"My name is William Taurey," the old man said. His voice was both booming and commanding. "Zola told you he had been commissioned. I commissioned him . . . for work in the Imperial Forces of America!"

"Imperial Forces . . . ?" Impulse pondered.

The members of Young Justice stood ready to act. They had just broke house-arrest to investigate the changes in Wonder Girl's powers. They were unprepared for this.

Taurey stood amongst a group of nine monsters and a troop of heavily armed green-and-gold covered soldiers. They were in front of the team. Behind them was Arnim Zola, the Bio Fanatic and several more monsters.

"Caught between a rock and a hard place . . . " Robin said to himself. He stood with his bo-staff ready, his body tensed. He wasn't expecting this. Wonder Girl's powers had recently mutated, revealing themselves to be ionic in nature, which was not what she believed. It appeared she had been given the powers by Zola as part of a twisted experiment to create a super-human army for the Imperial Forces.

Robin: The sidekick to the Dark Knight, Batman, he has no super-powers. Instead, he's been trained by the world's greatest detective and is near the peak of physical perfection!

Superboy: His origin unknown, he controlled tactile telekinesis which gave him flight, super strength and invulnerability!

Impulse: Bart could move at incredible speeds and even become intangible! But, unfortunately, often times his body moved too fast for his brain.

Arrowette: Cissie-King Jones had an uncanny eye, and was quite possibly one of the best archers alive.

Jade: Jennifer Lynn-Haden had green skin and hair, but also the ability to create and control objects with her own force of will!

Wonder Girl: Cassie Sandsmark can fly, is invulnerable and has super strength. But now that her powers are ionic, is there more to it?

Cannonball: Sam Guthrie is a mutant who can blast off at incredible speeds, flying while protected by an invulnerable blast field. Recently, he died. Then he got better. It's situations like these, with manipulator like Arnim Zola, that really make him wonder . . .

Magik: Illyana Rasputin was a mystery to everyone, even herself. The adopted daughter of a hellish realm called Limbo, she controlled stepping discs which allowed her to teleport, as well as the ability to call upon a weapon called the SoulSword. Every time she summoned it, however, more and more mystical armor appeared on her. What would happen when it finally encased her completely?

Firebird: Linda Danvers was a founding member of the team who had only recently returned. Her powers had recently gone through an amazing boost, the limits of which had not been tested.

"You have two choices," Taurey continued. "You can surrender. Turn the ionic girl over to us, where she rightly belongs . . . and we shall let you live."

"Fat chance," Arrowette answered.

"Very well . . . choice two," he smiled. "Elite Troops! Brute Force! Destroy them all!"

"YJ! By the numbers!" Robin called. "There's easily three to four of them on one of us . . . use their numbers against 'em!"

"Assuming you live long enough," said Watchfire, a monster bursting with flame. He hurled a fireball at Robin.

"Back off," Firebird said, using her telekinesis to redirect the attack. "If you're gonna use flame, you should know that I'm the Flamebird!"

"This isn't so hard," Superboy said, pounding into the floor and releasing a telekinetic shockwave that took down three armed guards.

"Not against those weaklings," Charcoal said. He, and Fieldstone both stood tall, black and rocky. They leapt at Kon and began pounding.

Cannonball blasted off, but soon found himself trapped in a strange substance he couldn't blast out of. "W-what?"

"I see you've met Loblolly," Hoarfrost grinned. "She'll crush you to death. Me, I'll just freeze dry one of your companions!"

"I'd like to see ice survive next to intense heat," Jade said. She created a cocoon around Hoarfrost quickly. "Now to make this work . . . "

Watchfire took aim once more at Robin, but Jade quickly used her force of will to send the cocoon in front of him. The heat was magnified inside the green bubble enough to take Hoarfrost out of the game.

"I'm on top of things, ain't I?" she smiled to herself.

"No, you're not," the small Fizgig spoke. She had flown quickly to Jade's side and gave her an intense electric shock.

"Stand still!" Hoopsnake yelled as he chased after Impulse. "Just let me get my hands on yoop--!"

Hoopsnake found himself tied in knots, due to his chasing Impulse, and Bart's maneuvering. Impulse charged forward and delivered a super-speed assault of punches to his face.

"Like to see how good you do without those guns!" Arrowette yelled, firing a volley of arrows at the Elite Troops, smashing their guns.

Ingot leapt into the fray, counting on her metallic body to protect her against Magik's sword. She had no idea of it's mystical energies, however, and was soon disposed of.

Robin tossed a robinwing here, swung his bo-staff there, and basically leapt to and from the Elite Guards, doing his best to trip them up and keep them on the defensive. Neither side has a real lead yet . . . it's a good thing the team's been itching for some action since they got grounded . . . or else I don't think we could keep this up!

"Let him GO!" Wonder Girl yelled, slamming a powerful ionic fist into Fieldstone, partially shattering his chest and sending him flying from his attack position.

"Thanks, Wondy," Superboy replied, using the moment's hesitation to do the same to Charcoal.

"Raaa!" Scarum yelled, leaping onto the floor. He smashed it beneath him, causing Arrowette and Jade to fall to the next level with him. "Scarum KILL!"

"Hardly!" Arrowette yelled, firing a gas arrow at his mouth.

Jade acted quickly, creating a bubble around his head to keep the gas in. "Looks like the tide is turning our way. We might pull this off yet!"

"Like there was any doubt," Arrowette grinned as Jade created a platform beneath them to lift them both back into the fray. But as they left, they failed to notice a pair of glowing eyes watch them go.

"You think yourself unbeatably, Loblolly?" Magik asked. "You shall release Sam Guthrie, and spend the rest of your misbegotten existence in my own personal Hell!"

A wave of her SoulSword, and Loblolly was teleported away to Limbo. Sam remained, virtually unharmed. "Thanks, 'Yana . . . "

"This is bad," Watchfire said, watching Robin, Superboy and Impulse tear through the last few Elite Guards. He had seen Charcoal go down earlier . . . and not get up. He flared up even more, pouring flames down on his foes. "They won't get me!"

"Zola!" William Taurey demanded. "Do something!"

"My monsters have been defeated as well!" the Bio-Fanatic spoke. "Super hero types always meddle in my affairs. But this time I am prepared!"

Wonder Girl flew through Watchfire's flame attack, eventually decking him with all her might and taking him out of the fight.

"Fizgig!" Zola ordered. "Now!"

Robin turned to the tiny, sparking woman. "Eh?"

She spoke. "Fizgig . . . detonate!"

The creature exploded, releasing an enormous amount of electric energy. While it took her out of the fight, it took down the members of Young Justice as well.

"Quickly, Zola!" Taurey yelled. "Kill them now, while they're weakened!"

"No!" a voice called out. A young Asian girl leapt from the hole in the floor caused by Scarum. "No more death!"

"Who?" Zola asked. "It's the girl! The latest working experiment!"

"You call that a jolt?" Hallie Takahama asked. Her eyes began to burst with electric energy. "This . . . this is a jolt!"

She sent an intense burst of voltage into the floor, shocking Taurey and Zola big time. "That . . . . . . that was a j-jolt . . . "

Superboy was the first up, being mostly protected from the assault. "Wow . . . that was smooth, girl."

"I . . . I . . . " she panted.

"I'm Superboy," Kon replied, holding out his hand.

"Hallie . . . " she answered, nervously accepting his hand and slightly shocking him.

"Some power you've got," he said. "Were you another one of Zola's . . . experiments?"

Hallie nodded her head, on the verge of crying. "Y-yeah . . . but when you guys showed up . . . and the fighting started . . . I thought . . . maybe . . . just maybe . . . I had a chance."

The rest of Young Justice had regrouped themselves.

"You'll be all right now, miss," Robin said. "We'll get you out of here . . . find you some help."

"But . . . but," Cassie frowned. "I'm still confused. How did Zola do this to me? How could my mom not know it had happened?"

"I dunno," Superboy shrugged. "Let's ask Zola--Hey! He's gone!"

"Him and Taurey," Arrowette frowned. "Those rats."

"And didn't he say he had twelve successes?" Robin asked. "There were nine in the Brute Force . . . You two make eleven . . . who's number twelve?"

"A mystery for another day, Ah reckon," Sam said, rubbing the back of his head. "But we should probably get goin', too. Reddy might have noticed we're gone, and this place might be booby trapped."

"Uhh . . . anyone hear ticking?" Impulse asked.

"Ticking?" Jade asked.

"Yeah!" Bart replied. "Over there!"

He sped off and then returned, quickly, with something in his hands. "What is it?"

"Bart!" Robin yelled. "It's a bomb--!"

* * KABOOM! * *