A/N: The sequel to my story 'The Return'. I hope you all enjoy! Remember to leave a review or a favorite if you like what you see. Also, there will be one or two characters from Young Justice (since this is the next generation of heroes).
Prologue
Samuel Cobblepot took a long drag from his cigar as he watched over his hired muscle. Twirling his revolver dangerously, he kept darting his eyes back and forth nervously. He constantly checked each shadow, as if they were possessed by some wrathful demon. Pulling out his pocket watch, Cobblepot checked the time. They had about two minutes until their ship docked, full of priceless collectables and other illegally obtained goods. Punctuality was key now a day. Gotham was under a new law, and it sure as hell wasn't the police.
"Hurry up," he barked, glaring towards his henchmen dressed in black and white.
"The shipment isn't even here boss," one called back to him, fed up with being in the cold.
Cobblepot glared and turned his muscular frame, pointing his gun towards the unsuspecting man. With a deafening bang, the revolver went off and killed the man, his body falling in the harbor.
"Anyone else care to question me?" he asked, daring a single thug to open his mouth. He shook his head and muttered to himself, "Stupid Batman, putting this kind of strain on my business."
Samuel Cobblepot had inherited the famous Iceberg Lounge from his father, the deformed and ugly Oswald Cobblepot. Samuel was proud that he was significantly better looking then his father. He wasn't born with those disgusting hands or long nose. In fact, he was quite the playboy, even ranking up there with his hated business and social rival, Christian Wayne. Ever since the Batman returned, Cobblepot had gained a new nickname, the Osprey. He actually liked it, the name commanded more fear and respect then penguin.
"Boss, ship is here!"
Cobblepot turned his head towards the foggy bay and saw a ship pull into the docks and lower its bridge.
"Go on then," he commanded in his heavy British accent, pointing towards the ship, "I don't have all night!"
His men began unloading the shipment as his three personal bodyguards approached him, all holding military grade assault rifles. All three were beautiful, and all three were his. Cobblepot was a bit of a pack rat, like his father. He enjoyed thinking that the three dangerous girls were his property.
He watched as all the crates passed him, each containing a priceless valuable inside. Items stolen and procured from all around the globe ran through Samuel's greedy hands. As he continued to laud over his stolen treasures, he pulled one specific box over to the side.
"This one I'm keeping for myself," he laughed, holding his hand out. One of his bodyguards placed a crowbar in it, and Cobblepot began to crack it open. Once he popped the top, his eyes widened happily.
Inside, almost glowing, was a snow-white bird gem. Its eyes were ruby red; its chest was sapphire. "This is truly a work of art," he said to himself, licking his lips greedily.
As he reached for his stolen sculpture, three of his henchmen screamed out in pain and dropped into the river.
"Damnit," he growled, "He's here…"
Suddenly, four more of his henchmen fell to the ground, each with large bullet wounds in their legs or arms.
"It's a shame Sammy, we would get along so well if we didn't have the same taste," said a sweet and seductive voice.
Samuel looked around for the voice, "Oh no! Damnit, leave my shipment alone, go find your own things to steal!"
"Sorry Sammy, but that gem you had stowed away on that nasty ship caught my eye."
Samuel kept looking around for her, trying to find some sort of hint that might give away her position. This bitch had been messing with his shipments for the past couple of weeks and had never been caught.
"Show yourself whore! Or are you afraid the minute I see you I'll snap you neck?"
"If you insist," suddenly a woman in a white jumpsuit appeared in front of him and kicked him in the chest with her heel boots.
Samuel stood up, a bit dazed, and got a full look at the thief. She was incredibly beautiful, having all the right curves in all the right places. She wore a confident smirk, along with a white jumpsuit that looked as effective as it did expensive. A mask covered the top part of her face, and a silver bird emblem was on the chest of her suit. Strapped to her suit were several guns, and high powered ones at that. Her blue eyes and her ruby red lips were all that were shown by the mask.
"Nice getup," Samuel taunted, "you getting in the spirit with all the other wack jobs in this city?"
"You're hardly one to talk, Osprey," she retorted, keeping her confident smile.
"I'm gonna looking forward to shooting that grin off your face," he sneered, bringing his revolver up towards her.
Before he could even think of pulling the trigger, she pulled one of her pistols from its holster and shot the gun right out of his hand. Samuel's pupils shrank as he raised his hands defenselessly.
"Good boy," the mysterious woman told him, "now toss over the bird."
Samuel threw the diamond bird to her, with several grumbles and curses under his breath.
"Now, now, no need to be a sore loser," she told him as she put the statuette in her bag. She noticed Cobblepot suddenly had a wide grin on his face, as if he had just won the lottery.
She gave him a suspicious look, "What's so funny?"
Cobblepot snickered, "If you wanna make it big in this town, you gotta deal with the same problems we do. Problems like the one behind you."
"What's behind me?" she demanded in an annoyed tone of voice
"Me."
She whirled around, coming face to face with a tall figure in a black cowl. Cobblepot continued to grin happily; karma finally was on his side.
"Mam, I believe you have heard of the Batman," Samuel taunted
The woman merely smiled seductively at the legend in front of her. "If it isn't the dark angel of Gotham. My, my, you look much better in person."
"Who are you," Batman questioned, trying to get a read on her.
"You're asking a masked woman who she is? A bit ironic, isn't it?"
Batman glared at her angrily, he was losing his patience.
The woman just giggled confidently, "Oh I'm just playing. You can call me Siren."
"Well Siren, you have one chance to give back what you stole," he demanded, holding his hand out. Something about this woman, Siren, bothered him. He could usually get a read on everyone he fought, and that reading was usually fear. Siren didn't seem to be intimidated at all by him. Her pupils didn't show any emotion but pure coolness.
"Sorry handsome, but I think I'll keep this one," she answered.
With surprising speed, she did a back flip and kicked off Batman's chest, causing him to stumble backwards a bit. Before Batman could lunge at her, she shot a grapple gun up to the roof of the nearest building and launched herself up.
Siren landed on the roof perfectly and broke out into a sprint. Soon after, a dark shadow began looming over her, following her as she jumped from roof to roof.
Siren looked up and saw Batman gliding towards her, his white eyes contrasting heavily from the night sky.
"You know, I like a man who never gives up," she called to him before she jumped across a whole street, using small jets on her shoes to propel herself further.
When she landed, she took another look at the sky and saw Batman was gone. With a smug smile and a chuckle, she began to walk forward. Before she could get three feet, she bumped right into the dark knight.
Glaring down at Siren, he told again calmly, "Give it back now."
Siren smiled and brought her body closer to his, wrapping her arms around his neck. Batman was surprised by this reaction, but was not going to be swayed by it. Seduction wouldn't work on him.
Siren began to run her finger on his emblem, as if she was tracing the outline and asked in a sweet voice, "Oh c'mon tall dark and brooding, just let a lady have her fun."
Batman became more frustrated as he began to notice she was actually making him sweat. He had to do something fast.
Pushing her away, he growled, "The hard way it is."
Siren glared at him and answered, "Fine Batman, I guess it is!"
She immediately disappeared from sight, much to Batman's surprise. He suddenly felt something hit him in the back of the head, knocking him over. She had turned invisible, but how?
"Cowl, calibrate for high sound detection," he murmured quietly
As he stood up, Batman heard the quiet sound of Siren's boots running towards him. The dark knight spun around quickly, grabbing her by the wrists and turning her around. He jacked her arm up higher as he held them behind her back, not letting go until she gave back what she stole.
"Ooo, I see you like it rough," she purred, leaning her head back so she could whisper in his ear.
"A heat concealing invisibility suit," he said to her in his intimidating tone of voice, "fancy stuff for a thief."
"Believe it or not, I stole it," she responded sarcastically, rolling her eyes, "It's a prototype, one of a kind."
"I'm turning you in," Batman growled, which only seemed to give Siren even more enjoyment.
"Sorry Bats, but I have other plans in mind."
Batman readied himself for some secret weapon or hidden blade, but what happened next shocked him even more. Siren leaned backwards and kissed him on the lips, causing him to loosen his grip just enough so she could escape.
"See you around handsome," she told him, giving him a mock salute. Siren then turned invisible and jumped off the edge of the building.
Batman just stood wide-eyed looking towards where she had just left. He couldn't decide whether or not that was the boldest thing he's ever seen anyone do.
"So Mr. Wayne, I see your affinity for women has returned," his secretary, Eve, now the new Oracle, joked over the line.
Batman inwardly rolled his eyes and answered, "Oracle, I need all information on that stolen stealth suit from Lex Corp, I think I may have found it."
"Hold on sir, you have an urgent call on the other line," Eve reported suddenly, "It's from… Ms. Kent!"
Batman quickly answered, "Put her through!"
Some static came through the feed until he finally heard Kara's voice over the radio. She sounded drained of all her energy and in extreme pain.
"Batman, look out! They're coming for yo…"
"Superwoman! Superwoman!" Batman yelled, trying to improve the signal strength manually. The transmission cut off, leaving him to try and interpret what she meant.
As he began trying to reconnect with the line, he heard footsteps from the surrounding rooftops. They sounded like heavy combat boots; someone really was after him.
Batman quickly hid in the shadows, waiting for whoever was trying to sneak up on him to show themselves. Observing quietly from the darkness, he saw several soldiers approaching where he had once been, looking very confused. Each of them had an L patch on their shoulder, branding them Lex Corp officers.
"Where'd he go? He was here a second ago," one of them thought aloud.
"I don't know, just spread out and find him!" another yelled, turning on his night vision goggles and signaling the soldiers on the building across from them.
Batman lay in wait until one unlucky soldier passed him. He quickly burst from the shadows and wrapped his arms around the Lex trooper's neck, chocking him into unconsciousness.
The other soldier quickly came running, but was knocked out by a powerful blow to the head before he could turn the corner. Batman continued to weave behind cover and the shadows, as the troops on the other roof were now alerted of his presence. He pulled out three batarangs and calibrated his cowl to assist his aim. After taking a deep breath, Batman rolled from out of cover and threw the three batarangs, each finding their mark on one of the soldiers. While they were dazed and confused, Batman jumped off and glided towards them.
He flew into one of the soldiers and knocked him down instantly. The dark knight rolled into action, using the batclaw to disarm the nearest trooper. He charged the unarmed soldier, grabbed him by the back of his neck, and began kneeing him in the stomach until the man lost his breath and was knocked out.
More soldiers began to charge him, wielding large metal batons. Batman fought them off, dodging and countering each of their attacks. He ducked under one swing and followed up with a swift uppercut. His uppercut flowed smoothly into an elbow to one of the soldier's neck.
One of the men grabbed Batman from behind, refusing to let go. The caped crusader growled in annoyance as he tried to shake the stubborn soldier off. Finally, he slammed his back into the wall and then turned, giving the soldier a jaw breaking right hook. One last soldier charged him, letting loose a battle cry as he tried to catch the Batman with his baton. Batman stepped to the side and tripped the man, grabbing him by the head before he could hit the ground and slamming it against the rail next to him.
He made one last check to make sure he had taken out the last of the soldiers, and then moved to a secure location.
"Oracle," he called over the transmitter, "Lex Luthor is after the league, and it looks like he has permission to do so."
"Wait, how is did Lex Luthor get permission to hunt down league members?"
Batman grabbed a newspaper that was being flung around in the wind and took one look at it. He grimaced and answered, "I'm not sure, but we're about to find out."
A/N: And thus it begins! I hope you all enjoyed the prologue to the second story in the Return saga.