"Moontail no!" Aqualad roared.
He saw and felt the fiery explosion and knew the dark depressing cloud only meant one thing. Moontail ignored him, flipping the crook on his back and vanishing in midair.
"Miss Martian after her!" He yelled, Miss Martian nodded, flying off towards the burning skyscraper.
"Stay together, we can't lose focus!" Aqualad ordered.
He knew that ShadowMist only made such a dramatic entrance to rattle them and create more chaos.
"Batman, ShadowMist has been spotted," He spoke over his comm.
"Understood. Flash and Kid Flash will be en route as well as Green Lantern as soon as they can," Batman's voice buzzed in his ear.
"Acknowledged," Aqualad said and shouted, "Flash, Superboy secure the block. Nightwing, Tigress move forward!"
The team moved forward working with more urgency and Tigress looked up.
ShadowMist, the woman who had openly threatened Flash's life was there! The one who was would kill him if she got the chance! She knew that she was only human, but she had tangled with supervillians before. ShadowMist was no different. Tigress would have her part in taking down the villainess. If she died doing so, well that was worth it! She couldn't see Wally be destroyed. Not again.
She knocked aside a criminal and froze a Manta Trooper in a rock like foam coating. She then ran down the street, dispatching her enemies as she wan. Moontail may have fought ShadowMist and had a history with her, but Tigress wasn't about to stand by and let them hash it out.
As she made her way to the skyscraper, Nightwing noticed how the Team had begun to fall apart.
Tigress was running towards the skyscraper, Flash noticed and fought side by side with her. He expected his pleas to not engage ShadowMist would soon erupt in an argument. Miss Martian was already up there probably trying to reason with Moontail. Aqualad was already fighting to keep order and hold against the Manta Troopers. Nightwing ducked under gunfire and flipped around two thugs, leaping on their shoulders and throwing his weight forward. The goons toppled and Nightwing kicked the guns away, knocking the criminals unconscious.
"Aqualad, let's make for the building!" He shouted, Aqualad nodded, sweeping the street clear with a wave of water.
He, Aqualad and Superboy caught up with Tigress and Flash.
"You can't go against ShadowMist! When her and Moontail are at it, it's dangerous. Even for me!"
"Shut up Flash! I've gone against monsters, robots and aliens! I can handle a trans dimensional villain!"
"Will you two stop it?" Superboy thundered, "Moontail needs our help!"
He looked up to see flashes of fire and the crumbling of the sky scraper. Whatever ShadowMist was doing, it was bad. Moontail couldn't fight alone. They were a team for a reason. Superboy was fond of Moontail. She reminded him of himself, raw and unchallenged with incredible power. She had learned quicker than he had of course. She was unbreakable and powerful not just in her powers, but her skills and spirit. He knew she'd fight until her last breath, but would it be enough?
"Superboy is right. We cannot argue while the city in danger. We go. Together as a team," Aqualad announced, ending the argument with a deadly look.
The team nodded, fighting their way through the melee and up the skyscraper. Using grapples, water towers and super leaps the Team forced their way up the building, freeing people from the smoke and flames. They broke open another door in the stairwell just as Moontail was thrown.
"Ah!" Moontail screamed falling against the wall.
"Moontail!" Nightwing yelped.
"Stop… no…" Moontail whined as Miss Martian flew over to them.
"She's not real." She explained, "Yet she can still cast fire and create earthquakes. I was able to hack her psyche and found nothing. This is just a void image of herself."
"Then how is she doing so much damage?" Flash asked.
"She must be controlling everything from a distance."
"So fan out?" Nightwing asked.
"It's all we can do."
"No we need to stay together. She'll pick us off easier if we're separated," Moontail argued.
"I can attest to that," Flash agreed.
"Well we're not getting anything done by standing around!" Tigress yelled, "Let's do something!"
"I agree!" ShadowMist roared, she whipped her snake like fog whips around the heroes' necks, forcing them to the ground choking.
"You are pathetic," She growled, "You can't defeat me. You can't even knock away my shadow impressions!"
As she laughed, Moontail struggled. Even Superboy with all his strength could not break the vice like grip on his neck. Nightwing had no tool to cut it away, no strategy to slip away. There was nothing to stop ShadowMist from killing them all.
Except herself.
Moontail stood, against the burning, suffocating smoke around her throat. She gripped her fists tight and clenched her teeth. She would fight, she would save her friends, ShadowMist would lose!
"AHHH!" She roared, diving deep into her soul.
She pulled on the small ball of energy and power that was hidden as a check against the power of the Godslight. The power that could destroy her, she unleashed full force. The energy fanned out in a large burst of unimaginable power. The power that had slowly trickled from Moontail now cascaded onto the scene in a full torrent. The choke holds vanished and ShadowMist's image screamed as the power hit her in the chest.
Moontail gasped, being a pathway of the power and fell into a heap. The incredible energy subsided back into a small drip within her soul and Moontail collapsed, relieved on the cooling concrete. The fires that were eating at the building and the rest of the city now were fanned out to less than campfires. The earthquakes that were crumbling the city silenced themselves and the enormous tsunamis that had crashed over the streets now fell back with no threat. Green Lantern appeared then with Barry Allen Flash and Kid Flash.
"What happened?" He asked, it was Hal, evidence by his tousled brown hair.
"It was not her," Aqualad said, "It was simply an image of herself, like an astral projection that Zatanna would use."
"You have stopped the onslaught in this city, you must have done something." Hal said.
"I think it is only a temporary reprieve," Aqualad said.
"There'll be more," Nightwing said, standing, "She didn't do all this to give up after one hit."
"The question is where is she? The real ShadowMist," Wally Flash asked.
"That's what we need to find out," Tigress said, "Moontail you alright?"
"I'm fine," Moontail raised her head, acknowledging the new arrivals, "Sorry that was hard."
"What exactly did you do?" Miss Martian asked, "I've never seen anything like that before."
"I don't know," Moontail lied, "But I've never experienced anything like that before."
"We should get you some rest," Nightwing said, he saw how she lied so blankly to their faces.
"I'm fine," Moontail repeated.
"Alright then so what's next?" Tigress asked.
"We take the fight to her," Moontail snarled.
"What?" Kid Flash asked.
"Where?" Superboy asked.
In a sweeping gesture, Moontail pulled the Team's hands together and clasped onto Nightwing and Wally's Flash's hands. Teleporting themselves to a rocky volcano island that trembled and belched liquid fire, Juna growled under her breath.
"The peak of the Ring of Fire!"
Ok so I thought about the final battle and realized that I hadn't shown insight on other Team favorites and thought I'd take a peak! I promise the next piece which will be broken into a multi-part finale will be worth it! STAY WITH ME JUST A LITTLE LONGER PLEASE! Oh and review please! It's helpful!