Chapter 10: Secret of the Mirrors
DISCLAIMER: I do not own any DC characters or logos.
The Justice League continued their search, but from the group's expressions, they were starting to doubt that what they were looking for was even here. Rounding a corner, Raven and Starfire realized that they were unable to locate the crystal. As the two of them reached the center of the room, the other four heroes had already arrived.
Raven looked downcast. "So… any luck?" she asked the group, even though she already knew what to expect. Her question was met with an uneasy silence. Sparing a glance at each of her teammates was enough to give her the answer.
"Maybe the information was wrong." Cyborg suggested, looking to the group for an answer.
"Maybe… but unlikely." Batman replied, taking in his surroundings. "The Question may be a crackpot, but he always finds out what he needs to, even if it kills him. I'm willing to bet that what we're looking for is hidden somewhere else on this ship."
Starfire looked confused. "But in what location could it be?" she asked.
Batman looked slightly puzzled. "Even I'm not really sure, but it's probably hidden somewhere where we probably wouldn't go." He finished. Taking a fighting stance, the Caped Crusader began scanning his surroundings for any sign of unwanted company. "Stay on guard. Someone's here." He whispered to the other members of the group. The others took immediate action at his words. Raven began to scan the area with her magic and Starfire ignited her hands with energy, preparing to launch a volley of star bolts.
An uneasy silence surrounded the group for a few moments. They all stood frozen in their fighting stances, barely breathing. "There!" Batman yelled, pointing towards the mirror on the wall.
With lightning fast agility, Starfire let off a round of star bolts, completely demolishing the nearby mirror.
The room remained silent for a few moments, but Raven's spell had picked up another presence. "The mirror in the crate!" she shouted, shattering it with her chaos magic, but as the dust cleared, a group of super villains stood beside the remaining shards, having been able to escape before it shattered. Standing where the crate had been moments before were Mirror Master, Mad Mod, Bane, Riddler, and Sonar.
Mad Mod smiled menacingly at the sight of his former enemies. "Well… if it isn't the rowdy little snots." He said, leaning on his walking stick. "This time I'll make sure that you brats get what you deserve. This'll be over lickety split."
Raven smiled at the memories. "Don't celebrate before the battle is won." She warned, remembering how lame this guy was.
Losing his patience, Bane dashed forward at Batman's team, scattering the group in different directions. Despite the number of opponents to kill, the masked villain swung wildly at Batman. Weaving around Bane's powerful blows, the Caped Crusader delivered a blow to his opponent's jugular.
Staggering backwards, the masked killer shook of his opponent's attack and ran forward again to rejoin the battle. Taking out a tube of sleeping gas, the Dark Knight tossed it at Bane, rendering him unconscious. On the other side of the room, the other heroes were having their own problems.
Starfire swung wildly at Mad Mod, but despite her valiant attempts to land a hit, the psychedelic villain ducked under her attacks with relative ease. "Now what did I tell ya last time." He taunted her, giving the alien a light tap on the forehead with the end of his staff. Distracted by his antics, the confused Tamaranian glanced around in time to receive a blast from Sonar's sonic ray.
Sonar looked fairly amused as he readied his weapon for another attack. "And now to finish her off." He scoffed. As the red-clad villain pulled the trigger, the alien girl rolled sideways out of the way before flying into the air. Driven by fury, the Tamaranian shot beams of energy from her eyes. She attempted to stun the fleeing villain, but he dove behind a row of crates, sparing him the wrath of her assault. Struggling to his feat, her opponent sent another sonic wave at her, but a large barrier of chaos magic protected her from his blast.
Raven glided forwards to join the fight, retaliating with a blast of her magic combined with Starfire's energy blasts. The combined attack struck the villain in the chest, leaving him unconscious and immobilized on the ground.
The brief reprieve was short lived as Mad Mod rejoined the fray. "I'm not finished with you lot yet." He shouted, pressing the button on his cane. This caused another crate to burst open, releasing mechanical statues of the psychedelic villain.
The tricked-out statues charged forward, firing miniature missiles. Unable to block the flying projectiles, Starfire flew higher into the air, attempting to shake them off. Raven turned to help her friend, but was caught off guard by one of the flying explosives. The impact of the explosion sent her flying backwards into a wall, rendering her unconscious.
Seeing his friends in danger, Cyborg dashed forward, smashing the statues of Mod as he ran. Aiming his cannon at the villain, he prepared to fire. Screaming in agony, Cyborg toppled to the floor, unable to move.
Standing behind him was the electronic villain, Livewire. She wore a sickening grin as she watched her prey scream in pain. "Sorry bub… but I think its time to take a little nap." She said. Reaching down, she rendered him unconscious with a large surge of electricity. Before she could say anything else, the electric villain was forced to move aside, as Batman sent the Riddler's unconscious body flying in her direction. Running at the Dark Knight to attack him, Livewire was ensnared by a giant sheet of rubber fired from one of Batman's gadgets.
"Let me out! You lousy, rotten, son of a…" she began, but was hit on the head by flying debris before she could finish her sentence.
"Jolly good fun, eh my duckies?" Mod asked, pressing the top of his cane again. At this, multiple hypno-screens burst from the walls of the storage room.
Thinking quickly, Batgirl tossed a volley of batterangs into the air, shattering the hypnosis inducing machines and intercepting the pair of missiles pursuing Starfire. Rejoining the battle, she ran to help Robin fight Mirror Master. Releasing more projectiles, the two sidekicks attempted to hit the slippery villain, but he leapt through the mirror to escape.
Having regained consciousness, Raven saw and opportunity, and held the portal open with her magic, allowing her to enter the portal. Batgirl made a mad dash towards the mirror, following her through the portal.
"Well well… heroes never cease to amuse me." The voice of the mirror-themed villain echoed. "May you wander forever in the depths of the mirror world."
Surveying her surroundings, all that Barbara could see were hundreds, maybe even thousands of mirror portals. Walking forward, she stepped through one mirror, only to appear out of another portal in the mirror world. As she moved forward, Batgirl saw a strange glint coming from one of the mirrors. "What's that?" she asked, sounding bewildered.
Raven attempted to enter the strange mirror, but the reflected surface would not allow her to go any farther. "I'm not sure what it is… but whatever it is doesn't want anyone going in."
Being stubborn as ever, Batgirl charged full-pelt into the mirror. Upon feeling the impact side she staggered backwards in pain, rubbing the side of head.
The young sorceress wasn't sure how to react to this. Despite the foolishness that Barbara had just shown, her thick-headedness reminded Raven of how Dick Grayson used to be. "Let me try." She asked, earning a small nod from Batgirl. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos…" she chanted, focusing her magic on the mirror. After a moment, the surface of the mirror began to glow. A strange substance coated on the surface of the mirror, fell away and shattered like glass, allowing them entry.
As she entered the space behind the mirror, Raven felt a strange. Glaring through the darkness, she caught sight what they had been looking for. The Crystal sat atop the pedestal, giving off an unnatural light.
"Looks like Batman was right." Barbara stated, as she picked the jewel off of its pedestal.
The young sorceress eyed the crystal for a moment, before realizing that it was best that she let Batgirl handle it. Gathering her magical energy, Raven opened a portal back to where they had first entered. "Step through here." She said. While Batgirl looked unsure of what to do, she eventually decided to trust the young sorceress.
Stepping forward into the vortex of swirling shadows, the two of them reappeared in the middle of the storage room aboard Penguin's cargo ship. Stepping out of the darkness, the two female heroes jumped out to rejoin the fray. Looking around the room, it seemed to be over. Despite the fact that they had only been gone for ten minutes, it appeared that they had won. The villains as well as a few of the guards from the upper decks had been thoroughly defeated. Livewire lay squirming on the floor, Mirror Master was trapped in the shards of one of his broken mirrors, Bane was unconscious on the floor, and Riddler, Sonar and Mad Mod were handcuffed and bound like prisoners.
Barbara rushed over to her mentor, holding the crystal in her outstretched hand.
"Good job you two." Batman said. "We should get these guys back to the…" Before he could finish the sentence, a vortex appeared, pulling the defeated villains through it like a giant vacuum cleaner. Raven attempted to stop the portal, but was forced to defend herself as a heat-seeking missile came flying through the vortex.
"Raven… do you know what's going on?" he asked as the portal closed.
"No…" she replied, looking worried.
Starfire glided forward, looking confused. "Are they gone forever?" she asked.
"I doubt it." Batman replied. "My theory is that they were transported somewhere… but where?"
His question was met with mutual confusion from the other members of the group. Looking resolute, Batman turned his back to the surrounding heroes. "Let's go." He ordered.
Not wanting to wait, the group of heroes followed him up the stairs. Pressing a button on his utility belt, the Dark Knight's Batmobile flew out of the nearby ocean and through the air, landing beside the ship. As they emerged on the deck, Raven raised a barrier to block an onslaught of bullets, fired by the few remaining guards. Waving her hands around in a forbidding gesture, Raven sent the enemy weapons flying into the ocean.
"Take us back to Gotham." Batman said, as he finished restraining the remaining guards. Starfire retrieved the anchor from the ocean while, Cyborg steered the boat from the top cabin. After a pleasant trip, the League found themselves back in the harbor in Gotham.
"That was interesting…" Raven replied.
Cyborg simply laughed. "Really… if that's interesting, than maybe I'll take Watchtower duty this week."
Stepping off the boat, Batman took out his communicator.
"J'onn, beam us up." After a few moments of silence he attempted to contact the Watchtower again. "Hey my communicator's not working. Can anyone get a signal?"
The other members of the League tried their own communicators, but after a few attempts, they realized that there was something wrong.
Putting away his communicator, Batman became weary of the situation. "This isn't right… If none of us can use any communication devices, than I'm betting that we're being jammed by an outside source."
Robin's eyes widened. "So… that would mean that someone might have expected us to come back here."
"Stay alert." Raven said, looking slightly nervous. "I'm guessing that we ran right into…"
"A trap!" Cyborg cut in before she could complete her sentence.
"Indeed." Someone answered from nearby. Everyone turned to find the source of the voice. The door of the nearby warehouse creaked open, and a group of villains emerged led by a man who appeared to be half man, half metal. Following him were Atomic Skull, Plasmus, Mr. Freeze, Killer Moth, and Giganta.
Metallo grinned sadistically, his eye glowing brightly in the dark night. "I believe you have something that belongs to us. Hand it over now… or die." He ordered, ripping the synthetic skin covering his arm, revealing his mechanical limb underneath. The villains behind him laughed in sickening tones as they readied themselves for the fight ahead.
NOTE TO READERS: Thanks for reading the chapter, sorry for the cliffhanger. Please review, like I said earlier, it motivates me to write the story faster. I also want to thank people for the encouragement, and the constructice criticism.