Author: DJ Comicbook Knux00@hotmail.com
Title: EMERALD
Of course: All this stuff belongs to DC Comics, don't sell it cuz it's not yours. just email me if you're gonna repost it.
Setting: non-continuous YJ (Robin, Impulse, Superboy, Wondergirl [leader], Secret, Arrowette, Empress, Lagoonboy, Slo-Bo, The Ray, Supercycle.)
Summary: Introduction of a new character, Emerald, who is, well, a GL to be short.
Previously: Natasha Irons has a GL ring, The Ray, Arrowette, Slo-Bo and Empress have all been captured (or worse!) at the hands of Harm or Match and Inertia...
John Stewart soared through the air... the Green Lantern core was beginning to be re-established. Yes, techinically he was "a GL" and not "the GL" and Jade was Jade and Kyle was 'Earth's Last Green Lantern' but the truth be told there were 5 different humans using that Oan Power Battery. John soared alongside the latest, Emerald.
"Natasha... speed up... this is not a practice session..." Looking back over his shoulder, the green trail behind him caught up. She was clearly working to go this fast...
"Can't I just make a jet..." she asked, straining to keep speed with the experienced warrior.
Stewart nodded... "A jet is not an exercise in willpower... it's..."
"... an exercise in creativity... " Emerald finished... "I know... how far are we?"
Stewart nodded and sped up... "We're here... strange... this is where Young Justice is... hmm... there it is... just follow my lead..." Rocketing into Happy Harbor, Emerald landed in front of the building GL Stewart had just flown into... with a few flashes Emerald had created for herself some anti-grav boots and a pair of high-quality energy blasters with mounted search lights as she leapt into the building.... following Stewart's signal upstairs she came into a room, a flat, a one room apartment... on the dresser was an emerald battery not unlike the one Natasha had recently recieved. This one, unfortunately was yellow.
Stewart stood there, stunned for a moment. Battling Sinestro had been rough enough, but he didn't have a battery per se, he relied on a GL's energy to take from... now he, or one like him, possessed this level of power without bounds or weakness. Stewart just pointed his ring at the thing... and blasted it... against his better judgement. It simply absorbed the GL's energies and glowed green for a moment before it faded to a yellow glow, then the glow subsided once more.
He looked at Natasha... "Get out of here... go to the YJ HQ and tell them the kind of bad guy they have in their town... stay there til I come for you..."
"Sinestro's dead, though, right?" Emerald pressed... "This is just some newcomer with their ring, that's all, right? Just take their battery and hide it from them... they'll run low eventually..."
"Get out, Emerald... now..." Stewart's tone was so brusque that Emerald complied, heading for the bay and the small mountain that once housed the Justice League.
ELSEWHERE
Happy Harbor YJ Headquarters
Impulse and Lagoonboy flit into YJ headquarters and stop in the monitor room... also the movie room on Saturday nights when it was slow in Metropolis or Manchester or Central City or wherever.
"Wow... you guys've really come up..."
"With the Jones', Kermit, with the Jones' " Impulse cheesed
Lagoonboy... "The... who are the jones'... wait no! Kermit? Like the frog?"
"Yeah, Kermit's the man! He's got girls chasing him, his own show... and that fresh single!" Impulse beamed broadly... kids stuff... but at Superspeed I suppose you take in all the kids stuff there is... a confused look from Lagoonboy clinched it... "It's not easy being green!"
Lagoonboy rolled his eyes and popped up the locator screen... almost instinctively from fixing so many run-down high-end systems... (you'd be surprised how many get dumped in the Marianas)
"You can say that again... how do I get Robin and Sueprboy?"
"No need, LGB, we're here..." Behind them, Superboy, Robin and Wondergirl stood in the doorway, with the speaker, SB in the middle and Robin barely visible in the shadows...
"Great! You're here... but... where's Ray?" Wondergirl pursed her lips as Superboy all but ignored the question and patched up the comms trying to find everyone...
Wondergirl sat down at the holodisplay table for a second... "Ray... I don't know... I don't know where the Ray is..."
"Whoa... well where do I start to l..."
"I don't KNOW, okay, Impulse... are you HAPPY? I DON'T FRAGGIN KNOW!"
"Cassie... " Kon-El puts an arm on her shoulder... "Relax, Impulse is trying to help... sit down in the conference room for a minute while Rob and I dig up some real info, kay?"
Cassie closed her eyes for a moment, and wordlessly, left the room. Superboy looked at Impulse... "Bart... we don't know where Ray, Cisse, Empress, or Slo-Bo are... we're so in the dark it's scary..."
Just then... all of the lights in the place went out. Superboy spun to the monitor area as the emergency lights came up, but Robin had lost all of his tracking efforts til that point...
Superboy yelled... "I though we had checked all the choke points for entry! You said there were no traps!"
Robin narrowed his eyes. "There weren't. Impulse..." Impulse looked towards Robin as five duplicates scattered off in different directions...
"Good... Lagoonboy... I want you to check all the ducts... you should have superior sense from underwater living and ability to manage tight spaces..." Robin tossed him a hands free communicator... "If you see anything scream... at least we'll know something happened to you in there... Lagoonboy nods as he leaps to the wall, pulls off the ventilation vent and scrambles in... Robin looked to the conference room. "Too easy..."
Robin walked towards there and the door opened. There was Wondergirl, bound and gagged to the leader's chair and above and behind her was a new and improved Anarky. All in black with a golden mask he was the epitome of what happens when the wrong person gets the wrong weapon. The mask grinned a bit as Robin walked in to the room, lit only by the shackles that held a still concious Cassie Sandsmark.
"Robin, the Boy Wonder, the Suburban Legend, partner to the one and only Batman..."
Robin narrowed his eyes... "What puts you in this game, Machin... are you still so put out by being put out of town... faking your own death, do you know wha your parents would give to..."
"Put it to rest, Rob... I don't think any more human than your mentor... I'm here because this is a way to upset the system..."
Rob almost raises an eyebrow... "Creating a new more evil one... right... that 500 IQ is overrated... I thought you were one of us..."
"You thought wrong... I've never been afraid of ruffling up the presidents feathers, especially a known super-criminal like Luthor, but you are weak, and too constrained to the status quo... don't you get it man? We can free the world..."
"With power rings and undead supervillians... right..." Robin turned away slightly in disgust, but unwilling to take his eyes off of Anarky, a little alarmed at Robin's sudden change of stance.
"I can handle Harm, Robin... this is something you'd love to do..." Anarky hadn't moved his whole time...
"Never..." Robin began suspecting something about the situation at hand,
"NEVER say Never, Robin... we're pages from the same book, can't you see... I NEED you on this one... I can outsmart Harm, but this one, all the other kids won't cooperate unless she knows you can vouch for my motives..."
Robin stopped for a moment.
Cassie narrowed her eyes at him, looking daggers through his skull.
Robin snapped out his hand from his belt and tossed a batarang directly to his right and it landed inches from the man 'behind the curtain'... Lonnie Machin, once Anarky, now possessing a yellow power ring. Lonnie's costume changed from shadow mixing black to a black and yellow kiddie version of Anarky's costume... without the mask.
"Good one... you always were observant..."
"What's the real deal Lonnie..." Robin turned only slightly from Wonder Girl and the fake Anarky construct.
"Told you already... We..." Lonnie glanced down at his ring which began to glow softly...
"Hmmm... duty calls..." The entire room went dark again... Robin, with starlite lenses saw Lonnie clearly as he floated himself right out of the room, and chased him down to see the meta-waste line that had been abandoned since the League's second induction. Robin could do nothing about it... it was a ring... Anarky had a ring... that was dangerous to say the least... but he wasn't the only one. Harm, Inertia and maybe Match. This was looking bad... why had Harm acted like he had taken their headquarters... what was missing, Robin wondered...
The lights came back up as one of the scouts returned to Impulse... Robin was about to walk out but then turned back to Cassie... "You okay, Wondy?"
Wondergirl stood up and walked the length of the table up to Robin wordlessly. She looked him in the eye. "How do you keep from sending them all to Hades with gasoline shorts on?"
Robin nodded. "Because one day... a long time ago, someone gave an orphan, a statistical nightmare, a chance to do something good... and that orphan took in another, and that one another and eventually those little kids that want nothing more than to be held in their mothers arms managed to save the world... 14 times and counting." Robin wordlessly turned towards the door... "And somewhere... someone saw a little girl who wanted to help and couldn't and gave them the ability to... stuff like that lets me know my own personal vendettas and agendas aren't really all that important." Robin almost smirked. "And a lot of target practice helps..."
Robin headed out to the main room and resumed his search for his teammates... tracers, sattelite feeds, cell phones, anything to find any of them.
Wondergirl walked out next. "Impulse... what's up..." Impulse paused for a moment as his mind came to him... he tightened his fists... "Inertia..."
"What's he doing?" Wondergirl leaned forward and Impulse shook his head... "I Didn't see... too many duplicates..."
Superboy folded his arms. "Were crippled... only Impulse can do anything about this joker..."
Impulse nodded... "He's good... he's really good... I may not... he's got a ring?"
Wonder Girl looked right in Impulse's eyes... "You can do ANYthing Bart... I believe in you, man, you're like my Hermes..."
Impulses eyes got big. "I don't know if I wanna me a 'hermes'"
Wonder Girl shook her head and almost smiled... "I mean you're a hero and you're always on time, Bart... you can do this..."
Bart nodded, then a big grin burst on his face... then a frown... "He got Cissie..."
Superboy nodded... "Go get him..."
Impulse took off at sonic speeds through the corridors, popping out duplicates as they caught sight of duplicates that weren't him... sometimes it was hard to tell since they were all, directly or indirectly, yellow clones of himself.
Inertia came at him with a yellow sword and Impulse managed to dodge as Inertia blasted at Impulse with the ring. Holding the beam as a solid blast Inertia raked it across the underbelly of the HQ as Impulse ducked behind a pylon to create a split a second gap in the beam which he could slip through.
He let loose a combo on inertia which was blocked by a yellow shield surrounding the supergenious criminal speedster mastermind.
"Bart... you can't be serious? You've just been outclassed... out gunned... outMANned..." A yellow arm sprouted from the shield to reverse one of Impulse's strikes... "give it up, brother..."
Impulse, now on the ground for only a fraction of a fraction of a moment, was grabbed by a small entourage of yellow Intertias... "My will power is massive... and my networking skills... " he kisses the ring "are top notch..." He leans over in the subdued, struggling Impulse's face... "You my friend... have rejects from the Osbournes as teammates... thanks for visiting my world, bro... you've just worn out your welcome."
With such a line, Inertia's ring blazed brightly as if he were to finish the young speedster off... unfortunately Inertia had not decided to conduct their conversation at superspeed, but rather, savor his decided victory... keeping an eye on the pathing from upstairs so that no YJers could sneak down... even Robin would trip the minute yellow tripwire that sprawled every crack shadow and crevice. As the massive yellow hammer of judgement descended on Impulse it met with a solid green shell, a set peice of curving solid, set on the ground in the midst of the yellow inertias that, with little damage, held fast, saving impulse's life.
Inertia had spun around already to see Emerald there, her ring extended as she had just formed the thing in her mind and blocked the move. In her mind the 'impulse' if you will, was racing up her spine to say 'you did it, girl!' to herself. But by this time in Inertia's mind... that was 3 milliseconds ago... the shock subsided and he turned on her, but got tripped up by Impulses' big feet kicking at him to make him trip up. Inertia was on his feet in nano seconds, but by this time, his distractions had proved too much, Impulses had become freed up and they freed Impulse enough to grab Inertia nigh-negligible time before he slammed into Emerald.
Impulse slammed Inertia backwards in full WWE style. A crunch was followed by an Inertia super speed spin that kept Inertia on his back but allowed him to kick Impulse in the face before hopping up and slamming his fist into the just now emerald coated body of Natasha Irons.
Intertia bent over and grabbed his hand in pain, and Impulse was almost on that man when a yellow duplicate popped up from nowhere and uppercut Impulse ruthlessly before sinking back into the fleeing Intertia's ring.
Emerald saw Impulse falling and creates a mattress for him to land on. A few of his duplicates pop into him and he wakes up very woozy a few moments later.
UPSTAIRS
Superboy looks over Robin's shoulder... "Anybody..."
"Broken comms, scrambled signals... I'm guessing just saying they're all in this hemisphere."
Superboy frowned... "Wait..." They leaned forward to get a satlellite image of Happy Harbor... and there, superspeed scrawled in their own 'yard' was a messae:
"Tell them all goodbye...Harm will have his day"
"Not much of a lyricist, eh?" Superboy looked over at Wonder Girl as she came over...
"It doesn't make any sense..." Robin nodded... "If I had just one more clue..."
The door fwooshed open revealing a young african american girl carrying Impulse in her arms. Emerald was the latest greatest green lantern... they had heard of her and were expecting to meet her some time next week, this came as a bit of a surprise.
"Emerald?" Robin whispered and faded into the shadows at a newcomer's presence.
Lagoonboy popped from the vent shafts and landed just in front of her, almost snarling, but ready for anything.
Superboy and Wonder Girl looked at each other... Emerald nodded. "Yeah... and Impulse is hurt..."
Wonder Girl raised a suspicous brow... "And I'll bet you had nothing to do with it..."
Emerald's facial expression changed from calm and a bit remorseful to genuinely defensive... "You had better..." she grimaced a bit and placed Impulse on the table. He was still quaking as he regained all his memories...
Superboy asked with a lot less accusation in his voice. "What happened down there, Natasha..."
Natasha shook her head sadly... "Too much... and at Superspeed, I'm not even sure what happened, only Impulse knows..."
"You know, the new girl, Kon?" Wonder Girl asked...
Superboy nodded as he smiled over at Natasha... "Yeah, Natasha's grade-A hero in my book... she represented Krypton on Apocalypse last month... and that's the only family I got..."
Robin was now standing directly behind the new Green Lantern... "How did you get in here? There are security procedures, traps..." Emerald jumped a bit and turned to face Robin. He was a bit scary, even though he wasn't qutie as tall as she was... scratch that... he was terrifying, staring at her with those pupil-less eyes his voice all monotone and deep and well, it was Robin, a kid who wasn't really supposed to exist, unless Batman existed, which was always a very scary thought for a newcomer.
She stuttered for a second... "There was a hole, I noticed it before I swung around to the entrance... I followed it in..."
"Why were you here... in Rhode Island..." Robin continued... no one stopped him from questioning... Emerald narrowed her eyes, took off her ring and threw it at Robin. He caught it with one well trained hand...
"I don't need this!" She steamed. "I came by to warn you guys there's a yellow ring bearer in town, save Impulse from some green clone of himself and offer to help you guys and this is what I get? This is what you guys are about?" She looked around at the others... "Well you can take that and stuff it, sister... I've got better things to do that be accused of..."
As she as speaking, Robin's facial exression changed... if only slightly. He tossed back her ring and she stopped her rant with a little contemplation of his new reaction and slipped her ring back on.
He nodded to her... "We'll need that... and you..." Was all Robin said before returning to the computer.
Superboy put a hand on 'Tasha's shoulder, reassuring her... "He means, we need you Tasha, we're just on pins and needles right now... I'm sorry we came at you like this..."
Meanwhile Lagoonboy wandered up to her and offered his hand a little embarassed, voice uneasy... "I'm Kermit..." Natasha couldn't help but laugh as she took the boy's webbed hand.
Superboy grinned. "I'm Kon-El, he shook her hand... that's the name Superman gave me..." Natsahsa nodded...
Cassie offered her hand as well, a little less enthusiastically though... "I'm Cassie... nice t'meeta girl who can handle herself..."
Emerald nodded with a half smile... "even bettter, a girl who can handle other people..." They all looked towards Robin.
He nodded. "Robin is fine."
Superboy nodded... "Don't worry, he's like that sometimes... er... all the time...he opens up once you talk to him." Emerald nodded.
She turned back towards the table and looked at Impulse. "And this is Bart, huh?" Superboy nodded, but Bart, as if in response, snapped, even zqipped up, sitting on the table eyes wide and leaning forward. "BOMB!!!!"
There was a deafening explosion in that mountain... most of it crumbled into the sea and just the outskirts of it were left standing, creating a giant crater that was once YJ HQ...
CHUKA-DOOM resounded through the entirety of the eastern seaboard, Robin later deduced that it had been a sonic bomb set, it's countdown set to be triggered by a speed force spike such as... a battle of two speedsters. If the bomb were discovered it would not matter since the bomb went off when the counter said 1:17 seconds to go.
In the middle of the hole was rocks, dust and mangled equipment... and a green bubble containing Superboy, Wonder Girl, Robin, Impulse, Lagoonboy and Emerald. After a few moments of after bomb silence, the damage had been done... and a migraine having, battle weary Emerald fell to her knees and fell backwards into Impulse's arms, moaning about throbbing headaches...
Robin looked over the damage and grimaced. "Anarky, Match and Inertia... anti-types for each of us... and all equipped with yellow power rings..."
Wonder Girl nodded... "No base, numbers reduced in half... hostages..."
Superboy... "and he has the advantages of surprise and intimidation..." Superboy looked at his two good friends with scrutiny... "It's time we took one of those away... if you guys say we can't beat Harm, I'll cash in my chips and call it a day, go on vacation til he finds me... but if we can beat this man let's act like it..."
Robin nodded in agreement, but shook his head a second later. "Why is he so smart?"
"He's not... he just coordinates a little better... we've grown apart recently... we're becoming too much like our mentors and loosing our strength..."
Robin spun to Kon-El "Why the heck are you so smart all of a sudden? You're mature, you're controlled... I can barely believe you're you..."
Superboy stopped. "You don't read any of the Superboy fanfiction do you?"
Robin stopped stark still. There was an ackward silence. "What???"
He asked incredulously. "My fans... they write about me... they believe in me... I HAVE to eventually become the big man, so I might as well put my 'own personal agendas' on hold..."
Robin glared... "How did you know I said that?"
"The monitors..." Superboy answered, wondering why it was even a question...
Robin growled... "There's no mics in the conference room... it's supposed to be all confidential."
"So that's how..." Robin nodded...
"And now I've got a plan..." Robin smiled as Emerald managed to regain her footing.
Superboy grinned... "Yes! One down..." he looked to Wonder Girl... "How about you, Wondy... feel ready to lead us to victory?"
"C'mon, Cassie... any girl that can put the WW has GOT to have something to back it up..." Emerald grinned...
Impulse began chanting... "Cass-ie, Cass-ie, Cass-ie, Cass-ie!"
Superboy unfolded his arms and leaned in... "Cass-ie! Cass-ie! Cass-ie!"
Lagoonboy joined in and Cassie had had enough.
"That's Enough!" She swung her arms wide as she looked over her crew. "Let's take this joker down... Impulse, Emerald, start rebuilding this mess...
Robin, Superboy, you guys are going to the Watchtower to inform the Justice League of our predicament.
Lagoonboy... you and I... we're going on a special trip... everyone got communicators... Robin tossed Emerald his...
"Yeah..." she laughed
Wondergirl nodded... "good... let's split..."
Robin slipped Wonder Girl a paper he had just scribbled up discretely and she took it just as smoothly as he had given it. Impulse,at superspeed saw it, but no one else because the angle and the smoothness and the unexpected nature of the move with the wind and the cave.
"Oh. and by the way." Wonder Girl told her teammates as she and Lagoonboy walked away. "Harm's Day IS Comng."
Title: EMERALD
Of course: All this stuff belongs to DC Comics, don't sell it cuz it's not yours. just email me if you're gonna repost it.
Setting: non-continuous YJ (Robin, Impulse, Superboy, Wondergirl [leader], Secret, Arrowette, Empress, Lagoonboy, Slo-Bo, The Ray, Supercycle.)
Summary: Introduction of a new character, Emerald, who is, well, a GL to be short.
Previously: Natasha Irons has a GL ring, The Ray, Arrowette, Slo-Bo and Empress have all been captured (or worse!) at the hands of Harm or Match and Inertia...
John Stewart soared through the air... the Green Lantern core was beginning to be re-established. Yes, techinically he was "a GL" and not "the GL" and Jade was Jade and Kyle was 'Earth's Last Green Lantern' but the truth be told there were 5 different humans using that Oan Power Battery. John soared alongside the latest, Emerald.
"Natasha... speed up... this is not a practice session..." Looking back over his shoulder, the green trail behind him caught up. She was clearly working to go this fast...
"Can't I just make a jet..." she asked, straining to keep speed with the experienced warrior.
Stewart nodded... "A jet is not an exercise in willpower... it's..."
"... an exercise in creativity... " Emerald finished... "I know... how far are we?"
Stewart nodded and sped up... "We're here... strange... this is where Young Justice is... hmm... there it is... just follow my lead..." Rocketing into Happy Harbor, Emerald landed in front of the building GL Stewart had just flown into... with a few flashes Emerald had created for herself some anti-grav boots and a pair of high-quality energy blasters with mounted search lights as she leapt into the building.... following Stewart's signal upstairs she came into a room, a flat, a one room apartment... on the dresser was an emerald battery not unlike the one Natasha had recently recieved. This one, unfortunately was yellow.
Stewart stood there, stunned for a moment. Battling Sinestro had been rough enough, but he didn't have a battery per se, he relied on a GL's energy to take from... now he, or one like him, possessed this level of power without bounds or weakness. Stewart just pointed his ring at the thing... and blasted it... against his better judgement. It simply absorbed the GL's energies and glowed green for a moment before it faded to a yellow glow, then the glow subsided once more.
He looked at Natasha... "Get out of here... go to the YJ HQ and tell them the kind of bad guy they have in their town... stay there til I come for you..."
"Sinestro's dead, though, right?" Emerald pressed... "This is just some newcomer with their ring, that's all, right? Just take their battery and hide it from them... they'll run low eventually..."
"Get out, Emerald... now..." Stewart's tone was so brusque that Emerald complied, heading for the bay and the small mountain that once housed the Justice League.
ELSEWHERE
Happy Harbor YJ Headquarters
Impulse and Lagoonboy flit into YJ headquarters and stop in the monitor room... also the movie room on Saturday nights when it was slow in Metropolis or Manchester or Central City or wherever.
"Wow... you guys've really come up..."
"With the Jones', Kermit, with the Jones' " Impulse cheesed
Lagoonboy... "The... who are the jones'... wait no! Kermit? Like the frog?"
"Yeah, Kermit's the man! He's got girls chasing him, his own show... and that fresh single!" Impulse beamed broadly... kids stuff... but at Superspeed I suppose you take in all the kids stuff there is... a confused look from Lagoonboy clinched it... "It's not easy being green!"
Lagoonboy rolled his eyes and popped up the locator screen... almost instinctively from fixing so many run-down high-end systems... (you'd be surprised how many get dumped in the Marianas)
"You can say that again... how do I get Robin and Sueprboy?"
"No need, LGB, we're here..." Behind them, Superboy, Robin and Wondergirl stood in the doorway, with the speaker, SB in the middle and Robin barely visible in the shadows...
"Great! You're here... but... where's Ray?" Wondergirl pursed her lips as Superboy all but ignored the question and patched up the comms trying to find everyone...
Wondergirl sat down at the holodisplay table for a second... "Ray... I don't know... I don't know where the Ray is..."
"Whoa... well where do I start to l..."
"I don't KNOW, okay, Impulse... are you HAPPY? I DON'T FRAGGIN KNOW!"
"Cassie... " Kon-El puts an arm on her shoulder... "Relax, Impulse is trying to help... sit down in the conference room for a minute while Rob and I dig up some real info, kay?"
Cassie closed her eyes for a moment, and wordlessly, left the room. Superboy looked at Impulse... "Bart... we don't know where Ray, Cisse, Empress, or Slo-Bo are... we're so in the dark it's scary..."
Just then... all of the lights in the place went out. Superboy spun to the monitor area as the emergency lights came up, but Robin had lost all of his tracking efforts til that point...
Superboy yelled... "I though we had checked all the choke points for entry! You said there were no traps!"
Robin narrowed his eyes. "There weren't. Impulse..." Impulse looked towards Robin as five duplicates scattered off in different directions...
"Good... Lagoonboy... I want you to check all the ducts... you should have superior sense from underwater living and ability to manage tight spaces..." Robin tossed him a hands free communicator... "If you see anything scream... at least we'll know something happened to you in there... Lagoonboy nods as he leaps to the wall, pulls off the ventilation vent and scrambles in... Robin looked to the conference room. "Too easy..."
Robin walked towards there and the door opened. There was Wondergirl, bound and gagged to the leader's chair and above and behind her was a new and improved Anarky. All in black with a golden mask he was the epitome of what happens when the wrong person gets the wrong weapon. The mask grinned a bit as Robin walked in to the room, lit only by the shackles that held a still concious Cassie Sandsmark.
"Robin, the Boy Wonder, the Suburban Legend, partner to the one and only Batman..."
Robin narrowed his eyes... "What puts you in this game, Machin... are you still so put out by being put out of town... faking your own death, do you know wha your parents would give to..."
"Put it to rest, Rob... I don't think any more human than your mentor... I'm here because this is a way to upset the system..."
Rob almost raises an eyebrow... "Creating a new more evil one... right... that 500 IQ is overrated... I thought you were one of us..."
"You thought wrong... I've never been afraid of ruffling up the presidents feathers, especially a known super-criminal like Luthor, but you are weak, and too constrained to the status quo... don't you get it man? We can free the world..."
"With power rings and undead supervillians... right..." Robin turned away slightly in disgust, but unwilling to take his eyes off of Anarky, a little alarmed at Robin's sudden change of stance.
"I can handle Harm, Robin... this is something you'd love to do..." Anarky hadn't moved his whole time...
"Never..." Robin began suspecting something about the situation at hand,
"NEVER say Never, Robin... we're pages from the same book, can't you see... I NEED you on this one... I can outsmart Harm, but this one, all the other kids won't cooperate unless she knows you can vouch for my motives..."
Robin stopped for a moment.
Cassie narrowed her eyes at him, looking daggers through his skull.
Robin snapped out his hand from his belt and tossed a batarang directly to his right and it landed inches from the man 'behind the curtain'... Lonnie Machin, once Anarky, now possessing a yellow power ring. Lonnie's costume changed from shadow mixing black to a black and yellow kiddie version of Anarky's costume... without the mask.
"Good one... you always were observant..."
"What's the real deal Lonnie..." Robin turned only slightly from Wonder Girl and the fake Anarky construct.
"Told you already... We..." Lonnie glanced down at his ring which began to glow softly...
"Hmmm... duty calls..." The entire room went dark again... Robin, with starlite lenses saw Lonnie clearly as he floated himself right out of the room, and chased him down to see the meta-waste line that had been abandoned since the League's second induction. Robin could do nothing about it... it was a ring... Anarky had a ring... that was dangerous to say the least... but he wasn't the only one. Harm, Inertia and maybe Match. This was looking bad... why had Harm acted like he had taken their headquarters... what was missing, Robin wondered...
The lights came back up as one of the scouts returned to Impulse... Robin was about to walk out but then turned back to Cassie... "You okay, Wondy?"
Wondergirl stood up and walked the length of the table up to Robin wordlessly. She looked him in the eye. "How do you keep from sending them all to Hades with gasoline shorts on?"
Robin nodded. "Because one day... a long time ago, someone gave an orphan, a statistical nightmare, a chance to do something good... and that orphan took in another, and that one another and eventually those little kids that want nothing more than to be held in their mothers arms managed to save the world... 14 times and counting." Robin wordlessly turned towards the door... "And somewhere... someone saw a little girl who wanted to help and couldn't and gave them the ability to... stuff like that lets me know my own personal vendettas and agendas aren't really all that important." Robin almost smirked. "And a lot of target practice helps..."
Robin headed out to the main room and resumed his search for his teammates... tracers, sattelite feeds, cell phones, anything to find any of them.
Wondergirl walked out next. "Impulse... what's up..." Impulse paused for a moment as his mind came to him... he tightened his fists... "Inertia..."
"What's he doing?" Wondergirl leaned forward and Impulse shook his head... "I Didn't see... too many duplicates..."
Superboy folded his arms. "Were crippled... only Impulse can do anything about this joker..."
Impulse nodded... "He's good... he's really good... I may not... he's got a ring?"
Wonder Girl looked right in Impulse's eyes... "You can do ANYthing Bart... I believe in you, man, you're like my Hermes..."
Impulses eyes got big. "I don't know if I wanna me a 'hermes'"
Wonder Girl shook her head and almost smiled... "I mean you're a hero and you're always on time, Bart... you can do this..."
Bart nodded, then a big grin burst on his face... then a frown... "He got Cissie..."
Superboy nodded... "Go get him..."
Impulse took off at sonic speeds through the corridors, popping out duplicates as they caught sight of duplicates that weren't him... sometimes it was hard to tell since they were all, directly or indirectly, yellow clones of himself.
Inertia came at him with a yellow sword and Impulse managed to dodge as Inertia blasted at Impulse with the ring. Holding the beam as a solid blast Inertia raked it across the underbelly of the HQ as Impulse ducked behind a pylon to create a split a second gap in the beam which he could slip through.
He let loose a combo on inertia which was blocked by a yellow shield surrounding the supergenious criminal speedster mastermind.
"Bart... you can't be serious? You've just been outclassed... out gunned... outMANned..." A yellow arm sprouted from the shield to reverse one of Impulse's strikes... "give it up, brother..."
Impulse, now on the ground for only a fraction of a fraction of a moment, was grabbed by a small entourage of yellow Intertias... "My will power is massive... and my networking skills... " he kisses the ring "are top notch..." He leans over in the subdued, struggling Impulse's face... "You my friend... have rejects from the Osbournes as teammates... thanks for visiting my world, bro... you've just worn out your welcome."
With such a line, Inertia's ring blazed brightly as if he were to finish the young speedster off... unfortunately Inertia had not decided to conduct their conversation at superspeed, but rather, savor his decided victory... keeping an eye on the pathing from upstairs so that no YJers could sneak down... even Robin would trip the minute yellow tripwire that sprawled every crack shadow and crevice. As the massive yellow hammer of judgement descended on Impulse it met with a solid green shell, a set peice of curving solid, set on the ground in the midst of the yellow inertias that, with little damage, held fast, saving impulse's life.
Inertia had spun around already to see Emerald there, her ring extended as she had just formed the thing in her mind and blocked the move. In her mind the 'impulse' if you will, was racing up her spine to say 'you did it, girl!' to herself. But by this time in Inertia's mind... that was 3 milliseconds ago... the shock subsided and he turned on her, but got tripped up by Impulses' big feet kicking at him to make him trip up. Inertia was on his feet in nano seconds, but by this time, his distractions had proved too much, Impulses had become freed up and they freed Impulse enough to grab Inertia nigh-negligible time before he slammed into Emerald.
Impulse slammed Inertia backwards in full WWE style. A crunch was followed by an Inertia super speed spin that kept Inertia on his back but allowed him to kick Impulse in the face before hopping up and slamming his fist into the just now emerald coated body of Natasha Irons.
Intertia bent over and grabbed his hand in pain, and Impulse was almost on that man when a yellow duplicate popped up from nowhere and uppercut Impulse ruthlessly before sinking back into the fleeing Intertia's ring.
Emerald saw Impulse falling and creates a mattress for him to land on. A few of his duplicates pop into him and he wakes up very woozy a few moments later.
UPSTAIRS
Superboy looks over Robin's shoulder... "Anybody..."
"Broken comms, scrambled signals... I'm guessing just saying they're all in this hemisphere."
Superboy frowned... "Wait..." They leaned forward to get a satlellite image of Happy Harbor... and there, superspeed scrawled in their own 'yard' was a messae:
"Tell them all goodbye...Harm will have his day"
"Not much of a lyricist, eh?" Superboy looked over at Wonder Girl as she came over...
"It doesn't make any sense..." Robin nodded... "If I had just one more clue..."
The door fwooshed open revealing a young african american girl carrying Impulse in her arms. Emerald was the latest greatest green lantern... they had heard of her and were expecting to meet her some time next week, this came as a bit of a surprise.
"Emerald?" Robin whispered and faded into the shadows at a newcomer's presence.
Lagoonboy popped from the vent shafts and landed just in front of her, almost snarling, but ready for anything.
Superboy and Wonder Girl looked at each other... Emerald nodded. "Yeah... and Impulse is hurt..."
Wonder Girl raised a suspicous brow... "And I'll bet you had nothing to do with it..."
Emerald's facial expression changed from calm and a bit remorseful to genuinely defensive... "You had better..." she grimaced a bit and placed Impulse on the table. He was still quaking as he regained all his memories...
Superboy asked with a lot less accusation in his voice. "What happened down there, Natasha..."
Natasha shook her head sadly... "Too much... and at Superspeed, I'm not even sure what happened, only Impulse knows..."
"You know, the new girl, Kon?" Wonder Girl asked...
Superboy nodded as he smiled over at Natasha... "Yeah, Natasha's grade-A hero in my book... she represented Krypton on Apocalypse last month... and that's the only family I got..."
Robin was now standing directly behind the new Green Lantern... "How did you get in here? There are security procedures, traps..." Emerald jumped a bit and turned to face Robin. He was a bit scary, even though he wasn't qutie as tall as she was... scratch that... he was terrifying, staring at her with those pupil-less eyes his voice all monotone and deep and well, it was Robin, a kid who wasn't really supposed to exist, unless Batman existed, which was always a very scary thought for a newcomer.
She stuttered for a second... "There was a hole, I noticed it before I swung around to the entrance... I followed it in..."
"Why were you here... in Rhode Island..." Robin continued... no one stopped him from questioning... Emerald narrowed her eyes, took off her ring and threw it at Robin. He caught it with one well trained hand...
"I don't need this!" She steamed. "I came by to warn you guys there's a yellow ring bearer in town, save Impulse from some green clone of himself and offer to help you guys and this is what I get? This is what you guys are about?" She looked around at the others... "Well you can take that and stuff it, sister... I've got better things to do that be accused of..."
As she as speaking, Robin's facial exression changed... if only slightly. He tossed back her ring and she stopped her rant with a little contemplation of his new reaction and slipped her ring back on.
He nodded to her... "We'll need that... and you..." Was all Robin said before returning to the computer.
Superboy put a hand on 'Tasha's shoulder, reassuring her... "He means, we need you Tasha, we're just on pins and needles right now... I'm sorry we came at you like this..."
Meanwhile Lagoonboy wandered up to her and offered his hand a little embarassed, voice uneasy... "I'm Kermit..." Natasha couldn't help but laugh as she took the boy's webbed hand.
Superboy grinned. "I'm Kon-El, he shook her hand... that's the name Superman gave me..." Natsahsa nodded...
Cassie offered her hand as well, a little less enthusiastically though... "I'm Cassie... nice t'meeta girl who can handle herself..."
Emerald nodded with a half smile... "even bettter, a girl who can handle other people..." They all looked towards Robin.
He nodded. "Robin is fine."
Superboy nodded... "Don't worry, he's like that sometimes... er... all the time...he opens up once you talk to him." Emerald nodded.
She turned back towards the table and looked at Impulse. "And this is Bart, huh?" Superboy nodded, but Bart, as if in response, snapped, even zqipped up, sitting on the table eyes wide and leaning forward. "BOMB!!!!"
There was a deafening explosion in that mountain... most of it crumbled into the sea and just the outskirts of it were left standing, creating a giant crater that was once YJ HQ...
CHUKA-DOOM resounded through the entirety of the eastern seaboard, Robin later deduced that it had been a sonic bomb set, it's countdown set to be triggered by a speed force spike such as... a battle of two speedsters. If the bomb were discovered it would not matter since the bomb went off when the counter said 1:17 seconds to go.
In the middle of the hole was rocks, dust and mangled equipment... and a green bubble containing Superboy, Wonder Girl, Robin, Impulse, Lagoonboy and Emerald. After a few moments of after bomb silence, the damage had been done... and a migraine having, battle weary Emerald fell to her knees and fell backwards into Impulse's arms, moaning about throbbing headaches...
Robin looked over the damage and grimaced. "Anarky, Match and Inertia... anti-types for each of us... and all equipped with yellow power rings..."
Wonder Girl nodded... "No base, numbers reduced in half... hostages..."
Superboy... "and he has the advantages of surprise and intimidation..." Superboy looked at his two good friends with scrutiny... "It's time we took one of those away... if you guys say we can't beat Harm, I'll cash in my chips and call it a day, go on vacation til he finds me... but if we can beat this man let's act like it..."
Robin nodded in agreement, but shook his head a second later. "Why is he so smart?"
"He's not... he just coordinates a little better... we've grown apart recently... we're becoming too much like our mentors and loosing our strength..."
Robin spun to Kon-El "Why the heck are you so smart all of a sudden? You're mature, you're controlled... I can barely believe you're you..."
Superboy stopped. "You don't read any of the Superboy fanfiction do you?"
Robin stopped stark still. There was an ackward silence. "What???"
He asked incredulously. "My fans... they write about me... they believe in me... I HAVE to eventually become the big man, so I might as well put my 'own personal agendas' on hold..."
Robin glared... "How did you know I said that?"
"The monitors..." Superboy answered, wondering why it was even a question...
Robin growled... "There's no mics in the conference room... it's supposed to be all confidential."
"So that's how..." Robin nodded...
"And now I've got a plan..." Robin smiled as Emerald managed to regain her footing.
Superboy grinned... "Yes! One down..." he looked to Wonder Girl... "How about you, Wondy... feel ready to lead us to victory?"
"C'mon, Cassie... any girl that can put the WW has GOT to have something to back it up..." Emerald grinned...
Impulse began chanting... "Cass-ie, Cass-ie, Cass-ie, Cass-ie!"
Superboy unfolded his arms and leaned in... "Cass-ie! Cass-ie! Cass-ie!"
Lagoonboy joined in and Cassie had had enough.
"That's Enough!" She swung her arms wide as she looked over her crew. "Let's take this joker down... Impulse, Emerald, start rebuilding this mess...
Robin, Superboy, you guys are going to the Watchtower to inform the Justice League of our predicament.
Lagoonboy... you and I... we're going on a special trip... everyone got communicators... Robin tossed Emerald his...
"Yeah..." she laughed
Wondergirl nodded... "good... let's split..."
Robin slipped Wonder Girl a paper he had just scribbled up discretely and she took it just as smoothly as he had given it. Impulse,at superspeed saw it, but no one else because the angle and the smoothness and the unexpected nature of the move with the wind and the cave.
"Oh. and by the way." Wonder Girl told her teammates as she and Lagoonboy walked away. "Harm's Day IS Comng."
