Okay, guys, after remembering that a lot of anime have a beach/pool party episode, I decided to make this chapter a river party one. It'll be the first one since Chapter 6 to feature Dick Grayson and the first to feature Makoto, Sakura, and Elena, as well as Barbara Gordon (Batgirl) and Halle Berry's character Patience Phillips (Catwoman). Selina Kyle will also have the mantle, but Patience, for those who haven't seen the movie, is a different character overall. This is also the first chapter where I have all the OC heroes in the same chapter (Logan, Cloak, Nate, Sharel, Kiryo, and Shannon).
Riverside Party and a New Threat!
Gotham's meteorologists were reporting record highs. Many people wanted to go to the nearest pool, but there was also the issue that people had to work. Unfortunately, this included Bruce Wayne, meaning that Tim, Damian, Harper, and Shannon (whose family spends the weekends with them) were sitting around bored. Isaac wasn't faring any better, as shown with him lying down near the air conditioner. Since Sarah's boss called her in to work for an employee who was having a baby, Alfred agreed to watch the kids. Since Commissioner Gordon's daughter, Barbara, was there as well and was the oldest among them, the old butler had a little help.
Barbara was more heartbroken than bored, though, something that Alfred took notice of. He went to another room where no one was around and he made a phone call as he was dusting. "Hello? What is it, Alfred?" Bruce asked.
"Master Bruce, I'm afraid that we have a serious case of boredom and an equally serious case of heartbreak," said the butler.
"It's a good thing we're not in a conference, Alfred. I think I know who's got the heartbreak, but I'd like to know the boredom levels of the kids."
"Yes, of course, sir. Well, Young Master Isaac is passed out at the air conditioner; Miss Shannon and Miss Harper aren't even doing their usual hobbies…"
"And what about Tim and Damian?"
"Masters Tim and Damian are even too bored to argue with each other or attack me. As for Miss Barbara…"
"She's still heartbroken over Dick's supposed 'death'. Tim and Jason don't know either."
"Master Bruce, might I recommend a trip to the Mississippi River in St. Louis? It has been a while since Miss Harper and Master Tim have been there and Master Damian, Miss Shannon, and Young Master Isaac will be able to meet Logan Washburn and his friends."
"That sounds like a good idea, Alfred. It'll do Barbara some good as well. Sarah would have a fit if both of her kids went, though, so since Isaac's the youngest, he doesn't go."
"Yes, sir, I understand. I'll let the kids know right away." With that, Alfred and Bruce hung up. The former went back to where the others were at and saw that Tim and Damian weren't present. The two of them tried to sneak up on him, but Alfred shook the feather duster and got them coughing before pinning the both of them down, getting the attention of the girls. "Oh, so now you try a sneak attack? Sorry, Masters Tim and Damian, but I'm afraid that it won't work," he said to both Robins.
"I told you we should've tried the rafters," said Tim, getting a glare from Damian.
"Yeah, don't remind me," Damian responded.
"Now, if you're done fooling around, I have a proposition for you. This cannot apply for Young Master Isaac as Miss Sarah will not allow it. Why don't you all head to St. Louis to meet Logan Washburn. After all, Miss Harper and Master Tim haven't seen him since helping him deal with Captain Clown and the Joker. It could do everyone a deal of good, especially you, Miss Barbara."
"But Mister Wayne will be extremely short-staffed," said Shannon. "He'll need aspirin since Jason would be the only one around, besides you and the Commissioner, of course."
"Oh trust me, Master Todd will be more than enough to help Master Bruce if he could restrain him." The kids eventually agreed and went to get ready meet up with Logan to relax while Alfred got the Zeta Beam ready. This was going to be one adventure none of them would forget.
At Coast City, Nate and Sharel decided to head to the community pool. They were meeting up with Billy, Mary, and Freddie as well. Booster Gold wanted to go, but he was busy helping the Justice League find out more on Luthor's plot. Besides, he was still recovering from the double kick that Logan dealt him before Kiryo first introduced himself to his ancestor. When he got there, there was a certain red-haired individual lying on a beach chair with a black fox under him. Over time, Nate had come to recognize Cloak's identity as Todd Platinum, the individual in the chair. "Hey, Todd!" exclaimed the Silver Lantern, getting Cloak's attention.
"Oh hey, Nate," Todd greeted back before noticing the blonde behind his friend. "Is that that 'Sharel' woman I've been hearing about?"
"It's nice to meet you," Sharel greeted, extending her hand. Todd shook it and took notice of her swimsuit. It was a sky blue one-piece that did little to nothing to hide her cleavage and naval due to the v-pattern in the front. Both sides were connected with black strings on the v-pattern in an x-pattern in the front. The only thing revealed in the back was her buttocks. Naturally, her legs, arms, hands, feet, and of course, her neck and head were revealed as well. The swimsuit caused every guy to have a shade of red somewhere on their face, whether it was a mad blush, a nosebleed, or a sharp handprint from their girlfriend slapping them.
Billy and Freddie weren't oblivious to this and neither was Mary, who shoved both of their heads underwater. "Can't you guys knock it off?" Mary asked. She was wearing a red-and-gold one-piece in the usual style with the gold being a lightning bolt pattern. Billy wore a pair of red swimming trunks with a similar lightning bolt pattern while Freddie wore a blue version of Billy's. Nate wore a white T-shirt and white swim trunks while Todd had on a pair of black swim trunks and a blue shirt. "I swear, boys will be boys…" Mary finished.
"Oh just relax, Mary," Sharel said. "They're just having fun."
"She's right, you know," said a voice. They looked and saw a woman with light tan skin lying on the chair. She had her brown hair in a bob cut, but unlike Shannon, she had no highlights. Like Sharel, she was a beauty, wearing a black version of what Sharel had on, but with white strings as opposed to black. "Everyone could use a little break and cut loose. This includes the boys." Nate grew a little hot under the collar, but Todd couldn't help noticing that this woman seemed familiar to him.
"And you are?" the Symbiote hero asked.
"My name is Patience Phillips. I'm not from around here, but I happen to be passing through. And what about you? What's your story?"
"I'm Todd Platinum. I'm just here to cool off. This is Nathaniel Dement and his friend Sharel. The kids here are Billy Batson, Mary Batson, and Freddie Freeman."
"Well I hope to talk to you again, Platinum. You're on your guard, but that's what makes it fun." Patience got out of her chair and went over to the diving board while Todd kept a suspicious eye on her.
"Dude, I think she likes you," said Nate.
"Right…Excuse me while I make a phone call."
In St. Louis, Logan and Cammy had just arrived at the Mississippi River along with Chun-Li. Soifon and Yoruichi were along as well. Cammy wore a two-piece green bikini while Chun-Li wore one as blue as her qipao. Both of them even had their hair freed from their usual styles. Soifon wore a modest lavender one-piece swimsuit, but Yoruichi wasn't as modest; the 'Flash Goddess' wore an orange bikini. Logan, on the other hand, wore a white T-shirt and a pair of blue and white swimming shorts. They were joined by Kiryo, who wore a black sleeveless shirt and a pair of black swim shorts. "So I take it that's Kiryo?" Yoruichi asked, getting a nod from Soifon. The Squad 2 Captain looked back at Chun-Li and Cammy and was a bit envious of them, mainly Cammy due to Logan.
Logan's cell phone went off, so the Assassin looked and saw that it was Todd. "Hey, Todd, what's up?" he asked after answering the phone.
"Not much," Todd said from the other end of the line. "I need some information on a woman named 'Patience Phillips'. Something about her is irritating me and I don't know what it is."
"Alright, I'll check." Logan turned on the speakerphone as he did his research on Patience. "Say 'hi' to Cammy, Yoruichi, and Soifon, by the way. They can hear you." Logan said that since Todd didn't know about Kiryo or Chun-Li.
"I hate speakerphone."
"Sorry. I don't have any other choice. Now let's see…Patience Phillips…There's not much in her profile, but she was an artist in her hometown. After witnessing something corrupt going on at the company she worked for, she was killed. If you really did meet her in the flesh, then that means that she must've been resurrected somehow."
"I see…Thanks for the heads-up, Logan. I'm at the pool with Nate, Billy, and Billy's friends. I had just met Sharel as well."
"Well I'm at the river with Cammy, our friend and teammate Chun-Li, Soifon, Yoruichi, and a friend of ours that hitched a ride with that idiot Booster Gold. I also got a call telling me that we're going to be joined by some others as well. Please don't tell Nate that."
"Got it," Todd said. "Just relax and enjoy yourselves. I'll make sure he doesn't know."
"Thanks, Todd," Logan said before hanging up. He joined the others just as two SUVs and a Jeep pulled up. In one of the SUVs was Ibuki, who wore a black two-piece bikini, short shorts, and a thin, white button-up shirt this time around. She came out of the driver's side while Makoto, Elena, and Sakura climbed out as well. Makoto wore a one-piece swimsuit like Soifon, but it was red. She also had on her gi pants considering that, like Ryu, she wouldn't stop training. Elena wore a black bikini as opposed to her usual white one along with a thin, red button-up shirt. As for Sakura, she wore a pair of denim shorts and an open jacket, revealing her floral-patterned bikini top.
From the next SUV came the Masters family, consisting of Ken, Eliza, and little Mel. Ken had on his V-neck training shirt and a pair of white swimming shorts. Eliza wore a blue one-piece with a white sun skirt on the waist. They put Mel in a blue onesie with beach toys on the front. From the Jeep came Guile and his wife Julia. As usual, Guile had his military clothes on, making Logan and the others shake their heads since he never takes a break. Julia was a beautiful blonde woman like Eliza, even wearing a red version of what her sister wore. "Hey, guys! Nice seeing you here!" the Assassin greeted.
"Yeah, well two things happened that we didn't count on," said Eliza. "The first is that mine and Ken's niece Amy visited her pen pal in India for her vacation. It's a good thing that Guile and Ken know the boy's father, who happens to be the Village Shaman." Logan and the others (aside from Kiryo and the girls) knew that she was talking about Dhalsim.
"The other thing that wasn't taken into consideration was the fact that Guile doesn't like to wear anything non-military," Julia added.
"Yeah, he's a workaholic," Logan quipped. "Then again, that's the pot calling the kettle black. Chun-Li, Cammy, Soifon, and I are all workaholics."
"At least you know how to relax once in a while, Logan," said Makoto, giving her 'big brother' a hug. "It's been a while."
"You got that right, Sis. We needed this. By the way, what are you guys doing here?"
"The elders at the ninja village gave me and three friends the opportunity to relax for a week," Ibuki explained. "So I asked Sakura, Elena, and Makoto and asked if they wanted to go see St. Louis and they said yes."
"Well, it's good to have you. Guys, I'd like you to meet my Soul Reaper ex-girlfriend Shaolin Feng, her mentor Yoruichi Shihoin, and a new friend of ours named Kiryo Harufune," said Logan, who was hiding the fact that Kiryo was his and Cammy's descendent. Suddenly, a light from a Zeta transportation beam was seen. "And that must mean that everyone's here." They looked and saw the Bat crew in their civilian identities, minus Bruce, Sarah, and Alfred of course. Logan immediately recognized Harper, who wore a black one-piece and her hair combed down, and Tim, who only wore a pair of black swim shorts and a red shirt. He figured that the redheaded girl in the white bikini was Barbara Gordon, AKA Batgirl, and the shorter boy in the red shorts was the recently-resurrected Damian Wayne, AKA Robin. Alfred, Harper, Tim, and Bruce never told him about Shannon, who had on a black vest, a pair of denim shorts, and a red bikini underneath.
They got the introductions out of the way and everything went smoothly from there. Ken and Logan decided to give a demonstration of their abilities while Damian and Shannon were looking in anticipation, Guile was fishing, and Chun-Li, Cammy, Eliza, and Julia were smiling, knowing what would happen next. There was also a two-on-two volleyball match between the team of Ibuki and Sakura and the team of Elena and Makoto with Tim and Harper as the referees. Barbara was still depressed over Dick's 'death'.
Ken reeled his arms back and charged up his and Ryu's signature 'Hadoken' while Logan prepped up a 'Chidori Blast'. They fired their respective blasts at high speeds, getting Damian and Shannon excited since the collision caused a geyser from the colliding chi. It also splashed Guile, getting him ticked off. Kiryo was also amazed at the amount of power that both his ancestor and Ken put behind the attacks. "Okay, that does it!" Guile exclaimed. Since his boots were waterproof, he stepped into the water and reeled his own arms back. "Sonic Boom!" he shouted, firing his 'Sonic Boom' with both arms as usual. Ken didn't have time to counter, so he dodged. Logan held back his friend's projectile with his bare hands before crouching a little and reeling back his right arm.
"Shoryuken!" he shouted, sending the 'Sonic Boom' into the sky, much to the shock of the others.
"Now where did you learn to do that?" asked Ken.
"I learned how from my training with Ryu at Kisuke Urahara's shop. It doesn't mean that it doesn't hurt like Hell, though," Logan said, showing the burn marks on his hands. "That's the result of the friction from Guile's 'Sonic Boom'. I'd probably get the same result if I did that against Charlie Nash's."
"That…was…cool!" Damian and Shannon exclaimed, getting their attention before Logan shook his head and smiled. He noted that when Damian and Shannon were together, they were like little kids.
The Assassin looked up and saw that Kiryo was still sitting on a branch. "Hey, Kiryo! Jump on in! The water's fine!" he exclaimed as he put Aloe Vera juice on his burns.
"I'm fine! Thanks anyway!" Kiryo exclaimed back.
"Oh come on, man! What, are you scared of having fun?"
"N-Not exactly! I-I just don't feel like jumping in! That's all!" Logan and Cammy suspected that he was trying to hide something, but Soifon beat them to the punch.
"Kiryo," she said, addressing her future adoptive nephew.
"Y-Yes, Auntie Soifon?"
"Are you afraid of the water?" she asked. From the look on Kiryo's face, Soifon knew that she caught the Future-era Assassin red-handed. "I don't see what you have to be afraid of. If you're anything like Logan, you must know how to swim."
"…That's the problem."
"He doesn't know how to swim?" Ibuki asked. "So much for flirting with him…"
"This is embarrassing," Logan said, pinching his nose at Ibuki's remark. "Don't worry, Kiryo. Cammy, Soifon, and I will teach you how to swim…That is, if Cammy and Soifon are willing to put up with one another."
"Putting up with Cammy is the least of my concerns on this trip, Logan. It's dealing with you and avoiding having my neck wrung by Chun-Li that I'm worried about."
"It's a pleasure working with you too, Captain." Soifon's only response was flashing the 'finger' at her ex. "And it's a little late for that, don't you think?" he asked rhetorically, getting Chun-Li, Ken, and Yoruichi to burst out laughing.
"While the bantering between you two is humorous, I'm starting to get worried, Logan!" Cammy said. Logan knew that Cammy was joking, so he smiled back in a flirting manner, getting the Delta Red soldier to respond in kind. They saw a high-speed chase going down, interrupting their fun for a little bit. Logan would've been getting back to it if it weren't for the fact that he saw who was doing the chasing.
"I'll be right back, guys. Stay right here," he said, confusing the others as he left.
Back at Coast City, Todd couldn't shake his suspicions about Patience. Her flirty attitude was getting under his skin as well. Because of their first interaction, Billy and his friends couldn't help teasing him. Nate would usually help in reeling them in before Todd got too embarrassed. Right now, he was swimming a few laps to try and get her off his mind. Sadly, it wasn't working. 'Dammit! Why do I keep thinking about her?' he thought. Unfortunately, his Symbiote decided to speak up.
"You could have a crush on her, you know," it said. "You can't rule out that possibility."
'Oh shut up! You know I'm loyal to Crystal!'
"I'm just messing with you, Todd. It's pretty clear that you're suspicious, but she seems to hold an interest in you. If we can't find Crystal and Brad here, maybe you could give this 'Patience Phillips' a chance."
Before Todd could respond, he was brought out of his conversation with the Symbiote thanks to Nate getting his attention. "Todd, look out!" the Silver Lantern exclaimed. Todd narrowly dodged Patience, who dove in from the diving board again.
"Hey, look before you dive, sister!" Todd exclaimed as soon as Patience emerged from the water.
"I did," she responded with a smirk. Todd just shook his head as the woman went back to swimming.
"That Patience woman looks like she's got a sort of affection for Todd," Sharel said.
"Nah, I think she just likes to see his skin crawl," said Nate. "He gets pretty agitated with her, so I guess it's funny to her. It isn't that funny to me, though."
"I can tell. I wonder how Kiryo's doing…" The statement made Nate a little bit jealous of Logan's descendant, especially since, in their first and only meeting, Sharel teased him a little bit about his wild blushing.
"Man, that woman might just be the death of me yet," said Todd, interrupting their conversation as he got out of the pool and dried off.
"What, you have girl problems or something?" Nate asked, getting a harsh glare from Todd. The Silver Lantern shut up immediately, knowing what Todd can do. Todd saw that Patience was getting out of the pool and heading to the locker room, so he decided to head her off in the hallway. "Hey, where are you going?"
"I'll be right back. I just have to check something out." He got to the hallway and waited for her to come out. Once she did, she was wearing a black T-shirt with a cat's face on it and a pair of denim shorts. "Hold it right there!" he exclaimed, cornering her on the wall. She let out a flirty smirk in response.
"Well, what do you know? I never knew you were into that kind of risk," she said. "So tell me, do you get all the girls this way? Or am I the only one you did this on?"
"I just want to know something."
"What's that?"
"Why are you interested in just me?"
"Because I like to have fun…and you look like a lot of fun." She slipped under him and went outside of the pool. "Oh, and one more thing for you to remember: If you corner a cat, you get scratched. I don't know if you like that or not, but if you do, then by all means, keep it up."
Todd stepped out of the hallway more flustered than he was earlier. He had a good look at Billy, who was looking back. "Billy, get out of the pool, dry off, find a place to hide, and say the magic word. You and I are going on a stakeout," he said.
"What about us?" Nate asked.
"You and Sharel stay here. You'll stick out like a street lamp in a dark alley."
Back in St. Louis, Logan had caught up to the car chase and found the driver of the car doing the chasing was his old friend Dick Grayson. He knew that he was here for a reason. He just didn't know what it was and why he was chasing someone in a getaway car. The St. Louis Den-Master decided to help out. He jumped down and landed in the passenger seat of the getaway car. "Hey, there," he said with a smirk. "Nice day for a drive, isn't it?" The crook saw that Logan had pulled out one of his revolvers and had it aimed for his head. The crook got the message and pulled over.
He slowly stepped out of the car with his hands up while Logan got out of the passenger side, revolver still aimed at the crook, as Dick got out of his car and walked over to the crook. "Do you mind telling me why you were going as fast as you were?" asked the former Robin.
"I-I was trying to get to some place on time! T-The boss asked me to make a delivery at some point here in the city! I-I don't know what it means!" the crook said. Logan checked the trunk and saw that there was some strange cargo in it, all in briefcases.
"It's all in here, 37, just like he said," said the Assassin.
"We'll be confiscating your cargo now, courtesy of Spyral. Have a good day." With that, Dick knocked the crook out and placed him in an alleyway while Logan unloaded the trunk and put the briefcases in Dick's car. "Well, that's that. Thanks for the help, Logan."
"No problem, Dick, but we still have one more thing to do." Logan pulled out a match and lit it, getting Dick to put two-and-two together. Logan opened up the gas tank and dropped the match inside of it. The car exploded and burned to a crisp.
"Did you get the license and registration?"
"He didn't have them on him. I checked." They got in Dick's car, but Logan told him to go ahead and drive to the river. Grayson knew exactly why once Logan mentioned that all of the Bat family was there except for Bruce, Alfred, Lucius, and Commissioner Gordon.
"You mean to tell me that you guys knew Dick was still alive?!" Barbara asked angrily, shouting towards Damian, Shannon, Harper, Logan, Cammy, Chun-Li, Guile, the Soul Reapers, and Dick. Ken, Eliza, and Julia all felt bad for them while Tim was as happy to see his 'big brother' again as Damian was. "Bruce said that you died, Dick! He lied to me! You lied to me! The only other one in the Bat Family who didn't know was Tim, wasn't it!?"
"Um, actually, Barbara, Jason doesn't know either," said Damian. It was at this point that Ibuki and her friends figured out who the Bat family was.
"Jason…Of course he doesn't know…" She then turned to the true source of her anger: Dick. "And you!" she exclaimed, getting the attention of Earth's former Nightwing. "I can't believe you agreed to help keep up that stupid lie, Dick! It's good to see you again, but you could have written! Who else knows?"
Logan decided to answer this one. "Chances are, the Martian Manhunter would've read Batman's mind, so he might've found out on his own. There's also Arsenal and Raven," he said, not knowing that Luthor and the gorillas knew as well. None of them knew that Deathstroke was also out of his coma.
"So Arsenal and Raven know as well?" Logan and Dick nodded. "Great."
"Let's just see what you two came across," said Guile. He opened up one of the brief cases and saw some important files. "That's odd. These files are unmarked. There's nothing telling us what organization they belong to." They each opened up a different briefcase and looked at each of the contents.
"This is really weird," said Dick. "We might be dealing with more than just some cyborgs developed by Luthor, guys."
"Dick, I'm afraid you're right," said Tim, holding up a piece of paper with more stats on it. "I don't know who this belongs to, but it's obvious that Lex isn't behind this."
"There's some more here," said Chun-Li. "Whoever this was going to is working on something called 'Project: Frankenstein'."
"Yeah, and from the looks of things, it's as scary as it sounds. They do a little patchwork on a subject that's dead or near-dead and put them under their control," Cammy said. The atmosphere didn't sit well with the teenagers, Julia, or Eliza, much less the crime-fighters and martial artists. It was especially sending chills down Ibuki's spine, so she decided to change the subject.
"C'mon, guys. Just put everything back in the briefcases and you can look it over later. I think we better roast some hot dogs to lighten the mood," she suggested.
"That's probably a good idea," said Logan. They did as she suggested and put everything back, placing the briefcases in Guile's jeep.
Back with Cloak, Billy had transformed into Shazam as he was told while Cloak and Pitch ran on the roofs. They had tracked Patience to a hotel room she was staying at during this time. Night came around and Cloak saw that Nate and Sharel went back to their cave. Shazam knew that Mary and Freddie went back to the orphanage as well, coming up with an excuse for Billy's absence. "So what exactly do you expect to find here?" Shazam quietly asked, getting shushed by his teammate. "If you wanted to snap a few naked pictures of her, you could've brought Freddie and Nate along as well."
"If I wanted to snap a few naked pictures, she would've let me in. Nate would cover his eyes," Cloak responded dryly. "I'm here to tail her and see what she does at night. I brought you along in case I needed backup or someone was trying to distract me." They looked at Patience's window again, seeing her come out dressed in a leather suit that showed off a bit of her skin on the sides of the top, in addition to her back. She even had a mask that had a cat-like appearance on them and leather gloves. "So Patience Phillips is Catwoman? Why isn't she in Gotham City?"
"Um, actually, there already is a Catwoman there," said Shazam. "Her name is Selina Kyle and I think she's got the hots for Batman."
"Either way, let's chase her. C'mon." Shazam nodded and followed suit, making sure not to be spotted. Cloak didn't think he had much to worry about since his Symbiote makes him near pitch black. She leapt from building to building, prompting her pursuers to follow. Shazam had a bit of trouble due to not being used to not flying. Patience eventually stopped at a warehouse with the heroes a building over. As Shazam was catching his breath and making a remark about stretching, some suspicious figures were unloading a truck that had just come in. The truck also had no labels on it.
Patience saw this as a perfect opportunity to attack the odd figures. She used her acrobatic ability to dodge the shots and knock their heads together. She did well, but underestimated them. They caught her quicker than she could react. One of the figures nodded at some others, giving them the signal to unlock a container. When it opened, a white, sentient ooze jumped out and took a humanoid shape, having spades for hand. It saw Patience and quickly coiled itself around her, including her neck. It was about to kill her with its spade-like hands when Shazam and Cloak decided to intervene.
They hardly saw them coming as Shazam used the Speed of Mercury to get to the ooze and shock it. He threw it off once it loosened itself off of the Catwoman. Patience's calm, cool, and collected personality was shoved aside, scared of this ooze that was about to fight Shazam. It saw Cloak and Pitch knocking out the agents, the latter in his panther state. The ooze jumped up on the truck to ambush Cloak after getting away from Shazam and Catwoman. It went for the ambush, but due to a warning from his Symbiote, Cloak reacted quickly, grabbing the white ooze and tossing it to the other end of the parking lot. "And just what the Hell are you?" he asked, getting beeps from the ooze. This told the Exonian that he was dealing with a sort of Bio-Android. Luckily, since he was a Technomancer, he could understand him. "I see. Your name's 'Twelve'. Not much of a name if you ask me."
Twelve jumped to attack Cloak again, but Pitch tackled him to the ground and slashed him with his claws. The Bio-Android tried to coil itself around the panther, but Cloak slammed him off and formed his Symbiote swords. He slashed at Twelve, but he just kept dodging. Twelve eventually formed himself into a ball and fell towards his opponents. Cloak responded by forming his swords into a bat and hitting the Android hard to the wall, knocking him out. Shazam grabbed the container, which had a vacuum function on it, and sucked Twelve up. "Just what was that thing?" he asked.
"He said his name was 'Twelve'. He's a Bio-Android. I don't know who created him or why he's here, though," Cloak answered.
"You could understand what he's saying, Platinum?" Catwoman asked, surprising the other two heroes.
"I'm a technomancer, so yeah. Now how'd you know who I am?"
"I'm a little fond of you, you know. I heard your voice, so I know who you are." She smoothly ran her fingers across his chest. "If I happen to come across you again, we can help one another again." With after that, she left, leaving behind a bewildered Cloak. Shazam tried to restrain himself from poking fun at him, knowing that he would kill him if he tried.
Back in St. Louis, Logan and the others were sitting around a bonfire. While Cloak and Shazam were on their stakeout, Kiryo had become a slightly better swimmer. Logan and Cammy knew that it'd take time before he was at Logan's level, though. During this time, while Ibuki's unrequited crush on Logan was obvious, Elena had also grown fonder of him than she ever had been. She even volunteered to help him combat LexCorp, despite the dangers. Makoto had no need to tell them about her volunteering since Logan knew already. They also knew that Ibuki's village would be happy to assist them as well. The same went with Sakura, but it was mainly in hopes of seeing Ryu again.
Logan got a text message from Todd and it disturbed him. "Apparently, Cloak, Shazam, and Patience fought a Bio-Android of sorts. I don't think he's made by LexCorp, but he could be associated with the guys who are working on 'Project: Frankenstein'."
"That's a possibility," said Guile. "We just have to be extra careful from now on."
"Yeah, I know. I think we should let the League know of our discovery. We'll obviously leave Dick out of the details, but Raven will know." Dick and the others nodded as well. "In the meantime, Harper, I need you and Tim to keep working on that antivirus program for Luthor's robots. Take some time to get some fresh air in the process. It'll be good for you."
"You got it, Logan," said Harper. "But what are you going to do?"
"I'm going to research 'Project: Frankenstein' and its creators. Maybe Twelve might have a sort of connection with them."
"That's probably good, Logan," said Elena. "If you need help, try communicating through nature like Thunder Hawk taught you to and I'll come to you."
"Let us know too, Logan-san," said Sakura, indicating herself, Ken, and Makoto.
"Thanks, guys. I know I can count on all of you, even if Guile and Ken have to get away from their wives to help out," Logan said, getting a laugh out of everyone except the said two blondes.
"I know I won't be much help on my end. Spyral keeps me pretty busy," said Dick. "But I'll be able to help when I'm in town." Logan nodded, happy to have his best friend on board. He also knew that he and the League had the Soul Society's back as well, so he didn't ask Soifon or Yoruichi.
This was going to be a long battle indeed.
Back at the charred car where Logan and Dick picked up the briefcases, there were several more of the strange figures. One of them was distinguished because he was the only one without a hat, displaying his white hair and green gem in his forehead. "Did you find anything yet?" he asked.
"Not yet, sir!" said one of the figures. "The only trace we found was the driver! He's coming to!"
"Who did this?" the boss asked the driver as he regained his consciousness.
"S-Spyral did this! I-I think the agent also had the St. Louis Den-Master with him as well!"
"Thank you. That's all I needed to know." With that, the squad leader snapped the driver's neck. He called his headquarters afterwards. "We have a problem."
CHAPTER 20 END
Okay, so that one turned out alright. At least I finally used a Street Fighter III character in one of my stories. I've never played the Street Fighter III games, so there are some characters, such as Twelve, Alex, Q, Remy, and Sean, that I'm unfamiliar with. Due to being on Ultra Street Fighter IV, the only characters I'm familiar with from that series are Dudley, Makoto, Ibuki, Yun, Yang, and Elena. Hugo made his debut along with Poison back in Final Fight.
So now, Logan and his friends have another threat besides LexCorp to deal with. But who is this organization? Do they have a link to the Bio-Android Twelve? And what is 'Project: Frankenstein'? Stay tuned to find out.