(General P.O.V)

"I won't say it again Kaldur."

I held out a hand and a miniature tornado formed around in my palm.

"Don't make me do it the hard way."

Kaldur's water bearers appeared in his hands.

"I believe we outnumber you 6 to 1. You're the one who needs to stand down Maelstrom."

His tone was serious and his stance showed no signs of backing down.

"Outnumbered yes, but you're outmatched."

I told them while increasing the intensity of the whirlwind.

The others were on edge, ready to react or in some cases like Wally, act. The only three who looked unsure were Connor, Artemis and M'gann. The blonde who I knew had a crush on me decided to be the voice of reason.

"Wait! Everybody please calm down. Can we just talk this out?"

She implored while looking around.

"Tell that to your boyfriend. He's the one threatening the rest of us."

Wally responded, dropping the googles resting on his forehead to his eyes.

"He's not my boyfriend…"

"Don't bother Artemis. One way or the other, I'm getting what I want. It doesn't matter if I have to go through all of you for that. I'm done with this bullshit."

I got why she was trying to appease everyone but bridges were already burned. This had been brewing for quite some time. The peaceful and mature way wasn't going to work out anymore. Not for me at least.

"Aden…. you're not acting like yourself. This isn't you."

I cocked my head to the side. Did she really just say that?

"Would you blame me? I just got from a meeting with the Justice League, where they suspended me from the team for no concrete reason other than disappearing to God knows where for ten hours. After saving all your collective asses by the way and the first thing I get from all of you…is another fucking trial. So yes, Artemis, I am not acting like myself. This is how I get when someone stabs me on the back. Where I come from, loyalty matters."

I waved a hand and sent a wind ruffling through their clothes.

"This talk is getting boring. And you're out of warnings."

I made to move forwards for the bag in Wally's hands when I felt an impact on my mental walls. The intrusive touch bounced off and then returned even stronger. A crack appeared on it's structure and I felt a mental link form.

"Please Aden. Stop this. Fighting will get us nowhere."

"Get out of my head M'gann. I'll forget that you just forced your way through my mental barriers."

"We're like a family. Families don't fight."

"I said get out of my head!"

I shot back in anger.

The Martian's face paled in real life and she stumbled back once I pushed out my own mental energy. A wind blast knocked her to the wall, completely cutting off her next words.

"M'gann!"

Connor shouted out her name in panic. Everyone gasped at the unexpected move. Good, this will show them I'm not playing anymore.

"I'm fine…I'm alright just… everyone please stop."

Miss Martian floated back up but Connor was already too far gone to listen.

"You bastard! You took it too far!"

Saying that, Connor jumped up to attack me. A sudden whirlwind manifested and pulled him into it's spinning motion. I waved a hand and the Superman clone was thrown back towards the ground.

With that, I knew the time for talking was over.

(General P.O.V)

Kaldur felt a shiver run across his skin in a way he had only once felt before. Captain Marvel. That's who Aden reminded him off. The sheer difference in power was shocking as it was terrifying. Last time any of them checked…Aden was the third strongest but even that was debatable due to the experience Kaldur, Robin and Kid Flash had over him.

Standing before him however, Kaldur realized something. Experience didn't matter for shit if your opponent had overwhelming power on his side. Which meant…

"Robin, KF manuever 0."

Kaldur ordered just as Superboy roared and jumped at Aden.

"Fuck that! We can take him on Kaldur!"

Superboy dug a groove on the cave's floor with his body right after Kid Flash's words.

"Yeah Rob. Manuever 0."

Kid Flash suddenly changed his mind after witnessing their heavy hitter get taken down with only one move.

"What's Manuever 0?"

Artemis asked but no one answered her. Robin reached into his utility belt and came out with smoke bombs that he smashed onto the ground before Aden. Kid Flash blitzed through the area, running around and forming a tornado made of the smoke bombs below Aden.

Aden curiously looked on in disbelief as the tornado covered him. Didn't they know what his powers were? He reached out to the whirlwind and unravelled it, flying down to the floor.

"That was the lamest attack sequence I have ever seen."

I looked at the three most experienced sidekicks and commented on their efforts.

"I thought you would say that." Robin smiled. "I wouldn't look down at us though. Else you might find yourself in a… sticky situation."

Wait. I studied my clothes and not a second later, a few balls I hadn't noticed attached to me exploded, covering me completely in containment foam that hardened within seconds. Only my head was left visible.

"You used the tornado to lower my guard and then threw the containment foam balls at me. Well played Boy Wonder. I should have expected something like this."

"Move!"

Connor's aggressive words announced he was back into the fray. With a hand cocked back, his fist was headed directly for my head. I can't get knocked out.

It's time to show them what true power actually is. I searched for that familiar heat lying at the bottom of my belly and pulled. My mouth opened and I let loose a huge flame breath that melted the containment form down into a magma like liquid slag.

My fist came up just in time to intercept Connor's own. A blast of force escaped out into the surroundings, pushing us both back. I controlled the air present at his back and pulled him towards me. My fist tightened while I deployed the first use of Dragon Fist since getting it from the Advancement Trial. The snarl on his face disappeared once my strikes landed on his body.

Dull thuds escaped the strike zone while my blows landed. Connor's eyes rolled back to the back of his eyes as he went unconscious. I grabbed his body by the neck and threw him at an unsuspecting Kaldur, who was so shocked that he failed to react on time . The Atlantean was pulled from his feet upon contact with the Kryptonian and they both slammed through the holographic projector above the hall. The device sparked dangerously, while parts of it fell to the floor.

An arrow was intercepted by the air bubble I kept around my body, redirected and shot towards a blitzing Kid Flash. The resulting explosion slammed KF off his feet into a tangle of his limbs, which resulted in him groaning on the floor and then passing out.

"Kid!"

Artemis called out in panic after her attack.

"Ouch Artemis. Always pegged you for a Femme Fatale but damn."

My words turned her attention back to the fight and she pulled back the string on her bow while notching another arrow.

"I won't miss a second time."

She warned.

An invisible air construct rope, suddenly wrenched her hands back, constricting her body in a tight hold. Not enough to hurt her, but enough that she was out of the fight. She tried to shimmy her way out but my control over the element was grandmaster level now.

"I don't want to hurt you. So stay down Artemis."

The wind bindings holding her captive were suddenly undone by a telekinetic force, ripping through them. M'gann. I sighed. She was hiding. Invisible to my normal senses but not the telepathic sense I was slowly but surely developing. I found her near the wall where Kaldur and Connor had fell after slamming into each other. The two teens were knocked out. One of them due to Dragon Fist while the other due to colliding with a Kryptonian going at max speed.

I reapplied the bindings on Artemis and shot out towards the Martian, dodging pieces of stone that had broken off from the walls easily. Normally fighting M'gann would be a headache due to her numerous abilities like density shifting, shape shifting, telekinesis etc but I had an effective skill to take her down apart from fire. I got within range of her and released a sonic blast point blank at her body. M'gann cried out in pain and once she was incapacitated, I used Dragon Fist to send shockwaves inside her body, making her pass out. This skill was incredibly useful.

I also used it on Artemis. I didn't want her slipping away and contacting someone. This fight was so boring. Now that I wasn't playing at their level anymore, it felt more like a chore I was doing.

With most of the team down. Wally included, due to the friendly fire that left only...Robin.

Birdarangs shot through the air and dug themselves around me, the explosion did nothing to my air bubble. I blew the dust away while on the lookout for more of Boy Wonder's tricks. His signature laugh sounded out and I noticed he'd disappeared off to somewhere. With the duffel bag. Goddamit. This game of cat and mouse needed to end or else a Leaguer might arrive if he's allowed to make a distress call.

I slammed my leg down and a shockwave exploded out into the surroundings, not enough to hurt anyone but enough that I could detect where the young Detective was hiding. I found him on the side of the hologram projector. How did he even get there?

No time. An air bubble appeared around his head, cutting off his air supply. Boy Wonder tried to use a rebreather but his hand bounced off the rotating wind sphere and a few minutes later his body fell from above. I used the wind to slow the descent of his body along with the Duffel bag.

I slowly sent Robin's body to the ground and turned to inspect the duffel bag. Galiel's documents were inside with the cash and now more than ever, I needed his contacts. I pulled back the zip and opened the bag. Instantly my heart sank. Above the money and the documents was Robin's exploding birdarangs.

"Oh you little shi.."

The birdarangs timed out and exploded, destroying the contents of the bag. My air shield kept me safe but the explosion left behind burning papers that I couldn't even salvage. I looked at Robin and decided that if he was going to be petty then I would be petty too. He wasn't getting out of this without a broken finger atleast.

"Recognized Red Arrow B06."

Oh fuck me. This guy? Seriously?