She sits inside her cell. She's nervous. Afraid. All day, all night, the only thing she really hears are the screams. They're screams of children. She knows it. She's only fifteen . . . she shouldn't be here. Bad things aren't supposed to happen to good girls, right? Then why is she here? At random times, she experiences the reasons for the screaming. When cruel monsters come for her, drag her to her cell, and take her to some lab. A lab where she's experimented on. And the experiments . . . they don't stop. Will she ever be let go? Will it ever end? Will she ever see her mom and dad, her boyfriend, her dog, ever again?

It's those thoughts and more that constantly run through the head of Hallie Takahama. She only hopes that, somehow, sometime . . . someone will come to rescue her.

Impulse sped back and forth, playing Ping-Pong by himself. He was bored. Just like most of the team.

"Take that! Oh yeah, right back at ya! Umph! Ha! Hey, careful! Keep it down! D'oh!" Impulse ranted off. "I lost. But hey, I won, too . . . "

Superboy smacked his head after seeing that display. "This is driving me crazy . . . I need some action. Either that, or I need to be like Wonder Girl and have nothing else to do but recover from his crazy injury."

"Results are conclusive," the Red Tornado nodded. "My theory was true. Wonder Girl's powers are completely ionic in origin. The radiation she absorbed from her battle with Firestar must have destabilized her ionic cohesion, causing the disruption of her powers that caused the explosion and fire."

"Is she a danger to herself or others?" Robin asked cautiously.

"I am not certain," the Tornado answered. "Her body has slowly begun to draw the ions back into herself, but I do not know how well they will stay contained if she uses her powers. We will not know if she is safe, really, unless she is thoroughly tested in battle."

"Then if you'd un-ground us," Arrowette frowned.

"It is a necessary precaution, Arrowette," the Tornado frowned. "I will lift the house arrest when I feel sufficient time has passed. Young Justice is still figuring predominately in the media, and many question whether or not you truly are heroes."

"Well, what about the origin of her powers that she told us?" Robin asked. "She told us that, after demonstrating her courage, the Norse God Odin gave her her powers, and she took the name Wonder Girl as an homage to Wonder Man, her favorite super-hero."

"Strangely, Wonder Man's powers are supposed to be ionic as well," the Tornado pondered. "There is definitely more going on here than we know."

"So . . . how do we find it out?" Cissie asked.

"I've got an idea," Robin snapped his fingers. "Sure, it's a long shot . . . but Oracle, when she alerted me to Cassie's situation with the fire, it was because of the unique readings she got when the ionic energies overloaded. Chances are, whatever or whoever gave her these powers would be emanating the same energy readings."

"That is one heckuva long shot," Cissie frowned. "Cassie got her powers in January of '99. Maybe a few days after she got her powers . . . assuming it actually wasn't from Odin . . . "

"Well, maybe whoever did it is still in the same business?" Robin asked. "Either way, it's worth a try. I'll get Oracle on it right away."

As Robin left, Cissie pondered. Last night I had so much fun . . . as the Spoiler, Robin and I have no problems hanging out together, and we've become tight . . . as tight as two people with secret identities can get. I know it's wrong, and I should be mad . . . but I did kinda set him up for it. And he still doesn't know she's me.

"Cissie?" Cassie asked from her bed.

"Yeah, Cass?" she asked.

"What's the verdict?" Cassie asked again. Her strength was mostly recovered.

"We don't know yet," Cissie frowned. "But we'll find out soon."

Inside were Jennifer-Lynn Haden, a.k.a. Jade, and Sam Guthrie, a.k.a. Cannonball. The two were a couple. (Yeah, they admit it now.) And as such, they were spending a lot of their forced vacation together.

A knock came on the door. "Sam? Can I come in?"

It was Superboy, and before being given permission, Kon-El walked in. "Oh, sorry . . . didn't know you had company."

Sam slid the emerald green beauty off of his lap, blushing slightly. "No prob, Kon . . . what can Ah do fer ya?"

"Well, it's about . . . " he started, then looked over his shoulder. "It's about Illyana."

"What about her?" Sam asked, a frown growing on his face. Jade sat silent, as she found herself doing often.

"Well, ever since that whole Limbo thing, she's been, well . . . different," he answered. "She's closed herself off even more to the rest of us . . . and I think she's been ditching out on House Arrest. And, well . . . I'm worried."

Sam nodded. "Ah'm worried, too. But there's nothin' we can do. She'll get like that sometimes . . . she usually works it out. Just gotta give her some time is all. And some trust."

"Alright," Superboy shrugged. "Just thought I'd express my concern."

Sam nodded as Kon started to work out. "Kon? Just outta curiosity, why exactly did you come to me for this?"

"Well," Kon replied, rubbing the back of his head, "you've known her longer than anyone, I guess. And you're both mutants, maybe that's a sort of bond, I dunno. And I guess, next to Robin, you're probably the guy in charge."

"You mean, you don't consider yourself the second leader?" Jade finally spoke up.

"I used to," Superboy shrugged. "But Sam's better at it. But anyways . . . I'm gonna go now. 'Kay?"

Superboy walked out, leaving the two alone.

"Got it," Robin spoke aloud. "You're positive? Alright, thanks Oracle."

"So what's the news?" Arrowette asked, standing in the doorway. On the main viewer was a large map of New York State, and one little part was highlighted.

"I've found a place emitting an almost identical energy signature as the one Cassie released," he answered. "There's tons of other energy signatures there, though, too, so I'm not too positive."

"When do we leave?" Cissie asked.

"We don't," he answered. "I'm going to check it out. You're still under house arrest."

"But this is YJ business," Cissie frowned. "We should all go."

"Sorry," Robin replied. "That's the way the game is played. Besides, we do need more time for the media to calm down about us. Anyways, I'll call back if I find anything."

With that Robin headed out to the Super Cycle, knowing it would get him where he wanted to go quickly. But he left the location up on the monitor. Cassie eyed the information carefully before heading towards Sam's quarters . . .

The group nodded.

"The 'Cycles' gone, so we'll fly it out," Cannonball answered. "Now let's--"

"Going without me?" Magik asked.

"Where were you?" Superboy asked. "Impulse looked all over . . . "

"I was . . . elsewhere," she shrugged. "But I'm ready to go on this mission. If Wonder Girl can go, certainly I can."

"Alright," Sam nodded. He gave Magik the coordinates of where they were headed. "Think you can 'port us?"

"Not a problem," she smiled. Even as she spoke, the blue light of her teleportation disc rose from the ground and covered the team.

Teleportation, however, is not instantaneous. She always has to make a stop in Limbo. Sometimes she stays for longer. But not this particular time. However, if she would have stayed a little longer, she may have noticed something different. The almost . . . metallic feel the certain areas. She might have noticed a spreading techno-organic virus . . .

[[Techno-Organic? How could something techno-organic be in Limbo? Well, maybe if you look real carefully in YJ #4 & 5 . . . -Paul ;)]]

"This is the place," Arrowette replied. "And here he comes . . . "

Arrowette's keen eyesight had let her spot Robin's approach and decent on the Super Cycle. He landed quickly right before the team.

"You've got to be kidding me," Robin frowned. "You're not really here, are you?"

"We are," Sam answered. "This is YJ business. And we're tired o' bein' sidelined."

"If there's something here that has to do with my powers, I want to know about it," Wonder Girl replied.

"Come on, Rob," Superboy grinned. "We're already here. Might as well let us help out."

Robin sighed. "The Tornado's gonna have my head . . . "

"So far, so good," Cannonball said, looking around.

"Maybe Impulse should scout ahead?" Superboy asked.

Robin nodded. "But be careful and cautious."

Impulse was already gone before the words had left Robin's mouth. He sighed.

"You okay, Cassie?" Linda asked.

"No," she answered. "But I'll manage long enough to get to the bottom of this."

Cissie and Jenn frowned. Their best friends, Cassie and Linda, respectively, had both recently undergone traumatic experiences. Yet there they were, swinging back into action so quickly.

A gush of wind signaled Impulse's return.

"Find anything?" Sam asked.

"Oh yeah," Impulse nodded. "And it's not pretty."

"Lead the way!" Superboy exclaimed.

"Okay," Impulse replied. He vibrated his body at an incredible speed, becoming intangible, and sped through the wall on the team's left.

Robin sighed again. "Follow him!"

Superboy, Cannonball, Wonder Girl, Jade and Firebird all smashed through the wall, completely demolishing it.

"Sure, don't save any for me," Cissie frowned.

"Oh my Lord . . . " Magik's jaw dropped. Behind the wall were dozens of monsters, screaming at them. Was it fear? Hatred? Pain?

"Someone is here," Wonder Girl gaped. "And whoever it is is sick and twisted!"

"YJ, hit 'em!" Robin ordered. "But don't kill 'em! I have a hunch that these monsters may be innocent victims!"

"Victims?" Superboy asked as he flew into a crowd of monsters, punching. "How'd'ya figure?"

"What if they're experiments?" Robin asked. "What if they're all failed experiments? And Cassie's the one that worked?"

"That's so sick . . . so twisted!" Arrowette replied, firing a pair of gas arrows.

Jade created a solid green barrier to trap four monsters and keep them from entering the fight. She created a pair or large wrecking balls and, with a thought, flung them at more monsters.

"Who's behind this?" Wonder Girl asked. "I demand to know!"

Firebird sent an energy blast into a pair of monsters. It was stronger than intended, however, and sent them flying into a far wall, smashing it and bringing it down.

"Great googly moogly!" Impulse yelled.

The destroyed wall revealed another room, and the . . . man(?) . . . behind it all?

"Who?" Sam asked.

"I am Arnim Zola . . . the Bio-Fanatic!" the man yelled. It was hardly a man. He had a robotic body, and a big TV screen of a far on its chest.

"Who?" Sam asked again.

"I know of him," Robin replied. "He's an old war criminal from World War II, one of Hitler's greatest scientists. The original Captain America and Bucky went up against him several times. I didn't know he was still alive."

"Of course I'm still alive," Zola answered. "I did not merely study genetics . . . I mastered them! I control evolution! I am God!"

"Ah've been praisin' God mah whole life, an Ah'll be damned if you're Him," Cannonball replied, rocketing past Zola and knocking him back.

"Spill it, Zola," Robin demanded. "We want answers!"

"Why, all you had to do was ask," Zola replied as his monsters continued the losing battle. "I was commissioned to create a new army of super powered beings. What you are fighting are my failures. "It's a pity I've only had twelve successes. Cassie Sandsmark was my first."

"No!" Wonder Girl yelled, her body beginning to glow blue and red with ionic energy. "I was given my powers by a Norse God!"

"Sadly, no," Zola answered. "You, I had created before being commissioned, and I had sought to use you as an agent to go out into the world. So I created the false memory of how you gained your powers . . . but then there were a few kinks, and you weren't loyal to me like I had wanted. So I figured I'd retrieve you, but then I got a little busy."

"Well, we're here to take you down," Cannonball replied. "And down you'll go!"

"Not quite," another voice commanded from behind the team.

"Eh?" Robin turned. Behind them was several dozen men in green and yellow armor carrying large guns. There were nine more monster like creatures, but these all stood at attention. And then there was one older man standing amongst them.

"My name is William Taurey," the man said. "Zola told you he had been commissioned. I commissioned him . . . for work in the Imperial Forces of America!"