Beyond the Limit (DC)

| Northern India - September 23

The Bio-Ship touched down in the shadow of a dense jungle canopy, the smell of wet earth and distant rain thick in the air. The moment the hatch opened, the tension spilled out with them.

Robin, Wally, and Conner still radiated silent fury. Kaldur, ever the calm one, made a last attempt.

"Kid, Robin," he began, voice low, "I ask you both to understand my choice."

Robin's cape swished as he spun on him. "The three of us started this Team because the Justice League was keeping secrets from us."

Wally folded his arms, voice sharp. "Or did you forget that—like you forgot to tell us about the mole?"

Joseph walked behind them, watching without comment. He might have pitied Kaldur more if he hadn't also suspected him of being the mole.

Kori finally stepped forward, her tone snapping everyone to attention. "We will discuss this later, as a Team. But right now, the mission takes priority. Everyone switch to stealth mode. And Miss Martian—link us."

Kaldur, Artemis, Wally, and Kori all hit a button on their suit, their bright colors melting into muted tones. Joseph's suit rippled as the gold elements darkened at a thought, mirroring M'gann's adjustment to her bio-suit.

The psychic link slid into Joseph's mind, a cool, quiet sensation.

[We'll split into pairs to scout. Robin with Raven. Aqualad with me. Artemis with Miss Martian. Superboy with Kid Flash. Nova with Captain Marvel. Report in the moment you find something.]

The Team fanned out into the humid green expanse.

**

Joseph kept pace with Captain Marvel, listening absently as the others debated routes over the link. The "mole" conversation put on hold for now. He had a job to do.

Marvel scanned the ground ahead. "Let's start where Mayor Hill and his party were attacked."

"Wise call," Joseph replied, though his voice was flat. He had no fondness for Gotham's corrupt mayor—a man with deeper ties to Carmine Falcone than to the city he was supposed to serve.

As they pushed deeper into the jungle, Joseph's Nova-sense picked up a series of faint, pulsing energy signatures. At first, he wrote them off—India's wilderness was bound to have various lifeforms—but then his eyes landed on the ground. Footprints. Large.

'Nova.'

//These belong to a gorilla. Roughly 300 pounds. Upright gait.//

Definitely not normal.

Marvel crouched beside him. "Guess this is where Mayor Hill's monkey business went down. So the story checks out."

Joseph was about to respond when a new, far heavier presence slammed into his awareness. The ground trembled. Marvel's head snapped up—he felt it too.

The jungle burst apart as two massive elephants, easily fifteen feet tall, charged through the trees from opposite directions, converging on their positin. Their tusks gleamed like polished bone; their skin bore deep, jagged splits that exposed thick muscle fibers—almost identical to what Joseph had seen in Mammoth. Kobra Venom, for sure.

Marvel shot forward in a blur, colliding with the first elephant head-on. The impact cracked the air like thunder, shoving the beast back a dozen feet. It roared and pushed back against him.

Joseph's eyes narrowed. Wild animals were easy targets for telepathy—less mental defenses. He reached into its mind and, with a firm mental push, shut it down. The massive creature slumped to the earth, making the ground quake under its bulk.

That's when he noticed the collar. Thick, metallic, and glowing faintly red.

The second elephant barreled toward him from behind. Joseph launched upward, letting it charge beneath him before dropping to its neck. His hands pressed against the collar.

'Nova.'

//On it, sir.//

Black nanites crawled from his fingertips into the collar, dissecting its systems and killing the signal with a soft click. Almost instantly, the animal's aggression dissolved. Its steps slowed. Confusion rippled through its mind before it turned and wandered back into the trees.

"Marvel—get that collar off. That's what's making them aggressive."

"On it!" Marvel called, already tearing the metal band free from the unconscious elephant.

Joseph tapped into the psychic link.

[Found giant elephants juiced on Kobra Venom. Remove the collars and they'll calm down afterward.]

[Thanks. Me and Raven are fighting massive vultures right now,] Robin replied.

[We just handled a crocodile the size of a bus,] M'gann added.

[Almost drowning two nights in a row is not fun,] Artemis grumbled.

[Kid Flash and I knocked out a wolf pack. Collars match Belle Reve inhibitor designs,] Conner said.

[Kaldur and I faced tigers. The collars mean there's intelligence behind these attacks. Keep looking,] Kori concluded.

Marvel's eyes lit up. "Cool. I see a tiger—be right back!" And just like that, he was gone in a streak of red and gold.

Joseph shook his head. Sometimes Marvel's… enthusiasm was baffling.

He knelt beside the unconscious elephant and gently pressed a hand to its massive head. Memories flooded into his mind—not words, but impressions. Smells. Shapes. Movement.

Thirteen days ago. A jungle clearing. Harsh light. A brain—literally, a brain suspended in a glass dome, wires feeding into it—issuing silent orders. Beside it stood a black massive gorilla, a red beret perched on its head, a minigun clutched in its massive hands. Then came the Kobra Venom injection. The collar was attached. And obedience was enforced.

Joseph pulled back sharply. Could that brain be the Brain. Could the Light be involved.

He looked in the direction Marvel had headed. That was straight towards their base.

He rocketed upward, streaking through the canopy until the jungle opened into a clearing dominated by three black pylons jutting from the ground. The pylons hummed, the air inside them wavy and wrong.

The tiger was gone. Marvel was gone.

His voice hit the link, sharp.

[Good news—I know who's behind the animal attacks and where they are. Bad news—they've got Captain Marvel.]