Young Justice
These kids don't worry about changes…they MAKE them…
Chapter 02
After Dark

"RRAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" growled the large stone like monster known as Gargoyle. He stood tall a muscular with his large extended wings. He stood surrounded by dozens of destroyed property; cars, benches, sidewalks, shop windows, and everything else in the area.

The streets were empty. Everyone was inside their homes or somewhere else; far away from the city. In some people's eyes, they were lucky.

Gargoyle looked around, as if he were awaiting some one. Or someones.

"Humph," he said, upset at the fact that all his efforts were in vain.

Just then, he spotted something out the corner of his eyes. He quickly turned his direction to his right, and spotted two people hiding in a dark corner of an alleyway. He smiled a devilish smile and walked closer to the two.

As he got closer, he could feel them shivering and shaking in pure terror and fear. He could feel it so.

It was two girls in the corner. One older than the other.

"Oh no," they said, closing their eyes and expecting the worse.

Gargoyle reached his hand in the corner and grabbed the youngest girl and held her up to his face by her hand.

"If this doesn't get the attention of those brats, then I don't know what will…"

BLAM! Gargoyle froze in his place as he felt small objects collide with his back and explode on contact. He turned his head around to see who it was, though he already had an idea.

"Somehow that one missed that big head of yours," said the heroic Nightwing as he held his staff in one hand, and his Birdarangs in his other hand. "This one won't."

"You looking for a quick bite," said the teen hero Ray, as his hands began to glow bright yellow, "then eat this! Young Justice, GO!"

"About time," said Gargoyle as he dropped the girl. Her older sister quickly grabbed her and the two ran off for their dear lives. Gargoyle turned around and saw the team known as Young Justice, along with their mentor Nightwing, charge for him. He quickly reached behind his back, and pulled out a large black envelope, freezing the team dead in their tracks.

"What the…?" exclaimed Empress as she and the others eyed the envelope.

"Take it," said Gargoyle. Ray looked at the envelope and then back at the enemy. He was very skeptic on whether to take it or not. "Come on, kid, I don't got all day."

Ray quickly snatched it and looked at his mentor.

"Now that that's been taken care of, goodbye," and then Gargoyle extended his long wings, and took flight.

"HEY!" shouted Slobo jumping up and down, frantically. "What's going on here? What, no fight? Where's the fist flying, foot stomping, head bashing, back breaking fight we came for? THIS ISN'T FAIR!"

Gargoyle merely looked back and grinned.

"Another time, children. Another time."

Slobo stood their scratching his head, and then looked back at his teammates. He quickly turned back to Gargoyle.

"Umm—yeah! YOU BETTER RUN YOU—YOU—umm—YEAH!"

"Nice, Slobo," said a sarcastic Empress. "That's telling him."

"Shut up."

"So what's it say, Ray?" asked Secret, as she stood next to Ray and Nightwing, who both were examining the envelope.

"Could be a trap," answered Ray.

"Better let Slobo open it," said Empress.

"SHUT UP!"

"I'LL open it," said Nightwing as he snatched the envelope out of Ray's hand. He quickly pulled the clip off and cautiously pulled out a large mauve paper with writing all over it. "It—it looks—an invitation."

Nightwing was right. It was an invitation.

"What's it say?" asked Secret, leaning closer. Now everyone was surrounding the invitation, except for Impulse.

"Hey I wanna see!" he said popping up here and there, trying to get a good look.

"It says 'Dante's Inferno! Jump City's newest, HOTTEST night club! Music, dancing, games, partying all around! Playing tonight: The Outsiders! Come on down and have the time of your life at Dante's Inferno!" read Nightwing.

"A night club?" asked Ray. "All this was done for an invitation to a night club. Someone sure went through a lot of trouble."

"Sounds like trap if you ask me," said Empress, crossing her arms.

"Yeah," added Slobo. "…Let's go!"

"I don't think it would be smart to do so," said Secret. "But it's up to Ray if we go or not."

"No," Nightwing said quickly.

"But Nightwing," Ray replied. "I mean, why not? Why can't we go? If it is trap, then we could at least find out who set it up for us. What if it's the same guy who sent the Mutants to your hideout?"

"Then I'LL take care of it. I'm your mentor, so you all listen to me. Meaning when I say stay put, I mean stay put."

"But…" said Secret.

"No," Ray replied again. "He's right. We have to listen to him. We all agreed to be a team under his wing, and that's what we'll do."

"I didn't," said Slobo, crossing his arms.

"Then you can leave." Nightwing shot a cold glance at the young hero. "We'll head home, and we'll leave the discussion at that."

And at that, Nightwing walked off, followed by the others.

"Why do you let him boss us around like this?" whispered Empress to her leader.

"Yeah," added Impulse. "It's your team. You're leader, not him. He's just a baby-sitter."

"Sorry guys," said Ray, hanging his head down. "It's just, ever since I was a kid, I wanted to be a hero just like Nightwing. And now that I have the chance to work with him, I don't want to screw that up. I'll do whatever he tells me."

Secret walked up next Ray and put her hand on his shoulder.

"Its okay, Ray," she said, with a reassuring smile. "I understand."

"So, Gargoyle," said a dark figure from his large chair from within a large office room with a large glass window, "Did they get the message?"

"Of course," said a kneeling Gargoyle. The large behemoth knelt in front of the dark figure's office table.

"Good work," the figure replied. "I think tonight will be our night. It might be a while before they arrive here; I know this, so go out Gargoyle and have a good time."

Gargoyle nodded and walked off into the darkness.

"Everything seems to be going according to plan. All I need is Little Bird Blue to show up with Young Justice, and then everything will be set."

As he sat in his large chair, dozens of large bat like creatures flew to his side, as he slowly began to stroke them.

"Huh?" said Ray as he shot up from his bed after hearing the sound of his bedroom's sliding door. He saw the door slide back closed, and then looked at his roommates', Slobo and Impulse, whose beds were empty. "Why am I not surprised?"

Slobo, Impulse, Empress and Secret all crept down the hallway as quiet as possible.

"I still don't think this is a good idea," whispered Secret.

"You gotta live it up sometimes, Secret," said Empress.

"Pipe down before we get caught," said Slobo as he led them towards the exit.

"Wait," said Empress. "Wouldn't it have made more sense to have Impulse drag us out of here with his super speed?"

Impulse and Slobo froze and then looked at each other.

"You just love to make me feel dumb, don't you?" asked Slobo to Empress.

"Ahem."

"Darn it," said Impulse as he quickly whipped his head around, along with the others, only to see their leader Ray standing right behind them.

"You guys can't go to that club," said Ray, with his arms crossed. "Nightwing said so."

"But you're the leader, Ray," said Empress. "Much to my dismay."

"Then I say you can't go."

"He ain't the boss of me," said Slobo as he turned right back around to go leave. "You comin' Impulse?"

The young speedster turned to Ray with a sad face. "Sorry, Ray."

"I'm coming, too," added Empress.

Ray stood there with a shocked face. He then turned to Secret, who had an even sadder face.

"I gotta live it up sometime," she said as she turned around. "Please don't be mad."

"Go on," said Ray with a frown. "You guys can go ahead. Just come back in one piece. Be careful."

Everyone looked at Ray and then headed for the door. Secret looked back at Ray who stood there with his head hung low.

After a long bus ride downtown, the four finally found themselves in front of the nightclub Dante's Inferno.

Surrounding the club were large lights, dozens of cars, and a long line that stretched all the way across the street. Guarding the door, of course, were two large gray skinned bouncers.

"Cousins of yours?" joked Impulse.

"Funny. How're we gettin in?" Slobo asked.

Empress and Secret both stared at each other and then at the two boys. "Bye."

Secret then transformed into her ghastly form and passed underground, while Empress teleported herself away.

"Girls," Slobo said.

Impulse then grabbed Slobo's arm and vanished as he took off in super speed, along with his teammate.

The four all made it inside of Dante's Inferno, and were amazed by what they saw. Dark red lights everywhere, a large disco ball in the ceiling, a large stage with the band The Outsiders performing on, and endless dancing!

"With all these people here," said Empress, "it doesn't really seem like a trap to me. But we should still stay on our toes."

"PARTY TIME!" shouted Impulse and Slobo as they began to rock to loud beat of the band.

The two girls looked at each other and began to dance as well, enjoying themselves.

From up inside of the office above dance floor, a dark figure stared out of his large window and looked down at his club's progress. Everyone was still dancing hypnotically to the music, and this pleased him. And then he saw them. The four members of Young Justice right there. But he noticed that Nightwing was not there.

"Humph," said the figure. "I invite six people, mainly one, and they don't even want to show up together. How rude. But maybe I can use this to my advantage."

As he talked, above him glowed large, red beady eyes.

As Slobo and Empress danced on and on, Slobo had accidentally bumped into a nearby dancer.

"Hey!" he exclaimed. "Watch where you're danc—ing…" Slobo's sentence trailed off as he stared at the dancer. He noticed that his skin, too, was gray skinned. He looked behind him at the others, and saw the same.

"What is this?" asked Empress. "A Slobo Convention?"

"Normally, I'd take that as an insult, but this is TOO weird."

Just then, all of the dancers, including the band players' eyes began to glow red. They all stopped dancing and turned towards the members of Young Justice. Impulse and Secret then ran over to their teammate's side, and they all stood back to back, surrounded by all of the gray skinned, red eyed, zombie like people.

"Umm," began Secret. "I'm REALLY not liking this convention."

As the kids were surrounded by the club dancers, large bat like creatures dropped down from the ceiling and covered the kids…

Ray paced back and forth in the main room in front of the entrance door, awaiting their arrival. He'd been doing so for the past 4 hours.

"Please let that be one heckuva club," he said, as nervous as ever.

"For you sake," said a dark voice from behind, "it'd better be."

Ray whipped around, and saw that it was Nightwing.

"I can't believe you let them go," said Nightwing. He stood next to Ray on top of a building across the street from Dante's Inferno. "You don't call the shots. I do."

"But…"

"No 'buts', Ray. You all agreed that you'd work under me; my commands. Step out of line, and then it's over. Like that."

"But…"

"What did I just say? What if they're in trouble? What if they don't make it out of there?"

"Then I'll take care of it," Ray replied quickly before his mentor could continue. "I'm leader. No matter what you say. You may be the mentor, but it's my team. MY team. MY shots. And I screwed up, and as leader, it's my duty to make up for that and save my team, whether under your wing or not." Ray then began to walk forward, ready to head for the club, when he stopped. "You know, I always wanted to be like you. I could never do much as a kid, but when I saw you and your team doing things that only I DREAMED about, I envied you. I wanted to be like you. And for some reason, I still do. And I'm going to prove myself one way or another!"

Just then Ray leaped down from the rooftop glowing with bright yellow energy that allowed his drop to shift into a float down to the ground. He then ran across the street towards the club.

"He's gonna get hurt!" Nightwing then leaped down and ran after his tutee. The two made it up to the front door two see the large gray bouncers holding back the crowd of teens eager to get into the club. The bouncers then threw back a whole lot of them, leaving Nightwing and Ray in front of the two large bouncers.

"You creeps lost?" asked one of the bouncers, cracking his knuckles.

As Ray stared at him, he noticed a bat like creature attached to the back of his neck, along with the other one.

"I stand corrected," said Nightwing as he whipped out his staff, "THEY'RE gonna get hurt."

Nightwing and Ray both walked into the night club, leaving behind them the fallen bodies of the defeated bouncers. But as soon as they stepped foot inside, they found themselves surrounded by all of the clubbers, including the four missing members of Young Justice, who all had a bat like creature attached to their backs.

"Guys?" said Ray as he backed up.

"No doubt this Dante character is behind this," said Nightwing.

Ray stared at his teammates and then up at a large window that concealed a dark figure that watched everything that was happening below. Ray could feel the eyes burn through his body, and yet, they were calling him.

"Up there!" shouted Ray. "It's him! I'm going up there!"

"Ray! WAIT!" Nightwing's call was useless. Ray had already used his energy to hover over the zombie dancers and towards the stairs that would lead him upstairs. "Oh yeah, he's grounded."

"Well bring it on, Pops!" said Slobo as he grew closer to Nightwing.

"…Pops? Okay then. You asked for it."

BLAM! The large metal door that led into the large office room was blasted off by Ray's attack. The teen superhero walked in slowly, and saw the man standing at the window, looking down at the fight.

"So, I'm guessing you're Dante, huh?" asked Ray.

The figure turned around, revealing he had long blood red hair, and a dark colored leather outfit. But still, his face could not be seen well enough.

"You are correct," answered the man known as Dante. "And you are 'The Ray' I presume."

"No, I'm the jolly green giant. Now what's going on here?"

"Nothing my young boy, nothing at all. It's just a club. We're just having a good time. Why not join in on the festivity? It will relieve all stress."

Ray did not move; he stood his ground, awaiting Dante to make a move. Just then, he looked up, and saw the ceiling SWARMING with red eyed winged creatures.

"What—What are they?"

"They're what made this place. They're what made me…ME."

"You're not human, are you?" asked Ray.

"Yes…" Dante then stepped out of the shadows, revealing his face to the young hero…and at the same time, revealing the wings he had on his back. "And no. You see, Ray, these creatures, they called out to me. I was nothing but a lost and lonely soul in the dark, but when I found this place, this Inferno, and the creatures, they helped me. They gave me what I wanted. I wanted to feel alive again, and have power. It was given to me. They fed off of my pain and misery and woe. Darkness. They grew stronger, and the more they did this, the more I became like them."

Dante then slowly walked around Ray, eyeing him and smiling a devilish grin.

"And then I thought 'Why not share this with the world?'. Surely they would want in on this. So I made Dante's Inferno. Here I call out to all the lonely forgotten souls of Jump City. I help them. This is Justice. My Justice. I help them. And they help me."

"Help you what?"

"Do whatever I want. You see down there?" The two stared out the window and down at the fight, seeing Nightwing being overpowered by all of the clubbers and Young Justice. "They're doing what I want right now. They're obeying my word. They will do whatever I want."

"There's gotta be more to it than that."

"But of course there is. Be patient, my boy. With them under my command, I can get whatever it is I want from them, secret bank accounts, useful code words and numbers, all I can use for myself."

"That's why you wanted Nightwing. He knows all sorts of things about Jump City, everything would be useful to you."

"Exactly. My you are a clever boy. I want to gain even more power. And then when that goal is reached, I can share my goal with all, rule Jump City and make them like me. Don't you want to be like me, Ray?"

"Never," he said. "Never. I already want to be like someone. AND IT'S NOT YOU!"

Ray then charged up with energy, and swung his fists rapidly at Dante. But to his dismay, every attack he threw, Dante dodge with little effort. He made it seem like child's play.

"See? You can't even land a single punch on me. But with my help, you can. I will make you stronger, faster, better."

"You're going down, Dante!"

"Suit yourself." Dante then extended his large wings, and slapped ray on the back of his head with it, knocking him threw the glass window and to the ground.

Ray landed with a loud thud. He could hardly feel his body. He was feeling weaker.

"RAY!" shouted a defeated Nightwing. Surrounding him were the four members of Young Justice.

"Ugh," Ray said as he managed to get up on his feet. "Don't worry—Nightwing. I'll prove myself to you. Dante doesn't stand a chance."

"I don't, do I?" asked Dante from the broken window. "Look at your friends. They've all chosen my way of justice. And Nightwing's next."

Ray looked over to his mentor and saw that Impulse grew closer to his neck with a winged creature.

"It's over, Ray. Join me. Join me and we can rule Jump City."

Ray looked around. He was surrounded and there seemed like there would be no escape. He then looked up and saw MORE bat creatures hanging from the ceiling. He then looked at his hands. He knew what he would have to do.

"These things feed off of darkness, huh?" asked Ray as he powered up his hands. "WELL LET ME LIGHTEN THINGS UP!"

Ray's hands glowed the brightest glow they could, causing everyone, including him, to shield their eyes.

"NO!" shouted Dante. "The LIGHT!"

All of the creatures around were blinded by the light, and weakened as well. They all came crashing down to the floor, falling off of everyone's body and the ceiling. They were defeated.

The light slowly began to dim, as Ray looked around, weakened from the attack. He saw all of the clubbers all laying on the ground, rubbing their heads and wondering what had happened. He looked over to Nightwing who stood up and looked at the other members of Young Justice, all of them who also stood up rubbing there heads.

"Man what happ…" began Impulse. "DANTE! I forgot. Where is he, we can take him. Wait. He was the bad guy, right?"

"Yeah," said Ray as he walked over to his teammates.

"Where is he?" asked Secret. "Is he…"

"No," he answered. Ray looked around and noticed that Dante was nowhere to be seen. "People like that don't go away…"

"They come back stronger," finished Nightwing. "And when he returns, we'll be ready. But until then, let's go home."

The team all shrugged and turned around, heading for the door, when Ray was stopped by Nightwing.

"I used to be like you," he said. "I looked up to someone and wanted to be just like him. Don't know whatever happened to that dream. But, I want to say sorry. You were right; it's your team, and your calls. Just next time, don't let something like this happen again."

Ray cracked a smile and the two headed out the door.

As they left, they did not notice Dante reappearing in the aftermath.

"Big mistake, Ray. Big mistake…"