Injustice for All
Chapter 3
(Though I breifly danced around the idea of naming this chapter OC'S AHOY!....I'm going to hell for this, I swear....)
As the rondevous point loomed in the distance, Juliet felt a cold ball of ice begin to form in her gut. Bred instinct told her to grab the girls and run, to flee down into the cool, comforting darkness of the sewers, away from these strange people they hardly knew. She swallowed her worry with a shake of her head, and she fumbled for her hip flask, swallowing a mouthfull of bitter memories washed down with liquor.
As the group decended, a group of six could be seen, and once again, as soon as Juliets boots touched cold concrete, she fought her muscles instincts to bolt into the shadows, her fly or fight instinct driving her mad.
Green Lantern eyed the tiny mutant cradled in Supermans arms, and arched a brow. "Made a stop at the orphanage I see."
Keiko curled up tighter against the chill breeze, and her head sank farther into Supermans arm, oblivious to who was carrying her. She murmered something quietly in her native tounge, as her eyes flitted around beneath closed lashes.
"These are the remnants of the X-Men, as I told you before. Lets go before the media wave hits."
Batman arched a brow when Juliet stalked past. Her swagger was obviously faked, she was feigning toughness...when she was obviously terrified. Her hands were white, the nails digging into her clenched palms as she dissapeared into the ship. Natalie felt someone take her hand and her eyes rolled around in her head for a moment. A breif flash exploded to her subconsious, and she could breifly pinpoint that a someone was leading her up the ramp.
When Kassies passed by Green Landers, he turned and nudged Flash. "Little lady...how old is she....Five? Maybe six or seven?" He stared up the ramp, stroking at his beard.
There was a distinct crunh as Kassien drove her heel into the military mans boot. "I'm 15!" She shouted angrily.
As the short mutant stomped onto the plane, it reminded her of the old High School bus trips she took during her short stay in the Institute. Juliet idly plucking her guitar, Keiko asleep, Rainia and Natalie both speaking in Spanish quietly to eachother, laughing at their own jokes.
The members of the Justice Leage boarded the plane, and watched the spectacle in some form of shocked could jump from burning buildings, fight Gods and the worst kind of evils the universe can throw at them...but apparently given a handful of teenagers, they had no idea what to do with. A group of mutant teenagers.
"How are we going to contain them? Its apparent they've got alot of energy to burn off..." Wonder Woman questioned.
All of a sudden...something scary happened. It was enough to chill Diana to the core. One side of Batmans mouth twitched...in a smile?
"Let them talk to someone on their own level."
He opened his communicator.
"Hey Gear! On your left!"
The blond Bang Baby twisted away from a hunk of molten metal, just in time to pat out the residual embers burning on his suit.
Hot Streak was pissed off and powered up again, and it was up to Static and Gear to take him down. But this time, it was apparent they had back up. From the shadows, an average heighted woman stepped out from beside an alley. Her hair was pulled back from her face, but wore simple jeans and a blouse, a black sash tied around the lower half of her face, and around her there was a faint electrical crackle.
"Moonshine! You're up!"
She nodded, quickly scaling the dumpster and snatching onto a fire escape. Her clenched fists glowed with a brightening light, and with a grunt, she discharged it towards Hot Streak, sending the Bang Baby bouncing backwards against a police van, and flopping onto the pavement. He was subdued, only breifly. It allowed the fire crews to come in and douse him with fire extinguishers and drag the out of control teen into the van.
As Moonshine jumped down from her perch, she stumbled and clutched the wall, she was weakened, and shot a pained glance towards Gear, who grabbed the womans arm.
Then came the media...always the damn media. They shoved their microphones in the Bang Babies faces, prodding them with various questions about their latest battle, personal questions about their lives, and various other dribble that they could barely stomache. In the midst of it all, Static heard the quiet beeping of his communicator, and he lifted it to his mouth.
"Static here."
"You and Gear be reading. We're on our way. And I have some friends that I want you to meet."
"We've got a problem here too. Got room for three?"
"...Just be ready."
There was a dull roar that increased in pitch as the Javlyn grew closer, and finally landed. The reporters scattered like roaches, only to regroup as they realized it was the Justice League.
Static looked over his shoulder to Gear and Moonshine, and grinned widely. "Lets get out of here."
As the trio boarded the ship, Juliet eyed the group. She became wary again, and her fingernails dug unnessicarily into her guitar strings. The pick she held between her teeth nearly snapped under the pressure of her clenched jaw, but she paid it no heed.
"Nice mask." She remarked to Moonshine.
The other woman paid her no mind, as she was led to a seat, and Gear stripped her bandanna mask off. Her face was coated in sweat, and her hair was plastered down to her forehead. Her head lolled to the side, and her eyes closed as she finally dozed off to sleep.
There was a small noise by his elbow, and Gear turned to see Kassien standing by him. Her eyes were focused on Moonshine. "Vill she be alright?"
Not quite knowing who this girl was, Gear put on his best 'hero grin' and tousled her hair.
"She'll be fine. She just needs some rest."
Kassien nodded, and crossed the isle again to crawl into Rainas lap, where she promptly fell asleep.
As Static passed by a sleeping Keiko, he eyed the other girls aboard the ship. He'd defenaitly never come across anything like this before. "Who are they?"
SuperMan heaved a weary sigh. "They are the last of the X-Men...at least to our knowledge." He adjusted how Keiko was positioned in her seat, and her head shifted, revealing a strange tattoo on the back of her neck. Upon furthur inspection, it appeared to look something akin to a face, red and black in color.
He could feel someone starting at him, and he turned to see Juliet staring at him. She nodded to the smaller girl, sighing.
"We dont know how or when she got the tattoo. What we do know is that its rare she ever shows it off."
The blonde uncapped her flask yet again, as the low rumble of the engines signified their take off.
Chaos...destruction...the smell of sulfur in the air as the sky burned red with the burning bodies of her enimies and family alike.
Towers of once brilliant crystal now engulfed in consuming flames danced all around her. Her reflection was shown a thousand times over, her expression the same that she always remembered.
Chaos...upheaval...revalation...and destruction.
A searing heat build up in her belly and she struggled to contain her cries as tears built up behind her tightly closed lids...untill that heat burst free, consuming her small body in the same flames that burned her home...
Keikos eyes shot open, and she screamed. Long, loud wails in her native tounge, and she was barely aware of the light clicking on and someone...some thing took her by the shoulders and gently shook her.
"Relax child...it was nothing more then a nightmare...."
Her eyes rolled open to see two amber eyes looking back down. "Who...who is you?" She fought the instant urge to scream and run away, and something subdued that urge...
The humanoid-man smiled slightly, the edges of his eyes crinkling up. "My name is J'onn. I am a friend of your group." He sat her upright on the small futon she'd been napping on. "You have been asleep for several hours...would you like to see the others?"
When Keiko nodded, J'onn took her by the hand, and led her to the main confrence room.
Rainia splayed her palms flat on the table, her eyes wide and glittering with laughter. "So there I'm standing...and heres NightCrawler COVERED in maple syrup! I open my mouth to say something when he says--"
"I gist got in a sticky situation!!" Kassien blurted.
The table burst into laughter, sans Batman, who merely quirked a brow at the situation. The girls seemed to be loosenening their belts in the relaxed situation, but Juliet remained alert, her hands clutching at her flask, occasionally stealing a sip or two, her eyes darting around the large room.
When J'onn walked in with Keiko in tow, SuperMan turned around in his chair.
"Well look who's awake!"
Keiko smiled, and blushed as she was led to a seat, and she nibbled on an index fingernail. "Had a bad dream." she explained, and rubbed at the back of her neck.
Natalie gently reached out to ruffle the girls hair, and smiled. "We were just talking about the old days sweetheart...nothing to worry about."
Keiko nodded, as if understanding the entirety of the sentence, as she crossed her legs, looking around the large table the various members of their group were seated around. Raina on the other hand, had finally busied herself with sewing a hole in the elbow of Kassiens blouse.
"You can never keep this shirt in one piece can you Kass?"
The german gave her an ear to ear grin and shook her head. "As if jou' vould expext any'zing less?"
Green Lantern on the other hand, had spent most of this time observing each girl. Time had not been kind to them. Their skin was paler then normal for the most, hands cold. Save for the very basics, they were scarily thin, and the League was forced to tone down the bright halogen lights for their sensitive eyes. Their clothes were patched and bare in spots, but as Juliet always repeated...they were all they had.
"So Keiko..." he began carefully, "Everyone else has told us how they got to the Institute....how about yourself?"
Keiko fell eerily silent, and rubbed the back of her neck again. "Moved from Japan....Japan to Arizona...Arizona to Institute.." Her langauge was broken and the words clacked against her teeth and tounge as she struggled with the speech.
GLs eyes narrowed, "What about the tattoo on you're neck? You dont seem like the type..."
"Not want to talk about it."
She rubbed at her neck again, chewing on her lower lip, turning the skin a brighter shade of red.
Superman, sensing thatthe convorsation was dying, changed it briskly. "So what was it like with so many dialects living together?"
All of the girls, Keiko included began to laugh.
"It was confusing at first. Natalise speaks english, but her New Zeland slang messes with it, Keiko spoke nothing but Japanese at first, Raina speaks Spanish, and Kassien speaks German and English fluently." Juliet explained, idly twirling a lock of hair around her finger. "I'm still trying to learn them all!"
Raina smiled, and nodded. "Have you ever tried to shop at a Japanese market, with a shopping list written in German?" To emphasise her point, she pantomimed holding a pair of chopsticks.
Natalie only smiled, leaning back in her chair. "Those were the days...."
Keiko lay her head on her folded arms across the tabletop, her eyes wide and questioning. "Juliet-san...who are others?" She gestured to the members around the table, and began picking at the slipping hem of her shirt.
Static smiled, and held out his hand. "Names Static, thats Gear and Moonshine."
Juliet barely repressed a snort.
Other names were passed around, and Keikos smile grew larger with each passing name. On the other hand, Juliets eyes narrowed down to slits when Batman got up and left the table, his cape sweeping widely as he strode out of the room and down a hall. "What the hell is his deal anyway?"
Wonder Woman waved a hand dismissivly. "He's just anti-social. Dont mind him."
Flash nodded, his typical thousand watt grin lighting up his face. "He's got a stick up his rear end....horizontally in position."
There was a moment of silence, before Juliets face finally broke into laughter. "You know...Cyclops always used to say were were different. "She sighed. All of the girls fell silent f or a moment, reflecting on memories of the past.
Keiko gave a small, resigned little sigh, almost like a balloon deflating from a pin hole. "Storms cooking...Beast comming to room when nightmares come...."
Diana placed a hand on the girls shoulder. "Dont worry...we'll find them."
Green Lanters face creased into a frown. "I need to talk you you Princess. Now" He rose to his feet and stalked out of the room, Wonder Woman in tow.
Once in the hall, the Amazonian shot him a glare that could've melted metal. "What's wrong with you?" She asked sharply.
The Military Man jutted a finger in her direction. "You. You go and build up the hopes and dreams of some 10 year old kid...and what? Say we can't find the X-Men? Say they really are all dead? What do well say to a bunch of teenagers who barely speak a word of english!?"
The warrior princess stared him down for a moment, and then softened her harsh glare. "Understandable....its just sad...to see them like this. They've been waiting and searching for years...and they've got nothing." She turned, and left him standing in the hall and returned to the main room.
"You're going down Shocky."
"Not on your life babe!"
Raina and Static were engaged in an arm wrestling contest...and the Bang Baby was loosing. Juliet, Natalie, Keiko and Kassien were in hysterics, shreiking with laughter, while Gear and Moonshine moaned in the near defeat at hand.
The other members of the League merely sat...and watched the show.
Rainas dark brown eyes glinted as she pressed harder onto Statics equally forcefull fist.
"You're not going to beat me!" She laughed.
He only smiled and pressed harder, his dreads hanging into his eyes over his mask. "Lets put that to the test shall we?!"
There was a BOOM as Raina slammed the back of his hand to the table, nearly cracking the surface. She smiled sweetly, and blew him a kiss. "Told ya."
After the hysterics died down, and Static nursed his pride and bruised hand, convorsation resumed once more.
"What kind of family did you have in Arizona, Keiko?" Hawk Girl questioned. As the girl slowly processed the question, her already pale face drained of any other color. Her head turned to Juliet, who gave a sharp shake of her head No. Keiko quickly regained her composure.
"God Parents." She answered quickly.
SuperMan nodded, and flattened his palms on the table. "Then tomorrow...we'll have to go and tell them that their God Daughter is alright. Maybe they'll have some answeres for us." He nodded to those around the table. "Get some rest everyone, we've got a big day tomorrow."
TBC....