Justice League Africa Chapter Two – The Hard Way

By Calvin Burrell

David tightly gripped the grapple gun in his right hand. His legs and other hand were pressed against the side of the cargo ship. He held that position for a moment longer, then swung up onto the deck. The filament retracted into the gun, making noise as it broke out of the hole it pierced. David slipped into the shadows behind a shipping container as a guard came over to investigate the sound.

The guard approached the container with their weapon drawn and David waited for just the right moment to strike. He whirled around the corner of the rusted metal box and uses both hands to thrust the guard's gun up into their face. The sudden blow caused the guard to let the gun go.

David gripped it and used the butt of the gun to strike the guard in the forehead. With deft movement, he grabbed the guard before the hired gun could hit the ground. David dragged the guard and his gun into the shadows. He disassembled the gun, and then started to make his way into the ship.

David methodically made his way to the aft end of the boat, avoiding the guard patrols. He paused between two containers and rolled out after a guard passed. David moved swiftly to a thick metal door. To the side of the door was a small keypad. To open the door, he would have to enter a six digit code.

There were one million possible combinations, but David had no intention of trying them all. He took out a circular gadget from his belt and clamped it over the keypad. The device made a soft whirring sound as it hacked the keypad and a moment later the door unlocked. David headed inside, closing the door behind him and putting the device back in his belt as he did.

Before him was a metal staircase leading down. David moved quickly and quietly. He had only seconds before a guard passed by this exact spot. He headed through another door which lead to a catwalk that he made his way across. Below him, several guards patrolled the cargo holding, but the vigilante had another target. A few moments later, David stood in the engine room of the ship. With no other guards in this room, he could put his plan into action.

David reached into his belt and pulled out a small but powerful explosive. He crouched down to set it up, then stopped as if he'd heard something. He put the explosive back and stood, taking out his eskrima sticks instead.

"I know you've been following me since I got on board," David said. He turned his head, looking over his shoulder. "Show yourself, so we can get your beating over with,"

A man stepped out of the shadows of the engine room behind David. He wore blue and black paramilitary armour with a grey arm plate, matching the grey hockey mask on his face.

"You really think that's how this is gonna go down?" The mercenary asked as he smirked and casually twirled a hockey stick in his hand. "We won't even have time for introductions,"

"I know who you are…Sportsmaster," David replied as he turned to face his opponent.

"The one an' only," Sportmaster said, as he held the hockey stick with both hands. "Now I gotta escort you off my employer's boat. Are we doing this the easy way, or the hard way?"

"The hard way," David responded and prepared for a fight as Sportsmaster charged.

Back at the warehouse in Tinasha used by Blood Tiger, Anansi swung his staff into the face of the last thug standing. As they fell, the illusionist twirled his staff and the false copies he created disappeared.

"Hm," Anansi mused. "There were only twenty six,"

At that moment, Vixen returned. "Anansi, are you…" she saw the many stunned bandits. "Oh. Never mind.

"I am doing much better than they are," Anansi said with a smirk. "Did you learn anything from Blood Tiger?"

"I did. He told me about his buyers and about another storage place north of here. Did you find out anything here?"

"I learned Blood Tiger can't count, but that's nothing new. Let's get to this other building."

Anansi and Vixen exited through a side door. Before them, several ATVs were parked. Anansi attached his staff to his waist and hopped on a bright red one. "Shall we ride then?"

Vixen smirked. "No thanks. A hawk doesn't need to ride."

She channelled the flight of a hawk and soared up before Anansi could ask her how she could do that without wings. He revved the ATV and followed her, deciding to add that to his list of things to wonder about.

In the engine room of The Storm of Mjolnir II, Sportsmaster swung and jabbed rapidly, using the hockey stick as a bo staff. David deflected the attacks, trying to defend himself against his opponent's advantage in reach. Sportsmaster made a low sweep at his legs and David hopped over it.

Just as David touched the ground again, Sportsmaster had brought the stick up for a high attack and David smacked it away with the eskrima in his left hand. The vigilante stepped back, and then came towards the mercenary with a strike using the eskrima in his right hand.

Sportsmaster sidestepped and raised his stick to catch the blow. Sportsmaster then turned his staff to the right as he moved to the left, using David's own momentum to his advantage. David went farther forward than he anticipated but before he could recover, Sportsmaster struck him in the back, sending him falling forwards. David barely rolled out of the way in time to escape the hockey stick being slammed into the ground right where his head was.

Just as David recovered, Sportsmaster swung downwards. David crossed his eskrima as he stood, catching the blow, and pushing Sportsmaster's hands up. The mercenary was exposed for a moment and David landed a couple quick blows before Sportsmaster brought his stick down again.

Sportsmaster was on the defensive and now forced back from a flurry of eskrima strikes. David brought both his sticks down at the same time in a powerful attack that Sportsmaster blocked by holding the hockey stick horizontally. Sportsmaster pushed David back, creating space between them and the two skilled fighters started circling each other warily.

"Not bad. You've got some moves," Sportsmaster said, smirking under his mask.

David stayed silent, his eyes narrowed as he waited for an opportunity to strike.

"I can see why Marksbury hired me," Sportsmaster continued. "You're a real threat to his business and his children,"

"Children?" David repeated. For a split second he was surprised at the use of the plural, having thought that Marksbury only had a son. Sportsmaster took that opportunity to swing. David leaned back and his own attacks in response forced Sportsmaster to retreat, leaving them both to circle again.

"Yeah. He likes to keep his daughter a secret. Probably cause her mother is a woman he had an affair with. You know how these rich businessmen are. Especially the ones who travel,"

David wasn't sure if Sportsmaster was trying to distract him again, or just rambling, but he didn't time to figure out. The longer he stayed, the more chance there was of guards showing up. "You can gossip later," David said.

Sportsmaster shrugged, seeing his distraction tactic wasn't going to work twice and charged again. Sportsmaster swung from the left and David raised both his sticks to block. Sportsmaster then shifted his grip and stance to swing from the right and hooked David's eskrima in the curved part of the hockey stick. The thrust continued down, forcing the sticks out of David's hands and on to the ground. As they clattered on the metal floor, Sportsmaster swung for a third time. David ducked under it and reached up, putting his left hand on the hockey stick and punching Sportmaster's stomach with his right fist.

David then grabbed the hockey stick with both hands and tried to pull it out of Sportmaster's grasp as the mercenary pulled back. They tugged back and forth, glaring at each other. Without warning, David suddenly did a backwards roll. As Sportsmaster was brought forwards, David put both legs on his opponent's chest and used the momentum of the roll and a thrust from his legs to flip Sportsmaster over. Sportsmaster was sent flying upside down and backwards into metal railing where he struck his head and was knocked unconscious. David stood and broke the hockey stick over his knee.

David was about to drop the pieces when he paused. He looked at the sharp, pointed piece of broken wood in his hand and at the dangerous killer, lying in a heap before him. It would be easy to land the final blow now. David gripped the wood tightly then threw it away in disgust at the thoughts he was having.

Moving on, he picked up his own eskrima sticks and went back to work, setting the explosives. As he made his way out, David dragged Sportsmaster out of the engine room. He then triggered the explosives, irreparably damaging the engines and blasting a hole in the hull. The sound and heat woke Sportsmaster up, but by then David was already gone.

Escape had been easy amid the chaos as the guards tried to figure out what happened and evacuate the boat. David sat in his own speedboat, far away from the cargo ship. He watched with a pair of binoculars, to make sure that every single crew member got off safely, even Sportsmaster. Once the crew had evacuated, David turned on his boat and sped off. He had some research to do. As he cut through the dark waters, David silently hoped that Marksbury's daughter was nothing like her father and brother. His hopes weren't very high.

TBC...