Welcome back to The Injustice Wars. Last time, Blaze and Belial Aether set up a meeting to put Red Hood, Vixen, and Jay Garrick into the Republic as agents. But as they planned, Darkblood schemed to capture Belial upon hearing he was connected to Anubis. Thankfully, Black Manta is their transportation, so he reported the upcoming plan to Flash, who set about trying to warn the others as they'd already left in the Javelin 7. So, will the news reach them in time? Read on to discover...
(Our scene opens on the Javelin 7 landing in the mountains of Mongolia, and immediately after it does, we see Blaze, Red Hood, Vixen, and Jay Garrick exit from the ship into the snowy mountains)
Blaze: (Looking out over the snow-capped mountains) This place is beautiful...
Red Hood: (Already shivering) I ap-p-p-p-preciate the beauty as m-m-m-much as the next guy, but can we g-g-g-g-get moving? I'm already starting to freeze over here!
Blaze: Fair enough. Now, where did they say the meeting point was again?
Vixen: Vandal Savage always had a connection to Khüiten Peak. So that's where I'd start.
Blaze: I'm guessing that's not far from here?
Jay Garrick: If maps are still the same, about 10 klicks as the crow flies.
Blaze: Then let's get moving. For Jason's sake.
(And with that, the group sets off into the mountains. But just as they're out of hearing range, the radio on the Javelin 7 crackles to life, as Flash finally gets through)
Flash: Flash to Legion! Come in Legion! Be warned, you are walking into an ambush!
(But alas, Flash's cries fall on no ears. And within a few moments, we transition to outside the Republic's headquarters, near a river we never noticed was there, where Belial Aether, Vandal Savage, Hawkgirl, and Aero are standing as the Legion arrives)
Belial Aether: Welcome to the mountains! Pleasure to finally meet you formally. I never did catch your name the last time we met up.
Blaze: Blaze. And yours?
Belial Aether: Most who know me call me Belial. Belial Aether
Blaze: (Shaking Belial Aether's hand, while being surprised at his last name.) Belial... Aether?
Belial Aether: To be fair, the whole thing's an anglicization. The Arabic version is much more accurate. But that's neither here nor there. We've got business to attend to.
Vandal Savage: I take it these are your trio?
Belial: That's them alright. Jay Garrick. Mari McCabe, alias Vixen. And Jason Todd, alias Red Hood.
Vandal Savage: Curious, I thought Jay Garrick was dead.
Jay Garrick: On this world apparently. But not where I'm from.
Vandal Savage: The multiverse does truly work in strange ways.
Aero: Heck, I'd say just this universe works weirdly some days.
Blaze: (Finally seeing Aero up close) Who's the kid?
Belial Aether: Oh. This is Flint Tengu, though he prefers Aero. He's kind of my apprentice.
Blaze: Well, nice to meet you, formally.
(Just as the introductions are getting made, Hawkgirl catches a sound off in the distance, and so do Belial Aether and Blaze)
Hawkgirl: Heads up, I think we've got company inbound.
Belial Aether: You're not alone, Shayera. I heard it.
Blaze: That makes three of us.
(And just like that, a bunch of black clad divers with guns emerge from the river and start firing upon the two factions. Rushing into defense, Jay Garrick starts running and manages to disarm them while Aero rushes at them)
Aero: Kaze no yo ni hayaku!
(With the phrase spoken, Aero seemingly turns into the wind and rounds up the enemies in the vortex, allowing Hawkgirl to fly above him and wrap them up with steel cable)
Belial Aether: Nice work, Aero. Though what the heck did you just say?
Aero: You told me to try and find something to focus on when using my powers, to keep them under control. And my favorite university professor, an early mentor of mine, always said that line. I almost took it as a motto after he passed. Good old Professor Eto.
Belial Aether: Nice adoption of the theory. Next step is internalizing it.
Blaze: (Sensing something from the river) Something tells me we'll be able to work on that pretty soon!
(And just like that, Darkblood, Enchantress, and Black Manta emerge from the river, prepared for a battle.)
Darkblood: Normally I'd begin with some charming banter, but we don't have the time for it. So I'm just going to be blunt. Hand over the Son of Anubis, or things are going to get... messy.
Belial Aether: How does he know I'm the son of Anubis?
Blaze: I don't know, but if he wants you, it can't be for something good.
Enchantress: I think they've given their answer.
Darkblood: (Sighs) And here I thought we'd be able to do this easily. Oh well. Manta?
Black Manta: (Pulling out a net gun) Gladly.
(With that, Black Manta shoots a net over the group, and surprisingly it lands over everyone but Belial Aether, with even Blaze being unable to do anything about it)
Blaze: A Dark Gem net?!
Darkblood: Did you expect anything less from me?
Belial Aether: (Summoning a green energy) Leave them be or suffer my power.
Darkblood: Your power is exactly what we want. Enchantress, if you would?
Enchantress: Gladly.
(With that Enchantress casts a magical stream at Belial Aether, and he counters with one of his own. Before long the two of them are struggling against each other. But then Darkblood cheats, and infuses his Dark Aether into Enchantress' stream, causing Belial Aether to be overpowered and knocked out, at which point Black Manta grabs him.)
Darkblood: Now then, we have business to attend to.
(And with that, the three leave, but not before Black Manta secretly drops a knife within Blaze's reach. And as they leave, Blaze grabs the knife and cuts the net, letting them up, and allowing everyone to look out towards where they've taken Belial Aether as our scene ends for today)
And that looks like a good spot to wrap up for now. Now, for those wondering what Aero actually said, the phrase itself is Japanese and roughly translates to "swift as the wind". As for why he says that specifically, that's a reference I leave it up to you to figure out. I will say it references a DC character that I'm pretty sure almost nobody in the modern age has probably heard of. You'll need to check outside of the comics to find this one. More on that later. So, Belial Aether's been captured! What does Darkblood have planned for him? Tune in next time to find out! Same time... same channel!