"And that is called the Television. Or as we Americans like to call it, the TV."
Klara reached out to touch the screen. The experience was electrifying for her, but she can't help but feel bad about
"What about those people, what if they wanted to leave?"
Kara was watching The Mentalist on the television.
"Um they're not real Klara."
"But Sascha look, they look really real."
She sighed.
"Come on, let's look at the laboratory!"
She grabbed Klara's hand and ran to the lab. Meanwhile in the gym, everyone else was doing their own workouts. Jason was doing one arm chin-ups while shooting his pistol in an indoor shooting range. Cass was brutalizing the punching bag, while Damian and Garfield were sparing with each other with escrima sticks.
"Hey Garfield. Remind me again why we're practicing with wee little sticks."
"Cuz it's better than practicing with the real stuff and having our limbs cut."
Their sticks collided again.
"Besides, practicing with sticks is universal to almost every melee weapon in the world. They act like weaponized extension of your arms. If you can master fighting with these sticks, you essentially master using the sword."
The sticks collided again.
"The staff."
And again.
"And even the tomahawk."
And again. Damian clenched his teeth.
"Less talking, more me kicking your sorry ass."
Garfield chuckled.
"You can try."
Damian then swung a stick at him. Garfield ducked under it, grabbed his arm and flipped him over.
"And fail."
"No fair! You're the one with the 'strength and speed of 15 men'."
Garfield then laughed loudly.
"Y-you actually believe that story! Hah!"
"What do you mean?"
"Look if I really had the strength of 15 men, one hard swing from me would have easily knocked your stick away. And with that kind of speed, I'd be faster than a cheetah, twice as fast, but well I'm not."
"Then what did the serum do?"
"Peak human conditioning and enhanced healing factor. The human condition part ain't permanent though, why do you think I work out so much?"
"Oh please, I work out far more than you ever did."
"Right like only being able to do 300 chin-ups surely surpasses my official record of"
He leaned his ear towards Damian.
"What was it again?"
"2973."
He patted Damian's hair.
"And don't you forget it."
Kara voice was then heard from the couch.
"Aw you boys are comparing chin-up records, that's cute."
Garfield crossed his arms.
"And what would you're record be?"
"Y'know Avogadro's number?"
Brainiac's voice was heard.
"6.0225 times 10 to the 23rd. It was Avogadro's estimate of how many molecules there are in a mole. His statement is however incorrect as my ancestor Brainiac 3 discovered that there are actually 7.064323275372302 times 10 to the 22nd molecules in Avogadro's so called mole. Well in my day, we'd call that a Bran. For example there are 3 bran of Sodium Chloride in my soup."
Brainiac 5 then walked out revealing himself to be carrying a cube.
"Thank you for your aid, but I must get going."
Damian raised his head.
"Already? You've just healed."
"Which is exactly why I want to go. Only after I complete my task will I give myself permission to retire to a normal life."
He looked around his surroundings.
"Or as normal as it could be."
"What's your task?"
"It is none of your concern. It's my task and mine alone any other change to history may jeopardize my task. And if you try to follow me, I will fight back, and while my hand to hand prowess is not spectacular, I'll die trying. Good day to you all."
He walked passed Question and walked through the door. Kara stood to follow him, but Garfield placed a hand on her shoulder.
"It's his decision to make. Not ours."
She nodded, sat down and continued watching her show. Question tapped Garfield on the shoulder.
"Question. What is it?"
The group's been staying with Question and each other for so long that they forgot that were still in a dangerous tether with him or so they thought.
"Those 2 that were killed last week. They were League of Shadows operatives."
"I know, but that's normal. League operatives often go after each other to prove that they are stronger than the other. If they didn't do that, the League would be at least 5 times as large, while the majority of its operatives will be much easier to defeat."
"Come with me."
Question led Garfield into his room. He then flipped the switch open. The ceiling light turned on and revealed that the walls were covered with pictures with red lines made by markers connected many of them together. Beside each picture with few to dozens of stick notes with various types of information written on them. Question was definitely proving himself to be the conspiracy buff.
"Umm..."
"Now I may have found the reason behind their attacks."
He takes out a red marker and takes off the cap. He makes a red circle around a bust of a man with longer than average hair.
"356 B.C, Alexander the Great, the so called spawn of Zeus and Olympias is born. Plutarch states that he was born in the summer. Archaeologists state that he was born sometime in September. Tell me Garfield, when is your birthday?"
"Um...July 17th. What does have to do with Alexander's birthday?"
"If you refer to the Gregorian calender, July is the 7th month of the year. However, Ancient Macedonians lived nowhere near the time that the Gregorian became the de facto calender of the world."
He then walked to the other side of the wall and circle a picture of a rock with symbols on them.
"In 2005, the archaeologists from Jeffersonian museum have discovered excerpts on Plutarch's book on the ancient world. In his excerpts they discovered that the calender that they used were not 360 day calenders, but 298 day calenders."
"If the Jeffersonian discovered something, surely they would have showed it off for display."
"As workers in the museum they would've, if it weren't for the prophecy. However, I shall get to the point. By calculating the number of days that the Greeks used in their generic combined with the new-found fact that they counted their months not by full moons, but with 3 quarters moon or a semi-waxing or waning crescent as I would like to call it, which comes once every 5 weeks. I've discovered that if Alexander was born on Gregorian calenders 9th month, he was born in the Greek's calender's 7th month!"
He then walked over to another side of the wall and circled a picture of a stone that seemed to have ancient text carved on them.
"And the world-harmonizer shall be born on the 7th month of their mother's time. When they meant mother's time, they were referring to the the calender in which the mother of this world-harmonizer shall be born of the 7th month of the calender which she uses, which is frankly what the Greeks used."
"August 19th, 2005, while you were still Beastboy, you and a villain you've been fighting were doused with a chemical. With that chemical, you two became Beast-like creatures and fought fiercely with you as the victor."
Garfield's eyes widened.
'No one was supposed to know that.'
"HEY HOW DID YOU FIND OUT? IT WAS TOP SECRET!"
"I always find a way."
Question then walked to the adjacent wall and circled another stone with text carved on it with a picture of an ancient looking hieroglyphics depicted a boy who places a hand on a black horse.
"And he shall tame the beast which all else before him has failed to tame. Just as Alexander has tamed the formerly barbaric horse, later named Bucephalas, you have tamed the beast that was...what was it again...Adonis."
Garfield crossed his arms, he looked unconvinced.
"And here's the last lines of the prophecy. With trumpets horn the herald of a great loss, he shall harmonize the pebbles beneath our feet and in time the mountains above our heads."
Garfield still looked unconvinced.
"This is a really interesting story you have their Question, but um that's a lot of speculation you just said there."
Question then grabbed Garfield's collar.
"DON'T YOU GET IT, YOU ARE THE WORLD HARMONIZER, YOU AR-"
Garfield shoved his arms away.
"Stop. Just stop. This..."
He looks around the room.
"This prophecy, it's just so...out of this world. It has to many variables to even comprehend who may be the so called world harmonizer, besides, world harmonizer sounds like something an ancient hippie would say. Like for example, while me and Alexander tamed the beast. Plutarch also states that Alexander tamed the horse by discovering the horses' fear of its own shadow. In my case, I don't recall my time as the beast, and from what I heard from my former teammates, neither me or the other Beast seemed to show fear, if any, I may add."
"Alexander might have lied to provide the people with a seemingly viable explanation, the same way you told Raven that Cyborg had informed you that the chemicals in the lab messed with your DNA. And all that meat eating and acting like a jerk, I have to say you did a good job, you've fooled your teammates. I guess Elasti-girl's acting lessons really paid off."
Garfield's eyes widened again.
"None of that was acting."
"You're acting again."
"And even if it were true, lying teammates aren't exactly new in many teams of this generation. Raven kept her heritage secret and Robin kept us in the dark about the first encounter with Red X, who knows what other lies and secrets my teammates have been keeping from, whether it's from the Titans, the Doom Patrol, the League, or even the team I'm in right now."
"Correct again, but consider this other prophecy, th-"
"Do not speak of this prophecy to me until further notice or it will end badly."
"How dare you."
Garfield chuckled.
"Don't threaten me with the nano-stuff, again, I knew they were fake when I conducted my own blood test. I didn't tell the others because I was afraid that they'd leave had they known about it. You may be really smart, but you're no chemistry buff, or a science buff in general. And you may be good at martial arts,let's just say before I left, I was Ra's favorite."
He winked at Question.
He walked out of the room and back to the gym. He saw Cass sparing with Damian, while Jason was performing gymnastics. And Kara was still being a lazy yet very fit couch potato. He clapped his hands.
"Ok I take winner...unless they're too scared."
Cass pinned Damian to the mat for the tenth time in a row.
"Ha. Don't make me laugh Garfield."
Garfield got in a fighting position.
"I will not go down without a fight."
"Then you'll lose tired."
Bane was sitting on a leather chair. Tapping his fingers lightly on the table. Several men stood at the edge of the light with their faces shrouded in shadow.
A feminine voice was heard.
"We do not have all day Bane."
"Of course, senorita. As you may know, a group of brujas has been interfering with business lately, and it's decrease our paychecks, more importantly mine."
Bane looked around.
"I wish to see that they are taken care of accordingly. One body, 1 million dollars. And don't try to fool me. I will know and consequences will be given. Attempt to kill me for the mulla and find out what happens."
"There used to be a bounty on one of those guys, and well everyone that actually went after him never came back. Him with back-up ain't gonna even the odds."
"Amigos. Amigas. You are too narrow minded. You think that the only way to defeat them is to fight them, and break them, bone by bone. Don't get me wrong, I like fighting that way, but it is not the only way to defeat them. Break the mind, you break the will. Break the will and you break them...Dr. Crane, I heard you are a expert in that field."
A hoarse voice was heard.
"Or so I've been told."
"Well, and then there's another obvious solution to this problem. Divide and conquer. If they are together, it doesn't matter whether you are cooperating or not, you can kiss your asses good bye, but divide them up and cooperate with each other, trying to break the mind and the body, and you might produce good results. Results that make money."
Dr. Crane's voice was heard.
"Why don't you go after them Bane? You went after the Bat, surely none of the others should do so much as scare you away."
"Of course, I broke the Bat, if they were together, it will be a problem, but individually eh, it will be like breaking eggs with my fist. I may even personally go after them. Use any methods that you see fit, whether you want to black-mail them, fight them, send your henchmen or dollotrons or whatever you have to complete the task. Bottom line, it must be secret. The Justice League have a bounty on them too...just a different kind. If the League so much as find out about this, I will cut off all ties with you and I will implicate you on whatever they charge you with. And don't try to pin the blame on me, I've gotten away with things that the League accused me of many times, and I will do it again if I have too. Comprende?"
No one said anything.
"Muy bueno. Now go. I need some time alone."
Everyone left his presence. Bane patiently sat on his chair for an hour and a half silently. And then a screen with Ra's face appeared behind him.
"Novice, have you done what I have asked?"
Bane got on his knees and bowed.
"I have sent them on their way."
"They will be dead should they really go after them...You on the other have the training and the intellect to defeat them. More specifically him."
"Of course master. I have decades more experience than him, I have received more years of training an-"
"As history has shown, experience and training, however many more they had over him, counted for very little. Deathstroke, Cheshire, and recently, the were-wolf and the serpent are evidence of that."
"Of course, I will not underestimate him or any of his comrades."
Bane raised his head.
"Master, I must ask, why did you not give me the serum, was I not worthy after decades of service?"
"Firstly, you weren't patient enough and so you've poisoned yourself with the venom. At this point the venom would account for at least 2% of your body's composition. If I injected you with the serum, it would kill you. In addition, by failing many of my tests, attempting to defeat Batman being one of them, you have not proven yourself worthy of it. He on the other hand, has proven more worthy than other operative in history in the course of nearly 5 years. In those 5 short years, he's shown patience, skill, discipline, intellect, rivaling even that of Alexander the Great in his day."
"I-I understand Master."
"Oh and one last thing. There's someone else who wants to join your enterprise."
"I thought almost everyone in the league want a crack at him. Please. Elaborate."
"That is true, very true. But this particular has a grudge against another, the one my daughter refers to as the One who is All."
"Ah yes the girl."
"Precisely, and frankly I think he is worthy of such an attempt. With his expertise he will greatly aid your hunt."
"Of course Master, your aid is most appreciated."
Ra's narrowed his eyes then the screen turned off. Bane sat back on his chair.
"Who could this person be, trying to take on the girl?"
Bane raised his head.
"Stealth like that may fool the uninitiated, but we are initiated."
A figure stepped out into the light. He was tall, at least 6ft. One half of his head was bald, while the other were made into dreadlocks. He wore a kevlar vest and pants over his otherwise bare body. He bore a determined look in his eyes.
"Ah you must be the one who wants the girl."
"Yes."
"The group just left, you can catch up to them, I sure."
"I killed her before, singlehandedly, I can do it again."
"I'm sure you will."
The figure turned around.
"But eh, before you go, try to kill him. I'm sure it is in your best interests."
"Once she is dead, consider him dead as well."
He walked into the shadows, virtually disappearing.
"All words, but no actions. How disappointing."
ANOTHER CHAPTER YAY! PLS REVIEW, FAV, FOLLOW.