The Hunt

"The Hunt" is the 17th episode of the second season of Young Justice, and the 43rd of the overall series. It aired on February 23, 2013.

Logline
A band of misfits is put to the test when Lex Luthor sends them behind enemy lines… to rescue the team!

Synopsis
The Reach has secretly set up shop inside the Warworld, with the Justice League none the wiser. Black Beetle laments that the Ambassador's refusal to allow an attack on the "Justice Meat" guarding the crystal key chamber has rendered the crystal key useless to the Reach. He places it in a protective storage container, and discusses recent events with the Scientist. He blames Mongul for the loss of most of their invasion fleet, and the humans' discovery of the same. The Scientist assuages his worry, telling him that the Ambassador can find a way to spin this in their favor. Plus, with their capture of substantially the entire Team, Earth's heroes lost much more than the Reach.

In another section of Warworld, Arsenal runs from a squad of Reach soldiers, while exchanging fire. Clearly outgunned, he calls for help from the Team. He throws a smoke grenade, and uses a built-in grappling hook in his artificial arm to get himself to high ground and elude his pursuers. He again radios for help from the Watchtower, but again there was no response.

The Ambassador calls yet another press conference in front of the United Nations building to extol Blue Beetle's heroism and the Reach-Human cooperation. He spins a young girl's question about the Justice League's inaction into a scathing tirade on the League's seeming penchant for attracting outer space bullies to Earth. Not to worry though, he promises that until humanity is ready to assume control of it, the Reach will safeguard and promise not to enter the Warworld, which he calls Earth's new weapon against intergalactic invaders—as a gift to Earth.

The four liberated abductees, Virgil Hawkins, Tye Longshadow, Eduardo Dorado Jr., and Asami Koizumi, destroy things related to the Reach, including signs, posters, a billboard, a delivery truck for the Reach energy drink, and a water tower with Blue Beetle's face on it. After they've had their fun, Lex Luthor calls them on a cellphone, and offers them a way to hit the Reach where it truly hurts.

The cloaked Bio-Ship skims across the surface of the Warworld, evading detection from patrolling Reach ships. Inside the ship, Miss Martian and Nightwing continue their search for the abducted Team members. Miss Martian cannot detect anybody, but it could be due to the Warworld's massive size. Nightwing suggests that they take a break—she's been searching for hours. And even if she can go on, she needs to pace herself because she hasn't completely recovered from her captivity. Nightwing decides to restart their investigation from where the Team disappeared—perhaps they can find a new lead.

Deep inside the Warworld, Arsenal is attempting to hack a console to communicate with the outside world. He is discovered by two patrolling soldiers. He manages to defeat them in the ensuing fight, but his arm runs out of power. He takes one of their stingers, and escapes.

Back in Taos, Luthor has directed the misfits into a safehouse, and gives them a Father Box. He informs them about the capture of the Team, and suggests they use the Father Box to take a boom tube to Warworld and locate Superboy and his teammates. They're initially reluctant to go on the rescue mission, but Virgil convinces them to go. They have the element of surprise, and they owe the Team for rescuing them. Asami takes the Father Box, and after instructions from Luthor, opens a boom tube to the Warworld.

At the Warworld, the four boom into the midst of a group of seven patrolling Reach soldiers. After pretending to surrender, they quickly take down the soldiers in a surprise attack. However, the alarm is raised, and the platoon of reinforcements arrive. They retreat, with the soldiers in hot pursuit.

At another section of the Warworld, Arsenal finishes recharging his bionic arm from another console when he hears the sound of the misfits' running battle with the soldiers. He watches Eduardo creatively take down his pursuers with a well-placed teleport, while Virgil complements Tye's "longshadow" being laser-proof. Tye corrects him—the astral form is laser-resistant—the beams from the stingers still stung him. Asami asks the Father Box to track Superboy, and Arsenal follows them from a distance.

In the docking bay of the Warworld, Nightwing performs another scan of the area. He blames himself for being shortsighted and missing the evidence of Blue Beetle's defection. Miss Martian corrects him—that was her fault, she failed to adequately probe Green Beetle's mind when she had the chance. Nightwing was unconvinced—her reluctance to probe deeply stemmed from her mental lobotomy of Aqualad, and would have been avoided if he had informed her of the plot beforehand.

Miss Martian then comforts Nightwing, telling him that everyone makes mistakes, and both of them have to get over themselves, save the Team, then fix Blue. She reminds Nightwing what his thirteen year-old self was fond of saying: that's just what we do. The pair hear a loud clang, and get into battle positions. A series of familiar bleeps clued them in on the identity of the intruder, and they open the lock for Sphere. Both are ecstatic with the reunion, and Miss Martian asks Sphere if she could take them to Superboy. Sphere responds by changing into the Super-Cycle, evidently to signify the affirmative.

Back on Earth, at the GBS studio's dressing room, the Ambassador prepares for his appearance on the G. Gordon Godfrey show. The scientist informs him of recent developments via holographic communicator, and he authorizes the use of Black Beetle to terminate the runaways and Arsenal with extreme prejudice. Still, the show must go on, and the Ambassador begins his guest appearance on G. Gordon's show after exchanging warm pleasantries with the host. This was, after all, not the Ambassador's first appearance on the show.

Back on the Warworld, the runaways have finally located Superboy. The entire captured Team, Superboy included, are locked in stasis cells. Before they can do anything, Black Beetle attacks them and takes down everyone except the teleporter. Arsenal sneak-attacks Black Beetle, and seals off the room before reinforcements arrive. He tosses a laser stinger to Ed, and instructs him to keep Black Beetle off-balance so they can stand a chance.

On G. Gordon's show, pleasantries abruptly turn into recriminations as Godfrey confronts the Ambassador with his lies. He had claimed that the Reach only had a single weaponless ship, but they actually had an entire armada of warships hidden under Earth's oceans. Godfrey calls the Ambassador a bald-faced liar on national television, and demands to know what other secrets and lies the Reach is hiding.

Back in the stasis chamber, Black Beetle is kept at an impasse by Arsenal and the others. He cannot get close enough to inflict any damage.

On the other side of the door, a boom tube opens behind a pair of soldiers who are observing the battle from a monitor. They are taken by surprise, and are taken out by electrified bolas. Deathstroke steps out of the boom tube, and locates the crystal key. He uses a Father Box to open the key's container.

The runaways take Arsenal's advice, attacking Black Beetle from all directions, keeping him off balance and confused of which one to attack. Meanwhile, Arsenal fumbles with the controls of a stasis cell. Losing patience, he blasts it open with a laser stinger, releasing Mongul. Black Beetle is apoplectic with rage upon seeing Mongul; Mongul himself is not happy upon seeing a Reach agent. Black Beetle abandons his battle, and rushes off to beat Mongul up.

The distraction gives the rescuers a free hand to finish their mission. Arsenal orders the others to free the Team, while he searches for the crystal key. It's missing, but he manages to find Guardian's shield, Wonder Girl's lasso, and the utility belts of Robin and Batgirl. With everyone free and Black Beetle busy with Mongul, he reopens the door he sealed earlier in the fight. Expecting to see a squad of soldiers, they instead see their bodies and Nightwing, Miss Martian and Sphere standing over them. Nightwing debriefs Arsenal on the Team members and the key, but Arsenal recommends a retreat before the Black Beetle/Mongul fight is decided.

The Team boards the cloaked Bio-ship, but Bumblebee tarries a bit—she has something to say. Nightwing compliments the four runaways on their exploits, and tells them they may just join the Team after a debrief. Before they head back, Arsenal wants to talk about Blue Beetle's betrayal, but Bumblebee cuts him off. His opening of the airlock without warning was a move that could have killed the entire team. Arsenal brushes the accusation aside—that move allowed him to escape to liberate the Team, so Bumblebee should thank him instead.

Surprisingly, Nightwing agrees and thanks Arsenal. But he then dismisses Arsenal from the Team. The runaways protest—after all, Arsenal's guidance allowed them to survive Black Beetle and save the day. Nightwing is unmoved. This was not the first time Arsenal intentionally endangered the Team to further his own agenda or guard against his own personal demons. Until Arsenal is proven to be a team player, he has no place on the Team.

The runaways are displeased by Arsenal's dismissal, and offer Arsenal a spot on their team instead. Arsenal accepts, and the five teens take a boom tube back to Earth. Nightwing notices that Asami is using a Father Box, but they teleport out before he could finish his sentence.

The runaways, with Arsenal in tow, teleport into their hideout. Luthor congratulates them on their success, only to notice belatedly that they had brought home a souvenir. Arsenal is not happy to see Luthor's face on the laptop—this was the man responsible for his missing arm and years of refrigeration. He realizes that Luthor used the others to create a distraction so his pawn could spirit the crystal key away. Luthor admits it, but attempts to rationalize it as fulfilling the letter of his promises. Tired of being used, Asami tosses the Father Box on the laptop, and blows both away with a chi blast. Virgil then claims that the group will not abide by the "promises" of others anymore.

Out in the wilderness, on a highway to the mountains illuminated by a starry sky, the five head out for parts unknown.

Title
The title could refer to five separate hunts: the first hunt has the group of misfits, Virgil Hawkins, Tye Longshadow, Eduardo Dorado Jr., and Asami Koizumi, "hunting" down the abducted team members to rescue them from the Reach. The second hunt has Nightwing and Miss Martian doing the same. In the third hunt, the Reach patrols relentlessly try to capture Arsenal. In the fourth, Black Beetle tried to hunt down the misfits. Finally, the fifth is a witch-hunt conducted by G. Gordon Godfrey against the Reach ambassador, where he searched for more lies and inconsistencies and demanded that his quarry explained the same.

Cast and characters
! colspan="3" | Uncredited ! colspan="3" | Non-speaking roles
 * Tim Curry
 * colspan="2" | G. Gordon Godfrey
 * Crispin Freeman
 * colspan="2" | Arsenal
 * Kevin Grevioux
 * colspan="2" | Black Beetle
 * Bryton James
 * colspan="2" | Virgil Hawkins
 * Janice Kawaye
 * colspan="2" | Asami "Sam" Koizumi
 * Phil LaMarr
 * colspan="2" | Reach ambassador
 * Jesse McCartney
 * colspan="2" | Nightwing
 * Danica McKellar
 * colspan="2" | Miss Martian
 * rowspan="2" | Masasa Moyo
 * colspan="2" | Reach scientist
 * colspan="2" | Bumblebee
 * Gregg Rainwater
 * colspan="2" | Tye Longshadow
 * Freddy Rodriguez
 * colspan="2" | Eduardo "Ed" Dorado Jr.
 * Mark Rolston
 * colspan="2" | Lex Luthor
 * rowspan="2" | Masasa Moyo
 * colspan="2" | Reach scientist
 * colspan="2" | Bumblebee
 * Gregg Rainwater
 * colspan="2" | Tye Longshadow
 * Freddy Rodriguez
 * colspan="2" | Eduardo "Ed" Dorado Jr.
 * Mark Rolston
 * colspan="2" | Lex Luthor
 * colspan="2" | Eduardo "Ed" Dorado Jr.
 * Mark Rolston
 * colspan="2" | Lex Luthor
 * colspan="2" | Lex Luthor
 * colspan="3" | Mongul
 * colspan="3" | Mongul
 * colspan="3" | Batgirl
 * colspan="3" | Beast Boy
 * colspan="3" | Blue Beetle
 * colspan="3" | Deathstroke
 * colspan="3" | Despero
 * colspan="3" | Green Arrow
 * colspan="3" | Guardian
 * colspan="3" | Impulse
 * colspan="3" | Plastic Man
 * colspan="3" | Robin
 * colspan="3" | Sphere
 * colspan="3" | Superboy
 * colspan="3" | Tseng Dangun
 * colspan="3" | Wolf
 * colspan="3" | Zatanna
 * colspan="3" | Impulse
 * colspan="3" | Plastic Man
 * colspan="3" | Robin
 * colspan="3" | Sphere
 * colspan="3" | Superboy
 * colspan="3" | Tseng Dangun
 * colspan="3" | Wolf
 * colspan="3" | Zatanna
 * colspan="3" | Superboy
 * colspan="3" | Tseng Dangun
 * colspan="3" | Wolf
 * colspan="3" | Zatanna
 * colspan="3" | Wolf
 * colspan="3" | Zatanna
 * colspan="3" | Zatanna

Continuity

 * This episode follows the events of "War" and "Complications", with the first scene taking place during the events of "Complications".
 * Miss Martian reminds Nightwing of what he said as a 13-year old, "That's just what we do". He said almost the same thing to Zatanna in "Misplaced" to reassure her.
 * When the former Reach abductees encounter Black Beetle, Virgil Hawkins refers to how he had seen Black take down the Team in "Before the Dawn".
 * When criticizing Arsenal's actions, Nightwing refers to the former's actions in "True Colors". Here, Arsenal reveals the presence of Alpha Squad after destroying the laboratory beneath the LexCorp Farms building with explosives, in what was supposed to be a covert operation.

Ratings
"The Hunt" garnered an average of 1,990 million viewers.

Goofs

 * When Karen lost consciousness in "War", she was at her normal size. In the stasis cell, she was inexplicably in her Bumblebee size.

Cultural references

 * The logline refers to the four super-powered, former abductees as "a band of misfits", possibly referencing to the British television show Misfits, which revolves around a group of youngsters sentenced to community service that gain supernatural powers.

Unanswered questions

 * Why has the Ambassador refused to let the Reach drive the Justice League off of the Warworld?
 * What does the Light intend to do with the Warworld's crystal key?

Answered questions

 * Who won the fight between Black Beetle and Mongul? (Answer)