Legends Pt. 3
Chapter 40
"YAAAAAHOOOOOOOOOOO!" I shouted as Hawkgirl held me tightly and flew over the buildings. Guardsman was at our side, watching us carefully to make sure I wasn't dropped, AS IF! Shyira would sooner hit herself with her own mace…
"There!" I pointed at the museum that Guardsman told us about.
As we got closer, we saw the glass roof explode and an old fashioned plane take off into the air, the same man that had stolen the violin, flying off in it!
"Yes! My hunch about the air crime was dead on. Music Master was after that priceless antique flyer."
"I'll stop him!" Hawkgirl took her mace from me and charged it up.
"WAIT! NO!" I shouted alarmed as she stared to speed up.
"What? Why not?"
"Didn't you just hear him? PRICELESS ANTIQUE FLYER…" I reminded her.
"It's an irreplaceable piece of our nation's aviation heritage!" Guardsman caught up to us quickly, he looked relieved that I stopped her before she got too close to smash the flyer's wing.
"Then how are we going to stop him?" She asked a little annoyed.
I understood why, but Guardsman was right, that thing was worth more than I would ever dream to make in a lifetime!
"By using our wits!" He flew ahead of us.
"OUR WITS?" Hawkgirl and I exclaimed together, very confused.
"Oh boy, here we go…" She huffed.
"Hold on tight." She holds me close and follows after him quickly.
"Go left! We'll cut him off!" Hawkgirl said as we had to act fast before Music Master got out of view.
"Remember about the plane!"
"I'll be gentle!" She smirked.
"I'LL MAKE SURE SHE DOESN'T BREAK IT DON'T WORRY!" I called behind us as she took off quickly.
We tried to fly right into his blind spot, it would give us the advantage to get closer and hopefully pull him out of the plane for Guardsman to grab the plane as gently as possible.
"HA! Badaba to the fat lady! May she keep on singing." Music Master cheered.
"Halt! In the name of Justice!" Guardsman appeared in front of him, he made a large had to try and catch him, Music Master veered to the left and was coming right toward us.
"What?!" He hissed, seeing us in his way.
She took her mace and did a false swing to make him fly away from the edge of the city, it was the only way to buy time until we could get him out the plane.
"Look out!" I shouted as I see window washers in a basket on the top floor of a building.
He smashed the line holding the men and it tore the line!
"SHY!" I shouted alarmed as the men fell and one actually fell out and was clutching at the torn line to keep from falling.
"Steady the scaffold! We'll go after the plane!" Hawkgirl tells Guardsman.
"I can't! My ring has no power over aluminum!" He shouted before we got too far.
She growled darkly and made a dive back. "TERRIFIC." She hissed as we flew past him and right to the men.
"Tala, hold on to me tightly! I need a free hand!" She went after the man holding on to the line for his life.
I took a deep breath and she let go of my waist and I was left hugging her neck.
I hear a snapping sound; the last line had broken.
"LOOK OUT!" I shouted, Hawkgirl barely moved to the side to miss from getting hit.
The last man screamed as he started for the ground.
"HOLD ME OUT!" I let go of her neck and started toward the man.
"Tala!" She shouted alarmed as I reached my hand out for the man to take, Hawkgirl frantically made a grab for my other hand.
"I got you!" I shouted as I grabbed the man's hand tightly.
Before we could make a rough landing, Guardsman made a large hand to catch us and gently set us on our feet.
Hawkgirl set the man down and grabbed me up again, "Stay here!" She ordered Guardsman.
"There!" I pointed, Music Master had just left the city. We were going to lose him!
"Time to face the music ladies!" He stood up and held an… Accordion?
As he started to play some notes I saw sound waves fly through the air and hit us.
It was like a violent vibration in the air, hitting us and causing a shock to our systems.
We both cried out and we glided right into the grass.
I slipped from Hawkgirl's arms and rolled on the ground roughly before coming to a stop by hitting a head stone covered in weeds and vines.
I coughed harshly as I had hit the sharp edge of the stone and possibly now have bruising on my side, better than a broken rib again…
I slowly leaned up and looked to see the plane vanishing over a hill.
"Crud…" I breathed tiredly and fell face first into the grass.
"SOMEBODY! PLEASE!" I shouted as I held up Guardsman.
He was barely breathing, and sweating bad…
I suddenly felt the heat in the air grow stronger… Then I see it…
"Oh… God help me…" I found myself breathing as I see it fall from the sky.
A missile… Not just any missile… It looked like the pictures from the old history books before the infamous nuclear bomb hit…
It hit miles away… But I saw the waves headed right for us…
I covered Guardsman with my body and screamed violently as the heat burned my skin and clothes to the point of flame. The light slowly swallowed the city whole, when it touched us…
I only remember my own screams, the pain of every nerve ending, the smell of death all around me and finally… It was over…
There was nothing left…
The images changed to a barren city… buildings turned to rubble… Ash raining from the sky… There was… No one left…
My bare feet, now gray from the dirt and ash settling on the ground. My hands black from holding on the burnt body of Guardsman… I moved slightly and his body just… turned to dust…
I looked up to the dark sky and I started to cry. It hurt… Please… Make it stop…
"Please! Somebody… Anybody!" I cried as held myself, all alone in this waste of a city.
I slowly sank to my side, I just laid still in dirt…
So tried… So very tried…
"Help… Me… Please…" I whispered as I closed my eyes for the final time, my spirit now at rest…
"That's it… Surrender… Surrender to the void…" I hear a deep voice say to me as I slowly felt myself float off.
"Tala! Tala! Can you hear me? Come on! Wake up!" I hear.
"Shy?" I whispered weakly and tried to open my eyes.
"No! NO! I was so close… Next time my dear… Soon you will be MINE." I opened my eyes to see the skeleton in the hood floating above me.
"Tala! WAKE UP!"
I opened my eyes slowly and saw Hawkgirl near me, she was still shaking as I slowly sat up.
"What… What happened? Oh… Oh my head…" I whined weakly and clutched my head to try and make the world stop spinning.
"Oh God, Tala! I'm so sorry! Are you okay? Did you-"
"Shy… Shhh… I'm fine… I just had another night terror… That one… It was just as bad as the one back at the Hall." I whispered.
She hugged me tightly, trying to calm me and ground me until my head stopped spinning so hard.
"Where are we?" I asked confused.
"A grave yard… Music Master got away…" She tells me.
"Oh…" I blinked slowly.
I leaned back and felt a headstone covered and vines behind me.
"Oh! I'm sorry!" I said to it quickly and scooted off the grave.
"You were curled around this one… I was worried you crashed into it and broke your ribs again." Shyira tells me.
"No… No… I mean I did roll into it, but… Not so hard to curl around it… Not like you found me…" I say.
I saw something written on the stone and I couldn't help myself to tear off the vines and my heart sank as I read the name. The dream from before hitting me hard again. But then again… It wasn't a dream… Was it?
"Shy… Tell me this is wrong…" I breathed.
"Tala… I wish I could… But I'm seeing what you are…" She held me close worriedly.
"But we left him behind in the city right? So this-"
"Tala… I don't know… But we have to tell the others… This place is trying to tell you something is wrong… J'onn has to know something…" She stood up slowly and lifted me in her arms.
I hugged her neck tightly and shivered.
"It can't be right… It just can't be…" I cried.
The stone read… HERE LIES SCOTT MASON THE GREEN GUARDSMAN… Next to him was all the others…
Catman, Siren, Tom Turbine, Streak… All of them were here… And they were all gone… So who were we talking to back in the city?
"J'onn! Lantern!" I cried as we landed.
J'onn looked as distressed as I was, I ran into his arms as soon as I could.
I felt him engulfing me in calming waves, he had another episode himself, he was still shaking.
"You saw it too?" I asked.
"Yes…" He said weakly.
"What happened?" Lantern looked to Hawkgirl.
"Music Master got away… And we found something… You aren't going to like it…" She tells him.
She told them everything, I just held on to J'onn. I was still shaking heavily and my poor little heart was hurting so bad…
"That… That's not right…" Lantern said in disbelief.
"We SAW them! On a hill outside of the city in a grave yard!" She tells him.
"But… It just doesn't make any sense!" Lantern looked to the Guardsman and Streak inside the Hall, they were just… Talking… But something in me, just told me it was all wrong…
"Look, I don't know who that is, but the real Green Guardsman is gone. So are the rest of them…" Shyira shivered remembering the graves.
Lantern looked… Conflicted.
"No… I don't believe it." He shook his head and took off into the air.
I signed weakly and watched him go off.
"He seemed to take this quite personally." J'onn looked to Shy.
"I'll bring him back. You and Tala wait here for Flash… You both have had a long day…" She spread her wings and took off after him.
"This is one of those things he has to see for himself… I mean… It does sound crazy… But I know what I saw and… It was him… His grave… My dream… I watched him die… And… And…"
"Hush… Think of it no more for now… We'll figure this out… There must be a reason…" J'onn tells me softly.
"Let's get you inside… You need Shotzey to sooth your nerves." He tells me.
"Don't say anything until we figure out what is going on?" I asked.
"Unfortunately…" He looked back inside to the Justice Guild members inside.
I was in the corner with Shotzey on the floor, he was now curled on my lap, he felt my distress and was comforting me by just laying on me. Feeling him there was comforting, but I was still a little put off by the Guild at the table. I was still struggling to take in what we discovered.
As well, we haven't heard back from Flash or Siren, they were getting really worried.
"Still no word?" Turbine asked J'onn as he returned from outside, he was trying to sense for Flash or Siren, but there was nothing for him to grasp.
"I'm afraid not…" He tells them apologetically.
The phone started to ring loudly, I looked to the phone being covered by a glass cover.
Streak ran over to it, "Maybe this is it. Hello?" He answered the phone quickly.
He was listening to the Chief of Police, they found the villains robbing the City Mint, and they were now escaping in a… Blimp? Really? Where in the world would they find one around HERE? This really is a comic book world…
"Only they would commit such a heinous act. And on a Sunday! Thanks for the tip Sergeant. We're on the case!" Streak said and quickly hung up.
"The Injustice Guild's on the move." He tells us.
"Then we should be too." Guardsman said putting his hand out for a group cheer.
"LET JUSTICE PREVAIL!" The men of the group, excluding J'onn, shouted together.
They all took off after the villains, I ran up to J'onn with Shotzey at my side.
"J'onn, what do we do?" I asked him worriedly.
"For now, we continue to help them. Do you feel well enough to come? I don't want to leave you alone in case you have another vision." He says.
"I… I suppose so…" I sighed weakly and looked to the door.
"Stay close, I will not let anything happen." He assured me.
"I know you won't." I smiled up at him.
"There!" Guardsman pointed up to the blimp.
"I'll let some air out of that balloon." Guardsman made an arrow with his ring.
"Hey… There's some people tied up there…" I pointed up.
"She's right! Look!" Tom pointed to where I did.
"That's Flash! And Siren!" I covered my mouth in horror.
"Holy hostages!" Ray said just as horrified as I was.
"Stay here with them." J'onn tells me.
"But-"
"I will get them back… I cannot risk you going up there as well." He tells me.
"I… Okay… Be quick…" I hugged him and held Shotzey's leash tightly.
"Tala, are you sure you are alright?" Catman asked me.
"Yes… Just shaken…" I say avoiding his eye.
I felt all my hair stand on end around them now, it didn't feel right any more.
"J'onn!" I hear Streak shout.
I looked up and saw J'onn falling! "J'onn-"
I felt it all hit me again, I wrapped my arms around myself and my vision flashing in and out, the city flashing between the Utopia I saw… And the Apocalypse I saw in my dreams… Instead of J'onn falling from the sky… It was Tom…
"Stop it! This isn't real!" I shouted clutching my head as the heat in the air wrapped around me, slowly pulling me to my knees.
"THIS ISN'T REAL!" I shouted.
"Isn't it my dear?"
That was new…
I looked in front of me, it was the skeleton again…
"Who the hell are you? Why are you showing me all this?" I hissed at him.
"I'm showing you the truth my dear… The pain it's causing you is rather… INTOXICATING…" He cooed and walked up to me.
"STAY AWAY FROM ME!" I ordered him.
I tried to stand up, but my knees were immobile! I tried to stand but I just... couldn't.
He grabbed my chin with his clawed hand and made me look into his eyes…
"Surrender… Give me all your fear…"
"What?" I breathed as I felt myself grow weaker.
"You radiate wonderful fear… and I WANT it… This world is only tripling the taste of your fear and pain… Surrender it all to me…" He crooned.
"No… NO!" I shouted.
He released me as if I had burned him, his hand now turned to ink black smoke.
"Damn you… You will surrender to me… I may not have you yet… But once I find the right fear… YOU WILL NEVER ESCAPE…"
"I don't know you… But you won't win… I'll make sure of it…" I slowly got to my feet and got into a fighting stance.
"Next time then… I enjoy breaking you down girl… And you do know me… You just don't remember me yet… Give it time…" He laughed loudly.
The dirt and dust around him circled him, swallowing him to the point he was no longer visible, the air suddenly stopped and settled on the ground. He was now gone…
As promised! It's 2AM and I got another chapter up!
I've missed this... Really is nice to work on my stories again!
As always, I only own Tala, her family, and the idea to do this story. Justice League is not mine!
And if you see something wrong, please let me know and I will fix it as soon as possible!
I'm going to try and get some sleep now, don't worry I'll work on some more chapters soon! I now have some time to do with my surgery coming up. Yal have a good night!
Leave a comment if you wish! I love hearing from you all!
Peace out!
~*~Katie Gibbs~*~