PART 3: A COMING THREAT- A REVELATION
"YOU PATHETIC HEROES CAN'T BEAT ME!" taunted The General, throwing Hawk Girl into a building.
The General had attacked The Hall of Justice and started attacking tourists, claiming that the world needed a "real" American hero, not some stupid people in costumes.
"Green Arrow, grapple up to that rooftop and use one of you 'special' arrows! Raven; use your Demon Stance for maximum power! Static, see if you can manipulate any magnetic force around The General," Nightwing ordered, riding his custom red and black Night-Cycle, shooting two turrets at The General while maneuvering around the brutes swings.
"Right," his teammates responded, following their leaders orders.
Static Shock manipulated the magnetic field around The General, sending him into the sky. Green Arrow then shot an energy arrow, sending a super-charge through the beast's body. Raven then shot a blast of shadow energy at the monster, shooting him into the ground. Hawk Girl then came down and solidly hit The General with the Power of Nyth. The General had been defeated.
"That's our version of dishonorable discharge," Green Arrow taunted, spitting on the villain as his teammates strode over to him.
"Nice job, Static," Nightwing complimented, stepping off his motorcycle.
"Thanks Nightwing," Static Shock muttered, scratching his head. He wasn't used to the whole international superhero team yet.
"Where should we bring him?" Hawk Girl asked as her, Raven and Static Shock (using his metal disc to hover) dragged The General into the air.
"Red Robin and I usually bring super-strong Meta's like him to Stryker's Island in Metropolis," Nightwing answered, high-fiving Green Arrow.
"I, uh, concur," the Emerald Archer agreed, trying to sound smart.
"That will take a while with only three of us carrying this huge brute over two cities," Raven complained, a scowl on her face as she tried to conceal her frustration in carrying The General.
"I think you mean 6 of us," Superboy proclaimed as he landed softly on the ground next to Nightwing and Green Arrow, his suit he wore as a part of N.O.W.H.E.R.E. on.
"Don't you mean 5?" Static Shock asked, puzzled by the appearance of the genetically engineered superhero.
"With my strength and TTK (Tactical Telekinesis) I count as 2 people," Superboy announced cockily, his fists on his waist proudly an echo of Superman (who, like Nightwing, acted as his predecessor for a year).
"Don't be so assured," Nightwing said coldly as he revved up his motorcycle. "Red Robin says you TTK has not developed yet".
"Oh smart-pants!" Superboy spoke nervously, as a former member of Red Robins restart of the Teen Titans. "Yeah, he never liked me that much".
"Just pick up the stupid thing!" Green Arrow shouted with an annoyed tone.
"Okay, okay," Superboy said as he grabbed part of The General and the 4 superheroes flew into the air and towards Stryker's Island.
The 4 reached the meta-human/ alien prison within 1 hour thanks to Superboy. Nightwing and Green Arrow arrived around the same time using GA's Arrow Plane.
"Alright guys, we'll take it from here," said one of the guards at the prison, accustomed to the "flying" in of costumed vigilantes.
"He's a big one, so we'll help you. Just open a Level 5 containment room for The General," Hawk Girl said in a militarized tone.
"We are grateful for your help. We can handle it from here, Superboy," Raven thanked Superboy as the 3 Justice League members dragged the monster into the prison.
Superboy released his grip and flew over to Nightwing and Green Arrow and landed gracefully next to them.
"Thank you for your help, Superboy," Nightwing acknowledged, dusting off his Intertrite uniform (Intertrite is a special metal that can be manipulated to be flexible, comfortable and fabric like, yet is one of the most resilient metals in the world; Red Robins wings were made from the harder more resilient version of the metal, while Batman's cape was made from the standard variation). Nightwing nudged the stubborn Green Arrow with his elbow.
"Thank you," Green Arrow yelled sarcastically, cleaning his plane with a cloth.
"So, how's your first month as leader of the Justice League been?" Superboy asked, taking Nightwing aside.
"It's been… tough," Nightwing confessed with a sigh. "The press has been all over us. Luckily I grew up in show-biz, so I am accustomed to the lime-light".
"I have some news that may concern you," Superboy admitted sadly. "Around the same time you and the others restarted the Justice League, my sorta' kinda' sister from another universe, Power Girl, was killed by Lex Luthor".
"WHY HAVEN'T YOU ARRESTED HIM?" Nightwing interrogated.
"Because there is no hard proof. The only witness was Huntress, your sorta' kinda' sister from another universe, and she's been arrested for 50 counts of man-slaughter and murder!" Superboy answered defensively. "Besides, if we arrested him, it would only make heroes and Justice League look bad by capturing a presidential candidate who is winning in the polls"!
"You sure there is no traceable evidence towards Luthor?" Nightwing asked, scratching his head.
"Red Robin tried to trace it, but he had no luck. Luthor's inscriptions are just to good," Superboy answered softly with a sigh.
"I know someone who might be able to break them," Nightwing said with a determined tone. "But first, where is Huntress"?
"Here at Stryker's Island," Superboy replied.
"Transfer her to Arkham Asylum. I have 'friends' who can help me interrogate her," Nightwing ordered angrily, walking towards Green Arrow. "Get your plane ready. And set a course for Gotham".
Arkham Asylum, Gotham City, 10:04 PM, Next Day
"WHAT HAPPENED?" Damian demanded, pounding his fists on the table. Beside him sat Nightwing, and across from him sat Helena Wayne, the Robin of Earth 2.
"Why should I tell you?" Huntress asked with an attitude.
"I guess stubbornness DOES run in the family!" Nightwing joked. The two Wayne's gave him the evil eye. "I'll just shut up now…."
"TELL ME!" Damian continued.
"Okay, if it will help catch a killer," Huntress muttered. "Karen and I suspected that Luthor was behind something, so I set explosive charges at Luthor's underground lab. I then broke into Luthor's office, killed his body-guard Mercy, and then waited for him. When he arrived, we fought each other, but he escaped into his lab and got into his suit. After that I ignited the charges and Karen arrived. We fought Luthor until Six members of Luthor's regime showed up, and three of them captured Karen and the other three captured me and severed my nerve endings in my arm, handicapping me. Then Luthor killed Karen".
"Who were the six people?" Nightwing asked as an explosion erupted, blasting down the wall, sending the three vigilantes over.
As Nightwing stood up, he saw Damian with a rock in his arm, and Huntress, who lay unconscious. As Nightwing looked up, he saw who caused the explosion.
"Hello, Dick," Starfire yelled sadistically, Red Hood and Arsenal standing in the hole in the wall, weapons ready.
Gotham Building, Same Time
Static Shock stood on the roof of a Gotham building, Elliot Avenue, 14456. He was sent to give Bat-Girl Red Robin's and Superboy's research on Luthor while Nightwing, Robin and the rest of the League interrogated Huntress. As he stood, waiting for Bat-Girl, he reflected upon his experience in New Humanite, 18 months ago.
He felt as if he should have stayed. He should have stayed to help Batman and Wonder Woman defeat Doomsday Machine. He felt guilty.
"I know how you feel," Bat-Girl spoke as she snuck up behind Static, startling the inexperienced hero.
"No, you don't," Static denied, sitting down on the ledge of the building, starring at the passing vehicles.
"Yes, I do," Bat-Girl assured. "I know how it feels to be helpless. "To not be able to help anyone. To not be able to make a difference. To feel guilty".
"How?" Static asked, startled as Bat-Girl sat next to him.
"I was shot and paralyzed by the Joker," Bat-Girl answered. "When I was in my recovery period, I became Oracle, operating through a wheel-chair and computer. I felt as though I was worthless, as though I could not do anything to help in problems going on, but I realized it was not my fault. We are only human. Or, meta-human, I guess".
"Thank you, Bat-Girl," Static thanked her.
"Call me Barbara. Barbara Gordon," Bat-Girl assured.
"Well, if that's the case, I am Virgil Hawkins," Static responded. "Oh yeah," Static shouted as he grabbed the memory-stick out of his belt. "This is Red Robin's research. Nightwing wanted to see if you could break the inscription codes. He says you're the best computer hacker in the world".
"Thanks," Bat-Girl acknowledged, smiling. "See you later". Bat-Girl got up and grappled to another building, vanishing into the night.
"Uh… Thank you…" Virgil muttered, dumbfounded at the experience.
Meanwhile at Arkham Asylum
"Holy Star-Bolts!" Nightwing yelled as he dodged Starfire's green fire blasts, flipping, twirling and bouncing off walls.
Arsenal fired an energy arrow at his former teammate, but Nightwing dodged the arrow, but was hit by the blast of energy, sending him into the wall. As Starfire's eyes glowed a mystical green, Raven teleported into the room.
"Azarath… Metrion…" Raven started to say, her eyes glowing a ghostly white and black. "ZINTHOS"!
"OH-!" Red Hood started to yell as the Outlaws were blasted into the Asylum courtyard, sending debris and cobblestone flying through the air.
Raven then flew over to Nightwing and helped him up.
"Thanks," Nightwing spoke gratefully walking over to Robin. "Are you okay?" he asked, kneeling over his partner.
"Yeah, I'm alright Grayson," Damian assured, rubbing his neck. "Just sore".
"Damian, I need you to go and make sure the Asylum is secure. Hawk Girl will help you," Nightwing ordered.
"But what if…" Damian started but Nightwing cut him off.
"But no, Damian," Nightwing demanded. "As your God-Father, and older brother, you will do what I say".
"Okay…" Damian muttered as he and Hawk Girl ran (and flew) off through the hall-way.
"I'm here," Green Arrow yelled as he ran into the room, bow and arrow ready. "Where did they go"?
"Let's go see them…" Raven whispered as her organic cape and hood stretched out over her companions and she teleported them down into the courtyard.
"Speedy?" Green Arrow questioned rhetorically, astonished to see his former partner.
"That's not who I am you jerk!" Arsenal yelled, firing an arrow at his mentor, starting a fight between the two.
"So, what's up Grayson?" Red Hood asked, taking out and reloading his pistols. "Ready to die"?
Jason Todd then started shooting at his predecessor, causing a fight between those two.
"Well, so you're dating Grayson now?" Starfire asked Raven angrily.
"No. Of course not. He's like a brother to me," Raven denied.
"No one likes you," Starfire shouted, trying to get into Raven's head. "You just don't want to accept it. You are just a creepy witch, a hag that no one will ever appreciate. No one ever has and ever will like you".
"SHUT UP!" Raven bellowed in a demonic voice as she transformed into her Demon Form, growing four red eyes, growing large and turning into a shadow, towering over the Tamaranian princess. "SHUT YOUR MOUTH! SHUT YOUR MOUTH OR FEEL THE WRATH OF TRIGON!"
Raven shot out a shadow arms that grabbed Starfire and pulled her in, strangling the alien in her grasp.
"Just what I wanted!" Starfire laughed. "I knew you would easily succumb to your fathers might"!
Raven dropped Starfire and transformed back into her normal form, wearing her organic black-cloak, that looked like fabric but had a feathery texture.
"How did I lose control…" Raven questioned herself, holding her head.
"You just showed your true side," Starfire whispered. "Besides, I liked you better that-"Starfire started as she was hit by a dumpster controlled by Raven's mystical powers.
"Let's go," Raven challenged as the Demon Princess formed 6 swords out of Dark Magic.
MEANWHILE
"Stop, Speedy!" Green Arrow ordered as he dodged one of Arsenals Atom-Arrows that create very small nuclear reactions, not harmful to humans.
"It's Arsenal now, you old jerk!" Arsenal yelled as he ducked out of one of Green Arrow's boxing glove-arrow. "You're gettin' rusty old man"!
Just then, as Arsenal ducked, Green Arrow shot a net-arrow, tying up Arsenals arms and legs.
"Going to have to better than that youngin'," Green Arrow taunted as Arsenal snapped the net and stood up. "How did you break free? A normal arrow could not snap that"!
"It's called a chainsaw-arrow!" Arsenal mocked, arming a particularly sharp arrow.
As Arsenal shot the arrow, Green Arrow grabbed it before it could hit his face.
"Wow," The Emerald Archer whispered.
"Sigh, electrical-arrow!" Arsenal spoke with a sad tone as Green Arrow was electrocuted and fell to his knees.
"How… did you… electrocute… me?" Green Arrow asked in pain, Arsenal standing above.
"Since your no Batman, I figured your suit would still be set to resist the same amount of volts as when we were partners, and I guess I was right," Arsenal bragged, grabbing a normal-arrow from his quiver and arming it.
"Why… are you… doing… this?" Arsenal's former mentor questioned painfully.
"For my country," Arsenal muttered quietly, preparing to shoot.
MEANWHILE
"How did Bruce ever put up with you?" Red Hood asked with an annoyed tone, throwing a punch with his brass-knuckles, but Nightwing dodged by doing a back-flip. "You talk too much"!
"How did he put up with you?" Nightwing mocked, charging his Escrima sticks with red-electricity. "You're so… angry"!
"You want some bullets in your head?" Red Hood asked, firing his twin pistols. Nightwing dodged most of the bullets but two hit him on the back and exploded, which sent Nightwing flying.
"What are those bullets made of?" Nightwing questioned, rubbing his head.
"Nuclear shells. Same as some of Arsenals arrows," Red Hood answered matter-of-factly.
"You want an Escrima-stick it you dorky helmet?" Nightwing taunted, throwing one of his charged weapons at Red Hoods helmet, attempting to electrocute his successor, but Red Hood's helmet was made of Intertrite, and only set the Intertrite Escrima sticks flying across the Asylum courtyard. "Aw, man"!
"That was a stupid move!" Red Hood mocked as he attempted a round-house kick, but Nightwing caught his foot. Red Hood then quickly threw his other foot up, kicked Nightwing in the chest and kicked himself off his predecessor, flipped backwards and landed (almost) gracefully.
As Nightwing fell to ground, Red Hood ran and jumped on Nightwing, kneeling on his opponents chest, a gun to Nightwing's head.
"Why are you and the Outlaws doing this?" Nightwing asked, trying to talk Jason Todd out of killing him.
"You think too small," Red Hood laughed, cocking his pistol. "It's not just the Outlaw's anymore".
"Then who are you working with"? Nightwing interrogated.
"Now, why would I tell you"? Red Hood questioned.
"GREEN ARROW NOW!" Nightwing yelled, grabbing Red Hood's head, flipping him over his body and throwing him towards Green Arrow, who spun his legs, knocking Arsenal over, who he then grabbed and threw towards Nightwing.
As Arsenal got up, he started firing at his former rival, but Nightwing easily dodged all of Arsenal's arrows, flipping behind Arsenal and using his Escrima sticks to snap Arsenal's elbows, rendering his bows and arrows useless.
On the other hand, when Red Hood stood up, he attempted to fire at Green Arrow, but the Emerald Archer quickly shot two arrows into Red Hoods pistols, blowing up the guns.
"AAh..." Red Hood breathed as he rubbed his hands.
Red Hood tried to grab a bomb from his jacket, but Green Arrow shot a sticky-sonic-arrow at Red Hoods helmet, sending a high-pitched vibration through Red Hood's skull and helmet, rendering the anti-hero unconscious and shattering his "hood".
"Nice job!" the two heroes congratulated each other in unison, giving each other a high-five. But things quickly became bad again as Raven skidded across the cobblestone courtyard, landing next to them, a nasty burn on the side of her face.
"STARFIRE!" Nightwing yelled angrily at his former teammate and lover, grabbing a special vile from his utility belt. "STOP WHAT YOU'RE DOING, NOW"!
"Stop what? Serving my country?" Starfire asked disgustedly, green–fire and energy charging from her eyes and hands as she floated above the two Justice League members.
"But, you're an alien. This isn't your country!" Nightwing explained, slipping over the vile to Green Arrow.
"I'm a naturalized citizen," Starfire spoke proudly and self-assured.
"So Raven here did hurt you?" Green Arrow asked, identifying a deep gash on Starfire's abdomen.
"But I have hurt her," Starfire rebutted, her energy growing stronger.
As Starfire prepared to strike, a golden mace hit her on the head, sending the alien flying into the closest building in the Asylum. As the mace flew back to the thrower like a boomerang, the heroes identified the thrower as none other than the Winged Avenger, Hawk Girl!
"Why are you here?" Nightwing asked as Hawk Girl flew down to the ground.
"Damian saw the fight so he said I should go and help you all," Hawk Girl explained.
As Starfire flew towards the group, the alien shot a beam of green-fire and energy at the group. Hawk Girl flew into the air, and on her mace, every spike sunk into the mace, leaving holes open for Hawk Girl to draw the energy into her mace and rebound the fire at Starfire.
"WEAR HER DOWN!" Green Arrow encouraged. "I CAN'T KNOCK HER OUT IF SHE IS STILL STRONG"!
Hawk swung her mace, but the aerodynamic Starfire dodged the swing, flew behind Hawk Girl and fire at her back, pushing Hawk Girl away.
"You're going to regret you EVER did that!" Hawk Girl shouted, swing strongly at Starfire's head, sending blood, slobber and snot flying. Hawk Girl continued to pummel the alien princess, weakening her normally resilient skin.
"HERE… WE…," Green Arrow counted down as he prepared to shoot his syringe-arrow with Nightwing's vile placed inside the container of the syringe. "NOW"!
Green Arrow fired, hitting Starfire's neck and knocking her out, falling towards the ground.
Nightwing knelt down next to Raven. "Are you okay?" Nightwing asked softly.
"Don't look at me…," Raven whispered, turning her head. "I failed the team".
"How?" Nightwing asked quietly.
"I let my father's influence over-whelm me, and I let Starfire beat me," Raven sulked.
"It's not your fault. You used to be best friends. It was probably hard for you to hurt Starfire," Nightwing assured, patting Raven on the back.
"Are… are you sure?" Raven asked, trying to heal her burns.
"Definitely; now let's lock these three psychos up," Nightwing cheered, helping Raven up.
MEANWHILE
Static Shock made is way to Arkham Asylum; he saw some of the explosions and figured that they ran into some trouble from Luthor.
As Static flew through the city, he reflected on his life. He stayed clean, not getting involved with gangs. He became a superhero. Then he was hire by S.T.A.R. Labs due to his high SAT and college scores, and gets paid $13,450 a month for just being a genius. Then he was chosen to be a part of the Justice League. His life wasn't too bad.
He soared easily through the city, laughing and smiling as he enjoyed the freedom of flight. But he would not be free for much longer. A ghostly figured slowly followed the young hero.
His pursuer was very skilled. He obviously was a meta-human; he could leap the distance between skyscrapers and could keep up with Static Shock, who was flying ABOVE the city. His pursuer was also highly trained; the was the meta-human ran suggested martial-arts training, and the way he moved, not going to fast or close to Static Shock to give away his presence suggested he was trained as a spy.
As Static reached Arkham Asylum, the pursuer stopped and stared at Static from afar, the meta-humans ghostly white eyes piercing through the dark night.
"I have found my prey," the ghostly figure spoke into a communicator, his voice that of a specter's.
"We will strike soon, young one," Deathstroke responded through the com-link.
"Yes, master," the ghostly figure responded, running towards the edge of the building, jumping, and then vanishing, like the flicker of a flame, like smoke.