Chapter 20
A/N: hey everyone! Welcome back! Good to be here. So, about the long wait…I've had writer's block for this chapter for a little bit now. Mostly due to the fact this chapter insisted on fighting me every step of the way. Plus, during my writer's block, my semester started back up again, making it harder to find time to write.
But since you're seeing this, that means I finally got past this issue. So, again, sorry about the long wait. Anyways, I will do my best to try to update regularly, but I can't make any promises cause classes are a thing. Remember, I just own my OCs, nothing else.
/comms/
Telepathy
Bayou Bartholomew, 18:55CDT
Nightmare grunted as his back slammed into a tree. Landing on the ground, he landed in a crouch and bared his fangs. A spined tail swung towards him, and he rolled out of the way as it slammed into the trunk, splintering the wood. Seizing his opportunity, he lunged forwards, blue lightning clashing against yellow. Sparks flew off his opponent's claws as they scraped down his scales and he bared his fangs as he slashed his own. Red droplets spattered against the marsh as they dripped off his claws and from the deep cuts on her shoulder. Though, it didn't last long as her skin began to stitch itself back together before his eyes.
Golden wings spread out and red eyes narrowed as she leapt forwards towards him. Nightmare grimaced as claws dug into his shoulders, water splashing as he fell on his back. Kicking up, he vaulted her off and rolled back to his feet, grabbing the lasso from his hip. As the bladed tail swung towards him again, he rolled under it. Throwing the loop, he quickly wrapped the end of the rope around his wrist and yanked on it as hard as he could.
His opponent yelped as she was pulled off her feet and sent slamming through a tree, splinters flying as she rolled on the ground before she slammed into another tree. Pulling the rope back to himself, Nightmare turned and ran towards the sounds of fighting. Hopefully she'd be down long enough for him to help his friends.
The air was thick with heat as he ran by some smoldering tress. Thick columns of flame collided above as he spotted familiar flaming wings pass overhead, no doubt Remix giving hell to the other flying one.
Through the smoke, he could make out bright flashes of blue and yellow light, occasionally outlining the figures of his teammates as they fought around him. Pulling the shield off his back, he leapt at the closest one.
Serket gave a grunt as the shield slammed into his jaw, the impact slamming him to the ground as Onyx held up the protective piece up as Superboy got back to his feet. "Thanks."
"You ok?"
"His tail grazed me, but I don't think it did any serious damage."
"Good." Charging forwards, Nightmare punched towards the newest opponent with the edge of his shield. Metal dug into wood as Serket rolled aside and Nightmare grunted as a rock slammed into his gut. Landing on his back, golden eyes widened as he saw the other teen's tail stabbing down towards him. However, instead of stabbing him, the barb dug through the metal, green liquid dripping off it, causing Onyx to grimace as his arm stung as the liquid ran down it, corroding the straps connecting the shield to his arm.
Though Superboy took advantage of the distraction as Serket was yanked off him and slammed into the ground as his friend tackled him. Landing on Serket's chest, he started punching the other teen in the face repeatedly.
He didn't get the chance to see if the others needed help as his legs were swept out from under him. "Did you really think you could beat me that easily?"
Rolling onto his stomach, he bared his fangs as he glared up at the golden-winged girl. "Well, then I get to kick your ass again," he replied standing up.
The girl laughed, throwing her head back, "You? Beat me? I didn't think you told jokes."
"Why would I when I'm looking at one?" he grinned.
Red eyes flashed in rage, and she leapt at him, her claws gouging his shield. Vaulting her over him, and pulling out his sword, slamming the hilt into her head. As she stumbled back, he swung his tail, swiping her feet from under her as he kicked her in the gut, sending her flying across the clearing and into another girl Kid Flash was fighting.
The two girls rolled along the ground before the white-haired girl's spidery legs spread out and stabbed into the mud of the marsh. Amber eyes glared at them and she threw her hands forwards forcing Onyx to raise his shield as icy spears shattered against the metal.
He could see a flash of gold to his right and the young Amazon turned to raise his damaged shield as the spined tail slammed into it. Onyx released the shield as she drove her spines through the metal and took the opportunity to leap at her. Blue fire flickered along his fingertips as he clawed at her scales and he dug his claws into her shoulders, flipping over her and slamming her into the ground.
As she got up a bola wrapped around her arms and wings, causing her to trip as Kid Flash ran behind her, yanking on her tail pulling the shield off. Continuing his sprint, the speedster ran full-force into a boy clad in red and yellow furs fighting Aurora. The impact echoed around the clearing as the teen went flying across the marsh into the water. "Whoo! This thing is handy!" Wally cheered running off again.
"We need to complete the mission," Robin spoke as he appeared from the trees.
"What about the others?"
"They can handle them," the Boy Wonder replied, motioning to where Superboy hurled Serket into the metal-clad one that had been fighting Artemis. "Or hopefully distract them long enough for us to destroy this."
"Go!" Aurora said firing a blast of light at the other winged girl as she tried to get up. "We'll hold them off!"
-.-
Unknown Location: MONARCH, 20:10EDT
Alarms blared as Haruo ran down the halls, avoiding people running around, calling in various languages to each other and on various conference lines. "Status report!" the young man demanded storming into the control room.
"None of the plants are directly threatening our facilities, and the League seems to be getting everything contained, sir."
"Sir, there's been a collapse of the Taipei nuclear power plant. We're getting reports from Outposts 61, 29, and even as far away as 34 of possible seismic activity."
"What?!" Haruo exclaimed practically leaping to the tech's desk. "How bad?"
"Outposts 61 and 29 are receiving the most activity," a woman replied, "But the nuclear breach has been contained by Justice League Member: Captain Atom. Activity appears to be dying down."
"Send a cleaning crew," he ordered. "Make sure there's no trace of radiation left."
"Sir, we're not getting any answers from Outpost 57!"
Gritting his teeth, the hero moved to the next station, leaning over the man's shoulder. "How long has it been like this?"
"Since just before the attack."
The young man's hair visibly bristled, "And they still haven't answered?"
"No, we're starting to record seismic activity, sir."
"There also appear to be energy fluctuations," someone else commented.
"Shit," Haruo cursed grabbing his jacket, "Alright everyone, this is a CE situation! Get all satellites focused on Outpost 57! Figure out what's going on!"
"Yes sir!"
Pulling out his phone, Hauro made a call as he stormed from the room, "Ishiro, I'm heading to Janjira, we have a problem."
-.-
Louisiana Bayou, 19:20CDT
Tsunami emerged from the water watching as her sister tossed the Atlantean and Martian to the pile of unmoving teens on the ground. She would admit, the heroes had given a better fight than expected. But, the result was all the same: they won, as it would've always been.
Looking over their opponents, she frowned as she glanced up to her comrades, the count was off. There were four missing.
"That should be all of them," Serket huffed, tossing the unmoving form of the failed Kryptonian clone with the others.
"All of them?"
The quiet tone sent chills down her spine as the air crackled with electricity. Shrinking her shoulders, Atamai stepped away, sharing nervous glances with her sister. Their leader strode into the clearing, blood splattered across her arms and face, mixing with mud causing normally clean golden locks to clump.
"Can't you count you idiot?!" she snarled, baring her fangs as she yanked Serket over. Not waiting for an answer, she shoved him away and stormed over to their captives, stomping the heel of her boot onto the Kryptonian's back. "Not only did we lose track of the Boy Blunder and A1, but, somehow, you fucking imbiciles," she kicked the fallen hero, "lost both A3 and B4!" Her eyes glew brighter as she whirled to look at the rest of them, lightning sparking off her talons. Taking a breath, their leader seemed to collect herself, brushing a lock of matted hair back with a strained grin. "Call Vertigo, tell him to send the clean-up team. We've done our part. I think we should get back to base and go over what happened now, shall we?"
There were collective gulps around the clearing. This wasn't going to be pretty.
-.-
19:30EDT
Soft splashes echoed through the mangroves as Nightmare crouched beside Robin in the foliage. In front of them, they could see a large glass building with a tall trunk rising from the top. "Geez, how did no one notice this being built?"
"Don't know," Robin replied. "But I bet that plant's acting as an antenna to control the others."
"Not a bad guess kiddies," a voice snickered as vines burst from the ground, wrapping around their torsos. Turning them, they came face-to-face with a redheaded woman beside Ultra Humanite. "But you're not going to live long enough to find out."
Ultra Humanite raised their weapon and Nightmare snarled, ripping out from the vines as a blast of fire came down and slammed into the gorilla.
"Think again!" Remix snarled flying above them, flames engulfing her fists as she glared down at them.
Seizing the opportunity, Onyx used his claws to tear the vines off Robin before leaping at the ape. His claws sunk into flesh as he bit down on the gorilla's ear causing them to howl as they tried to pull him off. Feeling hands grab at his shirt, Nightmare snarled and his eyes flashed as lightning arched over his frame, causing the gorilla to scream before falling to the ground unconscious.
"Geez, Night," Remix muttered landing beside him, her green eyes wide.
"And I thought Remix had anger issues," Aurora said.
"I don't like monkeys," he muttered.
"Understatement of the millennium," she deadpanned.
"Guys!" Robin called, kicking Poison Ivy, "This isn't the time!"
"Right," Nightmare nodded turning to the others, "We'll distract the bad guys, Remix, do what you do best," he pointed to the signal-tree, "light shit on fire."
The other hybrid's eyes lit up as a grin split her face, "I thought you'd never ask!"
Flaring her wings, the pyromancer shot into the air, leaving the rest of them to face the remaining villain. "If I were you Ivy, I would take my leaf," Robin snickered, "you're outmatched."
"Is that so?" she scoffed as the familiar form of Atomic Skull emerged from the marsh.
"Yes," Aurora replied flaring out her glowing wings as the other two quickly covered their eyes, "it is."
Even through closed lids, Nightmare could see the outline of his hand as he attempted to block out the light as the two villains cried out in a mix of surprise and pain. Seizing the opportunity, Robin and Nightmare lunged forwards. Tossing his lasso to the other boy, Robin grinned as he grabbed onto the loop and they clotheslined the three stumbling supervillains into a tree. Firing his grappling line, Robin swung around the trunk, binding the villains tighter as Onyx held the rope tight. Landing on the ground, Robin raced by, handing Onyx the last yard of rope to him when he was done.
The recovering villains were struggling against their bonds as Onyx tied the knot to keep them in place before freezing as he felt a flare of energy. Racing around the other side, the hybrid grabbed onto Skull's glowing face, slamming his head into the bark as he bared his fangs, tail lashing angrily. Atomic Skull began squirming under his claws as the cuts on his arms began to close as if they hadn't been there at all and his stripes began to glow an electric blue.
Feeling the mud shift under his feet, Nightmare leapt to the side as a massive, thorny vine ripped itself out of the ground, tendrils slithering off and pulling on the rope he used to restrain the villains, ripping the bonds loose. "You may've taken Skull out," Ivy hissed, "but you forgot about me."
"And you're not the only one who forgot something Ivy," Robin cackled, landing next to his teammate with a grin before the pair split up as large thorns hit the ground where they had been.
"And what might that be Boy Blunder!" she snarled, thrusting several vines forwards.
Spotting the blue glow of the hybrid that took down Skull, she waved her arm, sending a barrage of thorns in his direction. A barrage that bounced off his chest.
"Well, for one," the Bat's protégé grinned, swinging down and kicking her in the back, "they're invulnerable." Rolling on the ground, the Boy Wonder kicked the villainess in the gut. "And two…did you even count how many of us there were?"
"What are you—"
The ground shook with the force of the explosion from the complex behind them. Turning, the group looked towards the complex as the smoldering remains of the antenna-plant began to crumble, large chunks falling into the complex, shattering the glass ceiling.
"My baby!"
"Really," a familiar voice scoffed, as Remix landed beside them, flipping a piece of her hair back, "I barely even broke a sweat blowing that overgrown weed up. Some mother you turned out to be."
Ivy lunged at the young heroine, vines following her as she attempted to scratched at her eyes. Flaring out her wings, she slammed the superheated feathers into her new opponent's abdomen. The smell of burnt flesh permeated the air as Ivy was blasted back, part of her uniform singed away to reveal a patch of blistering skin. "You'll pay for that, bitch."
"Please," Remix grinned. Reaching to her hip, she pulled out her mace, watching the metal begin to turn red-hot, "you and your little plants can't get within five feet of me. But, I'm afraid for you, those rules don't apply to me."
"Hey guys!" Wally called. "We could use a little help right now!"
"The link's back up?" Robin asked looking up as a glow passed overhead. However, instead of seeing their teammate as they expected they spotted Black Adam and Wotan carrying a cage, no doubt with their captured teammates inside.
"Apparently. Remix, you got this?"
They looked to the girl as her mace effortlessly cut through the incoming vines as she fought Ivy, "Yep!"
"Good!" Onyx nodded, turning and chasing after the glowing cage in the air. The energy under his skin was thrumming more than usual, almost itching at the back of his throat and his fingertips, as if it wanted to get out. A low growl escaped him, sending wisps of blue fire out from between his fangs.
And, all at once the energy surged forwards, erupting in a column of azure flames from his mouth, hitting Wotan and blasting the sorcerer into the swamp.
The spell the flying Dracula-impersonator had been holding broke, dropping the rest of the team to the ground as Black Adam swooped down to catch…someone. Nightmare didn't care to find out who as he raced towards the others.
Only for his charge to be abruptly stopped as he collided with Black Adam and Vertigo.
The swampy water splashed around him as he landed on his back. Rolling over himself, Nightmare settled into a crouch baring his fangs at the two villains. Reaching for his belt, the teen paused as he felt empty air where his lasso normally was. Feeling a small wave of panic, he reached to his back for his shield only to find it gone too. Nightmare almost cursed under his breath as he remembered where his primary weapons went. Serket all but made his shield salvageable and Ivy's stupid plants had ripped his lasso apart.
Metal scrapped against the sheath as Onyx pulled his sword out, holding it between the two villains and himself watching both cautiously. He could hear fighting in the distance, no doubt the rest of his friends joining the fray against the remaining villains. If he could at least hold these two long enough for the others, he might be able to give them all the edge they needed to win.
"What's the matter little hero?" Vertigo sneered. "Are you frightened?"
Nightmare gave a growl in response, his scales and eyes flashing bright blue. However, as much as he wanted to punch the royal pain in the ass between the eyes, he needed to focus on the real problem. He just hoped Black Adam could be stabbed.
Shifting his stance, he feigned an attack at Vertigo, and, as he predicted, Adam moved to intercept him. Ducking under the grapple, Nightmare used his sword to swipe the man's feet out from under him, quickly turning to slam him across the face with his tail, the impact sending the villain flying through a tree.
"Need a hand?" Superboy called running up.
"Get Black Adam," Nightmare responded, leveling his sword at the count. "I have him."
"You have me?" Vertigo sneered.
"Well, I don't see your puke powers saving you from a sword going through your chest," Nightmare grumbled.
"Please, little hero, I have diplomatic immunity. You can't touch me."
That sounded like a challenge. "You wanna bet?"
Before the Count could respond, Nightmare lunged forwards, punching him in the face. The Lativan Count fell on his butt, blood pouring from his nose and mud covering his once pristine clothes.
"You impudent little—!" Vertigo was cut off as a gray blur ran behind him, yanking the amplifier from his head, sending him tumbling into the mud.
"Cool, souvenir!"
"ENOUGH!"
Looking in the direction of the shout, Nightmare grunted as lightning slammed into his chest, knocking him to the ground. Gritting his teeth, he glanced around as he tried to push himself back to his feet, spotting multiple other streams of electricity raining down from the air. Undoubtedly it hitting all his friends.
"Still feeling confident little hero?"
Karma apparently had comedic timing at that moment because that was exactly when the lightning stopped.
Baring his fangs in a smirk, Nightmare spun to his feet, accidentally hitting Vertigo across the face with his tail. Not bothering to wait for the man to pull his face out of the mud, he leapt over him and raced into the clearing the others were at, just in time to watch KF get slammed into a tree by Black Adam.
Snarling, Nightmare leapt at the villain, lighting sparking over his fist as it collided with Black Adam's jaw at the same time as Superboy's fist, the force of the punch sending the villain flying across the clearing. "Hope that broke his nose," Superboy grumbled.
"No kidding," Nightmare agreed looking up as he watched Fate fire a blast at Wotan.
"Ivy's down!" Remix cheered. "Who's left?!"
"KF and I got Count Vertigo and Skull tied up with what was left of Nightmare's rope," Artemis answered.
"We were also able to make a sling for my arm!"
"What happened to your arm?"
"I have Ultra Humanite captured!" M'gann relayed.
"SB, Wolf, and I are dealing with Black Adam at the moment," Nightmare growled as he kicked the man in the jaw. Throwing a punch, he grimaced as a hand grabbed his arm, hurling him into Superboy. "It's not going well."
"Busy dealing with Joker here!" Robin said.
"Duck!" Remix warned as a column of fire blasted across the marsh, hitting Joker's hand.
"Nice hit Remix!"
"You know, Sky. Might be helpful to send some fire our way!" Nightmare snapped trying to choke Black Adam from behind. Hands grabbed his arms, and the villain yanked him over his head. Landing on the ground, Nightmare barely rolled out of the way before a fist slammed into where his head had been. Wincing in sympathy for what he was about to do, Nightmare planted his hands and swung his legs up, kicking Black Adam in the balls as hard as he could.
Clearly surprised by the low blow, Black Adam stumbled back grimacing in pain as Superboy took the chance to deck him across the face. Regrouping, the pair prepared for their next volley of attacks only to stop as a blue blast slammed Wotan into the ground.
Looking up, all the teens gave collective sighs of relief as they spotted their mentors and the rest of the League flying down with Fate and Aurora towards them.
The villains that were still conscious and not tied up backed up, looking around with scowls as they ended up surrounded. "It's over."
Reluctantly, Vertigo nodded to the others, causing them to raise their hands in surrender. "There will be another day."
"Another day?" Joker scoffed. "Another day! There won't be another day! Not for any of us!" Bursting into laughter, Joker raised his hands, fingers twitching as vines began to erupt from the marsh, red pustules on them bursting open, releasing a green gas.
"Joker Venom spores, don't breathe!" Batman ordered, lunging forwards and punching the madman.
Looking to the gaseous clouds around them, they began to try to think of ways of stopping the deadly cloud. However, they were saved from such as Fate flew up into the air. "Fear not!" he called, his hands glowing with magic as an ankh formed, the symbol seeming the pull the gas inside it. "Fate has intervened!"
-.-
"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!" Wally shouted. "How could you let him put on the Helmet? Nabu will never let him go now. Kaldur will be trapped inside Dr. Fate forever."
"Perhaps, we just need to ask politely," Aurora smiled, stepping up to the Lord of Order. "Nabu, I understand this might be…hard for you. And I understand your stance on letting chaos reign. But, as you see, that didn't happen, in fact, we stopped chaos from reigning tonight. So, can you please let our friend go? Not that we don't appreciate your help, it was invaluable in this battle. However, I'm sure Kaldur would like to get back to his own life now."
The others watched the interaction, waiting for Fate's response, when, to their amazement, Kaldur's hands reached up and removed the helmet from his head. "That…that actually worked?" KF sputtered stepping up to Kaldur.
"He almost did not," Kaldur winced. "But Aurora and your friend Kent were most helpful, he says hello."
"Hi Kent," Aurora smiled, waving to the helmet.
"We're done here," Batman interrupted. "The supervillain secret society has been neutralized. As for your performance…it was satisfactory."
"Holy fucking shit, did I just hear that?" Skylar muttered, her head whipping to the side. "Did we just get a complement from the Bat?"
"I believe so," Onyx smirked.
"Enjoy it while it lasts guys, we won't get those very often," Robin snickered.
"With our track record? Wasn't it obvious?"