In Batman's Shadow

Chapter Eleven

*****

Later that night, I was out on a solo patrol. Dad's back had been acting up again, and he decided to sit this one out. I floated lazily over Gotham in a trance-like state, waiting for a crime report to interrupt me. The city was pretty peaceful from above, which was very deceptive. It was like the architects planned it, so when people flew in by plane, they'd think they were going somewhere nice, instead of a city ridden with crime and corruption.

"Ib'n, report," Dad ordered

That was it; it shook me out of the trance I was comfortably in, and I almost lost control of the belt.

"Uh…slight weapons malfunction," I said, "but uh... everything's perfectly all right now. I'm fine. I'm fine here now, thank you. How are you?"

"I'm getting some weird signals from the International Hall of Friendship," Dad said, "You want to check it out?"

"On my way…"

****

I swerved sharply to the right, and headed to the International Hall of Friendship. It was a lot less friendly than it sounded; it was basically the UN, but with more yelling.

"Dad, I'm here," I said, "What am I looking for?"

"It's a large object, it should be directly above the building."

"I…hold on, I'll go in closer."

****

I slowly moved towards to the International Hall of Friendship, and saw that there was a slight blur in the skies.

"Dad, I'm seeing something strange," I said, "It's almost as if there's a body of water floating over it. It's see through, but not exactly see through."

"Throw something at it," Dad ordered

"What?"

"Anything!"

I fished out a quarter from my jacket, and threw it in the direction of the blur. Suddenly, waves erupted across it, revealing a gargantuan battleship. I recognized it from a terrifying film we saw in Social Studies.

"Dad! Dad!" I yelled

"What is it?" he asked

"Th…th…th…"

"Spit it out!"

"Thanagarians!"

I heard Dad jump up in his chair.

"Are they hostile?" he asked

"I don't know! Dad, can I get out of here? I'm really scared!"

"Son, let me tell you what I used to do when I got scared."

Dad told me, and I did it.

"That feels better," I breathed a sigh of relief

"Good. Now keep your distance from the ship. I'll call the armed forces."

****

Suddenly, the craft ripped open, revealing hundreds of Thanagarian Hawk-Soldiers. They flew out of there like a combination of a herd of bulls and an avalanche. Just in time, I turned on Booster Gold's belt, right before one Hawk-Soldier crashed into me. Quickly, I shot away from them.

"Dad! Hawk soldiers!" I yelled

"Get out of there!" Dad ordered

I shot into the sky, trying to out-fly the Thanagarians. If I could just get them out of sight for a minute, I could change into one of my many alter egos, and be ignored. If I remembered my history, during the occupation of earth, the Thanagarians rounded up the Justice League members and imprisoned them.

"This is the voice of the Thanagarian authority!" the Hawk-man yelled, "We order you to surrender!"

I suddenly stopped, and my fist collided with his face, knocking off his helmet.

"Get off my planet!" I yelled

I grabbed him by his Nth Metal armor while he was still in a daze, and swung him around, sending him flying into several other soldiers.

*****

Later…

*****

I had gotten caught up in a horrendous fight; I had broken three fingers, and was running for cover, along with Answer. He had been using some slightly unethical tactics, ramming the Hawk-Soldiers with his car, but I'm not complaining.

"This way!" I groaned, waving to a back door

I used Green Arrow's lock picks on the door, and we stumbled inside. We were in some kind of clothing store, but we didn't really care; we were just relieved to be away from the Thanagarians.

"Anyone in here?" I asked

Suddenly, an arrow came flying in my direction.

"Victoria!" Answer groaned

Huntress II stepped out from behind a rack of dresses, and put down her crossbow.

"Sorry!" she said

"It's cool," I replied, "Just you?"

Atom Girl and Red Arrow came out from their hiding place.

"You too?" I asked

"We lasted longer than everyone else," Atom Girl explained, "The Thanagarians knew their weaknesses."

"So does CADMUS II," I said, "Dime to a dollar they're working together."

*****

Suddenly, there was a bright light beaming through the store.

"This is the voice of the Thanagarian Authority!" came a voice over the loudspeaker, "We own your planet. We own your resources, your diamonds, your oil, your nuclear power. We own your people. We own your Justice League. Those who dare oppose us will be put to death."

"What are we going to do?" Ollie asked

"We'll head to the Batcave," I decided, "We'll be safe there."

"But how can we get past the Thanagarians?" Huntress II asked, "They'll be hunting us down!"

"No, they're hunting the outsiders," I said, "We just need to change our clothes, go back to our civilian identities."

"Got it," Answer said

******

The five of us changed into some of the clothes in the store.

"Aren't you glad we decided not to hide in Victoria's Secret?" I said to Answer

"Very."

Atom Girl, Huntress, and Red Arrow walked out of the dressing rooms, wearing civilian clothes, as well as additional disguises, glasses and hats, that kind of stuff.

"Aren't you two changing?" Jill asked

"Oh, yeah,"

Answer and I used Mr. Sage's gas, and our masks slid off. We then rolled them up, and hid them in our belt compartments.

"That's all you're going to do?" Jill asked

"I know it seems a bit much, but it'll do," Quentin said

*****

The gang started walking to the exits.

"Wait, where are you going?" I asked

"Wayne Manor…?" Jill said

"We can't go all together," I said, "That's too suspicious. Victoria, you and Jill in one group, Quentin, you take Ollie. Don't talk to anyone unless they talk to you."

"What about you?" Victoria asked

"I'll go on my own."

"But what if you run into trouble?"

"Then I'll get out of it."

*****

We left separately; I stayed behind for a moment to leave some money for the clothes, and a counter that I had broken into. I walked out, and saw that Thanagarian soldiers were already patrolling the streets.

"You!" one soldier yelled

"Yes sir?" I asked

"Where are you going?" he asked

"Home," I replied

"I didn't ask for your life story. Move along!"