-Cronus-
Batcave
"Wrong, do it again"
Donna and Stephanie repeated the same sequence of steps.
"Again"
Black Canary and Batman had called the girls to the Batcave, Donna and Melina being given full access, for combat training. What they hadn't been told, was that it would turn into Wonder Girl and Batgirl sparring in the same way for several hours, while Blackhawk sat on the sidelines, eating candies, and enjoyed show.
"Why doesn't she have to do this?" Donna asked.
"Because I already know Tae Kwon Do" Melina replied, chewing on a liquorice piece.
"So do I!" Steph complained
"Maybe Batman knows your level of skill, but I don't. Again" Dinah ordered.
"Girls" a deep voice called from above. They turned and saw Batman descending a flight of stairs, with an old man in tow.
"Finally, I was about to cough up a lung... or two" Stephanie complained.
The three young girls stood up and faced the man "you all remember that I told you I'd be giving you a mission before I decide whether or not to sanction your team" it was more of a comment than a question.
He typed something into the keys of an obnoxiously large and complex computer, and a picture of a thick woman with short reddish hair, and black/gold armour up. Donna seemed to recognise "This is Devastation. Supposedly a living weapon created by the ancient titan 'Cronus'. The League has received reports of various disappearances all across the globe, and Wonder Woman seems to believe the crime scenes carry evidence of her doing."
"And you want us to stop her?" Wonder Girl asked, entirely business.
In lieu of replying Batman pressed some more keys, and a young girl's image appeared "this is Bethany Willis, a student at Arizona State University. I've looked at the series of kidnappings, and I believe she's Devastation's next target. Your jobs are to keep an eye on her, and radio in the League when Devastation attacks."
"So we get to play secret service for some chick, waiting for Zeus's baby sister to show up and give us a godly pounding, purely for the sake of giving you a show of our teamwork skills?" Melina summarised.
"Exactly. I'll be allowing you access to the jet for this mission only. Your success and ability to operate within mission parameters will determine my decision. Go"
The older teens followed Batgirl to a large suspended platform where the sleek black Batplane lay waiting.
"Shotgun!" Blackhawk suddenly yelled.
"It only has one forward seat, and that's for the pilot, i.e me" Batgirl jabbed a finger towards herself.
"Pfft, what kind of jet only has one seat up front" the other girl complained as she sat down beside Wonder Girl, who had taken a spot already.
"The kind that was made by and for an emotionless automaton" Donna smirked.
"Ha, sick burn" Melina grinned.
The jet took off and flew out of the cave into the bright sky.
"You really think they can handle it?" Canary asked the Dark Knight.
"That's what i'm afraid of" he admitted.
Arizona State University
"Target sighted Short-Stop, Hot-Bod going in" Blackhawk radioed in.
"For the last time, we are not using code-names!" Wonder Girl replied from her place overlooking the university quad from the roof of a campus building.
"C'mon Big-Bones, what if Ugly figures out how to hack comm systems?"
"First don't call me that, second she wont"
"Whatever, I'm engaging the Watermelon" the younger hero replied.
"Watermelon? Why is she watermelon now?" Stephanie asked, confused and annoyed at the codename. The girl was stationed on a tower across the street from the university.
"Miss Willis?" In the time between the girls landing at Arizona, and Melina making her way to Bethany, the young hero had managed to exchange her costume for a pants-suit, an earpiece and dark sunglasses to give the effect of an actual secret service agent "your gonna have to come with me" she said monotone, while putting on a heavy southern accent.
"For the love of Hera, your scaring the girl" Wonder Girl scolded.
"Hey, who put you in charge? Huh princess?" Melina momentarily forgot the act she was putting on.
"My age, so I'm in charge"
"Spoil sport"
"Who are you talking to?" The young student and her friends asked Melina.
"Uh... nobody?" She sheepishly laughed.
"Guys? I think our bad guy made it" Batgirl announced.
Suddenly, the ground shook as tall, thick woman, with cropped reddish hair, and bulky armour landed.
"You" she pointed at Bethany "your coming with me"
"Not so fast Gabriela Isler, she isn't going nowhere" Melina stepped between them.
"Who are you to challenge me?" Devastation sneered.
"Names Hot-Bod- I mean Blackhawk, and I'm here to beat your ugly butt back to... wherever you came from"
After a moment, the larger woman burst into laughter "you believe a mere mortal could challenge the champion of Cronus?" Her hearty grin immediately dropped "I will crush you, just as my lord will crush your world"
Blackhawk ran forward, and extended her batons. She swung them at Dev's legs. The pair of clubs hit their targets with a solid thud, but to no effect. Devastation remained standing, and chuckled deeply at Melina's failed attack.
The beefy woman took hold of Melina's collar, and lifted her into the air a foot or so, scowling in the blonde's face. Melina hastily placed a hand to her ear.
"Guys? Some help please!"
"Your mortal friends can't help you now" Dev maliciously grinned
"Then it's a good thing she isn't a mortal" Melina retorted. Suddenly, a harsh impact on Devastation's back caused her to drop Blackhawk to the ground, and spin to face Wonder Girl.
"Finally, a competitor worth facing" Devastation marched towards Donna, ignoring both Melina and Bethany, who had yet to move from her place watching the events unfold in shock.
"I'll send back to the pits of Hades where you belong Titan" Donna spat.
"And I will do to you what Hades should have done to your mother centuries ago Amazon" the other woman sneered.
With a battle cry, Donna swung her now unsheathed sword at the other woman, who quickly lifted an armoured hand to block the blow. Dev returned with a rough kick upwards. Donna held fast through the winding blow, and pulled her sword back, the two returning into combat stances.
"You're strong girl" Devastation offered "but I'm stronger"
Devastation took the moment to go on the offensive. She swung her meaty hands at Donna, who ducked and dodged every attack with decreasing skill and ease. Wonder Girl was beginning to lose her confidence, and she hoped Stephanie would join in soon.
Suddenly, an explosion was set off directly on Dev's back, forcing the woman to stumble forward shortly, and giving Wonder Girl a short reprieve.
"There's another one?" Devastation growled.
"Yeah, and she's ready to kick some ugly butt!" Stephanie swung into Dev, hitting the large woman in the chest with a drop kick of sorts.
Dev scowled and cracked her neck from side to side, as Stephanie began to regret her choice. The self proclaimed 'champion of Cronus' tried to swing her thick arm and backhand Stephanie away, but a tugging force around her wrist pinned the limb across her chest. Devastation looked down at the snared body part and saw a silver rope tied around it, and the other end gripped between Wonder Girls hands.
With a roar, Devastation threw her arm backwards with a super-strengthened tug. Simultaneously, the limb threw Donna off her feet and towards the enraged 'weapon', as the attack intended for Stephanie finally connected, and caused the now unsuspecting girl an extra degree of harm in her shock.
Melina finally returned to her feet, and immediately set about attacking Devastation, only for her batons to be caught in hands twice the size of her own, and herself thrown high into the air, arcing down to have her head connect with Stephanie's, and incapacitate them both.
Rather than aid her two fallen comrades, Donna elected to continue engaging their large enemy, by slinging the rope back to her belt, and slipping the elegant shield off her back. She jumped up at Devastation, and smashed the protective plate in her powerful jaw. Donna was sure she may have knocked a few teeth loose.
Devastation turned back to the slightly smaller girl, and lifted her up by the neck with ease. The raven-haired princess struggled hopelessly against her foe, as Dev jerked her forehead towards Donna's repeatedly, blooding the younger's nose, and fogging up her vision. Devastation dropped the defeated girl to the ground, and grunted in success. She lumbered over to the shell-shocked Bethany Willis, and threw the terrified girl over her shoulder, before leaping away from the scene.
All three girls groggily stood, and the blondes shot poisonous glares at the Amazonian.
"Gee, thanks for the teamwork Donna" Melina spitefully said. She pulled out a small device from her belt, before typing on the compact keyboard it held.
Batgirl placed a hand to her cowl's ear, and began to talk to an unknown person. No doubt explaining what happened to Batman.
Wonder Girl knew she should take responsibility for her actions. Admit she had placed a petty desire to defeat the creation of Cronus, over the wellbeing of her friends. But that gods damned stubborn side of hers won out, and she simply ignored the painfully hateful stares to wipe the blood off her face, and check her shield for battle damage.
After a moment or two, Stephanie turned back around to report her finding to the other girls. "Batman said he was prepared for this, and he has the location of another potential victim. Ian Reeves is a high-school senior in Ottawa, Canada. Batman thinks that's where Devastation may hit next"
"Excellent, this time you girls-" Donna was cut off.
"With all due respect" Melina sarcastically said "you really shouldn't be giving orders after the disaster that was this fight"
Donna grit her teeth to keep in the angry reply. She knew the blond was correct.
"I'll take charge from here" Stephanie decided, ignoring Melina rolling her eyes "and this time I want to try a more diplomatic approach. Little combat, so we can try to get some information for the League out of her"
The other girls reluctantly agreed on the passive approach, and piled into the Batplane behind Steph.
Ottawa, Canada
"Okay Short-Stop, got my eyes on-" Stephanie stopped the girl there.
"For god's sake Melina, if you call him a piece of fruit, I'll stick an explosive batarang so far up your butt you'll taste searing metal for dinner."
"Jerk... I'm set up anyway, just try not to get killed" the other blonde replied.
"How 'bout you Donna, in position?"
"... Yeah, I'm there" the eldest girl was still a bit sore from the first encounter with Devastation.
"Okay, big girl incoming" Melina called as the telltale figure fell from the sky to land before Ian, his friends, and unwittingly, Stephanie's hiding place.
"Ian Reeves, you have been summoned" she boomed, taking a step forward. This was Batgirl's cue to help.
"Wait" she ordered. Devastation stopped, and twisted her neck to face the far smaller teen.
"You again? I'll have to end you permanently" the large woman strode towards Batgirl who hastily raised her arms in submission.
"Wait! I don't want a fight!" She cried, and Dev stopped once again.
"A warrior who refuses to fight? Pathetic... Although I will allow you to speak"
"We just want to know, why are you doing this. Why are you kidnapping innocent people?"
"They are necessary casualties for the reckoning to take place" Devastation announced "soon the usurpers who reside on Olympus will be no more, and the world will once again fall under the control of it's true masters" the answer was cryptic, yet unsettling.
Devastation turned from the girl to agin approached the frightened boy.
"I can't let you take him" Stephanie called out.
"You cannot stop me" the blonde ran forward and jumped at Dev, who swatted the girl from the air like a bug. She lifted the frozen young man over her shoulder, and leapt away again, just as Donna and Melina reached the ground to help.
"Crap... Maybe we should have taken closer vantage points" Melina offered.
"It wouldn't have mattered, the plan was flawed from it's conception" as she said this, Donna threw a sour look at the slowly rising Batgirl.
"Oh, my plan was flawed. Remind me again how successful yours was?" Stephanie scoffed.
"C'mon guys" Melina tried to interrupt.
"At least under my leadership, we had a chance to stop Devastation" Donna ignored her.
"Don't do this girls" Melina said.
"At least under my leadership, we know what Devastation is trying to do!"
"Girls..." Blackhawk now frowned.
"Oh yes, 'usurpers' and 'true masters', so helpful"
"GUYS!" Blackhawk finally snapped. The other two turned to her, shocked by her outburst "both of you had shitty plans and both of you were terrible leaders. And that's why I'm taking charge."
"What!?" The others chorused.
"You heard me. Now c'mon, let's not leave Devastation waiting."
"Well what's your plan?" Donna asked.
"Easy. Iv'e been looking at the list of names Devastation kidnapped, and I was finally able to decipher the similarities... Bloodlines" they looked at her confused "centuries ago, there were a series of Greek demigod warriors. Theseus, Perseus, Odysseus, the list goes on. Basically, most of these demigods had children, who had children and that too goes on. I traced the bloodlines of these warriors, and our kidnap victims, and the line match up."
"So, your saying that the victims are the descendants of Greek gods?" Stephanie asked.
"Exactly. Thats not all though. As I'm sure you know, Donna, Cronus was the king of titans, and one of his many acts of evil was that he devoured his children out of fear they would rise up and overthrow him" she explained.
"That doesn't mean we know where she went" Wonder Girl explained.
"No, but I have a hunch" Melina smirked.
Gotham City
The three finally arrived where Blackhawk led them, and were now standing on a roof across from a seemingly normal house.
"There it is" Melina announced, holding her arm out to the house.
"I don't get what's so special about it" Wonder Girl frowned.
"A few years back, Black Canary and I followed a police call to this house over a domestic disturbance. When investigated, they found a happy wife, and a content husband, but we weren't satisfied. Later that night, the couple left to go to dinner. And we broke in to do our own investigation."
"What did you find?" Stephanie asked.
"In the basement, we found a girl. She was about fifteen, and her left arm was missing from the elbow down. It looked like it was freshly removed. When we asked, she told us that not only had her parents been the ones to do it, but they had cut off, and eaten their own daughter's arm. We had them locked up in Arkham for life, and the girl was moved to a foster family, we still talk sometimes, she's a pretty cool chick."
"And do you have a plan?" Donna was unfazed by the story.
"Of course I do..."
Once Melina relayed the plan to the girls, they quietly crept into the silent abode, hoping to catch the woman who had caused them no small amount of trouble today by surprise.
Now alone, Melina slowly descended towards the basement, taking the stairs one at a time, and stuck to the shadows as she overheard Devastation's unmistakable voice.
"Now we have enough god-blood, the ritual can begin"
"W-what ritual?" A particularly daring voice asked.
"The resurrection of Cronus, true ruler of Olympus, of course"
"I'm afraid your not resurrecting shit" Melina stepped into the light of the dozens of candle stationed around the circle of bound kidnap victims.
"You!.. I knew I should have killed you when I had the chance!" Dev roared.
"Well you didn't, and now it's come back to bite you on the ass" Melina began to pace around the room, forcing Devastation to turn her back on some of the victims as she turned to follow.
"You truly are foolish to think you stand a chance."
"Blah blah, less talky more fighty" Melina attempted to end the prolonged banter.
"I have the power of a god, what chance do you stand?"
Little to Devastation's knowledge, Batgirl had been crawling around the darkness in the room, cutting the bonds of the victims as Devastation turned her back on them. Blackhawk finally made it back to the basement entrance, as Batgirl and Wonder Girl took stances on wither side of her.
"Well if your a god, then I guess we'll just have to be the Titans"
With an amplified roar, Devastation ran at the three, who separated and regrouped on the other end of the room. As the larger woman turned for a second charge, Batgirl waved her hands in strange way, prompting the hostages closest to the exit to sprint up the stairway.
"Do you understand the magnitude of your actions!?" Dev screamed.
"Yes, and now your evil master will forever rot in the pits of Tartarus" Wonder Girl returned.
With an outraged cry, Dev sprinted for the trio once more, who again dodged her attack to force her to another side of the room. Batgirl gave a second signal, and the hostages on the opposite side followed the original group.
"Okay Batgirl, you know what to do" the other blonde nodded in confirmation, and stayed back while Wonder Girl and Blackhawk used their respective weapons of choice to drive Devastation to the other side of the room.
Melina swiped her batons at Devastation's legs and torso, dealing the damage of a bee sting, but keeping her occupied enough for Batgirl to finish freeing the hostages and sprint out of the room itself.
"Wonder Girl, your turn" she ordered.
"Are you sure?" The taller girl asked.
"Yeah, now go, I'll catch up."
Wonder Girl turned and sprinted out of the room, leaving only an enraged Devastation, and Blackhawk, now gripping a collection of handcuffs.
The smaller girl jumped into the air, and licked off the wall, using the compact size of the basement to her advantage in moving around Devastation, and cuff her arms and legs to various support beams and heating grates.
By the time she was finished, Devastation gad been cuffed enough to be barely able to shuffle on the spot. She tested her limbs, and the flimsy metal of the cuffs already began to bend and break.
"These restraints cannot hold me for long mortal" she growled.
"They're not meant to" Melina turned on her heel and began to strut up the stairs, and out of the house, pulling a small device from her belt, and pressing the button which subsequently detonated the explosive pods she had Donna place around the house earlier.
She stepped outside with a bright backdrop of fire and wooden debris flying through the air behind her, stepping towards the collected hostages, and her two friends.
"So... We did it" Steph grinned.
"Damn right we did it" Donna smirked.
A cough from beside drew their attention to the various victims standing by.
"We should... We should get them home" Melina said.
Batcave
"You blatantly disobeyed direct orders and put yourselves in danger to pursue a criminal that was clearly beyond your patrol. Not only this, but you failed to call for League support, as you were instructed, and failed to secure the target. For these reasons, not only are you not allowed to become a sanctioned team, but all three of you will be suspended indefinitely."
Melina, Stephanie and Donna all looked down as Batman ended his rant, trying to shake of the disappointed glares of their respective mentors.
"However" their heads shot up "we will consider ignoring your gross mistakes, and reconsider our decision if you answer a single question" Wonder Woman decided.
"Why did you disobey orders?" Canary asked.
When neither Wonder Girl or Batgirl owned up, Blackhawk stepped forward.
"It was my fault" she announced "after our failure to protect both Bethany Willis and Ian Reeves, I took control of the operation, and headed my own investigation into Devastation's actions. I take full responsibility for the events that took place."
The mentors shared a look. "All three of you will go home, and return here at 1800 hours" Batman ordered
The girls were confused "for what?" Donna asked.
"For your first patrol as a team of course" it took a moment for Canary's words to register with the girls, before their jaws collectively dropped.
"Does that mean..."
Batman gave a slow nod "you have our permission, to patrol, investigate, and be sent on missions, as a team"
