This chapter is a bit different; you all get to see the point of view from a few very unlikely people. Also sorry for the late update, work is a toll and so is getting ready for college.
That is all. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own Batman: Under the Red Hood and Young Justice, I just design the new Hall of Justice.
Nightwing walks through the zeta tube, looking around the Watchtower for the team. Kid Flash zooms past him laughing while Blue Beetle flies right behind him.
"You're so slow Blue!" Bart yells.
"Shut up Bart!" Jaime retorts.
Nightwing sighs and continues on being stopped here and there by other teammates asking questions or just starting conversations. Nightwing spots Tim in the distance talking to Spoiler, Stephanie, one of the newest members to the team, he walks over. "Hey," he says, breaking in on their conversation.
"Hey," they say in unison, they look at each other and Stephanie giggles.
"So you decided to show up today?" Tim says to him, "I thought you would be watching over Batgirl since-"
"She's fine and her ankle is getting better," Nightwing interjects, "Besides I still have my Hood case the big man gave us to finish."
He keeps replaying the scene over and over in his head, the night the Red Hood got away. The bomb at the train station, him and Barbara jumping down to the tracks, the bomb going off, Barbara getting hurt, the Red Hood and the Federation of Fear, the train, what he sa-
"You still haven't caught those guys yet?" Stephanie asks.
Nightwing shrugs, "Well since there are twelve of them, my focus is on Red, cut off the head and the pack will be lost."
Tim looks at Stephanie and she gives him a glare, Tim ignores it and looks at Nightwing. "I think we found one of the Fears," Tim tells him.
Stephanie smacks his arm. "I thought we agreed not to tell him," she grumbles.
"Who?" Nightwing asks.
"A girl named Alice Prescott, she goes to our school. She's a pretty shady girl who transferred a little over a month ago. Rumor says that she gets into a lot of fights and trouble. And her history is very interesting. She matches Cirque's description as well, I'm pretty sure it's her."
"Hmph," Stephanie grunts. "Well if we are getting on the subject of suspicion of our classmates, I think we should keep an eye on Derion Killingsworth. I don't trust him."
Nightwing raises an eyebrow and look at the both of them. There is definitely tension between them on this subject. "Who's he?"
"A new student that showed up only a few weeks ago, he's Alice's lab partner. On the first day he arrived he caused a huge mishap in the lab, hurting Alice in the process, and in my opinion it didn't seem like an accident. He also stalks her in school, I always see him looming in the shadows when I'm around her or see her." She sighs, "He's up to something or somehow connected to all this."
Nightwing nods his head in understanding, "I want you two to watch them, report back their every movement, and I mean everything." They both nod. He turns and walks around starting to think how the two new pieces fit into the puzzle. The name Prescott bugs him; he's heard that name before, but where?
Suddenly something blocks his way and he snaps out of his thoughts and sees who it is. "I'm surprised you came," Kaldur says with a smile.
Nightwing shrugs, a smirk playing on his lips. "You know me, I don't like my work unfinished."
Kaldur places a hand on his shoulder, "Yes. I know." He lets go, "I'm guessing your work in the Hood case is going well?"
"It's going somewhere all right," Nightwing sighs.
"Is something the matter?" Kaldur asks.
Nightwing crosses his arms, "Nothing I can't handle. You would think he's just a regular punk causing trouble but he's not. There's a method to his madness, it seems he's only targeting one person. Though I'm sure that's not the full picture."
Kaldur nods, "Well I wish you luck my friend." Nightwing nods as they walk on by and he heads to the memorial.
When he gets there he sees the hologram statues of the one's whom passed, including his best friend Wally and his successor, Jason Todd. He glares at Jason's statue and a pressure falls on his chest. It couldn't be.
"I didn't think you would be here of all places," a familiar voice calls out. Nightwing turns to see Artemis taking off her Tigress mask, smiling at him.
He smiles back, "Welcome back! How was Malaysia?"
She walks over to his side. "Hot."
"Well that's to be expected," he agrees.
She nods, "I hear you're working on some case? Kaldur said I should help you on it."
"Ah," Nightwing says, "Yes. That would be great if you did. Come on I'll show you what we have so far." Nightwing starts to head off into one of the rooms to show her; Artemis follows beside him.
"So I heard that M'gann and Conner got back to together?" she starts.
"Yeah I saw that coming miles away," Nightwing says with a smirk.
He pulls up one of the hologram computers and starts to type in the file name. Soon all the data they've gathered on the Federation of Fear pops up around them. Artemis looks around skimming, her eyes widening.
"So," Nightwing starts, "Let me give you the lowdown." He types and the Red Hood's profile came up, as well as the surveillance shots captured of him and his team. "I got this shot from a snitch. This guy's been making some serious moves, he goes by the Red Hood and his team is the Federation of Fear. So far they have taken the majority of Black Mask's partners and taken out most of his trade."
"Why are we concerning ourselves with a drug war?" Artemis questions.
"We've been monitoring Black Mask, and his new business associates, Lex Luthor and Ra's al Ghul."
Her eyes widen, "The Light?"
"Possibly," Nightwing continues, "Also the Red Hood's partner makes me a bit uneasy with the continuing fact." He pulls up the file on Spirit and sees the bright cheery smile on the red head's face.
Artemis scowls, "What is she up to? I'm guessing her crazy boyfriend is there too?"
"No," Nightwing says bluntly and Artemis raises her eyebrows in surprise. "I haven't seen him and I'm surprised as well that he's no where to be found. I've haven't seen both of them since the massacre in Seattle a few months ago, but now she's solo being there as an accomplice."
"So why would this Red Hood hire a League of Shadows assassin?" Artemis brainstorms, "Is the Red Hood in league with Ra's al Ghul?"
Nightwing rubs his hand over his mouth, "I'm not sure, since he is targeting Black Mask who has relations with the Light." He moves his hand away and types again, showing her the other players. "Most of the others don't show any connection to the League but in some cases they do. It's a huge mess of people, talented people." He swipes the screen separating the candidates showing four subjects, "We've been able to identify some of them: Despina Argyros aka Siren, Allison Harvard aka Bastet, Ashton Fields aka Bounce, and Jalen Abraxas aka Vampire."
Artemis looks at the four files and sees what they when through, surveillance of what they've done…most of it wasn't pretty to watch. Two of the candidates are animal hybrids that underwent testing in labs, the Justice League report on Allison Harvard seems to be the only Light connection the team has, then two odd balls. She points to Jalen Abraxas, "I know that name. Isn't Abraxas the last name of the two head meta-human geneticists at S.T.A.R?" Nightwing nods. "What is the son of geneticists doing with them? His record barely shows any misbehavior up until now."
Nightwing shrugs, "I'm not sure as well." He turns to the other five, moving on with the presentation. "These are the ones we don't know the identities of: K-Fire, Blood Shadow, Loner, Cirque, and Knives."
Artemis looks over them and her eyes land on K-Fire, having an uneasy feeling about him. She nods to file, "Doesn't he have an resemblance to Shawn-" She gets cut off by Nightwing's glare. He looks away and nods.
He continues, "Though in good news Robin and Spoiler may have found Cirque's identity." He types in her name and the file of Alice Beatrice Prescott pops up, he reads it and takes a deep breath. That's where he's heard the name, her father is a lawyer who works for Lexcorp and her mother is a manager for a large company that recently been bought out by Lexcorp. Tim was right as well; she does look like Cirque.
"Now we have two that are connected to the Light," Artemis points out.
"They have their suspicions about Derion Killingsworth, he might be another candidate." He pulls up the file and sees a teenage guy with black spiky hair and black eyes. He does looks similar to Knives, but he doesn't think it could be him. It looks like his parents were killed, and as well as the extended family he lived with after their death.
He didn't know how he was connected, but it could be possible he could be one of them…no; Stephanie said he was against Alice. So what does he want from the Federation of Fear?
Artemis look over at Nightwing as he's in deep thought, "Are you okay?"
He freezes and looks over at her and smiles, "Yeah why wouldn't I be?"
She raises an eyebrow, "You seemed really tense when you talked about this case, and I feel like you're not telling me the whole thing."
He glares at her in awkward silence for a few moments, "Yeah. At the rate this is going and with the last encounter I had to hand over some info to Batman, he's not going too happy about that. It's just the case has suddenly become a bit to…."
"You haven't lost your touch Dick!"
"Personal," he continues bluntly.
XXXXXX
"Maybe my last request was too mired in subtlety. I want this man dead," Black Mask says on edge. The room stays quiet for a few minutes. "When I say "dead," I mean seriously dead," His anger rising, "Beaten, broken. His-head-mounted-on-my-wall kind of dead!"
Hex stares at him, unamused. He's babysitting a child…an angry and violent child.
"Understood," his assistant states.
Black Mask glares off at his assistant, and turns to include his goons. "I thought you changed the location so he wouldn't interfere," he grumbles.
"We did," his assistant says without fail.
"Then how in the hell did he manage to destroy it all?" He glares at Hex, "Why didn't you stop him?"
"I had an engagement that evening and I don't work for you," Hex says bluntly.
"Well you work for Ghul who is now a partner of mine," Black Mask barks.
"I don't take orders from you," Hex says coldly, starting to get annoyed. Part of his orders is keeping Black Mask in check; it's hard when he makes irrational decisions all the time.
"Well why don't you tell me how they keep knowing when to interfere?" he scowls at him.
"Oh! That's easy," Hex smirks. "The Leviathan."
His assistant stiffens and looks nervously at her boss; Black Mask's stare hardens. "That psycho is working with them?"
Hex raises an eyebrow, "Yes. You know of him?"
He scoffs, "Know of him! When that mangling brat started taking out my associates, dropping like flies, only a few months ago! So I decided to do the same to him, the moment I did I had a bag over my head and next thing I knew I was hanged by my feet, inches over the shark tank in the aquarium while he laughed like a maniac. That was only the first warning! He then sent all the heads of my associates to me as if where some 'thanks for the good time'!" He looks Hex dead in the eyes, "Status and power of who you are means nothing to him. He's not to be messed with."
Hex runs his fingers over his scars, "I'm well aware." He claps his hands together, "But no matter! I already have an eye on Constantine." He turns to look at the table below him where his team sits, "Cold Snap!" She looks up, "Status on Constantine!"
"He is aiding the Federation but at the moment his focus is on Penguin and Mayor Throne selling illegal weapons to Kasina, and who their underground protection is-"
"Wait!" Black Mask interrupts, "Penguin and Throne are doing what?!"
"FOCUS!" Hex yells. They all stare at him; he takes a deep breath. "We now know his attention is now somewhere else."
"Yes," Black Mask's assistants says, "We'll be taking further precautions
at every transaction-"
"Screw that!" Black Mask yells out, now standing up from the couch he was sitting on. "Time the Red Hood and his gang of delinquents learns that this is a contact sport. We're going on offense; rough up his business! Something big! Something loud! When they shows up to shut us down, have a party waiting for him. And when I say party I actually mean a whole lot of people who are gonna kill them!"
"I figured," she says.
"Just being clear," Black Mask snips.
Hex scowls. This isn't good. "Well about that," he coos. Black Mask glares at him. "I have a plan to immobilize them for awhile."
"And?" Black Mask scowls, "What makes your plan so great?"
Hex clenches his hand, suppressing the urge to kill him himself. He flashes Black Mask a smile, "If my plan works they will be in such a mental disaster that Arkham wouldn't even want them."
Black Mask rubs his hand over his chin, thinking about it. "Fine," he says shortly, "But if your plan fails I'm continuing on with mine."
"Fine by me," Hex agrees.
Black Mask walks towards him way out and whispers in his ear, "He's going to die, if not, I'll end you." He walks off with his goons and assistant.
That was a close one, if he didn't interfere when he did everything would have been ruined. It's not time for that yet, he needed to stall it…for now. Hex grits his teeth together, wanting to stick his blade between Black Mask's eyes into that thick ugly head of his.
He scowls and turns to his gang, they're all staring at him. Well that isn't a good sign. He continues out of the room with them following, he makes it to the elevator and presses the button to the floor they're staying on. When the door opens he storms out of the elevator, his team disperses among themselves, it seems Midnight Belle stays by his side matching his pace. He can feel her glare from under her helmet, "What is it Daria?" He looks over at her from the corner of his eyes, she looks away.
He can sense the smirk playing on her lips, "Your roots are showing."
He freezes mid step and rushes to the nearest mirror, looking at his scalp and it was true. Platinum blonde hair covers his scalp making it look white against his now pitch black hair, this is a nightmare. A brief distressed shriek escapes from his lips; he covers his mouth so he doesn't do it again. Daria puts a hand on her hip and glares at him, "Kim. It isn't the end of the world for Gods sake."
He uncovers his mouth and glares at her from the mirror, "How would you know." He looks back at his refection in the mirror and sees his true form glaring back at him, his essence; he knows Daria can't see it, so he doesn't worry about it too much. "Do you know what it's like to smoke for hair, to have it that pure color? It looked like white smoke spilling out of my head, not very menacing Daria. Especially for a someone who has a darkness manipulation."
His reflection smirks, "Yes what a pity. Now will you stop pouting about it and get to the real concern at hand! Can't you see that your 'hired help' is planning something behind your back! Why don't you just kill them?"
"No I wouldn't know. I'll never know the true pain." Sarcasm drips from Daria's words.
"Kill them, kill them all. I know you want to! Every single one of them! Just kill them and everything will be fine! Like how you killed brother and sister! And even that cambion succubi you fancied." His eyes hardened and he looks away from the mirror, glaring at Daria. "Oh of course you wouldn't," bringing her sarcasm right back at her, "how could I forget."
She couldn't help her smirk growing bigger, he may be the biggest egomaniac and jerk she has ever meet but at least he can take a joke and crack one here and there.
Suddenly he can feel his phone ringing in his pocket; he reaches it for and reads the caller ID. He scowls and answers, "Hex speaking." He nods his head to the left signaling Daria to leave; she does and joins the others in the other room.
"Ah my dear boy!" He hears Ra's al Ghul's voice on the phone, "What's the status?"
"With whom may I ask?" Hex says in a monotone voice, not liking the fact he has to take orders…especially from him.
"Black Mask of course."
"Difficult, I don't understand how you can control a man like him?"
"You should talk," Ghul snaps back, "I had to restrain you for two months for that stunt you pulled in Seattle. You had one job and that was to bring back two people, instead you killed a whole bunch of people and I lost two assassins-"
"Anyway," Hex says, "Black Mask almost ruined our plan with his short temper."
"Well I hope you stalled him! I can't lose Jason! You know how important he is to us! If he died then his whole plan has been for nothing!"
Hex clenches his jaw for a brief moment; he wants to kill Jason, so badly. But he can't…for now. With effort, he unclenches his jaw; "I have something in mind for stalling them."
"Good, I'll give you the signal to enact the next phase when the time comes." He smiles, that seems like the perfect time to launch his attack.
"Quick reminder before I go, don't let the Justice League know about Jason and that he's still alive. I don't want them poking their nose into it."
"Understood," Hex signals off and hangs up.
He laughs, ignorant fools, they all are. He makes his way to the room his team is in and sees them chatting among themselves, becoming silent when they see him.
"Did you get any new orders from your boss," Apex asks.
"No," Hex answers honestly, "Though I'm going out for a while. Run a few errands, talk to some associates, that kind of stuff. Farewell." He then disappears within the shadows. The others glare at one another.
"I don't like the sound of that," Chain says, his mouth guard making it sound muffled. The others roll their eyes. He takes off his metal mouth guard "What! We can't trust him!"
"We know Roger," says Daretrix as he takes off his black mask letting loose his short black hair, "Besides we don't even trust each other."
Apex rolls his eyes, "Some trust that we have that we reveal all our identities to each other."
Daria smiles, "No offense but I would kill all of you if you betrayed me." They all nod in agreement; the only trust that holds them together is that one: their boss is a psycho and needs to be stopped, two: they'll take out anyone that gets in their way, and three: they all have their reasons for agreeing to work on this messed job.
The four members look over at Cold Snap who has been silent all evening. Well she really never puts any input in their conversations, but she's been extra quiet.
"Robin?" Daretrix says leaning on the table glaring at her with his black eyes, "Did something happen in the Underground?"
She glares back at him with her sharp cold eyes, "Nothing that concerns you, or the team." Daretrix scoff, not believing her. Robin scowls, "What? I'm sure your cover hasn't been blown while watching that Cirque girl, has it Derion?"
"Ha," Derion dryly laughs, "All I can say is that her glares aren't as cold as yours." Robin scowls at him and looks away.
"Now," Daria intervenes, "Kim has given us new targets to look out for, the time manipulator Shift, Vampire, and the android K-Fire. He says these three can be a serious threat." She remembers Kim saying that those three are the only ones who threaten his powers, besides the other demons. Though they should be focusing on the fire demon, when she escorted him to meet her it was clear she wanted him dead. "We had eyes on the Vampire from the tip Robin gave us when he went to the bar, but we lost him. We still don't know where their hideout is, so we need to make those two things our main goal for Kim's little plan."
They all nod in agreement.
XXXXX
Nightwing looks over the evidence again, glaring at the screens. He rubs a hand over his face, glancing sideways at the control panel. He lets his hand drop, and goes over and dials Batman's number. He has to tell him about his suspected identity for the Red Hood. He sighs, it's going to crush him. The call button pops up and his fingers hover over it. A chill runs down his spine and he moves his hands away to his escrima sticks.
"I wouldn't do that if I where you," a voice says behind him. Nightwing draws his weapon and faces the voice. His eyes widen when he sees who it is, recognizing his face from the file. The shadows in the room darken and smoke surrounds him, making him look transparent. Nightwing glares at his opponent's black eyes, his grip tighten around his weapon.
Nightwing leaps towards him, weapon ready to strike. Hex draws his black dual swords, using them to block his attack. The escrima sticks scrape against the blades, Nightwing pulls away and tries to roundhouse kick him in the face. Hex disappears before he makes contact. He slams his foot down in frustration, and tries to sense his next move. He feels the hairs on his neck stand up; Nightwing turns around and blocks the swords with his escrima sticks before they strike him mid air. Hex puts pressure on the sticks, Nightwing grits his teeth and twist his body to the left, throwing Hex off across the room. Hex lands on his feet and glances towards the control panel.
It hits Nightwing; he's after the data not him. Nightwing sprints towards the control panel, he reaches out for it but something wraps around his ankle, slamming him down to the ground. The impact makes him let go of his weapons. He looks up and sees he's right by the control panel. He reaches up towards it while the shadows restraint his legs; he slams his hand on the panel, pressing the call button. The shadows wrap around his whole body, bolting him to the ground. Hex comes into his view as he looks down on him. The screen turns blue and a ringing sound echoes in the room. Hex glares at the screen and sighs. He looks down at Nightwing, "You just had to make things complicated."
Hex's appearance shifts, and Nightwing's eyes widen. He transforms into him; hair, face, clothes, everything. Though Nightwing could tell it wasn't him for there was a slight skin discoloration on his face where his scars where. Hex cleared his throat and a shadow covers Nightwing's mouth.
Suddenly Batman showed up on the screen, "What is it Nightwing? I'm busy."
"Oh sorry," Hex says in Nightwing's voice, "I just wanted to hear your beautiful voice!"
Batman's eyes narrow, "Get back to work Nightwing." The screen goes dark, ending the call.
Hex shifts back to his original appearance and uncovers Nightwing's mouth. "You know you could have just ended the call," Nightwing snips.
Hex smiles, "What fun would that be?"
"Did the Red Hood send you?" Nightwing asks. Curious if he is really working with him, or did him and Spirit really split up.
"No," Hex chuckles as if he knew what he was thinking, "I don't work with him anymore. I decided to go be a dog for someone more higher up."
Nightwing tries to hide his expression, "I see."
Hex points his blade at Nightwing's throat, "But that's not why I'm here."
Nightwing's eyes narrow, "If you're going to kill me-"
Hex laughs cutting him off, "Oh no! I'm not here to kill you." His face becomes serious and his eyes become darker, "I'm here to have a little chat."
Dunh dunh dunh! What's going to happen next! What is Hex up to! Find out next time!
Anyway, now that's over! I have something to say!
I'm just very disappointing in the lack of reviews, because I work hard writing these chapters! They take up a lot of my time! I feel like I don't get a lot of credit for it either, I may be greedy for liking praise but reviews are what makes me continue to write. I like the feedback, I really do. I want to thank those people who do show support and it means the world to me (I really do like talking to you guys and hearing your thoughts). To be honest I'm stubborn, very stubborn. It's my way or the highway.
I write for fun, I don't see writing as a career. I only write for you guys, and also I've made this story my main writing. I had to stop writing my other stories (even my own original ones) so I could focus on this one, it won't be hard to stop this one and work on my other work. Though it would be a shame, the characters are all wonderful, I've had such great time writing it and they have potential. I'm not saying I'm going to stop, I'm saying I will stop if I don't get enough recognition.
News! I'm moving away for animation school very soon. So that means less updates. I'm going to try to write as much as I can before I go away and update when I can.
That's all my news and ranting! We get a lot of fluff and action next chapter so stay tuned!
Here are the songs for the chapter:
First – Cold War Kids
Hey Man, Nice Shot – Filter
Faint – Linkin Park (Warning! There is screaming if you don't like that sort of thing)
En Livstid I King/A Lifetime of War (English Version) – Sabaton
Bye! AND REVIEW! THAT'S ALL I ASK OF YOU!