Arkham Rising
Outsiders Arc
Ch.2: Red
[Star City, California]
[June 13, 12:55:47 PST]
Landing on a flagpole, the Scarlet Spider looked across the city landscape.
"No signs of him yet…" Mia said to Jarvis. "I wonder where he could have gone off to."
"It would have been better to have someone come with you." Jarvis pointed out.
"I have you and…" Mia paused when she saw a group of skull-masked men get inside of a black SUV. "Those guys from the school. They should lead me to Red Hood."
"We'll have to go unseen. If they are going to take us to Red Hood, it will only be if you go unnoticed. I fear if you are spotted they may challenge you in the middle of the street."
"Right." Mia said leaping off of the flagpole and swinging after the SUV.
The teen kept her distance and height, remembering some of Jake's tips about swinging around in broad daylight and how to avoid the average line of sight. Considering they were near downtown Star City and Mia had tall buildings to use, his method of hidden locomotion applied to the scenario.
Scarlet Spider stayed out of sight as best as she could, following the vehicle down various streets. It was slightly amusing to see that the driver at least obeyed the laws of the road. Then again, a large black SUV speeding down Star City would catch the attention of almost every law enforcement group in the area. However after minutes of following, Mia realized that something was wrong.
"Have we been going in circles?" the red and black arachnid questioned.
"It would seem so." Jarvis replied. "Most peculiar…"
"I wonder why-" Mia was interrupted when by the familiar warning surge coursing through her body followed by her web snapping from a shot bullet, sending her downwards. "Damn it!"
The Scarlet Spider quickly fires a second web, quickly pulling herself onto one of the nearby skyscrapers of downtown Star City. She rests against an office window, ignoring the peering eyes inside as she scans the area.
"Someone has a shot on me Jarvis and I need to know who and where." Mia said.
"There are too many people in this general area, at least five with weapons on them," Jarvis replied. "But judging from the trajectory of the bullet, the shooter should be on the ground."
Mia looked down at the busy streets and sidewalks. "Way to go Jarvis… That'll limit it down to-"
"Red Hood spotted." Mia's attention was turned towards the vigilante on his motorcycle.
"You're mine!" Mia growled as she dives towards the ground.
The Red Hood, seeing his target coming for him, merely sped off through the streets. He knew she would follow; she had to follow. It was the code of a hero to chase the bad guy.
But this hero was different. She was the key to finding the Black Spider, and from there, Cheshire. After those two were gone, he would then go for Anarky, then the Light, and eventually anyone else who thought that they could just walk above the law. Even the Justice League if they disapproved. However, the Red Hood would make sure that everyone got what they deserved.
Especially his murderers.
Looking in the left rearview mirror, the Hood was shocked when he noticed that his target was no longer behind him. While maneuvering through traffic almost effortlessly, he glanced up to see that she was not swinging atop of him either. Returning his attention to the road, he figured he had lost her somehow.
What a chump hero, he thought.
Though that though drastically changed when a red and black blur knocked him off of his bike and slammed him into a nearby parked UPS truck.
"Fuck!" Red Hood gasped as his back dented the side of the truck.
Red Hood falls to his knees before glaring at the Scarlet Spider, who stood in the slightly congested streets with no care at all.
"Hurts, doesn't it?" Scarlet Spider said. "Think about those two kids you killed last night."
"Well one was technically an adult because he was nineteen…" Red Hood replied as he glared at the girl from behind his visor.
"Let's see you laugh after this!" Mia said as she pounced for Red Hood.
The hooded vigilante moved out of the way quickly, forcing the heroine to punch the brown truck. The vehicle rocked violently as Red Hood pulled out, what appeared to be, a detonator and pressed the red button on the remote control device.
Mia felt her spider senses and looked around.
"Kraven thinks studying you is the only way to beat you." Scarlet Spider soon spots a helicopter flying towards her. "He was wrong."
Mia did not need any sixth-sense to warn her of the obvious danger that came from the sound of the two turrets attached to the aircraft warming up reached her ears.
"Give me a break…" muttered the girl.
Without another thought or word, Mia quickly begins to swing away, dodging the shots being fired at her in the process. The sound of the people screaming below her haunted Mia's conscience but she had no idea how to take down a helicopter.
"If you were to calm down, we could try sneaking around him by cloaking ourselves." Jarvis instructed.
"Calm down?! There's a helicopter shooting at us and you expect me to calm down?!" Mia returned.
"This is exactly why you shouldn't skip your meditation. When you lose focus, so do I, Master Mia. We need to focus. They need you to focus." Jarvis said.
Knowing that Jarvis held a strong point, Mia attempted to calm down. As the glass of shot out windows shattered behind her, she put her focus on how to take down the aircraft without a team or an EMP. Her mind was able to block out most of the chaos behind her as she went through strategies.
"Master Mia!" Jarvis's voice snapped Mia out of her thoughts only a few seconds before a sharp burning pain shot through her back and the Scarlet Spider spiraled towards the streets after being hit with a missile.
"Shit!" a bystander curses as the body of the heroine smashes into the windshield of a white convertible.
Mia rolls off of the vehicle onto her knees on the street. Her mind had finally given up on a plan and decided to just attack the damn helicopter and any pilot in it. The tentacles in her back sprouted and whipped behind her in rage as she slowly picked herself off of the ground.
"Hey, you alright?" The male bystander from before asked.
"Get out of here." Mia told the man as she looked at the pursuing aircraft. "This isn't going to end well Jarvis…"
"Master Mia, I'm not getting any reading of a person inside of the drone." Jarvis responded. "You can destroy it without any worries of a pilot's life."
"Hmm… And I think I have a plan."
The Scarlet Spider looks at the damaged convertible before gripping the front of the car with four red tentacles. Her back now to the drone, Mia spins, lifting the car and throwing it at the drone in one fluent move. The drone was quick to destroy the car in mid-air, sending debris everywhere. However, when the smoke cleared, the Scarlet Spider was nowhere to be seen.
"Excellent move Master Mia." Jarvis noted as Mia quietly scaled the side of a nearby building.
"The job isn't done yet," Mia said as she kept her eyes on the scanning drone. "We still have to find an off switch for that thing."
"I'm sure the Red Hood would have one, Master Mia." Mia quietly sighed.
"I meant destroy it Jarvis. We have to destroy it." Mia reiterated. "Seriously, how does Jake go against an army and make it look easy while I can't handle a single drone?!"
"You mustn't forget that Master Jake has been training in martial arts since he was five. To put that into perspective, he has been training for every year you have been living." Jarvis answered pointedly. "Your natural skills are not on par to his, and thus, my enhancements to those skills cannot reach his enhanced skills with Ben."
"Way to make me feel confident." Mia droned out before pausing on the side of the building, now looking down at the drone. "Alright Jarvis, you ready for a ride?"
Mia did not ready for her companion to respond as she leaps from her spot on the side of the building to land on top of the drone.
"Alright," Mia said as her right arm became a sharp red blade. "Let's see if this works."
Mia began to drive her bladed arm through the armor of the drone several of times, hissing in pain when sparks of electricity shocked her for her troubles. The drone began to jerk viciously in an attempt to throw the stabbing hitchhiker off but to no avail. Soon Mia heard the satisfying sounds of the machine failing and the drone began to descend to the streets below.
Leaping off of the falling drone and landing in the streets, the Scarlet Spider tracked the crash site of the drone with her eyes, making sure no one was hurt in its collision.
"This really isn't going to put me on Jameson's Christmas card list…" Mia mumbled as she looked at the destroyed drone in the street, several of people scattering to either leave the area or get close enough to take a picture. "Good thing heroes hardly pay for property damage…"
"A very good thing Master Mia." Jarvis adds.
Mia began walking towards the drone. With her right arm becoming normal, or as normal as it could whilst she wore the suit, she shook off the stinging pain that she was still feeling. Her time training with Nightwing taught her to investigate things such as these. They could give her vital clues on either how Red Hood was controlling the aircraft or more information about who made it. Both would be useful at the moment.
"Why do I have a bad feeling about finding out where this comes from?" Mia said quietly as she searched the machine.
Mia read the label on the side of the drone and sighed.
"Kord Industries, I had a bad feeling about this…" Mia began. "Jake said he was working to put Kord Industries with Cross Enterprise, but I don't know how that worked out."
"From my database, Kord Industries stopped production of these drones years prior to Ted Kord's death." Jarvis expounded. "It was said that the only drones that were sent out were sent to Venezuela. Maybe that is where Red Hood's base is."
"It seems likely. It would make sense." Mia returned as she continued to scan the heap of metal in the street. "So we know that Red Hood has people helping him, they're military trained, and they have drones from Kord Industries."
"As well as his hatred of both Scarlet and Black Spiders and his apparent like of Speedy." adds Jarvis.
The Spider hummed. "Hmm… That really doesn't solve who he is or what he wants. He apparently wants to stop Anarky, but why? Does he think he's the hero or…?" Mia paused. "We'll have to find out."
"You do know that he wants you dead, right?" Jarvis pointed out. "Asking him is far off of the proverbial table."
"I know." replied Mia. "But as my teachers have taught me, sometimes talking might help. If a certain thief and a certain archer had just talked about their secret lives, maybe one of them wouldn't have died and their love could have conquered all."
"That's a very hopeful outlook of things Master Mia." Jarvis said.
"It beats them taking their frustrations out on me in training." The teen replied before firing a web towards a building. "Now let's get back to the objective. Red Hood is hurt and I doubt he'll want to leave before getting revenge. He's got to be around her somewhere. We just have to find him."
"Then let's resume our search, Master Mia." Jarvis responded before the Scarlet Spider began swinging away in search of the Red Hood once more.
[Star City, California]
[June 13, 13:32:09 PST]
She couldn't find him and it was starting to take its toll on the young hero. Even with all of Jarvis's technology at her hands- and mind- she could not track down where Red Hood had disappeared to. But instead of letting her anger get the best of her, she did what any responsible young hero would do at a time like this.
Call another great escape artist to help her find the sorry bastard so she could pummel him.
"You caught me at a good time kid," Jake's voice reached Mia's ears via the communication synchronization of Ben and Jarvis. "What can I do for you?"
"So I kind of had Red Hood and he sent this drone after me and I lost him." Mia said. "I know he's in the city somewhere but I can't pinpoint exactly where…"
"And Red Hood is who exactly?" questioned the young man.
"Some guy that has it out for you and me but is alright with, well, me." Mia paused. "He hates the Scarlet Spider- and Black Spider as well. But he's alright with Speedy."
Jake hummed in thought. "That's a good one. Know what he likes?"
"Guns. Killing people. That sort of thing." Scarlet Spider said as she sat on the top of a radio station. "I don't want to call Artemis because we're supposed to patrol for Red Hood later with Oliver and Dinah. Oh, and Wally."
"Ah. The family thing." Mia smirked.
"Someone's jealous…"
"Actually," Jake returned. "Considering my lovely ex just gave me a call telling me that she was going to be up here to see our daughter soon, I'm not really all that jealous. If anything, I'm mad that it's Wallace West with Artemis more than I am that it's not me with her."
"Uh-huh. Help me find Red Hood. Please." Mia stated.
Jake sighed. "Alright, let's see. He likes guns and killing people. That's not much but it tells me that he's probably not scoping out some museum or bank. He has a grudge against me or you or both so he's not a part of the Light or League of Assassins."
"How'd you figure that?" questioned Mia.
"Because next to Lex, I haven't done anything to any member of the Light or League of Assassins that would make them hold a grudge against me. Ergo, not them." Jake pointed out. "Anything else you want to tell me about the guy?"
"Other than the fact that you somehow took his life and his drones come from Kord Industries, nothing." Jake gave an affirmative hum after that.
"So you should be looking for any old warehouses near the coast. Obviously the one with a hidden sniper around it. You said earlier that he has military trained goons with him. They'll be watching with a high caliber weapon. One that I'm sure your suit cannot withstand." Jake began. "You should also be on the lookout for any bombs going off and releasing whatever gas that he hit you with earlier. If you go into the hornets' nest high as a kite, you're as good as dead."
"And how did you figure all of this out? I thought you said you weren't anywhere near a detective." Mia joked.
"My dad had this hobby while I was growing up. He hunted people. I just picked up on it and applied it to things such as expensive jewelry and computer chips." Jake answered. "Besides, I told you that I'd look into it and I have."
Mia lied onto her back, now staring at the sky. "Worse is that I think I know him."
"You think you know him…?"
"Yeah… Something about him makes me think of…" Mia didn't have to finish her statement as Jake knew exactly who she was talking about.
"Mia, are you alone?" Jake suddenly asked.
"Yes. Why?"
"I think you need to know about the mission Nightwing and I went on." Jake said. "We went to do more than learn about the Lazarus Pits. We went to use them." Jake paused for a second before continuing. "More importantly we went to use them on Rose and Jason."
"What?!" Mia says loudly as she sits up. "What gave you that right to resurrect Jason?!"
"I didn't resurrect Jason. Dick did. And I think him being Jason's brother gives him more right than you being his girlfriend." Jake replies calmly. "Listen to me Mia. I'm going out on a limb by giving you this information. I-"
"Going out on a limb?! I have a right to know these things Jake! You don't keep secrets from me like that!" Mia shouted.
"Yes, I do. Because what you're thinking about doing isn't going to solve anything." Jake said firmly. "Listen to me Mia. When I gave Dick the chance to revive Jason, it was to gain access to some transportation. I don't have-"
"Of course you held something over his head that you knew he wanted!" Mia interrupted angrily. "But this is life and death Jake! You can't just play God so you can fix your past mistakes with your sister!"
Even though Jake was literally on the opposite coastline as she was, Mia could somehow feel his glare. It was a glare that she- and Lian- have come quite accustom to. It showed that while he was angry at their actions, he was understanding and would only react but so much. It still scared Mia shitless and Lian seemed to be very frightened by the stare as well.
Though Jake had a few years before he could catch up to Batman's infamous stare.
"We knew the risks and we promised that we'd tell those who needed it. At the time, you wouldn't even admit that you liked the guy. And don't give me that 'as a friend' crap Mia." Jake said. "Because if he is just some guy that you are forced to work with, then I shouldn't tell you because it doesn't matter. But he is more to you than that. And he always will be."
"…" Mia knew better than to argue when Jake had already figured it out. Though by now she doubted it was a big secret. "So if the Red Hood is Jason, what do I do? He wants to fight me to the death Jake. I have to tell him. He thinks I'm part of the problem but we're fighting for the same cause."
"Do you want to know a secret even Artemis doesn't know? Lian killed Sensei. She has technically surpassed me and is in charge of her own portion of the League of Assassins." said Jake. "But she doesn't know that the world is after her because Jade and I keep her safe from that knowledge. She's too young to make the right decision there. You? You are. So you do what you know is right Mia. Don't let your emotions get in the way. It won't end well."
"Great advice coming from you. You should've told me Jake. Now I… I have to…" Mia began.
"You'll make the right decision. Trust t me." Jake said. "Do you honestly think I would train such a weak minded person?"
"So not the time…" the girl replied.
"No, it is the perfect time. Your line of work requires a level head at all times. You just so happened to run into one of the greatest mentors in that field; me." Jake told her. "Red Hood will battle you time and time again, and telling him who you are will only make things more complicated. Who's to say that he still won't pull the trigger? Or worse, leave you."
"…Is that what stopped you with Artemis?"
"Mia, you're a hero, and worst I'm an assassin. Our jobs don't revolve around emotions- most of the time. Do what you feel in your head to be the most logical and responsible decision. Just know that you live with the outcome either way." Jake's response was classic Jake Cross to Mia as he had once again avoided the question altogether. "Red Hood should be near the coast. It's easier to smuggle those drones in via ships. Or at least everyone I've hit as a mark does it that way."
"That doesn't answer my question," Mia said. "But thanks for the tip."
"Just make sure that the next time you call me it's something more important than you playing Cat and Mouse with your boyfriend across Star City." Jake told her. "Oh, and be careful Mia. Chances are he's not going to pull any punches if he doesn't know who you are. Then again, there is a good chance that you can reveal yourself to a complete stranger under the red hood. So again I say, be careful."
With that, the transmission was ended and Mia found herself rising to her feet and wandering to the edge of the building.
"Jarvis, we're looking for snipers so see if you can spot out any high-powered rifles in the area," Mia began.
"Master Mia, you know that we are taking a risk if we reveal ourselves to the Red Hood, right?" Jarvis stated.
"I already know what I have to do. I have to stop the Red Hood, Jason or not." said the Scarlet Spider. "Either way, I can't let two murders go unanswered. I have to stop him now while I have the chance. Red Hood must be stopped."
"Understood Master Mia," Jarvis said. "Scanning the area for nearby weapons…"
Mia quietly thought about the chances of Jason being the Red Hood. Honestly, it did not seem possible that a student of Batman would ever use a gun. Then again, Jason was his own person and did things his way most of the time. So maybe he was the guy beneath the hood? Mia did not know but she would find out today, one way or the other.
[Former OsCorp Factory: Star City, California]
[June 13, 13:52:58 PST]
"Mmm!" The hogtied man's words were muffled by the white webs covering his mouth.
"You know," Scarlet Spider whispered to the man. "If you had just told me your boss was, I would have let you go. Now sit here in the alley and think about your wrongdoings and I'll release you when I return, okay?"
"MMPH!"
"Hey, this hurts me more than it hurts you." Mia said before putting a hand on the brick wall to her left. "Just stay put and I'll be back as soon as I can."
With those words, Mia began to climb up the old apartment building to her left. She knew that there were quite a few people that stayed in the building and that there was a high chance of one of them going into the alley and spotting her captive. But she could not worry. Her target was across the street an abandoned factory once owned by OsCorp.
Once Mia had successful scaled the six-story building and stood on its roof, she could see the large factory across the street.
"This building is operating," Jarvis stated. "Despite the fact that OsCorp has not been in business for two years. They were bought out by Alchemax in 2013 after Mr. Osborn's health began to decline and his son was determined psychologically incapable of running the business. Master Jake spoke of a serum that the company was once doing to enhance one's capabilities."
"Really? What happened?" Mia asked as she crouched down.
"I'm not sure. My database only states that the serum was to help Mr. Osborn and his son. No tests were revealed and Master Jake had very little interest in finding the serum and testing it himself." Jarvis explained.
Mia nodded. "That makes sense. Jake would rather someone else kill themselves on their formula than testing the side-effects on himself. Probably why I ended up with you…"
"I assure you that Master Jake activated me using his body willpower before giving me to you." Jarvis replied. "Though to be honest, I am not fully sure of why I was given to you. His intentions were hidden even from myself and Ben."
"Probably should cloak ourselves before heading over there," Mia spoke, now more focused on the mission at hand. "Then it's time to face the Red Hood again."
Mia activated the cloaking device of her suit, prepping her leap to clear the four-lane street between the apartment building she was on and the should-be abandoned factory across the street. Taking a few steps backwards, Mia gained a short running start for the ledge, leaping clear over the street and landing on her targeted building.
"Nailed it." Mia giggled at Jarvis's imitation of her.
"Now is not the time for jokes Jarvis," Mia said quietly as she moved for a door that she assumed led down into the factory. "We have to find this guy before he kills again."
"Then might I suggest taking a vent instead of the door?" Jarvis inputted, stopping Mia's action.
The girl looked at the air vent before agreeing with Jarvis and doing what he had suggested. Invisible to the naked eye or not, caution was always a top priority when sneaking into a gunman's lair. Not to mention that he had those soldiers about as well…
Stealthily maneuvering through the vents, Mia let her mind wander off of her mission for just a second.
What if Jason was the Red Hood?
The guy that she secretly admired for his determination and better combat skills- though she'd never admit that second part aloud- was now some monster who ran around killing people for trivial things. Sure Jason had his moments of rage but what teen didn't? He was pounded by the stress of competing against the great Dick Grayson and that was no small task. But to become the Red Hood? That was a whole new level of anger management.
And just what will she do if he is this guy? She couldn't just outright reveal to him that she was the Scarlet Spider. Logicially speaking, he would most likely put two and two together and began interrogating her about the Black Spider's identity. That would be problematic.
She also could not take him in. Under no circumstances does she see Jason's reunion with Dick and Batman going well. The Dark Knight and his prodigal son have been on thin ice with each other as it is; who knows what will happen when Batman realizes that Dick revived Jason using the Lazarus Pit. Worse, Dick did so with the aid of a member of the League of Assassins- the Heir of the Demon at that!
"…Leave Taskmaster for this Red Hood guy," Below Mia stood two men clad in the same uniform as those that Mia fought a day ago. Due to the fact that they had similar height and build plus wore a red skull mask, they looked like nearly identical goons. "Red Hood has this plan, see? Pretty profitable one at that. We're going to make a move on some of those guys back on the east coast. Falcone, Maroni, Black Mask, we're going to own them all."
Mia unseen brows furrowed. Red Hood was planning on taking over the Falcone and Maroni mob families and Black Mask? Did this guy have a death wish?
"The guy's bold. I like that." The second man said in a lighter tone than the first, the only difference Mia could make at the moment. "Hey, you think he'll give us a raise if we do join him?"
"What do we have to lose?" the first man asked.
Mia kept quiet and continued her journey. While she had no idea where she was going, she knew the direction she had come from and thus chose the opposite way. Getting lost was not an option for someone raised on the streets as her sense of navigation was pretty damn great. Even Jason had "complimented" her about it once before on a mission.
And now she was back on Jason. A part of her realized that if she kept thinking about him, then she would be as love sick as Jake made her sound- which she totally wasn't! Or so, she wanted to believe so. What was worse was who Jake compared her and Jason to. No it wasn't him as Artemis, but her mentor compared her to himself and Cheshire.
The audacity, right?
How did they, Jason Todd and Mia Dearden, remind Jake of himself and Jade? The first pair was a pair of heroes while the second was a thief and an assassin. That alone put the pair as polar opposites. And then there was… Let's see…
Jason and Mia didn't start as enemies, they sort of grew on each others' nerves as time progressed while Jade- as Mia was told mind you- hated Jake from the beginning and it lessened as they teamed up. So that as different.
Their teamwork was different as well. Jake and Jade worked as a solid pair, being able to move in different directions yet act as one single unit. Jason and Mia had only mastered the standard archer and combatant teamwork pattern. Jason would attempt to sneak up on their target while Mia would stay behind and shoot anyone Jason may have overlooked. In Mia's mind, she knew that their dynamics paled in comparison to the Black Spider/Red X and Cheshire. She and Jason just never worked up to that point.
Plus, there was n eerie tension in the air between Mia and her formerly deceased teammate. Jake and Jade… There was something about them that… It was inexplicable to say the least. But one could just feel some sort of blend of emotional electricity that many lovers had and the frightening chill that came with two people who want to kill each other entering the same room at the same time. The only time (thankfully) that Mia had gotten to spy on the pair-though Jake knew that she was there- the teen swore that Jake was going to attack Jade, then she thought Jade would kill Jake, and then she thought that they were going to just rip each others' clothes off and go at it. But none of that happened. Instead they separated with a "see you later partner" and that was it.
To this day, it was the weirdest meeting in an alley that the Scarlet Spider has come to witness.
But did she and Jason act like the parents of Lian? Were they really "partners" until the end of time, always coming to the other's aid when necessary? Mia did not think so and she knew that Jason died with that same thought. They didn't like like each other, however they did like each other.
They were teammates after all.
"Master Mia," Mia blinked out of her thoughts, now somehow lost in the air system of the factory. "I have picked up a registered DNA signature… Mystique is near."
That grabbed Mia's attention.
There were many members of the YJL that went against orders everyday to search for those responsible for the Cave being destroyed. Mia wanted to be on that list but she had more to worry about than Batman or Superman finding out that she disobeyed orders. Her problems started and ended with Jake, Dick, and/or Artemis finding out.
The tunnel network that was the ventilation system led her to a large square grated vent high on the wall of a new room. Looking through the horizontal bars, Mia realized that this was actually the factory portion of the building though there were no heavy machinery or assembly lines present. There were large wooden shipping crates around the place stacked at least ten feet high with seven armed men walking around.
The Scarlet Spider began to focus on the boxes present, attempting to read every label she could from her vantage point.
"Kord Industries, Cross Enterprise, WayneTech, OsCorp," Mia mentally stated to Jarvis. "What is this guy up to?"
"I assume he is planning on building bigger drones using the defunct Kord Industries' ones as a starting point." Jarvis guessed, making Mia nod her head a bit.
"Either that or he's in the smuggling business." Mia added as she gripped the bars. "Alright, now to take this off as quietly as possible."
One thing Mia did learn to do during her training with the elusive thief she called a mentor was being able to use a tentacle to quietly remove a grate from the inside without having to forcefully kick it open as many would attempt. It was one of the benefits for having Jake as a teacher, Mia assumed.
The quietest of pops was heard as Mia carefully opened the gateway from the ventilation system and crawled out. With her body still cloaked, she placed the grate back on before scaling the ceiling and mapping out her area.
The large wooden crates made a maze of pathways leading to the three exits. Walking said maze were seven armed men, each in different positions. None of them were Red Hood but she was already scanning to see if one of them picked up a match for Mystique.
"Scanning… No match found." Jarvis said after the seventh and final man was scanned. "These are four average human beings. No metahuman detected."
"Bullshit," The teen cursed under her breath. "She's here somewhere which means she can't be up to any good."
"Indeed." Jarvis agreed.
The teen quietly crawled down the wall and moved for the nearest stack of crates. With a measured leap, she landed on top of the wall of crates with a quiet thud.
"What was that?" But of course, these guys were trained to hear even that. "Something or someone is here. Make sure that nothing sneaks up on us."
The Scarlet Spider crouched on the edge of a woodened container, invisible to the naked eye as she studied their patrol pattern. Once again, this reminded her of her and Jaime's training with Nightwing and Black Spider. The two were masters of sneaking up on people, doing what they called "predator missions".
Mia shivered slightly. Oh how she loathed doing predator missions against Dick and Jake. Artemis and M'gann were not any better but those two were impossible.
"Not seeing anything," One of the men announced. "Keep up the pattern. Don't let anyone or anything sneak up on us."
An unsettling quietness settled in the area after those words were spoken. The seven men continued their walking patterns, making sure to look at every nook and cranny as they did so. There would be no way that whoever or whatever was there would get them; if there was something there to begin with. They all knew that they were trained for this type of things, unlike those second-rate TYGER guards who were defeated by the Black Spider at a TYGER base.
Amateurs…
The sound of boots meeting concrete was the only sound heard until a muffled scream caught their attention.
"What was that?!"
"Check in! Get eyes on-"
"Holy shit! Look up there!"
The remaining six men looked upwards to see one of their comrades tied in a web cocoon, dangling from the ceiling. This put the others on high alert for several of reasons. The first, and probably most daunting thought, was that they were stuck in a room with an unseen Black Spider. Death was imminent if it was the newest member of the League of Assassins.
"Someone get him down from there. I don't- Aah!" Two well aimed webs came from seemingly out of nowhere and covered the speaking man's eyes and mouth, effectively blinding him and stopping the words he was going to say.
This caused the remaining five men to look around in fear.
"Anyone have eyes on him?!"
"How can we?! It's the freaking Black Spider!"
Mia snickered quietly, now standing against a stack of crates behind the group. Sure Jake was this badass fighter who had a suit with a number of dangerous abilities, but did he really strike that much fear into these guys? It was laughable to say the least. Mia knew that Jake could kill them- her included- if he wanted to. However, as he has said time and time again, he is far from killing her or a random grunt or goon. The pay was not high enough for him.
Yet.
"He's got to be here for Red Hood," One of the men said. "Should we give the kid up? Taskmaster said to help him with this shipment, he never said anything about the freaking Black Spider coming to help."
The Scarlet Spider hummed quietly in thought, still unseen to the naked eye. Red Hood was moving his equipment through Star City and heading to Gotham City for a battle against the mob families there. Considering that she as the Scarlet Spider had little to no jurisdiction in Gotham City (yes, heroes were very protective over their stomping grounds) it meant that she would either have to acquire Nightwing's help or go as Speedy. Judging by the equipment here, she was thinking more of the former than the latter, but that was a plan for another time. For now, she had a group of soldiers to take care of.
Or so she thought.
"What the hell is going on in here?!"
Mia thought that she had gotten her mentor's luck. And by "mentor" she meant Artemis's, not necessarily Jake's. Jake's luck gave him a near perfect record when it came to object of desire and him acquiring it with a flawless escape record.
Artemis and the Young Justice League have been known to have some pretty crappy luck. Luck such as chasing a small time robbery and somehow walking in on Two-face's turf war with Penguin. Or while attempting to bring in Mad Mod, they run into a bored Black Spider.
That kind of crappy luck only comes being a young hero.
"Sir!" The remaining, ungagged, men said as they stood at the ready as Red Hood barged into the room. The masked marksman was limping slightly, something that caught Mia's eye.
"What is going on in here? I wanted this shit ready to be shipped out of here!" Red Hood barked.
"The Black Spider's here!" one of the frightened men announced.
Mia quietly climbed up a crate as she watched Red Hood scan the area. She had to get the perfect position to pounce on him and use his body as a shield- a tactic she actually learned from Black Canary. The men wouldn't shoot Red Hood and she would be able to get them both out unharmed.
Meanwhile, Jason looked around the area. One man dangled from the ceiling in a cocoon while a second was desperately attempting to remove a web from his eyes. The doer of this mess was unseen yet the anxiety was apparent as ever. Someone was here but it sure as hell was not the Black Spider. These men would be dead by now.
"Leave." Red Hood said.
"Sir?"
"I said get out." Red Hood reiterated. "This is between me and that arachnid bitch." Mia bristled at the insult, her fingers digging into the wooden crate which let out a loud screech of protest. "I know you're in here! So why not quit with this invisibility trick and fight me!"
Mia took in a deep breath to relax. The men were exiting, sans for the remaining dangling man, and Red Hood was simply standing in his same spot near the door, as if he was some guard protecting the contents of the next room.
"Are you still in here Scarlet Spider?" Red Hood said activating his thermal vision. "I'll find out soon enough…"
Quietly the Scarlet Spider leapt onto the floor from her spot, using the maze of crates to put space between her and her opponent. The color returned to her suit as she figured that if this was Jason, he had some kind of device to find an invisible target. It was the Batman thing to do, after all.
Creeping around a corner, the teenage girl began to run through battle strategies to do this. There was a slim chance that she could sneak up on him and restrain him. Again, she was certain that he had gadgets for opponents like her and was not willing to test how lethal each gadget really was.
Those thoughts took a backseat when her body tingled due to the forewarning of imminent harm and Mia quickly evasive rolled forward to dodge a well-placed bullet that ricochet off of the concrete floor.
"Good reflexes," Red Hood mused, atop of a row of crates with one of his two automatic handguns in his right hand. He spotted his opponent turn to eye him. "Looking for me? Well you found me."
There was a moment of silence that allowed Mia to gather her thoughts. She could reveal herself right now and live with any consequence that followed. Or she could do her mission and bring Red Hood in without a second thought or worry.
In that same time, Jason had already thought of eight different ways this fight would begin; three of those eight ways being detrimental to his chances of winning. In his mind, he replayed the tapes that he had watched of the Black Spider and envisioned a list of the Scarlet Spider's abilities. The fighter in front of him apparently did not have all of his true target's abilities but had enough to make her dangerous if he got careless or sloppy.
The first move would be the most important then.
It happened fast, faster than Red Hood thought it would. The Scarlet Spider fired a web for the crate he was on and gave a strong tug, enough to pull the large wooden box off of the other wooden crate it was stacked on. The gunman had to think quickly, flipping for the floor, his mind not even worried about the damaged weaponry and upgrades to his drones that had just slammed into the concrete floor.
Mia did waste any time to close the distance between her and her opponent. As an archer, she knew that distance was the last thing she wanted with a marksman while in her other alter ego. Spider senses were great but she could not dodge everything sent her way regardless if she knew it was coming or not. She had to get his guns out of his hands before they became a problem.
The gun shots Jason fired missed the spider-themed heroin as she ran in an unpredictable zigzag fashion, adding leaps and rolls in her charge to make it more difficult to hit her. Red Hood expected that much from her. However, he was unprepared for her left arm to lengthen and lash out at him in the form of a thick whip. He moved to his left as fast as he could, hearing and feeling the wind from her attack.
The Black Spider couldn't do that, Red Hood thought in an amusing fashion as he continued to dodge the attacks thrown by his foe.
A tentacle successfully slapped the pistol in Red Hood's left hand away from him causing Mia to momentarily praise her countless hours of practice that perfected said move with Jake and Kaldur. She did not celebrate long and sent another strike towards Red Hood. She was unprepared for a cloud of red gas to enshroud the gunman, her attack harmlessly passing through as her opponent seemingly vanished.
The dark red smoke cleared the area to reveal that Red Hood had indeed taken off.
"Jarvis," Mia said. "Keep an eye out on the area for any life force. If it has a heartbeat, I need to know where it s. This may indeed be Jason and he is trained by Batman to sneak up on people."
"I will not fail you, Master Mia." Jarvis replied.
Mia's arms became normal once more as she crept towards the fallen gun. She could feel her anxiety rising as the fear of Red Hood being Jason rose with each passing second. The guy had gained some more training, being able to vanish in front of her like that, and she was not okay with it. Jason as Robin was a pretty tough foe and was no pushover as Red X either, but Red Hood was clearly on a different level.
Mia felt her warning senses going off as time around her slowed down. She willed her body to move faster than she originally thought was possible to dodge the downward slice of the now sword-wielding Red Hood.
Now Jason had the Scarlet Spider backing away, moving closer to the door he used to enter the room. He had acquired quite the swordsmanship under Shado's tutelage as well as archery and now he was going to use it on his evasive foe. The Hood theorized that the Black Spider was the only one to carry the bladed stingers that he was now famous for using and therefore, the Scarlet Spider had nothing to counter his blade.
With a leap backwards, Mia found herself crouched on a wall next to the exit, staring at Red Hood on the floor. She noted that her foe held the katana with both hands which differed from how Jake and Kaldur held their blades- water blades in Kaldur's case.
"Running away?" Red Hood taunted.
"More like taking a break. I did have to go through your little friends outside of your playhouse." Scarlet Spider responded. "In fact I…" Mia stopped as Jarvis picked up an unknown danger coming for her position. "Crap!"
Red Hood was more than surprised when his opponent dove for him. His initial action was to slash at his foe, only for her to twist in midair and move around. Seconds later, he would regret the decision as he, along with a good portion of the wall where Scarlet Spider was just perched at, was blown back from some form of explosive.
Jason, now on his back, looked to see the Scarlet Spider standing to his immediate right. She was not looking at him and her tentacles were flailing behind her in an agitated state. He then turned his attention to the wall to see a figure standing in a white body suit, only her blue arms and face left bare. The grenade launcher in her hands was aimed in his direction which caused the Red Hood to focus solely on the blue mutant instead of his annoying arachnid foe.
"Well this is a surprise. Star City's new spider and Red Hood in one place." Mystique spoke mockingly as she stepped through the hole. "I'm not here to kill you. I'm just here for the equipment. I was thinking we could come to some sort of agreement, a payment of sorts. Or… Well, I'll have to use what I like to call, the closer."
"Master Mia, there is another mutant in the room." Jarvis announced to his wearer.
Red Hood had no idea what had grabbed the Scarlet Spider's attention, but it was pretty obvious that she was not worrying about the blue mutant with the grenade launcher in front of them. The resurrected teen went through several scenarios as his left hand inched for the pouch with his flash grenades. He doubted that this Mystique could match him hand-to-hand and wanted to test said theory by getting closer. But first, he had to get closer without being blown to smithereens.
The quick movement of Red Hood's arm forced Mia to turn her focus back to him in time to see him set off several flash grenades. The girl had to close her eyes to protect her sight- especially considering the suit heightened said sense- and she blindly backed into a crate.
When Mia's eyes finally readjusted to what was going on around her, she spotted that none of her opponents were visible.
"Uh… Jarvis? Where'd they go?" Mia asked.
"They are still in the building. However, the unidentified mutant is nearby." Jarvis explained.
"How close is near…" Mia's words stopped when a blue mutant in a red and black jumpsuit appeared in front of her. "…By…" The Scarlet Spider stared her new opponent up and down. "The blue kid that can teleport. Can you keep track of him? Even if he teleports?"
"I can warn you of his presence, however that is only half of the problem. Sensing him coming and dodging him are two different things Master Mia." Jarvis reminded.
Mia nods as she puts her focus back onto the blue mutant in front of her. Her eyes picked up on the tail swinging behind the blue-skinned boy which caused her to slowly let two tentacles extend behind her.
The two stared at one another intently before the Scarlet Spider leapt for her opponent. Undoubtedly her opponent vanished leaving a trail of thin black smoke where he was previously standing. Spider senses ran up and down her spine causing one of the tendrils in her back to lash out at the source of danger behind her, only for the danger to disappear once more.
Even with a near precognitive sense that could tell her of oncoming dangers, she still found herself being kicked across her masked face, forcing her to stumble backwards against a crate. Unsurprisingly the attacker was gone as soon as the kick landed and now she was back to her original problem.
Finding him.
She turned to face the wall of crates behind her and climbed to the top of them to get a better position. She had to survey the area like she had earlier and the higher the better.
"Damn it," Mia muttered when she failed to find him again.
The Scarlet Spider went through her mental notes from her training, both with the YJL and with Jake. Her opponent could teleport, an ability that was probably not without its flaws, and seemed to rely on it heavily. Normally that meant that he could not take a direct blow which is why teleporting was a necessity than a preference.
Now all she had to do was hit him…
There was a moment of pure silence in the room that seemed to put the blonde heroine on edge. Though that silence only lasted for a minute or two as the teleporting mutant appeared behind Mia forcing her body to react before her conscious could register the danger. A tendril shot from her back to lash at blue threat, missing again.
Mia leaped through the air, traveling towards the far southern wall. With a silent grunt, she lands high on the wall, her head nearly touching the ceiling. Turning so that her back was to the wall, Mia looked at the area again. Taking in a deep breath, Mia mentally activated her cloaking device, shielding her from view.
"Let's hope he doesn't have some other ability that allows him to spot me…" grumbled the teen, still a little sore about not being able to catch one of the mutants that attacked the Cave.
"Keep composure or you will end your invisibility." Jarvis stated. Mia gave a silent thank you and took in quiet deep breaths to better handle her inner fury. "Subject found."
Mia turned her head to the right, needing her thermal vision to even spot the blue mutant hiding in the shadows in the southeast corner of the room. Quietly she moved towards the ceiling, crawling towards her opponent quietly.
This was it. This was her chance to finally catch that teleporting bastard. She wanted nothing more than to just pounce on the tailed Cadmus creation, she kept calm. Artemis, Dick, Jake, and Kaldur have done more than their share of beating the importance of stealth into Mia and Jaime.
Before the mutant knew what was happening, a red tendril had wrapped around his body and slung him head first into a crate. Teleporting was now not an option as the tentacle had yet to release its grip, driving him back into the wall. It was then that yellow eyes met the black eye lens of the Scarlet Spider, a red tentacle slithering around the mutant's throat.
"Who sent you here?" growled the red-suited Spider. Her trapped prey coughed out a response, one she could not decipher. "Who?!"
"Translating…" Jarvis finally registered in her thoughts.
- You should leave before the others arrive. You will not be so lucky to beat them.- Mia inwardly snarled at the Germanic response.
"Who are you?" she asked.
"Nightcrawler."
Mia glowered. "Okay Nightcrawler, who sent you?" Mia tightened the grip around his neck. "Tell me or I swear that I'll squeeze your head right off of your shoulders!"
Nightcrawler began to struggle to breathe through her grasp but was relieved when his captor loosened the hold, her head turned to look over her shoulder. There were a few seconds of silence before the sound of a set of thunderous footsteps caught her ears. The floor shook slightly as the march neared her.
Mia soon saw a large nine-foot man stomping towards her. Her eyes scanned the man in the blood red armor. Her eyes zoomed in on the stone-like helmet that the man wore before narrowing in rage.
"I know you…" The Scarlet Spider growled.
"You going to let him go or am I going to have to rip you to shreds?" The large man said.
Mia tossed Nightcrawler aside, not caring if he hit the crate she was aiming for or teleported to safety. Her full attention was on the large behemoth of a man, her fingers extending into sharp talons.
"Maybe you haven't heard," she said. "But I'm the new sheriff in town. And I don't like thugs like you wrecking it."
"Well maybe you haven't heard," The man said as he began charging at his threat. "But I'm the Juggernaut bitch!"
Mia felt her spider senses kick in far greater than any time before and found herself instinctively leaping out of the way of the rushing man without much thought to it. Landing safely on the floor she brought her hands up to rub her still quivering arms.
"Master Mia," Jarvis began. "Master Jake has forbidden you from facing off against multiple exobyte clones. You are not prepared for this."
"I can beat him Jarvis," responded the teen. "I know I can. They've trained me to do so."
The room literally shook as Juggernaut took another rampaging charge towards Mia. Once more, the girl's body was registering a danger like no other and she was forced to jump straight into the air and fire a web to the ceiling to propel her to the only place where the danger was not felt- the ceiling. Now dangling from a small web, the Scarlet Spider better accessed her problem.
Measuring her attack, Mia released her web and dove for the man. Despite every fiber in her body literally screaming for her to run, she would not back down. She would not give Artemis and Jake the pleasure of being right that she was not ready for the x-men. Mia was ready and she would prove it right here, right now.
The talons of her right hand reverted back to their normal fingers as she balled her fingers into a fist and struck the monstrosity beneath her right on the top of his head with all her might. From experience, Mia knew that the strength the suit gave her could catch a car or something of its weight. A part of her was worried that she would kill the Juggernaut due to said power.
She was not expecting a sharp pain to surge through her right arm signaling that the punch had backfired badly.
Nor was she prepared for the backhanded swat that came afterwards that sent her crashing inside of a crate and tumbling with the contents inside.
"Master Mia! We must get out of here!" Jarvis warned. "You are not prepared for this!"
"I'm fine Jarvis!" Mia retorts as she picks herself up with her left arm only. "I just…"
Juggernaut began marching towards Mia, ending her words. She was afraid and she knew Jarvis could tell. However, it was a little too late to run now.
"You can't be serious!" Jarvis commented as Mia sent the mental command to extend four tendrils from her back. "Master Mia-"
Mia instantly shot a web for the incoming Juggernaut, blinding him before rolling out of the way. The blinded mutant simply ran through the walls of crates before slowing to a halt, obviously not harmed at all. This left Mia somewhat stunned. When Nightwing explained to them that he had carefully watched the destruction of the Cave and had theorized that the one known as the Juggernaut was nigh invulnerable, Jake somewhat scoffed at the idea, stating that everyone had a weakness. Yet seeing this firsthand made Mia think that her mentor was wrong in more ways than one.
Was running still not an option?
When her spider senses went off again, it sent a surge of panic throughout her body that left her frozen. The first time she had felt this kind of fear it was when the Black Spider had tracked her down the first time in Gotham City.
"Now," Mia released a gasp when the Juggernaut turned to glare at her. "I'm pissed!"
"Master Mia," Jarvis spoke. "I will not have you killing yourself on my watch. I will take over your body if I need to. We must leave!"
Mia's eyes scanned for the closest exit, settling for the ventilation system as it was her way into the room unharmed. Before her body had time to come to a full plan, she leaps for her ideal exit. Safely out of the reach of the large monstrosity below, the Scarlet Spider was well unprepared for a flash of blue to appear in front of her and knock her back towards the floor below.
"Master Mia!" Jarvis calls as the girl's body bounces and rolls on the concrete floor. "Master Mia, you must get up!"
Mia attempted to pick herself up, but the pain in her right arm made that impossible. Her inner peace had long been broken and her bond with Jarvis was at an all time low. She was in full panic mode and the shaking of the ground only assured her that her opponent was coming towards her.
"Going somewhere?" The large exobyte clone grabbed Mia's left ankle. The girl turned and kicked hard with her right foot, the attack gaining a hearty laugh from the man. "I thought you were the sheriff?"
Mia was gasped her body was raised by her ankle. Soon she was being held at eye level of the man. He was squeezing her ankle painfully but she was just thinking of ways of escaping now. Her pride had finally run out and now she was just trying to survive. Dick and Jake had warned her about going against these clones and now she saw why.
"As I thought," Juggernaut said. "You're just a tiny bug."
Mia stared at the large man, seeing herself in the reflection of his blue eyes. She was not the scared girl she saw. Beneath her fear, beneath her hesitance, she was Mia Dearden, Star City's new apex predator. On paper, she had trained with Green Arrow, Black Canary, Black Spider, Nightwing, Artemis, Manta, and Miss Martian. Her skills ranged from her natural talent in archery to her suit-given super strength.
This was Mia Dearden and she was not a tiny bug.
"Ugh!" Juggernaut grunted in pain with a tentacle shot forth from Mia's back and jabbed the large clone in his left eye.
The maneuver freed her ankle, allowing the Scarlet Spider to flip safely onto the ground. Her right ankle was in dire pain and her right arm was a no-go. But she was not given Jarvis because she was a quitter. No. Mia Dearden endured prostitution, lives with the drawbacks from that, and now had a lot of people pouring in countless of hours into her to make sure she was strong enough to take on most threats that came her way. That includes guys like this Juggernaut.
Two tentacles shot from her back and wrapped around the large mutant's ankles. With one heavy pull that put much strain on her back, she had gotten the large creation to fall to the ground with a heavy thud. Knowing better than to give her back out by trying to lift someone she barely had the strength to trip, Mia retracting the tendrils and moved backwards with a new plan in mind.
"Your focus has been cleared Master Mia!"Jarvis exclaimed. "You are really a prodigy Master Mia."
Mia backed away towards another wall of crates.
"Hey Juggy!" The large mutant growls as he sits up and glares at the nuisance. "What's the matter? Can't squash a tiny arachnid like me?"
As the clone stood up, Mia checked her ankles. The last thing she needed was to be unable to maneuver due to injury. And by the way the room boomed whenever the Juggernaut took a step in his charge towards her, maneuvering was the difference between life and death.
Utilizing a simple evasive roll to her left, the Scarlet Spider tucked and rolled, finishing in a three-point stance as the Juggernaut crashed through more crates. Of course this only infuriated the clone more and he ran towards Mia again. Once again, she dodges his tackle which forces more equipment to be destroyed.
"I may not be able to defeat him or catch up to Jason," Mia told Jarvis. "But I can stop everyone from having this stuff."
"An ingenious plan indeed, Master Mia." Jarvis complimented.
"Wow, if you were any slower, I'd probably fall asleep." spoke the Scarlet Spider. "Seriously Juggy, if this is the best you got, then I'm almost laughing at the thought of you at your worst!"
That pissed the Juggernaut off further than he already was and his blind rage forced him to continuously chase after the elusive Scarlet Spider. His focus was solely in chasing after the spider-themed heroine and crushing her once and for all. Juggernaut even failed to hear Nightcrawler's warnings in his rampage, the taunting voice of the Scarlet Spider being the only thing he could hear.
"Hey, blockhead!" The Juggernaut paused at the irritating sound to see his opponent standing near the hole Mystique had created earlier. "Thanks for helping me get rid of that stuff! I couldn't have done it without you!"
It was at that moment that the nine-foot mutant paused and looked around. The crates that he had been sent to deliver to Waller had been destroyed, the contents they once held in worse shape.
"You've destroyed our mission!" Nightcrawler's voice finally registered into Juggernaut's mind as the blue mutant teleported in front of his larger accomplice. "Miss Waller will have us both locked inside of Genosha…"
Those words sank into both mutants' ears and for a moment, all was silent.
And then the Juggernaut felt it necessary to finish the job and destroy Red Hood's base…
[Mia's Apartment: Star City, California]
[June 13, 21:09:42 PST]
The blonde teenager trudged into her bedroom, her Speedy costume being nothing more than extra weight now that the night was over. Their search for Red Hood had come up unsuccessful, but that was not the main problem. Mia's main problem was her aching body. She had not gotten much rest between her bout with the mutants and the beginning of her search with Oliver and Dinah. Plus, her mind had yet to wrap around the reality that Red Hood could be Jason. In her exhaustion, such thought was nothing more but added weight that made walking all the more burdensome. It had gotten to the point that Oliver nearly ordered Mia to go home and get some rest, which is why she was now here and they were still out there.
Lying face first on her bed, she was unaware of the visitor watching her.
"So," Mia, startled, gave a mental command for her Scarlet Spider suit to activate to no avail. Her head whipped around to see Jake standing at her closet door, his arms crossed. "The news said that an old OsCorp facility was destroyed in a result of Scarlet Spider's 'careless and reckless behavior.' Of course, I had to come out and see it for myself."
"Jake…" Mia released his name in the form of a heavy breath, her heart rate returning back to a calmer, steadier beat. "What are you doing here?"
"Just to remind you that you got your ass kicked." Mia groaned and lied back. "Seriously Mia, you could've gotten yourself killed and I almost got killed for asking Rachel to send me here."
"My powers are not to be used for trivial things," Mia was slightly shocked as the mystic casually walks into Mia's bedroom. "Especially for a man with a private jet."
Mia glared at Jake. "Why are you here? Did you come to tell me that another one of my friends was resurrected and it was important that I didn't know?"
"I came to take Jarvis away." Those words angered Mia more. "Nothing personal. I need to upgrade his system and apply some much needed weaponry for you."
"Why?" the teen asked.
"After how you acted today, you're lucky I'm giving you a second chance. Artemis said-"
"You brought Jason back and you didn't tell me!" Mia interrupted. "How okay do you think I am when my friend and I are now trying to kill each other? I can't focus on Waller's clones or Anarky. If that's Jason-"
"Shut up." Two words from the man had Mia quiet. She was used to this tone during training or days that the Black Spider was just in an irritable mood. "I am well aware about your feelings about Jason, Mia. The problem is I did hang something over Dick's head so he could do what I wanted. But then again, I always do. Even to you."
"You're an asshole." Mia muttered.
"One with two hours to spare, so get ready. We're training." Mia sighed heavily. "Don't worry, I think we're going to have fun with this one." Ben crawled off of Jake's back, Jarvis popping off of Mia's arm shortly after. "No suits. Just us."
"What are we doing?" Mia asked.
"You're going to sleep. No patrolling. No wandering. No swinging around with Jarvis." Jake stated. "Just sleep and relaxation. Meditate. Binge on something. Just don't injure yourself more than you already have."
"And that would do…?" Mia questions.
Jake smiled. "That'll teach you that you can have all the skills in the world and be killed if you're not well-rested. Or focused. You need focus to properly use these suits."
"I know, I know. And I was out of sync with Jarvis and-"
"And you're really bitchy when you're tired." Those words gained Jake two pair of glaring eyes from the females in the wrong. "Nothing personal Mia, but you're stressed out. I don't need Rachel here with me to figure that out. You need rest. And if I have to come down here to keep Arrow or Canary busy so they're not trying to get you to train, then I will do it."
Mia sighed. "You're serious aren't you?" Jake nods his head at her question. "Fine. I'll take a day off. But what will that solve? Jason is probably the Red Hood and he's going to run into the YJL sooner or later. Then what? Not to mention that Anarky is still out there and Green Arrow will eventually realize that something is wrong with me."
Jake took a few steps to Mia and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"I know," he said calmly. "But Lian doesn't like to see her favorite aunt losing battle on TV. So for Lian's sake, we're going to let you rest, okay?" Before Mia could say something, she felt something pricking her neck. Soon the girl slowly collapses into the man's arms. "Sleep well kid. You deserve it."
"This Juggernaut seems like a threat. One that will make getting to Waller and her Checkmate that much harder." Raven said as Jake places Mia in her bed. The man then pockets a needle and looks at the mystic. "Do you think the information Dick has on him is enough for Kaldur or Gemini?"
Jake shook his head. "No. But I can make a video off of the feed from Jarvis to get a better assessment." As Ben crawled onto Jake's back, Jarvis took place on the man's left wrist. "Hopefully Gemini can get more information about them. As I told you guys earlier, they each have characteristics not on the files that I got from TYGER."
"And what are you going to do with your little protégé?" Raven said while raising an arched brow. "You can't continue to run back and forth just because you fear that she's in over her head. Eventually, you're going to let her go do what she wants on her own."
"She'll be fine. Meantime, I need to get back in time to make sure Jade never finds out that I left our daughter in the care of Talia al Ghul." Jake responded, stepping towards Rachel. "So Sunshine, if you would be so kind?"
Raven grimaced. "Don't call me that again." Jake only smiled while he put his arms around her. "And you don't have to hold on to me like this."
"But you like it." teased the young man. "So, to New York?"
Raven says nothing else as the two are covered in a large shadow before said shadow took the form of a raven and flew off.