Chapter 11, it's here People!
Night Wing
Previously
Jean had descended to the ground and was walking calmly towards Superman, fist extended in his direction.
"This is the best your realm can offer?" She scoffed in disdain.
Jean didn't notice Night Wing sneak silently and quickly behind her. He pulled a metal stick from his utility belt that quickly expanded into a thin metal bowstaff. With as much power as he could muster, he hit Jean full on in the back of the head. Night Wing hoped that although Jean had fantastic telepathic and telekinetic abilities, she was as physically vulnerable as any teenage girl. Luckily, she was.
'I know how much that hurts.' Thought Night Wing as Jean collapsed unconscious.
Immediately her eyes stopped glowing and Superman relaxed as the pain that was tormenting him subsided.
Just then, the rest of the Justice League arrived.
"What happened here?" Asked Wonder Woman, as she took in the partially destroyed buildings and the unconscious red-head.
Superman looked uncomfortable.
"The girl is a powerful telepath. We need to get J'onn immediately."
A couple of League members quickly tranquilized Jean and put an inhibitor collar on her. The police showed up and began to tape off the scene and quell the curious crowds that were amassing at the fight scene. Wonder Women and a few lesser known League members began to assure the civilians of their safety, talk to the local police, and do damage didn't say anything about Night Wing saving him. Instead, he started conferring with Batman on how to contain Jean.
"Inhibitor collars might work." Superman was saying
"A telepathic block would be better. I'll ask J'onn." Batman replied.
Feeling left out, Night Wing joined the conversation.
"Umm, this was supposed to be MY responsibility… I mean, the responsibility of the Young Justice team." He added as an afterthought.
Batman and Superman simply stared at Night Wing. Their glares were so condescending that Night Wing felt the need to defend himself.
"You said that we needed to clean-up the mess we started in order to prove ourselves. So let us handle this-"
"No." Batman said bluntly, stopping Night Wing from arguing further.
"This girl, she is too powerful to take a chance with." Superman said.
Night Wing felt anger building up in his chest. He hated it when the Justice League treated side-kicks like children. But he also knew that getting angry wouldn't solve anything. He allowed himself to take a deep breath and calm down. Superman and Batman had already moved on and were talking in hushed tones with other Leaguers.
"We could put her in Belle Reve. Or Iron heights. They are both meta human prisons." Flash suggested
"What about the phantom zone?" Superman added.
Then Batman spoke up
"Are you sure she could be held by any of those prisons? Less powerful criminals have escaped from those places. And we know nothing about this girl- except for the fact that she is dangerous."
The other League members nodded. Night Wing couldn't help but thinking,
'The one thing that we know is that she is key to saving Wally and Artemis.'
"I think we should put her in the pipeline, if that's okay with the Flash." Batman continued "We can keep her isolated and deprived of her powers there. The pipeline was designed for the purpose of holding powerful metas. And if anything happens, the Flash will be able to alert the rest of us."
The other League members seemed in agreement. Superman had soon taken Jean away through a zeta tube, and Night Wing was left to talk to his old mentor.
"Listen, I don't think that this girl, Jean, wants to hurt us." he said "I think she can't control her powers. Something in her mind is driving her to act aggressively. Like when we first met Superboy."
Night Wing couldn't tell because of the mask, but he was sure Batman was giving him a skeptical look. After pondering that idea for a moment, Batman said in a tone that allowed no argument,
"Night wing, we still can't take a chance with her."
Disappointed, Night Wing left in a hurry to find Impulse and and Blue Beetle. His team would help him get to the bottom of all this. He went to the nearest zeta tube and was about to head to Blue Beetle's location when he changed his mind. On the spur of the moment, he put in the coordinates for Mount Justice. Night Wing was going to get his team. ALL of his team.
Using the zeta tubes, he made his way to the former Justice League headquarters.
Upon entrance, he saw Aqualad, Zatanna, Beast Boy, and M'gann talking together in the kitchen.
"Night Wing B-01." a metallic female voice announced
Zatanna and Beast Boy hurried off as soon as they saw Night Wing, wanting to stay out of the conflict. Kaldur visibly stiffened when he saw his former teammate, and Miss Martian turned away, refusing to meet his eyes.
In that moment, Night Wing thought of one hundred different ways to convince his friends he was right, but what came out was,
"I never said sorry."
Aqualad and Miss Martian looked surprised. They had been expecting defensiveness or frustration.
"I messed up." Night Wing continued, "I shouldn't have hidden my plans from the team. Especially from you guys. You were right, M'gann, I was in denial."
At this point Conner walked into the room, but he did not leave. Instead he silently observed the apology.
"I thought I knew all the answers. I thought I could handle this on my own. I thought I had the authority to put Artemis, Blue, and Impulse in danger because I thought I was right. But I didn't."
"You didn't." Kaldur agreed
"So, I'm saying sorry- and asking for your help." This was the hardest part for Night Wing. " I don't need you to forgive me, just to help me get Artemis and maybe even Wally back. Please. I tried this once without you three, and it didn't work."
Night Wing searched, Aqualad's, Superboy's, and Miss Martian's faces, trying to discern their expression. The three shared a knowing look.
"The sign of a great leader is one who can recognize his own failures, and humbly accept responsibility for them." Kaldur said with a smile.
Miss Martian smiled and hugged Night Wing
"I'm sorry too." she said sheepishly. "I might have over-reacted earlier."
The three turned to Connor, who had not spoken at throughout the entire exchange.
"We're a team. Nothing changes that." He muttered.
Jean
Jean was relieved to find that the phoenix was no longer in control of her body, but a little shocked to find herself in a small cell-like room. There was a collar around her neck that seemed to suppress the Phoenix, as well as her normal powers.
Jean couldn't help thinking,
'Owww… I've haven't channeled that much power since… since the first time.'
The 'first time' that Jean was referring to was the first time that the Phoenix had taken control of her body. The first time, Emma frost, another telepath, had tried to "contain" the Phoenix, which resulted in her death.
Jean had assumed the Phoenix had been destroyed when Emma died with the Phoenix trapped inside her body. She was wrong.
"I'm sorry Emma." Jean whispered, curling up into a ball on the floor of her prison "Your sacrifice was for nothing."
LexCorp
Sportsmaster lounged in Lex's waiting room, waiting for his boss to meet with him. After the Reach had been exposed, the Light had been lying low. But now Lex Luthor was ready to make a come-back, and Sportsmaster made it a point to be in the good graces of whoever was in control of the situation. That meant that Sportsmaster worked for LexCorp now.
"You can see mr. Luthor now." Said Lex's pretty personal secretary.
Lex Luthor's personal office was richly furnished and decorated, but it did not lack functionality. Lex was seated at a huge neatly-organized desk, his hands crossed and expression calm.
"I recovered the stolen property." Sportsmaster said, jumping straight to the point.
Lex leaned forward and looked his employee straight in the eye.
"It doesn't exactly make-up for the fact that you let LexCorp property be stolen in the first place. But I'm more interested in what you took from the... sidekicks."
Ignoring the evident distaste in Lex's tone, Sportsmaster explained how he had taken the portal device that Night Wing and Blue Beetle had built. He explained seeing a flaming ginger come out of the portal, the huge explosion, and the chaos that ensued. He didn't mention that Artemis, his daughter, went through the portal. That would be just another flaw on his resume.
But Lex knew something was up.
"The interdimensional scanner keeps picking up something coming from another dimension. Like someone is trying to signal us. Did Night Wing send anyone through?" he asked.
Sportsmaster shrugged.
"I doubt it." he lied, acting like he didn't know a thing.
Lex frowned.
"The repercussions of sending someone to another dimension…" he muttered "Tell me more about the being that came through." Lex asked
After a few minutes more of explaining, Lex nodded.
"Yes, a powerful being in deed. But the Justice League has her now." he said
Lex turned to a computer screen and pulled up an online video titled 'EPIC SUPERMAN BATTLE WITH HOT REDHEAD!' The shaky video showed Superman being thoroughly beaten by a redhead, but saved at the last minute by A civilian in sunglasses with a bow staff. The Justice League then arrived and promptly took the girl away.
"The redhead is pretty hot." Sportsmaster admitted.
Lex was deep in contemplation.
'The power of that girl is amazing. If there is a whole other world of people just like her, the power that could be harnessed is potentially unimaginable.'
"Sportsmaster…" Lex said, addressing his employee, "If you were willing to go and scope out this other dimension, I might be willing to forget the little mishap where you were beaten by your own daughter."
Sportsmaster nodded, grimacing to Lex's patronizing tone.
"Sure thing boss."
"If you meet anyone from our dimension- particularly Kid Flash- kill them. I don't need anyone hindering my plans for this other world."
"Of course, boss." Sportsmaster's reply came a little slower this time.
The thought of killing didn't irk him; Sportsmaster was fine with killing. It was the thought that his daughter was the one he might have to kill. Yes, Sportsmaster was a terrible father, but that didn't mean he wanted his own kid dead. But the doubt only surfaced in his mind for a moment before he squelched it down. He would do what he had to do.
1st off- review review review!
2nd off- I do not have writer's block
My writer just hates the clock.
If you understood that reference, you are my new favorite person. I still don't anything by the way... Duh... If I owned anything, I wouldn't be here.
