TO JILL, CUZ YOU ASKED, THE NAME OF THE GANG IS THE LEAGUE, ALTHOUGH THEIR TATOOES SAY JL, I DON'T THINK BECKA MENTIONS WHAT THE J WILL STAND FOR; I HAVEN'T FINSHED READING HER STORY, SO IT COULD BE JUSTICE.
AS FAR AS POWERS, THEY HAVE NONE. ALTHOUGH THERE MIGHT BE SOME SIMIULARITES LIKE WALLY IS A FAST SPRINTER, J'ONN SEEMS TO KNOW WHAT PEOPLE ARE THINKING, CLARK IS STRONG, AND BRUCE IS VERRRYYYY SMART. THINGS LIKE THAT. I'M GLAD THAT YOU LIKED THE STORY ALONG WITH DESERT HAWK.
Clark narrowed his eyes in thought and gazed out of his seventh floor window. In the distance police sirens and the sounds of fighting could be heard. Wally was now the only one left in the apartment; Bruce had a meeting in the morning and had to leave early, Diana caught a ride with him, J'onn just walked in to hear the news and left 10 minutes later, while John had gone to drive Shayera home and to fix her 'leaky sink'. Wally had scoffed at the excuse and asked to be dropped of at their house first.
But Clark had advised against it, now that the Phoenixes had been split apart they would be a lot harder to control for awhile, making it dangerous for anyone to be alone at anytime. Wally had countered saying that he would only be alone until John came back; Bruce finally ended the argument by telling the younger man that they were probably watching all of their homes. Now it was nearing 1 o'clock in the morning and John had not returned, Wally was slumped over, asleep, on Clark's sofa. Snoring softly, every once in a while bringing a hand up to brush away a stray lock of his messy red hair that would fall across his face, Clark had covered him with a hand-made quilt before going into his bed and falling asleep.
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Clark rose only a few hours later, the threat of the two new gangs still resting heavily on his mind.
" Wally?" He whispered as he walked out of his room, his feet freezing on the wooden floor. He gave the still lump on his sofa a sideways glance, before deciding to let him sleep a little longer. He moved into his kitchen and filled up a coffee pot with water then placing it on the stove. Quietly it started to brew, filling the spacious apartment with a dark roast smell.
A muffled ringing began growing louder, until it was cut off by Wally's tired voice,
" Hullo?" Clark gave the conversation only half of his attention as he pulled down two coffee mugs to fill.
"Whaddya mean, 'Where are you?' You left me at Clark's last night." Clark filled the mugs then began adding the other essentials, cream and two tablespoons of sugar for Wally, and plain cream for himself,
" Yeah that's right, 'oh…' Maybe you should check yourself before yelling at me…I'm not that irresponsible…Yes, John, I know it can be dangerous…That's why I stayed at Clark's!" Wally groaned and took the cup that Clark was offering, sipping at it lightly before glaring back at the phone. Clark smiled and went to open his door to gather up his daily newspaper. He shuffled to his kitchen table, sat down and began reading the sports section.
" I know you have work!" Wally ran a hand through his hair, " Look, it's daylight now I can walk back…Why don't you give anyone else grief about walking alone…I'm not a kid! Yeah and I have my switchblade…I'm not waiting until you get off work, that's not 'til six…The Phoenixes were dangerous, not the Aces and whatevers…Ughhhh…I know it's the same people, is Shay there? …No? I'm walking home AND I'll be fine. I'll talk to ya later!" He snapped his phone closed, tucked into his back pocket, grabbed his coffee, and took the seat across from Clark, nearly slamming his head down on the black painted table, " Treats me like a two-year old." He muttered into the piece of furniture,
" I gather that he doesn't want you to go by yourself."
" You should be a detective." Clark smiled at the teen,
" I'll walk you home, but we have to go talk to Rodrigo first, ok?" Wally shuddered,
" I hate goin' there, I swear half of 'rigo's gang is gay."
" I like to see you say that to their faces."
" Not gonna happen, sorry." He took a gulp of coffee,
" Isn't that a little to hot?" Wally shook his head,
" Naw, hey, did I leave that green shirt last time I was here?"
Clark nodded and pointed down his hallway to the closet. Wally jumped up and went to change his blue sweatshirt for the lighter green t-shirt.
" I'm gonna leave my blue one in your closet, ok? So don't let Bruce have it."
" Wally, you have to be at least 3 times smaller then any of us, you don't have to worry about one of us taking your clothes."
" I'm not taking any chances, I still haven't gotten my Jets jersey back from Shay."
Clark laughed and continued scanning the newspaper, the front page held the headline,
GANG VIOLENCE ESCALATES: 2 DEAD IN A LATE NIGHT STREET FIGHT
' That explains the sirens last night.' He thought sadly, they looked like they were part of Rodrigo's gang, judging from the picture of fight chains that the Shockers were famous for using.
' Rodrigo isn't going to be happy today. Maybe I should bring a gun—' He quickly shook off that thought, he had never resorted to killing someone, and he wouldn't start now.
" Hey, you ready?" Wally nudged his shoulder; Clark got up to change his clothes.
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20 minutes later the pair was walking down 3rd and Main towards the rundown coffee shop that the Shockers ran for extra money.
" You sure you don't want to call Bruce…Shay…Diana…J'onn?" The redhead suggested for the second time,
" They're all working, remember? I finally decided to call in all my extra vacation time."
" Boy, you sure can pick the best of times."
" When are you supposed to head back?" The question stopped Wally in his tracks,
" Remember when we got ambushed that one time, and Diana got that nasty cut? Well, my boss told me he didn't care who my friends were and well… gave me a pink slip for being late again." He grinned sheepishly,
" Wally, you're never late. Did he give you a warning before?"
" No, that was a guide line, no mistakes, no second chances," He shrugged, " Besides, factory work wasn't exactly my best work any way."
" Does John know?"
" Uh-huh, he came down and yelled at my boss, who thought he was my father…which led to some very awkward moments."
" What did Bruce say?"
" He'll talk to him." They continued in silence for a beat,
" So you glad that high school is finally over?"
" Yup…I sort of miss it though…sort of…it got kinda bad when that idiot from the Phoenixes was put in my homeroom."
" Yeah, getting called down to your school to pick you up for starting fights wasn't my idea of fun."
" I never started those fights, I was provoked."
"Mm-hmm." They both laughed and picked up the pace when the coffee shop came into view.
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The bell clinked lightly when the door opened and two figures entered the shop. Some Shockers were sitting at the booth, each of them had a completely different hairstyle, the biggest one had long spikes of pure blue and was wearing at least ten pounds of chains.
" Is Rodrigo here?" Clark asked, he was showing no fear, maybe because he looked like he could kick everyone's ass including the big guy's.
" Upstairs. Why?"
" We have something to discuss with him." More Shockers turned around in their seats to watch,
" Hey, Dreed, those guys are part of the League—" A small pink-haired girl attempted to interject but was cut off by a push from Dreed causing Wally to shout, " Hey!"
Dreed turned his gaze onto Wally, who didn't back down, " Hey what?"
" Don't push her." Wally answered, his hand moving to where he kept his knife; Clark began tensing up as well,
Dreed got up from his seat, he was taller then Wally and looked to be the physical superior.
" 'Rigo don't want to talk with any of you right now. We lost two guys to the Aces yesterday…nobody feels like talkin' to you right now." He shifted his weight, causing the fight chain that hung by his side to sway and draw Wally's attention,
" We want to hear that from Rodrigo himself." He retorted. Dreed's eyes widened at the show of disrespect Wally was apparently giving him, " You wanna leave here with your head still on? Then I suggest you leave now." He unhooked his fight chain and brought it up to his face while Wally clicked out his knife,
" Bring it."
Dreed shot out the chain and wrapped it around Wally's wrist, pulling him towards his fist. Wally ducked under and shoved the handle of his knife into Dreed's kidney. With a speed that Dreed could not hope to rival Wally uppercut him and placed his blade on his throat. Clark laughed at the sight, ' Maybe Wally could walk home by himself.'
" Go and get Rodrigo…Now!" Wally snapped at a longhaired Shocker who had been edging towards the fight.
He nodded and ran up the stairs, when he was out of sight Wally released Dreed and clicked back his knife.
Wally laughed good-naturedly and spun around to face Clark " Thanks for the backup, big guy."
" I knew you could handle your self."
A tall, trimmed, tan skinned man walked slowly down the stairs and entered the main room,
" What da hell has been goin' on in here?" He didn't raise his voice, but he carried a steely tone that made others back away, his dark eyes were narrowed and the left looked like it had been slashed through with a knife. He moved his gaze towards Dreed, who shifted uncomfortably,
" Do I hafta repeat myself?" His accent was thick and he often strung words together. Clark raised a hand,
" Hey Rodrigo." He didn't smile, but Rodrigo's face held the ghost of a grin,
" Clark Kent…and Wally West…of da League from da North end. I haven't see yous guys in a while."
(A/N: I'm purposely spelling his speech like that)
" We've been busy." Rodrigo motioned for them to follow him back up the stairs.
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The room had a large fold-up table that was covered with cards and poker chips. The smokey remains of cigars clouded the room and their vision,
" Have a seat." Rodrigo offered two empty seats for Clark and Wally, who took them.
" So, why are yous guys here?" His voice never lost its steely tone, but it did seem friendlier,
" I'm guessing you heard about the spilt?"
" With da Ravens and Aces? Yeah I heard. Got two of my guys yesterday."
" Then you know we should do something."
" Hmmm…" Wally raised an eyebrow,
" If they killed two of your own, shouldn't you be a little more concerned?"
" Dey was in dare territory…I stress da fact dat we should stick to our own streets…at least at night."
He brushed off Wally's disbelieving look with a glare of his own,
" I'm sorry dat dey died, but dey should've known betta." Clark shook his head,
" It won't be long before they come for your territory—"
" And yours. Sorry Clark, I know what yous gunna ask and da answer is no." He shook his head to stall Clark's objections,
" We Shockers take care of our own. Da fact we don't fight with your gang don't make us allies." His tone was final.