Disclaimer: I don't own Young Justice
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Previously in A Lone Bird
"But that would mean…" Artemis said trailing off.
"They're planning something against the League itself" Batman concluded.
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Chapter 21
"If they're after the League then why exactly do I need to be dead?" Karasu asked after the brief silence that followed Batman's statement. The team gave him surprised looks.
"The Shadows want to kill you?" Wally asked.
"Yeah, that's the main reason why I'm here" Karasu replied.
"Perhaps they are afraid that you will be able to oppose them" Kaldur suggested. Karasu scoffed.
"Me? Yeah right – what could I do to a group of highly trained assassins?" he asked.
"You've already helped us figure out what they could be up to" Artemis supplied.
"I'm sure Batman was already suspicious" the bird retorted.
"True, but there were no leads, now we have something to go off of" Kaldur said.
"Still don't see why me being dead would help them" Karasu grumbled.
"How did you get involved with them anyway?" Wally asked. Karasu sighed.
"Cheshire showed up saying the shadows had heard about me and wanted to recruit me or something and I said no. Then she said I'd regret going against the Shadows and left. A couple days later her and three others showed up to make good on her threat, but were called back before they could. That's all I know" he explained.
"So all you've done is refuse to work with them?" Wally said.
"Pretty much" Karasu replied. "Still don't see why they think I'm a threat" he added.
"You hacked the League and they believe you could hack them as well" Batman stated.
"Yeah, I hacked the League – past tense. Then you went and upped the security so I can't get in anymore" Karasu complained.
"How come you could get in before?" Wally asked. Batman spoke up.
"Security was lax. The League hadn't had any serious threats in that area, until Karasu. Though I use the term threat loosely as he never did anything that compromised us" he said.
"Maybe I shouldn't have let you know I could" Karasu said.
"Maybe" Batman agreed.
"So…he's not a great hacker?" M'gann asked. She had thought he was a highly skilled hacker, but with the way they were talking, she wasn't sure if her thought had been correct.
"No. He he an excellent hacker, not the best, perhaps, but he has potential" Batman replied.
"But potential without guidance often proves dangerous" Karasu commented with an amused look in his eyes. The slightest of smirks flashed across Batman's face.
"True" he said.
"I still don't understand why they want to kill him" Wally said.
"They don't want any loose ends – whether they are sure he would be one or not" the Dark Knight explained.
"Yeah well I wouldn't be, but then they went decide to try and kill me. So whatever happens from this point is their own fault" Karasu said.
"So you're with us all the way? None of that side switching stuff?" Wally asked.
"Yep, no side switching" the bird replied.
"So what can you do?" Artemis asked. Karasu furrowed his eyebrows.
"What?" he asked.
"Fighting style, any particular talents, things like that. If we want to work together effectively, then we'll have to know some of you skills" Artemis explained.
"That's true, all we really know is that he's acrobatic and a good hacker" M'gann commented.
"That's because we've never actually fought each other" Karasu said.
"And you usually don't really fight around us" Wally added.
"That too" Karasu replied.
"True, he didn't really do anything but throw a knife at Penguin and briefly engage Catwoman" Artemis said thoughtfully.
"What can I say? I'm a lover, not a fighter" Karasu replied with a shrug.
"Yeah right" Wally scoffed.
"Well I'm not going to embarrass myself by going up against a more skilled opponent when I don't have to" Karasu amended.
"So you can't fight?" Wally asked.
"No, I can fight – I'm just not trained" Karasu replied.
"What do you mean? I thought you defeated Bane" Artemis said.
"Yeah, through incredible luck and the old home field advantage" the bird replied.
"What do you mean – home field advantage?" M'gann asked.
"My place is rigged, you know traps, secret passages, hidden doors – the like" Karasu answered.
"Then how'd you end up taking over part of Gotham?" Artemis asked.
"Please, I'm untrained, not incompetent. I can take on a common thug. And I only took over because they refused to work together" Karasu explained.
"If you're untrained then how did you learn to fight? What about the knife throwing thing?" the archer continued.
"I picked up bits of street fighting here and there, then added acrobatics and made my own fighting style. As for the knife throwing? I'll just say that it's something from my past and leave it at that" Karasu replied.
"How are you going to fight the Shadows then?" Wally asked.
"Couldn't he get training from the League?" M'gann inquired.
"Probably not, I doubt the League would ever agree to train someone who is not a known hero" Artemis said.
"Don't say that, I'm sure the League would-" M'gann started.
"No, the League cannot officially train someone that is not part of it" Batman said.
"Officially?" Karasu repeated with a raised eyebrow. The other teens looked up.
"Are you saying there's some way to train him…without actually training him?" Wally asked confused.
"Training often entails the presence of a trainer" Batman replied. The team stared at him with puzzled expressions. What was that supposed to mean? Karasu grinned under his mask.
"And if the trainer will not teach, the trainees must learn amongst themselves" he continued. Batman nodded.
"What are you two talking about?" Wally asked.
"A loophole to our little problem" Karasu replied.
"What's that supposed to mean? You know a way to get training, but not from the League?" the speedster asked.
"Hard to say" the bird replied mischievously. Artemis sighed.
"Ok, they obviously aren't going to tell us, so we'll have to figure it out" she said.
"I'm not good at figuring this type of thing out" Wally said. The archer snorted in amusement.
"Obviously" she remarked.
"Hey!" Wally exclaimed defensibly.
"Then let us begin with the 'trainer.' Who do you believe it refers to?" Kaldur said quickly trying to stop the fight before it could really get started. The teens thought for a moment.
"Well, they said 'if the trainer will not teach' so wouldn't it be the League?" M'gann asked.
"Black Canary" Conner stated.
"Yeah, Black Canary is from the League and she trains us" Artemis agreed.
"Then we are the trainees" Kaldur concluded. They turned to Batman.
"Yes" he confirmed.
"So you're saying that he can't be trained by the League, but he can learn from us?" Wally asked.
"Yes" Batman repeated.
"But how does that make sense? Sure we aren't officially part of the League, but we are heroes so why should we be allowed to teach him?" Wally asked furrowing his eyebrows.
"Are you second guessing Batman?" Karasu asked. Wally's eyes widened in alarm.
"No!" he exclaimed then cleared his throat. "No, not at all" the speedster said more calmly.
"So you want us to teach him? We're just learning ourselves, how can we teach someone else?" Artemis asked.
"He doesn't need to be taught. What he needs is experience" Batman explained.
"You want us to… spar with him?" Kaldur concluded uncertainly.
"In a way" Batman replied.
"We're not sparring?" Wally asked.
"Can you explain what you are thinking?" Kaldur asked.
"He will come here every day and during the time that he is present he can initiate a spar with one or more of you or any of you can with him" Batman said.
"So like regular sparring, but you don't know exactly when it will be happening" Wally said.
"And there will be different environments so no one will have a constant advantage" Artemis added.
"Or, if chosen carefully, the attacker can put the odds in his or her favor" Kaldur concluded.
"Correct" Batman replied.
"So it's a little more like 'real life,' but still safe – or as safe as a spar can be" Wally said. Batman nodded.
"In a week I will come and see if any of you have improved" he said before leaving the room.
"Sounds like fun" Karasu commented.
"You would say that, especially since you seem to love popping out of nowhere" Wally complained. He turned to find that Karasu had vanished.
"Aaaand you're already gone" the speedster added.
"How'd he do that?" M'gann asked.
"It's best not to think about it" Artemis said.
"If I didn't know better, I'd swear he was a bat" Wally sighed mentally preparing himself for the week.
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And so the week passed full of random spars, near heart attacks, and a weird kind of bonding brought forth by terror and shared experience.
It was a rather eventful week.
The first day Karasu was very 'hit and run' with the spars. He would appear, fight for awhile, and then disappear again if the odds were too far against him.
On the second day Wally had decided to take the initiative and sought Karasu out. This resulted the speedster running through the mountain for a couple of hours before actually finding the bird. Once he did he ended up caught in a net, giving Karasu his first win.
Apparently the bird was feeling merciful because he actually cut the speedster down before disappearing again.
Day three was by far the most eventful.
Kaldur ended up in the first spar of the day and he defeated Karasu, but it was much more difficult than he thought it would be.
Next was Artemis. She was shooting targets in the training room and as soon as she fired the last arrow in her quiver, he dropped down from the ceiling. They spared for awhile then decided on a draw.
Karasu managed to get a drop on M'gann, but she ended up suspending him in the air and after few moments he forfeited.
Conner got extremely frustrated during one of his spars with the bird since he couldn't land a hit and the team was afraid that the clone would seriously hurt Karasu. When Conner finally pinned the acrobat down the others prepared to jump in to save him. Their fears were unfounded, they discovered, as Conner simply stood and helped Karasu up after the smaller ebony admitted defeat.
The team had taken to sticking together after the first four days and they were rarely the ones to initiate a spar. Mostly because they could almost never find Karasu – even with a Martian and Kryptonian on their side.
He'd also started messing with their heads. A favorite tactic was flipping the lights of a room on and off causing the occupant of the room to tense and prepare for an attack that, more often than not, would never come.
Karasu managed to at least startle all of them over the course of the week – Wally more often than anyone else.
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The team was gathered in the training room waiting for Batman's arrival at the end of the week.
"Is Karasu here yet?" Wally asked.
"The zeta beam announced him a few hours ago" M'gann replied. When he came by zeta beam, the computerized voice would simply say 'recognized' and that's how they knew it was him. Apparently Batman left that as a way for Karasu to get to the mountain even after he updated the security.
Finally the computer announced Batman's arrival.
The Dark Knight swept into the room and passed the gathered teens coming to a stop in front of them. Batman suddenly took a step to the left. Before any of the gathered teens could question the movement, a form dropped from the ceiling landing in the space Batman had previously occupied.
"Karasu" Batman greeted.
"Bats" Karasu returned cheerfully, as if he hadn't just tried to sneak attack him. Batman turned to Kaldur.
"Has he improved?" he asked.
"Yes, I believe so. He is not an opponent to take lightly." the Atlantian replied. Batman nodded.
"So have you found anything else about what the Shadows are planning?" Wally asked.
"They have finished recruiting villains. They have some from almost every city with a hero protecting it" Batman said.
"What about Gotham?" Artemis asked.
"They broke Bane out of Arkham, but have not contacted any villain otherwise" Batman replied.
"Bane" Karasu growled.
"You said that they finished recruiting villains. Does that mean whatever they are planning is going to happen soon?" Kaldur asked. Batman nodded grimly.
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Sorry about taking forever again. I'm going to do my best to get the next one out within a week. Hopefully.
Um, there's probably something I was supposed to answer or explain here, but my brain's not working at the moment, so sorry if you asked a question and I didn't answer.
Soooo, yeah
BYE!