Beneath

"Beneath" is the fifth episode of the second season of Young Justice, and the 31st of the overall series. It aired on May 26, 2012.

Logline
Jaime Reyes searches for a missing friend, while Miss Martian, Batgirl, Bumblebee and Wonder Girl return to Bialya to discover what lies beneath.

Synopsis
Tye Longshadow goes to a bus stop. He then calls Jamie Reyes at home and says he’s had enough of Maurice pushing around. He’s leaving town for Houston but Jamie tells him to wait for him. Tai signs off, saying that he won’t make any promises, and someone grabs him from the shadows. Meanwhile, Jamie transforms into Blue Beetle and flies to the bus depot. The scarab disagrees with his intentions, saying that they have a greater purpose. Jamie arrives and transforms back to his civilian garb, but the clerk says that he just missed the bus to Houston.

The next day, Jamie goes to tai’s home and talks to Tai’s mother, Shelly. She doesn’t know where Tai is and Jamie explains that Tai threatened to run away to Houston. Shelly is seemingly unconcerned and says that Tai and her boyfriend Maurice had another fight. Jamie wonders what kind of disagreement, but Maurice Bodaway comes in before Shelly can answer. Jamie explains why he’s there, but Maurice points out that Jamie is ditching. Jamie says that he’s on a free period, and the scarab telepathically warns Jamie that Maurice is hostile. He accuses Maurice of attacking Tai and the scarab starts to manifest the armor. Jamie restrains it and Shelly ushers Jamie out, saying that Tai is probably with his grandfather, Holling.

Jamie goes to see Holling, who says that he hasn’t seen Tai in a few weeks. He tells Jamie that Tai comes from a line of Mescalero Apache chiefs and is on a journey to find his destiny. The scarab tells Jamie that Holling appears deluded and advises hostile interrogation, but Jamie ignores him and suggests that Maurice is responsible. Holling explains that Maurice was jealous of the role that Tai’s father held in the tribe, and that jealousy has carried over to Tai. However, he insists that Maurice plays no part in either Tai’s vision quest or Jamie’s. Jamie wonders what he means and Holling says that answers will come to Jamie and only then will he make peace with the one inside of him. The scarab tells Jamie to eliminate the old man, but Jamie quiets it down and makes a hasty exit.

Jamie breaks into the tool shed school where Maurice works as a janitor, suspecting that Tai is inside. Maurice catches him and Jamie resists the scarab insisting that they destroy Maurice with a plasma cannon. When Maurice prepares to “teach a lesson” to Jamie, Jamie accuses him of abducting Tai so that he can become chief. Maurice chuckles and explains that he’s only interested in jobs that pay, and Jamie gets past him and opens the shed. He discovers that Maurice has pirated DVDs and games, and Maurice tells him to forget it. He insists that he has no idea where Tai is, and the scarab confirms via voice analysis that Maurice is telling the truth. Jamie prepares to turn in Maurice, but admits that they still don’t know what happened to Tai.

Miss Martian, Bumblebee, Wonder Girl, and Batgirl fly the bioship into Qurac. They’re to sneak behind enemy lines and investigate recent boom tube teleports suggesting that the alien tech came from Apokolips via Qurac. Nightwing informs them that Psimon is still catatonic after his last encounter with Miss Martian. Since Queen Bee can control men’s minds, they’re sending an all-female squad in.

the Alpha Team finds one location with heavy security. They split up to move in, and Wonder Girl is disappointed that they’re leaving her behind because she’s not stealthy enough for reconnaissance. She reluctantly agrees to stay behind and the others go in. Meanwhile, Wonder Girl notices an approaching truck containing several super-powered villains, including Icicle Jr., Mammoth, Shimmer, and Psimon. She can’t telepathically warn the others since Psimon might overhear, so Wonder Girl goes into the hanger where the others are located. Upon finding Miss Martian, they shut down the telepathic link and Miss Martian goes to warn Batgirl while Wonder Girl finds Bumblebee. Wonder Girl goes outside to find Bumblebee, but one of the supervillains, Devastation, spots her and brings her down.

Alarms go off at the hanger and the soldiers mobilize. Icicle Jr. comes over to check on Devastation, who says that Wonder Girl isn’t alone. When Icicle Jr. prepares to blast Wonder Girl, she throws Devastation off and flies off. Meanwhile, Bumblebee enters the air vents and finds Batgirl, who has found a larger underground chamber. They go down and find a huge cavern thousands of years old with an obelisk in the center, and men monitoring control panels around the perimeter. Batgirl scouts around and finds a cargo plane prepped for departure. Nearby are canisters holding dozens of teenagers. Psimon finds her and unleashes a mental blast, knocking her unconscious.

The villains secure Batgirl in one of the canisters over Icicle Jr.’s objections. He warns that Batgirl is a higher-profile victim than the runaways and strays that they’ve been abducting. However, Psimon is aware that Batman is off-planet and doesn’t care regardless. They prepare to take off in the cargo plane, unaware that Bumblebee is hiding and has overheard everything. She flies down the tunnel to the outside landing strip.

Out in the desert, Wonder Girl worries to Miss Martian that she screwed up. Bumblebee arrives and brings them up to speed, and says that she has a plan.The villains secure the cargo and finish refueling. Miss Martian sneaks in and duplicates Shimmer, and then telepathically stuns her. Bumblebee flies into the cargo plane and frees Batgirl, shocking her into waking up. They need her to fly the plane to safety since she’s the only one qualified to fly. Miss Martian seals the hanger doors and Psimon realizes who she is. He telepathically notifies the others and engages Miss Martian in psychic battle, explaining that he only has to hold her attention while the others kill her. However, the plane starts up and Psimon sends the villains after it. Bumblebee tries to delay them while Icicle Jr. closes the hangar door and Devastation breaks into the cockpit. Wonder Girl rips the hangar doors off and then attacks Devastation. Bumblebee stuns Psimon and Miss Martian, freed, knocks out Icicle Jr.

Wonder Girl and Devastation fight and the heroine knocks the villain into Mammoth, throwing them both off the plane. Batgirl is preparing for liftoff when Mammoth throws a forklift into the plane’s wings. It goes out of control and plummets out the hangar doors and down the cliff. Wonder Girl and Miss Martian try to slow it down without success and then summon the bioship to grab the fuselage and pull it away just in time.

Later Queen Bee worries that the loss of the cargo could have undermined their credibility... if they didn’t have a second shipment. Among their captives is Tai.

Nightwing confirms that Psimon telepathically convinced the doctors that he was there. Miss Martian confirmed via telepathically scanning Shimmer that Queen Bee was acting as a middle man, providing abductees to an unknown partner. They were all kidnapped after the destruction of Malina Island, and they realize that they don’t know who the new Partner is. Nightwing assures the team that the mission was a success even if they don’t have all the answers.

Cast and characters
! colspan="3"| Non-speaking roles
 * Irene Bedard
 * Shelly Longshadow
 * Robert Beltran
 * Maurice Bodaway
 * Diane Delano
 * Devastation
 * Michael Horse
 * colspan="1"| Holling Longshadow
 * rowspan="2"| Eric Lopez
 * colspan="2"| Blue Beetle
 * colspan="2"| Scarab
 * Yuri Lowenthal
 * colspan="2"| Icicle Jr.
 * Jesse McCartney
 * colspan="2"| Nightwing
 * Danica McKellar
 * colspan="2"| Miss Martian
 * Masasa Moyo
 * colspan="2"| Bumblebee
 * Gregg Rainwater
 * colspan="1"| Tye Longshadow
 * Marina Sirtis
 * colspan="2"| Queen Bee
 * Alyson Stoner
 * colspan="2"| Batgirl
 * Alan Tudyk
 * colspan="2"| Psimon
 * Mae Whitman
 * colspan="2"| Wonder Girl
 * colspan="2"| Miss Martian
 * Masasa Moyo
 * colspan="2"| Bumblebee
 * Gregg Rainwater
 * colspan="1"| Tye Longshadow
 * Marina Sirtis
 * colspan="2"| Queen Bee
 * Alyson Stoner
 * colspan="2"| Batgirl
 * Alan Tudyk
 * colspan="2"| Psimon
 * Mae Whitman
 * colspan="2"| Wonder Girl
 * colspan="2"| Batgirl
 * Alan Tudyk
 * colspan="2"| Psimon
 * Mae Whitman
 * colspan="2"| Wonder Girl
 * Mae Whitman
 * colspan="2"| Wonder Girl
 * colspan="3" | Mammoth
 * colspan="3" | Shimmer
 * colspan="3" | Shimmer
 * colspan="3" | Shimmer

Continuity

 * Nightwing alludes to the destruction of Malina Island, which happened in "Alienated". He suspects that the bomb that was used may have been smuggled through a boom tube, which was Superboy's theory in "Salvage".
 * Nightwing also states that Psimon has been in a catatonic state since his last skirmish with Miss Martian. The last documented encounter between them took place in "Image", where Miss Martian bested Psimon. However, given the five year time skip, they could have had other run-ins.
 * Icicle Jr. refers to previous fights between Psimon and Miss Martian, as shown in "Bereft" and "Image".
 * Psimon mentions that Batman is out of the picture; he left the planet with the other accused Leaguers at the end of "Alienated".
 * Icicle Jr. still carries a grudge against Miss Martian after she deceived him in "Terrors".

Trivia

 * This is the first episode in the series in which Superboy does not appear, even in a non-speaking role.
 * Tye Longshadow's physical appearance and ethnic background allude to Apache Chief, a character in Super Friends, while his surname alludes to the Justice League Unlimited character Long Shadow, who was based on Apache Chief. Long Shadow was voiced by Gregg Rainwater, who also voices Tye.

Goofs

 * In the Longshadow house, a shotgun above the door disappears and reappears between shots.

Cultural references

 * Upon seeing the underground cave, Bumblebee alludes to Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

Unanswered questions

 * How did Psimon recover from his catatonic state?
 * How and when did Devastation, Mammoth, Shimmer, and Icycle Jr. escape from Belle Reve?
 * Why does the Partner want human abductees?