Chapter 7 The Magic Of New Orleans

I Own nothing all of the characters are property of their respective companies.

Inside the Batwing

Batman presses a button on his console and Superman pops up. "What's up Batman, Gohan good to see you."'

"We've got a problem, Ras has resurfaced."

"How do you know?"

"I just foiled a big robbery in Gotham and the money from it was going to him. He's planning something Clark, I'm just not sure what it is yet."

"This is not good, I'll tell the others. We'll discuss this when you come in."

"I'll drop the karate kid off and be right there."

"Just bring him, he's a Leaguer now right?"

"Well, what do ya say? Are you sticking to your guns or joining the team?" Gohan had been thinking about this very question since he started the mission, it was a lot of fun and he felt like he was helping people, but he wasn't sure if he could go back to being a warrior. "I need to think about it."

"I'll drop him off and then you can beam me to the Watchtower, over and out." The jet flew over to Gohan's campsite and both heroes hopped out. "Here's your payment for tonight," Batman reaches out and hands Gohan a black credit card with the name Son Gohan on it. "There's $15,000 on that card, call me when you're ready to get serious." The Dark Knight pressed a button on his suit and a white light appeared under him, in the next instant he was gone.

Back at Mount Justice

Trunks and Nightwing sat in the workshop together, their brains aching from attempting to solve a certain problem. Trunks had been unable to train since he arrived because the weights simply weren't heavy enough, so he and Nightwing were trying to recreate the gravity modifier like Capsule Corps had. Increasing the gravity would allow Trunks to train and also improve everyone's abilities, so it was a major priority of the leader and the saiyan. "Man, I really wish my mom was here. She would have this done in less than a day," Trunks said while erasing the calculations on the board.

"Haha, yeah she built a machine to travel dimensions, I'm sure a gravity modifier would be a piece of cake, " Nightwing added, he was also exhausted from doing the work.

"Gohan learned how to make things heavier using ki, which is great for me. But this gravity machine would make everyone better. Ughh, we've been at this for days and can't crack it."

"Don't worry, I've got a friend on the way, he's a tech guru, I'm sure he'll be able to help."

Trunks and Dick were interrupted by a psychic message from Miss Martian, "Dick, you've got a visitor."

"That's probably him now, let's go to the lounge."

Trunks and Dick got up and walked towards the lounge, "you know, you're a very bright kid, Trunks. It's no wonder your mother was able to send you all here. Would you mind telling me about her?"

"My Mom was amazing! She was fierce and she was super intelligent. She created radars that let us find dragonballs all around the world. She had to be strong, her friends were the strongest men in the universe and her husband was the prince of an alien warrior race."

"What are the dragonballs?"

"They're magical orbs that summon a dragon who can grant almost any wish. They were destroyed when the protector Earth died, that's why we couldn't bring her friends back to fight the androids."

"Wow, your Earth was really interesting. Do you remember anything about your father?"

"No, I only know what I've been told. He was proud, strong and an arrogant man, but he was a good father when he was alive."

"I'm sure he'd be very proud of you Trunks. Vic!"

In the middle of the lounge was Victor Stone, a tall, African American man with metal covering the majority of his body. He was covered in a grey metal equipped with many features and gadgets, there was a blue light radiating from his chest and half of his face was metal, the other was organic. Trunks thought to himself, is everyone on this planet an android. "Trunks this a good friend, Victor Stone." Trunks reached out to shake the taller man's hand. "I'm Vic man, nice to meet you. They call me Cyborg."

"I'm Trunks, nice to meet you Vic."

"So I heard you had a gravity problem, let's get cracking on it man. We'll fix it today, I'm the man with technology."

"Well, you ARE technology," Trunks joked "soo I would expect that."

"Ha, you got jokes lil man. Well let's get started on it," Cyborg replied.

"You're going to have to do that when you get back." A call interrupted the conversation, John Stewart appeared on the big screen that was previously showing the Lakers game.

"What's the mission?" Nightwing asked.

"You have a top priority mission in New Orleans. We have received intelligence that a major weapons deal will be occurring in the city. Your mission is not to prevent the transaction but to trace the weapons to the buyers and identify any players involved."

"Understood."

"Dick, you're going under the guise of Wayne Enterprises interns. Not including you the team has to consist of 6. Mr. Wayne's plane will be ready to leave in 2 hours. Good luck."

"Alright guys, here's the team. Kaldur, Connor, Trunks, Megan, Cassie, Barbara and I will go to New Orleans."

"And I'll stay here and run tech ops for you. Don't worry Trunks I'll have that Gravity modifier up and running for you when you get back," Cyborg was ready to get to work on some technology.

"Thanks man."

Nightwing added, "The rest of you are on training duty. You all need to improve your personal records on each test, if you haven't improved them when we return, then your punishment is sparring with Trunks."

"Aw man, that is so not crash," Impulse whined.

The team walked back to their rooms to get started packing for the trip. Cassie playfully pushed Trunks, "ooh your first mission are you excited?"

"Yeah actually I am. I get to show you all what I can do."

"And New Orleans is such a beautiful city, they have the best food." She had only known Trunks for a short period of time, but she already knew how to get to a saiyan's weakness.

"Wait up!" Barbara caught Trunks and Cassie. "Have you guys noticed that Dick is acting different today?"

"No not really why?"

"Well I heard him talking to Batman last night and he sounded worried about something. When I asked him what was going on, he wouldn't tell me. And this mission is totally random, we're going across the country to track a weapons deal. It just doesn't add up."

"You're right," Cassie thought about it now, "This is more a job for local police not the Justice League. There's more here than what they are telling us."

"And look at the team, Superboy, Nightwing, Aqualad, Trunks, me, you and Miss Martian. Just to track weapons? That's odd?"

"You're right," Trunks thought about the situation now too. "This does seem like overkill just to track a few guns. Well this is my room, see you all soon."

The teens packed and met in the lounge. They were all dressed like interns, donning polo shirts and khaki pants or blouses with conservative skirts. They walked to the harbor to protect their identity as interns when the jet landed. Mr. Wayne's company jet was a large Boeing plane, with the words "Wayne Enterprises" written in large blue and green paint. The door to the plane opened and a ladder rolled, stepping off the ladder was an elderly man dressed sharply in a black suit.

"Alfred!" Barbara shouted recognizing the man, she ran up to him and gave him a huge hug. "Miss Gordon, it's great to see you. And Master Dick, you're growing up nicely."

"It's good to see you Alfred," Dick gave him a warm embrace. "Will you be accompanying us."

"Indeed Master Grayson, Mr. Wayne would like me to accompany the plane. I do get to enjoy some time to myself until your job is over."

The team loaded their belongings on the plane and it took off, heading to the city of New Orleans.

On the plane, Superboy sat next to Miss Martian and the two spent nearly the entire trip talking about their relationship. Aqualad and Barbara sat in seats opposite one another and played chess the whole trip. At the same time, Trunks and Cassie sat next to one another and talked about their lives. She told him how she gained her powers and what it was like having Wonder Woman as a mentor. He talked about the good things that Gohan had taught him and everything he had learned, he began to get angry while discussing his mentor.

"It's not my place to say, but I really think you should forgive him."

"Why would you say that?"

"Well it's because Gohan clearly cares about you, you're like his little brother. And you know he loved your mom. I just think that Gohan did what he felt was right."

"We left my mother behind. That's not right."

"At her request though, do you blame her?"

"Of course I don't blame her," Trunks scoffed at the suggestion.

"Then I think your mentor should get the benefit of the doubt. He lost a true friend, the last person he had in his life besides you. You're all he has left, the only person he even knows in this world. He came here to protect you. I don't know, it just seems wrong to leave him alone." Trunks sat in silence, her words made a lot of sense to him, but he was so angry and sad about his mother.

"We're here," Nightwing stood up and walked towards the group, "time to go."

The team left the plane and waved goodbye to Alfred. Then they took a shuttle from the airport to the Wayne Tower in New Orleans. On the trip, Nightwing informed them of the rules. First rule, first names only; no superhero names at least not while they're on Wayne property. Secondly, no Coed rooming, Nightwing and Trunks would bunk together and Superboy and Aqualad. The girls got the Wayne suite, where all three would stay. Rule number 3, we stay in constant communication the entire time and no going anywhere alone.

"Is this summer camp or a mission?" Miss Martian joked.

"It's a mission and an important one, no time for distractions."

"Yes father," she responded.

"Our first step is to go to Poydras street. Theirs a few places there that criminals might like to visit. Alpha team consists of everyone except Megan and I. Your assignment is to walk around the streets and see if you find anything suspicious. Megan and I will pretend we're dating, we'll go in and out of bars looking for anything suspicious."

"Why you two?"

"Because I have a fake ID for me and an older version of the girl she is right now, it makes the most sense. Meet in the lobby in 20 minutes, wear clothes that don't stand out."

Everyone got changed and returned to the lobby, Megan and Dick wore clothes that showed they were ready for a night on the town. Everyone else wore jeans and t shirts.

The team's mental communication will be in italics and their verbal communication will be in quotation marks.

They headed through the city, New Orleans was a beautiful and majestic city. The French Quarter was decadently adorned with Gothic architecture from the French influence in Louisiana. The city smelled wonderful with all of the diverse culinary techniques in place. Trunks noted that the city had a special mysticism about itself, it really was a city like no other he had ever seen before. The streets were crowded, people were everywhere; eating, drinking, shopping, listening to street musicians and just enjoying life in the Big Easy.

The two of us are going to head down Bourbon Street, you all stay here on Poydras and split up. Walk in pairs, you can get a better view of the city.

Dick and Megan headed down Bourbon Street walking past the many bars, looking for anything suspicious. "There's so many people here, how are we supposed to have a clue what to look for?" Megan wondered to her partner.

"I feel like we'll know it when we see it." They walked through the French Quarter, then suddenly they felt something pulling them. "Do you feel that?" Megan asked.

"I do, something is pulling us. Let's check in that place over there, I feel like it's coming from over there." Nightwing pointed out a Psychic Reader store, the sign read simply "Psychic Readings."

Hey team, we're going to step inside this psychic reading place, we're getting a really weird feeling here.

Ok, be safe guys.

Dick and Megan walked into the decrepit shop and looked around, suddenly a young teenage girl stepped out from behind the dark purple curtain. She wore a purple magician's outfit, she had dark purple hair and purple eyes. She spoke without removing the hood from her head. "Are you here to have your fortune read?"

"Yes, we are," responded Megan.

The girl said "Let's see what the cards have in store for you." She slowly pulled out a magician's deck of cards and began to shuffle them. Next, she turned the cards face down and put her hands over them. She began to sense the energy coming from the cards, "Your name is Dick and yours is M'Gann." Both of the heroes shuttered at the mention of M'Gann's real name. "The cards tell me that you're in trouble, that someone is hunting you."

"Who's hunting us," Dick inquired.

She placed her hands over the cards and selected one, it was the Joker card. "The Joker?" She looked very shocked at the sight of the card. Megan noticed this, "What's wrong?"

"There's never been a Joker in this deck before." Both Dick and Megan now looked very worried, "What is your name," Dick asked.

"Raven," the girl responded.

Meanwhile on Poydras Street

Trunks and Cassie walked on the east side of the street. "I don't see anything suspicious."

"Me neither." Suddenly, Trunks felt it, a large power level for a human was nearby. Team, I'm sensing a pretty large power level at the southern end of the street, by the Cajun Seafood place. It's not gigantic, but it's pretty large for a human.

Hold on, we'll meet up there, thought Barbara.

The groups began to converge on the location, quickly but calmly pushing through the large crowds of people. Trunks got closer to the power level, he could almost see the person that it belonged to. Suddenly, he and Cassie were pushed into a nearby alley by Barbara and Aqualad.

All squad converge on the alley between Poydras and Canal, Barbara thought aloud.

"What's the problem?" Trunks asked.

"This is bad Trunks, really bad. That man you were following, that is Slade Wilson. His name is Deathstroke, we may have just walked into a trap!"