273 Chapter 268: Bait Part 8

After being given instructions, the Junior Justice League, using Megan's ship, took off from Mt. Justice toward the La Maz, Mexico. Within the ship, the atmosphere was quite tense as everyone sat in silence. 

This was only changed when Artemis spoke up in a tone of concern, saying, "Are you sure everything's going to be okay with just us and not the entire league there first?"

 "What do you mean? Are you getting cold feet? Look, if you don't want to come, you could have just said so and we would've left you. No one's forcing you to do anything." Robin, driven by the thoughts of avenging his friend, snapped at Artemis and spoke in a tone of clear anger, prompting Aqualad to quickly intervene. 

"I don't think that's what she means, Robin. She is right, though. Let us not forget that if it is indeed Kid Flash and Green Lantern's killer, then we're no match for him. Even Superman couldn't stop him."

Artemis, seeing Aqualad better explain the points she was trying to put across, also snapped at Robin. "That's what I'm trying to say, but you're too caught up in your emotions to see that. Look, no one is happy about what happened-." 

Before Artemis could finish her sentence, Robin bluntly interrupted, saying, "You are though right? Now that I think about it, you didn't really look that hurt when you heard the news."

"Robin, that's enough!" Aqualad, in a rare instance, raised his voice in clear anger as well. Although he could greatly understand the emotions of his friend, he knew he was taking them too far.

Artemis looked at Robin with narrowed, seething eyes, but she too simply crossed her arms and turned her head away from him. Megan, steering the ship, simply bit her lip in anxiousness, feeling too scared to comment on the situation and just hoping everyone could get along. Zatanna only looked at the scene from the corner of her eyes but also avoided commenting.

The rest of the flight proceeded in silence, without anyone uttering so much as a word. But as they approached the destination, the ship's comms went online as Martian Manhunter communicated to them again. "Megan stop." He suddenly urged in an incredibly serious tone. 

Megan didn't hesitate to do so midair, before worryingly asking, "What's wrong uncle J'onn?"

To which he replied, "Superman and The Flash have arrived on the scene, and they have indeed confirmed that Kid Flash and Green Lantern's killer is there. Superman has insisted that it's too dangerous for you to come within visible distance as we aren't sure just what that individual is capable of or what he is planning."

Megan noticed something odd as her uncle was speaking and immediately made it known on. "You sound especially worried. What's going on?"

Martian Manhunter sighed regrettably as he revealed, "Green Arrow has been found dead at the scene."

*!!*

Everyone showed expressions of shock, but it was Artemis who was the most shocked. She moved toward Megan and shoved her away from the piloting seat, taking the controls and steering the ship forward.

"Artemis, no, wait!" Aqualad quickly got out of his seat and tried to reach Artemis, but it was too late as she had brought the ship into view of the harbor.

There, they themselves could see the scene occurring with Superman and The Flash standing just a few meters away from the individual who killed Kid Flash, Green Lantern, and now Green Arrow.

"Artemis, what are you- *thump!*" before Megan could finish saying this, the entire ship jerked violently as Arias began to speak, saying to the confused Superman and Flash before him, "Oh, it seems you brought quite the company."

Having stated this, both The Flash and Superman looked in the direction Arias had turned his head, only to see the ship the Junior Justice League team was in. The feeling of urgency immediately sprung up within the mind of Superman. 

The entire reason he hadn't immediately attacked, despite arriving on the scene and finding Oliver dead, was because he knew to be cautious of the being before him, not knowing the full extent of his power. Now, things were different. Without knowing what he'd do next, Superman had no choice but to react. 

His figure immediately hovered off the ground with immense force, causing a minor *boom!* to occur as the ground beneath him completely shattered. Then, in a burst of speed, he flew forward, breaking the sound barrier in mere seconds, as he shot himself toward Arias with his fist ready.

*BOOM!* A loud boom occurred, and an even stronger shockwave resonated on the area, throwing Flash off balance and causing him to tumble on the ground. 

He quickly raised his head to look up toward Superman, but his expression fell when he saw that Superman's fist was casually being held in Arias's palm, stopped before he could hit, like it was nothing, all while the ship belonging to the Young Justice League team was hovering closer.

Superman didn't know it, but he was yet again in an instance in which he could very easily be killed. But unlike Oliver, his uses were yet to run out, so instead, Arias tightened the grip on Superman's fist before raising his entire body off the ground like a ragdoll, slamming him into the ground. *BAM!*

He then immediately released Superman's hand, but before Superman could even start to recover, Arias stomped on his chest, causing the entire harbor to quake, as cracks started to appear, with some areas even breaking off into the sea.

Superman felt immense pain rush throughout his body, unbeknownst to him; this entire spectacle was simply to push forward Arias's plans and further misdirect his enemies. He was simply that insignificant at this moment, upon whom Arias could use as he so wished.

Seeing Superman get stomped, Flash immediately broke into a sprint and was ready to attack Arias. Yet again, The Flash stood no chance, but luckily for him, his presence was also still needed. So instead, Arias backhanded him and caused him to fly into the sea as if he were an annoying mosquito.

With that action done, Arias proceeded to raise his head toward the ship before proceeding to begin tearing it apart.