A Gathering Darkness
Gotham City
March 8 20:06
A woman ran through the dark alley, tears streaming down her face as she screamed for help. Behind her, and man in a black robe was quickly closing the distance. She began knocking down trashcans, shopping carts, whatever was nearby in hopes of slowing him down. Soon she could only hear her footsteps, but didn't dare slow down for fear that he was still on her tail. She turned a corner to find a dead end, and fell to her knees in despair. As his shadow loomed over her, she resigned herself to her fate and buried her face in her hands.
"Now my dear, it's time to give your soul to the Dark Sister." The man said reaching out for her.
His hand was suddenly knocked away by a birdarang. As he looked up he saw Robin bearing down on him, electric staff poised to strike. A large, black tendril shot out from the shadows and quickly ensnared him.
"Oh, and now I have two souls to give to the Dark Sister. She will reward me greatly for bringing her the famous Robin." he smiled.
"Don't be too sure of that." Robin warned.
Miss Martian, Superboy, and Wonder Girl dropped down from Miss Martian's bioship, still invisible to the naked eye.
"Let him go." Superboy warned.
"No, the dark lady will have her souls. All of you, will be her sacrifices!" he snarled.
At that moment, a sword fell from the sky and struck the ground, followed quickly by a young man, landing next to it. He had umber skin, golden eyes and short, black hair. He wore golden armor, except for a bandaged left hand, and a flowing, red cape. In the middle of his chest was a diamond shaped crest bisected by a line with in X going through it. He picked up his sword with the bandaged hand and pointed it at the cultist.
"Release the boy, and reveal the location of the Dark Sister." He demanded.
"Who's this guy?" Wonder Girl asked.
"No idea." Superboy answered.
"You waste your time knight." the cultist closed his hand, causing the tendril around Robin to begin constricting him.
"Robin!" Miss Martian called out.
As everyone began to move to help Robin, the knight quickly slashed the tendril with his sword. As he landed he swiftly turned to punch the cultist in the stomach before he could do anything else and slammed him into the ground. He then picked him up by his collar and pinned him to the wall, sword poised to strike his heart.
"No more games swine, tell me what I want to know." he pressed the tip of the sword against his chest.
Superboy grabbed his arm,"You're not going to get any info from him if you kill him."
"I won't be killing him, the witch will for his failure to acquire more souls. I will convince him to tell me where the Dark Sister he's delivering these souls to are." the knight reassured him.
"Witch? Dark Sister? What are you talking about? Who are you?" Wonder Girl demanded.
"I'm hearing questions with answers that won't help me complete my objective. I'll ask again, where is she?"
The cultist gave a sinister chuckle,"The Dark Sister waits beneath the city for her victims, and she has acquired many. If you feel you have the power to face her, you will find her below, in the sewers. When you see her, tell her I sent you."
"Why?"
"So that I can be justly rewarded for delivering your soul to her."
"Let's put a pin in that." the knight said, slamming him against the wall to knock him out.
"Thanks for the help." Robin said.
"Not very gentle are you?" Miss Martian said sarcastically.
"He's all yours." the knight said turning to leave.
"Gonna tell us who you are now?" Superboy asked folding his arms.
Without a word, the knight took off into the sky.
"Hey!" Superboy yelled after him.
"He can fly?" Robin sounded surprised.
"Wonder Girl, get after him. We'll follow in the bioship." Miss Martian said.
"On it." Wonder Girl confirmed taking off after him.
The light reflecting off his armor made him easy for Wonder Girl to find.
"Hey! Hold on for a minute!" she called after him.
He suddenly stopped in the air, eyes closed as though he was deep in thought. He dove towards the ground, arms outstretched as though we was going to punch through it.
"Hey! What are you doing?!" Wonder Girl exclaimed diving after him.
Wonder Girl, I've established a telepathic link. What happened? Miss Martian asked telepathically.
He's diving towards the street! I think he's going to punch his way through to the sewers if he doesn't go splat on the pavement! I can't catch up!
He smashed through the streets and into the sewer, floating there for a moment and looking around. With four ways to go he closed his eyes again. He ended up going left, slowly floating down the dimly lit corridor with Wonder Girl right behind her. Torches lined the walls of the sewer, each one looking as though they had been put up recently.
Are these sewers normally full of torches? she asked
No, but that cultist said this Dark Sister was beneath the city. Stay on him, we're right behind you. Miss Martian answered.
They came upon an old wooden door, light emanating from its cracks. The knight held his arm back, signaling for Wonder Girl to stop.
"What is it?" she whispered.
"Let's wait for your friends before we take her on." he whispered back.
As Miss Martian, Superboy and Robin came running down the corridor, he help his hand up telling them to stop, before putting his index finger to his lips telling them to be quiet.
What's going on? Robin asked.
He said he was waiting for you guys to catch up before we take the Dark Sister on. Wonder Girl answered.
He say anything else? Like who he is? Superboy asked.
He either doesn't answer or just dodges the question. she responded.
The knight opened the door to what looked like the inside of a church. At the altar stood a woman in a hooded, black robe,with her back to them. Next to her was a large, bulky and humanoid shaped being that appeared to be made of a smoking, black ooze. A tendril protruded from it's body and latched itself onto the face of a man kneeling before it.
"Release that man and prepare yourself Dark Sister!" the knight yelled, pointing his sword at her.
The woman slowly turned around to show grey, cracked skin and bright, red eyes. The tendril then threw the man to the side as glowing, white eyes appeared on the head of the shadowy creature.
"More souls to feed my Lady's creation? Glorious! I shall enjoy watching you die especially, knight." she smiled.
"Where is the witch?" he demanded.
She didn't answer, but instead gently caressed the shoulder of the creature.
"Time to feed my dark one. Make sure they suffer before the end." she whispered.
She turned as a portal opened behind her, walking into a pitch black area beyond it.
"Are you just going to let her get away?" Wonder Girl asked outraged.
"Attempting to stop her would leave me open to an attack from that...abomination." The knight raised his sword,"Besides, we need to save the innocent trapped within."
"There are people inside...that?" Robin was shocked.
"Yes, and if we don't hurry, they'll be consumed by it."
"He's right, I can hear people screaming in that thing." Miss Martian confirmed.
"But what is it?" Wonder Girl asked.
"And how do we fight it?" Superboy added.
"We call them Feeders. As they attach themselves to people they amplify and feed off the negative emotions and darkness in a person's soul. Over time they drag that person into them where they devour them whole, adding them to their shadowy mass. This one's only about 9 feet tall, which is pretty small for them. We'll need to strike it with fire to burn away it's flesh and remove whoever we can from it. With no victims to sustain it, it'll devour itself."
"Why is it just standing there?" Robin asked.
The knight seemed to notice this fact too, then quickly turned to them,"Can any of you move?" he asked urgently.
They were all surprised to find that they couldn't.
"I can't! What's happening?!" Wonder Girl asked.
"This thing is also incredibly cunning with it's psionic abilities. That dread you feel creeping up on you is how the Feeder stops you from moving."
"I...can't...break...free." Miss Martian struggled trying to use her own mental powers to escape.
"It uses every terrible emotion and memory you've had as it's way into your mind. The more potent the bad memory, the easier it is to hold you down."
"How do we break its hold?" Superboy asked, visibly struggling to move.
"If we had a way to connect our minds I might be able to project my own mental fortitude into you four as a buffer, allowing you time to get your thoughts in order."
"I can connect you to us telepathically! It's how we communicate on missions." Miss Martian offered.
"That's...actually convenient. Do it, quickly before it catches on. It can't hear us, but can feel our emotions and uses that as it's way of figuring out what to do."
Telepathic link established. Can you hear me, knight? Miss Martian asked.
Yes. Now prepare yourselves, I'm going to strike you with the white fire from my sword. This isn't actual fire, merely an extension of and powered by my own positive thoughts. When I strike, you'll be able to move as the Feeder's hold over you will be broken. When that happens, it's going to attack, so move fast and don't get hit by it. It's skin is like quicksand, devouring whatever it comes into contact with. Does anyone else have a weapon that emits fire or some kind of light?
My staff is electrified, and I have explosive birdarangs, Robin chimed in.
Alright then...um...
Robin...
Right! I knew that. You'll be with me as we assault the Feeder. Be careful as you strike it so you're not hitting hitting the people trapped within. Strike at its skin, it'll dissolve as the light from your electric staff hits it. Blondie, macho man-
The name's Superboy
Yeah, and Wonder Girl
Sure...As we expose the people trapped within, pull them out.
I can use my telekinesis to pull them out as well. Miss Martian offered.
Yes, do that. Alright, brace yourselves.
The knight's sword was suddenly enveloped in bright, white fire. The Feeder slightly recoiled at the sight of it, bracing itself for an attack. The knight turned and swung his sword at the Team. A stream of white fire shot out of the sword and came down on them. Miss Martian immediately covered her face as a reflex, then suddenly realized she could move again.
I suddenly feel an overwhelming feeling of confidence. Wonder Girl smiled.
Man, you've got a really big ego. Superboy smirked.
Luckily for you there's enough to go around. the knight shot back.
The glowing, white eyes on the feeder suddenly grew larger as it gave a low growl and charged at them on all fours. The knight turned back around and swung his flame covered sword at it, slashing its shoulder. The Feeder immediately jumped away from him, but Robin came from behind and struck at it with his electrified staff. He saw what looked like an arm and called out to the Team for someone to come pull them out. Wonder Girl initially tried, but the Feeder turned and attempted to grab her, forcing her to fly out of its reach. The dark, sludge like skin of the Feeder began to cover the arm again. Robin struck at a spot slightly above the arm, revealing the face of woman, who immediately gasped for breath and called out for help. Superboy grabbed a pew to hit the Feeder with so Wonder Girl could grab the woman. The knight's eyes suddenly glowed red, and beams of red energy burst from them and struck the Feeder's, stunning it long enough for Wonder Girl to pull the woman out, and revealing another individual trapped in its chest.
D-did you just shoot lasers from your eyes? Robin sounded amazed.
You can be amazed at how awesome I am after we've rescued the victims. the knight sounded annoyed.
As Wonder Girl pulled the woman out, the Feeder's size grew significantly smaller. Where it towered over them it first, it was more or less around their height, but still incredibly bulky.
I'd say there's probably two more people left. the knight sounded confident.
How will we know? Miss Martian asked.
If it doesn't shrink into nothingness, then we'll know. he responded.
The Feeder's smaller size made it considerably faster. It tried to dodge both Robin's and the knight's attacks and reclaim the woman Wonder Girl rescued. It stopped, reared it's head back and spit a smoking, black blob at her. Miss Martian got between them and put up a telekinetic shield. The sludge struck her shield, then slid off and hit the ground, slowly eating away at it like acid. The time it took for the Feeder to perform that action was enough for the knight to slice off it's right arm. The Feeder reeled and grabbed at it's shoulder, giving Robin enough time to strike it's back again. This time he plunged his staff into the Feeder, causing the victim trapped in its chest, this time a man, to slowly protrude out. As Superboy went to pull him out, the knight flew up and once again shot the beams of energy from his eyes around the area Robin plunged his staff, allowing him to pull it out. As Superboy retrieved the man and retreated to a safer location, the Feeder lost much of it's bulk. It now had the shape of an average sized man, though a large bulge appeared on it's back. With blinding speed the the knight severed the bulge, causing to shadowy skin to release the man trapped inside. The remaining piece of the Feeder rapidly grew smaller until it suddenly evaporated, leaving a small crater in the ground it started to eat through.
"They're all alive!" Wonder Girl exclaimed happily after checking their pulses.
"Great, job well done team." Miss Martian added.
The knight turned to leave, only to have Superboy block his path.
"You gonna tell us who you are now?" he asked folding his arms.
"Despite how valiantly you fought, I'm under orders not to disclose my name or purpose here. It's safer that way."
"I'm not normally one for disobeying orders, but if we hadn't crossed paths and combined our strength who knows what would've happened to these people." Robin chimed in.
"Yeah, we've been investigating kidnappings in various cities for the last few months but never seemed to pick up a trail. Now you come along and not only do we find a save three people, but you also seem to have more knowledge on this than you're willing to share." Miss Martian said.
The knight sighed,"Look, by my orders I should've gotten away from you four and then found this place, but I thought my chances of rescuing them from this creature was better with others here. I've already broken that order and another one by even having this conversation. I'll inform the Grandmaster of your concerns and if he changes his mind about working with you all and the Justice League, perhaps we'll find you again."
"Then take this," Miss Martian handed him one of their communication devices,"If your Grandmaster decides we should work together, you can call us on here."
He nodded his head in acknowledgement, then flew off.
"So is anyone going to comment on the flight, the strength, and the lazer eyes?" Wonder Girl asked out loud.
"He also had a magic sword, and that sweet armor. I've never seen anything like that." Robin said.
The Watchtower
March 8 22:09
"Sounds like this knight has a few secrets we need to find out." Batman said after he was briefed about the cultists,"This 'Dark Sister' also presents a problem. I've never encountered something like this before."
"Yeah, it was pretty freaky. Lucky for us that knight was there." Wonder Girl said.
"Yes, also lucky that he took the device. It also lets us track him and see where he goes." Batman added.
"Where has he gone since leaving the sewer?" Miss Martian asked.
"He appears to be moving around the country really fast." Superman answered, staring at the map as the red dot began quickly moving around the country,"You said he could fly right?"
"Fly, strong enough to punch a hole through to the sewer, had a flaming sword and shot lazers from his eyes." Robin said.
Superman and Batman exchanged looks.
"Good word today team. With any luck, we'll hear back from this knight and his Grandmaster. They seem to know more than we do what's going on with these kidnappings." Batman said.
They waited until the Team left before turning their attention back to the map.
"Seems like a pretty big coincidence we've gotten no where with these kidnappings for months, only for this guy to show up and lead us towards...well, mostly more questions than answers." Superman said.
"There's definitely more to this than we originally thought. I also wonder whether this young man is another meta-human, or possibly..."
Superman turned to look at him,"Nothing about him is recognizable to me...still...something's not right."
"Well, now that we can track him, things will become more clear." Batman reassured him.