Hey everyone! I'm glad you're enjoying things so far and I'm sorry for the long silence. At this moment in time I would like you to visit my page and be a part of a polling process. In the polls I will be asking you what you think in an effort to give you what you want. Read this chapter and then shoot me review. I'm always open to some supportive criticism.
Green Arrow wakes up with a serious migraine, one he hasn't felt since Grundy landed that hit on his head. As far as he can tell he is in some sort of room with a red glow emanating from nearby. "Where..." he groans, half to himself and half expecting someone to answer. To be perfectly blunt, no one answers. In an effort to get up, Green Arrow leans over to push himself up, except his hands are encased in metal and a chill runs down his arms.
"What the...?" He squints his eyes to see some pretty impressive cuffs holding him to the wall.
With a sigh he looks down, only to look back up at the red glow. Behind two glass panes sits a blurry but familiar face. Green Arrow's eyes widen. It's non-other than Superman...in pajamas.
"You're kidding," Green Arrow says aloud.
"I hope so," says another familiar voice.
"Batman?" Green Arrow asks. "Is that you?"
"Yes," is his reply.
"How-"
"A non-lethal neurotoxin and some bait," he inturupts. Green Arrow stays quiet, waiting for Batman to go on. "What do you see?" he finally asks.
"There's a guy in-" Green Arrow pauses. "Are you telling me you can't see that weird light?"
"What light?" Batman asks.
"There's a weird red light over there, with what I think is Superman in his PJs."
"It's probably a lamp emitting red sun radiation."
"Which means?"
"He isn't getting out anytime soon."
Green Arrow lets out a sigh that hangs in the air like a question, a question that can only be answered by their captor: where are they? As a silence looms over the two vigilantes, something large enters the scene. Its clomping footsteps and heavy dragging suggests a rather large person or thing. Batman mutters something, but Green Arrow can't make it out over the sounds. Mechanisms whir, metal clinks on metal, and the footsteps clomp away.
"What happened?" Green Arrow asks. There is silence. "Bats?" he calls, a moan answers him. Superman is shifting in his cell. Green Arrow sees him squint and blink a few times. "Hey, Superman."
Superman squints some more trying to make out his neighbor. "Who's there?" he asks.
"Green Arrow and Batman," Green Arrow replies.
"Bruce?" Superman asks.
"Here," he replies. "Wonder Woman and Hawkgirl are in the cells to your right."
Green Arrow can't contain his shock. "No," he says.
"Yes," Batman states.
"Any way out, Bruce?" Superman calls.
"Stop calling me that," Batman growls. After a pause he says, "Not yet." Again silence fills the room.
Arrow leans forward. "Well," he says. "If neither of you have any ideas then I'll just have to make something up." He leans forward some more, pulling on his restraints in earnest. He hears them click and shakes his hands about in an effort to loosen them. They clatter in response. He leans back again and looks up to find little change. He shakes the shackles and sees them shift against the wall, loose screws rattling in response. A smile touches his lips and he shifts his feet beneath him.
Leaning forward, he pulls the cuffs away from the wall with no success. He tries again, this time his wrists ache in disapproval.
"Arrow stop," Superman says. "You're not getting out like that."
"Oh yeah?" Green Arrow says, looking up at the weak Kryptonian. "Just watch me."
This time he pulls hard on the cuffs, his arms aching and wrists screaming in pain. He grunts putting the whole of his body into one more one-sided thrust. That's when a crack echoes around the cell. Green Arrow gasps in agony as his right arm goes limp and a sharp jolt ripples through his shoulder and up his neck. He collapses to his knees breathing heavily and waiting for the pain to ebb.
A tension hangs in the air until the clomping footsteps return. Again mechanisms whir, metal clinks on metal, but then a murmuring gibberish starts up. It continues becoming softer and louder at certain points. The pain in Green Arrow's shoulder begins to dull and he looks up trying to discover the source of the strange language.
For a while he can only imagine the thing that mutters on, then the creature comes into view and reveals to him a whole new understanding of their situation. It is a large humanoid with a dark grey hide and piercing yellow eyes. As it glares at Green Arrow, it continues making the strange sounds and he notices a collar around its neck. It points at Green Arrow and another creature peeks in. This one is human size, a deep blue with a body that reminds him of a snake. It's arms move frantically as it replies to the larger creature. That's when Green Arrow realizes that their languages are different, very different.
A thought comes to mind, a crazy one that instigates a grin. "Hey, meat lug!" he calls. The creatures turn toward him with interest. "Why," he asks. "do you hang out with that worm?" At that, the blue creature begins yelling at him. In response the bigger one starts mumbling to it as if to calm it. Green Arrow's grin spreads even further. They can understand English. He tries another insult, in an effort to make one of the creatures open the glass panel. "I really can't tell what you think of me," he says looking at the bigger creature. "But I gotta wonder if you've ever looked in a mirror." The creature blinks at Green Arrow and then a liquid begins to seep from its hands. It quivers and a groaning issues from it. The blue creature stops its screeching to pat the larger one and starts talking to it in a sing-song way. Green Arrow's grin dissipates, he doesn't really know what it's doing, but it seems he actually hurt its feelings. "Disovu ka?" someone says. The grey mass looks up and mutters something in response, while Green Arrow tries to figure out just what he did wrong.
The muttering continues with the blue creature coming in every once in a while to reply to the other gibberish being spoken. At one point Green Arrow catches some Spanish and French, but the rest might as well be one of the alien languages. It lasts for a good while, maybe a hour. During this time, Arrow wiggles his shoulder until he realizes what went wrong. When he had thrust forward, his shoulder had been dislocated. Now he realigns, fixing it into place and pushing it against the impressive hand cuffs. It pops into place sending a surge of pain down his arm and spine. He grunts in shock and lets out a deep breath of relief. The grunt catches the attention of the larger alien being, who drops out of the conversation with the blue creature and other someone. It stares at Green Arrow for sometime, with Green Arrow not missing a beat. They stare at each other intently, curiosity from the alien and caution from Green Arrow.
Finally the conversation ends and the blue alien touches his companion muttering something to it. The creature isn't looking away though. It instead mutters something back and opens the glass panel.
Green Arrow stays very still as the grey mass lumbers toward him with it's smaller companion chattering to it as it does so. It stops inches from him, putting a desperate thought in his mind. He kicks the creature in the middle, both feet connecting with the rock hard body. Only problem is, he might as well have kicked a wall. The jolt backfires up his legs, making him wince. The creature notices and moves his face closer to Green Arrow's, a smell of dirt and sulfur washing over him. Green Arrow only glares back, noticing that the silence has returned.
After a good minuet or so, the creature backs off, letting Green Arrow's feet fall to the floor. Turning to a wall, the creature touches a panel that opens and spits something out. It is a collar much like the one both the aliens are wearing, and creature looks intently at it before looking back at Green Arrow. He understands instantly. As the creature comes back toward him he struggles against the cuffs.
"Arrow!" Superman shouts, as the alien snaps the collar around his neck. He feels it drill into his spine and a buzz surges through his body. He gasps in shock, then it stops. His head falls forward and he is still, his mind reeling.
"You don't be bad anymore," says a grumbling voice. Arrow looks up to that same grey face as before. "You no kick and be mean to Galbix," it says. Green Arrow blinks in shock. "Ok?" it asks.
"O-ok," Arrow replies. The creature then leans over and releases him. Still startled, he stands up and rubs his wrists. "Why did you do that?" he asks the creature.
"You now friends with Galbix," it grumbles.
"Friends?" he asks, raising an eyebrow.
"You be servant to Master, and Galbix be servant to Master. Now you and Glabix friends!"
Green Arrow's eyes go wide, "Master?"