Ch.27: Frikkin Crises
Superman watched the teens with a critical eye. His arms were crossed over his chest, blocking the S Shield on his suit. He stood stiffly, body tense, a frown settled firmly on his lips. His blue eyes were troubled, staring at the boy that was currently working on the Justice League's mainframe, his two friends sitting around and occasionally giving suggestions or help.
Graveyard was half in the computer, his legs protruding out from under the desk. One black-clad was bent, foot firmly placed on the ground. The other was splayed out comfortably, foot bouncing back and forth in a sign of nervousness, irritation, or restlessness.
Snowbird and Droid sat at the edge of the desk, chatting away with Graveyard answering questions and asking for tools. The girl was in a half-lotus position, one leg tucked to her while the other was bent. She rested one arm on her propped leg, the other open to grab tools from the toolbox.
Droid sat across from the girl, wearing a skin-tight body suit that he wore when he was usually in his war-bot. The body-suit was plain white with a few grey accents. Goggles were strapped around his head, red lenses gleaming maliciously. Even so, a smile was plastered across his face as he talked with his friends.
Batman was off to the side, working on some new gadget of his that was months in the making. The Dark Knight said something earlier in the day about it not going to be able to work for another couple of weeks though. Some of the schematics were off and Batman was the one to have to fix them, much to his joy.
Frankly, Superman didn't care about Batman's gadget. He cared that there were unfamiliar teenagers playing with the computer in the Watchtower.
With quiet steps, the Man of Steel walked over to his long time friend. Standing behind the Dark Knight, he watched the trio mess with the circuitry some more. He would give Batman a couple minutes to give him the time of day before he just interrupted the Dark Knight altogether.
Halfway through Superman's 'deadline', Batman mumbled a "What?" He was half paying attention to his colleague and half paying attention to his new fangled device that probably would make no sense to anybody else.
"Are you sure we should be letting a bunch of unfamiliar teens work on our computer?" Superman asked, glancing down at his friend.
"They're unfamiliar to you, not to me. It will be fine."
ZZT.
"OW!"
"Would you stop zapping yourself?!" Batman yelled at the black-clad boy exaggerated.
Graveyard, hand singed and smoking, pointed a pair of pliers at the hero, even though he was still half-hanging from the computer. "Shut up! I don't have to be doing this, you know! I could be doing something fun right now!"
Droid and Snowbird snickered at their friend's yells.
"Yeah, your idea of fun is exactly why you're here." Batman stated, giving them a pointed look. Snowbird stuck her tongue out at the Dark Knight. Batman rolled his eyes while Droid smacked his female friend on the arm, telling her not to tick the Dark Knight off. After a few more responses, the two were shouting at the other, gaining the attention of a few other heroes in the station.
Superman rolled his eyes at the display but continued "The last time these three surfaced was over a year ago. After that, they dropped off the face of the earth, never to be seen again! Then they suddenly reappear and you're all buddy-buddy?"
"Aliases, Kent. Aliases." Batman responded cryptically, glancing up at the Man of Steel before refocusing on his gadget.
Superman tried to question Batman on what the heck that meant for the next couple of minutes before giving up, since the Caped Crusader wasn't answering. The Man of Steel stood silently in his thoughts for a long time, watching Batman work and the teens goof off.
Then… It just hit him like a smack in the face.
"The one playing with the computer was the kid on death-row, right?"
"You know, for a person who's supposed to have heightened intelligence, you sure are slow." Batman stated, glancing up at the Man of Steel with a dry expression. Superman looked down at the black-clad hero with his own unhappy expression.
"Ok, so why is it a good idea to let felons into the Watchtower and near our computers?" Superman questioned, watching as Batman turned his gaze back to the unfinished weapon in front of him.
The working hero hummed for a moment before answering "I got all three of them enrolled in school but they got suspended yesterday for triggering another food fight."
"Another?" Superman asked.
"Yeah…" Batman drawled. "I'm actually surprised they're only getting suspended now. They set a state record for racking up the offenses. They're quickly getting to national level of 'offenses gained in a week'. I'm not sure if they're doing it to tick off the entire school-body, me, or just trying to set an example for other troublemakers."
"I repeat: you let them come here why?" Superman asked, face twisted into a look of worry. He gestured to the teens by/in the computer.
ZZZZT.
"OW!"
Droid and Snowbird both burst into hysterical laughter while Graveyard screamed "I'm killing you both later for giving me the wrong tool!"
"One: I can watch them closely. Two: They're saving me time by doing that for me. Three: I don't trust the three of them in one apartment together. The last time that happened, they decided to hijack a mall." Batman stated, dryly tilting his head up to the Man of Steel.
"You couldn't have taken them to Chuck-E-Cheese's?!"
"If you don't want them here, why don't you take them?!"
After a few minutes of bickering, the two dropped the entire matter because neither one of them was taking the demon trio anywhere.
Superman sighed in irritation before asking the Dark Knight "Is there any other reason you decided to bring them up?"
"I'm working on getting them into the hero business but I've got to get their brutality rate down." Batman said and shrugged, sticking a screwdriver into the device he was working on and beginning to work on some of the screws.
"You're brutal all the time. Why work on their rates?" Superman questioned, crossing his arms again.
"I don't break every last rib in a person's body, crack their skull, or shatter a person's collarbone in two." Batman stated, shifting his eyes up to stare at Superman again. The Man of Steel's face morphed into horror and Batman nodded, satisfied with himself.
ZZT.
"FRIKKIN- I'M GONNA-"
"Would you stop shocking yourself?!"
"You get down here and work in the dark with nothing but a light strapped to your head, Bats! Then we'll see who has the scorched hands!"
"Graveyard, do me a favor."
"What?"
"Shut up and work."
"You started it!"
"Yes, keep yelling at him as if it'll make a difference." Snowbird commented, patting her white-haired friend on the knee. She got a small kick for it.
Droid snickered beside her and got a kick for it too.
Batman rolled his eyes at the displays the teens performed while Superman shook his head. The Dark Knight silently looked back down at his work while the Man of Steel told him to watch the two boys and one girl before leaving. Batman couldn't help but roll his eyes again.
"You almost done yet?" Batman called, leaning back after letting the work on his gadget die.
"Mm… Depends on how fast I can find the end of this wire." Danny replied, not visible to the naked eye as he had to crawl all the way into the computer to continue on with his work.
"Scissors." Danny called.
Sam grabbed the scissors from the toolbox and started crawling under the desk to give her friend the needed contraption. She grunted as she did and commented "This really is a pain in the arse. Why is this computer so frikkin big?"
Droid rolled his eyes under his goggles and sarcastically asked "We're in a headquarters for a team of superheroes. Why wouldn't they have a frikkin big computer?"
"Shut up, Tucker."
"Oh look, Tuck actually managed to tick Sam off. What a surprise." Danny muttered sarcastically, shining his flashlight every which way in the computer to see what he was doing. He coughed a few times and muttered "It's dusty in here."
"I wonder why." Sam said.
Danny scoffed. "Oh, maybe cause they don't have a computer cleaner, even though they desperately need one."
"Do you clean the insides of your computers?" Batman questioned sarcastically.
Tucker snorted. "Actually, he does."
The Dark Knight stared at the white-clad boy dryly before stating "Danny, you depress in me ways only known to Superman."
"I'm just special like that." Danny retorted, swatting wildly at a spider-web that he accidently bent into. He spit the thin strings out of his mouth and off his lips, grimacing as he did. Shaking his head, the boy muttered "Hate spider-webs…"
"Watch out for spiders." Sam called up to him.
"Why would I..?"
"Spider-webs mean spiders, moron."
Danny silently mocked Sam, mouthing her words with a stupid face, before snipping some wires with the scissors his female friend gave him. He jumped back, making a small ruckus, when a few dead daddy-longlegs fell from the ceiling down in front of him.
"You ok up there, Danny?" Tucker called.
Danny brushed the small corpses away before replying "Yeah. I just hate spiders."
Sam snickered while Tucker snorted beside her. Batman watched silently, shaking his head with an irked expression on his face.
A few minutes later, Danny had everything all sorted out within the computer system and crawled out.
His white hair had turned grey with dust and cobwebs. Another sheen of dust was covering the rest of his body, excluding his face. Random lint stuck to his clothes determinedly, not even thinking about quitting and leaving the boy's clothes anytime soon.
"Nice look." Sam stated sarcastically.
Danny growled at her, making a mean face.
"Do you got a feather duster?" Tucker teasingly asked Batman, giving him an almost hopeful look.
The Dark Knight, a serious expression settled on his face, shook his head back and forth slowly. "Sorry. Danny's all on his own for this one. Not helping him this time."
"So you want me to walk around your beloved Watchtower looking like the inside of your computer?" Danny asked, giving Batman a hopeless expression.
Batman nodded curtly and waved.
Danny scowled before muttering "I'm gonna go take a shower…"
The teen trudged away, mumbling curses under his breath. Laughing, Sam and Tucker waved after him but he gave them the bird, not even looking behind him as he trudged away.
As Danny exited the bathroom, messing up his white hair as he did, the alarms lining the hallway started blaring. Heroes immediately perked, racing towards the direction of the main room. He watched for a few minutes before shrugging, following after at a slow jog as he threw his hood up.
The heroes, as expected, flooded into the control room and Danny broke off from the group to stand beside his two friends. They talked in low whispers, not sure of what was going on. Theories sprung up but none of them could come up with anything solid other than some massive villain gang-up.
Superman, in his usual leader way, started explaining to the other heroes what was going on while Batman intercepted the teens, quietly explaining to them what was going on without all the explanations Superman was undoubtedly putting in because people didn't know what certain things were.
Needless to say, the certain breach of security for the world was right in the midst of the trio's strong point.
"How often do portals completely around the world open at this rate?" Batman asked Danny.
The teen made a face before answering "Total around the world portals don't happen often but this could be just a backlash from one of the portals from the last invasion. Since portals travel space and time, one of those portals could have been connected to our present, which would be the reason it's only happening now."
"Wonderful." Batman stated angrily.
Danny nodded before looking at his friends before gazing back at the Dark Knight. "Sam and Tuck are already ready to go. They can go out in the field. It'll only take me a few minutes using your fancy zeta-portal to ransack my old hideout of the ghost equipment and bring it up here."
"Will the bracelets be recharged?" Batman asked.
Danny glared at him. "It's been over a year. Yes, they're recharged."
Batman rolled his eyes before telling Sam and Tucker to go and for Danny to get his things quickly. Watching the trio sprint off, he could only sigh and mutter "I can't believe their timing is this impeccable. No one just gets suspended coincidently on the day of an invasion..."
Can anyone guess which movie this line is from: "Are you sure you did not say 'Stop the car. Dear God, stop the car.'?" :D
Thanks to these people for favoriting and/or following: D. A-H .A, Gundamzbd36, Hello2000, Cammandosquirrel, Bibliophilea, Hyper Kitten, Missy Selenity.
Thanks to these people for favoriting and/or following me in general: Oyote, Mcosta4581, Hello2000, Bibliophilea.
Reviews:
YumiStar: Danny's an unpredictable little demon... We never know how he's gonna react. XD
PHOENIX1020: Yeah, I just don't have it in me to do it. And it's fine! I totally get it!
Poohbearmorris: Yes, suddenly. I'm unpredictable like that... XD Hope you get better soon~! XD
KuriMaster13: Hm... It got better and worse, depending on how you look at the situation... XD
Kimori Takahashi: Yeah, it's ending... I'm wrapping this story up and the other cause I need a break. XD
Guest of Honor: Yep. Killed you all with words. I do try. :D Glad you liked that and I wouldn't recommend doing it! *highs fives*
Tigergirl1723: It's ok, calm down! XD The mentor question will be answered by the end of the story but their relationship is kinda a mix of all those things. Since Danny is so irritating and Batman is not social whatsoever, it makes their relationship all over the place. I totally get it. XD
Roselin: So happy to hear! :D
Astroshadow: According to this chapter, right to pot. *sarcastic thumbs up* :D
Shadow: Yep. Doomed is the word. XD Those classes make me wonder why you take them but... Oh well! XD
Bibbledoo: Yes, I'm finishing it up. The three obviously had fun. XD No, I'm not writing a sequel.
Ninuhuju: ...that came later. XD
Anime Hotty Lover. 18: XD Apparently so.
SweetyKinz: YOUR PHONE IS SO JACKED UP. HAHAHAHA! *points and laughs more* XD WE DO MAKE GOOD BUDDIES. WE SHOULD BE COMEDIANS. ;D
Phantom Heir Daughter of Zeus: XD Oh yeah, everyone hit the safe houses!
HalfaWitchPhysicGirl: Yeah... I'm reaching a point where it needs to end. XD
Sarra Torrens: XD It tis! It's why I wrote it!
Scheffelman: XD
The Keeper of Worlds: XD Ha! Yeah, sure!
H. H. Xia: ...obviously not... XD
Bibliophilea: Oh my gosh, I'm so happy you've enjoyed! I'm pretty sure the school is not happy... And the whole "exaggerating"-"exasperating" thing was totally intentional. XD