|Nanda Parbat
|December 3, 12.54 :NST
As the silhouette of Nanda Parbat started to leave them Miss Martian breathed out. "I think we're in the clear." She said. "UGH!" The team who yet didn't wear their seatbelts were sent flying inside the ship when a force suddenly made them stop.
Icicle Jr. withdrew his hand and smirked after capturing the Bio-Ship in an iceberg he just created from the huge thrust of water that shot up from the river below them. "Gotcha now!"
Terra emerged from the ground underneath, maybe having something to do with the sudden eruption of water shooting up in the sky.
Zatanna groaned, rubbing her head as she stood back up, noticing as fast as her friends that they'd been caught in an iceberg. "What was that!?"
"Looks like we got company," Superboy muttered, looking out a part of the window that wasn't covered with ice. "Friends of yours?" He turned to Robin, Wally and Artemis, having a pretty good guess that those two helped in their abduction.
"Not exactly," Artemis narrowed her eyebrows as she stood back up.
"We need to cut loose. Let me handle that. Artemis, Robin, Superboy, Zatanna, you distract Icicle Jr and the girl. Miss Martian, be ready for take-off as soon as I get us out of here!" Aqualad said.
"W-what about me?" Wally asked, wanting to help.
"You stay here. You're too injured to fight." Aqualad stated before jumping out after Superboy from an escape hatch Miss Martian created on an ice free part of the ship. Wally groaned and sat down with a frown. Stupid broken foot.
"Here they come!" Terra called, clenching her fist as she saw the heroes emerge from the ship. They were 2 on 5, so this wasn't gonna be an easy fight, and that wasn't even counting the Martian or the Speedster whom Terra didn't see.
"Alright, don't let the Atlantean break the ship free!" Icicle Jr. said, knowing he'd try something like that. He blasted ice at the heroes as they emerged from the top.
"Zatanna, drop us!" Artemis said, seeing as they were approached by heavy fire from Icicle Jr, while being levitated down by Zatanna's spell. "Notioativel ezeis!" Zatanna spoke and the anti-gravity spell she performed on herself, Artemis and Robin stopped, letting them drop, to avoid getting hit. Icicle growled and was gonna fire again when Superboy did a superhero landing with his fist to the ground, causing the earth to crumble and sending Icicle Jr back. Zatanna held her hands out towards the ground and spoke; "Ekam eht dnuorg tfos sa ew dnal!" The ground then wobbled in a foam-like way as they landed, before returning to normal.
Terra's fists were glowing yellow as she headed for Aqualad, seeing him make his way over to the sproute of the iceberg. "Oh no, you don't!" She jumped off her rock and landed, feet widespread before thrusting her arms out and striking a rock slide wall between the edge of the river and land, causing him to fall off his feet.
Aqualad, not ready for this kind of attack, as he didn't know the powers of their new enemy, rolled and landed a couple of feet away. He growled and looked up before getting his water bearers out, getting up and throwing them around himself to counter attack, pulling water from the river in a powerful strike.
Icicle Jr had come back to his feet and blasted the ground in front of him as the heroes were approaching, trying to slow them down so he didn't get attacked head on by all of them at the same time. He was trying to split them up, it would be easier to take them down like that.
The ice managed to slow down Artemis & Zatanna. Artemis skid but rolled and put her hand to the ice, narrowing her eyes as she looked up and met Icicle Jr's. They used to be friends back in the days and she didn't appreciate him being the one behind her abduction, yet again, he probably didn't have much of a choice anyway, or at least he usually didn't, but she didn't see his dad anywhere around…
Zatanna slipped but managed to regain her balance, but not before Icicle Jr. blasted ice capturing her in a sharp formation of ice. "Zatanna!" Artemis exclaimed.
Icicle Jr. smirked, seeing Artemis distracted. Since he didn't really want to give her the same fate as the magician he shifted his gaze to see where the Boy Wonder went, but didn't spot him. As he turned back he didn't have time to blink before he saw the famous "S" logotype coming at him with a punch. "Oh, come on…" Icicle Jr. was hit back into a tree as Superboy landed a punch to his jawline.
Meanwhile, Terra was holding off the strikes from Aqualad with her geoforce powers, using powerful blocks of rocks as walls. She waited, knowing there were moments between his attacks before she sent out several small shots of stone and dirt at him.
Aqualad had a hard time dodging all of them, and ended up getting hit by the shoulder, causing him to lose the grip around one of his defence weapons. Only one bearer down he created a shield for himself while taking on heavy fire. No way could he get the Bio-Ship out of the ice under this kind of charge.
Artemis looked over, seeing Aqualad needed to get that girl off his ass if he were to get the Bio-Ship out of that massive ice block. Being out of arrows, Artemis knew she'd have to go for another approach. She needed to get close, preferably without their new foe spotting her. As the girl was distracted with Aqualad, Artemis managed to get close enough to go for an attack, kicking Terra down. " Now Aqualad!" The blonde yelled.
Aqualad looked over, seeing Artemis take on Terra. He let down his shield and quickly ran over to the water, jumping over the block of stones to get to the ice. He grabbed ahold of the ice as his tattoos started glowing.
Terra grunted as she hit the ground, before growling at Artemis. Before the blonde could come at her with another attack Terra held her hand out, turning the ground underneath her moist. Artemis felt how the ground underneath her suddenly faltered as it turned to something similar to quicksand and she quickly started sinking down. She looked up and saw Terra close her fist, turning the ground solid again and trapping the archer within.
"Aqualad behind you!" Artemis shouted to alert him for the incoming attack. Aqualad turned in time to see a giant block of stone come flying at him. He managed to dodge, only for the rock to hit the ice, breaking off some of the side, and causing the structure to falter.
Wally felt the Bio-ship shake before tilting to the side. "W-what was that?" Miss Martian asked. Wally stood up and hobbled with one foot, pressing his hands against the glass as he looked out the windows to catch a glimpse of the fight. He then saw Aqualad trying to hold up the weight of the iceberg.
Aqualad felt his feet slipping from the weight of the iceberg. "Superboy!" The Atlantean called out, knowing he couldn't keep the weight up for long and he felt like their enemy would come for a second attack any second.
Superboy looked over his shoulder, seeing Aqualad struggle. Looking back he saw Icicle partly pinned into the tree he got punched into. Leaving him, he jumped to help their Team Leader.
Icicle groaned as he glared at Superboy, he despised him ever since he and Miss Martian had him fooled back at Belle Reeve. "Not cool!" He stated, struggling with getting up, pushing himself out of the bark of the tree.
"That's a terrible joke," Dick stated, coming swinging down the tree branch, kicking Icicle Jr. back before landing on his feet with ease. Icicle Jr. growled and spit grass out before he glared at, who he knew as the Boy Wonder. He was so fed up with the team and Ra's would not be happy with them if they lost this fight. "Okay, I had it with you!" He put his hands to the ground and a rush of frost quickly spread over the grass, turning it to solid ice before growing onto Dick's feet, stopping his mobility and continuing growing up his legs. "Someone's gonna have a terrible case of frostbites," Icicle smirked at a groaning Dick.
Terra thrusted her hand out, throwing a pole of rock out from underneath the river, trying to hit the Atlantean. Aqualad moved, the pole striking into the ice. And before he could get a new grip with his hand a second pole struck him to the side, knocking him out.
Wally lost his balance and felt how the Bio-Ship started collapsing with the ice, before it abruptly stopped. He grunted, but stood up again looking out the window, seeing Superboy had caught the iceberg before it could fall down. "You need to get out there!" He looked back over Miss Martian, seeing most of the team down and Superboy couldn't fight while also being the pillar holding them up.
"But Aqualad said-" If she left, who would fly the Bio-Ship? Wally didn't have much experience with piloting it.
"I know what Aqualad said! But we're about to be buried in a pile of rubble unless you stop "rock throwing girl!"" Wally stated, throwing his hands up. He couldn't help much with his foot like that. The Martian nodded before she flew out a hatch she created. Her eyes glowed green and she held her hands out, throwing the female attacker back into the river when she tried to attack Superboy. "Keep the tower from falling! I'll distract our new friend." Miss Martian told the Kryptonian.
"W-what about Robin?" Superboy asked, holding the weight of the iceberg, with the Bio-Ship in it, up. He knew Robin was the most experienced of the team, and he could probably take Icicle Jr. on a regular basis, but he didn't have any of his gadgets on him.
"He-he needs help!" Artemis stated, after looking over. She tried to push herself out, but the earth was like concrete. "I'm not getting anywhere!" She told her friends, a frown on her face seeing as Robin was in trouble.
The ice was rising onto Dick's waist as Icicle kept the ice growing, all closer to his neck. It hurt like a bitch. Guess Ra's didn't keep his assassins in cold-resistant uniforms. He glanced over his shoulder. Artemis was still stuck, and the only standing seemed to be Miss M and Superboy, except he was busy holding up the gravity-defying iceberg where Wally still had to be stuck inside the Bio-Ship. This didn't look good.
"Go! I-I'll hold her off!" Superboy nodded. As Miss Martian flew off to help their youngest team mate, Superboy looked over his back, seeing Terra approach him again. He punched a rock flying at him, crushing it while carrying the weight with one arm only. He did the same with the next one, the one after that hitting his supporting arm. He growled and had to change grip on the tower as it crumbled again. He knew it couldn't take many more hits.
Terra knew she probably couldn't take out the Kryptonian like this, but he was in a bad position right now. He wouldn't go for an attack as long as he was occupied holding up the ice. She knew the speedster still had to be inside. He couldn't take a fall from that height. Also, the Atlantean and the Archer were in the drop zone if the structure were to fall, leaving them crushed. Icicle had the upper hand at the moment, even though the Martian was quite powerful. Getting an idea Terra smirked and stopped her current attack, hovering on her rock. "Let's level the playing field." She said, closing her fist instead, letting the ground Artemis was immersed into swallow her completely. Artemis gasped, feeling how the earth suddenly turned to sand again before seeing the light disappear before her.
"Artemis!" Superboy looked up at the tower. He could see the heat signature of Wally up there. Dammit. What was he gonna do? 10 seconds past. 'M'gann!' He thought, closing his eyes hard before making the decision to jump Terra, holding his hand to her throat. "Release her!" He yelled. He couldn't just rip the ground open, since that could possibly hurt Artemis.
Wally had seen everything and did not really hold it against Superboy when he felt the air lift him as the Bio-Ship was heading for the ground, along with the collapsing ice structure. Could this be it? Could this be it for the whole team? He closed his eyes. Normally he would have been able to run himself out of there. Run to help his team. Rob, Artemis… All of them. But no matter how much he tried to kick in his speed, his foot wouldn't support him.
Miss Martian had just been dealing with Icicle, clenching her fist to restrain him in mid air when she heard Superboy through the telepathic link. "No!" She turned and held both her hands out to stop the falling objects; the ice blocks about to crush Aqualad and the Bio-Ship with Wally still inside it. Realising she let Icicle go she threw one hand back to restrain him once more, her eyes glowing green as sweat coated her forehead. "I can't hold it all!" She screamed feeling how her grip was slipping on both sides ever so slightly. It was still hard for her to hold focus on several places at the same time. If she let go of either her friends would be in danger. Worse. Death!
Fighting time, Miss Martian felt the release of the ice villain from her mind by a familiar presence. 'Uncle John!' She expressed, but felt the stern thoughts from her uncle. 'This is not the time, M'gann.' Martian Manhunter thought to his niece, lowering Icicle Jr. to the ground, while restraining him. Knowing the danger wasn't over the young Martian put all her telekinetic focus in holding up the ice, but was relieved when she saw Superman lift the ice coated Bio-Ship, allowing her to release the rest of the ice after Flash got Aqualad out of the way.
Superboy heard some chanting words and realised Dr. Fate had landed, having a magic shield over them to protect them from the debris of the ice tower. Artemis resurfaced from underground as Dr. Fate used a reverse spell. The blonde archer gasped for air and coughed, Green Arrow coming to help his protogé. "You alright?" He asked. Artemis nodded and stood, seeing as Superboy let go of Terra who'd been struggling for air as well. Before she had time to do anything Captain Marvel had put an inhibitor collar around her neck, turning it on and stopping her from using her powers any more.
Meanwhile, Batman approached Dick, who was still partly covered in ice and he attached a heat emitter to the ice. "This will only take a minute." He said, his voice calm before turning to let the Wayne Tech do it's thing. Icicle Jr. gulped. Who didn't find 'the Batman' scary?
"As of you. You will be revisiting Belle Reeve shortly. I'll make sure to give your new friend a tour." He stated, not changing a shade for the half joke he made, letting the famous bat-glare speak for itself how he was feeling about this. Flash was over the next second, putting an inhibitor collar on Jr. as well.
Dick was relieved that Batman, and the League showed up. Glancing back at his friends getting help from various Leaguers, he knew they wouldn't have gotten out of this themselfs. However, he also knew they were in big trouble. Something told him that Batman hadn't been the one to send the team on a rescue mission to Nanda Parbat.
Black Canary stood after helping Aqualad as he had regained consciousness. She looked over, seeing Dr. Fate make his way over to the ice Zatanna was trapped in to undo it, while Superman lowered the Bio-Ship onto the ground before melting the ice with his heat vision.
While Martian Manhunter had been cleaning up the river from the mess, Flash had checked on his nephew, Black Canary being on the spot to help check on his foot. Dr Fate had undone the ice on Zatanna with another spell, freeing her without much as a thank you. Captain Marvel had offered his cape to keep the young magician warm as they all awaited a scolding by the League.
"What were you thinking?" Flash asked, upset, but you could tell he was concerned. Out of all the things the team got themselves into, this had to be one of the most dangerous.
"We couldn't just sit and do nothing," Superboy stated, having his arms crossed. He did not like being reprimanded by the League, especially not when Superman was there, probably disappointed in him.
"So you naturally thought going into Nanda Parbat alone without a plan would be better?" Black Canary questioned, her voice as calm as always. However, her point was clear. What they did was stupid.
Aqualad sighed. "We believed we had a solid chance of freeing our friends," He said, being honest. Their plan could have worked, but they didn't know about Icicle Jr. or this new foe of theirs.
"You don't do this job "by chance." What if we hadn't showed up now, huh? You could have gotten killed." Green Arrow stated. He was more disappointed than angry, even if he was pretty upset.
Flash saw Wally about to speak but cut him off. "And don't say you had it under control, because you didn't."
Miss Martian rubbed her arm. She could feel how disappointed her uncle was in her. How disappointed the Leaugers were in all of them. "We're sorry. We just wanted to help Robin, Artemis and Kid Flash."
"What you did was put them and yourselfs in more danger by disobeying orders, and you most likely started a controversy with Ra's al Guhl and the League of Shadows." Batman stated. He was clearly not happy with this. "With the exception of Robin, Artemis and Kid Flash the rest of the team is under probation until further notice. That means no missions, unless I say so. Understood?" No one in the team questioned the dark knight.
"Good. We'll take you back to the cave. There I want a full mission report. And regarding you three," Batman eyed the three abducted members. "I expect you to talk to your mentors about what you experienced." He wasn't angry at them, so he kept his voice less stern than before, but it was still important they shared as much information as possible, so they could try and figure out why Ra's had them abducted in the first place. "Other than that, I think you should all get some rest." Batman gave a nod to the team, and with that they cleaned up the scene before heading back to Mount Justice.
A/N: So guys! It did take a few months, but I finally finnished writing this chapter. It's a bit longer and it has a lot of action going on, so I hope you like it! I always find it challanging to write intriguing actions scenes and make sure that everyone has a role and somewhere to be, while not underminding any character. Sometimes it's hard to make sure that everyone has "screen time" and feels like they have an important role in the story. However, i am happy with how this chapter wrapped up. I hope you guys want to continue reading my story. This is not the end. If you have ideas, feedback or want to leave a review that's always nice! I appreciate everyone wanting to read my story and it's really motivating to continue writing when I hear your thoughts. So let me know what you guys thought of this chapter! It kinda wraps up the first arc in a sense, but there will be more! Stay tuned! XOXO/ Sof