Chapter Thirteen: Of Gods and Monsters
A/N: Soooooo that took a while. I'm not gonna lie, i had A LOT of things come in the way of this, from uni work to work experience to the flu to a concert. you get the general idea.
Anyway this is nice and long so hopefully you guys will enjoy it :)
00:21 GMT Arctic Ocean September 21th 2010
Captain Alexander Levi of the Russian Federation's attack submarine Rasputin was currently tasked with locating the missing Finnish Exploratory submarine Red Herring, a diplomatic action and a chance to test out the capabilities of the subs radar and sonar systems.
"Captain our sensors are picking up something strange." Came the concerned voice of the system's officer, the young but talented submariner was usually able to explain anything he picked up on the subs more experimental sensor equipment.
"What is it sailor?" the captain inquired unease filling his mind: though the novelty of discovering Atlantis and the Greek gods were real had eventually worn off in the modern world, yet it did cause many people to worry about the existence of other more malevolent beings. In his case it was sea monsters such as devilfish, leviathans, and hydras.
"The chemical and pressure sensors are picking up a dome like area of surface level atmospheric gas composition and surface level atmospheric pressure." He informed the officer, the veteran sailor was shocked at the words. An area at depths deep enough to crush a steel battleship into a tin can with normal pressure levels; this was something way out of his pay grade and comprehension, and was definitely a 'Justice League' thing.
"Open communication to rely bob; if that is a different pressure then it might not be safe for our sub to approach." The captain instructed knowing that the order would bring them out of stealth but the risk was part of the job. The communication's officer began transmitting the find. They had only been broadcasting for a few minutes then the sensor officer looked up at the captain and the XO, there was concern and fear in the young the woman's face.
"Captain, sonar is picking up twenty small objects approaching us at thirty knots… the acoustics though they're… they're not right." She explained looking at him in fear.
"Let's hear them." The XO ordered watching the female sailor comply with drilled efficiency working her counsel and playing the noise for the whole room to hear. It was a keening screeching sound; it brought forth images of monsters coming to feast on their fears.
"Charge up electrodes on the hull; I want anything that comes near us sent packing with a few thousand volts in its system!" the captain order sharply, his training overcoming the fear he felt within his heart. His men reacted with the same, drilled military precision directing their racing hearts onto their assigned duties as the sub prepared to repel the creatures. "And send an SOS to the league as well."
06:34 EDT Mount Justice September 23rd 2010
The team was currently asleep in the lounge while the leaguers cleaned up and fortified the ruined cave. It had been almost midnight before the leaguers had finally arrived in force to see the devastation caused by a hundred and fifteen Mister Twister constructs to their protégée's base of operations. It had taken a full ten minutes for an exhausted Kid Flash to explain what had happened and to show them the recovered footage of Red Tornado being carried off after his ambush. Once that was done and Doctor Fate had released Adrian, Batman ordered the team to rest in the Lounge while the League purged the cave of foreign software. Right now Batman was just finishing up with the upgrading of the cave's security systems; as well as carrying out the process of clearing out the last traces of malware code from the cave's network.
"We got off lucky if you ask me; things could have been far worse." Captain Atom said as he sealed the now filled container of robotic parts, Hawkman snorted angrily as he glared over at him.
"Oh really, the team's base was compromised, the enemy captured one of our colleagues and who knows what condition he's currently in or what secrets are now in the hands of our enemies!" the thanagarian growled in a low dangerous voice; the ever alert superman was quick to place a restraining hand on his shoulder.
"Easy Katar we're all tired and on edge but that's not reason to turn on each other; it won't help us find Red Tornado." Superman said diplomatically, after a tense moment the alien lawman sighed backing down before returning to fill his container, his wife gave superman a grateful look as she deposited another arm full of parts into the crate.
"Atom's right though." Stewart said as he carried in the last pile of machines placing them down in the middle of the room. "We could have lost one or maybe even the entire team."
"So what now Bruce; do we relocate the YJL to a temporary location?" Black Canary asked as she glanced over at Batman as he paused in his typing looking round at them; his expression unreadable.
"That is up to them; besides we don't have any other places for them that are even half as secure as we believed this place to be." Was all he said before returning to his work; the others exchanged looks before, wisely deciding to leave the issue at that and return to the clean-up.
06:41 EDT Mount Justice September 23rd 2010
"Jesus Christ has it been six hours already?" Amelia groaned when the leaguers returned to wake them all up. Everyone looked tired and demoralised after having to repel the assault on their supposed secret sanctuary. That had only been made worse by finding out their team supervisor had been captured and whose fate was currently unknown to them.
Everyone wanted answer on what the league planned to do about rescuing Red Tornado so all eyes were fixed on Batman while Captain Atom, Captain Marvel, the Hawks, Superman, Green Arrow and Black Canary, Jon Stewart, Aquaman, Martian Manhunter, and the Flash surrounded them in a semi-circle.
"First off you should all be proud of your teamwork and resolve in defeating the invading force; your ability to react to the situation resulted in none of you being seriously injured or worse." Batman began as the teens felt a bit of pride burn in their hearts at the words Batman gave them before he went on. "I have no doubt you wish to go after Red Tornado but that will be handled by the league."
"But he was our supervisor, our den mother, you can't expect us to sit here and do nothing!" Mia cried out in outrage gaining cries of agreement from the others.
"The league will handle Red Tornado, you have two choices: first go home and rest up." Batman said firmly gaining looks of outrage on the team's face.
"Encase you haven't notice we are home AND IT'S A SMOULDERING WARZONE!" Conner roared in anger causing superman to take a step forward only to be stopped by John.
"I haven't finished talking." Batman said with a tone so menacing it crushed the rebellious fire in their hearts; he paused before continuing. "Or you can show us your professionalism and continue to perform the missions I assign you, such as right now."
"We're ready for it bats." Evelyn spoke up after a few moments glancing around at her team before looking back to him. "Besides none of us can switch back to civvie life after what just happened."
"Good decision. "Batman said before folding his arms and continuing on "right now the league will launch an immediate investigation into the attack and that means there's currant missions that we cannot undertake at this point in time. That's where you come in."
"So we're getting some harder missions now as well?" Robin asked surprised at the words the batman was saying; the dark knight nodded activating the monitor screen bringing up the news report.
"I have been looking into the story about Mayor Hill's hunting party coming under attack from a mini-gun wielding gorilla in India; I've discovered similar stories of deformed and mutated animals in the same area spanning a period of time beginning shortly after you're mission to Santa Prisca." The Batman explained as other news reports appeared on the screen while the team took in the information; too afraid to question its legitimacy to batman.
"So someone is playing with genetics… like with the genomorphs at Cadmus only this time using the cobra-venom from Santa Prisca?" Katharine inquired with Kara and Amelia looking infuriated at this possibility; Batman nodded bringing up the cobra-venom formula.
"Someone may be experimenting with the effects on wild animals, perhaps in an attempt to remove the negative effects the compound has on the subjects' intelligence. If that is the case then it is something I want to know about and put a stop too. To that end Kid Flash will lead a team to investigate the site and report back her findings to me." Batman said his wording catching Evelyn off as she processed his orders.
"A team Batman? Not the team." She asked surprised that things were taking a different turn from before. 'I'm getting the feeling it's one of those deviations.'
"Yes I believe the team is experienced enough now to preform multiply simultaneous missions when the time calls for them." Batman went on looking at Kaldur now who frowned as he realised the implications of this development. "A few days ago the league receive word from the UN of the disappearance of a Finnish scientific research submarine not far off Iceland, it was investigating unusual seismic activity in the region."
"In an act of diplomacy the Russian Federation sent one of their new Hunter Killer attack subs to search for the missing vessel." Batman informed them as the Intel appeared on the monitor now showing a rather intimidating looking sub. "yesterday the Rasputin sent a distress signal before all communication with it was lost, Aquaman was going to search the area with help from his top magic students, but given the issue at hand the league has decided that Aqualad will lead a secondary team and assist with the search effort by leading it in his place."
"How will we get to these locations with only one mode of transport?" Megan spoke up looking at the Batman who turned back to the monitor and brought up two strange looking aircraft.
"These are the Leagues new stealth planetary-space capable star ships: Javelin I and Javelin II; the YJL will have a secondary hanger constructed and certain members will be trained in piloting them." Batman said before bringing up another aircraft, it was similar to the Batwing but with red linings and colours. "This is the Redwing, a gift from Lucas to you Batwoman, it will be delivered here once Hal is finished expanding the new hanger."
"Wait how come she's getting a jet and I'm not!" Robin yelled in outrage watching the batman stop and faces him meeting the boy wonders gaze.
"Simple one she has experience with aircraft with her gilders, two she can get a driver's licence." The batman finished turning to back to the screen; the others couldn't help but grin at the 'bat humour', no doubt meant to help ease the tension in the room. "Aqualad will pick out his team and take the Bioship to find the missing subs and meet with up the Atlantean search team that Aquaman had brought in; Meanwhile Captain Marvel has volunteered to take over Red Tornado's duties as the first in a rotation of supervisors. He'll pilot Kid Flash's team to India and assist you if needed."
"Don't worry guys I won't boss you around." He said cheerfully causing a few looks to be exchanged between the present leaguers and team members; it took a great deal of willpower for Evelyn not to grin at Billy's antics.
"Aqualad select your team and head out to the mission site and meet up with the Atlantean rescue team at the site." Batman finished and headed out with rest of the leaguers; leaving the team with Captain Marvel, they looked at him puzzled by his behaviour while Aqualad processed his first 'true' leadership mission.
"Would it be acceptable if I take Kara and Amelia Evelyn; they are both able to function under water and at high pressure environments and their immunity to radiation would be of immense benefit with dealing with the nuclear reactor of the sub?" he asked her slightly nervously at the request; it would leave the India team without their heaviest guns and limit their airpower to Kid Flash and Batwoman. 'And Captain Marvel as well.'
"Sure thing Kaldur we've still got Conner, and Captain Marvel seems eager to help out, plus we can bring Sphere along too." Evelyn replied walking over and gripping his shoulder as a show of support and pointing to an excited Marvel who gave him the thumbs up in encouragement. "You focus on your mission and don't worry about us now getting going."
"I'm coming too." Adrian said getting to his feet and ignoring their looks of disagreement. "You'll need someone to pilot the bioship so Megan's free to join the fight if one develops."
"Very well but keep out of danger will you; I've already got enough on my mind as it is." Evelyn said looking at him pleadingly; he smiled and nodded before running over to join the second team.
They headed off to the rear hanger, Megan glanced back at Conner who smiled at her causing her to rush over and embrace him tightly kissing him.
"Stay safe and come back to me in one piece ok?" she whispered to him watching him nod once hugging her before letting her go. "Good luck in India."
With that said she disappeared from sight as she flew after the rest of her team; Evelyn turned back to the others looking at Captain Marvel who was lounging beside Mia still smiling, no doubt happy to hang out with heroes closer to his real age; many a time she found herself chuckling at the thought that she was essentially his opposite: an adult's mind in a child's body, of course she had to factor in the gender change, different time, and not forgetting parallel universe to boot.
"So Captain Marvel when can we head off?" she asked wanting to get on with the mission so that they could be free to aid Aqualad's team should they run into trouble during they're mission.
"Oh right, Captain Atom had left it out the front for us in stealth mode; follow me guys last one there has to write up the mission report!" he said warmly getting up and running out of the room towards the com room.
"But Evelyn always writes up the mission reports and delivers the debriefings too." Mia said glancing at the running figure of their new supervisor.
"Okay anyone else think that guy acts pretty weird?" Katharine asked glancing around at the others who nodded; Evelyn felt her lips break into a grin as she turned around so as not to let the others see it. "Well might as well get this mission underway."
Still trying not to smile Evelyn followed the others after Captain Marvel with Kathy's new light weight glider unit strapped onto her back beneath her cap folded up like some sort of backpack while Sphere rolled behind them like an excited dog; Evelyn yawned as she began raking around her head to remember the details of the India mission.
'Was that the one with all the gorillas? No that was the Africa one; this was where Conner got Wolf.' She remembered as they arrived at the front and left seeing an empty field with Captain Marvel standing there busy with a remote control in his hands.
"Oh there it is!" he said out loud with delight in his voice as he pointed the remote into the middle of the space and pressed the button: a large shape seemed to shimmer into existence; it was longer than the bioship with a dull metallic surface and wings shaped like sideways T's. The team gasped in amazement at the vessel before them.
"The design was made by Green Lantern and Batman from studying the technology used in Superman and Super-girls pods, as well as the Hawk's star ship and the stealth features are from reverse engineering the systems on the invisible jet!" Captain Marvel stated proudly, whether to the capabilities of the ship or that fact he remembered them all Evelyn couldn't tell. He pressed the remote again and a ramp descended from the belly granting them access to the ship; they followed him inside finding a large space with eight seats facing forward. Looking around in wonder the team took their seats with Kid running the co-pilot seat beside Captain Marvel as he activated the stealth system and took off from the ground without a sound.
"How long till we reach India?" she asked as they journeyed onward at supersonic speeds; the leaguer pointing to readout clearly focused on piloting the aircraft safely. Glancing at the indicated dial she saw that the flight path would take them roughly 6 hours to reach the target zone compared to the much faster Bioship.
'Last time the team was chaotic and unfocused, but we did have Miss Martian's mind-link to aid us… I guess we'll just have to put our faith in state of the art com-links.' Kid Flash thought as she racked her brains to remember the mission details. It wasn't all that easily given how it had happened over twenty years ago and she sometimes got details muddled up; of course she had to remind herself that this was a parallel universe and while it was very similar to her old at times, she still needed to take each mission as an unknown or suffer the consequences. She had decided against telling batman in the cave about the 'mole' and decided to let Barry know later so as to avoid the risk of the others finding out and freaking out on her like the others had on Aqualad before.
12:34 UTC-2 off the coast of Iceland September 23rd 2010
"Approaching rondevu coordinates now." Miss Martian announced as the bioship descended towards the ocean surface below; two figures were standing on an ice platform clearly waiting for something or someone. "I guess that's the Atlantean search team Aquaman sent here."
The Bioship decloaked as it descended towards the ice platform; the pair stared at the Martian vessel with awe while Miss Martian opened up the side of the ship for them to enter.
"Tula! Garth!" Power-girl called out jumping to her feet as she ran over to embrace the two atlanteans; the two looked happy to see Power-girl and Aqualad.
"It's good to see you again Amelia." Tula said as she hugged the girl tightly before glancing at Aqualad and the others; Garth walked over and embraced Aqualad smiling at his old friend.
"It is good to see you again Kaldur, it will be my pleasure to work with you and your team on this mission." He said gesturing to the others who smiled and waved at him.
"These are a few members of the team who will be working with us on the currant mission: Super-girl, Wildcat, and Miss Martian." Aqualad said to him introducing each in turn as they smiled at the pair.
So let's get this underwater mission underway!" Super girl called out from her seat beside Tula, Garth had taken the newly created seat beside Aqualad on the other side of the pilot's dais. "You know you two are gonna need hero identities if you're working with us."
"Great Idea!" Megan cried out as they began to dive deeper into the arctic sea; the two Atlanteans glanced at one another unsure about it.
"Now then with Tula it's easy; Aqua-lass or maybe Aqua-girl … but Garth?" Kara thought looking at the others for help; Aqualad smiled seeing the name game as a way of showing his friends that they were one of the team.
"Tula got any cool sounding names?" Power-girl inquired suddenly surprising the sorceress who jumped before looking at Aqualad for help.
"What about the name Tempest; given your master over the advance spell?" Aqualad offered with a smile to his friend; the others seemed to like the name as Power-girl and Super-girl tried it out.
"Great idea Aqualad; its very magic-ee and ocean like." Miss Martian chimed in as Tempest and Aqua-girl looked over at each other sharing a smile at being included in Aqualad's world.
23:04 IST Northern India September 23rd 2010
"Well we've reached the mission sites!" Cpt Marvel announced excitedly to the team before glancing at Kid Flash still beaming with anticipation. "Sooo what's the game plan KF?"
The others just stared at the apparent adult's excited and childlike demeanour and once more Kid had to fight back the urge to laugh at it all.
"Robin and Batwoman will run recon ahead of us with Superboy acting as our radar given his super vision and hearing; but remember stay vigilant we don't know what might be lurking out there, so watch each other's backs ok." Kid Flash informed the heroes who nodded as they geared up and left the ship. The Javelin disappeared from sight the moment the boarding ramp sealed shut behind them. The two gothamites had already disappeared into the night; it was only then that she realised what she had forgotten to do. "Ah fuck."
"What is it?" Super boy asked concerned as he watched her face palm before turning to look at them all.
"Forgot to charge the ring." She informed them grimacing as she showed them the violet ring before looking in the direction of where the others had headed off in. "hope we don't need it."
"Come on we've got a job to do." Speedy said as she gestured towards the jungle ahead with her bow; Kid nodded and began walking after their recon team ears open for any attacking creatures.
"Ah my dear Mallory it seems our little project has drawn the notice of zee young justice league" came a robotic French voice as it watched the monitors depicting the young heroes advancing into the Indian jungle. "Release the test subjects."
14:21 UTC-2 off the coast of Iceland September 23rd 2010
"So how's life been in Atlantis since last time?" Power-girl inquired over to Aqua-girl as she watched a pair of Greenland shark's drift blindly by, their scalpel like teeth clearly visible to her superhuman eyes. Aqua-girl seemed to think it over before replying.
"Well we helped our King bring down the Purebloods during an uprising." Aqua-girl said cheerfully the surprised of Aqualad and Power-girl, and general confusion of the others.
"They're basically Atlantean equivalent of the KKK or the neo-Nazis'." Power-girl summed up, the others gave looks of understanding though they decided to ask Aqualad for a more detailed description of the group.
"So you two excited about working with Aqualad and the YJL?" Super-girl inquired to the two newbies; the pair smiled nodding fervently.
"Yes we are; it brought us great joy when King Orin informed us that we would be working alongside you all." Aqua-girl responded.
"It will be interesting to see how you and your fellow heroes do things on the surface world." Tempest chuckled warmly as the team began to banter with the pair; it brought a warm feeling to Aqualad's heart, seeing his friends from both worlds getting on with each other.
"We're coming up on the site of the last transmission from the sub." Miss Martian announced as the friendly air died as the reality of their mission took hold once more. The team watched the ruined and foreboding outline of the Russian Submarine draw closer.
The corpse of the great and proud vessel lay sundered upon an underwater cliff, its armoured hull bore many wounds torn deep into its metal skin; the crew would have drowned quickly, at least that was what the heroes had hoped.
"Hey guys what is the crew of a Russian attack sub?" Power-girl asked quietly to the room in general.
"109 submariners." The three Atlanteans answered simultaneously; the room fell silent as the young heroes realised just what they were going to find down there. Strangely enough only Miss Martian was untouched by the sight of death, it seemed that was about to change.
"Is she bleeding?" Tempest asked gravely to Aqualad; the team leader glanced down at a sensory read out panel before shaking his head.
"No elevated levels of radiation detected; her reactor must have been shut down." Aqualad responded glancing towards Miss Martian.
"Alright Miss Martian Establish a mind link and create an airlock at the back of the ship, Super-girl and Power-girl will enter the ship and retrieve the nuclear material using the shield container. " Aqualad began issuing orders to the team. "Once that is done, proceed to the bridge and see if you can find out what happened to them."
The duo nodded, unbuckling their harnesses' before getting to their feet and heading to the rear of the vessel. The small cargo bay contained the high-end storage device for the enriched uranium. The side of the room shifted into a pressure lock. The pair stepped before the room began to fill up with water; once that was done they opened the external hatch and headed out into the water.
"Wow this is weird." Super-girl thought as her solar enriched cells somehow extracted oxygen from water before expelling the water from her lungs; the league wasn't fully sure on how the yellow rays effect the kryptonain body, only that it granted them the energy to push their cells beyond normal capabilities and work with some as of yet undiscovered cellular process to do the things they do.
"You get used to it; besides haven't you been to outer space?" Power-girl commented over the mind-link as the two girls moved through the water towards the submarine, their bodies unaffected by the crushing depth or low temperature. They reached the largest scar and entered it, finding themselves inside a long corridor fully submerged in the water.
"No Kal told me not to; besides I find the idea of flying into outer space without any suit or spaceship kinda scary." She replied glancing over at her teammate; Power-girl nodded understanding the feeling, the two progressed down the hall towards the reactor room. They passed the lifeless bodies of men and woman, fear etched on their pale faces. It saddened the two heroines to see how young the people were; they silently promised them justice. "I'm approaching the reactor chamber now."
The room was still sealed, though they pair used their x-ray vision to see through the metal bulkhead, they saw the dead the crewmen with their lips blue from oxygen starvation, their hands locked together as one middle-aged woman had a bible in her left hand.
"Reactor is shut down; proceeding into the room to retrieve fuel rods." Power-girl informed the team, Super-girl cut the locking mechanism using her heat vision the door was blasted inwards from the force of the water. The two slipped in moving quickly over to the reactor and swiftly beginning the process of removing the fuel source. They were glad that Kid had given the team a run down on safely handling a nuclear reactor after the events of Mister Twister.
"Right Power-girl brings that back to the Bioship; I'll check out the bridge see if I can find out what these brave sailors died for." Super-girl instructed over the link, fully aware of Aqualad hearing every word, given the lack of input from him, both girls took it to mean they had his approval of their chosen course of action. And so Super-girl found herself heading towards the command centre of the military vessel. The room was only semi-flood with a section of computer terminals left high and dry on the left end.
"I might have something Aqualad; some computer terminals are above the water level here." She reported to the team leader as she glided over to the terminal slotting in Robin's hacker skeleton key. The device flashed for a few minutes before it turned solid blue; the data records were successfully transferred over. "Heading back to the Bioship, have a terminal prepped for the data."
23:49 IST Northern India September 23rd 2010
Robin and Batwoman creped forward barely leaving a trace of their movement as they did. The two were trying to maintain focus on the mission at hand, yet their minds kept drifting back to the assault on the cave and the possible fate about their trusted den mother Red Tornado.
"I don't know about you but I'm sure as hell not gonna standby while RT's missing." Robin Whispered to his teammate who glanced at him silently for several moments before looking back towards their path.
"Count me in." was all she whispered back to him as the boy wonder smiled moving forward into a small clearing before halting at a strange noise. A shadow appeared overhead as a pair of taloned toes wrapped robin and Batwoman's shoulders, the pair felt a lurch as they were borne off the ground into the night sky. Looking up they saw a massive and deformed vulture: filthy black and white feathers with broken skin and visible muscular tissue beneath.
"I guessing this is one of the monsters that have been terrifying the locals!" Robin Screamed at Batwoman as the pair of them struggled against the constricting hold of the mutant beast. The bird climbed rapidly into the heavens before the gothamites were able to reach their Tasers and free themselves from the creatures grip.
"Bad Idea!" Robin bellowed as they hurtled down towards the earth spinning with their caps pressed against their faces due to the downward descent. After a few moments of frantic movements Batwoman was able to level herself out and activate her glider backpack. Her cape was reeled in as the hard polymer fibre glider wings extended outward locking into place. Her hands gripped the holds as she fired the engines launching herself forward towards the plummeting form of robin, she folded her wings as she dived before extending them and locking them in place allowing her hands to be free to grab hold of the scared boy.
"Gotcha!" she cried out in success as she pulled the boy wonder in to a tight embrace, her flight pattern dipping slightly as she work a clip to his utility belt and locked it on via magnetic forces. "Wrap your arms around my waist."
"Wait come again?" he asked rather loudly looking a bit sheepish; she groaned at his words hearing the vulture's flapping wings bearing down on them from above.
"I need my hands free to steer the wings now just do it!" she yelled at him, he grumbled some undecipherable words before carrying out her instructions and wrapping his arms around her waist pressing his body tightly against her armoured chest. In spite of the danger them were currently in she couldn't help but grin at the awkwardness the young teen must be feeling right now.
"Hold on it's gonna get rough." She warned as she adjusted the current in the fibre wings allowing her to bend them and bank sharply to the right in time to avoid dismemberment via twelve inch razor sharp talons from the gene spliced bird. Trusting in the performance review of the glider's capabilities she folded into a steep dive aiming for the tree tops. The vulture followed its more air dynamic body suffering less drag than her due to her hapless companion.
"I thought the glider was meant to stop us from falling to our deaths!" he yelled in fear and frustration; he was after all helpless without a gilder of his own, unfortunately Batman had never seen the practicality of them given the batwing and Wayne Tech had no development into them unlike Hamilton Defence.
"No back seat flying!" was all Batwoman said in reply as she focused every neuron and brain cell on carrying out her plan on time. Just when the pair seemed certain to impact the tree line she banked once more to the right rolling as she did before extending her wings and activating the drag chutes aiding in the slowing of her descent enough that she was able to skim over the tree tops while the vulture tried to pull out of the dive… unfortunately evolution hadn't included parachutes and the sheer momentum it was traveling at powered it on into the dense clump of trees and carving a massive trench in the earth.
"Watch your landing." Batwoman informed one relieved sounding robin before deactivating the magnetic clamp releasing him into a large tree, the acrobat had no issue in latching on to the branch and began making his way to the ground with practiced ease. Meanwhile Batwoman carried out a slow descent towards the ground bleeding her speed before shutting off the current and turning her face first landing into a roll; she was thankful for the impact dampening body armour because that controlled landing had still hurt like hell.
"I guess that's one way to field test something." She joked to robin as the pair approached the groaning creature; it' right wing was bent the wrong way and there were some pained sounds emanating from its heaving form.
"I'm surprised it's still down considering what cobra venom does to humans?" Robin commented as he sent a message back to the others while Batwoman stared at the creature and in particular the collar it wore around its neck.
"Birds bones are hollow for flight so I thought they might not be as reinforced as the muscles on this guy." She said walking over to the creatures head pulling out a batarang as she did; in one fluid motion she cut the collar off the creature's neck. Almost at once the creature seemed to calm down though it still groaned in pain, the pair examined the collar realising it was a belle reve inhibitory collar customised to the effect of Cobra Venom and the camera located on it clearly indicated that their presence was known to their target.
"We better get back to the others." Robin said before the sounds of battle sounded from the direction of the team's location behind them. Sparing a glance between each other the duo rushed towards the distant battle as fast they could manage.
The others were making their way steadily through the vegetation and rough, uneven terrain of the jungle. Unfortunately while Robin and Batwoman may have been trained for stealth, the others weren't as proficient in that field. Although Speedy was doing alright with managing to keep her quiver from tangling up with the creeper vines as she moved through the brush, Super boy seemed to step on every twig in the jungle causing his right eye to twitch with building frustration. This was the first mission in which the team's ability to detect nearby hostiles rested solely on him. He strained his ears to pick out any and every sound and found himself greatly missing the familiar voices of the team in his mind, Megan's in particular.
'Great get it together Conner she's with Kara and Amy under the sea it's not like you're going to be much help down there.' He mental scolded himself for his divided thoughts; he guessed it must be normal for people in relationships to be worried about each other, though he marvelled at how Eve and Kathy seemed to remain focused while on missions, he sighed as his foot found its way into yet another animal's burrow. Even sphere was making less noise than him right now and he kept humming and beeping every few seconds. They had lost contact with the foreword recon team now and the lot of them were starting to get worried; with good reason as it turned out.
"Hold up something's coming towards us." Superboy called out to the team pointing to the left of them, they froze scanning the area, ears strained and muscles tensed. The first thing they heard was the thundering of heavy footfalls alongside the snapping of the trees and undergrowth.
The threat revealed itself to be a herd of cobra-venom enhanced elephants, which proceeded to run rampant through the team's line. Kid Flash dashed over to pick up Speedy and began running away from the creatures that smashed into Captain Marvel and bore him away into the jungle. Despite her speed, kid flash couldn't navigate the rough jungle terrain fast enough to outrun the herd of mutant mammals.
'I can barely see where I'm going.' Kid flash thought exasperatedly before she proceeded to trip on something and go barrelling down a hill. She let go of Speedy as she tumbled past her coming to rest with a splash by a large river.
"That sucked." She groaned as she slowly clambered to her feet in the soft water logged soil; she spotted an equally battered Speedy up on the slope above her, the blonde archer was already back on her feet checking her bow for damage before calling down to Kid, asking if she was alright. "Yeah I'm fine just bruised and soaked is all."
"Look out!" Speedy suddenly called out as Kid Flash heard the sound of something large break through the water's surface, whirling around Kid came face to face with the maw of a giant mutant crocodile which proceeded to clamp its massive jaws around her head. She dodged to the side, her body almost avoiding the closing jaws… almost.
'SHIT!" Kid thought as she felt something strong clamp on to her long ponytail, causing her whole body to halt in place; she knew what would come next, the creature would pull her back into the water, though she would probably be died once the force of its pull on her body caused her neck to snap from the strain. She felt the pull momentarily before it was gone, she found herself falling back into the shallow riverside. This lasted for a few seconds, before her brain reacted and she scrambled away from the water's edge until she reached the trees at the foot of the slope.
"You OK?" Speedy asked as she slide down to land beside the shocked Red head; the archer glanced at Kid's head before grimacing and uttered apologetically. "Sorry about the hair it was either that or you head."
Blinking Kid attentively reached her right hand to feel the top of her head; she came across a wet tangle of short red hair that clung to her head.
'My ponytail's gone… well I guess this is a good excuse as any for styling my hair short.' She thought as she turned to see the monster responsible for her woes staring at them from just above the surface of the water. They heroines quickly made their way back up the slope to find the others; they could her sound of lightening off in the distance, along with the howls of wolves.
16:21 UTC-2 off the coast of Iceland September 23rd 2010
The Bioship cruised through the water as they drew near to site of the submarine's find. Whatever it was didn't show up on their radar but that might just be because it was now hidden from sight. Besides it was the only lead they had right now.
"Was it right to leave those Bodies back there?" Miss Martian asked in a quiet voice glancing around the room; the others understood her reasoning. After all no one wanted to lay forgotten at the bottom of the sea.
"Once we complete the mission we can report it to the Russian Navy; it's their call to make." Aqualad responded to her; she nodded before returning her gaze to the foreword viewing port.
"Approaching the target destination… what is?" Miss Martian asked as they all caught sight of the large see through dome. Within was some form of old Greek temple set before a glowing fissure in the cliff wall above it.
"It can't be." Aqua-girl breathed out glancing at Tempest and then at Aqualad; fear etched on her face.
"Can't be what?" Wildcat asked glancing over at Aqualad along with rest of the team.
"It's the prison where the First King of Atlantis imprisoned all the monsters of the sea." Tempest Answered looking grimly towards the sinister glowing crack.
"It's the Abyss." Aqualad spoke feeling his heart rate increase with fear. "And someone is opening its doors."
"We've got Contacts coming in fast." Miss Martian shouted out as a number of hideous monsters the size of sharks appeared on the monitor. "Taking evasive manoeuvres."
"Miss Martian configure the Bioship for Human use; Wildcat get us as close to the dome as possible; these creatures are nothing compared to what yet lurks within the Abyss." Aqualad began issuing Orders loudly jumping to his feet. "Everyone prepare for battle."
Miss Martian got up from the pilot's seat, allowing Wildcat to take over; the others moved to the Airlock and got in waiting for the word to deploy.
"Alright you've got one meter to cross that's the best I can do since I can't slow down to enter the dome." Wildcat spoke over the mind-link; there was a short pause before. "Go now!"
23:50 IST Northern India September 23rd 2010
For Superboy it had been instinctive to leap out of the way of the rampaging giants, his instincts unfortunately had not considered the sheer rocky drop at the point. So he soon found himself smashing his through trees and vines on his way down to valley floor below. He struck the solid earth hard, startled bird fleeing in loud droves as they sensed the coming battle.
"Well that sucks." Superboy grunted out as he pushed himself first to his knees and then to his feet, he scanned his new surroundings, his super hearing telling him that the thunderous elephants had left his immediate area and now something new was coming his way.
He watched as the brush and undergrowth rattled and shake when the large grey predators encircled him, he recognised them as mutated Wolves, bigger than the long gone dire wolves of millennia past but no less savage judging from their low beastly growling. He spied one wolf situated high on the hillside above, it was snow white and larger than any of the other pack members; it stared at him in an almost calculating glare, before some unseen command seemed to pass between the rests of the pack members and they launched themselves at him eager for blood.
"Any sign of them?" Robin shouted as he looked up to where Batwoman was soaring overhead; with the coms being jammed they had no choice but to locate the team and hopefully that vulture was the only juiced up flyer in the area.
"Thermal's showing something up ahead." She said as she landed beside him, her glider wings folding back into the device with her cape being released. The pair moved swiftly in the direction of the thermal target. They eventually came across Sphere, who was stuck wedged between two rocks; it beeped madly once they appeared at its side. Working quickly they planted explosives on the rock blowing them up, the alien machine released a long stream of grateful beeps as it rolled around the pair.
"OK boy take us to the others." Robin said encouragingly to the alien ball, it beeped its consent before rolling off through the jungle at a steady rate; the two caped teens were barely able to keep up with it.
Superboy roared loudly as the genetically mutated canid sank its fangs into his shoulder teeth straining to piece his superhuman skin before he body slammed the offending creature into a tree trunk; splitting it with the sheer force of their impact and knocking out the last of the attacking pack members.
"Who's next?" He roared turning to face the giant white wolf which stared at him in a calculating way, its neck collar suddenly beeped and it snared in pain. Super-boy paused looking at the mutant wolf in confusion before he was smashed off his feet by the beast which lunged for him when he was distracted.
'It doesn't want to fight me… but the collar it's forcing it too; I'll have to remove it.' He thought as he threw the creature off staring it down as it circled him.
"Easy boy I now you don't want to fight me, I can help you get that thing off if you let me?" Super-boy asked his voice loud, calm and steady; he saw a flicker of understanding appear when the beasts eyes before another bolt of electricity flashed through the collar and it raised its hackles.
"I can help you and your pack you just need to trust me!" he said more forcefully as he slow raised both his arms out in front of him and inched closer and closer to the large albino canid.
"Any sign of the others?" Kid Flash asked Speedy as the pair trundled through the jungle, eyes and ears open for anymore juiced up beasts. They both paused when they saw the brush to their right shake and rustle causing speedy notch an arrow in that direction her breath held as she waited for the danger to materialise before the pair.
Out rolled Sphere followed by both Robin and Batwoman. They both looked very concerned and relieved to see the pair of them in their dishevelled state of dress.
'Clever girl.' Kid thought as she patted Sphere's casing affectionally while she turned to face the gothamite heroes.
"You guys find the source of the mutated animals?" she asked looking between the two of them; they shared a look with each other before Robin replied.
"Nope we got attacked by a giant vulture… where are Superboy and captain Marvel… and what happened to your hair?" Robin asked eyes going wide when he realised that Kid's hair was now rather short, she gave him a deadpan stare.
"Mutant crocodiles and long hair don't mix well, besides I now realise how many times I've nearly been killed by long hair so maybe it's a good thing that it's finally gone." She responded before looking around the silent jungle before continuing. "As for cap and Supey I have no idea, we got separated by a herd of giant elephants."
"Great we've got no idea where to go and what's worse we're missing our two heavy hitters." Robin groaned looking annoyed.
"Hey lighten up, those two can look after themselves, I mean this is superboy we're talking about, and let's not forget that captain marvel despite his weird mannerisms is still a member of the JLI." Batwoman told him looking down as she placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. The touching moment was interrupted when the sounds of a large number of creatures approaching at great speed through the jungle brush, reached their ears. They formed up dreading what new mutant creature they would have to overcome or escape. What burst through the foliage was a massive horde of wolves as big as tigers, they circled the group howling and yelping as another, larger white wolf followed their trail with a rather familiar figure clinging on to it.
"What the fuck?" both speedy and robin said in unison at the sight of superboy dismounting from the giant alpha white wolf, the rest of the pack flocked around him eager to shower him with affection and attention.
"You have to be kidding me! I mean sentient alien spheres sure." Batwoman spoke quietly as superboy turned to face them as he rubbed a pair of grey wolves' ears smirking. "But giant mutant wolves!"
"Well maybe Captain will come burst next ridding a giant tiger or something." Kid said as they walked carefully over to superboy, eying the massive predators with cautious eyes.
"It's alright guys they know you're alright, besides they helped me find you." Superboy said as he got up and walked towards them, the white wolf at his side as the rest fell silent forming a circle around them eying their leader and by extent superboy for orders. "I sure Wolfe here can lead us to where the captain is?"
It was then that the wolves and Superboy turned their attention to the bushes beside Kid, as she turned she came face to face with a giant mutated Tiger staring at her, she screamed as she jumped back falling on her ass as the wolves formed up around her snarling towards the massive tiger as it approached them. It held a broken half of a collar before pawing the ground to form a strangely familiar symbol on it.
"its captain marvels emblem… the bad guys must have him!" Batwoman said fury shaping her intermediating mask into a nightmare inducing sight, Speedy, Robin and Superboy felt the same at the prospect of losing two supervisors in two days.
"Hey em mister tiger think you can lead us to where they've taken Captain Marvel?" Kid asked first pointing to the tiger, then to herself and the others, then to the symbol on the ground. The tiger gave growl which she thought must have meant yes as he turned round and looked at them expecting them to follow.
"So who's up for a little wolf riding?" superboy said with an evil smiling as the group paled at his words.
'What a strange universe I'm in.' Kid flash thought to herself as she wondered how the others were getting on in.
16:22 UTC-2 off the coast of Iceland September 23rd 2010
They're time in water had been brief before the heroes had reached the strange transparent dome; they found that they could freely pass through its unnatural membrane before suddenly finding themselves subjected to gravity's effects. The three Atlanteans found themselves plummeting down towards the surface below before Miss Martian was able to halt their descent with her telekinesis, once they had all rallied by a large ornate toppled column they all paused to observe the large dilapidated temple complex before them.
"What do you think we'll find in there?" Super-girl unnerved by the prospect of fighting anything magic related, she had her fair share of bouts with villainous magic users and she didn't remember them fondly. Aqualad drew forth his water bearers and advanced upon the temple with alertness.
"To what lays ahead I cannot say, but I do know what is at stake should we fail to stop this dark place opening." He said with foreboding before rushing onwards with the others following him at a brisk pace, they all could feel the magic energies in the very air of this underwater dome, and yet what every had set its activation in motion was still to make its presence known. "When we enter Super-girl, power-girl and Miss Martian will deal with any potential opposition while Tempest, Aqua-girl and I put an end to what foul sorcery is responsible for this temples awakening."
The five others nodded before following him up the steps to the great carven golden doors which lay at its summit, the moment his hand touched its metal surface the great doors exploded outwards in massive chunks carrying the young heroes off their feet and hurtling back to smash into the ground hard. Grunting through the pain Aqualad clambered to his feet scanning his immediate left and right to find his team doing likewise before turning to face the now shattered doorway as the sound of cruel laughter could be heard echoing from all around.
"My my I was expecting to face a more serious opponent, a collection of the so called justice league, perhaps even the half breed king or the Amazonian bitch." A deep resounding voice, carrying with it an aura of immense power and authority came from the ruined doorway before continuing. "Instead we only get to sate our bloodlust with some barely blooded youths and sidekicks."
"Come now Thrax dear brother, a fight is better than no fight regardless the quality of the adversary." A second deeper voice responded as they the heroes caught sight of their opponents; there were three of them, two dressed as Greek warriors with one wielding a long shafted war hammer and a large Greek shield with a hoplite armour set, he had long blonde hair and blue eyes. The other male was covered in thick metal plate armour with a horned helmet and deep red eyes. He was armoured and yet carried no weapons on him, the final figure was a beautiful woman in her early twenties with deep purple hair, she wore a purple outfit similar in style and appearance to wonder women with a dragon emblem at neck and a cloak tied to her right shoulder. All three of them radiate power and magical energy, both Tempest and Aqua-girl stiffened clearly detecting the divine power as well.
'Demigods.' Hissed Tempest as he, Aqualad and Aqua-girl slipped into a fighting stance, water bearers and magic spheres drawn. At this the other three girls glanced at one another before looking to Aqualad.
"You're kidding right?" Power-girl asked looking at the three figures in their way; the two men reminded her of wonder warrior and he seemed able to match her blow for blow when they had teamed up against the terror twins. The three figures smirked as walked causal towards them.
"Allow us to introduce ourselves, I am lycus, this is my half-brother Thrax we are the sons of the war god Ares, and this lovely lady is our kindred demi-god, Circe the daughter of the dream god Morpheus.' The fully armoured one spoke bowing mockingly at them while his compatriots chuckled with mirth.
"why are you doing this, it was the will of the demigod king of the Atlantis that the abyss be sealed until the end of time, by what right and means have you to unseal its horrors?" Aqualad shouted at them angrily as the team shifted in the battle stances, as taunted to them by Black Canary and Wonder Woman. The trio just smirked arrogantly at them before a loud and authoritarian voice spoke out from behind them.
"Because I willed it so half-breed." Came the cold hatefully voice of the super villain Ocean Master, emerging from the shadows of the doorway, a glittering golden trident held tightly in his left hand as moved to stand beside the demigods.
"It cannot be." Aqua-girl gasped with awe, shock etched upon her face as that both Aqualad's and Tempest's faces hardened at the sight of him.
"How did you come into possession of the trident of Poseidon, only those of royal blood may wield its power?" Tempest roared in outrage gaining the surprised looks of the rest of the team.
"You think Orm and the Half-breed are the only ones who bear royal heritage HA, and I thought you two were intelligent." Ocean master said with a cruel cold laugh that infuriated the young heroes as they waited for the order to attack. "By my royal ancestry I shall unleash the hellish beasts that my forbearer was too weak to command and use their power to regain not only my rightfully place as the true, pure born, king of Atlantis, but to also retake control of the world's oceans as well."
"The sea is as much the right of man as it is the right of Atlanteans Ocean Master, besides the first king of Atlantis was the son of Poseidon and even he could not control or defeat the vile creatures that were sealed away, what delusion have you to believe that you could be any different!" Aqualad roared in rage pointing with one of his water bearers as the blue armoured creep just leered back.
"If you think this is the part where I monologue my plan away then I'm afraid I'll have to disappoint you mongrel, no the ritual is almost done, if you are to stop me then you'll have to work fast before I fully opened the rift." He spoke softly before turning to face Lycus and speaking harshly "Slay the half breed and his sympathisers, do what you what with women before sending their heads to the pretender's so called 'hall of justice'."
He left returning to the great temple leaving the three demigods to handle to Aqualad's team.
"Miss Martian see if you can relieve Oceanmaster of the Trident it should stop whatever ritual he is preforming. But know this, none but the royal born may hold it and wield its power, Tempest, Aqua-girl will handle Circe while Super-girl and Power-girl will deal the war gods sons." Aqualad issued his orders firmly to his team who nodded before they sped into action moving to execute Aqualad orders while their opponents simple stood their grinning. 'Something's not right?'
The earth around them exploded into thick clouds of dust and dirt, they all halted to see a massive wave of skeletal Greek warriors encroaching upon them from all quarters. Taken aback they were unable to mount an effect response before being swamped by them grabbing and restraining them with in human strength.
"What the fuck no one said anything about skeletons." Power-girl cried out trying to smash and scatter their silent foes. And yet no matter what any of them tried they couldn't gain any ground against them.
00:17 IST northern India September 24th 2010
The ride was unpleasant to say the least, but then even for a speedster like herself, navigating the jungle with haste was a difficult feature indeed. So she was currently massaging her sore buttocks as the rather energetic she wolf that had carried her here was nudging her playfully.
'Please tell me he won't take them all home with him.' She thought as she turned to face the others.
They creped forward towards the fortified compound, Kid was surprised at how disciplined the whole wolf pack could be right now. She gestured for the group to halt while she lowered her goggles and switched them to thermal revealing a massive wall of heat encompassing the entire facility in a giant sphere.
"Alright it's got a plasma shield… we'll need to over load it, probably down to Speedy to take out the control box on the wall." Kid Flash whispered to the gathered heroes while Wolfe kept the pack in line with a low growl. She activated her ring which gave her the usually rush of power and warmth every time she did so; She found her eyes focused on Batwoman as she did so. "I'll use the ring to form a gap while speedy takes it down, once that's done the three of us plus the pack ill handle any opposition, meanwhile Robin and Batwoman will sneak in and free Captain Marvel… Remember if these guys were able to take down a league heavy hitter like Captain Marvel then they will be a serious challenge for us."
"Gotcha chief now let's do this." Robin said with a grin while the others nodded solemnly; Kid took a deep breath before she sped over to the edge of the invisible force field and formed a drill construct and smashed it into the field. There were sparks of purple energy as the drill struggled to make its way through the plasma wall, she expected to be attacked at any moment, and yet nothing happened, soon enough there was a small hole forming as the drill broke through, working quickly Kid Flash altered the construct from a drill to a vice grip which forced the gap to stay open as sweat poured down her face.
"Any time now Speedy!" she called out, strain and effort clearly evident in her hoarse voice as an arrow soon whizzed by her head smashing into the control box which then deactivated the entire field. "Well that part of my brilliant plan worked out."
It was then that howling monkeys showed up with a rather unexpected addition, a horde of giant gorillas. Kid Flash froze where she stood, paralyzed by shock at the size of the opposition facing her tiny team of mere mortals.
'How can we take all that on?' she thought fear entering her mind; it was then that she heard the thundering howls as she whirled around to see the entire dozen strong pack following Super-boy towards the compound. 'Just what kind of universe is this?'
"Well this was unexpected don't you think Mallah?" the Brain asked with a quiet chuckle as he and his primate attendant watched the battle unfold outside the compound. Mallah gave a loud short, showing his restlessness to enter the fray outside, minigun a blazing. "No this skirmish is an intriguing display of the how the test subjects adapt to new challenges, besides they will provide us the time we need to finish la procedure."
"Sorry to disappoint you Brainy but that isn't gonna happen!" Robin shouted with glee as he disabled the machine producing the gravity field died out, the pair whirled around to see the two gothamite heroes standing beside a now freed Captain Marvel; the Brain considered his options before deciding on retreat.
"Come Mallah our work here has reached its conclusion, let us return to our old lab and evaluate our mistakes." The Brain said as the Gorilla grabbed on to him, a loud noise filled the air as a boom tube opened behind them and swept over them spiriting them to places unknown.
"How did he do that?" Captain Marvel exclaimed half shocked and half impressed, the two teen heroes just stared opened mouthed at the spot where the criminal had been.
"Robin did you know he could do that?" Batwoman asked staring in shock; it had been a culture shock enough for her when she had been introduced to the zeta beam technology of the league. But even that was limited to a large stationary platform and single person usage with each journey, the fact that the brain had done it without said platform and with another person spoke volumes of how deep the water really was.
"Nope but Batman's going what to hear about it… KF will have a fit too." He responded before remembering about the others, the two teens stared at each other before running over to the control panel to deactivate the collars.
16:44 UTC-2 off the coast of Iceland September 23rd 2010
The situation was dire as Aqualad's team found itself surrounded and slowly being overrun by the endless waves of dead warriors. He couldn't comprehend it all, nothing seemed to work on these creatures, and their every attack left them in fragments only to reassemble themselves in moments. In the middle of it all Aqualad noticed Miss Martian standing stock still staring at Circe her eyes now glowing a bright green before suddenly whole world changed. The surrounding hordes of undead warriors faded out of existence leaving the heroes to look around at each other confused at what had just occurred.
"What just happened?" Super-girl asked in confusion turning from Aqua-girl to Aqualad for answers; he was just as confusion as her, he saw that Miss Martian was still standing stock still where she stood Eyes a burning green.
"A pity my fun's over so soon." Circe said loudly with a mocking tone of sadness radiating from her words as she grinned down at them like a child would its playthings. "It seems the xenos girl was capable of discovering my dreamscape, she's currently locked in a mental battle with my mind, yet it would seem that she cannot control both her mental powers and her physical body at the same time."
"Wait is she telling us that she can talk to us and walk around normally while also having a mental duel with a telepath as powerful as Miss Martian!" Power-girl said with disbelief, if she could do that then what could the other two do.
"Our Mission has not changed, Aqua-girl will deal with the enchantress, Super-girl will handle lycus while power-girl deals with thrax, Tempest we shall deal with Oceanmaster." Aqualad finished coldly as the teens turned to face their adversaries.
"Let's do this!" Super-girl said as she and power-girl launched themselves towards the brothers; both smiled excitedly and rushed to meet them head on. They clashed with a force that exploded outwards obliterating statues and pillars within range, out of the dust cloud came the hurtling figure of Power-girl smashing into a wall while Lycus appeared smashing Super-girl in a tall Greek statue. Thrax came rushing out shield raised, warhammer poised to strike as he laughed charging towards Power-girl.
While this happened the others rushed forward, Aqua-girl conjuring arcane spheres, before hurling them towards the purple haired sorceress, whom grinning like the joker, merely side stepped them, firing back purple incandescent bolts of light at her. The resulting blast formed large furrows in the stone steps, as the magic student paused to launch her next attack, both Aqualad and Tempest had pressed on into the temple's foreboding maw.
"Ouuuffff!" Power-girl groaned as the warhammer slammed into her abdomen sending her flying into a slumped over column. She crashed into it sending shards of marble flying everywhere while she struggled to climb to her feet. "This guy packs a punch."
She heard his approach and looked behind to see a large broken chunk of masonry; she grabbed it spinning on her before loosing it towards him and zooming after it. The white haired warrior smashed it aside exactly as Wonder warrior had done, leaving his front open to her attack. She collided fists outstretched into his gut carrying him clear off his feet and smashing him into a wall. She didn't let up before landing blow after blow to his face, she wasn't holding back either, she never noticed his weapon hand slide its grip on the hammer dropping it down a couple of inches before swinging it at her head, it connecting causing her to straggle sideways as he bashed her with his shield in the gut.
"Ouuufff!" she groaned for the second time as he followed up the attack with hammer blow to ribs. She ricocheted along the ground like a stone across water; she groaned in pain as she climbed once more to her feet.
'This isn't going well for me; I hope Kara's doing better.' She thought grimly as she stood her ground arms raised to receive the demigod's next attack.
"Wow and I thought Psimon was tough." Miss Martian thought as she dodged the giant nightmarish monster that Circe had formed and set upon her. She created a thought spear and impaled the beast vanquishing it as a hail of psi bolts threatened to shredder her as she was forced to rise another mental shield against the attack.
She had hoped that once she had broken the mental hold on their minds they'd be free to complete their mission, as it stands she was using every iota of her mind to keep the dream powers of Circe at bay while she prayed that the others were finding some way to complete their mission.
Super-girl wasn't fairing much better against Lycus than Power-girl was with Thrax, she found him blocking her every blow and her heat vision was being deflected off his armour, much to his amusement it seemed.
"Is this the best the so called 'maiden of might' can muster, I'm sorely disappointed with your performance so far." He said in a condescending voice that infuriated her so very much; and yet she was smart enough to recognise when he was trying to knock her off balance with such a stab at her pride, in this case she took a leaf out of Kid's book and gave his comment no attention, she would affirm her ability when she beat this creep in to a pulp… well maybe not quite like Kid then.
"Trust me you won't like my best." Super-girl hissed back at him before she tore through the air towards him, he locked his footing and braced to receive her; she smashed into him dragging his entire body across the ground, armoured feet grinding against the stone. They exchanged a series of punches and kicks with Lycus deflecting the greater part of her blows off his bracers, all the while maintaining his position on the ground. She tried to hit him in the face with her heat vision when they locked arms in a herculean struggle. He simple angled his helmet to redirect the beam back into her eyes. "AAAHHHH!"
Super-girl stumbled back screaming as she clutched her eyes in agony as she waited for her superhuman endurance to heal from the worst of the damage. She found herself leaving the ground as Lycus lifted her overhead and smashed her head first in the ground behind her, before kicking her in the ribs causing her to fly through the air smashing through the middle of the a stone arch before coming to rest in a crumpled heap amongst the debris.
"I do believe your right on that point." He replied coolly as he casual advanced towards her groaning form. He watched bemused as she rolled around weeping as she clutched her smoking eyes. "How pathetic."
He reached down to grab her by the throat; with lightning speed she smashed her leg round into his knee catching him off guard, he stumbled for a moment giving her all the time she needed to spring into action striking him rapidly with her hands in some unknown martial art form, and that was impossible given how he had mastered all martial forms upon the planet.
"How do you know martial arts that I don't?" he asked shocked with a disbelieving tone in his voice as she faced him off smirking, her eyes having healed with remarkable speed.
"I'm not from earth remember." She said watching him pause processing this statement before laughing with mirth.
"Then show how you people wage war super girl and I promise you a warrior's end." He said with joy he lacked earlier, before roaring as he charged towards her.
Aqua-girl groaned in pain as she hit the cold stone floor behind an ancient statue of some forgotten Greek hero, she was barely managing to survive against the sorceress, sure she was a skilled magic student but this was way out of her league. She sneaked a glance over the white stone leg, to see her walking causally towards her smiling sadistically before hurling another magic bolt at her. She dived throwing a hastily constructed energy sphere at her. The ball seemed to impact against some form of force field which shimmered to sight before disappearing again.
"This is not good at all." Aqua-girl whispered before conjuring a water sphere to block the wave of violet fire she flung towards her.
"If you don't like that then you're really gonna hate this." Circe said with mad glee in her eyes, she raised both hands above her head and began conjuring something truly powerful.
The entire temple shook as the pair rushed through its decrepit halls, they could both feel the nexus of arcane power that lay at its heart, and they prayed that the ritual was not drawing to its close.
They entered a large domed chamber, a raised dais lay at its centre with a great rune in scripted alter sitting upon it. Glowing from its niche was the trident of Poseidon, Oceanmaster turned to face them, a blue barbed spear in hand now, while the trident was glowing a steady blue.
"It will all be over soon, once the gate is fully opened then only one who can command the sea wielding the trident may seal it once more… sadly there won't be any survivors to pass that fact onto the half-breed."
"Do you think we will stand here and let you do this without a fight?" Aqualad roared drawing his water bearers alongside Tempest who conjured his magic spheres of lightning.
"Going off our last fight, I can safely say that this won't take long." Ocean Master said with smirk as he raised his spear and used it to direct a magic bolt of energy at them.
Power-girl smashed into the stone pillar as she grappled with Thrax; now that she was close enough that he couldn't swing that bloody hammer at her skull, she could now focus her superior strength on disarming and in capitating him. She managed to get a good grip on his weapon wrist and applied enough pressure to force him to release its grip before smashing him in the face with the leather bound section, he grunted before staggering back from her. Grinning with savage joy power-girl raised the hammer over the back of her head to bring it down hard on the demigod's skulls… or at least she did until Thrax raised a hand and the hammer pulled itself down and out of her grip, it smashed into her knees tripping her up as she watched stunned as the hammer flew through the air before smashing into her face and then returning to Thrax's outstretched hand.
"I'm the son of the god of war; I can control all weapons with my mind." He said with arrogant mirth in his eyes as he towered over her form his hammer posed to crush her skull to dust, she barely had the strength to raise her arm above her head as she closed her eyes. There was an all mighty clanging sound as she opened her eyes to see a familiar figure standing over her, shield raised to block the hammer blow from the now stunned Thrax.
"Wonder Warrior." She whispered softly through swollen lips, she felt hope swell within her heart at the sight of the man who proceeded to hook Thrax in the jaw with enough force to catapult him into the wall, as he lost his grip of the warhammer causing it to clatter to the ground with a loud thud.
"We really got to stop meeting like this Power-girl." He said smiling as he offered her his outstretched hand; she grinned, blood leaking from her burst lip as she accepted it. He pulled her to her feet before turning to face a now confused and intrigued Thrax.
"Now this is unexpected… I was not aware of any other demigod spawned from Aries?" He asked as he raised his hand to summon his warhammer to him, Power-girl glanced over to her new ally, wondering if she would discover some new truth about him.
"Let's just say I'm not of this world." He said as he grabbed a long handled dagger at his side; the hilt then lengthened rapidly to form a spear, he switched up to a defensive stance with the spear levelled at Thrax. "Go help your friends I'll handle this one."
"Watch the hammer it's got a mean swing." Power-girl said after a short pause as she worried about whether he could handle the demigod by himself. She then considered the fact that he himself had weapons armour and shield to match the mad war god's spawn and she then switched her worry to whether Aqua-girl and Super-girl were holding up. She zoomed off towards the sounds of battle while the two armoured and armed warriors circled each other sizing their opponent up before deciding when to attack.
Super-girl realised that whatever ground she had gained from taking the risk to switching to the limited range of Klukor techniques she knew, was now losing again as the demigod began to learn her moves from watching her. She made a mental note that if she was able to survive this battle then she would make a copy of a data crystal on Klukor fighting techniques from the database in the fortress of solitude.
She noticed out of the corner of her eye a large chunk of masonry came hurtling towards Lycus whom at that moment had his back to it; she planted her feet readying herself for the upcoming opportunity, Lycus realised something was up and set himself into combat stance facing her, she smiled as his eyes widened before the projectile smashed into his back. Taken by complete surprise, Lycus was thrown forward at high speeds right into Super-girl's wicked haymaker, he went flying backwards into Power-girl's right hook rebounding him into Super-girl's uppercut. She grinned as she watched him go flying through the air smashing through a line of broken marble columns.
"Did you deal with thrax PG?" Super-girl asked as she took the opportunity to observe the battlefield and her teammate; Power-girl was bruised with blood running from her busted lip and a nasty looking black eye. Super-girl realised she must look the same; she really did hate fighting magic user, even if it's just their magic weapons. Power-girl grinned awkwardly before glancing back to where she had been fighting Thrax.
"Well…" she began before a loud cracking sound alerted the two to the sight of Thrax's form crushing through the air and any object in his path before finally he collided with his half-brother as he was in the middle of recovering from his double team beat down. Super-girl stared open mouthed as Wonder Warrior ran through the wreckage to meet them. "I ran into a friend… Super-girl this is Wonder Warrior."
"Wait you know this guy!" Super-girl shouted in shock, looking straight at Power-girl who fidgeted smiling awkwardly at back at her.
"They are formidable warriors… this fight will drag on unless we can end it now." Wonder Warrior said as he came to a stop beside Power-girl staring at where the two demigods were pulling themselves to their feet both turning to face the trio anger burning in their eyes.
"Hope the others are having better luck than we are." Power-girl said as she slide into a fighting stance as both Super-girl and Wonder Warrior followed suit. The two opposing forces collided with the Demigods working in tandem; shielding the other while they launched a series of cohesive and strategic attacks upon the three heroes. Super-girl was beginning to like this 'wonder warrior' fellow as she found him blocking numerous blows that would have wrought terrible damage upon power-girl and herself as the three launched a fury of blows at the pair themselves.
The trio heard a roaring sound as they all wiped around to see Aqua-girl running from a massive ball of purple fire terror in her face. Wonder warrior rushed over to intercept the girl who was staring back at the rapidly gaining magic construction while the two supers held off the war sons.
Aqua-girl was transfixed by the approaching orb of destruction that had consumed all the spells she had hurled at it in an attempt to stop it; she tripped on a rock hitting the ground hard causing the air to be forced from her lungs with a loud pained cry. She wiped round to see the impending doom about to devour her when a strange armoured figure appeared pulling her behind his shield and body as he raised it to meet the spell.
The force of the impact forced the pair back dragging them across the ground as the shield vibrated with ear splitting noise glowering bright gold before unleashing the now golden orb back at a Circe as she ran round the corner; she stopped eyes wide as she raised a hasty barrier in an attempted to stop her magic from destroying herself. The resulting explosion catapulted her into the wall she had rounded. Both Lycus and Thrax rushed over to her side helping her up before turning to face the four heroes whom formed a line facing them.
"Em no offence meant but, who are you?" Aqua-girl asked looking over at Wonder Warrior whom smiled back at her from behind his raised shield.
Aqualad narrowly avoided the destructive bolt of lightning which scorched the very air he had previously occupied; he rolled hard on the broken debris littering the anti-chamber that now hosted a battle of good and evil. Both young warriors were breathing heavily as they lifeblood trickled down their bodies from various glancing blows from the atlantean spear, as well as burned and bruised marks upon their flesh, hallmarks of the superior magical skill of their adversary.
"We're running out of time Kaldur we have to remove the trident and flee." Tempest grunted his breathing a labour. Aqualad gave him a hard look as he wiped away the blood on his face.
"None of us can hold the trident without suffering the retribution from its magic." Aqualad said gripping Tempest's shoulder with his hand. "We have only one option, take him down and knock the trident from its place."
The pair suddenly stiffened before diving out of the cover as it exploded from the raw magic power unleashed by ocean master upon them; they both ran in opposite directions with Tempest charging up another arcane orb will Aqualad moved to close the gap on the arch-villain, whom at that moment raised his polearm to direct another bolt of magic at the charging hero.
"Oceanmaster!" Tempest roared as he hurled the orb towards man, he whirled around bring his spear up and spinning it to block and dispel the magical energy of tempests attack. And yet the deed was done as Aqualad was able to close in on him at least; he formed a massive water mace and smashed Oceanmaster in the back, he stumbled away from the dais and in front of the door way that lead to the outside.
"Tempest use it now!" Aqualad ordered him as he restrained Oceanmaster in place, Tempest faltered realising what Aqualad was ordering him to do, he wanted to argue, to refuse. But he knew they had to place the safety of all before themselves.
"Forgive me Kaldur." He whisper solemnly as he poured all his remaining magical power into casting the master level spell, the tempest before fainting from the strain it had placed upon his fatigued body. The wave of magical energy struck the pair with Aqualad using Oceanmaster to block the brunt of the onslaught; and yet the two of them found their selves being dragged through the halls, borne upon the wave of raw arcane sorcery before being catapulted out of the temple and into the warzone outside its walls.
Aqualad hit the ground hard craving a trench in the broken stone, while Oceanmaster knocked down the left column of an arch resulting in its total collapse upon his figure. Aqualad let out a low groan of pain as arcane energies sparked over his body, he was spent, his every limb ached from the fury of tempest's attack… and yet oceanmaster had taken the brunt of the destructive spell with the luck of the gods he was out of action. The rubble began shifting in front of him, Aqualad groaned as the universe fucked him over, he watched a heavily bruised and battered Oceanmaster rise to his feet his armour fractured and more significantly his mask had been broken off given Aqualad a full view of his face.
"It can't be… you've betrayed your own family Orm." Aqualad breathed out as he tried to get to his feet, pain spiking throughout his body as he did so. Orm glared at Aqualad in pure hatred his spear still in his hand as he marched towards him, the sounds of battle growing closer.
"I betrayed no one! It was all him!" Orm spat out in utter contempt as he kicked Aqualad in the ribs hard, he was sent crashing to the ground in agony. "He let the ocean's burn and die from the surface worlds waste and wars! He let that bastard Black Manta attack and kill countless innocent people while he went off to save some sinking cruise liner! He does nothing for his own people!"
"And the pure bloods, the monsters of the deep; how do these help our people?" Aqualad groaned out as he stared in loathing at the prince he once admired, Orm gave him a glower before rising the spear to impale the crippled hero.
"The ends justified the means half-breed." Was all he said before bring the spear down to end the young hero once and for all.
It was then that the wall that Aqualad was laying against exploded, three figures came soaring through the broken masonry, they smashed into Orm knocking him back into a half broken pillar as the group tried to get to their feet. It took a moment for Aqualad to realise that they were the three demigods: Thrax, Lycus, and Circe.
"Aqualad!" Aqua-girl cried out in concern as a group of four people came climbing over the wall to stand between him and the enemy. He recognised the three girls as Super-girl, Power-girl, and Aqua-girl. It was the fourth figure that surprised him as he looked like a male amazon judging from his armour and weapons.
"Prince Orm, you're Ocean Master?" Power-girl said in disbelief as the heroes watched the villains pick themselves up, Lycus supporting him as he glared at them all. "Well looks like your plans have failed."
"On the contrary my dear Amelia I've won." He said as the ground began to rumble, the heroes whirled to face the gateway where it had expanded to a massive size, they saw hundreds of the tiny monsters swarming forth from its depths, however it was the massive spiked tentacles that sprawled out latching onto the walls in an attempted to heave its mass through the opening that worried them the most. They turned to face the demigods as Circe raised her hands in the air, the space around them was consumed in purple light before vanishing alongside the villains with it.
The group raced into the temple, Super girl carrying Aqualad in her arms as she flew through the air, they finally entered the antechamber which was shaking as loose pieces of debris started falling around them.
"Garth!" Aqua-girl cried out once more as she flung herself towards him while Power-girl and Wonder Warrior raced to the centre of the room, where the dais containing the trident of Poseidon rested no longer glowing.
"What's going on everyone?" Miss Martian asked as she flew into the room gasping as she saw Wonder Warrior. "Who are you?"
"No time I've got an idea but you're all not going to like it." He shouted over to her as he passed his spear and shield to power-girl who stared at him confused; he then turned to face the trident and grabbed it by both hands, lightning pouring into his body as he held the weapon.
"I Darius Troy, champion of the twelve titans, wielder of the titan seeds, call upon the master of the seas, Lord Oceanus, grant me your power so I may shut close the jaws of this dark and foul prison, so its horrors may once more be forgotten by the realms of man!"
As he finished his chant his body exploded in blue light as the lightning arcing from the trident intensified a hundred fold causing Power-girl to be blasted from the dais into the wall. The heroes were forced to take cover, sheltering their wounded teammates whilst staring in horror at the pain and suffering inflicted upon Wonder Warrior, or Darius as his named turned out to be, manifested before them. His skin burned and blistered as the whole chambered began shaken violently.
"I REALLY DO HATE MAGIC!" Super-girl cried out as she shielded Aqualad's groaning body from rubble smashing into her body from the ceiling.
The scene before them lasted a full hour before the room stopped shaking and Darius with one final act of strength and willpower, wrenched the trident form the dais and hurled it away. His skin was burnt charcoal black, all hair and features melted away, his armour glowering red hot as it sizzled and smoked before he collapsed, rolling down the stone steps.
"DARIUS!" Power-girl cried out in fear and concern as she bolted over to him picking him up ignoring the pain from his smoking armour and staring in abject horror at the price they had to pay in order to stop the monsters of the abyss from being unleashed upon the world once more.
A/N: So that's chapter thirteen done, we finally get to see Darius meet the team; its not always easy providing opponents that can offer serious challenge to our team's heavy hitters, i like to think i can find such characters and spin so creative reasons as how to include them in the story. hope you like the demigods three.
I know this is odd lacking any deviant side stories like the chapters normal have and rest assured that will present in the next chapter with a lot of plot points to address now that the league is about to be introduced to multi-verse.
i wanted to develop the relationship that Tula and Garth have the Young Justice League long before they join it, the same with other characters like Donna.
Part of the reason why this took so long to write was because i didn't think it detailed enough in the fight scenes so if you guys can give some constructive comments on them and the chapter as i whole and inform me of what was good, what you liked, what its missing, what was done wrong and any thing that you might like to see later on in the story. (No flaming as it serves no purpose to the story.)
Anyway thanks for reading it, hope you like it and that you continue to like the story's progression.
Till next time sincerely Greywolf41 esquire