Young Justice 2.16

Complications

Kaldur'ahm has been restored but he continues to pretend in order to protect M'Gann from his father, Black Manta. Artemis, Miss Martian, and Aqualad need a way out. They know that Kaldur can only continue to play brain dead for but so long. Black Manta punctuates the situation by giving Miss Martian 24 hours to cure his or he will kill her.

Nightwing, Dr. Fate, and Captain Atom arrive on War World to find out what happened. Blue Beetle and Green Beetle are the only ones still there. Blue Beetle tells them that the others disappeared through a Boom Tube that opened beneath the group. Nightwing accepts Blue's story and sends the Beetles back to Earth.

Gamemaster and Cheshire sneak aboard Black Manta's submarine. They are there for revenge, there to kill Aqualad and Black Manta. The split up and search for their prey individually. Cheshire finds the room where Aqualad and Miss Martian are located. Tigress was with them but she took a break after getting Deathstroke's permission to do so.

All hell breaks loose pretty quickly. Miss Martian tries to explain that Artemis is still alive but can't get a word in edgewise with Cheshire. She destroys the security camera as she fights Cheshire but still can't get Artemis' sister to listen to or believe her. Gamemaster goes after Black Manta who proves to be a pretty tough opponent.

Tigress goes to the control room where she deactivates the inhibitor collar that M'Gann has around her neck. She heads back to the room but runs into Black Manta and Sportsmaster. Black Manta orders her to deal with Sportsmaster while he goes to protect Kaldur'ahm.

Nightwing remains on War World and looks around. He notices that the airlock's controls are damaged. He finds one of Robin's Birdarangs. He notices that it has traces of Blue Beetle on it but he isn't sure what to make of that.

Miss Martian, who is now back to full strength, takes control of the situation and in a split second reveals to Sportsmaster and Cheshire what is going on. Cheshire accepts the news but Sportsmaster does not. It isn't until Tigress uses a move on him that he taught Artemis that he accepts that she is still alive.

Sportsmaster is happy enough to play along with the ruse now that he knows about Artemis and Aqualad's mission to infiltrate the Light. Cheshire feels the same way. Artemis and Aqualad need to maintain their cover and there is only one way to do that. They need to make their fights with Miss Martian and Tigress look convincing.

Deathstoke boards Manta's submarine and joins the fight. He goes toe to toe with Sportsmaster but doesn't get the chance to finish it. Miss Martian interferes. She conceals the fact that for the moment she is working on the same side as Sportsmaster and Cheshire. She gives them enough time to get away and then slips away herself.

The episode ends with Nightwing back in Bludhaven, watching a press conference at the United Nations. The Reach ambassador thank the Blue Beetle for saving the Earth from War World. He then gives Blue Beetle a chance to speak. Nightwing snaps Robin's birdarang in half as he watches Blue Beetle express gratitude to the Reach.

Thoughts

I shouldn't have stayed away so long. This is a really good episode. I loved the focus on the situation in Black Manta's submarine. I thought the fights and reveals were very well handled. They couldn't keep that situation on hold forever. I thought that they were going to end Artemis and Aqualad's undercover mission and was a bit surprised when they did not.