Mount Justice
August 30, 2017
20:22
Dani stood against the wall, her shoulder pressed into the barrier as she leaned her weight against it. Her eyes traveled the distance of the room, focusing on her team members—the new team members, that is.
The highly trained sixteen year old narrowed her gaze onto Victoria, the dangerous look cutting holes into the archer. She knew what the Italian was doing instantly.
Victoria, who sat on a lone living room chair, matched Dani's activity of scrutinizing the others; yet, there was something different behind the older girl's look. She was looking for abnormalities within the others, not their weaknesses that Dani was currently doing.
Dani scoffed quietly before proceeding to look for the faults in the newer members. Her gaze shifted onto McKenzie, the serpent's hands preoccupied with a heavy book.
The demigod's fingers twitched ever so slightly as she flipped the pages from her text, her eyebrows scrunched up in peaked interest.
McKenzie isn't reading for fun... she's doing research on something. But for what? Dani thought in a vindictive manner, shifting her weight off of the wall to better read the title of the smaller girl's book. Her head tilted in the slightest, her eyes squinting momentarily as she struggled to read the bind's text. Unable to make out the old English title, Dani scowled deeply. The action didn't go unnoticed.
"Is everything alright?" The question came from Victoria, her tone somewhat accusing. With a small and somewhat faux smile, Victoria had been watching the others, or more importantly, watching Dani. She was quick to notice that Dani was not engaging with anyone else in the room, a trait that Victoria had only gathered with McKenzie. The others, such as Raja and Yessenia, stopped their activity of readjusting the fighting calls to look at the commotion between the two girls.
Dani's glare left the two and hardened onto the Huntress trainee before cracking slightly. Two can play the 'innocence game', Dani internally displaced her intentions. A smile graced her lips as her eyes softened slightly.
"McKenzie's book looks interesting is all," Dani faked, her smile stretching uncomfortably as her attention shifted off of Victoria and onto the demigod herself. "What's it about?"
The serpent girl's eyes slid off of the book's page slowly. Before she answered Dani's interrogative question, she turned to meet Victoria's eyes. Their brief non-verbal conversation spoke louder than any words possibly could. As if Dani was unable to tell, Victoria silently gave the girl her permission to answer Dani's question.
Sweat is pooling at the base of her temple, the girl duly noted as she prepared for McKenzie's lie despite Victoria's blessing.
"It's about Greek medication," McKenzie smiled back politely, her eyes not meeting Dani's blue and icy stare.
Dani nodded her head at the answer. The book's topic has to be personal. If I find out what's in the book, I can find a potential source of weakness, despite the aggressive thought, she grinned lightly with another nod in Victoria's direction. Raja and Yessenia continued watching in silence.
I have to get my hands on that book, Dani finalized, stepping away from the wall and making her way towards the bedrooms.
As soon as Dani was out of their site, McKenzie allowed herself to breathe out a worried sigh. The small group remained quiet though, still painfully aware of Sam's presence in the room. The ginger paid no attention to the scene though, or at least did not provide the team with evidence that he was, but instead chose to read through some of the team's old mission files.
The one he was currently reading caused Victoria's breathing to catch in her throat. Although Logan had labeled the file as "unknown suspect", she knew that that mission file was the one dealing with Death. The archer had memorized the case number: 07-886-0904.
Victoria would never admit it to the others, but she was still fearful of Death's taunt at her. It seemed as though each night she would struggle to keep the memory from returning to her and refusing to let her sleep. Unconsciously, the newly made adult rubbed at her eyes awkwardly. It was easy to tell she was tired.
And afraid, the girl added to her sentence, gripping onto her chair's edge tightly as she stiffed an expirated yawn. She noticed this time around that Sam had glanced up at her.
Angel leapt nearly four feet into the air as his door suddenly slammed open, the wooden slab smacking against the wall behind it. The paint on the wall chipped off as the knob rubbed against the barrier harshly.
Without vocalizing a greeting, Dani entered the small room before closing the door behind her. As he waited for his heart rate to return to its typical level, the Mexican boy rolled his deep brown eyes at her action. Gaining some confidence after his previously embarrassing yelp, the boy turned to point an upset finger in Dani's direction as he spoke.
"You know, some people knock before they enter someone-," Angel's retort fell flat on his lips as he read Dani's facial expression. His finger slowly lowered and his eyebrows furrowed in worry. "What's wrong?" He questioned instead.
Despite the usual taunting coolness of Dani's character, the Hispanic boy had learned to read her expressionless gazes. Her current one was serious and plan formulating. Almost instantly his worry was replaced with deviance as a smirk spread across his face.
"Victoria is reading us," Dani informed the boy, her arms crossing over her chest to hide the Metallica print on her shirt.
"That's not good," Angel retorted, his statement obvious to the Caucasian girl. His hand traveled to the nape of his neck in thought. "What are we going to do about it?" His smirk hadn't left his face despite their worrisome conversation.
Dani's fingers tapped lightly against her forearm as she spoke, "We have to read them first, before they lose all trust in us."
The methodical girl didn't allow herself to ever get anxious, but the thought of failing the one task Batman assigned for them caused her pulse to rise unhealthily. Her fingers continued to tap against her pale skin.
"What have you figured out about them so far?" Angel pondered as he sat in a desk chair near the back of his room.
Dani's grip on herself tightened, annoyance filling her veins at her lack of knowledge. She was better than this, better than them. The entire reason that them: Sam, Angel, Alyn and her, had been placed on the official team was so that the Dark Knight would have better information on the others.
And that's not even including the real reason I'm here, the girl sneered at herself mentally, almost ready to fight her hyperactive thoughts.
"Victoria is hiding a lot of stress and tension; she may have a mild case of anxiety and hypervigilance," Dani reiterated her previous thoughts to the water powered boy. The archer's actions throughout the entire day screamed hypervigilance; she was watching Dani and Sam instead of joining her friends in conducting new fighting strategies.
Angel's eyebrow rose in questioning. By now, he had been expecting entire novels of information about the group. "Is that it?" He nearly screeched, his voice low and musky in disapproval.
Dani glared at the smaller boy as her jaw clenched almost painfully. "What did you pick up on?" She challenged in a monotone fashion, stepping forward as if to brace herself for a physical attack.
Angel remained quiet for a second, his head turning towards the door to see if he could hear movement behind it. The hallway remained silent. "Have you noticed how Noah acts around the others?" Angel asked in a hushed voice, still scared that someone other than Dani would hear his following statement. "He acts overly... I don't know, cheerful? Like he's scared to be genuinely emotional around the team," Angel spoke as he played with his fingers subconsciously.
"Yeah, I've noticed that," Dani muttered, looking down at the floor in thought. "It's like they've seen too much of him too quickly and he's scared to overwhelm them with who he is," the two were suddenly grateful for the extensive psychological training Sam forced upon them.
Angel nodded in agreement with Dani's additional information. It frustrated him though to think that Victoria was impossible to read, but he knew that the four of them: him, Sam, Dani, and Alyn would be able to figure her and the rest of the team out. They had to.
The soft and rhythmic sounds of fingers tapping away on a laptop's keyboard echoed throughout the base's large library. The sound was peaceful, but disrupted the calm nature of the historically silent space.
Only I could forget about my homework, Alyn mentally scolded herself, her eyes quickly dashing to look at the time. And only I could forget about homework that's due in two hours! Alyn continued typing her research paper, urgency evident from her speedy actions. Her eyebrows scrunched up as her strained eyes continued to read her essay as she typed it.
Being a superhero was hard enough, but the task proved to be even more difficult when paired with college, especially with law school. The lawyer-to-be bit her lip in concentration as she struggled to remember one of the lesser known laws. When it dawned on her, her frown was quickly replaced with a smirk.
Despite not being alone in the library, the silence Noah demonstrated thrilled the Muslim girl. She enjoyed the presence of another human, especially when she wasn't obligated to speak with them and sitting with the necromancer on top of it all was even more enjoyable. She was able to sit down and do her work without needing to worry about impressing her older team mates or watching her new ones.
And besides, he's doing his own work. Alyn struggled to maintain her concentration once more as her gaze shifted towards the necromancer. The teenaged boy sat in a chair maybe twenty-five feet away from her, a laptop in his lap as he scrolled through some documents.
Research was common in the bat-family, especially when it came to others that they found themselves sharing relationships with. The current file on his screen had happened to be about the team's resident technician.
His father is Deadshot? Noah thought to himself, a hand resting underneath his chin in thought. Out of everybody on the team, I never would have guessed that bright and chippy Oliver had a dark past, Noah continued. He stopped his current thought train.
He knew what it was like to have a 'villainous' parent and he also knew it did not automatically mean that the offspring would be bad. For years people thought that necromancers were evil and 'h'-'e'- double hockey sticks, my parents were even brutally murdered based off of the idea.
The boy slowly closed his laptop. Oliver was his own person and didn't deserve to be judged on who his father was. The technician was a hero and so was Noah; they both beat the system that assumed they would be villains. Noah stood up from his chair so he could leave the library, but not before inspecting Alyn.
I read her file too, his expression grew pained and he was sure the temperature in the room dropped slightly. The best people in life had the hardest pasts. As he left the occupied library, Alyn's furious types only grew louder and quicker in comparison to before.
Mount Justice
August 31, 2017
04:35
Despite the late, or rather extremely early, time, Raja escaped his assigned room in pursuit of the Base's fully equipped gym. The teen, clad in his typical working out outfit, walked silently to his destination.
The time on his digital watch read an agonizing 5:37 am, reminding the boy of his irrational want to be awake at this hour to train. Before he joined the official team, exercising had been a part of his and Oliver's daily routine, and he craved that sense of routine once more. It may sound crazy, but the Muslim would even admit to craving the time he used to spend alone with Oliver. To him, it'd been ages since the last time they really communicated with one another.
Raja pushed the thoughts out of his mind. He would bother the technician at a later time, since he was sure the over-sleeper would assassinate him if Raja attempted to awaken him to participate in old habits. The boy smirked fondly at the thought.
The Indian entered the gym only to be greeted by the sound of a machine whirring in the back. With a confused glance back down at his watch, Raja proceeded further into the gym in a cautionary way.
It wasn't long before he found Logan running on a treadmill.
"Hey," Raja spoke in his usual stoic manner, walking closer to the medic. "What's up?"
Based on his previous experiences of living with Oliver, Raja had learned that there were two types of people who trained at this ungodly hour: those that were forced to or those that feel like they needed to. Of course, he assumed that Logan's reasoning was for the latter.
Raja stopped his advancement at a comfortable distance from the teen. He glanced down at the stats reading off the machine—six and a half miles.
With an arched eyebrow, Raja questioned the teen once more, "How long have you been running?"
Logan stopped the machine and stepped off, turning to face Raja. "I think twenty or so minutes. I'm not quite sure," the paramedic answered honestly, his breathing coming out slightly jagged from the work out. His hoodie stuck to his skin from sweat.
Without thinking much, Raja handed the other his water bottle. "Are you training to outrun the Flash or something?" The Indian boy asked, which caused the other to smile lightly. Raja sat down on the bench press for a moment, his eyes still trained on Logan. "And shouldn't you be sleeping?" He continued with a skeptical eyebrow raised.
It was Logan's turn to arch his eyebrow in a questionable way, as if he were reminding Raja that, he too, was awake at the time. Raja didn't listen to the nonverbal reply.
"Don't give me that look because I at least slept. It looks like you haven't in days," Raja challenged in a pinpoint voice, trying to channel his reaction to remain stoic. His monotone voice caused Logan to chuckle as he handed Raja back his water bottle.
"I'm used to it, and besides, I have a lot of energy right now that I need to kill," Logan replied back. Half way through his retort Raja had begun bench pressing the weight that was left on the bench, his eyes rolling as Logan finished his sentence.
Yessenia was probably here last, Raja thought, straining slightly to lift the bar. He almost cursed her for her incredible strength, but he carried on with determination to be better. The Amazonian girl was strong, that much he knew.
Raja grunted quietly with effort, reminding himself of his current conversation. "You need to sleep, I don't care if you're used to it. You'll be a liability if you pass out on a mission," his voice, although gritty and somewhat brutal, still held concern. The EMT could tell why Oliver had called Raja a 'mother hen'.
"Yeah, okay. Thanks mom," Logan quipped, an eye roll following his statement with a sheepish grin. Raja barely had time to react before the medic had left in pursuit of the showers.
Fucking idiot, Raja cursed internally with a small smile, making a mental note to watch after the older, yet smaller, teen.
Unknown Location
August 31, 2017
16:12
Raja cracked his neck as he stood before the group. "Queen Bee," he started his introduction to the mission with the target. To him, there was no need to explain every detail about a case to the small, but growing, group of heroes. Additional information only seemed to complicate things for some, especially when it came down to the more gritty parts of their volunteered jobs. "-has managed to control the dictators and presidents of Biayla's surrounding countries in an attempt to start a war against the Justice League. Our mission is to find her, end her control of the mind-controlled leaders, and restore order to the military base she has under seize," his words were exact without room to argue.
"Couldn't Queen Bee control us if she wanted to?" The question came from Angel, "How do we stop someone who already has control of four countries' military arsenals?"
Raja's fist clenched at his side, the bones cracking loudly just like his neck did. The aggravation he was experiencing dulled down slightly as he swallowed his non-English curses.
We didn't even begin the mission yet there are already doubts about our performance, Raja's blistering words stayed internal, but he sent a knowing glance towards the older members of the team. By now, it was common knowledge that Raja did not fail; not only that, but Raja did not fail with negativity backing him up.
With a condensed angered growl, Raja replied to Angel's question, "Her control is only subject to those that sexually desire her, meaning that we have to split up based on who she'd effect. Team Alpha will be in charge of capturing Queen Bee, Team Beta will disarm weaponry and protect perimeter, and Team Gamma will be searching for the military heads and administering the cure," his words were once again exact.
Raja's eyes looked up and down the rows at his seated team mates, all of which sat in costumes with weapons in hand. Before anyone could ask, Raja answered the question on everybody's minds, "Victoria, McKenzie, and Alyn will be Alpha," he paused as McKenzie glanced over at Alyn with a polite smile.
"Team Beta will be Oliver, Noah, Angel, Dani, and Yessenia," once more he paused. The larger group shared congratulating smirks and grins as they quickly separated themselves into smaller groups of disablement or protection. As they loudly formulated plans, Raja turned to look over at the only two who were not added to a team yet: Sam and Logan. "And you two are with me."
Raja hoped the others did not notice that he excluded himself from the two more dangerous tasks. Even though it had become tradition for mission leaders to be on the action based squads, Raja chose to ignore it. If anyone asked him, Raja would answer that he was the only one able to speak the native tongue of the military leaders (hence his reasoning to be team leader at all), but in reality that was not accurate.
As the Muslim teen sat down next to Logan, Victoria's voice echoed throughout the jet. From the cockpit, she informed them of their estimated time arrival, "Ten minutes and counting!"
Sam was the first, and probably only, person to notice the heavy tension on the jet.
The divide between the two 'different' teams in the seats was stark and noticeable, the four newcomers sitting at a distance from the others. It was apparent that both groups felt uncomfortable in the presence of the others, but there was hope evident in some faces.
Sam raised an eyebrow as he witnessed Noah's piercing violet eyes stare down at his phone unexpectedly. He seemed to frequently check the device, as if he were waiting on something, or somebody. Periodically his lips would turn upward in a small and hidden smile, and it didn't take long before Sam deduced that he was talking to a significant other.
From his hidden smile I can tell that the others don't know about this significant other, Sam inspected with a turned face, his cool eyes never leaving Noah.
It was during this scrutiny that Sam realized just how young the boy was. How young, Sam thought, but how beaten... all at once.
The necromancer's periodic smile was small and didn't upturn majority of his face; his eyebrows staying stationary as well as his eyelids appearing downcast in contemplation.
He misses them.
The forensic psychologist grinned lightly at the gathered fact. Noah, despite being presented to Death and a despicable scenario of fear, managed to find happiness even if it was minimal.
Sam's eyes glided off of the bat family member and landed on Raja. The burly Muslim teen had been sitting next to Logan as the latter of the two tried explaining a complex diagram; however, he appeared to be distant from the other in a world of thought.
Behind the thought, Raja's deep brown eyes contained skillfully hidden worry. Every other minute, his hands would clench together tightly, his knuckles turning a ghastly white as he spared a glance towards the other occupants.
Younger sibling, the ginger man observed, noting Raja's presumed family ties.
The longer he spent on the tiny jet with the team, the more he learned about them through their subconscious actions. This didn't surprise him though, as it was the red-haired man's occupation, but it worried him how easily he was able to learn from the heroes.
They are worse than Batman originally thought... they are so broken that they are guarding themselves from each other. The thought scared Sam more than the teens' actions. Their coping mechanisms were going to get them killed.
The twenty-three year old man leaned back into his chair, mentally diagnosing the others to report back to the Dark Knight—and so far, things were not in the team's favor.
Bialya Base
August 31, 2017
17:04
Noah was suddenly grateful that he left the warmer parts of his costume on the jet as sweat trickled down his face. The dense desert air was harsh on his lungs, but for the first time in a while the young necromancer did not feel coolness napping on the back of his neck. Despite his reliance on the darker parts of his powers, it was easier to ignore his intrusive thoughts when they weren't currently active.
The young teen rolled up his dark long sleeve slightly to expose parts of his arms.
It is so hot outside, the bat mentally complained before wiping away at his face. He knew that if either Dick or Bruce were around they would chastise him for his wardrobe removal and change, but he couldn't find it within himself to really care at the moment. All he knew was that he wanted to get out of the desert as quickly as possible, and as he looked over at the others, he could tell they wanted the same.
Yessenia handed her Wonder Woman embroidered leather jacket to Logan, who efficiently stuffed it inside of his book bag. It wasn't long before many of the team mates had handed jackets and gloves to the medic in means of getting rid of layers.
Noah smiled lightly at the thought of his girlfriend on the mission; the anemic teen would probably have accepted the extra layers with a happy grin bearing on her face. The necromancer shook his head clear of the thoughts, but his smile still stuck. He hadn't realized that he had been standing there for an extra moment until he noticed that majority of his team mates had fled the darkened desert space.
The Beta Squad looked at him expectantly.
Why are they looking at me? Raja didn't assign squad leaders, the questioning tone in his mind was quickly replaced. The team trusted him and that's all that mattered.
"Dani and Yessenia should handle perimeter, if they get stopped by Queen Bee she won't have control on either one of you," Noah advised as he stared down at the two girls. Yessenia smirked at the necromancer in agreement before she grabbed Dani's hand, pulling her along to the side. The other two boys nodded as Noah signed them over to the garage area of the base.
The teen could only hope that he had made the right call.
Victoria separated herself from both Alyn and McKenzie as she silently scaled the length of a Sniper's tower. Her head peered over the tower's edge slowly, her ears struggling to hear what sounded like a set of breathing.
Multiple Snipers... the archer noted to herself. Her hands gripped against the rails tightly, her eyes peering through a crack in the foundation. Two Snipers, both at opposite windows, she added to her previous thought. Victoria took a deep breath in before prepping her legs to swing over the ledge.
Just as the hero prepared herself to accomplish a silent but effective double take down, she heard bodies topple to the iron grating underneath them. Reacting with incredible speed, the Italian hopped over the edge to see the two Snipers face down on the flooring, Alyn standing above them.
"What happened to staying on the ground?" Victoria nearly snapped, her hands moving to her hips.
The Muslim girl rubbed at her, now raw, knuckles with a muffled groan. As if she hadn't heard the younger teen, Alyn bent down to pick up one of the communicating devices that was hanging off the military member's hip.
Victoria bit her tongue, striving hard as to not blow their cover by repeating her question in a loud growl. Instead, she chose to take the other communicator off the other man's hips. If there was one thing she knew that Alyn couldn't take away from her, it was Victoria's ability to hack frequencies. With a somewhat cheeky smirk, the hacker sat down on the grating and listened to the comm link.
"Is everything okay?" McKenzie asked as she flipped over the tower's edge, just like Victoria had done moments before.
The archer bit back a yell, how hard is it to stay put?! I told them I could handle this if they just watched for extra patrolling officers! But once again, the girl decided to remain silent, choosing to instead focus her talents on listening to the radio waves as she quickly typed away at a small IP networking piece fastened on her wrist. Victoria hummed to herself in order to remain calm, still slightly unnerved that even after all that she's done she was still treated like a child.
Alyn's breath hitched, catching the attention of both McKenzie and Victoria. With speed that would make any speedster jealous, the girl quickly flung out her arm in a protective manner, a shield cascading over the group as a knife instantly bounced off of it.
"What the hell was that?" McKenzie spoke, bending down near Victoria's level to better hide herself.
Alyn's arm remained steady up in front of the group, her eyebrows scrunching down in a threatening manner. "I think we have company," the adult murmured in a low tone. McKenzie stood up, a look flashing down towards Victoria as if to tell the girl to continue finding the location of Queen Bee's radio frequency.
Raja pressed the needle deep into the man's neck before pressing down on the syringe to release the medication.
One down and three more to go, Raja thought as he slowly brought the dictator down to the floor. As soon as the majority of his body was at a horizontal level, Raja dragged the unconscious man into a closet. The room that he had entered to find the dictator was in the main building, which slightly worried the teenager. Too close to danger for comfort.
It wasn't that he was worried about the danger he was putting himself in, but rather he was worried about the abilities and mental comprehension of both Sam and Logan. To Raja, Sam was an unknown variable in the plan. He had at least seen what Dani and Angel had been capable of when the two helped Noah fight off his power, and he had trusted Victoria enough to be able to control Alyn if she needed to, but Sam? Sam was unpredictable at the moment.
The Indian boy was also weary of Logan, as he knew little to nothing when it came to how he fought. When it came to sparring one another, there were only a handful of people that decided to sit out: Dani, Raja, and Logan. That decision was currently haunting the Muslim boy.
As he exited the room, his eyes met with Sam. The red-haired man had exited the room across from Raja, shaking his head in the process as the two met gazes. There are still three more military leaders under Queen Bee's mind control left, Raja nearly growled. For an easy task, it was proven to be harder and harder by each passing minute.
The two girls slowly trailed the length of the fenced in desert-like space. From their position, they were able to see across the entire area, which included a plethora of hidden dangers. The castle-styled building at the center of the base was widely protected by a handful of Sniper towers, patrolling cruisers filled to the brim with Bialyan soldiers, a garage of tanks, and a multitude of tents harboring only god knows what.
Despite their visual, Dani and Yessenia hadn't come across any soldier on the perimeter. It actually frustrated the Amazonian warrior, who had been excited to fight in a mission once more. "This sucks," the princess complained aloud, turning towards Dani with a spread out frown.
Dani remained silent, unfazed at the Amazonian's sudden outburst. She had been well aware of the warrior's mild ADHD and the action did not unsettle the newcomer in the slightest. If anything, it had been expected.
As the two teenagers turned the corner for what seemed like the millionth time, they were greeted by an ambush of militant soldiers. Instantly and without warning, the front line had shot off their ballistic weapons onto the two girls.
Instinct quickly settled in and Yessenia leapt in front of her teammate, her arms crossed out in front of herself to protect them both. With a dangerous and wild glint striking in her rooted brown eyes, Yessenia stared down the soldiers. Her eyebrows furrowed as her gaze dropped down to her wrist cuffs, bullet fragments protruding into the metal.
Dani's focus shifted onto her team mate. "Amazon Girl?" Dani started, her voice piercing through the stiff air. The militant soldiers remained still, their guns trained on the heroes' figures. The feminine warrior grinned lightly, the smile leaning more towards the left side of her face as her head shifted in the same direction. She slowly lowered her arms.
"I'll give you until the count of three to drop your weapons," Yessenia threatened in a daring tone, taking a step closer to the soldiers. "One," she started as she revealed her sword to the group. With the same swiftness as before, the soldiers stepped backwards in increasing fear.
Dani took a deep breath in as she took a fighting position to mimic Yessenia's. She narrowed her eyes to glare at the guns.
"Two," Yessenia's countdown held no control in the room, but the girl smirked nonetheless. The two teens met eyes as Dani followed Yessenia's lead. Yessenia huffed out a breath of air, before finishing her count, "Three."
As if on cue, the soldiers began rapidly firing their guns in the girls' direction.
Dani, who had expected the attack this time around, waved her arm in the air quickly, leaving a static blue shield in front of them momentarily. The bullets pinged off of the power loudly before the shield ultimately shattered to the floor. The moment the shield collapsed, Yessenia belted out a high pitched scream, her cry's vibration stunning the hench men into cowering forms.
The two shared a look once more, Dani summoning the same blue-colored power, this time into a sword form. Weapons in hand, the heroes dashed forward with determination.
You would think that the armies of multiple powerful countries would have more advanced weapons... Oliver thought sarcastically to himself as he held the make shift bomb in his hand. With a calculated cut, the boy made the incision to disarm the explosive through an outer wire.
Although the entire garage was littered with powerful and dangerous weapons, the technician couldn't be further from comfort. He was used to spending his free time dismantling or disarming his father's guns, grenades, and launchers, and to Oliver, this was a typical Tuesday night at his house. For some strange reason, the activity was almost joyful to the mixed teen, which was more than he could say for the others.
From his position underneath a tank's circuit board, Noah heard Angel dissemble what seemed to be the hundredth assault rifle. Even if the teens had been too late to stop the mind-controlled invasion, the military would have no weapons to use against the Justice League. The thought alone made the necromancer smile in satisfaction.
Maybe now Batman will trust me enough to tell me why he had made another team of heroes, Noah told himself as he ripped out a cord from the tank. The machinery sparked momentarily in protest. I can't imagine that he did it just for "protection", Bruce isn't like that... is he? The thoughts, once again, caused the young boy to zone out from his task.
"-ah... Noah... NOAH!" The yell had come from Angel. The Hispanic boy loomed over the smaller boy's figure as he lay sprawled out on the floor, his hands no longer working to dismantle the tank. "Get out of your head, amigo. We have to go to the secondary location now," Angel's voice threw Noah off. It was filled with genuine concern, and the worried glance cast down upon him made him feel awkward. Maybe Bruce did assign the older teens to protect them after all...
The shield that Alyn had summoned had quickly gone down, and the moment its protection was absent, McKenzie fell victim to it's attacker. As she was tackled off of the Sniper's tower and away from her team mates, McKenzie was able to get a brief look at the smaller opponent.
The attacker couldn't be older than the serpent, her face and size appearing young and feminine. Her unruly dark blonde locks twisted on her head, the short haircut bouncing with each movement she made and despite the mask worn on the benefactor's face, the demigod could easily make out the color of the villain's eyes: a warm amber.
Once they landed on the sandy desert ground, McKenzie struggled against the deadly girl's grip, the younger of the two smirking widely. "You're too precious," the villain flirted sexually. The girl's words shocked McKenzie instantly and she turned a darkened red. "That's only making you cuter, honey," the girl added with a soft chuckle.
"Adder!" Victoria shouted from her position on the Sniper's tower, "Knock her out!"
The girl chuckled again while she leaned down closer to match McKenzie's face. "You should tell your friend my name isn't 'her'," the opposing teenager cooed, her lips only centimeters away from McKenzie's ear. "Its Dark Claw," as she announced her name into the hero's ear, she barrel rolled off the teen and exposed a short sword to the others.
As soon as the pressure left her hips, McKenzie attempted to stand up in order to fight Dark Claw; instead, she found her arm to be chained down to the ground. The serpent girl tried ripping her arm free of the bind, but gasped at the searing pain she was soon exposed to.
Power dampening... McKenzie sneered. Despite the gathered knowledge, the demigod still waved her wrists around for removal.
"Its useless, baby girl, I've got you pinned," Dark Claw taunted, her flirt still present. The smaller teen was by McKenzie's side in a matter of seconds. With a satisfied grin from Dark Claw, the sword's blade grazed into McKenzie's neck slightly, drawing blood.
Victoria and Alyn leapt over the ledge of the tower and landed a mere five feet away from the other two girls. As if she had expected it, Dark Claw flung two knives in their direction, piercing both Alyn's arm and Victoria's shoulder. "Like I said, I have you pinned. Take another step closer and I'll electrocute precious over here," the taunt frightened McKenzie and the girl continued to fight the bind.
The archer glared at Dark Claw's smaller figure, before snatching the knife out of her own wound. Blood oozed out of the lesion quickly, but Victoria paid it no mind. "Are you working for Queen Bee?" Victoria asked in an authoritative manner.
"I work for everyone," Dark Claw answered with a joyous tone. The sword held McKenzie's head in place.
Sam crept down the hall and placed his hand on the final room's door. The forensic psychologist spared a glance back at his team mates, both of which were still occupying themselves by hiding the bodies of two more militant leaders.
The last one has to be behind this door, Sam prepared himself and he removed the needle from his jacket pocket. Despite most superheroes' attire, the red-haired man always preferred a more professional appearance, which included a suit's jacket.
With the syringe balancing in between his gloved fingers, he slowly opened the room's door. Almost immediately, the smell of blood wafted into his nose and the darkened room provided no insight as to where the foul stench was coming from.
"Dear God," Sam muttered to himself incoherently as he stepped further into the room. He lowered his needled weapon to turn on the room's lights. "Oh God," the man repeated as he took in the room's scenery. The last militant dictator lay dead on the floor ahead of him, blood spilled onto the floor in an excessive amount. His head had been sliced off and placed on the wall, much like a bear's or deer's head.
"I wouldn't call myself a God, but thank you anyway," the soft purr of the highly feminine voice caused the hair on Sam's neck to stand on end. Her vision slipped down at the deceased man's headless corpse and she frowned slightly. "I had to kill him, even in his weakened state he cared too much about his country," Queen Bee's explanation was empathy void, regardless of the life she had taken.
Sam slowly put the syringe back in his pocket. The action didn't go unnoticed.
"Let me guess... the other little heroes are here as well?" Her question didn't require an answer; Sam's silence was answer enough. "But I don't think you were the one who was supposed to find me. No," she paused, "A team of girls were, weren't they? You all are getting mighty foolish as to think that I can't control a female."
By now, she had gotten close enough to Sam to place her hand on his face. With another satisfied purr, she leaned in to whisper to him, "Take his gun and kill your team mates." As soon as she finished her order, Sam backed away from Queen Bee and went to salvage the weapon from the lifeless corpse in the room. With a distant expression, the man was forced to leave the room and stumble back into the hallway.
Logan smiled politely as Sam exited the final room. "Hey Specter, did you find the-"
"Move!" Raja was quick to tackle the medic to the floor, a loud bang erupting in the air. Sam aimed the weapon once more, this time pointing down at Raja and Logan. With a muffled groan, Raja attempted to stand up, his hand pressing onto his chest painfully. "Specter, this isn't you. Stand down or I'll take you out," Raja ordered with his arm outstretched. The tattoos on his arm glowed briefly, but Sam paid no mind to it.
Logan quickly swept Sam's legs from underneath him before he could shoot once more, causing the taller boy to fall to the ground. Before he could hit the floor completely though, the Russian teen kicked the gun out of Sam's hand and caught it. Using the weapon against him, the uninjured team mate used the back end of the gun to deliver a harsh blow to Sam's cranium.
Logan turned to Raja, "Where are you shot?" As he was being questioned, the Muslim teen revealed the upper chest injury through a grimace. "Okay, hey, you'll be okay," Logan assured as he applied pressure to the wound.
"Men are idiots," the cool phrase caused both men to turn around. "I have to do everything myself, don't I?" Queen Bee snapped as she glided closer to the boys. Her gaze glared down at the unconscious Sam.
Logan quickly rose to his feet, his worried expression shifting from Raja to the dangerous woman. "Stand down," Logan commanded the bigger male. Raja groaned in agony as he slowly stood up, spiting the words of his friend. "I said stand down!"
Queen Bee smirked dangerously as she looked Raja up and down. "You better listen to him, we wouldn't want you getting any more hurt. Sit this one out," as soon as she finished her sentence, Raja knew that her words had bound him to his place.
I am cutting this chapter in half because I think cliff hangers are fun. As always, let me know what you guys think and what you want next (seriously, if you give me information I use it. I hate focusing on certain characters more than others, but sometimes I don't really have a choice). I also know that I don't update as frequently anymore, and I sincerely apologize, but it will be getting better.