"I have had enough of this." Kaldur said calmly, turning away from the team. They had gathered to discuss their recent...encounters with the strange group of men over the last two weeks, compiling a section on the cave computer about the known members.

So far, they had a total of five: Terroriser, who seemed to be at least part robotic, Delirious, an apparent psychopath, Basically, who like Wally had superspeed, Wildcat, who could vanish on command, and Nogla, who seemed to get stronger the angrier he got. Based on the last encounter, the Team had come to realize that all five were in cahoots in some form.

"I don't understand where they came from…" Robin told them as he typed away on the keyboard. "Even the League has nothing on them. It's like they just appeared out of nowhere."

As he was typing away, searching the League systems for any clues, the screen began to glitch and fade away to static. The group, Robin included, looked at it in confusion. "What's happening to the screen?" M'gann asked, taking a step closer.

Robin shook his head as he typed more furiously. "I don't know…" There was a hint of distress in his voice. "The computer's not responding and the system seems to be breaking down."

And then, it faded to a dark room and silhouetted figure. The Team stared at the picture as the figure seemed to look sideways, a misshaped head and mouth moving as it began to talk.

"Terroriser, are we live yet? We are? We're broadcasting right now? So...they can hear what I'm saying? Awesome…" the figure trailed off before slowly turning back to face. "ALRIGHT! Listen up, superheroes! My name is Vanoss and if you haven't guessed it yet, I am the one behind the attacks on your little team."

"You might be asking why?" he continued. "I'm not gonna tell you. Not gonna do it. What I am going to do is challenge your leader to a fight. That's right, a fight. If you win, we leave, If we win...I'm not really sure yet. I'll think of something. You have one hour to meet me in the gym of Los Angeles High School."

The feed died. And that brings us to Aqualad speaking. He stood up from his chair, and began walking toward the zeta tubes. But Superboy approached him and put a hand on his shoulder. "We'll come with you."

But Kaldur shrugged him off and shook his head sadly. "I am sorry, my friend. But it is me they want. I am the only one who has not encountered this new threat...but I plan to make this the last time."

"What if it's a trap?" Wally asked, folding his arms. "You'd be playing right into their hands, dude."

Aqualad had continued to walk along before stopping at the zeta tubes. "If all of them show up, I will call you. Don't worry about me. I am going to end this nonsense before one of us gets hurt."

And then he was gone, vanishing in the zeta tubes and leaving behind an anxious and nervous team.

In about forty-five minutes, Aqualad had found himself inside the gymnasium of Los Angeles High School after some less than legal entry means. The room was dark, the windows high on the wall casting in only a bit of moonlight. Below them were a set of bleachers that looked out over the basketball course with its' raised nets casting more shadows.

His footsteps echoing, Aqualad walked to the center of the gym, standing on the emblem of the school mascot, Charlie Coyote. His senses were on high alert as he scanned the room with his eyes. He had every intent of bringing this Vanoss to justice, mostly to keep his team safe. They seemed incredibly unnerved by the entire situation and as leader, Kaldur felt a tremendous duty to keep his team safe.

There was a sound off to his right, toward the end of the bleachers. Aqualad immediately took his water bearers off his back, forming a wicked looking mace in each one and emitting a pale blue glow in the darkness.

"I know you are here. Come out and let us end this twisted game." Kaldur beckoned into the darkness.

From the far end of the bleachers, a shape stood and began moving toward him. The figure was about Kaldur's height and about the same build, maybe a little thinner. As the figure came into the light, Kaldur noticed the figure wore almost all black...that could be a problem in the darkness. But he did see a yellow harness running across the man's stomach, chest, and behind his shoulders, as well as yellow symbol with the outline of a bird's head.

His body was completely human, though his head was that of a tan brown owl's, with white circles under large yellow eyes and surrounded by feathers. A small beak was moving apparently eating the contents of a pizza box the figure held.

"Sorry, I didn't eat yet." the bird mouth man said as he pulled a slice of pizza from his mouth and began to chew. "So you're Aqualad right? Half man, half fish?"

Kaldur scowled as the man continued to eat. "That is not how I work." he took a battle stance, leveling his weapons at the man. "You should surrender, Vanoss. It is the easy way out of this."

His answer was a laugh. "Yeah...I don't think so. What's going to happen is I'm gonna kick your ass!"

"But why?" Kaldur took a step closer, getting tired of this guy. "Why did you attack the cave? Why were you street racing? Why did you get me to come here?"

Vanoss looked at him, totally straight faced. "Because we could."

With a yell, he leapt forward toward Kaldur, gaining surprising height and with a leg raised. Aqualad dove out of the way, rolling sideways as Vanoss landed and turned his attention back to his adversary.

Not wasting a moment, Kaldur drew back his weapons and swung them crossways at Vanoss. Before they connected, Vanoss struck Kaldur's forearms with a quick and then landed a quick punch to Kaldur's jaw.

"You think you're a big man, huh?" Vanoss yelled as he ducked another swing of Kaldur's weapons. "You put your big boy pants on this morning, huh?" Another strike to the head, dazing Kaldur. "You wake up this morning and put on your big bo-"

Aqualad finally landed a blow, catching Vanoss' side on a swing. His increased strength sent the smaller man hurtling through the air and crashing through the boy's change room door. There was a shattering of splinters as the wooden door disintegrated.

Following close behind, Kaldur stepped over the splinters and entered the boys room, still wielding his maces. It was darker in here than out in the gym, but Kaldur saw a light switch on the wall next to him, giving it a flick as the room and its smooth, stone walls lit up before him.

As did Vanoss. He was up again, a wide look in his eyes as he had his hand drawn back and readied for attack. "Uh, can you turn that back off for a second?" he asked, seemingly frozen in place.

Ignoring him, Kaldur jabbed forward with his maces again, only for Vanoss to roll sideways and further into the bathroom. Two stalls were set up on the left wall, next to two urinals while four showers were on the far wall.

Vanoss reached into his belt and withdrew something yellow. "Aha! Big mistake, dude! You've forced me to use my ultimate weapon!" It was a banana.

Aqualad was speechless, trying to ignore the questions filling his mind. He swung his left mace toward Vanoss, but he was surprised as his enemy brought the banana up to block.

It didn't break. Kaldur was really starting to question whether the laws of the universe actually applied to Vanoss and his friends when a swift spin kick forced Kaldur back toward the urinals and made him drop one of the water bearers. Before he could recover him, he was struck in the jaw with a backhanded banana and felt Vanoss grab him around the head in a headlock.

And forced it into the urinal. Putting all his weight on the back of Aqualad's neck, he forced his head down into the bottom of the urinal. "I took a shit in there earlier!" Vanoss yelled, though Aqualad could feel no evidence of that.

Channeling power through his remaining water bearer, he pulled the water fourth from the pipes running to the urinal and forced it out from the walls. There was a tremendous gushing sound as a rush of running burst out from the wall.

Vanoss was swept backwards, propelled back out the door and into the gymnasium in a pool of water. Aqualad recovered and, after retrieving his lost water bearer, followed him out quickly. He found Vanoss sitting up in the pool, looking worn down and coughing.

"Well shit…" he said, getting groggily to his feet. "Had enough yet? I can go all night, fish boy." he said as he raised his fist and tried a slow swing at Aqualad, who easily stepped away from it. "I'm wearing...you down…"

Kaldur leaned away from another weak shot. "Oh god...you should...you should give up soon…" Vanoss sounded incredibly tired as he fell to one knee. "Lui, where are you?" Now he was just babbling.

"You're talking nonsense." Aqualad told him as he caught one of the weaker punches in his own hand. "You're the one who should surrender. You and your friends' twisted game is over. You have lost."

Vanoss laughed slightly as he sagged on his feet. "Haha...man, you don't even know...my friends won't stop with me gone! They'll cause more mayhem to try and put themselves at the top or they'll rescue m-"

He was cut off by a chorus of sounds surrounding them. It was the sliding of metal and Aqualad knew the sound all too well. He turned away from Vanoss and faced all around him, into the darkness.

They came out as one circle surrounding the two of them. Dressed in all black with only the red goggles of any different colour, members of the League of Shadows stepped forth, all wielding wicked looking swords. There was silence.

"Okay, f $k this." Vanoss replied standing up as well and looking at ninjas surrounding them. "Do you know these guys or have I made more enemies than I thought?"

Kaldur raised an eyebrow in surprise. As soon as he had seen them, he had figured this to be a trap set by his adversary. "You did not summon them?" he asked, holding his water bearers in his hand. The fight had taken its toll on them both.

There was movement directly in front of them as another, largely figure came into view. Dressed in padded pants and top, Aqualad saw the ripped arms and familiar grey mask reflecting in the moonlight from in front of a tuft of blonde hair. "Sportsmaster." Kaldur growled, holding his side.

The man's eyes seemed to widen. "Well, looks we've got double what we meant to get…" Sportsmaster said smugly. "Aqualad, tell us who your friend is? A new member of your little club?"

Kaldur scowled at the man's cockiness and attitude. "He's not my fr-"

Vanoss interrupted quickly. "Hye guys, what's up? Vanoss here. I don't really know this guy so if I could just leave…" he had started to sidestep toward the edge of the circle, but one of the League of Shadows members made a mock jab of his katana, twirling it around in a viscous arc as Vanoss watched in amazement. "Okay, nevermind then. I'll just stay here." he walked up behind Kaldur and put his hands on his shoulders, leaning into his ear. "I think we're f &ked."

Kaldur had to agree as he looked at the numbers and their conditions. Sportsmaster grinned in front of him. "Take them...alive." And then, they were engulfed.