Emergence 2.3

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Santa Prisca

July 22, 8:15 ECT

"You know, I kinda have a bad feeling about this mission," Zeke whispered loudly, voice nearly exceeding that of his regular volume as he and the team — sans Aqualad — made their way past a powerful waterfall. The words left his mouth quickly followed by a relieved sigh, the young teen thankful they had finally left the narrow cliff path they had been traversing behind them.

"We. Know," Wally bit back in a hiss, voice ringing with a double dose of annoyance as Zeke received it from both his earpiece and the boy's mouth himself just a few meters away. "You've only mentioned it like six times, dude. Give it a rest already."

The redhead didn't even bother looking back at him as he responded, quickly keeping pace with Robin as the Boy Wonder and lazily vaulted over a fallen tree. Zeke frowned as he continued behind the two boys in the lead, sloppily copying the same vaulting motion both the boys in front of him had used to traverse the wooden obstacle.

Acrobatics Lvl Up!

1→2

Landing on his feet, Zeke shot an annoyed glare at Kid Flash's back. Yeah, you would say something like that. So excited to finally have a mission. What could go wrong, right?

– o – o – o – o – o – o – o – (Four Hours Ago)

"Isla Santa Prisca." Batman began in a dour tone, his back to the Team as he stared at a map of the aforementioned island hovering above the holographic projector. "This island nation is the primary source of a dangerous and illegal neurosteroid, a strength-enhancing drug sold under the street name Venom."

The entire team stood there in the mission center watching, some of them far more attentively than others. Robin and Aqualad seemed the perfect image of discipline, the two of them completely focused on what Batman had to say or at least doing a great job at pretending so. Superboy and Miss Martian were only slightly less attentive, the clone's stare just as intense as it usually was while M'gann stood by his side as usual. Wally, on the other hand, seemed far more interested in emptying the bag of chips he held above anything else.

The display shifted from a map to show several aerial shots of a warehouse seemingly hidden in a jungle area. "The infrared heat signatures indicate that their factory is operating at full capacity but all shipments of Venom have inexplicably cut off. That's where this Team comes in. This is a covert recon mission only. Observe and report. If the Justice League need to intervene, it will."

Just as before, the projection shifted back to that of the map of the island, displaying two areas at opposite ends of the island marked with large red dots. "The plan requires two drop zones." Just like that, Batman halted the briefing there and began discussing something in a lower tone with Red Tornado, the Caped Crusader seemingly satisfied with the minimal amount of knowledge he had just left the team with.

Strangely enough, they all seemed just as satisfied with it as well.

"So who's in charge?" Rather than asking for more detail about the mission itself, Robin seemed to have something else on his mind as he leaned forward, the barest hints of a smile on his face.

Batman and Red Tornado turned around, both of them glancing at the Boy Wonder before they shot each other a look of their own. One would have to wonder how Batman could read anything from Red Tornado's metal faceplate but the two of them seemed to come to a non-verbal agreement regardless.

"Work that out between yourselves."

Robin's smile grew further, his lips spreading upwards into a full-blown smirk as the young teen took that to mean that he was essentially just granted the leadership position. The rest of the team glanced at one another, far more joyful smiles spreading across their faces as they realized they'd all just been granted their first real mission.

Above all else, though, they were all calm, each of them displaying expressions of determined readiness as they glanced at one another, not a single one of them at all worried by whatever Batman had in store for them. In that moment, the five of them seemed confident enough to take on the entire world.

As for their youngest member, well...

Zeke stood to the side of Wally, utterly unconcerned with the ginger's loud eating or the few salty crumbs that landed on his person as he continued staring at the holographic map with wide eyes. Periodically, his mouth would open slightly as he mouthed a single word with dry lips, closing them a moment later as he swallowed a mouthful of nothing.

His gaze had been locked onto the map as soon as he heard the words 'Santa Prisca', a sense of foreboding coming over him that only intensified as soon as the word 'Venom' was uttered by the Dark Knight himself.

Batman's gaze had dropped onto him for a few moments, those white lenses narrowing as Zeke stilled at his words. Throughout the entire briefing, Batman's surreptitious glances toward Zeke hadn't gone unnoticed, at least by Robin.

As Batman finished speaking though, returning his gaze to Red Tornado, it took all the youngest team member had to keep himself standing when a box of blue text appeared in front of him, confirming his current fears.

The Villain from Santa Prisca

A mission given to you by the Batman himself has you and your team headed for Santa Prisca. Complete the mission given to you by the Batman and avoid being spotted by any enemies.

Success: +5 to [Stealth], + 5 Stat Points, + 1 WIS, + 2500 XP

Failure: Encounter Bane

He shuddered as another whisper left his mouth.

"Bane."

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