Homefront

"Homefront" is the twelfth episode of Young Justice and aired on September 30th.

Logline
When The Cave itself is attacked, can Artemis and Robin – the two teens without super-powers – save the Team (or even themselves) from the unknown invaders?

Synopsis
Artemis wakes up only to look at the empty bed next to hers with an Alice In Wonderland poster on the wall beside it. From there she has a memory from when she was a little girl and her older sister is preparing to leave their apartment due to having too many arguments with her father. The memory ends abruptly as Artemis's mom tells her she has to get ready for her first day of school.

At Gotham Academy Artemis runs into Dick (Robin) although she doesn't recognize him. Dick comes up to her with his phone, takes a picture of them, and says "We'll laugh about this someday." Artemis, now completely confused asks another girl who he was. She replies "Just a freshman. Ignore him." Dick then goes back to his friend Barbara, who asks what that was all about. He replies he was just trying to be friendly.

At the cave, Superboy and Miss Martian are kissing each other. They are interrupted and almost caught by Kid Flash, but he thinks they are just working on Superboy's motorcycle. Red Tornado and Aqualad are talking about the mole in the team feeding information to super villains and the latter is wondering whether he should tell Batman. Red Tornado tells him Batman generally expects the team to solve problems in-house but it is his decision. Red Tornado must go for monitor duty at the Watchtower; generally he is excused from it due to his mentoring role but is covering so Green Arrow and Black Canary can have a date. Later that night Artemis goes to an abandoned phone booth (the teleporter) only to run into the now-costumed Robin. Robin is "surprised" she is in Gotham and not in Star City with Green Arrow, to which she replies she came for her cousin's spelling bee tournament.

Immediately after teleporting to headquarters, Robin and Artemis come under attack by fireballs. After the two flee through the cave, Robin hacks into the building mainframe and checks the security cameras to see who the intruders are. While he sees their other four teammates were ambushed, the attackers are still unknown as all four cameras were wiped out before recording them. While hiding in the library, Robin and Artemis hear a familiar voice. Believing it to be Red Tornado, Artemis rushes out only to find a similar-looking but hostile robot, from whom Robin quickly saves her. After they run into a second robot (also bearing a resemblance to Red Tornado but with a female shape), they find out the other team are alive. The robots display elemental powers; the female can control fire and the male, water. Miss Martian and Aqualad are being held in a fire cage; Aqualad is dehydrated and unable to use his water blades, and Miss Martian is already unconscious. Superboy and Kid Flash are immobilized by twisted chunks of metal, and are in danger of drowning. Once again the pair are forced to flee.

Robin realizes the only way to stop the robots is with an electro-magnetic pulse. The robots announce Robin and Artemis have ten minutes to surrender, or their friends will be killed. Robin communicates with Kid Flash, who tells him where to get the equipment to make the weapon. After successfully making the pulse device, Robin attempts to plug the weapon into the power grid while Artemis provides a distraction. The weapon doesn't work; Robin realizes he need additional metal to complete the circuit but is captured in a column of water before finding a suitable construct. Terrified and arrow-less, Artemis returns to the ventilation system. She contemplates surrender or hiding, but she accidentally falls into Kid Flash's souvenir room. After taking Cheshire's mask Artemis thinks back to her memory from the earlier in the episode. It pick up where it left off before; her sister says that she will disappear "like the Cheshire Cat." She is newly determined not to abandon her new family as her sister abandoned her. After the robots announce she has two minutes, she quickly puts the mask back down and grabs her arrow from the souvenir room. She goes to the robots and pretends to surrender, only to shoot the arrow underneath the electro-magnetic pulse, which completes the circuit and shuts off all the machines.

With the defeat of the robots, Miss Martian and Aqualad are freed from their fiery containment. Aqualad confirms Miss Martian is breathing, and Artemis does the same for Robin. Red Tornado finally returns. He claims he tried to use the teleporter once he realized that communications with the cave were down; he was forced to teleport nearby and fly back. Artemis and Robin then tell Red Tornado what happened and how his "family" attacked to which Red Tornado responds he didn't know he had any family. The Sphere frees itself and the drill Artemis is trying to use to free Kid Flash and Superboy comes back online. Robin realizes the effects of the EMP have faded and warns Red Tornado not to get close to the robots, but it is too late; the female robot sends a spark through Red Tornado's finger that seems to corrupt him. Red Tornado sucks the air out of the entire room and the team falls unconscious. Artemis wakes up to Superman telling the team they are okay, and she finds the Justice League at the cave. She says Red Tornado attacked them and that he is now gone, to which Robin adds so are the other robots.

Title
"Home front" means "civilian population or the civilian activities of a country at war," which in this case is Robin and Artemis. It may also refer to the fact that The Team was attacked at their "home" The Cave.

Credited

 * Robin (Jesse McCartney)
 * Artemis (Stephanie Lemelin)
 * Aqualad (Khary Payton)
 * Kid Flash (Jason Spisak)
 * Miss Martian (Danica McKellar)
 * Superboy (Nolan North)
 * Superman (Nolan North)
 * Red Tornado (Jeff Bennett)
 * Cheshire (Kelly Hu)
 * Paula Crock (Kelly Hu)
 * Red Inferno (Jeff Bennett)
 * Red Torpedo (Jeff Bennett)
 * Barbara (Hynden Walch)

Non-speaking Roles
The following characters appeared in the episode but were not credited.
 * Sphere
 * Flash
 * Green Arrow
 * Batman
 * Black Canary
 * Captain Atom
 * Martian Manhunter
 * Aquaman

Continuity

 * Aqualad tells Red Tornado about the mole on the team, after being told about it by Sportsmaster in "Targets."
 * Artemis is now in Gotham Academy after receiving a scholarship from Bruce Wayne in "Downtime."
 * Miss Martian mentions she has become a cheerleader, as seen in "Targets."
 * Cheshire tells Artemis that she's "disappear just like the Cheshire cat." This is what she told her in "Infiltrator."
 * Artemis uses the same arrow that she had used to save the Team from Amazo and that Kid Flash saved as a souvenir in "Schooled."

Trivia

 * Upon arriving to Gotham Academy, Artemis is greeted by a "Bette Kane". It is possible that this is the same Bette Kane as Flamebird (another Gotham vigilante) from the comics.
 * When Robin approaches her at campus and takes a picture, she doesn't realize it's him since Batman has prevented Robin from telling the rest of the team who he is. Robin later taunts Artemis about being in Gotham City, knowing full well why she is there.
 * Although her last name isn't revealed, Robin chats with a redhead girl named Barbara after taking a picture with Artemis. It could be possible that this is Barbara Gordon, the future Batgirl.
 * Superboy and Miss Martian making out seems to imply they are a couple although it hasn't been officially confirmed.
 * Despite being the twelfth episode, this is only the fourth time the team has all its current members appear one episode, with the other three being "Infiltrator", "Downtime", and "Bereft".
 * This is the first episode in which Robin's real first name has been spoken on-screen.
 * This is the first episode in which Superboy speaks the names of his teammates other than Miss Martian.
 * While attempting to distract the robots, Superboy mocked them for falling for Miss Martian's "facade" of being vulnerable to heat by stating that it was really hot on Mars. In "Terrors," M'gann said to Superboy that it was really cold on Mars. It is likely Superboy was simply lying to provide the necessary distraction.
 * When Kid Flash and Superboy are held captive and are almost underwater, Superboy claims you can't drown a Kryptonian since they don't need air. However, towards the end of the episode, Superboy is knocked unconscious after Red Tornado sucks all the air out of the room. It is likely Superboy was once again lying.

Quotes

 * Red Tornado: I will return after monitor duty at the Watchtower.
 * Aqualad: I thought you didn't have to do monitor duty since you became our den mother.
 * Red Tornado: I agreed to cover for Green Arrow. He has an interpersonal event with Black Canary. A hot date.


 * Artemis: I'm... uh, here to see my cousin. She was in the state spelling bee. Here... In Gotham... City.
 * Robin: C-O-O-L. Did she W-I-N?
 * Artemis: N-O!
 * Robin: D-R-A-G.


 * Artemis: How can you be so calm?
 * Robin: Practice. I've been doing this since I was nine.


 * Robin: Way to get traught.