GOTC: Sorry all. I know it's been a while, but I've been going through a rough time dealing with the loss of two members of my family in the same week. However, I do appreciate those of you who reviewed this, an I hope I can continue t look forward to you input in future chapters!! Isn't that right Ace?

Ace: One person said they liked your continuous story of doom…..

GOTC: Other people reviewed too. You just are upset because someone other than me told you to shut your face.

Ace: Whatever…

GOTC: Indeed, so let's begin! Squeaky!

Squeaky: Squeak! (HAHA! Bout time someone told you off! No ownage here by the way.)

Ace: Whyyoulittle-

GOTC: ATCH! STORY NOW! SO GET IN THERE AND DO IT FOR THE READERS!!

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Rise of the Guardian 2: Forbidden Memories

CHAPTER 2: The First Move

Ace's feet pounded against the hard packed jungle path. Trees and vines all snaked across his path, tearing at his exposed skin and clothes, trying to hamper his progress any way they could. His lungs burned from the exertion, and his muscles screamed for a reprive, but he kept forced his way through the foliage at what seemed like an agonizingly slow pace, despite how fast he pushed himself.

Aside from the sound of him crashing through the undergrowth, the whole jungle was silent. No birds screeched in the trees, no bugs stirred to bite. The air hung heavy in the sky, as if weighted down by the angry black clouds that churned above.

Ace stumbled once as he broke out of the jungle and fell face first onto a white sand beach, before plowing forward without even wiping the grit from his eyes. Sickly waves rolled unnoticed onto shore, leaving a thin, oily film on the shore. Out in the open, Ace forced himself faster, but as he drew closer to his goal, a haze began to surround him.

The air carried faint cries and screams for help, as well as the putrid scent of burning rubble and flesh. At last, he reached the burning city, homes in ruin, and blazing fires running rampant through the streets. People ran screaming in terror, clamoring over each other in a desperate attempt to flee some unseen horror. A roar that Ace felt rather than heard, sent a wave of pain splitting through his right shoulder, dropping him to his knees in pain. A deep, sinister laughter in front of him caught his attention, as a pair of blood red eyes met his, and a massive gauntlet cane cashing down on top of him…

Ace woke with a start drenched in a sheen of cold sweat, still clutching the scar that ran across his shoulder, that laugh still ringing in his ears. A sudden wave of nausea swept over him, and he silently rolled out of bed and stuck his head into a waiting wastebasket. It took several minutes for the nausea to pass, and leaned back against the wall of his room, wiping the bile from his lips.

He stared up at the ceiling, trying to wipe those red eyes out of his memory without success.

"Not again…" He mumbled to himself, holding his head in his hands, "Please not again…."

The dreams had been frequent visitors now for nearly three weeks. Almost the instant Ace closed his eyes, he was plunged back into that recurring nightmare. Sleep was no longer an option for him, and the League was beginning to suspect that there was a bigger problem going on than "having trouble adjusting". Ace gritted his teeth, as he continued to kneed the muscle in his scarred shoulder. The pain refused to subside.

With a sigh, Ace got to his feet, leaning on the wall for support. His small room in the Watchtower was nearly barren. A bed, lamp on a nightstand, and a lone hook on the back of his door, were the only objects to brake up the four sterile grey walls. The other members of the League had all decorated their rooms in some manner, although Batman's quarters could hardly be considered decorated. Buried maybe, but it was something at least. It wasn't so much a conscious choice, Ace had just never really felt the need. Besides, he didn't exactly have much to decorate with. If Kyadreon couldn't carry it on his back, Ace didn't own it.

He grabbed his shirt and pulled it over his head, before slinging his jacket and blade over his shoulder and walked out the door. The Watchtower was completely silent as Ace walked down the halls, and it was a little unnerving. On Earth, there was always some kind of noise, some sign of life around, but up here in the clutch of space, only silence. Ace glanced out one of the windows at Earth hovering serenely next to them. First chance he got, he was going on patrol. It didn't matter where, he just needed to get home.

Finally Ace reached his destination. He tapped a door in front of him lightly, as it slid open with a hiss of compressed air. Several flashing panels, and a long bulletproof window looked into an empty room next door. Ace walked up to one of the panels and adjusted a few of the dials before entering the next room, with the computer screeching its displeasure with the override code Ace had just entered. He took several deep breaths, forcing the noise of the blaring warning alarm to the back of his mind as he assumed a fighting stance. Suddenly, four doors flew open with another hiss of air, and drones poured out of the openings at Ace.

"Ok," He thought to himself, "From the bottom up. First, the feet-"

Ace spun around, delivering a solid kick to the nearest drone with the ball of his foot. The drone flew backward into a group of attackers, knocking all of them onto the floor in a jumbled heap. Following through with his momentum, he smashed his shin into the robotic head of another. Two steel arms wrapped themselves around his neck, and tried to wrestle him to the ground. Ace grabbed hold of them and pulled the drone over his head and slammed it into the ground, before crushing its head with his knee. He planted one foot in the floor, and forced his shoulder into the nearest drone, then spun and made contact against another with his elbow.

At last the pain in his shoulder was beginning to subside as he vigorously put himself through the workout. Strangely enough, he was actually starting to enjoy himself. But as he pulled back his fist to punch through the last drone's face plate, his eyes locked with the glowing red eyes of the drone. Suddenly, that demonic laugh split through Ace's head. His whole body froze, as his shoulder erupted again in fresh agony. The drone took advantage of Ace's hesitation, and smashed into him full force, sending him flying into the wall just underneath the bulletproof window.

"Having trouble?" A deep, familiar voice chided.

Ace grumbled to himself at having his privacy interrupted and pulled his sword on the drone, slicing it neatly in half.

"Shouldn't you be asleep or something?" Ace growled at Batman standing in the window.

"I was just about to ask you the same thing," Batman said folding his arms, and shutting down the simulator, "It seems a little late to be destroying things."

"Depends on what time zone you're talking about," Ace scoffed, rubbing where the back of his head, "Now turn this thing back on. I'm not tired yet."

"You seemed awful tired during the meeting,"

Ace turned around to face Batman through the glass. Exhaustion, irritation, and the stress from the recurring nightmares provoked a dangerous glare from Ace.

"Stay out of my business Bruce." Ace snarled.

Ace held the glare at the Dark Knight for a moment before turning around to prepare for another round, when his breath suddenly hitched in his throat. A confused look passed over Ace's face as he reached for his neck. Then he felt like something just slammed full force into his chest, and he collapsed to the ground. He could feel something tugging on him, not physically, but like an invisible hand had grabbed a hold of his very soul and was slowly dragging it from his body. Pain radiated from his shoulder to spread across the rest of his body like wildfire. For a moment, he thought it was Shade, but rather than feeling like he was about to explode, everything seemed like it was all fading away to a single point. He clutched desperately to his shoulder, as he writhed on the floor, praying that whatever was happening would pass soon.

Batman watched as Ace halted mid-step, reached for his throat, then collapsed to the ground. In the same instant, an alarm blared overhead. Batman punched in an override for the door, and forced his way through. He reached Ace shaking on the floor, and rolled him over onto his back. He was in a lot of pain, that much was obvious, but he just couldn't figure out why.

"Ace!" Batman said shaking him by the collar, "Ace! Snap out of it!"

Ace's eyes were now rolled back in his head, but tried to swivel around as if they were trying to focus on something. Then just as soon as it started, Ace stopped shaking, and became deadweight in Batman's arms.

"Ace!" Batman roared over the blaring alarm, "Dammit wake up!!"

At last, Ace's half-lidded eyes focused on Batman, trying to drag himself back to reality. Suddenly, he blinked twice and the haze cleared from his eyes. He quickly sat up, then had to stabilize himself as the world turned a nauseating 180 degrees.

"What just happened?" Batman yelled over the alarm

Ace didn't answer him, but stared at the flashing red light that accompanied the screeching Klaxon.

"When did that start?" He asked groggily

"Just after you passed out," Batman said hauling Ace to his feet.

"No…." Ace argued disoriented, "That can't be right….."

Batman sighed inwardly with frustration. For all intents and purposes, Ace looked like he'd just had a massive seizure. He needed medical attention, instead of arguing about the alarm. There were more than enough of them to take care of the alert, Batman decided, as he started to help Ace towards the exit.

"J'onn," Batman called over the intercom, "Ace just passed out in the training room. I'm on my way to the medical bay now. Can you handle the alert?"

"I'm not sure yet," Came the stressed reply, "The warning just came in from Wonder Woman in L.A. Those 'sightings' have somehow materialized in downtown Los Angeles, and we're getting similar reports from Superman in D.C."

Ace came alive suddenly, after hearing J'onn's disturbing report. Batman fought to control him, incase there was something wrong internally that caused his collapse, but Ace spun around, and slammed Batman into the wall, before tearing out of the exit.

"Batman!" J'onn called, hearing the confrontation, "What's going on?"

"Wish I knew!" Batman snapped back, taking off after Ace, "Something's gotten into Ace, and now he's headed your way."

Ace barreled down the halls of the Watchtower, hell-bent on getting back to Earth. He thundered ahead, not even pausing to slow down as he rounded treacherous corners.

"I should never have left the planet," He swore to himself, "This wouldn't be happening now otherwise! I have to get back and fix this. Stop it before things get worse….Dammit! I won't let that monster come back!!"

He rounded another corner at full speed, and came face-to-face with J'onn. The Martian grabbed hold of his shoulders, and tried to force him into a seat in the monitor womb.

"Ace stop for a second-" He tried reasoning, just before Ace rammed into him with his shoulder.

J'onn doubled over from the impact, and Ace rushed to the control panel. Wonder Woman's distress signal was coming in crystal clear, as he punched in a new code that set the Watchtower humming with activity. Ace ran a hurried glance over the panel one more time before leaping over the side of the Womb, and onto the main floor of the hanger. The landing was hardly perfect, as Ace crashed painfully to the floor, but kept running towards a glowing platform in the center of the room.

"Wait!" J'onn yelled, as he saw where Ace was headed, "You're coordinates aren't right!"

"Stop him!" Batman yelled, finally catching up

Frantically, J'onn punched a button and the humming quickly began to die. But just before the glow of the pad died, Ace's foot connected with it, and in a brilliant flash, he was gone . Batman scanned the control panel in an instant, and shouted into his com-link.

"Diana! I need you downtown now!" He ordered, "Ace just teleported to L.A. a second ago!"

"Good!" She grunted as she continued struggling with an unseen foe, "There's hundreds of these things here, and I don't know how much longer I can hold them off!"

"Ace isn't in L.A. Diana!" J'onn cut-in, "He's 10000 feet above it!"

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GOTC: Not too smart are ya?

Ace: This is your story…

GOTC: And love it I do. Don't forget to R&R!!