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
After recklessly skateboarding to the bus depot, Tye Longshadow calls Jaime Reyes at home to explain that he's running away. He's had enough of Maurice pushing him around, and plans to take the bus to Houston. Jaime tells him to wait for him at the statue of Cochise, but Tye makes no promises and ends the call. He walks over to the statue, but someone grabs him from the shadows. His skateboard rolls behind a bench.

Meanwhile, Jaime transforms into Blue Beetle and flies to the bus depot. The Scarab disagrees with his intentions, saying that they have a greater purpose than this. Jaime arrives and transforms back to his civilian clothing, but the clerk informs him that he just missed the bus to Houston.

Miss Martian, Bumblebee, Wonder Girl, and Batgirl fly the Bio-Ship into Qurac. They're to sneak behind enemy lines and investigate recent boom tube transports suggesting that the alien tech from the bomb on Malina Island came from Apokolips via Qurac. Nightwing informs them that Psimon is still catatonic after his last encounter with Miss Martian. Since Queen Bee has the ability to control men's minds, he's picked an all-female squad. Batgirl teases him by asking him why an all-male squad would not need an explanation, leaving Nightwing with nothing to say. The girls share a laugh when Batgirl comments that Queen Bee isn't the only one who is able to play with men's minds.

Jaime goes to Tye's home and talks to Tye's mother Shelly. She doesn't know where Tye is. Jaime explains the phone call of last night, but Shelly is seemingly unconcerned and says that Tye and her boyfriend Maurice had another fight last night. Jaime wonders what kind of disagreement, but Maurice comes in before Shelly can answer. Jaime explains why he's there, but Maurice points out that Jaime is ditching. Jaime recoils by explaining that he is on a free period. The Scarab telepathically warns Jaime that Maurice is hostile. Jaime accuses Maurice of attacking Tye and the scarab starts to manifest the armor. Jaime restrains it and Shelly ushers Jaime out, saying that Tye is probably with his grandfather, Holling.

Alpha Squad finds one location with heavy security, after having discovered several abandoned sites. 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 hangar. She finds Miss Martian, who shuts down the telepathic link and goes to warn Batgirl while Wonder Girl finds Bumblebee. Wonder Girl goes outside to find Bumblebee, Devastation sees her shadow and spots her flying, and brings her down. She calls for a lockdown.

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

At the Bialyan hangar, alarms go off and 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 her back 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, and crowded with soldiers. 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 anyway. They prepare to take off in the cargo plane, unaware that Bumblebee is hiding and has overheard everything. She flies off, down the tunnel.

At his school, Jaime breaks into the tool shed, suspecting that Tye is held inside by Maurice. Maurice catches him, and Jaime has to resist the scarab insisting that they destroy Maurice with a plasma cannon. When Maurice prepares to "teach a lesson" to Jaime, Jaime accuses him of abducting Tye so that he can become chief. Maurice chuckles and explains that he's only interested in jobs that pay. Jaime gets past him and opens the shed. He discovers that Maurice has pirated DVDs and games, and Maurice tells him to forget he saw anything. He insists that he has no idea where Tye is, and the scarab confirms via voice analysis that Maurice is telling the truth. Jaime prepares to turn in Maurice, but admits that they still don't know what happened to Tye.

Out in the desert, Wonder Girl worries that she screwed up. Bumblebee arrives and brings them up to speed, and says that she has a plan. Meanwhile, the villains secure the cargo and finish refueling. Miss Martian sneaks in and takes out and impersonates Shimmer. Bumblebee flies into the cargo plane and frees Batgirl by stinging her into waking up. They need her to pilot the plane to safety since she's the only one qualified to fly it, which Bumblebee finds poignant because Batgirl was the only one on Alpha that didn't have the power to fly herself.

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 Mammoth and Devastation 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, now no longer occupied, 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 ravine. Wonder Girl and Miss Martian try to slow it down without success and then summon the Bio-Ship to grab the fuselage and pull it away just in time. They fly off.

At the debriefing, Nightwing confirms that Psimon telepathically convinced the doctors that he was still there. Miss Martian confirmed from Shimmer's mind 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.

At the hangar, Queen Bee scolds her subordinates for nearly having undermined their credibility by losing the cargo, but they're lucky they have another shipment. Among their captives is Tye.

Title
The title mainly refers to the large temple that Alpha Squad finds beneath the base that they investigate. In addition, throughout the episode, Blue Beetle must hide his armor beneath his clothing. Also, one of the meanings of "beneath" is to be inferior in position, which could refer to the higher role that Tye's father held over Maurice, or the disregard the Scarab has for human life.

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 at all.
 * 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.
 * The five villains working together in this episode (Psimon, Shimmer, Mammoth, Icicle Jr, and Devastation) allude to the Fearsome Five, a group of Titans villains that had a rotating list of members through the years. Psimon, Shimmer, and Mammoth have been part of that group in many of its incarnations.

Goofs

 * In the Longshadow house, a shotgun above the door disappears and reappears between shots.
 * At the beginning of the mission briefing on the Bio-Ship, Wonder Girl activates her stealth-tech, changing the gold stripes on her shirt silver. For the rest of the briefing, the stripes are gold again.
 * During his briefing, Nightwing shows a map of Bialya. It has the combined shapes of Bialya and Qurac, with a flag in the center. However, this has been acknowledged as inaccurate; Qurac is still a separate nation.
 * When Mammoth placed Batgirl inside a containment pod, there were two abductees on either side of her, for a total of five pods. When Devastation picked up Batgirl's pod a moment later, an extra pod with an abductee is to her left. In the next shot which showed Bumblebee emerging from her hiding place, yet another pod with an abductee appeared to the far right.
 * When Jaime picks the lock on the shed, the armor around his wrist and the back of his hand is black. At Shelly and Holling Longshadow's homes, that part of his armor was blue.

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 Icicle Jr. escape from Belle Reve?
 * How does Psimon know about Batman being "out of the picture"?
 * Why does the Partner want human abductees?