Alright so I basically wrote Chapter 3 today. I hope you enjoy it! It's action packed and everything so enjoy my little story, that will more than likely become a long-ish story.
April 5. 21:00. Taipei. Alpha squad consisting of Batgirl, Robin, and Bumblebee had arrived at the Taipei where an important peace conference was about to be held. Their duty was to survey the area and make sure that there were no threats impeding upon this conference.
The three were dropped near the outskirts of the capital where the area was completely empty. No one would be able to see or notice the heroes, considering they were the stealthiest of the bunch. The three scaled buildings and made their way to a large hotel where the conference was about to commence in half an hour.
The sunset still lingered in the Taipei sky, as night had not come to full bloom, yet staying hidden was easy for the Alpha squad. Batgirl and Robin would scale and jump buildings seamlessly like their mentor Batman, while Bumblebee could simply fly through the sky like a speck of dust.
They had arrived at the hotel, and many journalists and news reporters gathered around the main entrance to catch a glimpse of both the former North and South Rhelasian leader. "Alright team here's the plan," Batgirl said, pulling her team into a small huddle, "Robin and I will try and enter the building through a window of a higher floor and make our way to the conference room. There we will both be stationed at two vantage points. Bumblebee, I need you to place this audio device either on a lapel of someone close to the leaders, or anyone near the stage. It will record the conversation so we can further analyze it back at base. This mission is strictly covert; we must avoid contact at all costs. Radio silence will be active until extraction time. The conference lasts maybe only two hours, hopefully less, but extraction will be at midnight, right where we were dropped off. If possible, after the conference we can all meet up on the 20th floor of the hotel, well away from anyone from the conference."
"Sounds good Batgirl," Bumblebee responded firmly.
Each individual nodded their head and then spanned out. Robin and Batgirl aimed their grappling guns towards the higher levels of the hotel. Bumblebee shrank herself to miniscule stature, and fluttered down to the crowd of people. As she flew down, a long black limousine pulled up, and out stepped Lex Luthor.
As soon as the executive stepped out of his vehicle, he was bombarded with questions from many news reporters. Cameras flashed in his face while he wore a confident professional smile. He looked upon the sea of journalists and met eyes with Cat Grant, blonde reporter from GBS. "Ah, Ms. Grant, I'm sure your questions are intelligent enough to evoke an intellectual conversation," he said soothingly to the young reporter approaching her.
Her blue eyes looked widely upon his expression, brought her microphone close to her mouth and replied calmly, "That's very kind of you Mr. Luthor, I'll do my best."
"I'm sure you will."
"So what brings you to Taipei once again?"
"Well as you recall, I was offered the opportunity to act as an independent arbitrator for negotiations between both Rhelasias. I'm simply here to do it all again."
"Do you have any idea as to why there has been a new rise in diplomatic tensions?"
"The causes of the tension between the two leaders is a mystery to me; I suppose we shall have to wait and find out what the debacle is."
"Of course Mr. Luthor. One more question if you don't mind."
"Not at all, go ahead."
"There are rumors that your genetic research laboratory known as Cadmus may be manufacturing weapons through the use of genetic manipulation, would you care to comment?"
Luthor's expression became stoic, "I have nothing to comment on the matter. Now if you'll excuse me Ms. Grant, I have some negotiations to oversee." He pushed away from the young reporter and advanced further towards the entrance.
Bumblebee waited for him to pass through the revolving doorway of the hotel, and as he passed through, she quickly placed the recording device on the back of his suit by the collar. She quickly flew away to avoid being spotted.
Luthor advanced into the conference hall, where chairs were set up for reporters to sit in. He walked down the aisle and made his way towards the two Rhelasian leaders. He shook their hands, and everyone took their seat. The reporters flooded in, bumping into one another with large cameras and sound equipment while shoving to get to the front.
Batgirl crouched behind the banisters of an empty balcony on the left side of the conference room, while Robin paralleled her. They looked at one another, and then focused their attention on the speaker.
Luthor had approached the bench and began speaking eloquently and firmly into the microphone. "I would like to thank you all for covering another important diplomatic conference between the former North and South Rhelasian leaders. For those who do not know who I am, I am Lex Luthor, owner of LexCorp. We were here approxiamately five years discussing reunification of the two Rhelasias. Both General Singh Manh Li and Prime Minister Tseng made an agreement to reunify the broken nation and rule the single country in a dual partnership. However, there have apparently been diplomatic tensions that the two leaders would like to openly and peacefully discuss with one another. I open the floor to General Singh Manh Li first." Luthor gestured his hand towards the General.
The General stood up forcefully. He wore his military uniform dressed with medals. He slammed both palms and the podium and he started to speak loudly. His English was muffled over an accent, but everyone could make out what the General was saying. "The tensions between North Rhelasia and South Rhelasia have been too difficult to completely remove within a time period of five years, and there are always prejudices against Northern Rhelasians. Recently many North Rhelasian teenagers have been disappearing off the streets of major cities and small towns ever since the reunification. I have called for this conference to announce the split of the Rhelasia's once more. Prime Minister Tseng and South Rhelasians cannot be trusted!"
"Now hold on a second General!" Prime Minister interjected standing up quickly, "I object to that heinous accusation. Prejudices against North Rhelasians are not the cause for the disappearance of former North Rhelasians. I urge you to reconsider your decision to split our nation once again."
"No! My mind is made up. Our two ideologies cannot work in ruling one single nation. We thought that the enterprise of LexCorp could bring peace, but I knew you were untrustworthy!"
The two leaders spat back and forth at one another for hours, Tseng trying to convince Li to keep Rhelasia as one single geographic entity. While the two argued, Luthor sat comfortably in his chair wearing a slight smirk.
The conference concluded and quickly before Luthor had left the stage, Bumblebee swooped down silently and retrieved the small recording device on his back. The whole conference was on tape to be reviewed. Batgirl and Robin had left their vantage points quickly to avoid a crowd.
They both climbed the staircases to reach the top floor. When the door to the 20th floor swung open, the two saw Bumblebee standing in front of them, "What took you guys?" she said with a slight sass. Batgirl and Robin smiled at their teammate, and all left the building. They jumped over buildings back to their extraction point, where they waited to be picked up by a transport vessel.
April 5. 22:00. Mount Justice. "Recognized, Kid Flash, B03." The computer announced an individual coming through a Zeta-tube into the base. Wally West walked into the mission room to be greeted by Nightwing.
"It's good to see you Wally," Nightwing said pleasantly, stretching out his hand.
"Good to see you too," the former Kid Flash replied, shaking hands with his best friend.
"What brings you here?"
"We have to talk…about something."
"Wally!" Both boys turned their heads to see M'gaan running to greet her former teammate, but as she approached him, she became slightly sullen, "It's so good to see you. How are you doing?" she asked while gently putting her hand on his shoulder.
"I'm doing alright Miss M. I've had better days, and they've been hard, but I miss her all the time." Wally answered.
"I know it's tough, and just know we're always here for you. You're still part of the team." M'gaan smiled warmly at him, trying to cheer him up after his recent loss.
"Thanks Megan. I don't mean to be rude, but I have something private that I need to talk to Nightwing about. I'll catch you later okay?"
She nodded, and then walked away, back down a hallway that led to either her room or the kitchen, but she disappeared into the darkness.
"Let's go in here." Nightwing said as he led Wally down a series of halls. They arrived at a bookshelf. Nightwing pulled out a specific book, and the shelf moved revealing a secret room.
"Dude how did you find this place?" Wally asked in amazement.
"Remember when Red Tornado's family came to visit a few years back? Well, found this by accident," Nightwing said with a slight laugh. He rubbed the back of his head and smiled. "So what's up?"
"First I need to know are we safe, from everyone? It's safe to talk here?" Wally asked concerned.
"No one else knows about this room."
"Okay good. We can't risk letting our secret get out, especially since we're getting deeper in. Have you heard anything from her?"
"Artemis? No, I've been trying to contact her, but communications have been difficult to achieve, even with a secret frequency."
"Anything from Kaldur?"
"Unfortunately no. Wally, don't worry they're going to be okay. I'm not going to let anything happen to her, and despite what everyone else thinks, Kaldur is still on our side."
"I know, I just need reassurance that she's safe."
Nightwing put his hand on Wally's shoulder, "Don't worry she is. I'll let you know if I hear anything. You're still more than welcome back here even though…"
"Even though I'm trying to quit the hero gig I know." Wally chuckled.
The two best friends shared a laugh until they heard the intercom activate. "Nightwing to the Mission Room, there is an incoming transmission," a voice echoed.
Both Wally and Nightwing left the secret room and jogged back to the Mission Room where they were met by Miss Martian, Blue Beetle, Mal, and Beast Boy. "What is it?" Nightwing questioned.
The computer screen showed a pixelated face. "Beta squad to cave," Superboy said as his face became clear on the screen.
"Go ahead Beta," Nightwing answered.
"We found the factory and there is some sort of production going on. We've scanned the outskirts. What are our next orders?"
M'gaan looked helplessly at the screen at Connor's face.
"Proceed into the factory to gain further information. Take precaution, and only use force if necessary, cave out."
"Be careful Connor," M'gaan murmured inaudibly.
Alright, so I tried to do a sort of split story, like the episodes. But hey! The chapters are getting longer, which means I'm getting into the swing of the story, which is a good thing! Do you like the dual story split? Or should I go back to one team perspective per chapter?
Also a sad note, I may have to send my laptop to HP to get my screen fixed on Monday, so I don't know when the next update will be. I'll try and use the other computers in my household, but if I don't update within a few days I apologize!
Review anyways =) - Fire Bender