(a/n: sorry for the wait but here you are, a brand new chapter. I just want to say sorry that its short and stuff but i just had to get this out of the way)
Ch.2: Nightmare Revisited
The Zeta tubes activated and deposited the Young Justice team members, both new and old into the cave.
Over the course of five years, their ranks had swelled and they had gained new members. Those new members were Blue Beatle, Beast Boy, Bumblebee, Lagoon Boy, Wonder Girl, Batgirl and Mal Duncan.
They had recently been on a mission with the Justice League to strike the Zeta platforms of the Kroloteans and it had been a success.
The Kroloteans were a race of alien thieves that had been kidnapping people and stealing technology from earth.
After the destruction of the final Zeta platform, Batman had recalled them to Mount Justice.
Once the last member of the team emerged from the Zeta tube, they noticed standing in the center of the main hall were Batman and two men that were unfamiliar to most of the team.
Batman looked about the team "Glad you could make it" said Batman "I'm sure that most of you are wondering who these two men are" he gestured to one man "This is Lieutenant Samuel Caldwell, super soldier and formally part of BlackWatch"
"Hey guys" he waved a little "Good to see you again"
"Like wise" said Nightwing.
Batman gestured to the other "This is Sergeant James Heller"
"Hello" said Heller.
Beast boy asked "So what's the meeting about?"
Batman glanced at Beast boy and sighed "This" he pressed a button on a holographic keypad and a large screen appeared. On the screen was a news reporter standing in a crowded street with hundreds of people rushing back and forth "-first cases had been appearing early this morning after the wave of smoke. Hospitals have been filled to capacity with new cases and even more are flooding in. The military and CDC have cordoned off a section of New York where the infection is strongest"
Batman hit a button muting the sound "There has been another outbreak in New York and the virus is similar to the one from the original outbreak"
Everyone's eyes widened "How?" asked Robin
"According to witness accounts, there were clouds of strange chemicals that infected a section of New York" explained Batman "Nobody knows where the chemical clouds came from but some eyewitness accounts claimed to have seen some Infected like Walkers and Hunters moving through the smoke"
"Probably some from the last outbreak" guessed Caldwell "BlackWatch couldn't keep tabs on the infected hives because there were too many and they didn't have the man power to hunt that many infected".
Miss Martian frowned "But what dose this have to do with Samuel and James?"
Batman nodded to Samuel and James "I'll let them explain".
Caldwell stepped forward and cleared his throat "A few nights ago, before this outbreak, Dana and Maya were kidnapped" Most of the young heroes looked confused but the original members of the team gasped
"What? Who did this?" asked Nightwing
Caldwell shrugged "I don't know. I was heading back to my apartment and I could sense that Dana was there but suddenly this shadow jumped me and I woke up a day later covered in snow and Dana was long gone"
James added "Same here, except I heard an intruder break into Maya's room and I confronted him but he escaped"
"Did you get a good look?" asked Nightwing.
James shook his head "Not really, the intruder had his face covered pretty well".
Beast Boy spoke up "Uh who are you guys talking about?"
"Dana Mercer, sister of Alex Mercer and Amaya, my daughter" said Heller.
All the young heroes gapped "Wait Alex Mercer?" said Blue Beetle, incredulously "As in the terrorist who killed all those soldiers and civilians and almost destroyed New York. I didn't think that monster had family"
"Hey!" growled Caldwell, jabbing a threatening finger at Blue Beetle "If I were you, I'd choose my next words carefully. Alex was my friend and he died saving the world, trying showing some respect" Everyone looked at the super soldier in confusion.
Batman explained "Contrary to popular belief, Alex Mercer was a hero, not a terrorist"
"What?" exclaimed all the new heroes.
Batman explained in great detail. Alex Mercer was working at Gentek, a pharmaceutical company under contract by the military to create biological weapons. Alex was part of a team of scientist and researchers who were recreating a very powerful virus called the Black Light virus and they were successful. But due to a security leak members of the research team were being killed off, until Alex was all that remained.
Alex gathered up his research and a sample of the virus and tried to take it to the authorities to expose Gentek's dark secret but he was cornered in Penn Station and was killed. Thus releasing the virus upon the human population.
Batman went on to explain that the Black Light virus was a weapon of the military organization BlackWatch. He explained that BlackWatch used it on Hope, a small town in Idaho to test its ability to target and eliminate various racial types. But the experiment went horribly wrong. It killed indiscriminately, mutated the townspeople into infected monsters and BlackWatch had to destroy everything in the town.
But they found a girl named Elizabeth Greene, she was the only person unaffected by the virus. They learned that she absorbed the virus and it changed her, turning her into something inhuman. She had an effect on the infected that made them obey her. Before the town was leveled, a squad of BlackWatch soldiers captured Elizabeth and something codenamed Pariah, and locked them away for years.
Gentek was built around the research done on Elizabeth and Pariah. They studied them for years and tried to find ways to turn them into weapons. Eventually, during the first outbreak she escaped with the help of Alex Mercer. Towards the end of the outbreak, she and Alex fought against each other on the USS Reagan. Elizabeth tried to stop the nuke General Randall was using to destroy New York and the infected. She planned to spread the infection to the world but Alex managed to distract her long enough that the Nuke went off and destroyed them both.
The entire cave was silent. Blue Beatle spoke in a quiet voice "I can't believe it"
"If he's a hero, then why is everyone calling him a terrorist?" asked Beast boy.
Batman said quietly "A few days after the end of the outbreak, somebody went to the media and told them that Alex was responsible for everything"
"What!" exclaimed Bumblebee
"What kind of coward would do such a thing?" asked Lagoon Boy.
Batman shook head "No one knows, the tip came from an unknown source".
Caldwell coughed "Getting off topic"
"Right" nodded Batman.
He turned to the young heroes "With League tied down hunting the Kroloteans, you will have to help the military maintain order in New York" Batman gestured to Caldwell and Heller "These gentlemen will accompany you"
"Why?" asked Wonder Girl.
"We have experience with outbreaks" said Caldwell
"And we know New York like the back of our hands" added Heller "And whoever kidnapped Dana and Maya, they may be linked to this outbreak".
All the young heroes nodded in agreement "When do we leave?" asked Nightwing
"In a few hours" said Batman.
Batman dismissed them and everyone scrambled to get ready.
Somewhere in the Red Zone of New York, Dana Mercer awoke to a world of pain.
Her head throbbed and her neck ached like it was about to snap in half. She sat up from the cool, carpeted floor and took in her surroundings.
Dana saw that she was in a spacious office. The office was larger then her apartment. The walls were plain grey and were covered with old framed photos and documents. She looked around and saw a large, expensive wooden desk in front of a wide window.
Dana approached the window and she saw that the window gave her a view the sprawling city of New York.
The city lay far beneath her, her eyes scanned the horizon and saw all sorts of aircraft moving around in the distance.
Dana muttered "What the hell?"
"You're awake" said a raspy voice.
She turned and saw standing there was a slim figure in a tatter grey hoodie and jeans.
It was the intruder who broke into her apartment and kidnapped her. The figure tilted his head to one side "Slept well?" he asked coolly as he approached her.
Dana backed away stuttering "S-stay back!" she reached into her pockets trying to find a weapon but found nothing.
Her kidnapper held up his hands "Take it easy, I'm not going to hurt you" "Yeah right" scoffed Dana.
Her back hit the window, her captor approached her slowly "Its ok" reached into his pocked. Dana closed her eyes and waited for pain but she heard her captor said softly "Here" she opened her eyes and saw in his outstretched hand was a bar of chocolate.
She looked at the bar of candy suspiciously then to her kidnapper "Its not poisoned if that's what you're thinking" Dana just kept staring at the bar of chocolate.
Her kidnapper sighed, "Ugh, ok then" he tore off a part of the wrapper and broke off a small piece then tossed the piece into his mouth.
He handed it to Dana "here, its breakfast" Dana accepted the candy bar cautiously.
She broke a small piece off and tossed it into her mouth.
After accepting the fact that the chocolate wasn't poisoned Dana mumbled "Thanks"
"No problem" said her kidnapper, bashfully.
He sat down on the desk saying "I would've gotten you something better but its hard to get across the barriers without the guards noticing"
"Guards? Barriers?" said Dana, a look of confusion appeared on her face.
Her kidnapper looked up at her "Oh, right you weren't awake for that" he frowned "Sorry about that, I tried to wake you up earlier but you were pretty out of it"
"What are you talking about?" asked Dana.
Her kidnapper sighed, "There has been another outbreak of the Black Light virus here in New York"
"What!" exclaimed Dana "How?"
the kidnapper rubbed his neck "I, uh, did it"
"You what!" Dana exclaimed again, this time her voice was louder "Why would you do that? Do you know how dangerous that virus is?" she stopped herself "Wait a moment, how do you know its real name?".
Nobody knew the virus's real name, save for Dana, Caldwell, the Justice League and everyone else involved stopping it the first time. The rest of the world just called it the Mercer Virus.
The kidnapper said softly "I helped your brother make it"
"You knew Alex?" said Dana, sounding surprised.
Her kidnapper nodded "Yes, he was my friend. My only friend in Gentek"
"What did you do at Gentek?" asked Dana.
Her kidnapper went silent and said nothing for a few moments till, finally he said shamefully, "I was their prisoner, they experimented on me and my mother" Dana frowned and said softly "Sorry"
He just shrugged saying "Its ok".
Dana sort of felt sorry for the stranger, even though he kidnapped her and released the Black Light virus again.
Dana coughed "So, what's you're name?" her kidnapper scratched his head "Can't remember, they wiped my mind and gave me a new one"
"Which is?" asked Dana and he answered "Pariah"
Dana nodded "Ok Pariah, why did you kidnap me?" Pariah fixed Dana a serious look.
She saw his dark eyes gleam in the shadow of his hood. Pariah took a deep breath and said in a serious tone "To save the world".
Dana's only response was an incredulous look on her face and she spoke only one word "What?".
End of chapter.
(a/n: well there you go. please review and all that.)
