"I'm not leaving until you tell me where he is."
The officer narrowed his eyes. He wasn't fazed by the American superhero, for all he knew her powers were trivial, plus she was already surrounded by fifty of his men. He gestured with his hand and they, in unison, cocked their weapons, which made an ominous clacking sound.
Raven did not back down and a black bubble appeared around her.
"I don't want to hurt you." She deadpanned in her signature monotone, which betrayed no emotion whatsoever. "But I will if I have to."
"I'm perfectly fine with hurting you." He replied with a cold steely look in his eyes. He raised his right hand and the soldiers all aimed at Raven's silhouetted figure, which remained safely inside her bubble.
"Believe me, this is a fight you can't win." She droned.
"Upon my command, and only on my command, fire … this is your last chance, American. Leave now while you still can."
"I'm not American and I'm not leaving."
"You have been warned." He turned away from her and gestured with his arm. "Fire!"
Before a single shot could be fired a yellow blur zoomed around Raven. The soldiers stared down at their now empty hands. The yellow blur zoomed away before returning. Raven rolled her eyes.
"I had it all under control, Kid Flash."
He smiled nervously at her while rubbing the back of his neck. "Uh, actually, you're kind of in trouble."
"Trouble? What are you talking about?"
At that very moment four figures swooped down from the sky and landed in front of Raven. She groaned unhappily when she saw who they were. A man in a red cape addressed the military officer.
"It's OK commander, we have the situation under control." Superman announced authoritatively.
The officer was still unfazed, even though a Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Captain Marvel and the Man of Steel stood before him.
"The Justice League is also not welcome in Upper Lumumba."
"We know that." Wonder Woman replied. "We will be leaving, we just came for her."
Raven dropped her shield. "What makes you think you can make me leave?" She glared at the visitors.
"Don't be stubborn. Can't you see you're about to start a war?" Hal Jordan chastised her.
"I'm only here to find Garfield."
"And this is the wrong way to do it." Captain Marvel interjected.
Raven glared at Shazam's champion. "Let me guess: that's Solomon's Wisdom?"
"It is … there are better ways to find him." Captain Marvel calmly replied.
Raven groaned unhappily. "There's no time to waste. I have to find him now!"
"Yes, we know, he's going to reinfect himself." Superman remarked.
"Then you know that time is of the essence."
"Yes, we do. Come back with us to the Watchtower. We have the tools there to find him. Raven, it could take you weeks to find him on your own. Let us help you." Jordan implored her.
Raven sighed. She knew they were right. She could no longer feel his aura at the airport, which meant that he was long gone."Very well, I will go with you."
"It is fortunate for you, young American, that you listened to them." The officer barked.
"Actually, you're the lucky ones. Raven would have wiped the floor with you." Wonder Woman snapped at them. "And she isn't American, she's Azarathian". She then tapped her ear piece. "Watchtower, five to teleport."
As the Justice Leaguers and Raven began to shimmer, Marvel spoke to Kid Flash, who was not being teleported with the others. "Give them their guns back before you leave."
Wally saluted before vanishing in another yellow blur. Within a split second the soldiers had their weapons in their hands. Before they could say anything, Kid Flash was gone. The officer kicked a stone before turning to his sergeant.
"I hate the Justice League almost as much as I hate Americans. I hate all superheroes; they know nothing of military discipline."
"Aren't they all Americans, Sir?"
"Most of them are, that's why I hate them."
The officer marched away in a huff. Once he was gone, the soldiers began to chat excitedly with each other.
"I can't believe it, I actually saw Superman!"
"Forget Superman, did you see Wonder Woman. Now that babe is what I call stacked!" A Corporal enthused.
The sergeant was about to reprimand his men, but instead he smiled. The Corporal was right, and best of all, no one got hurt.
-( - )-
The jeep struggled to climb up the muddy road, which resembled a river more than a road as a torrent of water flowed. A seemingly endless downpour had all five of the vehicle's occupants soaked and drenched to the bone. After several attempts the jeep made it over the top of the jungle road. Garfield looked around. There wasn't a single landmark he recognized, even though they were about 20 kms from the village. It wasn't surprising, though. There weren't any tall mountains nearby, and when he lived in the jungle all there was to see was … the jungle, which being a living thing was always changing. The last recognizable landmark was the river they barely managed to cross in the jeep 2 hours ago.
Gar could tell that his escorts were getting tired and hungry, and were eager to arrive at their destination. The road was now downhill and other than an occasional skid in a mud patch the jeep was making good progress again, that is until they came around a tight corner. A fallen tree blocked their path. After the jeep ground to a halt, the sergeant hopped out with his men.
"Mr. Logan, if you don't mind, we could use your help."
Gar was staring at the tree. At first glance it looked as though it had simply fallen over, but then he saw it: chain marks on the trunk. The tree had been pulled down.
"Take cover, it's an ambush!" Garfield shouted. Within seconds bullets began to fly.
Garfield ducked under the jeep and looked around. His escorts began to fire indiscriminately and blindly into the foliage. Suddenly, 20 guerrilla fighters emerged aiming their weapons at the soldiers, who dropped their own and surrendered.
A tall bearded man, with his hair in a large retro looking Afro, and who appeared to be in charge, approached the sergeant.
"There was a white man with you. Where is he!?"
The sergeant looked around. "I don't know, he must have run away."
The bearded man frowned. "We'll find him, we don't need you army scum." He then turned to his men. "Kill them."
A loud battle cry echoed in the forest. The bearded man turned just in time to see a bo staff come crashing down on his head, knocking him out. Gunfire erupted, but their attacker was unbelievably fast. He threw boomerangs at the other men and with the agility of a panther he took them out, one by one.
"Shoot him, dammit!" Another guerrilla shouted. But it was to no avail. The escort recovered their weapons and joined in the fight, not that it was necessary, as the lone warrior had everything under control. With a swift overhead move he took out the last guerrilla. The fight was over. The sergeant approached him as he retracted his bo staff and put it away
"Mr. Logan! That was amazing! You must be a superhero."
"Not according to Robin." Gar mumbled under his breath.
-( - )-
The Watchtower was a quiet place. Unlike the Hall of Justice on Earth, the league members did not congregate there. It was an observation post, and for the most part only the league's most senior members had a presence there.
Raven stared out the window, looking down upon the African continent below.
"Raven, we're ready." A deep monotone called out.
She turned around and saw Batman seated at a large console, flanked by the other heroes. She nodded and approached them.
"What do you know of this place, this village where he went?" The Dark Knight asked.
She crossed her arms. "Not much, he rarely talked about it. I don't know the name."
"Any information helps."
"It was in a jungle."
A large map of Upper Lumumba appeared on an overhead screen. Batman tapped a few key strokes. The part of the country, about 40% of it, that was jungle, turned green.
"What else?"
"There was a waterfall."
More keystrokes. About fifty blue dots appeared on the screen.
"Anything special about it?"
"His parents died when their canoe accidentally went over the falls."
Batman nodded. He typed some more. There were now only eight blue dots on the screen. He typed some more. Dozens of red dots appeared on the screen, all upstream from the waterfalls.
"There are fifty three villages. It could be any one of them." Batman announced. "Do you know anything else?"
"They had a lab."
More typing. Now there were seven red dots. "All of these villages have modern structures in them."
"Then we send someone to each village to investigate." Raven barked. "There's no time to waste."
"We need to be careful." Hal Jordan interjected. "There could be a military presence in those villages. If we just show up there could be an incident."
Raven clenched her teeth. "So then what do we do? Just sit here?"
"We have some operatives in Lumumba, posing as locals. We'll have them investigate. But there is one caveat: Logan's village might be abandoned, if it is, it won't appear on our records. We'll begin an infrared scan along the rivers near the waterfalls for any modern structures, but that will take some time. We'll have to sit tight until we hear back from our operatives." Batman deadpanned. "I know you are eager to go down and search yourself, but there is more at stake here than your fiancé. We have intelligence reports indicating that the Chinese backed government in Lumumba is up to something involving supervillains, but at this point we have no proof. That's what our operatives are working on. If we go barging in all their work will have been in vain, and they could possibly be killed."
Raven nodded her understanding and walked back to the large windows on the space station's hub. She looked down upon the African continent. A tear dripped down her face.
"Garfield, where are you?"
-( - )-
After tying up the rebels, the sergeant left two of his men behind to guard them while they waited for a patrol to collect the prisoners. The remainder of the jeep ride was uneventful, that is until the emerged from the jungle. The road ended at the base of a mighty waterfall, one that was over 100 ft tall. As the jeep came to stop Garfield hopped out and appeared to be lost at first. Then it looked like he recognized something and he dash into the foliage, slashing at it with a machete. He hacked away furiously for several minutes until he suddenly stopped. He dropped his blade and fell to his knees. The sergeant had been watching him from a distance and decided to approach him.
"Mr. Logan, all you alright?"
As he reached Garfield he saw them, two unmarked gravestones. He backed away and gave Logan his privacy. The three soldiers waited patiently by the jeep until minutes later he returned to the vehicle. Gar looked into the jungle.
"The road's gone. We'll have to walk the rest of the way." He turned to the soldiers. "You don't have to come with me. Another storm is brewing, a big one. You can go back now."
"Our orders are to accompany you until you reach your destination."
"Whatever. Stay close. And watch out for green monkeys."
The sergeant gulped. He had never seen one of the fabled sakutia bearing monkeys and he hoped to never see one if he could help it.
"We will be fine, Mr. Logan."
Gar nodded. "Okay then, let's get going."
-( - )-
It was nighttime below on Earth, at least from the perspective of the observation lounge. Hawkgirl watched with a jaundiced eye as Raven levitated, deep in meditation. She turned to Wonder Woman.
"She's always given me the creeps, Diana. What do we know about Raven anyway?"
The Amazon looked at her friend and teammate. "Just that she's part demon and that she grew up in a place called Azarath."
Hawkgirl shivered. "Really, part demon? How do we know that? Raven has never publicly admitted that."
"Zatanna. Some years ago, before she joined the Titans, Raven came to the Justice League, asking for help. Zatanna was able to detect her demonic heritage and we sent Raven away."
"Help? Help with what?"
"She never told us. Batman thinks that she was trying to warn us about Trigon, but to this day she refuses to tell us why she came to us for help."
"Well, lucky for us she was able to defeat Trigon … heck, we were toast, not even your Greek God friends could fend against him."
Diana stared at the gray Titan. "She is a mysterious one. I've asked Zeus himself, and he doesn't know who she really is … I don't think anyone does."
At that moment Raven lowered her legs to the ground. She looked Diana in the eyes. The Amazon princess shivered. There was definitely something dark and dangerous about Raven, and she was glad the gray women was one of the "good guys".
"Any news?" Raven asked.
Diana shook her head. "I'm afraid not. Our operatives are in position, but there has been no sign of him."
At that moment Batman walked into the room.
"Something has come up."
He had their attention.
"We detected a jeep parked near an unnamed waterfall. It's unoccupied and there is no one nearby. We are scanning the area for hidden structures, but the search is being affected by a heavy storm. Hopefully by morning we'll be able to find it."
"Not good enough. For all we know he already found the lab." She replied with a clear edge in her voice. "Send me down to the jeep. I can follow his aura from there."
Batman shook his head. "You already know you can't go down. If we send you down, our cover will be blown."
"But …. ". Raven dropped her head. "I understand."
Batman placed a hand on her shoulder. "Please be patient. We're getting close. Our operatives will be with him tomorrow morning."
Wonder Woman gestured with her head and everyone left the room. Raven looked out the window at the continent below and she stared at it for several minutes. The sun wouldn't rise for hours. If they found him, it would almost certainly be too late. She then walked back into the main control room, which was empty. The screen was blank, but resting on the console was a note. It read: "Here are the coordinates. Whatever you do, don't get caught or be seen." And it was signed. "A friend"
Raven took the note and summoned one of her portals.
-( - )-
A few hours earlier …
Four men trudged into a small clearing. The remains of an old village could be seen. It was more than obvious that the village had been abandoned for years, as the old huts were in various states of collapse. But then Garfield's eyes lit up. It was there. The old house. It was made of wood and had a corrugated metal roof. It was better built that than the villagers' huts and it was still standing. It looked smaller than he remembered but there was no mistake.
He found it.
