Another chapter, :) This chapter was mainly used to add a little bit of development to the characters before more action filled chapters later. Hope you enjoy it, please R and R. I'll try and update before the end of the week. :)
Chapter 20
Batman and Nightwing stood round the command table waiting for the others to contact them and update them on the situation. The pair had stood in silence for about 15 minutes when they received their first message. Nightwing's communicator began vibrating heavily and he flipped it open to see Beast Boy's face on the screen, "Situation report Beast Boy," Nightwing said as the green boy waved at the camera.
"We've managed to deal death blows to two of the big ships, but we've lost the Lantern." Beast Boy said glumly as the rain fell around him, his green hair beginning to reach his eyes as the water caused it to hang down his face. After a few moments respectful silence he continued, "We have been informed from a reliable source that Superman is dead as well, I'm sorry. On a lighter note I just did a fly round, only three of their big ships are left."
"Thanks Beast Boy and keep your head down out there we don't want to lose any one else." Nightwing said as he closed the communicator to the sight of Batman with his head in his hands. "You ok Bruce?"
"I've messed it up Dick; I've been doing this too long. I knew we were always going to lose people but the league's finished, almost all of the members are dead or incapacitated. I'm getting to old for this Dick," Batman muttered depressed as Nightwing sat down next to him.
"You know," Nightwing said with a smile, "I used to despise how I was always labelled as your sidekick, it was why I wanted away, it was why I changed costume. I couldn't be Batman's sidekick any longer because of how people idolized Batman. The world still needs you Bruce; you can't give up on it yet."
"Maybe you're right, I'm just not sure I can do this much longer, I'm forty years old Dick I can't do it forever." Batman said as he rose to his feet, "But maybe I can still do it now."
Plus I have been crafting a worthy successor." Nightwing smirked and patted Batman on the back as he returned to the other side of the table.
"I'm only letting you hang up the wings when you've rounded up your enemies for good. Only yesterday did I have to deal with Mr Freeze and Firefly for you." Nightwing chuckled.
"Not in Gotham, not my concern, that's my new rule. You can deal with the rest of it for me and save these old legs some unnecessary running." Batman responded as he repositioned some figures on their battle map.
"Yeah, the media's going to love that one. Batman could have caught the bank robber but decided he was running a bit to quickly for his liking and he'll try to catch him next week."
Raven set Starfire down before tossing Wonder Woman's lasso back to her. "So you're telling me Starfire that because you picked on your sister we're facing interplanetary war. So not only are you unwilling to end the war but you're actually partly responsible for starting the damn thing in the first place." Raven said shaking her head before leaning against the wall and sighing. "Well you sit here and cry if you want, I'm going to try and fix this thing."
"Why are you set on turning me in to die, surely if you took your own life then your father would not be able to destroy this world if it is you he uses as a portal," Starfire hissed through the tears as Wonder Woman helped her to her feet.
"I am but single method for my father to enter this universe, his arrival is inevitable." Raven responded dryly as she headed out into the rain. After a brief pause Wonder Woman and Starfire followed. The trio scythed through the rods of rain, watching as an empty tram passed by, before crossing the road. The streets were unnervingly quite, the gunfire and explosions that had filled the air throughout the day had gone. "It appears war takes the nights off," Raven thought to herself before turning to face the others. "Maybe we should get some sleep whilst it's quiet."
Raven spotted a supermarket a few streets ahead and the trio b-lined for it. Once inside Raven elevated herself above the aisles, "There's no one here," Raven said coldly as she lowered herself back to the ground. "I believe the mustard is in that aisle Starfire," Raven said pointing to the far side of the store. The alien grunted in false gratitude and trudged off down the aisle intending to take as much time as possible. "She drinks mustard apparently," Raven told Wonder Woman who gave her a look.
Raven then sat in the middle of the store and began uttering a strange mantra the Wonder Woman had never heard before. Wonder Woman sat down on a counter and watched as Starfire sat on the opposite side of the store. "What am I going to these two?" Wonder Woman thought to herself.
Beast Boy, Cyborg and Adam had returned to the store where they had been taking cover earlier. Beast Boy wondered why Adam was keeping them around, if it wasn't for the fact that it was no longer possible to see more than three feet outside and that was with Beast Boy's heightened senses, he could have won this war on his own. Adam however seemed contempt with following the living pattern of two poorly adapted teenagers.
"Wonder how the others are doing," Cyborg said as Adam used his powers to cook Cyborg and Beast Boy food. Beast Boy shrugged as he munched on a banana. Cyborg sighed trying to think of a way to start a conversation. "So... how do reckon Rachael and Starfire are getting along then?"
"Fine probably, do you reckon Dick will be worrying about his new squeeze?" Beast Boy chuckled as Adam handed him a plate filled with his beloved tofu. Cyborg laughed as he took his plate and began tucking into his steak.
"I don't get, she's only been here a week and he's bedded her, why aren't women falling from the sky for me?" Cyborg said with a smirk and Beast Boy shook his head. After a few more mouthfuls Beast Boy continued.
"Oh yeah, the good looking playboy billionaire finds it easy to pull women, shocking. And you and I aren't that lucky," Beast Boy responded and continued to devour his tofu. Cyborg laughed before nodding in agreement.
"Maybe not, so how's your roommate?" Cyborg said as Beast Boy gave him a look. Adam who had been looking out of the window walked over and sat by the pair, forming a triangle. "Did you tell her about our little adventure into her mind?"
"She's fine and no, I want to live," Beast Boy said giving Cyborg a look. The big man sat back and smiled so Beast Boy tried to change the subject. "So... Adam if you won't kill me for asking, what made you go from evil to..." Beast Boy debated as to the right word to use after deciding good wasn't suitable. "Less evil?"
Adam sighed, making Beast Boy worry that his head was going to be pulled off, before speaking. "You must always have something to drive you, more so when you're on the other side of the law. I have no intensions of destroying worlds; I'm not a mad man. Well not that sort of mad man. I had my mortal enemy, he went by the name of Captain Marvel, we fought endlessly, we did battle for reasons I no longer remember. But when I finally held the body of my enemy in my hands, I realised I had let my hatred consume me." Adam paused, thinking, before continuing his speech.
"I have killed millions of men, women and children, it did not concern me and yet when I realised my mortal enemy was but a child it was different. It made consider what I had become, with my cause completed I returned home to my empire. And then I met her, they brought this slave to me a girl and it reminded me as to why I gained these powers. I slaughtered the slavers and freed the girl; we fell in love and I bestowed upon her the powers of the goddess Isis. I had my motivation once more; I would free the world's slaves. But that was another life. What is it that motivates you green one?"
Beast Boy sighed sadly before speaking up, "I lost my parents when I was a child; I always thought I could save them but... and then I lost my adopted family. They got into the whole hero thing, I wanted to be an actor, well I am an actor. But this life keeps pulling me back in, I guess you can never stop once you start." Adam nodded considering Beast Boy's response.
"A fair assessment, so what about you tin man, what is it that drives you?" Adam said as he turned his attention towards Cyborg who laughed slightly at the name.
"I like to win, pure and simple, I used to be an athlete and you need that desire to win," Cyborg said with a grin, "This hero stuff is just another game, I intend to win it." Adam grinned at the comment whilst Beast Boy shook his head.
Wintergreen sat holed up in an explosion created trench in the centre of the street that they had been fighting in earlier. Deathstroke sat across from him in the whole eating his rations, ignoring the rising water level in their trench as the immense rainfall filled it. The immense Mammoth was hidden under a sheet further down the trench as he filled in a children's colouring book. Hive was sat with Wintergreen and Deathstroke, polishing his shield despite the rain.
"You know sir, I never thought when you enlisted me that I would be fighting super powered terrorist and seeing an alien invasion sir." Hive said as sat there, shouting slightly so he was audible above the rain. Wintergreen grinned and Deathstroke shook his head as they thought about their situation. "We've avoided nuclear war so far I suppose."
"This is certainly an interesting scenario," Wintergreen said glumly as the rain filled his mug. "At least our enemy don't like fighting at night time... wait they're reptiles aren't. I bet their cold blooded." Wintergreen came to the revelation suddenly and took a look out of his trench with binoculars. "Slade you've got to see this." He said beckoning Deathstroke to take a look down the binoculars.
"Are those giant radiators," Deathstroke laughed before passing the binoculars back and pointing, "Look at that lot sprawled out on that tank to gain heat. We should be launching an attack, but I don't fancy our chances getting across the bay in the weather."
"I think their space ships have landed, well at least one of them anyway, it's hard to tell the rain ain't exactly doing wonders for my vision. Must have brought the Manchester weather with me." William smirked before sitting down and making himself a drink.
"I must ask sir, why is it that you are other here sir." Hive asked Wintergreen about his presence in America.
"Slade here became the commander of NATO forces in the pan-African conflict after the deaths of most of the higher ranking officers. A similar thing happened to me, except rather than losing my superiors to hostile fire, Slade's incompetent predecessor decided it was wise to bomb his allies." Wintergreen said laughing, "So anyway, I was then assigned as the British representative in the central command. When Slade got sent home, I got sent with him and here we are."
"That wasn't how we first met though," Deathstroke intervened before Hive could speak, "I was a boy soldier in the Vietnam War, got myself captured. British Special Forces did the rescue; William here dragged me out that hell hole." Wintergreen laughed at the statement.
"That takes me back, I'm fairly certain I was a Colonel then," Wintergreen chuckled, "I can't believe it; I turn sixty-six in a couple of months. Yet my old legs carry on."
"I would to serve as long as that sir," Hive said as he moved on to polish his boots, "Both my father and grandfather were soldiers sir, most of my family before them were as well sir. The Hive's have had a fatality in every major conflict for ten generations sir." Wintergreen nodded as Hive returned to his polishing.
Flash sat hidden from the violent storm over the city underneath a shop front along the bay. He watched as dark waves crashed against the shore and bits of the bridge that had once dominated the city's skyline floated by. The sound of Jericho playing his harmonica was barely audible due the rain's endless onslaught. The Arrow sat cleaning his equipment further along the road.
Flash took out his communicator and message Jericho about the weather and received a witty response that made Flash chuckle a little. Jericho then decided to message his father and sister, both of whom sent response saying they were fine. Jericho then decided to send Nightwing and Batman a message updating them on their situation before returning to his harmonica.
Flash decided it was a good idea to check if Cyborg and Beast Boy were ok, receiving a less than pleasant response from Cyborg about how Flash was ripping him off. Beast Boy sent a message informing them off the Lantern's death. Flash sighed deciding he should be the one to tell the Arrow and burst over to the Arrow's hidey hole.
"I've got some bad news Oliver," Flash said in concerned voice and the Arrow nodded for him to continue, "Hal was killed earlier today, I'm sorry." The Arrow's head dropped and he sighed. Flash patted the Arrow on the shoulder before heading back to his spot.
"Oh Hal..." The Arrow muttered to himself sadly.
Wonder Woman sat in a triangle with the girls that had a bottle in the middle. "Do we really have to play this," Raven sighed in contrast to Starfire's gleeful face. "There's nothing that interesting about me." Wonder Woman smirked at Raven before beginning.
"Why, before you seemed rather interested in the truth, and anyway it's truth or dare, and we aren't doing dares so this should be rather simple shouldn't it." Wonder Woman said as she spun the bottle. After a few circular motions the bottle stopped with its top end pointing towards Starfire. "So... Starfire, who is your favourite teammate," Wonder Woman said in a slightly seductive manor.
"Well she's bedding so it shouldn't be too difficult to work out the answer," Raven muttered sarcastically. This didn't however prevent Starfire from answering.
"Richard is most wondrous," Starfire beamed as Raven shook her head, "Though it would seem that human men are... of weaker stuff than I imagined." Wonder Woman laughed at the statement.
"Tell me about it sister," Wonder Woman giggled but Raven interrupted.
"My father's a demon, I'm sure he can offer you more of a contest," Raven said sarcastically, "I'll introduce you if you want." Wonder Woman smirked and span the bottle once more, landing this time on Raven who stared back emotionlessly.
"So... which of our male counterparts would you most prefer Raven?" Starfire said with her regular beaming smile restored. Raven maintained her emotionless facial expression.
"I've managed to develop a hatred of Wally without speaking to him so it rules him out. Victor is unfortunately handicapped in this respect so I suppose he's ruled out. Joey is sweet enough but, little offence intended, as nice as the silence would be I would actually like to talk to my man occasionally. Dick is a nice enough guy, and I'll give you credit, quite the looker. But he's far too much like me I'm afraid, two moody people probably wouldn't work. And that leaves Garfield." Raven said before noticing Starfire grinning with a look in her eye. "It means nothing, he won by default."
Across the bay a female who bared an unnerving resemblance to Starfire stood before the kneeling Weezak. "When is the rest of the fleet due to arrive my commander?" Komand'r said as the rain thudded outside her tent.
"The fleet will arrive in the early hours of the day that follows this one, my liege." Weezak said as he rose to his feet. "Is that acceptable?"
"It is, you may leave now," Komand'r uttered calmly and the Gordanian left swiftly. "Oh sister, you truly do not know what is coming for you, I will have my revenge." The alien mutter to herself emotionlessly.