5.
Outside Iceberg Lounge
November 18, 22:17 UTC
Bodies lay strewn across the sidewalk as Guardian smashed his way through numerous guards. As he provided a distraction outside, drawing a large number of Penguin's henchmen to him, Miss Martian surprised a number of them by ambushing them in her camouflage mode. The street was mostly clear by this point, leaving the two time and space to take out the remaining men in an effort to take some of the pressure away from what was going on inside.
"Guardian, you have six more coming in on your left from the alley, watch it!" Miss Martian announced over the telepathic link. Lifting two guards mentally, the Martian forced them to collide with each other then dropped them hard onto the asphalt.
"I see them." Using a guard as a projectile, Guardian lifted him up and threw him at the group. Three ducked, one dodged, and two were struck down.
"Take him!" On the order of the head guard, the men pulled out their pistols and aimed at the dark skinned hero. They were then taken by surprise as Miss Martian had their weapons lifted into the air.
"Trust me," she said as her eyes shined a bright green, "you do not want to do that."
"But I wanna do this!" Charging forward with his fist cocked back, Guardian delivered a hard right hook to the first guard he came to.
Iceberg Lounge
November 18, 22:12 UTC
"You lot should have really thought carefully about your attempted act of thievery here tonight. Attempting to sell me weapons in which there is no ammunition for, very bad form."
Making his way around the group of Intergang members, Penguin had his enforcers covering them from near all angles, their weapons aimed at the gang member's heads. The captured indeviduals all sat next to the large water tank as the two black ops members hung upside down above the water itself.
"These two, ugh, teenagers, will not be the only ones to suffer the consequences as you too will share their fate. I hope you enjoy the water as-"
"Seriously, it was caviar, caviar!" Robin said as he and Wonder Girl hung overhead.
"It was disgusting!" replied Wonder Girl.
"It's a delicacy!"
"Still disgusting! I mean, why would anyone eat eggs?"
Penguin rubbed is head in annoyance before addressing his captives again. "As I was saying-"
"You eat chicken eggs for breakfast!" shouted Robin.
"But those are cooked and from a chicken," Wonder Girl retorted. "These were raw and from a fish. You're eating baby fishies! Unborn baby fishies!"
"You eat undeveloped chicken fetuses! It's not that much of a difference!"
"It's a big difference 'cause they're cooked with butter, salt, and pepper with ketchup on top! Not to mention, normal people eat them!"
"Who eats ketchup on eggs?!"
"I do! I like ketchup on my eggs and I like ketchup on my hotdogs!"
"Ketchup doesn't go on hotdogs, mustard goes on hot…how did we get to talking about hotdogs?!"
"Shut up!" Penguin yelled, having enough of the two's bantering. "Miscreants, the both of you. I will make this short and simple for you two to understand, trouble makers in my club will be dealt with and severely punished. Now I don't know how two prepubescents gained access in here, but I know how you will be leaving, through the digestive tract of my little pet here. Guards, is the water warmed up yet?"
"Yes sir," one of the many guards answered.
"Then release the Guppy for me, will you please?"
"Right away, Boss." Pulling out a remote and pressing a red button on it, the henchman activated a steal door under the large open water area as well as make the large chain holding the two captives lower slowly into the water.
"If there is anything you need to say to each other before your untimely demise, I suggest you say it now." With a smug smile, Penguin took his leave back to his main office as his henchmen stayed behind to watch the show.
"Crap, there goes my head band." Looking below her, Wonder Girl saw her hair accessory land in the water with a splash. A moment afterwards, a large Great White Shark leapt out of the water and swallowed the headband. Even with her hair concealing her face, she was able to see a set of powerful, razor sharp jaws clamp shut as the band vanished in the animal's mouth. "HOLY CRAP!"
"How did we ever get into this?" Robin asked again as he shook his head.
"Who cares! We need to get out of this!"
Renewing her struggle against her lasso, Wonder Girl tried in vain to slip her hands free. The most she could do was wiggle her fingers against the knot but unable to untie it. Robin on the other hand barely moved, almost as if he were trying to will himself free when the two heard a splash from below.
"Alright, you're next," one of Penguin's henchmen shouted as he roughly grabbed another Intergang member and threw him to the edge of the tank. "Hurry it up, we ain't got all night."
"Please, I…I was just doing this to get some extra money for my-"
"Shut up and take a dive. Kenny, bring in the chum bucket!"
As the member of Intergang was pushed into the water with his partner and the shark, another of Penguin's men brought over a metal bucket filled with fish guts, fish heads, and blood. He pulled a chair beside the glass barrier to stand on as the shark swam below the two offered 'snacks'.
"Hey," the bucket man shouted at the men in the water as a third was thrown in, "We're gonna play a game here. The one to last the longest may get to go free. The others, you get the point."
As the henchman began tossing the bloody mixture into the water to entice the shark, Wonder Girl continued her attempt to free herself when she felt Robin's rope slacken slightly with his hand moving in a back and forth motion. "Robin, what did-"
"Bat-a-rang, always have a spare." Another of the Boy Wonder's rope slackened as he cut himself free while somehow holding onto his bonds so as to not alert the guards below.
"Where did you get a Bat-a-rang? They took your belt from you."
"Um, trust me…you don't want to know."
Torn between an 'EW' and a 'Thank goodness' the super strong blonde kept her eyes on the water below as a dark shape swam past. The shark was getting wild up from the smell of fresh blood in the water, bad news for the men currently being dumped in the tank.
"Whatever you're planning to do, do it now." Wonder Girl continued to struggle when she felt her lasso loosen around her from being untied.
"On my mark," Robin said. "Three, two-"
"Reinforcements, we need reinforcements!" a voice yelled form over a radio one of the guards was carrying then went to static.
"Felix? Felix, come in! You three, check the perimeter and-"
Before the head guard could finish giving his orders, the front doors to the lounge burst open from Guardian throwing the last of the henchmen through them and charged in. Miss Martian came in shortly after, using one of the doors she ripped off its hinges to provide a makeshift shield for her armor clad partner.
"Now!" Robin yelled as he dropped from the chain holding him and his girlfriend upside down.
With her rope slackened, Wonder Girl slipped from its unbreakable hold and grabbed her boyfriend's hand then tossed him back onto the dancing area as she retrieved her rope. Once on the dance floor, the third one to call himself Robin went into action by punching he first opponent he came across, sweeping the legs from underneath another, then flipping over a third. He finished him off by dropkicking him on the way down before rolling to his feet and grabbing his utility belt from a table.
"There," Robin said as he took hold of his collapsible bo, "now all's right with the world."
"Hang on!" Wonder Girl yelled as she flew to the men in the water. She was grateful they were in close proximity to each other as she was able to ensnare them all with her rope. She then looped the end over a chandelier mount and used it to hoist them out of the water and keep them from getting away when the shark leapt out of the water and caught the end of her dress, dragging her into its domain.
"Guardian, Robin, Wonder Girl, Bee, I'm heading upstairs for Penguin. You four alright down here?" Miss Martian said over their mind link.
"We got this!" Guardian announced as he brought a large guard down with a kick to the knee. "But I don't see Bee!"
"Got her, she's safe!" Using his bo as a pole vault, Robin landed on the table Bumble Bee was on. A swift kick to another guard bought him enough time to get the unconscious woman, who was still in her shrunken form, away from any danger as their mission leader phased to Penguin's office. "Just putting her somewhere safe for now."
While her squad mates dealt with the rest of Penguin's enforcers, Wonder Girl felt as if she stumbled into the remake of Jaws. She has seen a full grown Great White Shark up close before, only there was a five inch thick glass between her and the animal. This one was not like the other one she saw at Sea World, this one was at least five maybe six feet longer with rips in its skin similar to Wolf's, a clear indication of it being infused with Kobra Venom.
Watching the man eater swim away, Wonder Girl backed up to the side of the tank. She was thankful she had a lung full of air and the water was clear; however, the shark disappeared from view once it reached the glacier. She knew better than to swim out to confront the beast as that would leave her open to attack from multiple angles so instead, she kept her back to the tank wall and scanned the area carefully. She recalled what she had learned from watching Shark Week and knew better than to make jerky movements, then again, she wanted to face off with the sharp toothed creature.
Using her bracelets as a dinner bell of sorts, she clanged them together, all the while keeping an eye out for the rows of teeth looking to sink into her. Her wait was short as the animal attacked from below with its jaws opened wide to swallow her whole. In one fluid move, Wonder Girl caught the incoming animal on the nose with one hand and the lower jaw with the other. Shooting backwards, the blonde Amazon wound up and smacked the shark on the nose with an open palm, sending it back a few feet against its will. The hit to its sensitive nose caused its natural radar like senses to go on the fritz, giving it no choice but to retreat away from its anticipated meal.
With a snarl, Wonder Girl gave chase, her flight ability coming in handy underwater to swim after the shark, and caught it by the tail. With a great deal of strength, she pulled it back and flung it to the surface where it broke the water and landed with a heavy thud on the dance floor with the super strong teen girl following after.
Emerging from the tank with a trail of water behind her, Wonder Girl landed beside the slowly suffocating shark and looked the area over. "Aw, you didn't leave any for me."
"Holy flying fish, Wonder Girl," Robin said.
"Fishing without a rod," Guardian spoke up. "Knew you had some hidden talents, girl."
"I'm just glad you wore shorts under that dress."
Looking down at her now ruined garb, Wonder Girl sighed as she picked up the tattered bottom portion. "And I was starting to like this one too."
"I'm sure your little bird will get you another," Guardian commented. He undid his left shoulder guard and rubbed where one of the guards from earlier landed a lucky shot with a pair of brass knuckles. "Now tell me, where'd you put Bee?
A cocking sound came from behind the three where one of Penguin's henchmen struggled to remain conscious. He had managed to crawl over to the apocalyptic disk launcher and situated it over his chest.
"Hate to break it to you," Robin said as he turned to face the criminal, "but those weapons are out of ammo."
The henchman laughed as he powered up the weapon and locked on to the three heroes.
"Or maybe not."
With his hands on the triggers, he was just about to fire when his eyes went wide and his body went stiff a second before he fell to the floor. Behind him, Bumblebee hovered for a second then grew back to her regular size as she rubbed her head. "Okay, two questions, first off, what did I miss? Second, Who's idea was it to put me in a potted plant?"
Guardian and Wonder Girl simply looked at Robin who cleared his throat as he looked away.
Watchtower
November 18, 23:47 UTC
"So even though Penguin has no connections to The Light or any of Vandal's associates, he has shown he had connections to Intergang, correct?" Standing before the five man team, Captain Marvel looked over the video footage Karen took when she arrived on the third floor of the Iceberg Lounge. "That's a lot of weaponry they were carting around."
"Yes, but by the time I got up there, it was all gone. Penguin was missing as well but security footage showed him leaving through an underground garage by limo. It seems his private elevator also lead below the club as well," M'gann described. "Tim picked up residual readings we've been getting matching Boom Tubes, so it is possible they were shipped back to wherever it is they're from be it on or off world."
"Any word on what Strange could do to block them?" Tim asked. He still wore his Robin pants and boots but had changed to a plain white shirt for the time being.
"Nothing yet," Captain Marvel told him. "All he said was they differ in frequencies from Zeta Beams and are harder to block."
"Well all I know is, Intergang brought those weapons there to sell in an attempt to cheat Penguin out of his money by not telling him they were out of battery packs for them," Karen said.
"Which would more than explain why they so suddenly dropped off our radar. But why would their suppliers just leave them high and dry like that?"
"Beat's me, and unless the Boom Tube opened up under the crates, only someone like Flash could clear all that out in that short of time. I mean, it was a lot of stuff."
Looking the group over, the substitute League leader decided tomorrow would be better to continue discussing what they had found and released them. Turning back to the computer terminal in the assembly area, he typed a few more notes in and saved it. A long sigh flooded from him as he looked out the window into open space. He couldn't help but feel as if someone or something were looking back at him.
"Hey, Mal," Karen asked as she took of her gloves and walked away from the others. "You wouldn't happen to know where Nightwing is, would you?"
"He was supposed to be patrolling Gotham with Batgirl. Why? Were his floor plans wrong?"
"Yeah, but I can't blame him for that since they were from the public's records. Bird-man has more secrets in there than we knew. I just wanted to see if he had anything for bugs."
"Bugs? What're you talkin' about, woman?"
"I'll show you what I recorded in the vents. Right now, I'm gonna spray down my house with some Raid before going to bed."
Across from the others, Tim and Cassie walked side by side while M'gann headed for the Zeta Tubes. Cassie had already changed out of her torn dress and into a pair of denim shorts and shirt.
"What a night, huh?" Tim asked as he took off his belt and draped it over a shoulder.
"Yeah, you could say that." Pulling her hair back, Cassie took a hair tie from a pocket to give herself a quick ponytail. "Sorry about the dress."
"Forget it, it's just a dress. If you want another one, I'll have one delivered to your house."
"That would be great, but since this was a mission date, do you think we can go out on a real one sometime soon?"
"You know, now that you mention it, I do believe I can get tickets to Cassidy this weekend."
"You mean the sold out Cassidy? The sold out for months Cassidy who sings the number one hit song 'Fire'?"
"The one and only."
Grabbing him by the collar of his shirt, Cassie pulled her boyfriend roughly and planted a kiss on his lips. "Best boyfriend." She then flew off toward the Zeta Tubes to head for home.
Tim stared after his girlfriend as she waved and entered the portal to head home. "It's good to be the Boy Wonder."