Chapter 21: Starting Point
Authors Note: Thank you all once again for your reviews and support for this story and I hope you all had a great thanks giving. I hope you enjoy this next chapter.
Disclaimer: I do not own JLA or Batman.
Owl Man pushed Shadow away. She let out a series of giggles as she swung her sword around playfully.
"So you really are in there aren't you, Joker." Owl Man sneered.
"Well, mostly," She shrugged. "I gave the brat a dose of vitamin-J when she was a kid and now she is slowly turning her frown upside down."
"You know I had completely forgotten all about you until I saw that grin on poor Ritters face." Owl Man stated, Shadow gave him a cold stare.
"Well don't worry about it." She assured. "Pretty soon this whole town will remember who controls this city!" She laughed. "And it won't be some Batman knock off, nope, nope, nope."
In an instant, Shadow appeared before Owl Man and brought her sword down upon him. He reached his metal hand up and caught the blade with his claws with little effort. Shadow only smiled before dropping to the ground and sweeping his legs from beneath him.
Owl Man fell, but landed on his hand and quickly pushed himself back onto his feet. Shadow arose from the ground and delivered an upper cut to Owl Man's jaw. Shadow raised an eyebrow when she saw how completely unfazed he was by her attack. She had her power activated when she sent that punch to his chin, by that logic his face should have come clean off.
"Surprised?" He asked. "I have spent my life bettering myself as a man and as a warrior. You and your pathetic powers will never bring me down."
Shadow charged up a surge of energy into her hands before combining them together and blasting him in the center of his chest. Owl Man was sent across the hall and through a wall before landing on the yard outside.
Meanwhile, Talon and Night Strike were engaged in swords before locking blades.
"You can stop this you know," Night Strike warned. "You have been given a second chance at life. You can live like a normal person!"
"My life hasn't been normal for nearly two hundred years." Talon grunted. He raised his iron boot and kicked Night Strike in his chest, sending him back. "Night Strike raised his left wrist and fired a series of explosive darts from his wrist sleeve.
Talon leaped back as the darts blew up around him, he wasn't hurt, but he started to see some very bizarre things. The smoke started to come to life and owls started flying around him. Talon started to go rampant and swung his sword around wildly.
Night Strike watched from a pile of bricks he landed in and started to get up when he watched another assailant appear from behind and stick a syringe into his lower back. Night Strike got up from his spot and recognized the man as Ritter.
"Fear toxin," Ritter snapped. "It giveth and it taketh away." He looked over at the Gemini twins who had hovered before him. "Careful, it looks as though your friends are in much dire need of your help."
"We should end you right now." They both said in a cold tone.
"And you should, but the police are coming your fortress is exposed and your teammates are either losing their minds or their, how you say, cool?" He snickered as he glanced over at Solar, who was still being cradled by Artic.
Batman was dealing with a few drones while Gauntlet and Ruvic dealt with Kutthroat and Jack. Black Mark was once again fighting off Turbine and Wolf was helping Shadow fight off Owl Man.
"Quite the event is it not?" He chuckled. "There certainly will be a better tomorrow by the time we are through."
"It will be a better tomorrow, but that will only happen when we erase you and the owls from existence." They stated.
"Hmm, killing in the name of peace, reminds me of an organization I joined long ago." Ritter snickered. "You are all not worthy to be opponents against the owls and I. We are all trained soldiers with the sole purpose of killing. You and your little friends are nothing but a bunch of abandoned experiments or forgotten warriors who are playing hero. This is why you and your kind will never defeat us."
"We shall see."
Ritter tipped his hat to the twins before summoning a boom tube and transporting himself to safety. Soon everyone else started disappearing, but not before Owl Man got his hands wrapped around Shadow's throat.
"Trash, just like father." Owl Man snickered. The green glow started to fade from Shadow's eyes as she started to feel like herself again. Owl Man raised his claw. "I wished I could have been the one to kill him."
"Get use to disappointment!"
Owl Man turned and was immediately struck in the side of the face by an escrima stick, breaking the side of his helmet. He looked up and his face broke out into a scowl when saw Alexandra. She quickly drew her husband's sword from her waist and attacked the man, but even with his swollen eye he still managed to defend himself.
Ally swiped her sword across his face, but he managed to catch the blade before pulling a knife from his belt and stabbing her in the side of her waist. Ally let out a sharp gasp and was weakened from the wound, but she still managed to raise the escrima stick and press the end of it to his exposed face.
Owl Man felt the sharp burn of electricity come from the stick and quickly pushed her away from him. His hands quickly undid the clasps of the helmet and removed it to tend to his now scared face.
Shauna got a glimpse at the man's face and saw that he was still a young man, maybe around his twenties. His hair was short and dirty blonde and spike up around the edges. In one brief moment the two locked eyes and Shadow felt her blood run cold when she saw the colors.
One was blue and the other was green.
Owl Man panicked and quickly activated his boom tube and leaped through it, leaving Wayne Manor in ruins. Shadow looked over at her mother. She slowly fell to her knees before collapsing on the ground.
Shadow rushed over to her and started to feel her temperature. She was sweating bullets but her skin was cold. She was poisoned.
"Dammit, don't you fucking die on me you bitch!" Shadow snapped. She charged up her Adonis powers and sent a small surge into her mother's heart. She couldn't destroy the poison but she could at the very least suppress the cells from spreading further into her body.
"Shauna, move!"
Shauna looked behind her to see Apollo already suited up in her armor. She pushed passed Shauna and knelt down next to Ally. Shauna saw Apollo raise her and jumped when a long needle shot out of the bottom of her wrist.
She positioned the needle at Ally's neck and Shauna winced when she jammed it into her skin. She instantly pulled the needle out and Shauna listened to her Mother's breathing start to steady out.
"I gave her a shot of anti-venom." Apollo stated. "She will be fine."
"Great, just fucking great." Shauna looked over at Artic, who was carrying a dazed Solar and rushed over towards them.
Solar averted his drowsy gaze up at Shadow only to see her fist collide with his left eye. He stumbled back and landed on his ass while he heard the commotion in front of him.
"That's enough!" Artic shouted. Solar looked up to see Arctic and Gauntlet struggling to keep her back.
"That idiot nearly killed us!" She shouted before glaring at Arctic. "And you knew, didn't you, you knew about what was inside of him!"
"I thought he could control it, I was wrong." Artic said through his teeth. "He has a-"
"Thomas," Solar said before pulling his hood down revealing his messy black hair. "I can explain my own misfortunes." He looked towards Shadow and the rest of the team to gather. Sparrow flew in on the Raven when he heard about the attack.
He went to go and check on his mother, but she was already being dragged away my some medics. Johnny waved him over and he quickly made his way to them.
"Good everyone is here now." Johnny cleared his throat. "Back when we were home I was possessed by the wizard, Quan Chi."
"Yeah, but we knew that already." Vortex stated.
"Yes, but what you didn't know is that his curse turned into a being and that being still lingers inside of me." He said in a distant tone. "It calls itself, Draco. It has been slowly trying to take over my body ever since."
"Why haven't you ever mentioned this before?" Nemera asked. "You could have had asked me and I could have made a call to Stormbolt and he could get all of the magical beings together and find a solution."
"It won't work, only I can extract it by killing it." He said. "I thought if I just grit my teeth and try and forget about everything that I had done as Draco then maybe I could bury it and move on with my life."
"It's never that easy, kiddo." A voice echoed around them. "Up here!"
Everyone looked up at a nearby tree and saw a yellow hooded woman dressed in white v8.03 battle suit with matching black combat boots with a blue and silver stripe running down each side. Her final piece of attire was a pair of grey gauntlets, which Artic noticed was fitted with hidden blades. Artic smiled when he finally recognized the outfit.
"Hello Skye." Artic smiled. She pulled down her yellow hood, revealing a beautiful girl with long black hair and a pair of kind brown eyes.
"Hey kids." She smiled.
"We've been over this, we are both older than you so stop calling us kids." He chuckled.
"Then stop acting like kids." She countered before leaping off of the branch, landing in on her feet in front of Artic.
"Everyone, this is Skye, but her real name is Samantha Roger, our cousin." He introduced.
"Sam for short." She smiled. Before anyone could say anything, Johnny stood before her with a frustrated look across his face.
"Why are you here, and how the hell did you even get here?" He snapped.
"Gee, nice to see you too." She grumbled. "I am here because Raiden wanted me to help you. He even found a way for you guys to come back home!" She clapped her hands together.
Solar and Artic were both shocked at that last statement, but they would both have to worry about that later. For now they would have to deal with Draco.
"Well how the hell do we get Draco out of Solar?" Wolf asked.
"Raiden said that, Shadow could help." She looked to Shadow and smiled. "Can you?"
Shadow ran a hand down her tired face and just started stuttering out sentences.
"I-I honestly do not know." She sighed. "In case you haven't noticed we have had a very terrible night so my mind is not even in the right place right now." She looked over at Solar. "Johnny is this thing going to go postal at will or does it need to be triggered?"
"Triggered, especially by anger." He explained.
"Okay, Artic just keep an eye on him, Sparrow let's go to the hospital and keep an eye on mom."
"Sounds good, nice meeting you!" Sparrow said to Skye before running over to the Raven. She waved at them before the rest started to head back to H.Q.
(!)
"So you were taught by this guy Raiden who is the god of thunder and lightning in your universe?" Nemera asked as she sat down on the couch next to Ruvic and Black Mark.
"Yup, I started looking for him after my parents died when I was a teenager." She explained. "He trained me and even bestowed upon me the power of wind and lightning and all it cost me was my mortal life."
"Mortal life, you mean you are immortal?" Gauntlet asked.
"Yeah, Raiden warned me, but I insisted." She sighed remorsefully. "You would think that being immortal would be great, but when you find the right guy and settle down with him only to wake up and see his fifty year old face in front of my twenty year old face…it just does not work."
"Sounds lonely." The Twins stated.
"It can be." Solar and Artic said in unison.
"Well let's get back to the task at hand." Gauntlet said, clapping his hands together. "Draco, he is not a reasonable man and he can't be summoned at will so we get you in combat."
"But we can't risk letting Draco out in a bank robbery or hostage situation without him going insane like he did at Wayne Manor." Black Mark stated. "Otherwise he'll just end up killing more people."
"Then how do we expose Draco?" Skye asked.
Suddenly, the alarms started going off and a warning was in effect. Everyone looked at the screen and saw live footage of Kutthroat and Jack tearing apart Downtown Gotham. The two were obviously trying to provoke the two and it was working.
"They are egging you two on." Skye warned.
"We know." Artic said.
"Dammit, what do we do?" Solar asked.
Solar jumped when his phone started ringing and he quickly pulled it out of his pants pocket to see Shauna's name on the screen. He answered and put it on speaker.
"Are you seeing this?" Shauna asked.
"Yeah, we were just figuring out a way to stop Draco." He explained.
"Don't worry, I have a plan. Put Artic on the phone and if I am on speaker take me off." Solar was confused but did what she asked. He handed his brother to phone and he took it and held it to his ear.
"Okay," He nodded. "If you are sure then we can do it." He shut the phone of and smiled at Solar. "Before you ask I can't tell you but I need you to trust me."
Solar was frustrated when he was left out of the plan, but if it was to take down Draco he knew it would be worth it. So he swallowed his pride and agreed to help out however he could. He owed it to everyone he had killed.
(!)
Kutthroat and Jack were both cutting down anyone that came their way, most of them being cops. Kutthroat readied another boomerang and this time gave it an icy charge before throwing it at another couple of cops. He knew one cut from that enchanted blade would turn the cops into ice before shattering them to pieces.
Before the boomerang could hit an unsuspecting cop, Artic leaped in and cut the projectile down inches before hitting the cop.
"Go!" Artic said as the unsuspecting cop ran away. Kutthroat grinned mischievously before pulling two boomerangs from his vest.
"Artic." He sneered.
"Kutthroat." Artic grunted. The warrior looked around and noticed he was one short of a screw. "Where is your friend?"
"I was about to ask the same thing." Jack said as he stepped out of a nearby building. His eyes and were blood red and as was the aura surrounding him. "Where is your better half?"
"Right behind you!"
Jack turned and was quickly ambushed by Solar. His arms wrapped around him tight so Jack couldn't break free. Solar looked over at Artic.
"Artic, now!"
Artic pulled out a small black remote and aimed it at both Solar and Jack. He pressed a button and summoned a zeta hole beneath him. Both Jack and Solar fell through and appeared on a snowy mountain top.
Solar pushed away from Jack and pulled out his dual swords. Jack grabbed his swords as well and the two were staring each other down.
"This mountain was used as an execution ground by the league of assassins." Solar explained. "Two warriors went in and one came out."
"So that is how we decide our fates, Johnny?" Jack asked before discarding his two swords and pulling out his Ripper Knife, the blade glowed green as his power triggered the plutonium it was made of. "We duel like warriors?"
"It is the only way either of us can truly die." He said. "Mortal Kombat."
"You know I won't fight you." He snickered. Solar's eyes glowed red and his swords slowly burned bright.
"I know." He hissed. Jack recognized that voice as Draco.
In an instant, Solar appeared behind Jack and he swiped his swords across his back, but Jack used his own enhanced speed to leap out of the way of his blades. Solar flew towards Jack again and brought his sword down him, but Jack raised his knife and blocked his attack.
The collision of energies caused a devastating shockwave and melted all of the snow around them even drying the ground to the point where it was sizzling.
This continued for a minute before Solar summoned powerful fire energy in his sword as Jack did the same with his knife. Solar swung his sword down as Jack swiped his knife up and fired off his nuclear energy.
The two energies collided and knocked both of the warriors off of the mountain top and into the forest below. The two landed hard on the ground and were both severely injured.
"Not bad," He chuckled. "To bad we are in an isolated forest so we could have caused so much collateral damage."
"Wasn't my fault, they are planning on killing me." Draco chuckled. "But I guess they wanted you dead first."
"Then they should get use to disappointment."
Jack and Draco both fired off energy blast from their blades and wiped out a large portion of the forest. Draco looked at the damage he had done and grinned when he saw Draco on his back wounded.
Jack could feel Draco's energy slipping away and he quickly staggered towards his fallen enemy.
"Felt good didn't it Johnny?" Jack asked. He started pouring energy into his blade to get ready for the finishing blow. "This is who you are, buddy, Draco the killer not Solar the warrior. Too bad you were just too much of a coward to accept that. I heard that last Shadow guy accepted that cruel truth, too bad he's dead I would have love to have meet him. Oh well, I guess I can kill his kid just the same."
Jack raised his knife over his head and brought it down in a stabbing force towards Draco's chest. Draco's hand instantly shot up from the ground and grabbed the blade, stopping it before hitting his chest.
Jack started to panic when he felt his energy draining out of his body, through his knife and into Solar's body.
Draco smiled and placed his right hand on the top of Jack's body and started to absorb more of his energy. When Draco had enough of Jack's energy he redirected it into his body and watched as his fire started to burn him from the inside.
"I guess you don't miss me much now, do you?" Draco chuckled. Jack could feel himself dying at his enemies hands an there was nothing he could do. The knife was now dust in the wind and soon he would be too.
Draco tried to speak but the pain was too much for him to bear so he could only use the last of his strength to point with his free hand. As his body turned to ash Draco turned and was face to face with Artic and the Shadow Warriors.