Gotham City- February 18/2011- 8:00 P.M
The quiet night in Gotham had been interrupted when the team was assigned a mission to stop Firefly before he could cause panic in the city; they followed him while avoiding his blasts and ignoring his cheesy one-liners. Zatanna, Miss Martian and Rocket chased Firefly through the air while Kid Flash, who was carrying Artemis, tried to put her in a good position so she could shoot an arrow at him; a task that had proved to be harder than he thought. Aqualad, who was jumping roofs along with Superboy, looked around searching for Robin, it had been a while since he last saw him. Though he should be used to it by now, seeing how the Boy Wonder loved to disappear on missions.
"Is this guy serious?" asked Kid Flash. The team didn't answer; they were too busy trying to take him down to pay attention to his pointless question. Miss Martian extended her hand and used her powers to make him crash into one of the buildings, but as soon as he felt he was being pulled, Firefly aimed his flamethrower at her taking her down.
"M'gann!" said Superboy who, without doubting it any longer, stayed behind to catch her before she could hit the pavement, and after putting her safely on the ground he jumped up to the sky landing on Firefly's back. Grunting, he tried to rip off his wings but they wouldn't come off.
"What are you doing?" asked Firefly trying to shake him off, "go away idiot!" he shouted hitting him against a brick wall. Superboy screamed in pain as his back was being scrapped by the wall, and that was when they heard a familiar laugh. The next thing they saw was Robin kicking Firefly in the face forcing Superboy to the ground with Robin taking his place.
"Let's see if you can really handle the heat," he said placing a bomb on his back before jumping off only to be caught by Rocket. When the bomb exploded, Firefly lost one of his wings making it hard for him to stay in the air, and forcing him to fly closer to the ground.
"Artemis shoot him now," said Aqualad waiting for Firefly to crash. The girl prepared an arrow as Kid Flash got closer to him, but just before she was about to shoot, he plunged to the ground. Kid Flash stopped right next to him, and lowered Artemis onto the street. The couple approached him first as the others caught up.
"Dude, that was awesome, I couldn't even see the arrow," said Robin placing a hand on Artemis' shoulder.
"That's because I never shot it. Whatever took him down didn't come from my bow," she told him.
"Then what Happened?" asked Aqualad kicking the flamethrower away from Firefly's hands.
"Maybe he just couldn't stay in the air for too long," Kid Flash tried to explain before leaning down to examine the suit. Zatanna looked at it from the other side, she moved the remaining wing out of the way and saw a small knife stuck between it and the rest of the suit. The knife had cut most of the cables connecting the wing to the suit, making it useless.
"Guys, check this out," she said pulling the knife out. It was incredibly sharp and the curved blade looked strong; strong enough to cut through steel. Even though the blade was supposed to be its usual metallic color, this one was black, even the handle was black, which probably explained why they couldn't see it in the dark. Robin leaned down to look at it, the way the blade was bent allowed it to make a clean cut of the wing, so the person that threw it had to know about the mechanics of the suit, not to mention they also needed to have crazy good aim. While Robin was analyzing the knife, Kid Flash leaned down next to him and snatched it away from him.
"This is a really cool souvenir," he said walking away with it. The Boy Wonder shook his head, and as he got up he caught a glimpse of a metallic USB laying under Firefly. He moved him out of the way, picked it up and put it in his belt after examining carefully. Suddenly, he got the feeling that he was being watched, but when he looked around, there was no one in sight. Shrugging it off, he noticed that the others had cuffed Firefly to a streetlight and had started walking away from him, so he picked up the pace and managed to catch up with them.
"Shit," said a girl, her figure shadowed by the lack of light in the alley she was hiding in, and her face mainly covered by a black hood. The place where she was standing, was located diagonal to where the team was, giving her the perfect view to the whole scene. As she watched the team leave, she drew her hand to her ear. "Guys, we have a problem," she said before turning her back on Firefly's unconscious body, and disappearing deeper into the shadows.
Mount Justice- 10:46 P.M-
Kid Flash placed the knife on his souvenir shelf, but not before taking a good look at it, he had never seen one like it, and he really wanted to touch it. Pulling his hand out he touched the knife lightly on its edge and managed to get a cut, that just showed how sharp the knife really was. Kid Flash let go of it just as Artemis walked into the room, she leaned against the door frame, a smile on her lips and her arms crossed over her chest. She never really got tired of watching him do stupid things.
"That's what you get for messing with it," she said as he walked closer to her, "need a Band-Aid?" she asked watching the blood come out of his tiny wound. Kid Flash shook his head.
"Babe please, this is nothing…. actually, it really hurts. Why is it that the small cuts always hurt like hell?" he asked before leaning in for a kiss. After a few seconds, the couple walked out of the room and into the living room where the others were waiting. Robin had the USB in his hand and was plugging it into his holographic computer, but when he did, the screen went blank. He tried to hack it, but new firewalls kept appearing, and with each firewall, a new virus was installed in his computer.
"What the heck?" he asked. Finally noticing he couldn't do much, he pulled out the USB and tried to restore his computer. After a couple of minutes, he could get everything back to normal, but for a moment his heart had stopped. That computer had a lot of information about the team and the Justice League, if that information was compromised it would have been his fault. "Whatever is inside that USB it's very well protected," he said looking up at Aqualad.
"If it's something so important, what was Firefly doing with it?" wondered Aqualad. They all knew Firefly wasn't one of the smartest villains they had fought, so he was probably working as the middle man for someone else.
"Should we tell the Justice League about this?" asked Rocket. The team agreed not to tell the Justice League about it until they could figure out what it was. Right now, the Justice League was very busy trying to figure out what had happened last years, so bothering them with something like that would just waste their time. After a while of pointless conversation, Robin left the cave along with Artemis since both were going back to Gotham, but they parted ways in the alley and each of them went home.
Wayne Manor- 11:15 P.M-
Robin walked into the Batcave only to find it empty. He looked at the big computer that sat unattended against the wall, then he looked at the USB that had found its way back into his hand. He wanted to plug it in and see what was inside, he was really curious about it, but even with all the technology in the super computer, the virus might still damage or corrupt Batman's files. He gave one last glance to the USB, and just as he was about to leave he felt a light tap on the shoulder, startled he turned around to see Alfred looking down at him.
"I didn't hear you come in, Master Richard," he said, "did you have a good day?" Robin put the USB away before nodding.
"It was okay I guess. Is he back yet?" he asked taking off his mask to reveal his deep blue eyes.
"Unfortunately, Master Bruce seems to be taking care of some Justice League business and says he won't be back until tomorrow," said Alfred escorting Robin out of the cave and into the manor. He hadn't seen much of Bruce lately, it seemed as if he was always away, whether it was with the Justice League, by himself or with Luscious Fox to talk about Wayne Enterprises. Slowly, both made their way towards their respective rooms, saying goodnight before closing their doors. Robin took his clothes off and threw them on the floor, he usually slept in his underwear and today wasn't an exception. He took the USB and stored it away in the top drawer of his nightstand, and after some tossing and turning he finally fell asleep.
Mount Justice- February 27- 8:36 P.M-
Robin, Zatanna, Miss Martian, Superboy and Aqualad were doing some training with Black Canary when Batman's face popped up on the screen interrupting their practice. The screen showed a split image of his face and a news channel showing the complete chaos that Poison Ivy had formed in New York City.
"Since most of the Justice League is working on figuring out what happened during those 16 hours, I'm going to need you down in New York to take care of Poison Ivy. Think you can handle that?" he asked, the team nodded and started to leave.
"I'll go with them," said Black Canary, but before she could catch up to them, Batman stopped her.
"No, you are needed at the tower," he said before cutting off the transmission. Black Canary ran the other direction while the team took a zeta tube to New York City.
New York City- 8:55 P.M-
The five of them arrived to the city. The first thing they saw were long lines of unoccupied cars that were being run through by equally long vines that had broken their windows. People were running in all directions as more vines popped up from the ground breaking the hard pavement, and at the center of it all sat Poison Ivy with an army of hypnotized men ready to keep anyone away from her. It was clear that she was waiting for someone. Miss Martian created a psychic link, and at the same time she called the other three members of the team.
"Miss Martian and Superboy, try to keep the plants from going any further," said Aqualad. Miss Martian nodded and flew away towards the end of the vines. "Robin, Zatanna, we are going to stop Ivy," he said and the three of them made their way towards Poison Ivy. As they were closing in, the men around Ivy started to attack them along with her vines. Trying not to hurt them they started to only block their attacks while Poison Ivy watched comfortably from her seat without moving a finger. Ivy let out a small mocking laughter at their clumsy attempts still not getting up from the plant she was using as a chair.
"Come on, I was expecting the big guys, how come they send me their junior league?" she asked placing her hand under her chin. A smirk formed on her face as she extended her arm causing one of the vines to follow her movement, the vine was about to wrap itself around Aqualad when Kid Flash grabbed him and put him on the other side of the street.
"Sorry we are a bit late," he said pointing at Artemis who he had dropped off in front of Poison Ivy. The girl shot an arrow at Ivy which exploded only a few feet away from her making her take a few steps back. Rocket made her way towards the team blasting as many plants as she could until she saw Miss Martian and Superboy struggling in the back.
"I'll stay behind with Superboy and Miss Martian, there are a lot of these vines back there," said Rocket turning around. At that moment, a vine wrapped itself around Artemis putting her upside down. It seemed like the more she struggled the tighter the vine got, so Robin made his way towards her and dodging another vine he placed a small bomb that exploded right after he left, freeing Artemis. They both landed on their feet and tried to get closer to Ivy.
"You are hurting my babies!" she yelled getting up from her seat, and as she raised both hands, more plants started coming out from the ground. Far away from them, the other three tried to keep the vines under control, Superboy focused on breaking them, Miss Martian tried to redirect them and Rocket just kept blasting them.
"We are never going to finish!" shouted Rocket blasting a large vine that was about to hit a woman trying to run away. Miss Martian was about to answer when she saw a red motorcycle reeving up the street. the driver was clearly a girl, but her face was covered by the black helmet. Miss Martian watched the motorcycle make its way through the vines until it reached the team.
"Guys, seems like you have company," Miss Martian warned them. Back with the rest of the team, they saw the motorcycle closing in on them and got distracted. Ivy took the chance and sent one of her men to stab Robin, but before he could be stabbed the motorcycle came in between them, the driver kicked the man out of the way and took Robin away by the collar of his suit.
"We are going on a ride!" said a female voice. The Boy Wonder found himself in the back of the bike as his driver went straight into a back street to go around the block. Robin opened his mouth to say something when he saw a vine following them and another one that was about to smash them.
"Look out!" he yelled just as the person driving took a sharp right turn avoiding the vine that slammed the floor so hard, it broke the pavement. "That was so not whelmed," he said looking back at the broken street. The vine was still after them, following them as they drove down the street only to realize it was a dead-end.
"Hold on tight," she said as she turned the bike around and drove past the plant dodging it when it tried to smashed them. Once out of that street, she turned left this time. In that moment, Robin understood what she was doing, this person was going to surprise Ivy by attacking her from the back. "Shit," she said just after seeing the vine going up getting ready to smash them again. When it came down, she drove closer to the wall scratching the bike in the process. It wasn't long till they could see the back of Ivy's head, but instead of attacking her, the girl jumped over her head landing right in front of Ivy. The girl stopped the bike allowing Robin to get off, but she stayed put with one leg on the ground and another one still on the bike.
"What the hell?!" asked Ivy looking at them. Robin looked at the girl for the first time, she wore black combat boots with black pants tugged into them, and a black long-sleeved shirt. If it weren't for the long gray lines on the side of her suit, she would be very hard to see in the dark. The outfit was completed with a pair of black fingerless gloves, a black and gray belt with a black stick hanging from the side and couple of guns that she stored on the side of her legs. He looked up at her face, but it was still covered by the black helmet which she only took off after she started talking.
"I've gotta hand it to you Ivy, New York City has never looked so green," she said revealing her jet-black hair that reached the end of her shoulder blades and a black mask that covered her eyes.
"Nightshade, of course it's you. What are you doing here?" asked Ivy. In that moment, the team learned three things about her: that girl knew Poison Ivy enough to mock her, she was a good driver, and her code name was Nightshade.
"I could ask you the same thing," she answered getting off the bike, "I thought you only worked in Gotham. You know, that's why I tried to stay away from that godforsaken city," Ivy walked closer to her extending her hand, making a vine rise up from the ground right in front of Nightshade. The vine tried to wrap itself around her, but the girl took out the black stick that hung from her hip, and with the push of a button, a sword slid out. Nightshade used the sword to cut the vine while moving out of its way and getting closer to Poison Ivy. Kid Flash watched Nightshade cut the vine, but he didn't notice that a vine was wrapping itself around him until it was too late. Just then the team received a message from Miss Martian.
"Guys, the vines keep expanding, we think we can handle it, but someone needs to get this people out of here," she said. With everyone else busy, Zatanna figured out her only option was to go by herself, but when she started to leave a vine caught her foot and pulled her back to the ground making her crash against the pavement.
"You're not going anywhere," said Ivy looking at Zatanna right before dodging an oncoming punch from Nightshade. Kid Flash looked around, Artemis and Robin were knocking down more civilians, while Nightshade and Aqualad were fighting Ivy. At this point, only Kid Flash and Zatanna could help Miss Martian and the others, if only they could get out of those vines.
"Yeah, this is going to take a while," he said struggling to get out. He was thinking about vibrating his way out when a knife brushed past his leg cutting the vine and freeing him. Kid Flash looked up to see Nightshade with her arm still stretched out, so he gave her a friendly nod before running off to help Zatanna. In that moment, Ivy tried to punch the girl, but Aqualad grabbed her fist and pushed her back. With this, the plants and the hypnotized civilians started targeting him and Nightshade. The other two joined them, and while the team was extremely careful not to hurt the civilians, Nightshade was doing the opposite, she was taking them down and making sure they stayed there. The girl took out a gun and started shooting them in the leg which was clearly better than just hitting them in the head.
"Hey!" yelled Robin, "we don't use guns,"
"You should, they are very effective," she said shooting a plant that was coming her way. Robin ran up to her and took the gun away while glaring. Nightshade grabbed her gun trying to snatch it away, but he wouldn't let go.
"Don't touch my things, Bird Boy!" she said glaring back.
"The name's Robin," he told her throwing the gun away. The girl grabbed his collar and was about to say something when Aqualad pushed them both down dodging a car that was thrown their way. After that, the three of them sat on the ground looking up at Clayface.
"You have got to be shitting me!" said Nightshade getting up from the ground. "Seriously, what the fuck is wrong with Gotham's villains today?"
"Liked my little surprise?" asked Poison Ivy sitting back down on the giant vine.
"You brought this gigantic mass of mud here?" asked Artemis. Nightshade let out small laugh and placed her hand on Artemis's shoulder.
"Gigantic mass of mud…. Good one," she said turning around to face Poison Ivy. "I'll take care of Ivy. You can handle Clayface, right?" she asked not really waiting for an answer. Artemis stepped up next to her taking an arrow and placing it on her bow.
"I'll help you," she said shooting at the plants. Nightshade gave her a smirk as she took out her other gun; this time she avoided shooting the civilians and just immobilized them or knocked them out. On the other side of the street, Robin and Aqualad dodged Clayface's fists, until he managed to pick up Robin who placed a bomb on his arm, and as soon as it went off, it froze his arm allowing Aqualad to smash it; and letting Robin to fall to the ground. Unfortunately for them, his arm regenerated and he continued attacking them. Enraged, Clayface grabbed one of the cars left on the street and threw it at them, the boys managed to avoid it, but it was now heading towards Artemis.
"Artemis Watch out!" Yelled Aqualad, the blonde ducked, but this gave Poison Ivy the chance to use one of her vines to grab her. The vine moved the girl closer to Ivy as Artemis struggled to get out.
"It's so cute when they try to escape," said Ivy while chuckling. Artemis tried to use her hands to free herself, but the vine just got tighter making her feel a bit suffocated and trapped. While Artemis kept trying to get away, Nightshade approached them from behind getting ready to strike Poison Ivy with her sword when a vine came in between them.
"Yeah, I should have known that wouldn't work. So, tell me now that we have some time to catch up, how are you?" asked Nightshade trying to get closer to Ivy.
"Cut the crap Nightshade," she said pushing the girl back with the vine, Nightshade let out a small laugh without noticing that another vine was wrapping itself around her feet. "I'm going to wipe that smug smile right off your face," she said right before the vine chucked her towards a building. The girl hit the window, breaking it in the process. Poison Ivy let out a small laugh when she saw that Nightshade was taking her time coming out of the building.
"That's all you can do?" asked Nightshade stepping out from the window. The girl's uniform was torn and she had scratches all over her body with some pieces of glass still embedded in her skin. Ivy's smile turned into a frown and another vine threw Nightshade against a brick wall pushing some of the glasses further inside. Nightshade landed right next to Robin and Aqualad who were fighting Clayface and looked just as exhausted as she did.
"Are you alright?" asked Aqualad, without looking at her; he was getting ready to release some electricity to stop Clayface once and for all. Robin offered his hand to help her up, but the girl simply shrugged it off.
"Don't mind me, I'm a fast healer," she said taking out the remaining shards of glass and dropping the bloody pieces on the ground. Nightshade started making her way back to where Ivy was, but she used another vine to grab Nightshade and drag her towards where Artemis was hanging.
"Well looks like I win this time, Nightshade," she said giving them a mocking smile seeing that Nightshade lacked hers. Poison Ivy looked at the other two and started focusing on them, making it hard for Robin and Aqualad to fight Clayface.
"What is going on over there?" asked Miss Martian redirecting a vine. Zatanna raised her head just in time to see Nightshade being flung into the window. She winced sharing her pain. "Who is she?"
"Apparently her name is Nightshade, she seems to have some history with Poison Ivy," said Zatanna watching the girl walk back towards Ivy only to be thrown against another building. "I think it's safe to say it's not a good one," she said using her magic to cover some civilians before they could be hit by a vine. The five of them kept holding back the vines and saving the civilians while the others found themselves stuck.
Nightshade and Artemis hung side by side; the blonde couldn't help but look at the new girl. She had been distracted, looking around the place for something, but she couldn't see what until Nightshade started talking. "Hey Blondie, see that plant over there?" whispered Nightshade "the one where Ivy seats?" Artemis nodded.
"It's not Blondie, it's Artemis," she told her glaring at her. Nightshade matched her eyes and gave her a slight smirk.
"I don't care. I think that if we take it down, the other vines will wither. It's only a theory though, I don't really know what will happen. Would you help me find out?" she asked looking at Artemis. The difference between the way the vines were wrapped around each one of them showed how much of a threat Ivy thought they were, the vine around Nightshade was wrapped around her legs, waist and arms leaving only her shoulders and head free. On the other hand, the vine around Artemis, only reached her waist leaving her arms dangling free over her head which made her more suitable to attack the vine.
"On it," answered Artemis reaching down to grab an arrow from the ground. Poison Ivy lifted her head just as Artemis grabbed the arrow and hid it behind her back. Ivy walked towards Artemis, moving the girls farther apart.
"What should I do with you?" asked ivy looking at her. Artemis tried not to say anything, she just stared into her eyes until Nightshade started laughing. The black-haired girl gave her a smirk as they stared at each other.
"Are you serious?!" she asked loudly, "I thought you had it figured out already, or did you not think you would get this far?" she asked moving her hand slowly towards her belt. Poison Ivy glared at her while Nightshade kept talking "I bet this will probably work as a friendly reminder… This is my city, bitch," she told her while pressing a button on the belt that turned her motorcycle on and made it accelerate towards them forcing Poison Ivy to move out of the way. This allowed Artemis some room to throw the explosive arrow at the plant which, just like Nightshade predicted, withered the rest releasing the girls. They turned around just in time to see Clayface being taken down by Aqualad and Robin. The guys had combined Aqualad's electricity with one of Robin's gadgets generating enough power to turn him into a useless blob.
Nightshade made her way towards Poison Ivy and leaned down to match her eyes. "Just like old times, huh? By the way, when you get to Belle Reve say hello to our perky friend," she said before the rest of the team joined her to put Ivy in cuffs.
"Thank you for the assistance," he said extending his hand for her to shake it, which she did after a while of looking at it. "I'm Aqualad, these are Robin, Artemis, Zatanna, Kid Flash, Rocket, Superboy and Miss Martian. We work with the Justice League," he told her. Nightshade looked at them for a while and then she looked at the destroyed city.
"Good, then I'll leave the cleaning up to you guys," she said giving Ivy one last smirk.
"I thought you said this was your city, why don't you take care of that on your own?" asked Robin a little irritated.
"Sorry Blunder Boy, I'm not that big on cleaning," she told him walking away from them, "Oh and by the way, I'm going to need my knife back. It's one of my favorites," she said looking at Kid Flash while leaning down to pick up the gun Robin had thrown away.
"Wait, it was you the other night?" asked Kid Flash. She didn't answer, she just walked towards her bike and put her helmet on.
"Look me up if you're ever back in New York," she said before driving away.
"Her name was Nightshade, right?" asked Robin opening his holographic computer. He started searching for her name, when he heard Poison Ivy laughing. They all turned around to meet her gaze.
"you're not going to find anything," she told them, "I really wouldn't mess with her if I were you," she said letting out another laugh.
"Shut up already," said an annoyed Artemis. Still the team exchanged worried looks as they confirmed that what Poison Ivy had said was true. Her name couldn't be found anywhere.
Manhattan, New York City- 11:43 P.M-
Nightshade got into an apartment building through one of the windows. She turned on the lights of the apartment only to find a tall black-haired boy sitting on the couch staring at his phone, she had come to know that boy as Lance Davis, the oldest of the Davis siblings. Nightshade sighed and put her things down on the floor right next to the door. She walked up to the kitchen trying to ignore him as she pulled out some leftovers from the fridge. She was really hoping he had just fallen asleep with his eyes open. Honestly, she was not in the mood for talking, and that was why when he spoke she let out a disappointed sigh.
"Dammit," she said under her breath.
"You are late," he finally said with a light British accent, he stood up from the couch and walked up to Nightshade showing how tall he was, and how short Nightshade was. While he stood at a great 5'10, she was barely 5'2, so the difference between them was evident. Nightshade placed the leftovers on the counter and wiped her mouth with her hand, making sure she had swallowed everything before talking.
"It dragged on a little bit longer than I thought it would," she said moving away from him, she hated having to look up at his face. It's not like there was something wrong with it, he had a very handsome face, sharp features and deep brown eyes that sort of invited you in, but her neck hurt when she looked up. "They are…. a very interesting group of people I guess," she told him putting more food in her mouth.
"Are you really going to go through with this?" he asked raising an eyebrow. Nightshade looked up at him while swallowing her food.
"Of course, I need to get that USB back, what do you think The Light would do if they found out the Justice league had that thing?" she asked him putting the leftovers aside.
"Yeah, I get it, but why do you have to go? I think we should have sent Skye, she is more likeable," he said taking the food and putting it back in the fridge. He was sure she wasn't going to eat anymore since she had already gulfed down a bit more than half the container.
"Your sister might be more likable, but I'm a better fighter," she said taking off her mask revealing her dark brown eyes that were staring right into his.
"Have I ever told you that your arrogant attitude annoys me?" he asked her leaning down closer to her face. They stared at each other for a while, until Lance started talking, "you took the wrong turn," he reminded her while whispering in her ear. Nightshade glared at him before punching him in the stomach pushing him away from her, right after that, she felt a sharp pain run through her wounds. She looked at them, and saw that there were still some pieces of glass inside.
Lance noticed and took out a first aid kit and used it to take out the small pieces of glass, then he disinfected the wounds, and finally, he took a needle and a threat and started stitching up the wounds while Nightshade winced in pain. "Don't you have anything else to do?" she asked trying to make light conversation until she noticed that there were a few people missing from the room. "Where are they?" she asked looking around.
"They went out after you crashed against that glass. I'm surprised my sister didn't show up there," he said finishing up the stitches. Nightshade got off the counter and started walking towards her room and that was when he noticed she was limping, putting her weight on her right leg. A worried look grew on his face after he saw the multiple cuts all over her body. "Jade," he called out making her turn around, "don't push yourself too much," he told her, she didn't say anything, she just turned back around and disappeared into the shadowed hall.