I knew you guys would catch on, you guys are so smart, so I hope you like this! I own nothing. Please Enjoy!
English/Regular
Thoughts/Emphasis
Japanese
Batman had been called to the Gotham Natural History Museum due to 'some kind of ninja lady' who had broken in and was brazenly snatching up jewels.
Batman found where she had entered, a pulverized padlock to a roof window, and a grappling hook leading to the ground level. He followed the thief's path until he heard the all-to-familiar sound of glass shattering. As he turned the corner silently, Batman saw the thief, and while he didn't show it, he was shocked by who it was.
It was Miko, wearing her blue and black armor, her face paler than normal, and a slight smirk on her face. As if sensing he was there, she turned to face him, her lips twisted into an arrogant smirk.
"Hello, Batman." her voice was colder, harsher, and there was undeniable disdain in her tone as she used his name.
Batman didn't bother to answer as he lunged at her, only for her to dodge easily, and run to her rope. As he followed, Batman ran through all the possibilities in his mind: mind control, clone, imposter, a side-effect of the soul removal, blackmail, possibly a hidden agenda for a bigger plan, or, and he was skeptical of this option, she truly had turned to crime. Mind control was at the top of the possibilities, as a large amount of the League, himself included, had been victimized by criminals who used heroes to do their bidding. Clone was also possible, but from her relationship with Jason and knowledge of magic and demons, her past enemies had been of the less scientific variety, unless there was a way to magically create a clone, although she had not been active enough to have been cloned by any known threats. If someone was acting as an imposter, it was a very convincing one, as the resemblance was uncanny. None of the other League women had suffered many side effects after their soul removal, save a lingering chill, and exhaustion, and they remembered nothing of their ordeal. Secretly, however, Batman suspected that Miko had lost her soul on a previous occasion or occasions, given her insight into the ways of Japanese necromancy, as disturbing a notion as that was. Batman remembered all too well when, in the early days of the League, Felix Faust had blackmailed Diana into doing his bidding, so she could very well be being forced into this. Batman acknowledged that Miko was intelligent, but as far as she could tell, she had no grudge or enemy in need of defeating through such deeds, and she did not seem to have the planning skills necessary for such a convoluted plan. To have turned the crime though...why would she have bothered joining the League? Could she have done so with the plan of assessing the League's skills? She could have easily been acting, and J'onn could not read her or Riku's thoughts, so it all could have been a ruse.
Batman had chased her across several rooftops by now, and 'Miko' had shown no signs of tire, and continued to keep up a steady distance from him. She had easily jumped the short distances across alleyways, but suddenly, she simply fell down into the darkened alley. When Batman reached the ledge and looked down, the alleyway was deserted. Batman narrowed his eyes.
After speaking with the police, Batman returned to the roof window, and found a small scrap of black cloth caught on the sill. Plucking it up with a pair of tweezers, he deposited it into an evidence bag, taking note of the white dust and particulates on the scrap.
"No way!" Flash argued. The original 7 were being briefed on the situation at the museum. Batman had convinced GCPD to keep quiet about the situation until he looked further into it. "It wasn't Miko, she's cool!"
"I'm with him on this." Shayera agreed. "She looked like crap the last I saw her, there's no way she'd be strong enough to go around robbing museums. And if she only joined the League to check out if she could take us or not, she probably wouldn't have let her soul get ripped out or helped save the other women. Less Leaguers equals less enemies to stop her." Shayera didn't know Miko well enough to think about her personality, she was only stating facts.
"She could be under duress." Wonder Woman conceded. "Or perhaps mind control? I'm sure over half the League has been subject to mind control at one point or another."
"Does it really matter now? She'll be here for duty in a few minutes. It's our responsibility to apprehend her." John said impatiently. He himself was skeptical, but his reasoning was that it was unlikely that Miko could have evaded Batman.
"John's right." Superman agreed, though he was also disappointed by this turn of events. Suddenly the teleporter powered up, bringing two familiar figures. "Showtime."
Miko was surprised to see the core members waiting for her when she arrived at the Metro Tower. Did they need her for something? She sensed their disappointment, disbelief, skepticism, and suspicion. What was going on?
"Um, there a reason for the welcoming committee?" Riku questioned, her body tensing, and her tail lashing invisibly behind her.
"Riku, it's best if you leave for now, we have business with Miko." Superman commanded, not wishing to involve the teenager.
"Iie, Supes, I think I'll stick around." Riku said coolly. The Family would disown her if she ditched Kagome when something like this was up.
Superman sighed. Great. "Miko, care to explain how you were seen at the Gotham Natural History Museum?" he asked, his voice solemn.
"N-nani?" Miko gasped.
"The hell?!" sputtered Riku in outrage. "How the frick would she get from Nebraska, which in case you've forgotten is where we live, to Gotham City and back on a waitress' salary? Add that she's sick, and how does any of that work?"
"She also has contacts and resources that we don't know about, or did you buy that leather all on your own?" John pointed out.
"It's not leather." Miko murmered dazedly.
"I'm sorry Miko, but until we get to the bottom of things, we have to keep you in a holding cell." Superman apologized, placing a firm hand on her shoulder, gripping it in a way that showed that he was not adverse to using force to subdue her. Miko only nodded numbly, while Riku bristled when John did the same to her.
Both women were stripped of their weapons, though Kagome had to coax her granddaughter into surrendering her many kunai (much to the discomfort of Superman that a 'child' could have so many knives hidden on their person), before being put in separate holding cells. Riku paced furiously, like a caged animal (which she was), while Miko sat on the small cot, her expression contemplative, and her hands clasped in front of her mouth.
Who is doing this? How? Why me? Those were the question that tormented Kagome. And to top it off I feel sick, like I did when- Kagome's thought broke off as she gasped out loud. How could I have been so stupid?! It's obvious, but...The League can't handle this. Kagome heaved a sigh. This was going to be a pain in the ass at best, and would get her killed at worst.
Kagome waited until the guard- currently Shining Knight- switched for Vigilante. As Sir Justin left the room, Kagome stood up, and went to the far corner by the door. This was the one spot that was hardest, but not impossible, to be seen by the guard on the other side of the two-way mirror. Kagome had done a fair amount of experimenting in her time, and after the time she'd been made invisible by Kikyo, she had found she could become invisible for several hours at a time. She became invisible as Vigilante came on duty. Miko could sense his alarm at not seeing her, and immediately threw open the door, where Miko became visible again before stepping behind him, covering his mouth with her hand and pinching his pressure point.
"Gomenasai, Vigilante-san." She murmured, leaning the prone hero against the wall, before hurrying out, vanishing from all senses as she did so.
"Miko's escaped!" Vigilante shouted, running to the meeting room where the original seven, minus Batman, who had gone to examine some evidence left behind at the robbery, were meeting, now reviewing the security footage of the robbery. Before they could say anything to that, Vigilante hurriedly explained how he had thought she had escaped and had entered only for her to knock him out.
"Still so sure she's innocent?" John asked, raising his eyebrows.
"Wow you're hypocritical," came a voice from the doorway. Leaning against the frame was Riku, who looked to be a mixture of anger, amusement, and boredom, staring at the Leaguers. "One second you think she's so incompetent that she can't be trusted as a hero, now you think she's so skilled that she could hoodwink this entire organization, overpower a fellow Leaguer, and sneak out of the Tower without being seen. Make up your damn mind, Stewart."
"How did you-?" Superman started before the hanyo cut him off.
"How did I get out of that holding cell? I got bored and pitched the cot through the glass," she explained with a bored shrug, oblivious of the incredulous stares met at her claim, "Not my fault that you didn't have someone watching me. I'll pay you back for that later, btw's. After that all I had to do was follow the sounds of panic." Riku rolled her eyes irritably. She tended to get pissy with incompetence, something she'd learned from her grandfather, Sesshomaru, although she was much more vocal in her annoyance than he. She glanced up at the screens playing the footage. Seeing the footage, the bishonen nodded thoughtfully. "Y'know, at a distance, and considering that you haven't known her for that long, I suppose I could understand why you would think that was Miko."
"How is that not her?" John asked, trying to tell what Riku was seeing, or if the kid was covering for Miko.
"This woman is much paler that Miko, her hair is a good six inches longer, and way too straight, because Miko-sama won't even touch a flat iron- claims it'll burn her hair off or something. And this girl is skinnier, like she's just barely getting enough to eat, with smaller boobs than Miko, plus her butt is almost flat." Riku held her hands in front of her chest as if to emphasize her point. "Looking at this chick, I'd believe it was sama if Miko were a few years younger. This gal probably isn't old enough to drink legally in this country."
Riku had barely finished her argument before Batman strode into the room, a pensive expression on his face. Before anyone could ask what he had found, he explained himself.
"The material is leather, found in any department store, and the particulates on it were clay." He rounded on Riku, not even questioning her presence, "There were also traces of human bone in it. Is there any significance to it?"
Riku had gone milk white, and now held a hand to her mouth. "Oh Inari, no."
"What's wrong?" demanded Wonder Woman.
Riku turned to the Leaguers with a grim expression. "Kikyo."
"So, let's see if I've got this right." Huntress spoke to Black Canary through her comm link. "Someone brought back the newbie's incarnation from a past life, using only about half of her soul. Is that it?"
"I guess. You believe in any of that reincarnation crap?" Dinah replied, as they rode their motorcycles through the darkening streets of Metropolis, drawing stares from pedestrians.
"'Crap'? How much magic stuff have we dealt with? Not to mention we got our souls ripped out just last week. Why dismiss it so easily?"
"Sorry, but you've got to admit it's a bit much to swallow."
"Not really. I've reached this point where I've learned not to be shocked by much. I mean, you know who I'm dating."
"Yeah, the Kook."
"Yo, ladies, eyes on the prize. Gossip later." Riku's voice came in over the comm link. Riku had threatened to castrate Superman until he allowed her to search as well.
"So, kid, you think this reincarnation stuff is real." Dinah questioned the teen.
"Unfortunately. All this resurrection and reincarnation shit makes me real glad that I'm immune to it." Riku grumbled.
"How's that?" Huntress asked.
"As far as anyone knows, it's a human thing."
"What, you don't think you're human?"
This was met with silence, until Riku curtly replied. "Not a matter of thinking, babe."
"Something's going down on the building across the street from the Daily Planet." came Shayera's urgent warning, before hearing what sounded like a Thanagarian curse. "And it sure looks like I'm seeing double down there."
It had been remarkably easy to find Kikyo. She had hardly been hiding, with shinidimachu soaring through the air, unnoticed by those on the streets. Kagome had remained invisible until she had been able to escape into the alley's, to save her dwindling energy.
Kagome sighed slightly. This had been a potentially stupid move. One of the drawbacks of being a miko in the modern era was the alertness of demons and the rarity of priests and priestesses. To use her power was as good as calling one of the less-than-friendly towards mikos demon lords, and would ensure her death just as surely. Of course, small things, such as invisibility, or even healing, did not flare her aura so much, and went 'under the radar'. Kagome was also quite sure that Kikyo, being undead, also went under the radar, since she'd never been able to sense the undead miko in the past, always relying on Inuyasha's nose or the sight of shinidimachu to find her.
Kagome huffed. She knew she hadn't this much difficulty adjusting to half a soul the first time. Which probably meant Kikyo had taken a much larger portion.
Kagome was pulled from her musings when she noticed what could only be called a swarm of shinidimachu on the roof of a hotel, circling like a cyclone around something Kagome could not see, but could easily guess at.
Knew it. Flash thought smugly. The Flash intuition has been proven legit. Just wish the circumstances didn't suck so much. Flash didn't get what was up with John, not really. He seemed to have a hate-on for the new girl. John hadn't even acted like this with Kara, and she wasn't yet 18 when she joined the League.
Then again, Flash mused, that's not a great comparison. It had been several months since Supergirl had chosen to remain in the future, and it had been a topic of interest to the media as to where Supergirl vanished to. There was speculation online that she'd either died or been 'de-powered', and that the League was trying to cover it up. Since he had gone to the future with Kara and Green Arrow, John seemed to feel that he was responsible for the whole thing. Add to the fact that he's been having girl drama...again. There had been a recent stream of rumors that there may have been something to Hawkman's farfetched claims of he and Shayera being reincarnated lovers, as well as rumors of Green Lantern and Batman meeting a possible future child of John's and Shayera's. Time-travel. Ugh, makes my head hurt just thinking the words.
When he heard Shayera's warning, Flash pushed his speed and made it to the top on the hotel in a matter of seconds.
At the top of the hotel, Kagome came face-to-face with her past incarnation. Kikyo faced her with a cold smile.
"Kikyo, why are you doing this!? What have I done to you that makes you hate me? We were friends when you left this world before!" Kagome asked, confused by the undead miko's actions, even if that last bit was a bit of a stretch. When Kikyo's clay body succumbed to injuries granted to her years before on Mount Hakurei, she and Kagome had long since put aside any lingering resentment. They had a been civil to the point of being friendly to one another during their encounters.
"Because you stole everything that should have been mine! The Jewel, Inuyasha, my soul, my face- even my sister!" With a gesture towards Kagome, several shinidimachu swarmed around Kagome, coiling around her and forcing her to her knees. Striding towards her helpless reincarnation, Kikyo knelt before Kagome, who suddenly felt weaker than before...
The sight that met Flash was not a pleasant one. Miko, on her knees and only being held up by her doppleganger's hand beneath her jaw, wisps like moonlight being emitted from her mouth and into Kikyo's. Kikyo closed her mouth, licking her lips as if to taste Miko's soul, straightening up and allowing to fall forward. Kikyo caught sight of the horrified Flash and smirked.
Snapping back to his senses, Flash bolted forward to charge down the soul-sucking clay-pot, only to meet something hard, which promptly threw him back several yards, only narrowly avoiding being pitched over the ledge and knocking the wind out of him. He sat back up, intent on rushing past her and then getting her from behind, but she was no longer on the roof, several shinidimachu wrapped around her slim frame, carrying her away. Where were the others? With a quick glance around, Wally's heart sank, seeing what had to be over a hundred shinidimachu swarming the area, subduing the League. Returning his gaze to Kikyo, Flash was just in time to see the dead woman fade from sight, along with the worm-like creatures that surrounding her.
The moment Kikyo disappeared, the shinidimach scattered like dust, each going a different direction. With the sounds of fighting silenced, Flash heard ragged breathing. With a sick jolt, Flash remembered Miko. Running to her side at super speed, Wally found Miko, breathing heavily, as if each intake were exhausting. Gathering the Japanese woman up in his arms, Flash heard soft footsteps. Looking up, he saw that Riku had arrived, eyes fixed on Miko's soulless body, and jaw clenched.
With a deep breath, Riku summed up the situation in four words. "Son of a bitch."
Complete! I'm sorry for taking so long and for leaving off like this, but I'm afraid these little things called "Reality" and "College", interfered in my writing. Give me crack- er, reviews, I meant reviews- and I'll try to hurry my skinny butt up. Sayonara!