The Chamber in Chicago

I own nothing but my own ideas.

A/N: It's about to get REAL, real deal Hollyfield

It had been nearly a week since the battle in New Orleans, and Nightwing was still investigating any leads into Ras Al Ghul's plans. Meanwhile Trunks was trying to end the constant tormenting he was receiving from his teammates for not having a nickname or a costume.

Cyborg had delivered on his promise to get the gravity modifier up and running and it had quickly become Trunks's favorite place in the world. Today he was teaching Kaldur and Cassie martial arts, while training in 25 x Earth's gravity. The stress was easy for Trunks but he definitely wanted to help his teammates get better and increased gravity was the secret to their improvement. The offer was extended to everyone, but Superboy was still acting funny and Nightwing was busy trying to find out Ras's target cities. While he was teaching them Kame style, Implulse stood outside the door, eating chips and shouting bad superhero names.

"What about the Pink Wonder, your hair is pink."

"No!"

"What about the Teen Dream? The Karate Kid? Oh wait, that's a movie. You think we can call and get copyright permission?"

"No!"

"What about the Great Fighter! No that's stupid."

"They're all stupid, now shut up!" Aggggghhh Trunks grunted as he took a shot to the face from Cassie and fell down. "No fair, I was distracted."

"Distractions can happen in the field my young friend, take it as a lesson." Aqualad replied as he leapt forward and swung at Trunks who rolled and dodged it, barely avoiding a strike from Cassie. Trunks had been fighting the two of them by himself all week and this was the first time he had been knocked down. Trunks threw an uppercut at her, which she blocked but sent her flying into the air. He pursued her and the two clashed in mid air, going blow for blow as Trunks blocked everything that she threw. Her defense was getting better, but she still couldn't compete with his abilities.

"Hey guys, come on!"

Trunks and Cassie looked down to see Kaldur waiting on them, still wanting to fight. The two had gotten so caught up in their battle, they had forgotten about him. Trunks and Cassie did that often, they were becoming very close to one another due to their daily training sessions and afternoon swims to cool off. The two descended next to Kaldur, "Sorry man," Trunks scratched the back of his neck while he talked. "I keep forgetting that you can't fly, you know I can teach you right?"

"I look forward to that man, perhaps another day. I'm going to check on Nightwing, you two continue." Kaldur removed his shirt as he exited the new and improved training room. "You're getting better Cassie, especially your defense."

"Well, why don't we make a little wager on this fight?"

"Ok, I'm game, " he replied.

"The rules are these, you must stay in the air the entire time. The first person to touch a wall or the floor is the loser."

"Ok, that's simple enough. What do I get when I win?"

"The loser, in this case you," she teased, "has to go swimming with all his clothes on."

"You're on!"

The two opponents flew into the air and took defensive stances.

"You ready," she mocked. Before Trunks could answer, Cassie had charged at him throwing several strong jabs that Trunks was able to easily avoid. She followed with a spinning back kick, which he ducked under and strongly pushed her backwards. Trunks then jumped towards her, grabbing her legs and spinning her, he tossed her around. She flew from the force of his throw, stopping herself inches before the wall. "Good try" she said.

"I'm just getting started," Trunks bragged.

She charged at him again, throwing the fastest combination that she could muster, he blocked them over and over again until one smacked him hard in the face. She then drop kicked him in the stomach, sending him flying about 30 yards. Trunks regained his momentum and flipped himself around, before touching the wall. He charged back at her and sent his own combinations that she was able to block, but she wasn't ready for his leg sweeping kick. She lost her balance and he kicked her downwards as she fell towards the ground, she grabbed her lasso and caught Trunks's ankles, she swung him around the room. He grabbed hold of the lasso and pulled her hard, their bodies came into contact and they paused briefly to admire each other. She kicked him hard and sent him flying hard towards the wall, "sorry you were wide open there."

"Nice move, no complaints here." The two charged at each other again and she overwhelmed him with speed, he ducked under her attack and she countered with a hammer fist, that sent him towards the ground. Trunks regained his momentum, but not before his toe touched the ground.

"You're out!!" Impulse shouted, the match was over.

"You got me, good win!"

She landed, "see you at the beach, I've got to go change." Cassie walked out and ran to her bedroom.

"Dude, she beat you. Haha, how'd that happen?" Impulse and Beast Boy teased. Trunks smiled as he looked at his friends, "You really think I was going to rob myself of seeing her in a swimsuit," he winked as he headed towards the beach.

At the Beach

Trunks was waiting by the beach, fully dressed in his Capsule Corps jacket, his sweatpants, boots and tank top. He was waiting patiently for Cassie to come out and join him for their afternoon swim. His jaw dropped as she turned the corner, she normally wore a one piece swim suit, but today she wore a bikini that showed off her goddess like body. She was a true Amazonian, with muscles and legs that ran for days. Her body was sculpted from a statue created by the Gods themselves as she joyfully met Trunks at the beach. She noticed his aghast expression and couldn't help but tease him, "Pick your jaw up Trunks. You're acting like you've never seen a girl before."

"I've never seen one like you before," he couldn't even hide his attraction to her.

"That's sweet, let's go for a swim loser."

She dove into the water and he followed her, getting all of his clothes wet, Cassie couldn't help but laugh as he waded into the water. He felt his boots fill with seawater and his clothes get heavy. What seemed like minutes flew by as the teenagers swam and talked for hours, they somehow ended up in each other's arms. "Tell me about your family Trunks. Tell me about your mom and your dad."

It was still a touchy subject to talk about Bulma, but he had no problem talking about his father with pride. "My dad should have been a king, but his home planet was destroyed. He died as the Prince of all Saiyans."

"Well, doesn't that make you a Prince?"

"Yeah, I guess it does."

"That's what we should call you, your name can be The Prince."

"I like it, that's a really good name."

"Is that all that you like?" she smiled now as she looked into his eyes. Trunks leaned into Cassie, she really was great. Everything seemed so easy with her, he could really be himself. He kissed her and she kissed him back, their kiss had more passion than two children their age should have. They waddled back to the shore and lied there on the beach, talking for hours until the sun went down. Trunks and Cassie walked back inside the base holding hands and smiling, Trunks was the happiest he had been in his entire life.

"Team, please report to the Mission Room," Nightwing's words echoed across the loudspeaker in the Base. They headed straight to the mission room and met the rest of the team there. "Why are you all wet?" Superboy asked.

"Um, I fell in the water," Trunks joked.

"Attention everyone," Nightwing began to deliver his message to the team. "As you know, I've been investigating possible places that could be targeted by the League of Shadows. I have discovered a lead in Chicago, Illinois. Alpha Squad will head to Chicago while I continue my investigation here. Alpha consists of Trunks, Wonder Girl, Impulse, Miss Martian and Superboy. Mgann you're running point on this operation. Beta Squad, you're heading to Boston to investigate., Beta consists of Robin, Aqualad, Raven and Beast Boy. Get packed, you all leave in the morning."

Everyone went back to their rooms to pack and get a good night sleep to prepare for tomorrow, except Trunks. Trunks was motivated after talking to Cassie, he ran to the workshop. He dug through the materials that they used to repair their costumes and began searching for anything he could use. At last he found it, blue Kevlar fabric similar in function to what Gohan wore and similar in aesthetics to what Vegeta wore. Trunks began stitching it together, fashioning his new costume. Next, the door to the Workshop opened and Cassie came in, " I knew I'd find you here. What ya working on?"

"I've got it, " he replied, "I know what my costume and my name are going to be. My costume is going to look like the one my father wore. It's gonna be exactly like his, blue fabric with white boots. Saiyan battle armor."

"Here, it's late. Let me help." The two teenagers sat there stitching together the seams of Trunks costume, until he had a complete blue Kevlar suit. The suit was skin tight and light as a feather, but not protective enough.

"It's missing one thing," he said as he sprinted out of the workshop and towards his room. He opened the door to his room, not caring if Beast Boy woke up and dug through his capsules. This is it, he thought as he opened the capsule and retrieved what he needed. He rushed back to the Workshop to find Cassie asleep, it was 1 am after all. Trunks grabbed his father's white breastplate and attached it to his Kevlar suit. His suit now looked just like his father's, but there was still one final touch that he needed to add. He grabbed the ink needle and began to record his logo on the white breastplate in a dark red ink, he recorded 3 vertical arrows in a pitchfork position. Under those arrows were two horizontal lines and below the lines was an arrow that looked like an upside down parabola. Cassie awoke as he finished his costume, "What's that symbol?" she asked.

"That's the symbol of my people, of my father, of royalty. It's the symbol of Planet Vegeta. You can call me the Prince."

The Next Day

The teenagers woke up and gathered in the mission room, with one notable absentee. Trunks had completely overslept after working on his costume until 2 am, burning the candle was starting to take a toll on him. He woke up rushing as he threw on his clothes and brushed his teeth. He made sure to pack his creation from the previous night, as he gazed at it he was immediately filled with nostalgia. He now had his own Saiyan battle suit, resembling his father's and he couldn't have been more proud of his work. He looked over at the clock and realized just how late he was, threw everything else into the dufflebag and flew all the way to the mission room. "Nice of you to join us," Superboy said.

"I'm sorry, I uh overslept." He looked around to see everyone waiting on him, even Cassie who stayed up late with him was ready to go, she looked as if she received every minute of her beauty sleep. "What'd I miss?"

"The objectives have been given to your team leads. You all take off in 20, make sure to eat a full breakfast. Trunks, a word."

Damn, this is just what I need, to be chewed out Trunks thought. For a human with a low power level, Nightwing had a way about him that commanded respect, even from someone like Trunks who could destroy planets and solar systems with his power.

"I know why you were up late last night, I'm glad you made a costume. Just don't make it a habit alright?"

"I got you."

"Also take this," Nightwing pulled out a small back button, "attach it to your suit, it changes your suit to black for stealth missions. I have a feeling that you're gonna need it."

Miss Martian created her bioship and the team was off, en route to Chicago. Once they arrived in the big city, it was time to start the mission. To the displeasure of Impulse, this was a work trip and there was simply no time for play. "I wanna go get a deep dish, I've never had Chicago pizza. It'll be so crash!"

"No, there's work to do," Superboy scolded.

"Aw man, you all haven't even told us what we're looking for yet. We can grab a bite."

"What we're looking for, on average 1.6 million people ride Chicago's public transportation system each day. That's 241 million people each year on the trains only, not even counting the city busses. Ras's aim is to reduce the world's population, the CTA would be a good place to start," Mgann was growing irritated by his immaturity.

"So we're going to watch the trains then?" Trunks asked.

"Not necessarily, Nightwing believes that anyone who is planning an attack on the CTA has already set themselves up to pull it when possible. So we're..."

"Gonna check underground," Trunks interrupted, "along the CTA lines."

"Exactly! We won't be able to successfully watch every suspicious person that enters and exits a train today. But we can investigate tunnels, if there is evidence that criminals are using it then we shut it down. If not, then we let Dick know that we haven't found any evidence yet." Mgann enjoyed how easily Trunks picked up on specifics of missions, most people his age would not have the foresight to make judgments like that.

The team rounded the corner to the train station at Grand Avenue. They walked down the stairs and purchased their Ventra cards to enter the station. As soon as they walked past the gates, Mgann set up her psychic link and gave the plan. "Ok, Cassie and I will go northbound, we'll get off at the next stop and I'll phase us through the wall until we can find a tunnel. You threw boys will go southbound, you'll need to get off at the next exit and find a way underground to investigate tunnels. When you get underground switch into your stealth gear, keep this line of commutation open, and if there's any trouble alert the others. Any questions?" Connor gave Mgann a kiss as the two teams split up, boys going south and girls going north. Being in Chicago was exciting, investigating what the League of Shadows was up to was also exciting, working with Connor and Bart was not. Bart was incredibly immature and Connor could be very stubborn, considering that he was only a few years old, Trunks had his doubts about this mission. "We're here," Superboy declared as he lead the group off of the train. They were at the State and Lake intersection, it was a very busy stop filthy with the smell of people, piss, train oil, and cigarette smoke. It was dirty, as if people slept there every night and train smoke covered the walls in a black waxy film. The underground station was filled with literally thousands of people walking briskly on their way to work or wherever they were going. But the station was also alive, there were people playing drums, guitars, violins as the commuters walked by, there were people dancing to the rhythm, the rhythm of the city. Trunks, Connor and Bart had never seen anything like it before, this place was very different from Metropolis or Gotham. The three young men couldn't help but tap their feet and bob their heads to the music of the city.

"This place is so crash!" Bart shouted.

"It's pretty cool down here, so let's remember we're here to protect it and the people," Superboy said with admiration. They began to walk through the train station, past where the blue line trains linked to this station until they saw the edge. The only thing in front of them was a wall and the next train station, two miles down the train tracks. They looked around, but without the ability to make themselves translucent, they didn't see a way into the wall. The next train passed where they were standing and thanks to his superior Kryptonian hearing, Connor got an idea. "Did you guys just hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"When the train passed, I heard a whistling sound."

"Isn't that just the sound it makes," their was a hint of annoyance in Trunks's voice with that question.

"No, it makes one sound against the walls, but a whistling sound would suggest that there's a hole somewhere," Superboy replied. "Here comes another one, focus this time." The train sped by, Wheeeewwww

"I heard it!"

"That means there's a hollow spot somewhere in that wall." The three teenagers jumped onto the tracks, being careful to avoid the electric rail. "Hold on, I'll check. I'm the fastest." Impulse put his hand on the wall and sprinted to the next station and back.

"Found it!! Come with me," he led them down the tracks about 100 feet to a sign that read, "Stay off the Tracks." It was a dead give away, how could there be a sign this far away from where people were allowed to be? Superboy pushed the sign and it collapsed, revealing a hole to a tunnel, they stepped inside. The three teenagers pressed the button to release their stealth gear as they began descending down the stairs into the unknown. "Hey Mgann we found something."

"So did we."

Back with the ladies

Mgann and Cassie got off the train station at Chicago Avenue. The train station was busy but much less packed than the one the boys found themselves in. They quickly identified the end of the station, that gap between stops. Hopping off the passenger walkway, Mgann turned both women translucent and they phased through the concrete walls of the underground tunnel. Through the concrete walls Mgann dragged her friend along until they reached a hollow tunnel they could drop into. "Where are we?" Cassie asked.

"I don't know, it appears that we're in an old service tunnel."

The two women heard footsteps coming from the southern end of the hallway, "Hide!" Mgann and Cassie jumped into an abandoned closet and waited for the voices to pass. They peered through the door and saw ninjas dressed in their League of Shadows garb. "We need to follow them," Mgann said bravely. Both ladies waited for the ninjas to gain a good distance and they levitated to follow them, to avoid making sound with their footsteps. The ninjas led them to the end of a long hallway and a drop further underground. The ladies stopped when they reached the end of the descent, they arrived in a large opening filled with more Uranium than they saw at the warehouse in New Orleans. There were many soldiers walking around, helping to organize the materials. In the chamber there was an access point to the Chicago River which it seemed as the villains were using to transport materials. It was clear that this was an underground base, in the next instant a communication came in from Superboy. The girls creeped lower and hid behind a large tanker, "I can't believe this here, Nightwing was right!"

"I know, this is not good."

The boys made their way down the stairs and ducked behind the nearest tanker and watched the developments in front of them. One of the soldiers walked closer to the two men standing in the center and whispered something into their ears. The younger man walked away and disappeared behind a wall. "We need to contact Nightwing, this is worse than he thought." Superboy telepathically communicated to his team at that moment Trunks reached down to pull out his communicator, he looked up and dropped it. Standing behind Cassie and Mgann were 5 men, 4 dressed as ninjas and one wearing a red hood over his head, he was holding a gun to the back of her head. "Welcome, intruders. I believe that it is time to make yourselves known," the old man in the center of the crowd stepped forward. The light revealed him, "I am Ras Al Ghul and this is our place!" The man was standing tall, his hair was graying, he was wearing a green cape holding a large sword. "Girls you should put your hands up, before my friend blows your heads off. He has a bullet specifically designed to hurt powerful cells, such as the ones in a Kryptonian or Amazonian." Mgann and Cassie walked down the stairs to the center. "Boys, you should step down here too before I shoot them." The three boys walked slowly down into the pit, while they started to think of a plan to escape. "Mgann, Connor it's good to see you again," the younger man said.

"Who are you?!" They both responded at the same time. The man removed his red hood, "Jason!! Jason Todd! Is it really you?" Mgann shouted.

"How? How is it possible? You're dead, we mourned you."

Superboy was in complete shock to see the former Robin standing in front of him, especially now that he was holding a gun to Cassie's head.

"I was brought back to life using the Lazarus Pit," Jason replied, "now you can call me Red Hood."

"I saw that he had more potential than Batman did you see, and so I restored his life. He is now trained by the League of Shadows, an assassin and hell bent on revenge against Batman and the Joker."

"Why are you doing all of this?" Trunks yelled.

"Young man, you know nothing of humanity. Men are flawed, permanently so. I seek to send the world back into a stronger age and a stronger time. Humanity must suffer for its mistakes. I am, WE are the world's reckoning. I'm afraid you aren't enough to stop us."

At that moment, Ras pulled a pistol out of his own jacket and fired it at Superboy, striking him in the neck.

"NOOOOOOOOO!!!" Mgann screamed as Superboy fell to the floor, she ran to him not worrying about Red Hood standing behind her, she grabbed him and noticed that there was no blood. Instead there was a purple dart sticking out of his neck. She helped him to his feet, "Connor can you hear me? Connor, are you okay??"

Connor opened his eyes and they had changed colors, his blue eyes were now a dark shade of purple. The smile on Ras Al Ghul's face grew into a larger grin. "Attack," he whispered. Connor slowly moved and picked Trunks dead in the face, slamming him into the concrete walls of the chamber.