Homefront

"Homefront" is the 12th episode of the first season of Young Justice, and the 12th of the overall series. It aired on September 30, 2011.

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 and looks at the empty bed next to hers with an Alice in Wonderland poster on the wall beside it. Thereof she starts reminiscing.


 *  her older sister—Jade—was packing her things to leave, and Artemis plead her to reconsider. Jade said that their mother wouldn't be getting out of jail too soon, and she refused to stay at home with her their father. Artemis desperately argued that they needed to keep their family together. Jade paused in contemplation.

Artemis is abruptly pulled back to reality when her mother tells her she has to get ready for her first day of school. However, Artemis dives back under the sheets.

Later at school, Artemis is greeted by Bette, her new Student Liaison, who welcomes her to Gotham Academy. Suddenly, Dick comes up to her with his phone, takes a picture of them, after saying "We'll laugh about this someday" and sneaks out. Artemis, bewildered, asks Bette who he was and she tells her he is just a freshman and should ignore him. Nearby, Barbara asks Dick what that was all about. He replies he was just being friendly to the new girl.

At the Cave, Miss Martian and Superboy are kissing when the Sphere abruptly interrupts them. Miss Martian figures it is jealous, but apparently it was trying to warn them about the approaching Kid Flash, who assumes they are working of Superboy's bike and offers assistance. Superboy and Miss Martian exchange smiles and pat the Sphere in gratitude.

Red Tornado and Aqualad are talking about the mole in the Team. Tornado asks him if he told anyone about this, and Aqualad is uncertain that there really is a mole, and in case there is, he doesn't want to alert them. He wonders if he should tell Batman, but Red Tornado claims that Batman generally expects the Team to solve problems in-house, but it is his prerogative. Tornado then says he must go for monitor duty at the Watchtower, despite being exempted from it due to his mentoring role, but he claims he must cover for Green Arrow who has an assignation with Black Canary. As he teleports out of the Cave, Aqualad is left pondering.

Later that night, Artemis approaches the teleporter phone booth in Gotham, where she is startled by Robin. Robin teases Artemis, acting surprised at her being in Gotham City instead of Star City, where Green Arrow—her supposed uncle—lives. Artemis claims she came for her cousin's spelling bee tournament. Robin mocks her further and then the two proceed to entering the booth. Robin goes in first and Artemis follows. She arrives at the Cave only to find it in flames and under attack by unseen interlopers.

The two teens try to ward off the attackers, but Robin decides to retreat. They run for the exits but quickly turn away as a tidal waves heads in their direction. They are slammed into a wall and then pursued by a fiery blaze. They make their way to the gym and try to contact their teammates, but get no response. They go into the shower room—while Robin tries to contact the Justice League—and open the shower faucets to protect themselves from the fire. Suddenly, the water flares out of control and the shower room is quickly flooded. Robin blows a hole in the wall and they head to the kitchen. They decide to climb the air vent, but not before Robin downloads the Cave blueprints.

They crawl through the tunnels, avoiding flame blasts, and make their way to the temperature control room. Robin is leading the way but the flame casting attacker emerges and force them to retreat into another access tunnel. Robin covers their escape with an explosive. Inside the tunnel, Robin disables the Cave's motion and heat sensors to prevent them from being tracked down. Then, he downloads the security footage to see who the intruders are. They see Aqualad coming over to Superboy, Miss Martian and Kid Flash and subtly question them about their loyalties. As they discuss Artemis, they are suddenly ambushed. Robin tries to check the footage from different angles, but the attackers wiped out all four cameras before being recorded. The fate of their comrades is also left unknown, but Robin assures Artemis that they must be alright. He then tries to find a shortcut to the hangar, all the while Artemis bemoans that, unlike the others, they don't have super powers.

They sneak into the library and search for a secret passage behind a bookshelf, when they notice someone approaching. Robin and Artemis hear a familiar voice calling out for them. Believing it to be Red Tornado, Artemis rushes out only to find a similar-looking but hostile android—Red Torpedo, from whom Robin quickly saves her. They make a run for it, only to be blocked by a second android—Red Inferno. The androids display elemental powers—Red Inferno controls fire and Red Torpedo controls water. Robin and Artemis escape through a hidden passage. As she wonders how they are going to fight two powerhouses with abilities on par to those of their supervisor, Red Torpedo addresses them via the intercom. He says that their teammates are still alive, but they must surrender themselves in ten minutes. In the hangar, Miss Martian and Aqualad are being held in a fire cage, sapping their strengths, the Sphere is jammed to the wall, and Superboy and Kid Flash are restrained by twisted chunks of metal and with water up to their chins.

The pair tries to access the hangar when they are swept by another tidal wave. Robin shares his respirator with Artemis, when suddenly Red Torpedo sneaks up behind and grabs Artemis by the ankle. Robin snatches a drifting arrow and jams it into the android's eye, freeing Artemis. He hoists themselves into the surface and leaves explosives behind to fend off the android.

In the hangar, Robin and Artemis barely have time to catch a breath when Superboy warns them about Red Inferno. They duck to evade her fire blasts and check on Kid Flash and Superboy, who urges them to save Miss Martian. Aqualad tells them she is unconscious and that both are on the brink of death. Artemis and Robin swim for the stairs where they are besieged by the two androids. Artemis tries to buy some time with her scarce supply of arrows, as Robin hurls batarangs at Red Torpedo, who deflects them. One of them, however, lands on the metal imprisoning Kid Flash. The two androids attack them from both ends, forcing the teens to plunge into the water.

They surface in a tunnel and Artemis starts freaking out—the androids have subdued four of their super powered friends and she has only one arrow left. Robin, who has been doing this since he was nine, tells her to calm down. Artemis insists they are hopeless against machines, when Robin suddenly realizes that all they need is with an electro-magnetic pulse to deactivate the androids. He communicates with Kid Flash (via the batarang lodged next to him), who walks Robin through it. However, they need to plug the device to the Cave's main generator.

With four minutes remaining, Artemis and Robin sneak back into the hangar and tell Kid Flash to distract the androids. Robin plugs the weapon into the power grid but it doesn't work—he needs additional metal to complete the circuit. When he tries to find a suitable conductor, they are spotted and attacked by the androids, who force Artemis to use her last arrow. Terrified and unequipped, Artemis scurries into the air vents. She peeks through a crevice and is mortified at the sight of Robin caught and unconscious. Hopeless, she curls up, sobbing.

As Robin, Aqualad and Miss Martian and lying unconscious on the hangar, Artemis contemplates between surrendering and finding help, but she accidentally falls into Kid Flash's souvenir room. Gazing at Cheshire's mask, she resumes her recollection of her sister leaving.


 * Artemis desperately argued that they needed to keep their family together. Jade paused in contemplation. She turned around and realized she forgot to pack her toothbrush. Artemis warned her that their father will go after her and Jade simply replied that she'll disappear "like the Cheshire Cat".Artemis and the souvenirs.png She advised her younger sister to leave too, and contemplated taking her, but she would slow her down. Artemis claimed that someone had to stay and wait for their mother. Jade signed off by claiming that in their family it's every girl for herself.

Artemis picks the mask up and admits that it might be true then, but now she has a new family, and they all stick together. When Red Torpedo announces she has one minute left, Artemis spots the arrow she used to save the Team from Amazo. She goes to the androids and professes to surrender, but fights back and shoots the arrow underneath the electro-magnetic pulse, completing the circuit and shutting off all the machines. With the androids vanquished, Miss Martian and Aqualad are freed from their fiery containment. Aqualad confirms Miss Martian is breathing, and Artemis does the same for Robin. Artemis sighs with relief.

Afterward, Robin explains that he passed out after pretending to drown, while the Team is attempting to extract Superboy and Aqualad from their confinements. Artemis, however, can't get the drill to work, since it was also disabled by the EMP. At that point, Red Tornado arrives. Artemis and Robin tell him what happened and he appears surprised at finding out there are other androids with his likeness. He claims he tried to use the teleporter after realizing that communications with the Cave were down, so was forced to teleport nearby and fly back. Then, the Sphere frees itself and the drill comes back online. Robin realizes the effects of the EMP have worn off. As Red Tornado approaches the androids, he reaches out for Red Inferno and there's an electric charge between the two. Their eyes glow red and Red Tornado turns on the Team and sucks the air out of the entire room, suffocating them into unconsciousness.

Artemis wakes up to Superman's reassuring voice, and finds the Justice League in the Cave. She says Red Tornado attacked them and that he is now gone, and Robin notices that so are the other androids.

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

Cast and characters
! colspan="3"| Non-speaking roles
 * Stephanie Lemelin
 * colspan="2" | Artemis
 * Jesse McCartney
 * colspan="2" | Robin
 * Danica McKellar
 * colspan="2" | M'gann M'orzz
 * rowspan="2" | Nolan North
 * colspan="2" | Superboy
 * colspan="2" | Superman
 * Khary Payton
 * colspan="2" | Aqualad
 * Jason Spisak
 * colspan="2" | Kid Flash
 * rowspan="2" | Jeff Bennett
 * colspan="2" | Red Tornado
 * Red Torpedo
 * rowspan="2" | Kelly Hu
 * colspan="2" | Jade Nguyen
 * colspan="2" | Paula Crock
 * rowspan="2" | Alyson Stoner
 * Bette Kane
 * Barbara Gordon
 * colspan="2" | Red Tornado
 * Red Torpedo
 * rowspan="2" | Kelly Hu
 * colspan="2" | Jade Nguyen
 * colspan="2" | Paula Crock
 * rowspan="2" | Alyson Stoner
 * Bette Kane
 * Barbara Gordon
 * colspan="2" | Paula Crock
 * rowspan="2" | Alyson Stoner
 * Bette Kane
 * Barbara Gordon
 * Barbara Gordon
 * Barbara Gordon
 * Barbara Gordon
 * colspan="3" | Aquaman
 * colspan="3" | Batman
 * colspan="3" | Black Canary
 * colspan="3" | Captain Atom
 * colspan="3" | Flash
 * colspan="3" | Green Arrow
 * colspan="3" | Martian Manhunter
 * colspan="2" | Red Inferno
 * colspan="3" | Sphere
 * colspan="3" | Flash
 * colspan="3" | Green Arrow
 * colspan="3" | Martian Manhunter
 * colspan="2" | Red Inferno
 * colspan="3" | Sphere
 * colspan="2" | Red Inferno
 * colspan="3" | Sphere
 * colspan="3" | Sphere
 * colspan="3" | Sphere
 * colspan="3" | Sphere

Continuity

 * The relationship between Artemis and Cheshire alluded in "Infiltrator" is revealed: they are sisters.
 * 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 being awarded the Wayne Foundation Scholarship in "Downtime".
 * Miss Martian mentions she has become a cheerleader, as seen in "Targets".
 * Cheshire tells Artemis that she'll "disappear just like the Cheshire cat". This is similar to what she told her in "Infiltrator".
 * Aqualad and Miss Martian are trapped in a cage of fire. It was established in "Denial" that Atlanteans and Martians are susceptible to extreme heat. This is consistent with Miss Martian's claim in "Terrors" of her being able to withstand cold temperatures because her home planet's environment was cold.
 * Superboy boasts about the heat in the caves of Mars; Miss Martian had told the Team of Martian culture (and their cave dwelling) in Young Justice #6.
 * 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

 * Main title clips:
 * Jade putting on her cap (17:39)
 * Red Tornado teleporting out of the Cave (02:40)
 * Artemis looking up (03:39)
 * Aqualad looking afflicted inside a fire cage (16:05)
 * Robin and Artemis examine the security footage (07:55)
 * Robin crawling inside a tunnel (06:11)
 * When Robin approaches Artemis 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.
 * Despite being the twelfth episode of the series, this is only the fourth time that all six current members of the Team appear in the same episode, the other three being "Infiltrator", "Downtime" and "Bereft".
 * When Kid Flash and Superboy are held captive and are almost underwater, Superboy attempts to distract them by claiming 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. Kid Flash also lies that he can phase out of the water trap by vibrating his molecules; it was stated in "Welcome to Happy Harbor" that he can't.
 * This is a featured episode in Young Justice: Season One, Volume Three.

Goofs

 * Season One, Volume Three set and early promotional material render the episode as "Home Front".
 * In "Schooled", Artemis's arrow had a smooth tip, and Green Arrow's a jagged tip. Here, the souvenir arrow has the jagged tip.

Cultural references

 * Kid Flash taunts the Reds by saying he can get out of his trap "before [their] binary brains can count to 2." In binary, 2 is "10" ("one zero", not "ten"), thus making it a joke on "count to ten".
 * Before being cut off by Red Torpedo, Artemis was about to paraphrase the motto of Alexandre Dumas' Three Musketeers, "One for all, all for one".

Answered questions

 * Who created Red Torpedo and Red Inferno? (Answer)
 * Why was Paula Crock in prison? (Answer)
 * Why didn't Jade want to live with her father? (Answer)
 * What happened to Red Tornado when he touched Red Inferno? (Answer)
 * Is Red Tornado the mole? (Answer)

Unanswered questions

 * How did Red Torpedo and Red Inferno bypass the Cave's security system?