the beginning but man oh man did I hate it. I love his later season haircut even though I hated that season lol. Camp Justice only has 2 more chapters to go! After that, I'll be releasing the 2012 Avengers Assemble story plot, character description, and all that good stuff!
