A Dragon's Love (Young Justice)

An Angry Atlantian Is A Scary Atlantian

"Cool, the tiger! I'll be right back!" I hear behind me. Kaldur and I turn to see Captain Marvel taking off. "Captain, wait!" Aqualad calls. "Hey, Speed of Mercury." Aqualad says to himself. He sounds just so done with all of this. I sigh. "He's going after the tiger..." I trail off. I bend down, grunting in pain. "Oh, forgive me, great gods above, for I have broken one of your sacred rules." I mutter. "Esmeralda, are you alright?" Kaldur asks, kneeling down in front of me.

I gasp as the pain worsens slightly, then goes away all together. Looking him in the eyes, I take a deep breath, before moving my cloak behind my shoulders, revealing my torn front. He stares at the damage. "What happened?" He asks. "Is this why I heard you scream?" I nod my head. "The tiger jumped me. It's against my people's beliefs to harm tigers, so I couldn't fight back." I answer. He swiftly clutches onto my shoulders. "But it could have killed you." He states, his aura darkening ever so slightly.

"The tenotes(te-no-tes) is believed to be the child of one of the gods of my people. They are believed to represent strength and courage, and bring hope to those in need. To harm one in my kingdom is punishable by death, if the gods do not punish you first." I state. "I may not be in my kingdom anymore, but I will not disobey my gods."

"Come on, Kaldur. Let's go find him before he winds up in trouble or something." I tell him, grunting as I slowly stand up. He sighs, nodding his head. "Miss Martian... I need a telepathic link-up with the entire team, now." 'Link established.' M'gann replies to Kaldur's orders.

'Should you really still be giving us orders? And should you really be following them?' Artemis comments through the link. I sigh, rolling my eyes as we walk along. 'Listen, please.' Aqualad and I both say at the same time. 'Oh, good, Aqualad and Dracona's voices in my head. I've so missed that.' 'Hey, Kaldur, Dracona; KF and I were attacked by giant vultures. 'Course, since we're moles you probably think we attacked ourselves.' Robin yells through the link. 'If they did, they wouldn't tell you.' Artemis comments. 'Superboy, are you online or just pouting?' Miss M asks. 'Busy. Call back later.' That's his only reply.

'What gets me is how nonchalant they are about not telling us.' Wally says. 'They should be chalant. Way chalant. Extremely chalant.' Kaldur and I walk into a clearing. There's these strange metal poles sticking out of the ground. I go over to inspect one while Kaldur walks to the middle, looking at the ground. 'How can we be a team if they don't trust us with their secrets?' Artemis asks. 'Or if Conner doesn't trust us to take care of ourselves?' Miss M adds.

'Did he really think you or I could have been the mole?' Kid asks. 'We've known each other for years!' Robin exclaims. I roll my eyes. As if that really works.' I think to myself. 'Trust is a two-way street and you know they'd hate it if we kept secrets from them.' 'Not that we'd do that. Never.' Artemis adds to M'gann's comment. I'm so done with them. Now they're being irrational. I look over to Kaldur, his aura is growing darker and darker with each second. It's actually a little frightening truth be told, to see him like this when he's usually always so calm and collected.

'Enough.' Kaldur intervenes the conversation. He grabs one of the metal poles, and rips it out of the ground, sending flying sparks everywhere. I take a step back as he glances at me. I think he's finally had enough. The look on his face is evidence enough, no need to look at his aura.

'Captain Marvel has been captured, and we must act as a team to save him.' 'Hmph. Under your leadership? I don't think-' Kid Flash is quickly cut off by Aqualad. 'This is not up for debate. You all chose me to lead. When the mission is over, if you wish to select a new leader I will happily step down. But until that time, I am in command here.' He throws the metal to the ground and starts marching off. I quickly try to catch up to him, ignoring the pain as best I can. Kaldur notices, though just barely, and slows down just enough for me to match his strides.