AN: Okay first things first rating is shifted from K+ to T, I'm never again going to do an established couple scene alone in a room, and being stuck by a freaking K+ rating. I've all these making out ideas in my head (Which made me realize I really need to get a girlfriend).

Secondly I rewrote the ending of chapter 2, and I'm glad to say it doesn't suck monkeyballs anymore (yeah T rating, I can use words as monkeyballs). No major changes except M'gann voiced her feelings of guilt about the whole incident during the session. Of course the entire team tried to comfort her afterwards. It's rather fluffy, so I think you could enjoy reading the part after M'gann told Artemis about what happened during the simulation.

Finally I want to say that I would really like some specific feedbacks on things you feel I'm doing right or wrong. A critic would be much appreciated.

Special thanks to awesomenaruto, who is truly asewome as he/she betad this for me. Without him/her I would have screwed up Batman even more then I do now.

Robin~~~Wally~~~Kaldur~~~Conner~~~M'gann~~~Artemis~~~Black Canary

Everyone left the debriefing room quietly, nobody had the energy to say anything, not after the way the sessions had ended. So when Robin's wristband went off it couldn't possibly have gone unnoticed. Robin pressed a button and a small screen appeared about six inches from his wrist. Wally watched in interest, he had never understood how the wristband could project an image in/on thin air*.

The screen displayed Batman's face, from the wristband. Batman's voice said, "To the Bioship now." And the screen disappeared.

Robin looked at the team. "Well, you heard the man."

The team and Black Canary raced to the Bioship. Batman had said to go to the Bioship, and he hadn't specifically excluded her, and well… he was Batman.

Once they had taken off, Robin pressed a button on his wristband. This time a larger screen was projected on the ceiling of the Bioship**. Again the screen displayed Batman's face. Robin voiced everyone's thought. "So what is so important that we need to rush off without any preparation or debriefing?"

Batman glared, it seemed he found Robin acting rather rude. He first addressed M'gann as she piloted the ship. "Fly to Smallville, Kansas, USA as fast as you can." Only then did he answer Robin's question. "I'm debriefing you in-flight, time is of importance if you accept this mission."

This last bit spiked Wally's curiosity. "What do you mean with: 'If you accept this mission'?"

Batman ignored him, and several photos of two faces appeared next to him. One set of photos showed a pretty blond young woman, and the other set showed a tall lean man with a strange device where his eyes should be. "I am sure you remember Dr. Serling Roquette and Professor Ojo. You protected Dr. Serling who created the Fog…" A new photo appeared, this one showed something that looked like a black cloud.

"An extremely useful photo, very informative," Wally couldn't help but remark.

Again Batman ignored him." From the League of Shadows whom had stolen it. As you remember, Dr. Sterling eventually managed to disable the Fog, and you apprehended Professor Ojo. Unfortunately by then he had already used the Fog to steal immense amounts of data from STAR Labs. Among the stolen data were the blueprints for this." Another photo appeared and this time it was from a strange kind of satellite. "This device can be used to scan the entire Earth for any known element buried to a depth of three hundred feet." Batman paused, he might have expected this to impress the team, but it only did so for Wally. "Apparently the League of Shadows sold these blueprints to Luther, as he has gotten his hands on them."

Robin raised his eyebrows to this. "How do we know, Luther is usually extremely careful around anything stolen."

With a hint of anger in his voice Batman replied, "Because he used it to map all of Earth's Kryptonium, and had the guts to release his findings. Basically telling everyone where and how much Kryptonium can be found."

"I can see how that would be bad, but how do we fit into this?" Wally asked, while not turning his attention away from the blueprints of the device.

"Patience. I'm coming to that" Batman replied only now acknowledging Wally's presence. "Regarding Kryptonium we have good news and bad news. The good news is that 97% of it is concentrated in a small region near a small town of less than a thousand inhabitants." This made Wally's attention snap away from the blueprints, and his eye grew in shock. Robin noticed and seemed worried by Wally's reaction. Neither of them spoke up though. Batman ignored both their reactions as more present matters were at hand. "The bad news is that there is a lot of it, about a ton."

"Wow disastrous! Extra heavy on the dis!" Robin exclaimed.

Batman ignored him. "In other words if Luther gets his hands on the easily mined supplies of Kryptonium in Smallville, it would spell the end of Superman."

Conner who had been listening quietly until now shot up from his chair. "And what about me?" he exclaimed. "Why send us to a place so dangerous for me?"

Batman responded with a voice more gentle then Robin had heard him use as Batman. "I understand you don't want to risk yourself for Superman, I can't blame you for that. However, Superman is perhaps the most important member of the league, apart from being the most powerful member he is also the best known. His death could easily destabilize the world order."

In an attempt to back up Conner M'gann said, "Again we understand the seriousness of the situation, but Superboy raises a fair point. Why can't the league handle this by itself, why send us?"

It was Wally who answered that question. He sounded furious and didn't give Batman a chance to speak. "Because they don't want to get their hands dirty. If Luther follows proper procedures, then there are no laws stopping him from mining those supplies. Of course the League doesn't want to be seen denying someone his or her legal rights. So they want us to do it for them." With a voice of disdain he added, "Ever since I got my powers I wanted to help the Justice League, but this isn't helping, this is doing your dirty work. I'd never thought you would use us like that Bats, you disappoint me, you really do."

Batman tried to ignore him, and make it sound like he was replying to M'gann. "The league can only stop people from doing something illegal, we can't cross the line of making our own laws. There are many people who believe we are too powerful already. If we would use that power by breaking the law, then…."

"Then you would risk your sacred hero status." Wally snapped at him. "So you're asking us to risk ours."

Apperently the limit of Batman's patience was reached, as he angerly retaliated. "Your team was created with the intention to be covered ops. Do you realize what covered ops means? Covered operations, operations the public is not supposed to know about! The league can't take the risk to preform this specific mission itself and then be exposed. The League needs public trust and support. Without it we are just a group of extremely powerful individuals with a giant laser cannon pointed towards Earth. People would live in fear of us." With a glare he added. "Remember you begged us for the creation of this team, don't blame us when we offer you the kind of missions the team was inteded for." He felt like he made his case clear and sighed. More relaxed and with a kinder tone he continued. "So indeed we're asking you to take the risk for us. We have no alternatives. We are sorry."

Black Canary shot up and yelled. "You don't have the right to ask them something like this!" Everyone flinched as the yell had carried some of her bird shriek.

Batman glared at her. "You are a member of the Justice League, you can't be involved in this, and you didn't hear this conversation, as far as you're considered it never happened. All I want to know from you is if you think the team is ready for a mission." His tone towards her was completely different, harsh and not leaving room for debate, he was giving her orders as opposed to making a request to the team.

She let out a clear sound of disapproval, but did respond. "Truth to be told, I think that only Kid Flash and Artemis have dealt with the 'incident' completely, the rest of the team still has unresolved issues." With a sigh she added, "But perhaps they will keep some of these issues their whole lives. However the League is full of members with issues, whom, despite that, still perform missions perfectly. I want to give them more counseling, but I do believe they are ready for a mission. But that doesn't …."

Batman interrupted her. "Thank you. You're being transported to the Watchtower, from there you're free to move." And Black Canary disappeared, teleported away. Batman sighed before he continued. "So will you take this mission?"

Conner shouted defiantly "What if we don't?"

"The League is not ordering you to perform this mission, it's requesting you. There will be no repercussions if any of you refuse."

"And what if we do?" Artemis asked to everyone's surprise.

Batman looked at her for a moment before he replied. "Then the League will be in your debt, and as long as you're not proven guilty the League will do anything to prevent any kind of enemy retaliation against you."

"I'm in," Artemis said. She didn't look at Batman or anyone as she said it, and her voice had been soft and empty of emotion. But those three words couldn't have possibly gone unnoticed, and they transformed the atmosphere from outraged to solemn.

"I'm in too," Wally said trying to sound nonchalant. "I still owe the Flash a favor or ten."

Robin looked at his friend and shot him a wide grin. "Then I'll fuse the mission, can't have those fools go alone." Getting no response to his pun, and attempting to lighten the heavy mood he elaborated. "See refuse is to not accept something, so fuse should be to accept something." No one responded to this either, and after a while the silence scarred Robin. Was the rest of the team just going to abandon them?

Maybe the rest were scared, maybe the other members didn't want to pressure the rest of the team into joining, or maybe they had other reasons, in any case nobody else spoke up.

Then Batman spoke up. "I refuse to be dishonest to you Conner, so I'm going to say it as it is. I am trying to manipulate you, but that doesn't make this untrue: Superman would be personally in your debt if you accepted this mission. And I know for a fact that the Kryptonium in Smallville is buried to deep to do any harm on a Kryptonian, so as long as the Kryptonium is not dug up it won't pose a threat to you." Wally nodded, something he suspected had been confirmed. Batman seemed not to notice as his attention was now focused on Conner, Robin however did saw his friends reaction, and he wasn't pleased by it. None of this caught Conner's attention. For the moment Batman reminded him that Superman would be in his debt, all his attention was focused on Batman. "Okay, count me in. I'll be impressed by any legal system that manages to imprison a nine month old."

"Then I'm in too, I've always been curious about what jurisdiction the USA thinks to have on a Martian." M'gann shot Conner a warm smile, and gave Robin, Wally and Artemis an apologizing look. She felt guilty for letting them wait, but she didn't want to pressure Conner by joining before he did.

Batman then turned to Kaldur, surprised that he had not accepted the mission. Aqualad had perhaps the strongest sense of duty in the Young Justice team, also he had little to fear from getting caught. As an Atlantian he need not to worry about the USA law."Aqualad I won't be dishonest to you either, so again I'll just say it. I am trying to manipulate you, but that doesn't make this untrue. Aquaman himself is requesting you to join this mission, and the team needs you."

Kaldur stood up and with his natural air of dignity he responded. "Please Batman, I don't need convincing. I accept the mission, however there is a complication," he sighed, something uncharacteristic for him. With a voice less confident then earlier, perhaps even containing some shame he continued. "I accept the mission, however I step down as the leader of this team. I am no longer fit." The scene became chaotic. The entire team voiced their objections, and wanted to know what was wrong, the entire team except Robin, who just sat silently.

Colder then he wanted to Batman replied. "Whoever leads the team is decided by the team. This is a matter you will have to resolve amongst yourselves. " Warmer, friendlier Batman continued, "Thank you all for this, the League is in your debt. Now to the matter of debriefing the mission. Luckily we have politics on our side for once. Due to the international importance of Superman, the USA is under a lot international pressure to secure all of its Kryptonium. However as always politics is being slow, and it probably will take two weeks before the government has passed the necessary legislations around Kryptonium. We're asking you to sabotage Luthor's mining operations until then. In order to avoid public contact, you will only leave the Bioship during actual sabotage or recon, all necessary supplies will be teleported directly to you." He sighed before he continued, "Once again the league will utterly deny any involvement with this. Luther has been so open about his Kryptonium finding device, that it's entirely plausible that you found out about it yourself, and took action. That way the League has full deniability of any involvement." Again he sighed. "Black Canary was right, we shouldn't be asking this from you." Batman finshed, and the screen on the ceiling disappeared.

It had been a long time since Robin last needed to use his wristband to tell time. His wristband told him the entire debriefing didn't last longer than 15 minutes, but it felt like it had taken hours. The debriefing had been bad, but the silence that now followed was worse. Robin dreaded the moment the team would ask him to be leader, now that Kaldur had stept down. He felt he should bring it up himself, and tell the team why he would refuse to be leader. He owed that to the team, but no matter how he tried he couldn't find the words. Luckily for him M'gann broke the silence.

"So… Wally what did you realize when Batman told us about the Kryptonium?" she asked awkwardly, not really knowing how to deal with the current mood.

This caused Robin to forget his inner dilema, and he responded before Wally. "It's nothing."

Wally raised his eyebrows to this, "Nothing? It's pretty major if you ask me."

"What is pretty major?" Artemis butted in.

Robin ignored Artemis and turned to Wally, and as stern as the 13 year old could sound he replied, "Drop it Wally, every member of the League has the right to a secret identity."

Angrily but also surprised Wally said, "Secret identity! Dude how much do you know?" Robin didn't reply, this made Wally even more suspicious of him. "Dude you know who he is, don't you?" Being convinced of the answer Wally turned his head away from Robin in anger. "Man I can understand you kept it from me. But keeping it from Conner, that's cold man."

Now Conner joined the fray. "Kept what from me? And who are you talking about."

Wally sighed, and with a relative calm voice he said. "Sorry Robin. I know that secret identities and the like are a big deal to you and Bats. But I'm telling what I think I know. Besides Superman brought this upon himself, had he treated Conner properly I might have kept my mouth shut." Robin realized he couldn't keep Wally silent, and just shrugged.

Wally wasn't really sure how to begin, so he just kicked off. "Due to the atomic structure of Kryptonium it ought to be extremely rare anywhere near earth, the fact that it isn't means that most of it comes from far in outer space." Wally paused, waiting for the team to understand the significance of what he said. When he saw that no one but Robin understood what he said he continued, "Most likely the majority of the Kryptonium on earth comes from Krypton."

Now Kaldur joined the conversation. "This is all common knowledge, I don't see the significance."

Wally clicked with his tongue, not being sure about how to explain his thoughts. "Well in other words: If the majority of the Kryptonium on earth comes from Krypton, and 97% of it is concentrated in Smallville…"

Kaldur finally caught on. "Then it's safe to say that all Kryptonium near Smallville comes from the planet Krypton."

Wally nodded as he finished the reasoning. "And then it's also safe to say, that when Krypton exploded everything from it that reached earth crashed in Smallville."

Only now the entire team realized what Wally was trying to say. Conner was the one to truly finish the explanation. "You mean everything and everyone."

Wally only nodded.

M'gann rubbed her forehead, tired from concentrating on flying the Bioship and keeping track of the conversations. "Okay so Superman crashed in Smallvile when he arrived on Earth. Interesting. Interesting, but why is that so important?"

Wally opened his mouth to respond, but Robin cut him off. "Wally as a friend I'm asking you not to say more until we finish the mission." When he saw that Wally wanted to say more despite of this, he added. "You won't be able to know anything for sure before you get access to the net anyway, and that probably will be only after we finish the mission."

Wally sighed, than he turned to Conner and said. "I'm sorry buddy, but I'm going to cut Robin some slack here. Besides he's right, I won't be able to find out anything for sure before I can cross-reverence a few things."

Conner however wasn't satisfied with this, he demanded to know more. "You were talking about secret identities, you meant Superman's!" He stood up and walked to Robin, and with a dark and angered tone he spoke, "You have to tell me." Emphasizing every word he said.

Apart from having super strength, Conner was also four biological years older than Robin, and a lot taller too. It was a display of character that Robin did not look away or back down, and even more so that he managed to end the argument. "I can't, I promised Batman I wouldn't."

~~~Lex Luther~~~Mercy~~~

Mercy put the private airplane into auto-pilot and left the cockpit. She walked up to the chair in which Luther was sitting, his back turned towards her. "Lex" she said seductively as she let her arm run down his chest. Her arm was cool to the touch. Luther did not respond, he was always puzzled whenever Mercy acted like this. Whatever Mercy hoped to gain with this kind of behavior was a mystery to him. Luther knew she wasn't looking for romance, she wasn't the type of woman for that. He wouldn't have hired her if she was, and besides she knew him too well to expect romance. She wasn't trying to get money out of it either. She was paid well enough to indulge into every materialistic desire she could crave, and she knew Luther wouldn't let himself be blackmailed like that. It could be out of lust. They would relieve each other when either of them was stressed and finding another 'partner' took too much effort. But he was too caught up in research now, and she could see that. The option that she was just messing with him never crossed his mind. "Lex" she said again in the same slow and seductive manner as she let her arm run further down his torso.

Partly to make her stop, and partly because he was truly curious Luther replied, "What is it?"
Mercy smiled. "Tell me again why we're flying to the middle of nowhere."

Luther sighed. He wanted to ignore her, but he knew she would bug him without relief if he did so. Apart from that Luther also made it his habit to explain his reasons whenever Mercy asked. It was a good way to make sure he wasn't making mistakes. "I need to be there when the Justice League attempts to stop my mining operations."

Not changing her manner of speaking and still rubbing his torso Mercy pressed further. "You're protected by the law, the League can't stop you."

A smirk appeared on Luther's face, he couldn't deny that he took pleasure in explaining his well thought through plans. "No they can't afford not to stop me, but they are not allowed to."

Mercy leaned forward putting her face next to his. "Because if they would, and you could prove it, you would destroy their reputations."

"Exactly." He had to admit that he liked Mercy's way of thinking. It was far below his own of course, but still pleasant.

She let her other arm run down his chest as well, the combination of the cool mechanical arm and the warm human one causing unique feelings. "But what if they manage to stop you, without you obtaining any evidence of it?"

The smirk on Luther's face grew bigger. "I don't need to have any proof. I just have to make the League believe that I do. For that I'll need to make the operation look more serious by supervising them personally."

Mercy let out a sound that could have been sexual or questioning. "But won't they know that you don't have any proof if you don't show anything?"

Luther now turned towards her. He replied with a glister in his eyes. "That is the beauty of it. The League will expect me to release the evidence when it suits me the best. Not immediately after I might obtain it. So regardless if I can proof anything or not, the League will have to operate under the assumption that I can."

Mercy chuckled pleased with herself that she managed to make him look at her. "Okay but what if they won't try to stop you."

By now Luther had gone up in the pleasure of explaining his schemes, and didn't bother with pointing out the obvious. "Then I'll have enough Kryptonium to render Superman harmless."

She smiled as she saw the state she had driven him to. "So you'll win regardless of the scenario."

With faked humbleness he replied. "A good businessman always makes sure he does."

She tilted her head a little bit. "Except…"

Annoyed at her response Luther asked. "Except what?"

"What if they send someone to do the job for them, like that bunch of sidekicks?"

Luther shrugged. "I'll use the proof to get them behind bars. That ought to damage the moral of the League quite a bit. That would be good for me too."

By now she was just messing with him. "Yeah, but what if that bunch of sidekicks manages to stop you, and you won't be able to proof it?"

Luther let out a sound of disapproval. "Then we have been severely underestimating them, and we'll have learned to not make that mistake again. It takes a strong will for a businessman to see that experience as profit too."

AN: Like every JL and YJ fan I'm a huge on the whole 'Badass is the definition of Batman', so I kind of felt reluctant to write him like I did. On the other hand the writer in me wants a canon and human Batman, instead of the Demy-God I like to picture him.

I realize that Mercy might be a bit OOC, but I can't stand her being done as anything else then a strong independent wicked woman, or worse the love-stricken puppy she was done in JL. I mean Lex Luther is too smart to mess with the feelings of his bodyguard. So yeah I've given her a bit more backbone, brain and just overall strength.

*Unfortunately I'm a cartoon/anime nerd that studies physics, which you all might notice 6 or 7 chapters from now. But anyway cartoons/anime/ (movies) often bug me with stuff like Robin's wristband. I'm 99% sure that way Robin's wristbands projects the screen is fundamentally impossible. (I'm not 100% sure, for I believe that by principle you should always be able to accept that you're wrong, especially if you are a (wannabe)scientist). Oddly enough I have no problem with a flying, invulnerable, lassereyed, icebreathing man. I feel like Sheldon now.

** This is entirely possible and with today's technology in no way difficult to realize.