PREPARE FOR A LONG AUTORS NOTE: So, a lot of you have reviewed saying that this story has spelling and grammar problems. You're right. But I like to think that I'm getting better… hopefully. Grammar/Spelling has always been my chief weakness, and I appreciate you're telling me my mistakes. If you notice that I'm making the same mistakes over and over, you can PM me and I'll take a note. Also, I do check over my spelling mistakes, but I'm not very observant at that sort of thing. =P I am trying to figure out the whole "beta" thing, but my computer is a kriffen' pile of scrap sometimes and…ya. Okay, so THERE WAS SPITFIRENESS IN THE LAST EPISODE! ^_^ YAY! Also, as the team adds members, I'll TRY and add them to the story, but no promises; and I wont add members that AREN'T on the team, sorry! AND I WON'T ADD ROCKET! SHE DOESN'T WORK FOR MY TEAM DYNAMICS. And I don't really like her; I'm giving her a chance, but she's still NOT GETTING IN TO MY STORY! Oh, and this is another first for me… FIRST CHASE SCENE! Are you ready?
Part the Second: Hidden Justice League
WARNING! This chapter may be rated T. I'm not sure how the ratings are classified (that page on ratings did nothing to help). It's because of blood, nothing else. Wait… ya.
We've got seven minors running rampant in the mess hall," One has the evidence from the Justice League, requesting back-up."…
"We'll lose them and then go back to the train. Go!"
================================================~[,,_,,]:3
"Run! Quick!" Wally screamed, falling back to the end of the breathless pack of heroes. Artemis shot him a glare, but didn't comment.
The team rounded a corner, only to be faced with the tall side of a purple apartment.
"Purple?" Megan asked tilting her head to the side in bemusement. The rest of the young heroes just stared incomprehensibly at the wall in front of them, until they where brought back to reality by a sharp voice from behind.
"They're over there! Hurry, we've got them cornered!"
"They're way too close for comfort." Dick muttered, forcing his voice not to shake.
"What's the plan Kal?" Zattana (a/n: two t's, or just one in her name?)
Kaldur blinked rapidly, and began issuing commands.
"Wally*, can you run up onto the roof of this building holding another person?" he asked rapidly. At the speedster's nod, he continued, "Good. Take Artemis. Zatanna (I know it's either this spelling, or the one above it.) You levitate Robin and yourself, if you can." Zatanna also nodded, " Megan, I need you to levitate me and yourself onto the roof, and Conner, you shall jump. Carefully. As a precaution, Megan and Zatanna will combine their powers to cushion your landing. Are there any questions? Yes Wally, you do have to carry Artemis. Put your hand down."
The team leapt into action. Wally grumpily scooped up an equally grumpy Artemis bridal style, and zoomed up the wall.
Zatanna muttered "Raeppa o gnitaolf mroftalp!" and a golden circle appeared. She and Dick jumped onto it and floated to the roof.
Megan lifted off into the air and began to ascend, grabbing Kaldur's upturned hands on her way.
Conner waited until he saw Wally's hand wave at him from on top of the roof, then he sprang. He heard one police officer's startled gasp, and then he was falling. He stretched his legs out as far as they could go, a technique that Black Canary had taught him, and pulled them back slowly. As he fell, he noticed that his decent fell ever slower, and he eventually stopped in mid-air about two feet from the roof. Megan had her hands outstretched towards him, and sweat was forming on her brow. Then, he was dropped unceremoniously onto the roof, landing softly on his back. Megan exhaled contentedly and smiled apologetically at him.
The team looked around them for an escape route, each running to a different corner of the roof.
"We've got company!" Zatanna's panicked voice warned at the same time Artemis called "This way!"
All heroes jogged to where Artemis was standing. The other building sat close to the one they were standing on, and the rest of the buildings together, leading in the direction of the train station.
"This is good!" Dick exclaimed jumping onto the other roof.
"Freeze!" a deep voice from behind them commanded. The teens turned sharply around to see a man standing behind them. Pointing a gun at Conner. The man swiftly changed targets as if he didn't know who to point it at.
"Jump!" Kaldur demanded.
All six protégés jumped onto the next roof, and two gunshots rang in the air. One bouncing harmlessly off Conner, and the other grazing Wally's leg. They continued jumping, while more and more police officers piled around the buildings and on the roofs.
"Ah!"
Six heroes stopped dead in their tracks as the pained cry came from the Martian girl. She was crouched on the roof, cradling her bleeding arm. Conner ran over and gently picked her up. He looked around and was relieved to see the bloody bullet laying a few feet away.
"I'll be fine." She managed to say, although no one bought the words, and the team continued running.
"Last one." he whispered calmly to her as he approached the end of the roof. Megan buried her face in his shoulder as a response.
Carefully, Conner jumped down, trying hard to ignore the muffled scream that came from the girl in his arms.
"In here." Dick commanded quietly, opening the door of an empty cart, "It's the cargo hold, and the trains about to leave so there shouldn't be anyone coming to check. Hurry!"
Every teen ran as fast as they could into the cart, scrambling in their haste.
Kaldur closed the door behind them, and almost immediately the train lurched to life.
" Over here Supes." Wally beckoned from behind many suitcases, "We made a little hide-away."
At first, Conner didn't see anything special about the suitcases piled up shoulder high, but as he carried the unconscious Megan closer he realized that they were piled in a rectangle formation wide enough to fit the entire team smugly.
"Now," Artemis said shakily, " that we're all safe,"
"Safe?" Wally interrupted, "We're not safe! Megan's shot, the league probably knows where we are, and -!"
The team blinked slowly as Wally's rant sped up, and he eventually began to talk so fast that he bit his tongue.
"What did he say Rob?" Zatanna asked the bird.
Dick shook his head as if to clear it, "All I got was 'hippopotamus' and 'kumquat'."
"Anyway," Artemis said slowly, "as I was saying, now that we're relatively safe, we need to plan what we should do next."
"First things first." Conner's gruff voice stated, "We need to help M'gann."
================================================~[,,_,,]:3
"Superman." Superman said gruffly, activating his com-link. His cyan eyes widened, as the other league members watched bemused.
"Alright. Thank you." The Boy Scout nodded.
"They found them."
================================================~[,,_,,]:3
Six teens slept peacefully, while Superboy kept watch. Megan's arm had been wrapped up in bandages, although it had taken twice as much as normal. Conner shuddered, even as a Superhero he'd never seen so much blood. Not all at once. Conner shut his eye's tight, and tried to let the resounding clicks of the wheels lull him to sleep. Resting his arm protectively over Megan, he felt his lids slowly droop shut.
He was rather rudely awakened by a long, sharp, whine coming from beneath him. Jolting upright, he frantically looked around for an intruder, only to realize that the train was coming to a stop.
Superboy let out a heavy sigh, and gently jostled M'gann's uninjured arm.
"mmm." the sleepy Martian groaned, but reluctantly got up, eye's glossy. She blinked once. Twice. Then smiled.
"Have we cleared our names yet?" she slurred.
Conner found himself smiling at her.
"Not yet. But we're at Gotham. Time to find out what we did."
Superboy got up and awakened each of his other team members. Robin, to his surprise, got up while he was talking to M'gann, and was trying to wake up Wally, who'd fallen asleep with a granola bar in his mouth. Superboy wasn't sure how he'd managed not to choke, but he'd learned the hard way never to question the wonders of Kid Flash and Robin.
Aqualad was also easily awakened. Superboy simply said, "its time.", and Aqualad shot up like a bullet.
Artemis, however, was the hardest. After many failed attempts at waking her gently, Wally brilliantly had the idea of yelling "giant cat's are falling out of hole in the roof and they're going to eat you!" next to the archers ear. He wound up with a bloody nose, as well as a very mad archer.
The team got off the train, and the frigid Gotham air set them back to the mission at hand.
Robin took the lead, the rest of the group moving silently behind him. They stuck to the shadows, until Robin stopped at a large, brick building. The next second, and he was gone, rising to the top of the structure. The rest of the team followed silently. When they landed on the roof, they saw that Boy Wonder was already finishing hacking the security. After getting the thumbs up from Robin, Miss Martian used her telepathy to open the vent cover. They waited for a few tense seconds, before Superboy spun around quickly. He looked into the distance for what seemed like a long time, both to his waiting teammates and to the listening Superboy, until he whispered a single, panicked phrase.
"They're here!"
"Pardon me?" Zattana asked, muscles tensing.
"They're here! I can hear them coming!"
"Supes, slow down! Who's coming?" Kid Flash asked, an uneasy note tinting his voice.
"The Justice League!" Superboy exclaimed, turning to face his friends, "I can hear them coming, and they're closing in fast."
The team cringed, and glanced around at each other nervously.
"Alright," Aqualad breathed, realising everyone from his or her panicked trance, "we need to-"
"Surrender peacefully." A dark voice boomed from the shadows.
The teens spun in the direction of the voice, and saw Batman emerge from shadows they didn't even see.
"This can be done easily, or messily. Your choice." Another voice threatened. Superman landed on the roof, as did Flash, Black Canary, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, and Red Tornado. All were prepared to battle.
"Linked?" Miss Martians voice filtered through everyone's head.
"Yes"
"Yup"
"Indeed."
"You Bet"
"Yes."
"Ah-huh."
"Good." Aqualad's voice breathed, "Robin, you know the layout best, go get the evidence. The rest of us will fight, buy you some time."
Robin nodded, and ran towards a vent on other side of the roof. With a flick of his wrist, Batman threw four ice pellets in the direction of the vent. Robin jumped, and his cape disappeared in the vent mere seconds before ice enveloped the opening. In response, Black Canary, Red Tornado, and Green Lantern moved to stand in a circle formation between the team and the icy vent. The other members of the league quickly completed the circle.
"Gamma manoeuvre." Aqualad ordered. Five heroes quickly twirled around, stopping to stand back to back. Each hero standing slightly to the right of his or her mentor; Miss Martian was paired up with Red Tornado, Aqualad with Black Canary, Green Lantern stood before an empty space. Zatanna stood, frozen and confused, before shrugging and moving to stand in the empty space in the team's circle.
"So… what's the plan?" she asked nonchalantly.
"Protect the person on your right." Artemis responded, "we rotate clockwise ever-so-often, but we'll tell you when."
"So, the messy way huh?" Flash asked sadly.
Kid Flash shrugged "We need the practice anyway."
With an audible sigh from every member of the league, they attacked.
================================================~[,,_,,]:3
Robin crawled through the air ducts, glancing back over his shoulder to make sure he wasn't being followed. He let his detective skills take over his senses, and soon came to a large room filled with books, drawers, and boxes.
"Okay think," Robin thought, leaping silently onto one of the higher shelves, "Where is the most logical place to hide something? Somewhere Illogical. Rephrase, where is the most illogical place to hide something? Of course this was hidden by Batman, so…" Robin's thoughts continued down this path as he stalked silently along the tops of shelves and cabinets alike.
"Robin." A gravely voice floated to Robin's ears, making him tense slightly.
"Batman." He replied, throwing his voice as his mentor had done.
"You know this is futile."
"Actually, it's not." Robin continued his search, keeping an eye out for any form of movement that could signal the position of his mentor, "We need to find out what we did so that we can gather evidence to counter evidence, then we can clear our names. Totally un-futile."
Even before the words left his mouth, Robin saw a slight movement in the shadows to his left. In a single deft motion, Robin threw a bird-a-rang at it, and tried to leap out of the way. His motion was stopped, however, by a Bat-a-rang attaching his cape to the wall.
"That isn't very whelming, Batman."
The Dark Knight stepped out of the shadows although part of his cape stayed put.
"I could say the same thing."
Robin smirked, glad he had managed to hit something other than the wall. He kept moving, ripping his cape in the process, eyes on his mentor, watching him like a wildcat watches prey. Batman met his gaze, and held it.
Batman's eyes narrowed as Robin stepped over a box, and Robin took that as the cue to stop. He carefully took a step back, not entirely sure whether his mentor was trying to help him, or luring him into a trap. Giving Batman a warning glare, and putting one hand over a pocket in his utility belt that contained knockout gas, Robin glanced down at the box before him.
The box was medium in length and height, but what really got Robin's attention was the label.
C.J.L. E.
Robin knew what the acronym meant. Swiftly, he picked up the box with one hand, while grabbing the knockout pellets with the other. He ducked, narrowly avoiding three Bat-a-rangs before turning and jumping back towards the vent. Robin herd a hiss, then fell, his left foot frozen to the top of a silver cabinet.
Boy Wonder let out an agitated huff, then, sending a slightly apologetic glance at the Dark Knight, he threw two of his pellets. Batman jumped and dodged the fist two, but as he landed a third hit him in the head, realising the gas. Batman gave his protégé a small nod, before hitting the ground unconscious.
Robin, gleaming with pride, broke free of his icy restraints and continued his way towards the vent.
"I got it!"
================================================~[,,_,,]:3
"I got it!" Robin's voice rang true through the minds of young justice.
"Good. Make your way to the rendezvous point. We'll meet up with you soon." Aqualad's voice instructed. He nodded to the rest of his team, and they sprang.
Kid Flash broke from the group first, and ran around the other teens, creating a small, wide tornado. Flash immediately began to run after him, but was stopped by a border of fist sized rocks that levitated around the cyclone. The rocks split in two, and began to spin as well. Finally, water rose up, mixing with the rock and air and swirling along with them. Suddenly, Seven tongues of water lashes out at the senior heroes. Each hit its mark, with two hitting Superman. When the attack died down, all six heroes were shocked to see that all seven teens were gone.
"I'll get them." Green Lantern called to his teammates, "You guys see what happened inside."
Meanwhile, the team had met up at an abandoned office building, and were hiding in the basement, catching their breath.
"Are you sure we weren't followed?" panted Artemis, glancing nervously at the door.
"Actually, you were."
Seven pair of eyes turned to face the new voice. Leaning on the door to the exit was Red Arrow, glaring at the tip of his bow.
"But, lucky for you, I took care of it. Green Lantern doesn't and will never know what hit him."
The rest of the team just stood in shock, before Wally decided to break the ice.
" So… how much do you know?" he asked, his happiness at seeing the archer taking second place to the haunting notion that his friend may know something they don't, something horrible.
"Just that the leagues looking for you, and that you did something." Roy held up his hands at the panicked and suspicious looks he received. "Don't worry, I'm not with the league, and even if I was, I wouldn't turn you in. And I that whatever it was you did was pretty bad." Roy narrowed his eyes at the team, "So what was it?"
"We're just about to find out." Robin replied gravely, cutting open the box with his bird-a-rang tip.
"Conner, you've got the DVD player right?"
"Yup." Conner said, giving Dick the DVD player. Dick placed in on a small table in the corner of the room, and opened the box. Inside was a folder, which Dick swiftly tossed to the floor, revealing a blue DVD. Gingerly, he placed the DVD into the player and hit the few buttons that was required.
The screen flickered to life, and the monotone voice of Batman was heard, along with his face Bat-glaring at the viewers.
"This video was made for the purpose of documenting the atrocious crimes committed by the covert team of young heroes, known simply as The Team. The group consists of six teens, ranging in ages from thirteen to sixteen. Their identities have been kept secret, in case this video falls into the wrong hands, or the Team is proved innocent.
They are charge with these crimes: The kidnapping and brutal torture of two civilians, the murder of eight, and stealing high security nano-bots from Wayne industries.
Case one:" Batman's face was replaced with a picture; the picture showed a man's body covered in burns of all degrees, dark purple bruises, missing his fingers, and laying in a hospital bed, "James Thomson, age 46, father of two. Professor at Central City University. He was found by Flash laying in the street, bleeding heavily from hands and a cut to the head. After being rushed to hospital, he was found to have two shattered ribs, and internal bleeding. DNA of three members of the team was found all over his chest and head.
Case two:" the picture switched again, this time showing a girl missing her legs, her face purple and swollen, and arrow shaped burns covering her arms, "Cassie Truman, age 20, mother of one. Intern at Star City labs. Found floating face up in a slow moving river. Upon being rushed to hospital, she was found to have a pierced lung, and was barely alive. The arrow marks appear to be from specially designed tasers.
Both are recovering, but with sever mental disorders. When questioned about their torture, they both confirmed that the assailants were teens, and that they were not asked any questions.
Case three:" the scene changed for the third time, this time showing bodies in a pile on the street, with a note attached to the head of one, "Eight yet to be identified people were found in a Metropolis street, with a note contain each Team member's personal signature, two mounts after the fist two attacks. DNA evidence also revealed that the Team members had assaulted these people. No motive was discovered, and the people do not appear to be related.
Case four:" the screen changed again, but this time to a video, "this is an exert from the robbery at Wayne Industries. Employee's confirmed that a lockdown was initiated, and that there was no way to get in or out." The video continued to play as Batman talked, showing Robin somersaulting towards a large glass container in the centre of a small room. Superboy came up beside him and smashed the glass, setting off an alarm. The rest of the team walked up beside the duo, patting Superboy on the back and appearing to congratulated him. Aqualad then took out the small box from the shattered remains of the glass, and turned to the camera. The rest of the team followed suit, turning and posing. One by one, they left, with Kid Flash being the last one out, walking and making faces as he passed.
"The nano-bots were found hanging from Wayne tower the next morning, with a note that said 'From: Your Sidekicks, To: Justice League. =P'. We've kept it a secret from the public and the Team, and we are now moving in for the arrest."
The screen flickered for the last time, then darkened.
Seconds passed by and the teens simply stared in shock at the small screen. Then Megan began to cry softly, followed by Zatanna. Artemis gripped the edge of the table to keep from fainting, while Roy, Wally, and Dick paled to a ghostly white. Conner, the last to react, promptly threw up.
"Horror," the identical thought flew into, and lingered, in everyone's mind, "Doesn't even to begin to describe what happened to those people".
"What we did to those people."
So, SORRY FOR MAKING YOU WAIT SO LONG! I WAS LIKE "YOU WILL FINISH THIS CHAPTER!" and that was, like, three weeks ago. SORRY!
But, it's long (more than 4,000 words!), and you FINNALY found out! YAY! Congrats to the 14 people who correctly guessed "All Three" on my poll, have a kumquat hippopautamus.
OH, AND BEFORE YOU GO AND REVIEW, NO SPOILERS IN YOUR REVIEWS PLEASE! 1 spoiler for Auld Acquaintance or beyond= one HORRIBLE thing I do to the team. You saw what I did to the victims, and that was me on EASY MODE! so be careful what you say.
REVIEW PLEASE!