Bialya
September 4, 12:02 EEST
"Okay. Not so fun anymore." Peter said, hands on his hips as he stopped to take a breather.
After nearly five hours of walking, the dunes still looked exactly the same. If he hadn't been using his GPS to keep track of his path, he could've been convinced he had spent all five hours walking in circles.
He tipped his head back and stared at the sky. "Next time I lose six months of my memories, I'd better wake up on a resort on a beach somewhere."
He scanned the horizon for any movement or sign of life, seeing nothing except a tall sandstone hoodoo. "Even with my superhuman conditioning, I'm getting a little tired of this heat. That hoodoo looks like as good a place as any to take a breather."
Peter headed towards the hoodoo. When he was maybe a hundred yards out, his spider-sense tingled.
He stopped, looking towards the sandstone pillar where the reaction was coming from. The tingle wasn't from danger or someone watching him; it was telling him there was something there, like when he was near a hidden stash.
"How awesome would it be if I foreshadowed my finding a forgotten temple hidden in the sands with my Indiana Jones reference from earlier?" Peter said as he carefully continued toward the pillar.
As he approached the base of the hoodoo, his eyes swept the shadows where the sandstone met the sand, looking for what set off his spider-sense.
"Alright, forgotten temple, crystal skull, the lost ark, dealer's choice." he muttered. "Just don't be snakes. Really not a fan of snakes."
He rounded the pillar and laid eyes on an unconscious Robin. He was sprawled on his side, cape half-buried in sand, mask still on, no visible wounds, no movement.
"That's not treasure."
Peter rushed forward, dropped to one knee beside Robin, brushed sand from his shoulder, and checked his breathing and his heartbeat, both of which were steady.
"Oh, good. Breathing is good." he said, breathing a sigh of relief.
As he was about shake Robin awake, he groaned. Robin stirred, fingers twitching in the sand. His brow furrowed beneath the mask as he sucked in a deep breath. Slowly and unsteadily, he rolled onto his back.
Peter pulled his hand back immediately, giving Robin space.
"Easy." he said, calmly. "Take it slow."
Robin's breathing evened out, and his head snapped sharply toward Peter as his eyes flew open. At the same time, he sprang backwards, creating space from Peter, landing on his feet with hands full of birdarangs.
Though Peter didn't feel any reaction from his spider-sense, he still took a step back and put up his hands. "I'm a friendly. I'm on your side."
"Who are you?" Robin asked as he looked him up and down.
"I'm your ... well, not yours, exactly, since you're from Gotham, not New York, friendly neighborhood Spider-Man." Peter said.
Robin looked Peter up and down. "I've seen Spider-Man on the news. He doesn't look like that."
Peter looked down, realizing he was still in his stealth suit. He pressed the logo, and the suit reverted to a more familiar, friendlier-looking version. "It's not exactly the suit I had, but it's pretty close."
Before Robin could say anything else, Peter's spider-sense went off. As he turned toward the warning, he heard a faint engine noise growing louder by the moment.
"Hide." Peter told Robin.
Despite his caution around Peter, Robin reacted instantly.
Without exchanging another word, they both went for the sandstone pillar. Peter fired a web and yanked himself upward, while Robin scaled the rock face nearly as fast and almost as well as Peter could have without webs. Halfway up, they slipped into a natural crevice, wide and dark enough to conceal them both.
Peter pressed himself flat against the stone and whispered. "Nice climbing, dude. You were like a monkey."
Robin didn't answer. His eyes stayed locked on the direction the sound was coming from. Seconds later, a military truck, identical to the ones Peter had encountered earlier, rolled into view.
They both watched as the truck passed directly beneath the pillar, the soldiers never so much as glancing in their direction.
"Those are Bialyan Republican Army uniforms." Robin said in recognition as the truck continued, its engine noise slowly fading as it disappeared over the dunes.
"Yep. Ran into a few of those earlier. Not great conversationalists." Peter said as he crawled out of the crevice, clinging upside down to the side of the pillar.
"What are they doing here?" Robin asked as he followed, easing out of the crevice after him.
"Well, it'd be pretty weird if they weren't." Peter said. "You know, considering we're in Bialya."
"We're in Bialya?!" Robin's head snapped toward him.
"Oh, right. Memory loss." Peter scratched his head. "I'm not clear on the details, but like you, I woke up here without remembering how I got here. From what I've pieced together, I, and I'm guessing you too, lost about six months' worth of memories."
"Six months?!" Robin's domino mask stretched as his eyes widened beneath it.
He raised his wrist and tapped a few controls. A holographic map flickered to life.
"You're right." Robin said as he looked at the display. "We're in Bialya ... in September."
"Yeah." Peter nodded.
Robin stayed silent for a moment, processing. "Better radio Batman." he said, the holographic display disappearing as his hand went up to his ear.
"Wai-" Peter started, then stopped as Robin went momentarily blank.
"Or not." Robin put his hand down and looked at Peter. "I just got a memory back."
"Let me guess." Peter raised his hands to his head, mimicking Batman's cowl with his fingers. "Maintain radio silence at all times." he said in a rough, low voice.
Peter caught the twitch at the corner of Robin's mouth, like he was fighting a smile. "How'd you know?" Robin asked.
"I got that one too." Peter said.
"Alright, tell me everything you've remembered." Robin asked, serious again.
"Besides the radio silence thing, not much." Peter admitted. "The only other memory I've got so far is of you, me, a Martian girl, someone named Superboy, Kid Flash, and a green-clad girl archer. We were in a kitchen, eating cookies, and I heard Batman call us a team."
"So we're part of a team?" Robin said, dumbfounded.
"Looks like it." Peter said.
"Kid Flash, I know, but the Martian girl, Superboy, and a girl archer?" Robin sounded more confused than before. "What happened in six months?"
"A lot apparently." Peter mumbled.
"So our team works for Batman, and we're in Bialya for ... some reason." Robin said. "And if we are a team on a mission, that means the others should also be somewhere here ... without their memories."
"Yeah, and with the size of this desert, it's going to be like finding a needle in a haystack." Peter added. "I've already walked for a couple of hours, and all I have to show for it is sand in places you really don't want sand. And you."
"Noted." Robin gave him an odd look before raising his wrist again, the holographic display flickering back to life. "I'll check my logs. There might be some clues about our mission here."
"Go for it." Peter let go of the pillar and dropped into a seated position, resting his back against the stone. "I'm closing my eyes for a bit, so let m-"
"Got something!"
Peter stood up and sighed. "Of course, you did." he said as he looked over at the map.
"It's a GPS marker." Robin pointed at a location on the map.
"Of what?"
"No clue." Robin said. "According to the logs, I placed it not long after we landed."
"Okay." Peter nodded. "Then odds are that's why we're here."
"Probably, but it's a long way to go for a hunch."
"Agreed, but it's all we have to go on for right now." Peter stretched his back. "You know, it's too bad you don't have GPS markers on the others. Would make this a lot easier."
"That's ..." Robin paused, then tapped at the display. Four red dots blinked into existence. "... not a bad idea."
" ... you have GPS trackers on the others." Peter said.
"Learned from the best." Robin smirked at him.
'That makes sense.' Peter thought, remembering how paranoid Batman was always portrayed in his past life. 'Better check my suit for any later.'
Robin turned back to the map. "It looks like the Martian girl is named Miss Martian."
"Very on the nose." Peter said.
Robin took a glance over his shoulder at Peter, looking him up and down.
"Touché." Peter shrugged.
"Judging by how fast she's moving, it looks like she's flying and in our direction, too, so we could meet up with her first." Robin continued. "Kid Flash and Artemis, obviously the archer, are right next to each other. They're in the opposite direction from Miss Martian, and they're not moving. Wait, Aqualad?!"
"Aqualad?" Peter echoed. "Didn't see him in my memories."
Robin zoomed the map. "He's stationary; that's not good. We'll need to get to Aqualad first." Robin said, standing up. "He's Atlantean, which means he can't last long in this environment."
Hearing that, Peter got serious. "How far is he?"
"About as far as the GPS marker. He's not far from it."
Looking at the map, Peter gauged the distance between their position and Aqualad's blinking dot. "It's far, but if I run full speed, non-stop, I can get there in one and a half, maybe two hours."
Robin looked at Peter, impressed. "What's your top speed?"
"On flat ground? Around a hundred miles per hour." Peter said. "On sand and dunes … hard to say."
"Wow." Robin said. The awe lasted about half a second before his expression hardened again. "According to my logs, I placed the GPS marker down around eleven p.m. local time. If whatever happened happened shortly after that, then Aqualad's been out for over twelve hours."
"I'm guessing that's when it starts to get bad?" Peter asked.
"Yeah." Robin said. "His condition will definitely worsen in the time it takes you to reach him. Probably not past the point of no return, but even then, that's only if he's in tip-top shape."
"And since we don't have our memories, we don't know if he is." Peter said.
"No, we don't."
For a moment, neither of them spoke; the only sound was the wind blowing across the dunes.
"You know." Peter broke the silence. "Ignoring the obviously bad parts about this whole situation, it's kind of cool. It's sort of like we time-traveled, don't you think?"
Robin looked at him, expression serious for a long beat. Then, a small smile broke through. "Totally."
Peter smiled as he glanced between the blinking dots on the display and the steadily approaching marker labeled Miss Martian. "You said Miss Martian was flying in our direction, right?"
"Yeah."
Peter's eyes narrowed behind the lenses as an idea clicked into place. "So let's meet up with her first."
Robin opened his mouth to rebut, but quickly closed it. "She can fly us to Aqualad." he realized.
"Welcome to my train of thought." Peter said. "Thought it was about to leave the station without you."
Robin didn't respond; his fingers flew over the holographic display as the map zoomed out and he began calculating a route.
"Okay." he said. "If she keeps up her speed and doesn't change direction, she'll be here in twenty minutes."
Peter nodded. "We should probably cover some of that distance ourselves and try to grab her attention. I'd hate for us to wait, and she changes direction midway through."
"Agreed." Robin turned off the holographic display. "She's coming in from the southwest, so let's head that way."
"Lead the way, Boy Wonder."
Robin front-flipped off the pillar, hitting the sand in a controlled roll and springing to his feet. Peter followed, casually stepping off the pillar and landing on the ground, not even bending his knees.
"Show off." Robin said.
"Little bit." Peter smiled.
They set off at a steady jog, angling southwest across the dunes. Robin kept a steady pace, his head moving everywhich way like an owl as he scanned for anything of note. Seeing that, Peter held back his laughter and kept up with him.
After a few minutes of silence, Robin spoke up. "So, what do you think happened?"
"To our memories, you mean?" Peter asked. At Robin's nod, he continued. "Well, during my five-hour stretch of walking, I had a lot of time to think about just that, and the only theory that really makes sense is ... a telepath."
Robin looked over at him. "You don't sound thrilled about that."
He wasn't. Of all the powersets out there, telepaths sat uncomfortably close to the top of his personal nightmare list, right under reality warpers. Part of it was the obvious fear: someone poking around in his head, learning who he really was, and using that to hurt his family.
But just as bad as that was the fact that he had memories of another life.
Peter had no idea what would happen if a telepath dug deep enough to find those. Would they see everything? Would it expose things that simply weren't supposed to exist in this universe? Would it cause a reality-ending crisis that rebooted the entire multiverse, leading to a new reality that got rebooted again after a few years?
'I've been worrying about this for a long time, hoping I'd find some kind of workaround before I ever ran into a telepath. Too little too late.' Peter thought. 'If Batman's actually in charge of our supposed team, I'd better ask Batman for some pointers. I bet he has some weird technique he picked up from a blind monk or something.'
"Not really." Peter exhaled. "I have too many inventions running around in my head. What if that telepath steals them and creates them before I can? I'd have to sue them, and that'll be a hard story to sell to any jury."
Robin shot him a look that said he knew Peter was joking to avoid answering the question. But he didn't press it, and Peter appreciated that.
They kept moving, and a minute later, Peter's spider-sense gave a soft buzz. "Looks like we won't need to draw her attention." he said, pointing up.
Robin followed his finger just in time to see a figure quickly descending from the sky. She slowed as she approached, landing gently on the sand. Her wide eyes flickered between them, a big smile plastered on her relieved face.
"Robin! Spider-Man!" she said, relief clear in her voice. "Oh, I'm so happy I found you guys!"
"You remember us?" Robin asked. "Does that mean you have your memories back?"
"I managed to remember some stuff, but not all of it." She shook her head, then paused as realization hit. "Wait, you know who I am?"
"Sort of." Peter said. "I got a memory of us hanging out, eating cookies, but I didn't know who you were until I met up with Robin. With the help of his paranoid tendencies, we were able to figure out your name."
"Paranoid tendencies?" she asked, looking over at Robin, confused.
"GPS trackers." Robin explained. "Turns out future me has some on everyone. That's how we knew your name was Miss Martian."
"And aside from Batman telling us to maintain radio silence, that's pretty much all we've got." Peter said. "But we can continue comparing notes after we save Aqualad."
"Aqualad!" Miss Martian said, eyes widening. "He's an Atlantean! He can't last out here!"
"Already on the same page." Peter said. "That's why we were trying to meet up with you. Can you fly with both of us?"
"I can carry both of you. It'll slow me down a little, but not enough to matter." she said without hesitation.
"Good. Let's not waste anymore time." Robin said.
"Hold still." she said.
Miss Martian raised her hands, pointing them at Peter and Robin. The instant she did, Peter's spider-sense tingled. He was going to ignore it, realizing it was reacting to her telekinesis, but then the sensation went away.
Miss Martian paused, lowered her hands, and then looked at Peter. "That same thing happened before. I remember you explaining it to us, calling it your ... spider-sense."
Peter's lenses went wide as Robin glanced at him, confused. "Spider-sense?"
'Damn it, future me. I know telepaths can feel it, but I thought we agreed not to tell anyone about the spider-sense. First my name, and now this. That better be it, dude.' he thought, internally shaking his head as he calmed down. 'Okay, if I told them that means I trust them ... or at least, that's what I hope it means.'
Peter let out the breath he didn't realize he was holding. "It's ... an ability I have. I can explain more once we're safely out of enemy territory. Right now, we have bigger things to worry about."
Robin looked at him for a moment longer and then nodded. "Fair enough."
Miss Martian nodded and raised her hands again. Peter felt his spider-sense tingle, then felt an invisible force wrap around him with a firm but careful grip. When he shifted, the pressure adjusted instantly, moving with him instead of against him.
"Kind of feels like Jell-O." Peter said.
"I'm keeping it somewhat malleable so it's more comfortable." explained Miss Martian. "But I can make it firmer if you want."
"No, I'm good. Actually feels nice." Peter admitted.
"Guys, there's a guy with gills we need to save, remember?" Robin cut in.
"Right. Sorry." Peter put his arms out in front of him. "Up, up, and away!"
Miss Martian smiled and lifted them off the ground. The dunes fell away beneath them as they flew into the air and took off towards Aqualad's marker.
Peter whooped quietly as the wind rushed past him. "Ugh, I wish I could fly."
"Are there any spiders that can fly?" Miss Martian asked.
"Not really. I mean, some spiders can do something called ballooning, which is sort of like flying. They release silk that interacts with air currents and even the Earth's atmospheric electric field, which helps generate lift." Peter explained. "It works because they're tiny and basically weigh nothing. I've done the math before, and unless there are extreme weather conditions, it wouldn't work for me. Best I can do is glide with the web wings under my arms."
Robin looked over at him, smiling. "You are such a nerd."
"Thanks." Peter flipped him off, and the three laughed.
Robin turned serious again, pulling up the holographic map. "Keep flying in this direction. If we keep up this speed, we should reach Aqualad in about twenty minutes."
Miss Martian nodded. "I can push harder if I need to. Just tell me."
"I'm worried about Aqualad, but we still don't know what happened to us. Better to conserve your strength in case something goes sideways." Robin said.
"How are the others doing?" Miss Martian asked.
"Let me check." Robin fiddled with the map, checking the other dots. "KF's marker moved a bit, but Artemis' hasn't. He might be awake."
"What about Superboy?" she asked.
Peter raised an eyebrow at the note of concern in her voice. It sounded different than when she'd asked about the others. 'Ah. Young love.' he thought.
That thought unbiddenly brought up his most recent memory of Zatanna, looking at him in that way she did, her eyelashes fluttering, a flirty smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. It was the same smile that had made his thoughts become a tangled mess.
Peter shook his head, forcing his thoughts back to the desert and the mission. 'Not now, brain.'
"I don't have Superboy on here." Robin said, eyebrows furrowed.
"You don't?" she asked, worry creeping into her tone.
"No, but that's not necessarily a bad sign." Robin reassured her. "He might've just lost his tracker."
" ... you're right. I'm sure he's fine." she said, forcing a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.
"Do you have me on there?" Peter asked.
"I do." Robin turned on his dot on the map.
"Hmm." Peter said. 'If I had a tracker I didn't want, my spider-sense would've gone off. Looks like I willingly agreed to it then. It seems like my spider-sense remembers I agreed to the tracker. But it still reacted to the telekinesis earlier. Interesting.'
The trio continued over the dunes; Miss Martian focused on flying while Peter and Robin acted as scouts, scanning for any sign of trouble. After a few minutes, they had traveled about halfway to Aqualad's marker.
Peter scanned the desert, using his telescopic vision to help in his scouting. He saw nothing except the occasional skittering of a desert animal.
He was about to return his vision to normal when his spider-sense tingled. He turned just in time to see a distant flash, followed by a plume of sand and smoke erupting into the air. A few seconds later, the explosion's muted boom finally reached his ears.
Before he could even bring it up, Miss Martian spoke. "What set off your spider-sense?" she asked, having felt it.
"An explosion." Peter said, pointing. "From that way."
"Explosion?!" Robin said, eyes wide as he pulled up the map. "That's where KF and Artemis are! And it looks like they're moving fast!"
As Robin spoke, Peter spotted more distant flashes on the horizon, plumes of sand and smoke appearing one after another.
"Those explosions are too big to be from grenades or RPGs." Peter said.
"Probably tanks." Robin said gravely.
"Tanks?" Miss Maritan repeated, her voice dripping with worry as she turned to Robin. "What should we do?"
Peter spoke before Robin could. "We go for Kid Flash and Artemis."
Robin looked at him, then nodded, agreement clear on his face. "I agree with Spider-Man. Aqualad's in trouble, and as bad as it may sound, he can hold out for a while longer before it gets really dangerous. KF and Artemis are in immediate danger, so we go for them."
Miss Martian cast one last worried glance in Aqualad's direction before steeling herself and changing course, the wind picking up as she flew faster than before.
Peter watched the dunes blur beneath them as they flew, then looked over at Robin. His eyes were locked on the holographic map, no doubt already building a plan and running through contingencies.
Without his memories, Peter didn't know the dynamic of the team, but from what he knew of Robin from his past life, he was almost certainly the leader. Knowing that, it made Peter feel a little bad about jumping in so quickly earlier. He hadn't meant to step on toes; he'd just heard two people, two teammates, were in trouble and reacted as he always did in those circumstances.
It wasn't because he wanted to be the leader either. He wasn't the type of guy to lead; he'd do it if he had to, but only reluctantly. He was perfectly happy being the guy who gave his two cents, cracked a few jokes, and executed the plan when it mattered.
Miss Martian's voice snapped him out of his thoughts. "There!"
Peter looked ahead and saw that the terrain was shifting from sandy dunes to sandstone ravines. Even without using his telescopic vision, he could see the trouble ahead.
Kid Flash was a black blur, racing toward them at superspeed. Artemis was cradled in his arms, her head peeking over his shoulder, arms wrapped tightly around his neck while also clutching her bow.
Trailing farther behind them were three tanks, their turrets trained directly on the pair.
Before Peter could say anything, one of the tanks fired. The shell slammed into the ravine wall just behind Kid Flash, the explosion blasting stone and sand in every direction. Kid Flash stumbled half a step, then caught himself and kept running.
"Spider-Man, take the one on the right. Miss Martian, take the middle. I'll take the left." Robin said. "Focus on the soldiers inside, not the tank."
"Aye aye, captain." Peter said. "Miss Martian, if you'd be so kind as to toss me at the tank."
"Uh, okay." she said, hesitating for a split second before using her telekinesis to hurl Peter forward.
Peter became a red-and-blue missile.
"Hi. Bye." he said as he sailed above Kid Flash's head.
As he neared the tank, he opened his web-wings to bleed off some momentum, landing lightly on the barrel.
"Don't you hate stuffy noses?" he muttered, plunging his hand into the barrel and clogging it with webbing.
A Bialyan soldier popped out of the gunner hatch, shouting in Bialyan as he aimed at Peter. Peter flipped, dodging the bullets, and landed behind the soldier, punching and knocking him out cold.
He moved to the main hatch and yanked it off, ducking as gunfire erupted from within.
"Relax, I'm your pizza delivery guy. By the way, how do you say 'Did someone order a pizza?' in Bialyan?" he said.
When the gunfire stopped, he dropped into the hatch, sprayed the remaining soldiers and interior with webbing, and then pulled some levers until the tank came to a stop before leaping out.
To his left, Miss Martian had telekinetically yanked the soldiers from their tank, slamming them into one another before tossing them to the ground and then pulling the tracks off the tank. Robin threw something into the third tank's barrel, causing gray gas to pour out from it. He followed that up with a birdarang to the tracks, blowing them up and bringing the tank to a halt. A few seconds later, the hatch burst open, and coughing soldiers stumbled out only to collapse unconscious moments later.
Kid Flash skidded to a halt in front of them, setting Artemis down gently.
"Rob! Man, it's good to see a familiar face." Kid Flash smiled as he dapped up Robin.
"Hey, KF. Memory loss?" Robin smiled back.
"You too?" Kid Flash said, surprised.
"Welcome to the club." Robin said. "And that's not even the craziest part."
"You mean waking up in the middle of the desert without knowing how we got here and almost getting blown up by tanks isn't the crazy part?" Artemis said.
"Hey, at least we didn't wake up in Jersey." Peter chimed in, fake shivering. "Talk about a nightmare."
"Dude, is that the spider guy from New York?" Kid Flash said to Robin. "And is that J'onn? The new bod doesn't really scream Manhunter."
"I'm Miss Martian." she said, smiling. "We're teammates. Friends. I made you cookies."
"You know her?" Artemis accusatorily asked Kid Flash, causing Peter to raise an eyebrow.
"No, I swear, beautiful. Never seen her before in my life." Kid Flash quickly came to his defense. "At least, not that I remember."
"Right. Memory loss." Artemis said with frustration. "Okay, does anyone know what happened? Or why we're here?"
Before anyone could respond to Artemis, Peter's spider-sense flared harder than it ever had, to the point of pain. Out of the corner of his eye[1], he caught sight of a shirtless Superboy hurtling down from the sky, on course to slam into the ground right between them.
Peter let his spider-sense guide his body, and he moved. He leapt backward, firing his right web-shooter to impact-web Artemis, Kid Flash, and Robin on the shoulder, shoving them clear of the danger zone, while his left web-shooter snagged Miss Martian and yanked her with him.
With a loud boom that echoed through the ravine, Superboy hit the ground like a meteor, sand and stone exploding outward. Even mid-air, Peter could feel the force with which Superboy landed.
Everyone stared as the sand cleared, revealing a shirtless Superboy with a scowl.
"Superb-" Miss Martian happily said, stepping forward only for Peter to use his web to yank her out of the way just as Superboy charged at her.
"Don't think he's in the mood for a touching reunion." Peter said as Superboy slammed into the ravine wall before turning back around.
"Who is that?!" Kid Flash shouted.
"Not the best time for explanations." Peter said, eyes glued on Superboy.
"We got company!" shouted Robin.
Peter glanced back to see two tanks barreling in from the direction they'd come. "Guys, I don't think we ordered enough food for everyone." he said, jumping to dodge a lunge from Superboy.
"Spi-" Robin began saying.
"I'll keep him busy. You guys deal with the tanks." Peter said. A new tingle from his spider-sense prompted him to look up, where he could see two drones similar to the ones he had destroyed. "And the drones."
'If this is the Superboy I've heard of in passing from comics, then even with my full strength, I won't be able to do anything.' Peter thought. 'Guess I'll just have to keep him busy and hope he doesn't kill me.'
Despite that, he couldn't stop a smile from creeping onto his face.
Superboy lunged at him again. He jumped to dodge, but unlike before, Superboy reacted, grabbing his leg mid-air and throwing him at the ravine. He landed with a heavy thud against the wall, unable to catch his breath before he had to roll out of the way to dodge Superboy's punch.
Peter looked at the crack running up the ravine wall and couldn't help but break into a sweat, his smile fading. 'Hate that that guy from the Thanksgiving parade was right.'
As Peter kept Superboy occupied, the rest of the team took on the remaining threats.
Miss Martian flew up to the sky, drawing the drones' attention to keep them from firing at those on the ground before slamming them together with her telekinesis, easily destroying them.
Meanwhile, Artemis fired two precise arrows into both tank barrels. Moments later, green foam began oozing from the barrel and other openings. The soldiers inside scrambled for the hatch, only to run straight into Kid Flash and Robin, who swiftly knocked them out on their respective tanks.
Peter dodged another lunge from Superboy, then fired webbing to cocoon him completely. With the momentum from the lunge, the cocooned Superboy fell face-first to the ground.
Peter let out a breath of relief. "Nice work, everyone." he said. "Turned out alright, I think."
With a shout, Superboy freed himself from the cocoon.
"That's my fault for thinking it was going to be that easy." Peter sighed.
Another spike from his spider-sense made him turn just in time to see two transport trucks come to a halt near the tanks, at least a dozen soldiers pouring out. But the one who caught his attention wasn't any of them; it was the figure hanging back, wearing a gray trench coat with the hood pulled low.
Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at the new arrivals, even the rampaging Superboy.
"Is anyone else hearing boss music?" Peter said.
The hooded figure stepped forward, the soldiers making way for him.
"Well, isn't this a surprise?" said the figure. "I have to thank you all for making this so much easier on us."
"Who are you?" Robin asked.
The man chuckled as he reached up and pushed his hood back, revealing pale, almost white skin, his face marked by three red lines carved into each cheek. A clear dome encased his exposed brain, thin strips of skin stretched over the front of it.
"My name is Psimon." he said.
"Ugh." Peter said, pretending to be nauseated. "Do everyone a favor and put your hood back on."
"I feel like my eyeballs need a shower." Kid Flash said.
The man's smile didn't waver. "Children and their feeble attempts at humor."
"Not trying to be funny." Peter put his hand over his mouth. "Please, put your hood back on."
"It seems I should've done more than just block six months' worth of memories." Psimon said, appearing to be calm, but by the twitch of his eye, it was clear Peter's comments had gotten to him a little.
"It was you!" Miss Martian said.
"Oh, yes, it was me. It was child's play, really. Like taking candy from a baby." Psimon put his hands to his head. "In fact, I think I'll do it again. Psimon says, Forget!"
Peter felt something worm its way into his mind before he could react. Psimon's eyes flashed in his mind before a white light flooded his thoughts, beginning to swallow everything else.
He cried out along with the rest of the team, clutching his head as the light consumed his mind, impossible to fight, impossible to think.
Before whatever Psimon was doing could finish, Miss Martian's voice was heard.
"I won't let you hurt my friends again!" she shouted, her eyes glowing green.
The white light consuming his mind vanished as quickly as it came.
Peter sucked in a sharp breath and dropped to one knee, hand pressed against his forehead as he breathed hard. Around him, the others all reacted similarly.
He looked up to see what was going on and saw Miss Martian hovering a few inches off the ground, eyes glowing green as she and Psimon stared at each other.
It looked like nothing was happening, but Peter could feel the same telekinetic energy Miss Martian had used to hold him while flying, now all around him. Small disturbances rippled through the sand, the air, and the loose stone nearby. It was obvious they were engaged in a silent, telepathic battle.
Before he could attack the defenseless Psimon, a screaming Superboy beat him to the punch. He leapt forward, fist outstretched, only to slam into an invisible barrier that sent him flying backward. Superboy landed at Miss Martian's feet, and the moment his back touched her, he froze, his face becoming blank and expressionless.
"Not so defenseless." Peter said.
"What was that?" Kid Flash said, clutching his head.
"A telepath doing telepath things." Peter said.
"So he's the reason we lost our memories." Artemis said, giving Psimon the stink eye.
"Miss M's keeping him busy right now; we have other things to worry about." Robin said.
Peter's gaze turned to the soldiers who seemed to have realized Psimon wasn't going to do all their work for them.
Without saying anything else, everyone hopped into action. Robin threw a smoke bomb at the soldiers, creating confusion and providing cover for Kid Flash to swoop in with his superspeed and take their weapons.
"I'll hold those. Thanks." Kid Flash said as he zoomed between the soldiers.
Peter had jumped into the fray just as the smoke bomb had gone off, knocking soldiers out with quick punches and kicks. At the same time, he also webbed some of the soldiers' feet to the ground, allowing Artemis' arrows and Robin's birdarangs to hit more easily.
In less than half a minute, all the soldiers were either unconscious, tied up, or webbed up.
"Teamwork makes the dream work." Peter high-fived Kid Flash.
"Save the celebrating for later, dweebs." Artemis said.
"Hurtful." Peter muttered, turning back to the telepathic battle.
The energy causing small disturbances had intensified, picking up sand and debris into a small tornado around the two telepaths and Superboy.
"Should we do something?" Kid Flash asked, almost having to yell over the wind.
"I don't think we can." Robin answered.
The four watched with bated breath as the tornado intensified, widening and climbing higher until it finally erupted, hurling wind and sand in every direction.
As the dust settled, he could see Superboy kneeling on the ground holding a tired Miss Martian in his arms. She looked up at him, and he looked down at her, and they smiled.
'Are they going to?' Peter thought, clearly able to tell they were moments away from going in for the kiss.
"Where's the conehead?" Kid Flash's question startled the two, killing any romantic vibes they had.
Superboy reluctantly tore his eyes away from Miss Martian. "He got picked up by the tornado and thrown pretty far."
"Too bad. Had a good quip for him too." Peter scratched his chin.
"What was it?" Robin asked.
"Well, since he said 'Psimon says,' I was going to say, 'Spider-Man says, put on a hat.'" Peter said. "Pretty good, right?"
Robin looked at Peter for a second before turning to Superboy. "You calmed down."
"M'gann restored my memories." Superboy smiled at her again.
"No fair! I want in on that, too!" Kid Flash said.
"Not before me." Artemis said.
"I can do everyone at once." With Superboy's help, Miss Martian stood, still a little unsteady on her feet.
"Nice. Let's get this show on the road." Kid Flash clapped in anticipation.
"I want my memories back as much as you do, but we still have things to do." Peter said. "And we should probably do them as fast as possible before the Bialyan military decides to send even more tanks and soldiers and drones and telepaths."
"Spider-Man's right." Robin said. "Aqualad's still in danger, and we haven't completed our mission."
"It's okay. It should only take a few seconds." Miss Martian reassured them. "But you'll have to open your minds to mine."
"You wanna paw through our private thoughts?" Artemis asked, on guard.
"I have no wish to intrude, but it's the only way." Miss Martian said.
Hearing that, Peter was hesitant. He didn't know how telepathy worked, but he assumed that whatever Psimon did to them was surface-level at best, and what Miss Martian would have to do to restore their memories would be a much deeper dive into their minds. Which meant she would, as Artemis put it, paw through their private thoughts.
He trusted Miss Martian to a certain extent, but that was a whole other level that he wasn't comfortable with.
"You need to hack our minds to fix what happened to us. Go." Robin said without hesitation, surprising Peter.
"My brain's all yours. Try not to let its brilliance overwhelm you." Kid Flash said.
"Or underwhelm you. Hey, why isn't anyone ever just whelmed?" Robin added.
Artemis still didn't look convinced. Kid Flash grabbed her hand and smiled reassuringly at her. "Last six months only. And only what you need." she said.
They all turned to look at Peter, the only holdout.
It was frustrating because he knew that the only way for things to return to normal was for Miss Martian to restore his memories. But that didn't make it any easier.
He sighed in resignation, closing his eyes. "What she said."
Miss Martian nodded reassuringly. Closing her eyes, she raised her hands. Just like Psimon's attack earlier, Peter felt an energy slip into his mind, but unlike before, it was cool and gentle.
Then everything came flooding back to him.
Six months of blocked memories flooded him all at once: school, summer vacation, late-night patrols, discovering his new powers, Clayface, meeting the Team and Batman, telling his family his secret, and his first time in the Cave.
Then came the more recent memories about the mission.
Batman stood before a holographic map of Bialya, explaining that the Watchtower had detected an immense, non-terrestrial power surge in the region. Their objective was to find out what had happened.
Once in Bialya, while the team was setting up their equipment, Miss Martian went to scout a nearby camp. That was where Psimon discovered her and, through their telepathic link used for untraceable communication, wiped out all of their memories.
Peter opened his eyes, feeling like himself again. He saw Artemis and Kid Flash quickly let go of each other's hands, their annoyance with each other remembered.
He looked down at his suit and realized it wasn't a poor man's version of Unstable Molecules he had created. It was stealth tech, a project spearheaded by Batman and S.T.A.R. Labs. He remembered how excited he'd been when he first learned about it, and how, after spending time analyzing the material, he'd realized it was an excellent jumping-off point for his own research into true Unstable Molecules.
He also thought back to his earlier regret about not telling his family he was Spider-Man and now felt a renewed sense of relief that he had. Even the confusion/fear he had felt at the others knowing his identity was gone.
He looked over at M'gann and studied her for a moment. Her face gave nothing away, no hint that she had seen what he hadn't wanted anyone to see. She simply looked content that everyone was back to normal, and that made him relieved.
"Good to be back." Peter said, looking at the others. "Thanks, M'gann."
"No need to thank me. It was my fault we got into this mess to begin with." she said.
"I don't know." Peter said, stretching. "I think we would've run into that brain in a jar no matter what."
"Why do you say that?" Artemis asked.
"Something about my luck." Peter said with a smile.
"Now that we have our memories, can we speed things along?" Kid Flash said. "I'm dying of hunger, and I've got sand everywhere. And I do mean everywhere."
"Barf." Artemis muttered.
"Ditto." Peter said. "On the sand and hungry part. Actually, the barf part too."
"Let's go." Robin said, shaking his head but smiling.
"Oh! Do the thing!" Peter excitedly said.
"What thi-? That thing you said last time about our team name?" Robin said.
"Yeah, do it." Peter nodded.
"I'm not the leader. Aqualad's supposed to do it." Robin said.
"I know, but he's not here right now, and I feel like it just sounds right coming from you."
"Come on, Rob. Do it." Kid Flash said.
"Fine." Robin said reluctantly before clearing his throat. "Teen Titans, go!"
"Chills." Peter said. "Literal chills."
From there, the Titans wasted no time. They took off toward Aqualad, avoiding any patrols, and reached him quickly. He was unconscious and needed immediate rehydration, but wasn't in critical danger.
Afterward, the team moved to the mission site to collect the equipment they had used for the readings. As they worked, a metallic sphere approximately 5 feet in diameter with a circular feature containing a pattern of lines and dots rolled in seemingly out of nowhere, startling the Titans.
Superboy stopped them before they could act and explained that, while mindlessly rampaging, he had leapt into a Bialyan camp where scientists were experimenting on the sphere and had inadvertently saved it. The sphere beeped in response, almost as if it could understand him. M'gann then confirmed that, before Psimon wiped their memories, she had sensed that the sphere was alive and in pain.
Everyone was stunned by the revelation that the metallic sphere was sentient. But they were tired, ready to go home, and needed to help Aqualad. Taking it in stride, they headed for Qurac and the Bio-Ship, the giant sphere following close behind.
Once aboard, they hooked Aqualad up to IVs and took off, heading back to the Cave.
As they flew in silence, Peter looked at the others and reflected on the mission.
'This team thing is turning out to be way more fun than I thought.' he thought as he closed his eyes.
~~
AN
I just summed up the final part because this chapter was getting way too long (won't become a habit). And yes, the way Superboy got Sphere is a bit of a convenient cop out, but I mean, he had to get the sphere somehow.
Anyway, one thing about Young Justice I've always found weird is how long it takes for anything to happen. Like in this episode, M'gann has been flying since 1 a.m. and doesn't spot anyone until it's almost sunset. That's all to say it is why everything happens a little quicker in my story. Except for him wandering the desert for five hours.
Next chapter, should be some Peter Parker time featuring an appearance from Zatanna? Maybe?
[1] Spider-Man 2099 doesn't have spider-sense, but because of his eyes, the flicker-fusion horizon is better than that of normal people, which lets him see what appears as a blur to most people perfectly. Basically, it's a poor man's spider-sense. All this to say, Peter has a better defense against speedsters and fast moving objects even if he lost his spider-sense.