[center][color=darkgray][b][sub]E P I S O D E   SIX :   R E F L E C T I O N S [/sub][/b][/color][b][color=bf2628][sup][h1]STAKE OUT[/h1][/sup][/color][/b][/center]
[COLOR=bf2628][INDENT][B][SUP][SUB][H3]C I T Y  H A R B O R[/H3][/SUB][/SUP][/B][/INDENT][hr][/COLOR][INDENT][INDENT][sup][color=darkgray]September 2[sup]th[/sup], 2021  |  22:28 PM  |  Harbor, Gotham City[/color][/sup][/INDENT][/INDENT]
The homeless man’s eyes seemed to wildly wander around the rapidly formed battlefield while Pei had dragged him off to safety. While she spoke, he seemed to be elsewhere mentally but nodded after each statement. He let her do her medical work as needed without much resistance, simply breathing and watching as she worked. When she warned him about the pain soon to follow, the dark skinned hobo chuckled breathily albeit clearly still feeling some discomfort.

“Don’ werry dallin’. Dem don’ be da first bullets to scratch this old rock.”

Still, he winced when it was time for the last bit. Digging through his beat up trench coat, he pulled out a vape and put it to his lips. Suddenly, his eyes clicked back across the harbor when the sound of several bullets bouncing off metal came. 

“Thank you lot fur ya help.”

Was all he said before taking a long drag, and sighing out smoke.

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Metamorph was uncharacteristically quiet during this recon mission. Although their mission this time was simply to watch the transaction, something felt off about the situation. Something within him felt agitated, especially as he’d been paired with Quiver. His codename may have changed, and his methods, but the young lion recognized his scent and mannerisms. Ja recalled that Talon was Young Justice’s first field leader…That Ja had failed him during that first mission, when he’d gotten spotted. Ja recalled that soon after Mirage’s outburst, Talon had left. When the team was nearing its lowest, he was nowhere to be found…

Forgiveness and kindness was a side of him that he tried his earnest to show to others…Though, some wounds still lingered. Even when Zatara had left and came back, which wasn’t as long, the bushbaby felt the pain of a loss. To have to leave was one thing; To willingly abandon them was another. These were all the thoughts that had culminated in these moments when his mind had time to wander.

All, until this point, that had kept him from physically sneaking around to try shaking off the feeling were two things. The first was his long instilled training. The second, and probably more effective, were the snacks that the team had brought along. Daphne more or less always brought snacks for the ride to wherever they were going, though for this particular mission, some…none of his stayed on the jet.

Though, they weren’t infinite, and just as he was to run out the situation quickly escalated. His ears perked up as he caught another, foreign voice. An innocent was mixed in among the gangsters and gunfire. His eyes shifted to Quiver as his mind rolled on what they were meant to do. Clearly the shootout could have been a possibility, even if the civilian wasn’t there, and their instructions were to watch. Metamorph’s reasoning behind the order was that they were likely to follow one or both gangs to their hideouts.

Yet, as the situation got messier, the line in which they were meant to act did the same. They couldn’t let the innocent person die…His head whipped as a bullet ricocheted and nearly hit Quiver. After seeing the other young hero was alright, given his quip, Metamorph was soon to inform the team about the innocent somewhere in the midst of this, but Rain had caught on as well. Not only that, he shockingly gave them the order to betray the mission objective in favor of helping Talos subdue the gunmen.

With the situation being rash enough for even Viktor to ‘go rogue’, Metamorph took a breath. Watching as Quiver went off into action, he made a crucial decision. That if for whatever reason…their superiors came down on them for this, he would rather face punishment with his teammates than praise without them. Thus, when the others went into action, Metamorph followed suit. 

Effortlessly vaulting atop the half open container they were hiding in, the Meta’s suit shifted from the sandy tones of a caracal to gain some height on his jump, to the green and white of a hummingbird to hover in the air above the battle. As he’d done many times in training training, since he could fly, he was the one to use a bird’s eye view to see where support was most needed.

So far, Talos was covered by Nymph, Cora, and Zatara as they were wrangling criminals. Iceburn and Rain were swiftly on the task of dealing with the innocent, raggedly dressed man who clearly had gotten injured to some extent during the firefight. 

In the current circumstances, the only outliers were himself, Quiver, and Kassy with Cybergirl, likely to move to action. For now, he focused on his partner who had taken one of the men aside. If Metamorph was given a guess, Quiver took the task of interrogating the man. However, the Meta wasn’t the only one keeping an eye on him, as he caught sight of a thug aiming a pistol at Quiver.

Dive-bombing to the space between them, the Prince of the Red guessed the man’s aim. On landing, Iwisa’s gauntlets deflected a bullet intended for his teammate. Seemingly in disbelief, several more shots clapped from the weapon, but they too were defended no matter where the man had aimed. When ammo had run out, the gangster decided that it was his time to run out too. Metamorph wasn’t so sure about his chances after turning his back to a predator. 

Yet, just as he was going to give chase, Ja stumbled to a stop. A tinge of fear dropped down his spine, before the rest of his body dropped to his knees. Holding his head, all he could do was scream.

[b][color=goldenrod]”GRAAA[/color][color=orange]AAA[/color][color=#ff4500]A[/color][color=red]AAHH!!!”[/color][/b]