Chapter 2-Capes & Cloaks
Washington D.C. 2010.
Screaming erupted in the city as dozens and dozens of citizens ran for their lives, trying to escape the chaos that was going on downtown. Ever since the attack on Gotham, the world has been witnessing a rise in unimaginable attacks, attacks in which the most insane of things can happen. People all over the world were trying to come up with reasons to explain them to no avail. Some were in fear while others were accepting of it. However, no event like this has happened this close to the capital of the most powerful nation in the world.
In downtown, dust surrounded the entire area as rubble and a few toppled buildings lay in the middle of the street. In the middle of the destruction was an incredibly large beast. It was as big as a bus, with a strong resemblance to a lion. On the creature's back was the head of a black goat, which was braying loudly. Rather than having a normal tail, the beast had the head of a snake poking out of its body, whipping around and hissing at anyone who dared to get near it (which obviously no one would).
People were screaming as the creature roared, destroying whatever as in its path. One of the people running, a pre-teen girl with blonde hair, tripped on a large piece of rubble, falling to the ground.
"OH GOD, NO! HELP! SOMEONE!", she screamed, struggling to get up. She looked behind her to see the monster turn around and notice her. She screaed as the beast snarled, suddenly running towards her. It's large mouth opened to reveal an impressively large set of teeth, as sharp as daggers, as it roared as loud as possible. Each step it took sounded like thunder ringing out as it pounded towards the girl.
She screamed, closing her eyes in pure fear...only to hear a yelp of pain. She slowly opened her eyes and gasped.
The creature was standing right above her on its hind legs, struggling to reach out and bite at the girl. The good news for the girl: It was completely tied up. All around its body was a long golden rope-like object. It looked like it was made of pure golden lightning, electricity sparking off of it. It sparked everywhere, wrapping itself around the beast and preventing it from moving.
Suddenly, the creature was pulled right back by the rope, flying straight into the air, and quickly pulled right back down to the ground, crashing downwards painfully. It laid down, clearly unconscious, as the girl breathed frantically.
From the dust, a tall woman walked out holding the other end of the rope. She was tall with light caramel skin, looking like she was from the Mediterranean or Middle East. She wore sparkling red armor, with a gleaming gold, double-arched belt wrapped around her waist right above the light blue skirt-like base ,resembling an ancient warrior of the past. There was an odd shine to her body, as if she were made of marble or stone. She glared at the beast in anger as she tugged back as hard as possible on the rope
"CHIMERA! I BELIEVE IT IS TIME FOR YOU TO END THIS CHAOS!", the woman shouted out.
The beast snarled back, slowly getting up and sprinting towards the woman. It lunged at her before the woman swiftly punched the beast, specks of blood flying out of its mouth. It feel to the ground, staggering and trying to get up before the woman punched the beast's head right into the ground, knocking it out.
She quickly sprinted over to help out the young girl, lifting her up.
The armored woman gave the young girl a reassuring smile, "Dear child, I recommend that you run now."
"Y-Y-You...It's you", the girl shakily said, smiling happily.
Suddenly, a loud snarl was heard. The armored woman turned to see the beast waking up and preparing to charge at her again.
"Go! Now!", the warrior ordered the child, who quickly ran off for safety. The warrior turned around and smiled, pulling out a gleaming silver sword off of her back. Giving a cocky smile, she quickly ran at the beast.
The monster launched at her, only for the woman to quickly slice off the beast's front right paw. It snarled in pain, the viper on its end whipping around, spraying poison. The woman ran forward and pushed it back before running under it and punching it under the jaw.
The beast flew up into the air but suddenly, the warrior grabbed it by the tail and slammed it right into ground. It staggered up, its front paw slowly regenerating as though ash were becoming a physical leg. It began roaring as loud as possible, ripples of noise and anger vibrating off of it.
"You can never know when the battle is over can you?", the warrior asked tiredly.
It launched right at her but in the blink of an eye, she pulled a shield off of her back and blocked the beast from scratching her. Sparks flew everywhere as it clawed at her in fury. Groaning, she grasped her sword and pushed the beast right off of her and sliced the tail off of the beast.
The wriggling snake began to snap at her. Before it could snap at her leg, she quickly grabbed it and threw it straight at the beast, watching the snake accidently bite the beast's goat head.
While it was injured, she whipped out her golden lasso and began whipping at the beast's paws. It was as though lightning was striking right at the ground, blasts of golden energy shining everywhere.
The beast was too enraged to even think coherently as it charged right into one of the lasso's blasts, rolling backwards in pain.
The warrior quickly ran over to see the light fade from its eyes.
She stood above it, watching it slowly fade into the ground to return to the Underworld it came from.
She smiled triumphantly, stabbing her sword deep into the ground and repeating a short prayer.
However, her victory was short-lived, as from the airs, an entire squadron of fighter jets were coming near the battle site.
She quickly ran off into the distance, the clouds of dust hiding her.
Once she made sure that the dust was able to cover, she pulled out her lasso and began to swing it around her body, sparks of pure energy and lightning zapping everywhere, striking the ground around her.
In merely a few seconds, her armor seemed to disintegrate, washing off her body like sand. Her own stony skin began to wash off of her as she slowly shrunk down in size.
When she finally stopped whipping around the rope, the woman changed from an Amazonian warrior to a normal woman with olive skin and a purple, formal dress. After tying her hair into a braid, she quickly rushed into the crowd to hide herself.
If she didn't have that lasso, who knows how Diana of Themyscira would blend in with the crowd.
...
Metropolis, Delaware. 2010.
Many people agree that the city is most beautiful at dawn, the bright lights of the horizon shining up the blackness of night making any trip there worthwhile.
However, today was anything but beautiful.
In the center of the grand city, the oddest thing was attacking the civilians. It was a giant robot, resembling an action figure or a toy. It had a very basic design, green paint covering its rectangular body. A giant antennae stuck out from the top of its head with yellow headlights for eyes and painted-on smile, making the machine even more terrifying. On its back was a giant wind-up key, slowly turning around in circles.
The robot began to screech as its gears turned as it moved. Every civilian near the monster was running for their lives as cars tried to escape from the wreckage. Every civilian except for two.
Hiding behind a small car were two people, cautiously watching the destruction. One was a young man, seeming to be in his late teens, with brown skin and curly hair. He had a nervous look on his face as he held a small polaroid camera in his hands. The other was a woman in her late-twenties or early thirties, with an adventurous grin on her face and a small notebook in her hands, which she quickly scribbled down notes on.
The young man shivered, "Lois, remind me again how much Mr. White's paying us for this?"
"Oh, trust me, Jimmy", Lois smiled at her colleague, "When this is over, Perry's gonna be paying us in truckloads for the rest of our lives!"
Suddenly, a van was thrown right above their heads. The two watched with their eyes wide open as it crashed right onto the street, fire and random pieces of metal being thrown everywhere.
"HOLY SH-! LOIS, WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE!", Jimmy screamed, grabbing his friend's arm and trying to drag her out of there. However, his friend tugged her arm away from him.
"Jimmy, I can't just leave this!", she shouted, "We all know what's about to happen next and we can't let this moment pass us by!"
"WE DON'T EVEN KNOW IF THAT..BLUE THING IS EVEN GONNA SHOW UP!", Jimmy shouted in fear. He looked up and screamed, as the robot's large, rectangular foot slowly dropped from above them. They quickly ran before the robot could crush them under its feet, dust spraying over from the crash.
The two began coughing uncontrollably as they looked around, confused and scared out of their minds.
"JIMMY, STAY CLOSE!", Lois shouted out, "JIMMY?! JIMMY?!" She looked around but couldn't see anything in the dust. Slowly, the wind blowed the dust away, as Lois was finally able to see Jimmy a few feet away from her.
"JIMMY!"
"LOIS, RUN!", the boy screamed, pointed up to whatever was behind her. Lois slowly turned to see the gargantuan android pick up a large, bright-green car, its headlights facing right at her.
Lois slowly backed up before swiftly turning around and dashing towards her friend, "JIMMY, GET DOWN!" When she finally caught up with her friend, the robot began to wind its arm back, suddenly chucking the vehicle right at them.
No matter how fast the two were running, they knew that they weren't going to be able to run far enough to avoid the projectile. They flinched, closing their eyes tightly and holding each other in fear, expecting to be crushed like ants underneath a boot.
….Nothing happened.
The two slowly opened their eyes, thinking that maybe the car missed them or the robot didn't even throw it. They heard something creaking above them, as they slowly looked up. What they saw above them changed their lives from that point on.
The cloaked figure wore a bright blue hoodie with red outlines on the seams, blue jeans, and literally-smoking running shoes. Yellow lines outlined the chest of his jacket, the female writer thinking it looked almost like a shield. The two humans could barely see his face except for his bright blue eyes and confident smile.
Somehow, in some way, the man was floating above the two, holding up the giant green car from underneath. He didn't look tired or strained at all from holding the object, as though it were as heavy as a button.
"You know, usually when a giant robot attacks the city, people run AWAY from it", the man joked.
The two reporters remained silent, what was occurring barely registering in their minds. In the awkward silence, the boy slowly lifted up his camera and snapped a photo of the man.
The man landed on the ground and placed the car next to him, the awkward silence continuing. After a quiet moment, the robot behind them began to creak, grabbing another car, this one filled with passengers.
The man turned to see the robot and then turned back to the reporters, lifting up a finger, "Hold that thought."
In a blink of an eye, the man quickly soared through the sky and landed a strong punch to the robot's chest, an incredibly loud clang ringing through the city. Then, faster than a speeding bullet, he effortlessly pulled off one of the doors of the car in the robot's hand.
The passengers gaped in shock as the man in the blue hoodie smiled at them in a comforting manner, "Stay calm, everyone. This may get a little bumpy."
Then, out of nowhere, beams of burning red light shone straight out of the man's eyes, quickly slicing off the robot's fingers and letting them crash onto the street. The robot began to back up, trying to process what was happening and come up with ways to defeat the unexpected threat. Before the car could tilt off of the machine's palm, the man in blue quickly lifted up the car and flew it a few miles away from the damage, wind being blown everywhere as he soared over the reporters.
Jimmy stuttered in complete amazement, "I-I-I-"
"It's him", Lois smiled, "I-It's the blur. It's real."
For months, there have been rumors around the streets of something rescuing people, something blue and so fast that nobody could truly see what it was or understand what happened. Nobody knew if it was real or not and only conspiracy theorists bothered reporting it. Now...well, these two knew that their boss was definitely going to get on his knees in thanks for this.
Suddenly, the robot began to screech once more, slowly charging at the two reporters.
Lois pulled her friend up, "Go! GO!"
The two began to dart down the streets as the robot began chasing them down. Suddenly, out of complete nowhere, the blur returned.
Crashing straight through the robot's chest as if it were nothing, fists out in front of him and a frown on his face.
He quickly shook his body mid-air, wiping off the oil, as sparks, wires, and gears fell from the robot's chest. Unfortunately,as the man floated in the air, he saw that the robot was still active.
"Okay then, so that's how this is going", the man remarked to himself before speeding towards the robot's head, delivering incredible punches that swiftly caused the machine's head to swivel back, more wires sparking.
Then, before the thing could crash to the ground in ruin, the blue man quickly dove behind its back, lifting it up before letting it down gently to ground.
He flew up and landed on the thing's chest, watching its eyes flicker out. He sighed in relief, happy that the thing was finally destroyed. "You know, if that's the neighborhood welcome I'm going to get, I'm in for a treat", he joked.
From behind a fallen car, the two reporters looked up to see the man looking down at the robot intently. He looked around the area, squinting his eyes to scan the city around him.
"What's he doing?", Jimmy whispered before having his mouth cover by Lois's hand to shut him up.
The man continued looking around before smiling, "Gotcha."
In less than a second, he crashed straight through the door of the apartment complex a mile in front of him. The two reporters slowly walked out in a cautious manner, wondering if the chaos has subsided.
Out of nowhere, the blue man quickly returned, flying down to the ground with a screaming man in his grasp, the man's arms wrapped in a giant steel bar, probably bent by the hero. The man had graying hair and a pair of glasses, yelling as he struggled to be released from the hero's grasp.
Eventually, the man stopped struggling, looking at his captor and shouting, "OH COME ON! I FINALLY GET OUT OF NATIONAL CITY AND THIS IS HOW I GO BACK TO JAIL?!"
The hooded man chuckled, "You know, you're taking the fact that a flying man just captured you much better than I expected."
The old man snarled, "WHEN I GET OUT, I'M GOING TO KILL EVERY SINGLE PERSON THAT EVER CARED FOR YOU! I SWEAR IT!"
The man in blue glared, his eyes lighting red, "I think the only one here who should be worried for their safety is you." He heard sirens miles away and smiled, "I think the MPD would like a word."
He dropped the man to ground and looked around at the damage. Luckily, though there was a lot of damage in the form of cars sticking right out of skyscrapers, no one was severely injured. However, now the flying man realized that he just made his big introduction to the city, hell, to the world!
He turned around to see the reporters and a few citizens slowly walking towards him, in astonishment as to what just occurred in front of them.
The man smiled at them, waving, "Don't worry, everyone. It's over now. Wait here for paramedics and the emergency crew." He began to walk away before Lois quickly ran towards him.
"WAIT!", she screamed, "W-wait. Um…" She stuttered, nervously looking at the man, "Wow, so, you're...you're real."
"Last time I checked", the man joked.
"Well", Lois sheepishly smiled, before clearing her throat and regaining her composure, "I'm Lois. Lois Lane, writer for the Daily Planet. Um, I was wondering, would you mind answering a few questions for my paper?"
The man awkwardly rubbed his shoulders, "Ergh, sorry, thank you for the offer, but I really must be leaving now."
He began to turn around again before the woman quickly said, "Wait! Whu-But you just destroyed some giant robot! I mean, people are obviously gonna be talking about it! Could you at least give us your name?!"
The man thought to himself before responding with a chuckle, "I think you and your buddy will come up with something for me."
Suddenly, he launched himself into the air, stopping to see the world below him. He felt the rays of the sunrise shining upon him, the light making his colors pop out more. He waved before quickly flying away from the city at a speed so fast that people thought he actually teleported or disappeared.
Luckily, the young cameraman, Jimmy, was able to get one last picture of the man in blue, soaring across the air in the dawn. He quietly handed the two photos to his colleague.
"Ya' think these will work?", he whispered.
Without even looking, Lois took the photos from the boy's hands and viewed them, "Jimmy, these are going to be perfect."
Miles away, the man quickly swooped through an open window of a small apartment, hoping that he was going fast enough for noone to notice him. He quickly landed in the small room before taking off his hoodie.
He had combed black hair, a small curl on the front. He had tanned skin, almost glistening in the sunlight. He had a lantern-shaped jaw with kind, sky-blue eyes and a glistening white smile. He removed the hoodie off of his tall, built body and threw it onto the couch, quickly sitting down in exhaustion.
"Well, Clark, you did it", he chuckled, talking to himself, "You just made a COMPLETE ass of yourself."
…
Gotham City, New Jersey. 2010.
Once again, night fell upon the grand city, it's gleaming, golden lights shining from the windows of buildings. Blimps scoured the area for any serious crimes, as this city has definitely had its share of terrorist attacks and insanity. For decades, the city has been famed for being the most crime-filled city in the United States and for the past few years, these crimes have definitely become too big to ignore.
Crimes that were too insane for people to comprehend.
Deep within the city, red and blue lights flashed everywhere as an entire squad of police cars parked outside of a beat-down building, windows boarded up and everything. Officers held their guns out, ready to fire at whoever walked straight out.
From the group of officers, a tall, trench-coated old man with light-brown skin and glasses walked to the front, megaphone in hand.
He turned the device on and began shouting, "This is the GCPD! You have ten minutes to exit the building, free your hostages to the public, and surrender to us! And unless you guys are really that stupid to stay in there, then you guys are new here!"
Suddenly, gunfire rang out from one of the windows, the old man quickly ducking behind the car.
From within the building, six men with black ski-masks and weapons laughed at the cops below, some of them aiming their weapons at civilians tied up with rope and gagged.
One of the crooks laughed, "Eat on this, you damn pigs!"
Another one spoke up, "Unless you boys got us our one-million bucks, ya'll can kiss my ass!"
One of the hostages began to cry as one of the thugs shouted, "SHUT UP! SHUT YO' DAMN MOUTH UP!"
"Where the hell are those idiots with our money?!", the first thief yelled.
Suddenly, they heard something clang downstairs.
"What was that?!", one of them asked, "Did one of those guys get in?! Go downstairs and check!"
Two of the thugs quickly ran downstairs to see what would happen. Holding up flashlights, the two scoped the area, interested in what was going on.
"You see anything?"
"Nothing, bro. Think we're good?"
The only response was silence. The thug turned around, seeing nothing in the darkness, "Bro, you there?"
He squinted his eyes to see if anything was there when suddenly, the unconscious body of his partner was thrown onto him, the two falling to the ground.
"OH MY GOD! WHAT THE HE-?!", he stopped talking once he saw something slowly walking towards him. A hand was placed right on the top of his head before quickly being slammed to the ground.
The thugs upstairs heard the noises from downstairs, wondering what was happening.
"What the hell?", one of them shouted. They began to pull their weapons closer to themselves, prepared for whatever attack was upon them. After a minute of waiting in the dark for an answer, something suddenly crashed through the floor beneath them. Flopping in front of them were the unconscious body of one of the thugs, bruised and bloodied.
Everyone screamed in the room, scared. The head thug shouted, aiming his gun everywhere, "WHAT THE SH-WHO THE HELL IS HERE?! WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!"
"JESUS CHRIST, IT'S HIM!", one of them screamed, "IT'S THE BAT-M-!"
"SHUT THE HELL UP, MIKE!", the head thug shouted, "NO WAY THAT BITCH HERE! IF ANYTHING MOVES, SHOOT IT DOWN!"
"Wait, what the hell is that?", one of the thugs pointed at something glowing on the unconscious body's chest. Out of nowhere, the device popped, several small projectiles being thrown around the room and crashing straight through the flashlights in the hands of the crooks, one of the thieves even shouted as something cut his hand. Darkness engulfed the room as everyone was concerned over what was happening.
One of the men slowly walked around, sweat dripping down his face, "J-Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ."
Out of nowhere, something crashed straight into the side of the man's head, blood spurting out from his mouth. Gunfire rang out as something black quickly darted across the room, the only way of seeing it was the lights from the rifles as they blew apart the room.
"OH GODDAMMIT!", the second crook screamed, "WHERE ARE YOU, YOU SON OF A BITCH?! WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!"
*CRACK!*
The man froze as something slowly rose from behind him. It wore a heavy-looking cape with pointed edges at the shoulders and the edges pointing forward into the air, creating an extremely frightening presence. Arches of light began to light up on the being's suit, almost resembling the bones of a skeleton. It looked like a monster, with fierce, glowing-white eyes piercing down at him and sharp ears pointing backwards, like a cat or a fox…
..Or a bat.
The man was about to pull his gun out on him when the beast quickly knocked it from his hand in a single swipe of his cape. Glaring, the creature landed a powerful punch on the man. He staggered back a little before pulling a switchblade out from his pocket. He tried to stab the man, only to have his hand grabbed and crushed.
He screamed in pain as his partner stood there in awed silence, likely urinating his pants from the sight of the freak. When he finally regained his sense and tried to shoot the hero, he was quickly stabbed right in his hand by some sort of dart.
He dropped the gun and looked at his hand to see an odd projectile sticking out of it. It was bat-shaped obviously, looking like one of those throwing stars you see in the flicks.
The Bat twisted the second thug's arm before using his other hand to land a chop to the chest before throwing him over his own shoulder. The leader removed the batarang from his hand and tried to reach for his gun before the man in black swiftly threw some small device that latched onto the man's chest.
Sparks flew as the thug was electrocuted, staggering and trying to keep his balance before the hero sprinted across the room and elbowed him straight in the face. The leader screamed as he nearly fell down the massive hole left by the bat's entrance. From a belt latched onto the man's body, a grappling hook was pulled out, quickly latching onto the man's leg before he could hit the ground.
With a single tug, the leader was pulled up again straight through the hole, but before he could fall again, the Bat delivered a swift blow to face mid-air. The man fell right in front off the hostages, who were screaming in fear.
The man in black quickly darted over and cut up the ropes tying them using a small knife on his belt. They quickly jumped up and ran out of the building. One of the hostages, a small boy with short black hair turned around to see his rescuers.
He was tall with some scruff on his rectangular face. He was built, with scratched-up black protective gear covering his body and a cape draping over his body. A cowl cover most of face except for his mouth, which was locked in a scowl, the sides of the cowl lighting up to resemble bat fangs. Suddenly, a giant, circular symbol shone off of the man's chest.
A bright bat symbol encircled in a white oval, creating a giant spotlight on the boy's face.
The boy gaped in awe before slowly running out of the building.
The man stood there as he watched the hostages exit the apartment, his job there finished.
Suddenly, one of the men got up and tried to charge the man, who quickly turned around landed a blow across the man's face, powerful enough to cause him to fly straight through the window.
Officers and civilians screamed as the man crashed onto one of the cars, the fall knocking him out completely. Officers began to rush into the building as the commissioner looked at the unconscious, possibly comatose crook and turned to look up at the window, giving an approving nod.
NOW, Bruce's job was finished.
…
Central City, Missouri. 2010.
"HURRY UP, MICK! WE DON'T HAVE MUCH TIME!"
Blasts of glowing blue light shot straight from a large, black weapon, whatever it hit quickly freezing up. From the city's largest bank popped out a man wearing a heavy blue jacket, black goggles covering his face as he dashed out with a giant bag of cash in his arms and a satchel draped over his soldiers, filled with random cryogenic weapons. He looked to be in his early forties with white hair and a sinister grin on his face.
Following right behind him was a tall, muscular man wearing a slightly burnt-up trench coat and a holding a glowing-orange gun in his gloved hands. His face was clearly beat up with scratches and bruises covering it from past scuffles. He turned back and fired his weapon, pure heat and fire blasting straight out of it, burning whatever was in front of him. He also carried an enormous bag of cash with him, running towards his partner.
"Nothing like the smell of burning walls and torched-up wads of cash in the morning!", Mick laughed in a gruff voice, "Now, what the hell dp we do, Lenny?! We know what's coming next!"
As they ran down the streets, Leonard quickly shouted back, "Just shoot whoever's chasing us and hold on tight to those bags! Let's hope that the jackass in red isn't fast enough to catch up!"
Suddenly, the sound of lightning striking right into the street filled the city as wind whistled behind them. The two snarled, knowing exactly how this would go down.
"Let me guess, he's right behind us isn't he?", Mick grunted.
"Aw, you really do know me!"
They turned around to see a man wearing a red suit. He wore a red helmet, covering his head, and yellow-tinted goggles. Yellow wings were painted on the sides of the helmet, making him resemble the god, Mercury. He wore sneakers with small wings painted on and plates of metal covering the soles and the bottom of his feet. Metallic elbow-guards and knee guards were on him as the man wore running clothes with golden lines decorating the sides and a bright yellow bolt of lightning embellished on the chest.
"Seriously, c'mon, guys! How many months have we gone through this already? I kick your ass, take away that money, we know the rhythm", the man in red smiled cockily.
Leonard smiled, speaking in a slimy, almost comical voice, "Well, then you'll be pleased to see that we've added a few notes of our own to the rhythm."
The meta heard a beeping noise and looked down to see a small device clamped onto the crook's belt. Before he could do anything, the device quickly flew off of the belt, latching right onto the speedster's arm. Before he could do anything, the device exploded, freezing up his arm.
He screamed in pain before being kicked down by the thief.
"See ya' around, Barry", Leonard smiled, "Let's hit it, Mick!"
"What, I can't scorch him a bit?!", the thug groaned before running to catch up with his partner.
The speedster grunted before quickly vibrating his arm, causing electricity to fly everywhere and thaw off the ice. Barry smiled before dashing off after the men in less than a second.
The man looked like a being made of light and electricity, wind whistling everywhere and sparks flying everywhere. Lucky for the city, him running wouldn't hurt anyone unless he wanted it to.
Driving in a wrecked up van, the two boys quickly drove off into the distance, Mick laughing in victory.
"Metahumans trying to kill that sparky bastard", Mick chuckled, "And it takes two crooks with guns to knock him down."
"By now, that idiot's gonna run all the way back to his friends, cry for a solid few hours, and then try to chase us again, as usual", his partner pointed out, grinning from ear to ear.
"As you've said, Lenny…"
The two turned to see the speedster running right next to the van, smiling in triumph.
"...A few notes have been added to the rhythm!"
Before they could even react, they were suddenly flying through the air as Barry carried the two across the city, dashing around the streets like a laser beam. He came to a complete stop, allowing the crooks to fly out of his hands and crash into a filled up dumpster in front of them. The two slumped to the ground, groaning in pain.
Mick rubbed his head in agony, "We really gotta start workin' in Keystone instead."
Barry chuckled, "Well, then, I'll kick your ass over there! Only, what, a few feet away? At least to me, anyways."
Leonard looked down to see the bags of money they was slowly burning from the incredible speed the hero ran at. Leonard smirked, "Now come on, Barry, you remember the deal. You send me to the cops and I tell them all about who the vigilante in the silly, red unitard really is."
Barry remembered the deal and frowned, thinking to himself about what he had to do. Then, he smiled in realization, "You know, the deal was, I couldn't send you to prison…"
In less than a second, the crime duo was suddenly floating above the docks of the city, screaming as they splashed into the bay waters. The man in red snickered from above on a boardwalk, watching the two gasp for air.
"..But it doesn't mean I can't mess with you a little", he snickered, "If it makes you feel any better, you guys got a ten-minute head start 'fore the cops start comin'!"
He quickly sprinted away from the area, smoke and sparks being the only sign that he was there.
Snart growled in anger as Rory shouted at the top of his lungs, "I SWEAR I'M GONNA' MOUNT THAT IDIOT'S HEAD ON A WALL!"
…
Star City, Oregon. 2010.
The sound of arrows whistling through the air was heard throughout the alleyway. It was a sound familiar to everyone stuck in the Glades.
A man in a hoodie and a beanie ran through the alleys, a switchblade in his hand. He panted as he tried to escape from the duo chasing after him on the rooftops.
Footsteps could be heard running from above, as two men in costumes chased down the crook.
The man turned a corner, only to find himself at a dead end, a brick wall blocking his path. He tried to look around for an escape path but realized that there was none.
"Stand down and drop the blade!"
The crook turned around and nearly fainted upon seeing them. On top of the building in front of him were two figures wearing hoodies, one green and one red.
The one in the green hoodie looked to be in his early thirties. He wore a black makeup over his eyes and had brown stubble cover his mouth. The side of his hood was painted red, almost resembling a leaf or a feather. He was muscular with a green bow and arrow pointing at the crook.
The other seemed younger, in his teens, wearing a black makeup and a red hoodie, the seams of the hood being yellow-gold. He was shorter and seemed less muscular by comparison, most likely due to his age. In his arm was a red bow and arrow.
Quickly, the two ran forward and jumped off of the building, hopping off of the walls on their side and landing on the ground, keeping their arrows focused on the perp.
The crook stuttered, "W-W-What do you even want from me?"
The man in green spoke in a deep, growling voice, "Your boss! Danny Brickwell! Where is he?!"
"I-I don't know!", he stuttered.
Suddenly, the man in green released the arrow, letting it soar past the crook's right ear, scratching it. The crook screamed in pain, holding his now-bleeding ear.
"You were one of the men who aided him in the kidnapping of the aldermen!", the bowman shouted, "You know about your employer's hideouts and where the rest of your gang is hiding! Where?!"
"I don't know!", he shouted back.
The man in the red hood turned to his colleague, "Do you think he's telling the truth?"
The man in green gave him a look simply screaming, What do you think? Embarrassingly, the man in red turned around and focused on the crook again.
"Unless you'd rather answer our questions hanging above the highway, you will tell us where he is!", the man in green yelled.
"I DON'T KNOW! PLEASE!", he cried.
Suddenly, the crook straight through the head, blood spurting from it. The two men quickly turned to see seven or eight men behind them, guns in their hands and ready for a fight.
The thug snarled, "That guy may have been weak but trust me, you freak, we aren't."
"Yes, well…", the man in green muttered, "...Neither are we."
The two quickly fired an arrow into the knees of two of the men, taking away their focus and allowing the archers to run forward and upper-kick in the face. The other men began to run forward and attack.
A fist-fight ensued in which the two men began brawling with the surprisingly-fit thugs. The man in red used his bow as a staff, hitting two of them in the face and kicking them in the throat while they were stunned.
The man in green was able to quickly grab one of the men and use him as a shield, protecting the archer from the punch in the face and knocking out the thug-shield. He threw the unconscious body onto his attacker and quickly punched him in the face to be sure he was down. Before another man could fire his gun, he grabbed the weapon and twisted the man's hand, smacking the side of the man's face with the bow. The fight continued as less and less men were still standing.
Eventually, there were only a few men still standing. The man in red was beginning to get tired out as one of the men sucker-punched him and prepared to fire his gun.
The man in red looked up at the top of the building facing him and shouted, "NOW!"
Before the thugs could turn around, the worst noise imaginable rung through the alleys, blasting away the thugs from behind and causing their ears to blow up, blood spurting from them.
While they were distracted, the archers quickly took them down. The man in green turned to see where the shouting came from.
On the top of the building was a blonde woman wearing a black mask and a biker jacket, dark-blue protective gear on her body and a black choker around her neck. In her hand was a silver-grey bow-staff. She smiled confidently before noticing the glare from the green archer.
The man in red shrugged helplessly as the green archer snarled, "Back to the base. Right now."
…
Happy Harbor, Rhode Island. 2010.
The warm glow of the bar made the city somewhat worth coming to. Not to say that it was a bad place, definitely not, but if you were to show up and see how saccharine and innocent the place was, you'd really need a drink to get through it.
At the booth sat Arthur, trying his best to get drunk off of the local whiskey. After three glasses, he raised his hand for another.
"Okay but after this, I'm cutting you off", the bartender pointed out.
"Of course you are", the hybrid grumbled. Ten years on the run from everyone. Ten years after his dad passed. Ten years and what was he doing? Nothing. Literally nothing.
He grumbled, banging his fist on the booth in frustration, "...Now what?"
Pissed off, he pushed the glasses off of the bar in anger and walked out of the bar, ignoring the angry yells of the bartender. The man trudged down the street, thoughts of craziness and fish flooding his mind.
He strolled down the creaking boardwalk street, trying to clear his mind. This part of the city was usually empty around this time at night, making him feel more comfortable.
The man didn't even want to look to his sides to see the ocean. Didn't even want to hear the gulls or the bells ringing. He just wanted to be alone.
Unfortunately for him, that wouldn't last long.
*WHIP!*
Arthur's eyes widened once the thing wrapped around his wrist, not wanting to let go. It was some sort of whip or lasso but, instead of being made of rope and string, it was made of a glowing blue liquid, the smell of saltwater reeking off of it.
The buff man quickly pulled his arm up, tugging at the whip wrapped around him. He swiftly turned around and grabbed the water with his other hand, tugging it strongly and pulling whoever was on the other end over his shoulder.
His attacker was pulled over his shoulder, crashing down to the ground a few feet in front of him.
He was young, probably in his mid-teens, with slightly-tanned skin and gills on the sides of his neck. His jet-black hair was tied into a ponytail as his purple eyes focused intently on his opponent. The man wore shining, sleek armor, the chest plate being scarlet-red and with black and blue lines highlighting the sides. His torso and neck-area was black with lines of blue sparkling on them. The chest-plate looked like it was made of a tough, jewel-like structure or sea pebbles, resembling the crustaceans of the deep, but the rest of it also beared a slight resemblance to the sleek blubber of seals. On the belt of the armor was a gleaming symbol, a golden-arch.
Around his arms were glowing blue tattoos and in his two hands was the water-whip, now morphing into the form of a dagger.
The boy glared at the man, "My liege, Orin-"
Arthur rolled his eyes, "Oh God, are you kidding me."
"I am Garth'har and I am here to return you to your rightful home", he said, "By the order of King Orm, you must come to Atlantis."
Arthur snickered, "Listen, it's been a long day. I literally just got back to the states. I'm not exactly in the mood for more travel."
"My lord, we've come to take you to rightful place as our king", the soldier repeated, "Your brother, your people, you must return!"
"Yeah, I've already dealt with some of your other punk soldiers. I think you shou-", he stopped, "Wait...we?"
Suddenly, both of the hybrid's arms were wrapped in the same glowing liquid as Garth's whip. He groaned as the whips pulled his arms as far to their sides as possible, Arthur trying to pull them away.
One soldier was on each of his sides. One was a young boy, who had dark brown skin and dread-locked hair the color of sand. He wore a similar armor to his partner but instead of blue highlights, it was black. The other was a young girl with tanned skin and short brownish-red hair, random brown spots over her body. She wore yellow-scaled armor with light blue highlights and a blue plant-like object wrapped around her waist.
"This man is the brother of King Orm, Tula?", the dark-skinned man asked, groaning whilst trying to keep hold, "He looks like all of the other humans we've seen!"
"Quiet, Kaldur!", Tula ordered, "He looks exactly like the man in our images! It is him!"
"It is him", Garth groaned and began walking over, "My liege. Stay calm. The trip will not take that long." The boy turned around to face the bay, the tattoos on his arms lighting up from beneath his armor.
Vast gallon of seawater began to glow and levitate into the air, slowly floating towards the "king".
Getting tired of all of his, Arthur growled in anger, quickly pulling his arms down with all of his strength and pulling the soldiers forward towards him. In mid-air, the bearded man raised his arms up again and smashed his fist into the chests of the soldiers, knocking them to the ground.
Arthur straightened up again before the giant bubble of water slammed right into him. He struggled as he felt his body being slowly sucked into the liquid, felt his own lungs adapt to breath in the water. He growled, flashes of childhood memories going through his mind. He had enough of this.
Screaming at the top of his lungs, he lifted his leg into the air and crashed it right through the wooden boardwalk, grabbing one of the broken pieces of wood and throwing it straight at the boy.
Garth was knocked back by the plank, causing him to lose his focus and drop the bubble of water. Arthur shook his head as his hair whipped droplets of water off. He snarled as Tula and Kaldur jumped at him, whips out. Like a boxer, he was able to dodge each whip and use his forearm to block any of the punches or kicks.
Tula jumped up to upper-kick the man at the same time that Kaldur tried to land a kick as well. Before their kicks could land on him, he grabbed both of their legs, pushing them away. The Atlanteans tumbled to the ground as Garth quickly jumped forward, rings of water spinning around his hands.
They spun dangerously close to Arthur's beard before he grabbed the kid's body and tried to throw him over his shoulders. Unfortunately, right after he threw the kid off, Garth quickly roped his whip around the man's neck, pulling Arthur down to the ground on his back.
He struggled to get up but the others rushed to hold him down. Using their powers, water began bursting straight through the boardwalk, the tattoos glowing brightly on Tula and Kaldur. It began to slowly spin around their bodies, preparing to strike.
"Bind him!", Garth ordered. In a flash, the ropes of water shot forward, binding their supposed-ruler's hands.
"I'm sorry, 'my lord', but you must come", Kaldur spoke down to the hybrid, "Lift him up."
Suddenly, the boardwalk shook. The trio felt something move beneath them.
"What in the depths..?", Tula asked. She looked down through one of the holes made in the boardwalk to see small fish beginning to flop around in the water, flying upwards in a frenzy.
Arthur began to chuckle, "You may want to move away right now."
Before they could respond, three massive objects crashed straight through the boardwalk, seawater and planks of wood flying through the air.
The biggest great-white sharks imaginable used their rotting-yellow teeth to grasp right onto the Atlanteans in mid-air. They screamed in absolute shock and fear before the beasts fell back down into the ocean, taking the children with them.
The chains of water quickly melted right off of Arthur, who slowly got up and groaned in pain, "AND DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT COMING BACK!"
He knew the sharks weren't going to actually kill the children, merely drag them away as far as possible, give him a bit of a head start.
He looked down to see his navy-blue long-coat torn up to shreds, exposing his muscular body. On his arms were two sets of glowing tattoos, symbols emitting an aqua-green aura.
He smirked, knowing that those sharks showing up was no coincidence.
He commanded them to appear.
He sighed, throwing his jacket down at walking away from the boardwalk, preparing to get to his motel and escape this dumb town. But right before he set foot on the asphalt street, he felt something.
In his heart, he felt as if he were tugged to the ocean. As if he wanted to jump right in it and swim away.
...But that wasn't going to happen. Those days are never going to return.
…
The poor human sobbed in fear, tied to a chair with his mouth gagged. The dim light of the lamp shaking around the abandoned warehouse didn't make the room any more appealing. The disgusting cracks in the wall, the smell of rotting wood, it was horrifying.
A man stood in front of him, consumed in shadows. The captive saw the man merely standing there, gazing out at the wall in front of him.
After hours of silence, the man finally opened his mouth, "I do not expect a being like you to understand why I am here. Why you are here. If you were in my position, you would most likely do the same."
The human cried, his yells for help doing nothing.
"The thirst for power, the need to ravage and own whatever you see, I have felt this my whole life", the creature explained, "And now, with my...newfound freedom, I shall finally complete what I began centuries ago."
The hostage watched as his captor began to tremble a little. His eyes widened when he saw the creature lift its hand.
In the being's hand, something violently shook as in a matter of seconds and, in a horrifying mess of slime and other liquids, grew to be bigger than his hand.
The being turned and slowly walked into the light. What the man saw was worse than any nightmare he's ever had in his entire life.
It was a man. Most of his body looked like a normal, average-height human, wearing a black business suit. It was what was on his face that was terrifying.
Wrapped around the center of his face was a bulging parasitic...thing. It had a slimy blue body, wriggling with life. It had five tentacles wrapped around a human head, keeping the parasite right in its place. The human mouth was visible but had disturbing arteries and veins visible. But somehow, that wasn't even the most horrifying part of it.
Its eye was the worst part. It was pure white with a red, demonic iris right in the middle, staring right through the captor's body.
The being placed its hand on his captive's shoulder and lifted up his hand.
In its palm was an identical parasite, squirming around and staring right at the man. As the captive's eyes widened in complete horror, the parasite began to reach for his face.
The being frowned, "Don't struggle. Struggling will only make it harder for me."
The parasite ripped the hostage's gag right off of the man's face, finally allowing his fear to be released in its pure form.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!"
…
Yep, so I think you can all clearly tell who the villain of this story's going to be, the first League villain himself, Starro! I really want to play up the horror elements with this guy!
It was a little hard to get some of these characters right, especially Batman, as their fighting styles & personalities are so distinct! I hope it went well in the end.
There are a few references here and there if you look closely. The kids rescued by Batman & Wonder-Woman may seem familiar (though not important to the story...yet)
Yes, Snart does know Barry's identity in this universe, as by this point, the whole Cisco-revealing-Barry's-identity thing from season one already happened. Barry's suit is a prototype, as I thought that the idea of a failing company wouldn't have the materials to create a more protective/stylized suit like in the movie/show. Think of it resembling a less goofy version of the suit Barry wore on his test run in the pilot.
I decided that in this universe, the whole Oliver vs the League of Assassin storyline doesn't happen until later & they're still fighting Danny Brickwell at this point.
The man who set off the robot is meant to be Winslow Schott Sr, who's just broken out of a prison in National City (SUPERGIRL REFERENCE!).
Clark's costume is meant to be cheaply made, as he doesn't have his infamous suit yet. However, the yellow, shield-like symbol on his chest is meant to resemble the original, more shield-like and less-detailed design of the infamous symbol, depicted in his early appearances. The whole lift the car up part? Totally a reference to the Action Comics cover!
I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please review and stick around for the next chapter!
Later!