Thank you all for your patience with me in regards to the story's delayed updates, I greatly appreciate it. As per usual, any section marked with an asterisk (*) is an indication that triggering material is present between the lines, and I have done my best to ensure that you do not need to be exposed to said material in order to understand the rest of the story.
NEW: This chapter jumps from location to location often; however, it is not always in time order. This chapter will require readers to pay special attention to timestamps, as there are only minutes apart between certain sections. If need be, you may contact me for clarification.
Enjoy!
* Unknown Location
December 31, 2017
22:09
Dani grit her teeth almost painfully in an attempt to stop the slight wobble of her bottom jaw, her tongue pressed firmly against the roof of her mouth to match. This was perhaps the first time in her life she had felt compelled to cry out during a mission, and she refused to give the foe in front of her the satisfaction of seeing her tears. She knew they would feel all-too satisfied from watching her downturned expression.
With a slight hiss, she began to stand, ignoring the rising agonizing pain stemming from a diagonal gash that went from her midsection to the top of her thigh. In a nature most true to herself, she marched forward towards her fallen teammate, her eyes falling towards their chest instinctually.
Similar to the physical pain just moments before, Dani elected to ignore the emotional distress bubbling within her at the absence of any chest movement. Her gaze flickered over to the attacker instantly then, and she knew that she was only moments away from ending their existence.
Lake Michigan; Warehouse District
September 12, 2017
19:38
Alyn could hear the other girls dashing behind her, their feet crunching in the snow similar to hers. With her heart hammering in her ears, the girl slowed to a stop before throwing out a hand to discontinue the others from overtaking her. "Okay, wait, stop," she ordered in a hushed voice, her breath finally catching. "We need a plan. We cannot just run in after her."
"The plan should have been to put Yessenia on a leash in the first place," Dani said coolly, her arms making their way across her chest. Despite the seemingly harsh statement, her eyes still ran over to where she had last seen Yessenia dash out, the barest of care evident behind her seemingly bare gaze.
Unfazed by the comment, Alyn ran her uninjured hand through her disheveled hair. "Okay, that's it, I'm calling in the guys."
"No!" Charlotte instantly hissed, her voice pitched higher than it had been all night, "We haven't been caught yet, but if we call in the boys, we lose the element of surprise and we will get our asses handed to us." Despite what her words had physically been, the group knew that the meaning behind her plea was something else entirely: Please do not call my boyfriend in.
"Charlotte…" Alyn started, her tone understanding despite the stress, "Tonight wasn't supposed to get this far. We've lost Yessenia, McKenzie isn't here, and I already have a serious injury. We don't even have all of our gear."
The squad stood quiet then, Alyn's thumb already hovering over the call button on her device. Before she could press Sam's contact though, a loud shot brought all the girls onto their stomachs or behind nearby objects, eyes dashing everywhere. In doing so, Alyn's hand stumbled, her phone falling to the ground in a soundless action.
Surprisingly, at least to the more seasoned members of the team, it was Charlotte who had reacted to the firearm's discharge first, her head angling towards a specific point on the warehouse's rooftop expertly. With a jerk, she gestured to the area, before throwing up two fingers in response.
Without any further information, Victoria notched a shortened arrow into her crossbow's barrel and positioned it towards Charlotte's estimation, her gaze strengthened from her scope. And, true to Charlotte's word, two men stood atop the warehouse, a rifle resting in the arms of one of them as they argued.
Victoria lowered her weapon without pulling the trigger. "Accidental discharge," she whispered. And although her eyes met the gaze of the others, her words were spoken to Yessenia, who she was not able to disengage otherwise from battle. She could only hope that her best friend's ears were still trained on her and her advice, even though the distance between them was vast.
The enemy doesn't know we are here, at least not yet. With her anxiety coursing through her at an expediated level, Victoria almost missed Dani throwing up her thumb in understanding; however, it did not take Victoria's advanced scope to see that she was hesitant to follow the word of the archer blindly, her eyes struggling to see whether or not her statement was accurate.
"Stealth only," Victoria's words, once again, were for Yessenia's ears, but the others nodded at her instruction.
Yessenia focused her hearing on the rhythmic heart fluctuations occurring in the warehouse ahead, mentally tallying the potential number of individuals within. Four, six, nine… for a brief moment, perhaps the time it would take for her to properly inhale, she had gotten distracted by the frantic beating she knew to be Victoria's own heart from behind her.
She spun back around then, her gaze attempting to find her best friend from within the treeline above of her. It was only then did the young princess take note of how vulnerable she truly was stationed at the bottom of the hill, her back previously being exposed to the type of environment that could kill any one of her nonpowered friends.
But I'm not them, she chastised herself mentally, and I am better than that. I should not be getting distracted by the others. Despite her internal thoughts, however, she couldn't help but spare an extra moment looking for the archer.
If she were honest with herself, it felt wrong not having Victoria by her side, especially given the additional absence of both McKenzie and Logan. And it was times like these, when she would feel overwhelmed by the onslaught of changes happening around her, that she missed the simplicity of her original squad. Even in the most dire of circumstances, she knew what to expect out of both herself and the others.
But now? She continued with her rampant monologue in an attempt to validate the extreme emotions she was experiencing. I don't know how to properly fight alongside them. And she stood by this statement, especially as she got to witness with each passing mission the increased alienation she experienced.
"This is all Batman's fault."
Yessenia ducked out of view, her head quickly bowing as to not be seen by the hallway's occupants. With a soft inhale, she spared an additional glance so as to better tally the number of people she would have to prepare to fight. Three.
"Alright," the Amazonian whispered to herself silently, before once again returning to her hidden place to draw out her sword. With her weapon held tight, Yessenia once again rounded the corner, but soon fell still by the lack of henchmen ready for her blade.
"Third quarter is clear," Alyn said, barely loud enough to meet the commlink's speaker. Almost in an immediate echo, Yessenia heard the call in her own ear. She returned her sword back in its carrier then, her eyebrows furrowed in slight annoyance.
Yessenia began to open her mouth, but her question fell off of her tongue the second that Alyn disappeared mid-air, her entire being turning intangible without a second's notice. Instead, Yessenia groaned bitterly, her eyes returning to the unconscious men laying on the floor around her feet.
"Of course, I'm left with cleaning up," she murmured as she bent down and grabbed one of the men by the back of his bulletproof vest. Hoisting him up over her shoulder, her commlink once again buzzed to life in her ear, the cackle loud.
"Remember that this is recon only. Do not engage in combat," the voice belonged to Oliver, and was filled with authority Yessenia did not know he had. She shook her head, before looking up to see that the boy was watching her from an aerial viewpoint. He, like herself, shook his head in disappointment.
"Wah- '' Yessenia started with her free hand thrown up in frustration, her head spinning as if trying to locate someone else to blame. When she realized that Oliver had already left though, she finished her statement with a soft mumble, "I didn't even do it."
The sound of a gun going off startled Yessenia out of her memories suddenly, her back instantly hitting the trunk of a tree without thought. With her heart hammering loudly in her own chest now, Yessenia tried to remember the breathing exercises her aunt had advised her of during their most recent visitation.
"Think of your senses," Yessenia reminded herself, "What can you see?"
Her eyes danced from the snowbanks to the sea of trees surrounding her, leaves hidden under the flurry and not in the branches where they typically belonged. The lake, which had appeared much further before, now was too close for comfort to the Amazonian girl.
"Hear?"
Despite expecting the continued shots of a gun, or perhaps even grunts from a physical fight, the tense words of a man met her eardrums immediately: "Stop fucking around with your rifle, Ron!"
"I'm sorry!" The man, who Yessenia could only presume as Ron, stuttered horrendously in response, "I'm starting to lose feeling in my fingers again. It's too fucking cold out here to be sitting watch all the damn time."
"Just go back inside. It isn't like shit ever happens out here anyways," the other grumbled out in annoyance. Then, with a soft exhale out, Yessenia heard Ron stumble about the roof towards the hatch door, before opening it loudly with a screech of metal grinding against its hinges.
"Okay," Yessenia noted with a smirk, confidence filling her as she then began to formulate a plan to infiltrate the building. Before she could step closer to the warehouse however, Yessenia spun on her heels at the serious voice of Victoria.
"Accidental discharge."
"Stealth only."
Yessenia nodded in response, but her smirk died. Whether or not she remained stealth on this mission, one thing was clear to Yessenia, she was going to end this.
Midway City — Destinee's Underground Night Club
September 12, 2017
19:36
Oliver rubbed at his sore knuckles tenderly, ignoring the ongoing swelling that was sure to come from the prolonged violent activity. He hummed nonchalantly, before looking up at the other two men with half-lidded eyes, "Well, I think that went well."
"Really?" Raja retorted back instantly, his head bending towards his left shoulder in disbelief. He gathered one of the discarded pocket knives in his grip then and pointed the tip vaguely towards the technician's general direction. He continued, "You enjoy having weapons brandished at you?"
"It depends, is there a hunky guy such as yourself on the other end of it?" Oliver questioned in a flirtatious manner, a quick wink following suit. Despite his smile though, his eyes appeared cloudy and sullen, and every so often his gaze flicked briefly towards the smashed bottle of alcohol that had been pitched at his person moments ago.
Raja snorted but otherwise said nothing in a reply as he stared at Oliver's changed expression. He was used to Oliver directing his seductive comments at him, especially as time went on and the boy felt comfortable enough with the Indian man to make them. Oliver's comfort with him though wasn't solely found in the flirts; however, as Oliver would easily tease anyone with a decent haircut. Instead, Oliver's comfort with others was found predominantly in small frowns and prolonged touches—anything that would suggest that the technician wasn't as positive as he otherwise presented himself to be.
It seemed that at that moment though, they all stared at the crushed bottle simultaneously, understanding reaching all of them. No one wanted to speak about how triggering the smell of the club was, or how difficult it had been to have such an item chucked at them for perhaps the hundredth time in their lives, not always by a so-called bad guy, but they did not need to. They just knew.
Using that understanding, Raja placed his body between Oliver's line of vision to the alcohol, his shoulders square. The technician grinned weakly, before muttering a quiet, "Thanks." But just like before, they all had the same mental understanding that the smile was not a show of Oliver's positive nature, but rather a display of a rather private weakness. Despite this though, he soon masked his discomfort with an effortless smile, his facade once again shining through.
Raja nodded at him curtly, his gaze then focusing on Logan briefly. For a moment, and a moment only, the medic had been scrutinizing the floor with slight disinterest, his left arm held out in front of him slightly as the right hand scratched at it absent-mindedly. Then, as if seemingly being able to feel Raja's gaze cutting into him, he bent down to check the pulse of the nearest malefactor, his back towards him.
I think everyone is at their breaking point right now, Raja thought with a scowl, but no one wants to admit it. And deep down, Raja knew that included himself as well. He knew, just as he knew his own reflection, that the life of a hero was riddled with trauma and diagnosed stress disorders, and that statistics did not favor the success of any of their lives. He also knew that his internal log of everyone's lives was just a symptom of his inability to fully trust anyone.
Raja shook his head softly from side to side in an attempt to shake those thoughts out of his mind. There was once a time when he was over joyous and filled with life, but now, with years being worn on his face, it felt even more distant than perhaps even a memory. He frowned.
"With her progression, it is unlikely she will ever make a full recovery," the doctor's somber words played on a loop in Raja's head effortlessly, the boy staring up at his ceiling with glassy eyes. Even though the news regarding Noor's condition had been given to him hours ago, he could not stop himself from constantly reliving that moment, the premature mourning already setting into him.
He took a deep shuddering breath in then, his chest tight. With soft prayers exiting his lips, his fingers rose to play with the necklace Noor had given to him some time ago. "She will be okay," he whispered, fully knowing that he was lying to himself.
He refused to let any tears fall from his eyes though. He felt it wrong to grieve over someone who was still alive, especially someone he refused to accept was dying in the first place. "She will be okay."
Despite the reiteration, his heart continued to sink metaphorically, his lungs catching every so often in hiccupped faults. He knew at that moment that smiles would no longer be easy to obtain, and that laughter was reserved for those who could afford it. And, he decided, that if he could give all of his future pleasantries away to his sister, he would.
Forcing himself back into his stoicism, Raja cleared his throat, before speaking to the duo ahead of him, "How much trouble do you think the team is going to get into tonight, all things considered?" His question was genuine, his eyebrows furrowed and arms crossed.
"Depends," Logan said distractingly, his prominent focus on the watch sitting at his wrist now. For merely a second, he glanced at it, before turning away to stare at the scene before him. Aside from the sea of unconscious bodies sprawled out in almost every flat area, shards of glass, bullets, and tossed knives crunched underneath their boots with every hesitant step, the club quiet outside of the loud music still playing. Logan took a deep breath in, before mumbling a semi-serious, "But I'd consider looking for other day jobs."
It was then Oliver's turn to snort, his nose and face being thrown up towards the ceiling as he guffawed. "Batman can't afford to fire us, I don't think." And it wasn't that a man who could finance the entirety of their escapades couldn't afford to attempt paying others, but more so along the lines that many weren't lining up for this job aside from them—and they all knew it.
Raja attempted to subdue his own chuckle before it erupted then, but it was to no avail, especially when he watched as both men ahead of him also began to smile. Before any additional comments could be made to prolong the positivity though, Raja's phone began screaming in his jacket pocket. He fumbled with the jacket's material briefly, before successfully being able to unearth it. His blood pressure immediately rose.
"Where the fuck are you guys?" Raja waited, although not as patiently as he should have, for a response, his grip tight on his phone. "Alyn?"
"What is she saying? What's happening?" Oliver rushed his questions, his hands a worried fray as he spoke.
"It's dead air," Raja informed the other two men, his expression hard and unwavering. Almost instantaneously, the group managed to pocket their previous lightheartedness, and instead exchanged it for professionalism.
"Turn off your microphone and do not hang up," Logan instructed expertly, his tone even. Raja obeyed the commands quickly and without question, watching with understanding as Logan began to exit the bar in the area they had last been with Noah and Angel. Even if the girls declined to speak, they knew that at the very least, Noah would be able to track the device's location.
Lake Michigan; Warehouse District
September 12, 2017
19:41
"Shit!" Alyn cursed unexpectedly, her expression stunned.
Instantly, the others turned to scrutinize the eldest, worry etched onto their faces. Before any of them had the opportunity to inquire why she appeared frantic however, she slammed her pointer finger onto her phone screen harshly.
"Shit!" She repeated with a hiss, this time far quieter than the last. "I accidentally called Raja when I dropped my phone," her exclaim was genuine, her uninjured hand returning to her tousled hair for what felt like the millionth time that night. Her eyes struggled to meet anyone else's then, especially Charlotte's, who Alyn could only assume stood there horrified.
Instead, Charlotte stunned the mother with exact words, no accusations or concerns evident from the witch's body language, "We have, at max, forty minutes."
It was at that moment they all knew that the boys would react quickly and show up, potentially killing any sense of stealth that the girls had assembled throughout the duration of their escapade. And not only that, but they were likely to reintroduce the villain with Noah when they did arrive.
Unsaid words were shared as the group returned their gazes towards the warehouse then, weapons drawn dangerously as they began their approach.
Only thirty-nine minutes to make sure that Killer Frost won't be a potential threat to Noah… I can do this, Charlotte thought, feeling the tension rise onto her shoulders and grip at her throat aggressively. We can do this… and although she wasn't the biggest fan of the emotions she was reading off of the others, she knew she had to trust them to not only protect herself but also her lover.
Her eyes flickered over onto the roof one last time then, before descending back towards her clenched hand, her fingers tight around her chosen weapon—an onyx, metallic hand fan.
"So, why did you choose the Tessen as your weapon?" The question was innocent and fell lightly from Charlotte's mother's lips, a vacancy of judgment evident. The duo sat posed outside, the park's scenery before them a golden hue as the sun began to set.
The young girl paused from eating her ice cream then, the weapon sitting proudly out next to her on her seat. With her legs dangling over the bench's edge humorously, she responded, "I dunno…"
Her mother nodded patiently, her eyes drawn to the trees in the distance. "You know," the woman started, a small smile growing on her face, "That the Tessen is the weapon of mystery. It is proper, but it is confusing as well."
Charlotte hummed as she continued to kick her feet out playfully, "Maybe. I just know that with it I can do everything!"
"Whatever do you mean?"
"I don't have to always be mean with it," Charlotte confessed with an embarrassed grin, her face turning against her mother as she continued, "If I wanted to, I could just protect myself from getting hurt! Or I could use it to take someone else's mean weapon." The child once again paused in her explanation, this time to finish her ice cream cone. Then, with an excited cheer, she resumed, this time with brightened eyes, "And I can take it everywhere with me! It isn't a weapon, not really…"
Charlotte's mother's grin evolved into something much bigger, but much more solemn as well. "You are your father's daughter, without a shadow of a doubt."
Victoria guided the others along the terrain, her feet nimble despite the freeze. There were many frigid winters in the north of Gotham, so she was very familiar with the wind's nip on her neck. Every so often though, she would glance back to scrutinize the others, their reactions to the weather encouraging her to speed up ever so slightly. Even Dani, who Victoria would describe as unreadable most days, was noticeably cold, her fingers shaking subtly around her weapon.
"Roof entrance," the archer narrated in a whisper, her face pointed West. She could only assume that's where the Amazonian had run off to, as she had a tendency to move left when they were in combat together.
She nodded then at the others, an obvious signal to go forth however they saw fit.
Almost expectantly, she waited for Yessenia's hold on her to bring her up towards the roof like they've practiced so many times before, so it caught her off guard when she was the final girl standing amongst the snow, looking up at the others almost dumbly.
Grapple gun would be too loud to deploy… her thoughts were quick, and her small toolbelt of gadgets became suddenly useless to her then. In an attempt to formulate a proper plan, she watched on in interest as Dani kicked off the ground and materialized small, azure platforms for her to step upon like stairs.
Unexpectedly, Dani turned to look at the archer with raised eyebrows. "Can I help you there Katniss Everdeen?"
"Shut up," Victoria mumbled in embarrassment, her weapon feeling even heavier than before in her grip. Her gaze remained on Dani though, who had rolled her eyes with such ease, before flicking her opposing hand out without additional consideration. Similar to before, blue platforms materialized, this time in front of Victoria instead of Dani.
Once Victoria jumped the edge of the warehouse's roof, her feet flat on the snow-covered concrete, did she take notice that there was only one hench-man joined with the squad. Despite his presence though, his eyes were closed shut, his head leaned against the chimney collecting soot.
Victoria's eyes shifted from the man to the others, but Alyn only shook her head in a suggestion that it was no one currently present that was to blame for the man's unconsciousness. The archer sighed, her only current hope being that if Yessenia is already inside, that she was at least safe.
Dani was the first to begin the process of breaking into the building, her right foot already atop the first rung of the ladder hidden behind the hatch. Before she could continue her descent though, Alyn stopped her, her eyebrows furrowed in worry.
"We cannot just leave him out here, he'll get hypothermic!"
"So?" Dani questioned in an almost confused tone. "You want me to kill him or something instead?"
"Azure!" Alyn mothered, her arms crossed as she attempted to maintain her own body heat then. "I'm serious!"
"So am I?" The two stared at one another then, Dani's free hands still quivering from being exposed to the elements. And, aside from Dani's response, the group became silent, save for the fumbling of fabrics as hands became pushed into whatever pocket was readily available to shield them from the cold.
Charlotte was the first to break the quiet, her voice steady as she spoke, "I'll stay out here with him and make sure he doesn't get hypothermic. You guys go on ahead." There was another beat of silence then, this time far shorter than the one previous.
It was the assassin who spoke first. "Good enough for me," Dani murmured, before stepping deeper into the warehouse, not waiting to see if Alyn would continue fighting their entry. Almost just as quickly, the others began piling in, but not before Victoria addressed her newest teammate.
"Keep perimeter and keep warm," she said with authority, before clipping her crossbow onto her pant's belt loop. Then just like the others, she climbed within the warehouse, her actions quiet as her feet met concrete once more.
Unknown Coordinates
September 12, 2017
19:55
Angel shook his head from side to side, an offended look crossing over his features almost instantly. His attention was focused predominantly on Raja and Oliver, who sat side by side together in the cockpit, Oliver being the sole pilot who, despite the rather tense atmosphere within the aircraft, could not help but poke fun at Angel and Noah.
"Now I know you two kiddos have a bedtime to make—" the technician would start, before attempting to come up with some sort of action plan for when they would finally make it towards their location. The plans were always half-thought out and more of a joke than anything else, but it did not stop the man from repeatedly monologing.
Angel waited for Oliver's last quip to be complete before speaking, his tone just as joking as Oliver's, "So, do you have any actual plans for this, or are the kiddos going to have to figure it out for you?" He cracked a small smile then, as did Noah.
Oliver chuckled, "Well, you two might as well do something useful tonight."
Angel shared a glance with the necromancer then, before rolling his eyes in a silent conversation. Despite his general unease with Noah, Angel found it hard to not like him, as the boy was easily the most comfortable to simply sit around with.
It's probably because we are close in age, Angel excused his fondness easily. He did not want to openly admit that, had the circumstances been different, he would have enjoyed progressing his relationship with the other teen into being more familiar, more friendly. No, I have a job to do. Batman gave me, no us, clear instructions.
In an additional effort to clear the tension, Oliver switched topics once more. "So what should I expect from your girlfriend?"
"What do you mean?" Noah questioned as he leaned forward into his seat, his chest rubbing against the seat belt almost uncomfortably. Almost immediately, he readjusted his sitting position to what he had before, this time his eyebrows more furrowed.
"... Should I be expecting a shapeshifter or something?"
"Not unless she learned a new spell she didn't tell me about yet."
There was a brief pause in which Angel inhaled too sharply to be natural, before muttering somewhat incoherently under his breath. "Please tell me you're joking, she isn't actually a witch, is she?"
Noah simply smirked in response, causing a groan to erupt from Angel's throat as he threw his hands up in exasperation. "She can be a magician, but witches aren't real!" His tone increasingly became more frustrated and shrill as he continued to proclaim, his eyes frantic as if looking for someone to agree with him.
"And neither are vampires, but here Noah is in all his microscopic glory—" Oliver suddenly teased, his gaze shifting from the windshield ahead of him to Noah. Before the technician even had time to finish his statement, Angel backed up ever so slightly from the raven-haired boy, his eyes wide with alarm.
Noah rolled his eyes. "Hey hey, I'm a necromancer. Nec-ro-man-cer. I don't do that weird blood thing."
"... Do you do any weird blood thing?" Angel asked wearily, his voice quiet. A beat of silence passed, in which the necromancer blinked awkwardly, his gaze then going towards the sky passing by on his right. "... Noah… please…" Angel begged, just as worried as before.
"Wait, Angel, can you? Like, there's water in humans, can you, like, bend it in them?" Oliver redirected, his eyes bright as he became giddy with excitement.
For the first time since the journey began, Logan entered the conversation, his fingers pressed against his temple as he spoke. "I am begging you all with everything in me to not attempt blood bending or stomach acid bending, or whatever the fuck you want to call it on one another. I won't understand, I will just be angry, and I might just let you die out of principle alone," his tone was deadpan, but it didn't stop Oliver from cackling and waving him off.
"You wouldn't actually—"
"No, you're right, I'd let Baba Yaga eat you all instead," Logan threatened with an equally cool tone, his behavior mimicking the necromancer's then as he shifted his eyes towards the windowpane located on his right.
Angel squinted his eyes suspiciously, before leaning in towards Noah to whisper, "What the fuck is a Baby Yoga?"
"Baba Yaga? She's a Russian witch," Raja muttered back before Noah had the opportunity to, his lips suppressing hysterical laughter as Angel began to fuss once more, this time with more veracity and volume than before.
Lake Michigan; Warehouse District
September 12, 2017
20:08
With a motion that could only be described as calculated with expertise, Victoria flattened her body against the wall, positioning herself in between a stack of wooden crates and the concrete behind her. Her head, with her chin overlooking her right shoulder, craned so that she could see the scaffolding perpendicular to her current location.
It was then that she could make out the faint outline of Yessenia's body, her back and shoulders even more tense than the archer's own. Victoria swallowed her impulsiveness, her whispers dying in her throat before she had the chance to call out for her friend.
What's going on with you, Yes? She thought distractingly. Before she had the opportunity to catch up with Yessenia though, she watched as the Amazonian princess disappeared behind a formerly closed door. "Oh shit," Victoria murmured quietly, scooting herself out from her hiding place inch by inch.
Once free, Victoria pulled herself on top of the wooden crate she had previously hidden behind, her eyes quickly surveying the floor below her. Perhaps half a dozen henchmen, maybe more, were sitting at a table together, cards in hands as they bitterly smoked. She took in a deep breath.
There is no way I'd be able to jump onto that platform without alerting them that we are here, Victoria thought. Despite her own internal statement however, she decided that crossing was well worth the risk, especially if Yessenia were to be caught by Killer Frost. The archer greedily took in another breath as she dried her sweaty palms on her jeans, before jumping up to grab at the piping above her.
Okay, okay, don't look down, Victoria instructed herself, her gaze strong on the opposing wall. It was not as if the girl was afraid of heights, but rather that she was sure that if she looked down at the men below her once more, that they would suddenly become acutely aware of her presence, before shooting her down like a duck in sport.
Victoria's heartbeat hammered in her ears as she re-positioned her hands on the metal then, allowing herself to become parallel to the level. With the quietest of squeaks, the archer swung her body backward briefly to gain the momentum to hop over the railing. Almost immediately upon her feet making contact with the crated flooring, a soft thud echoed out. Instantly, she rolled closer to the door and out of frame of the men's gaze.
"Did you hear that?"
Victoria froze, her eyes wide in panic.
Yessenia bit the inside of her cheek almost painfully, her teeth barely a centimeter from connecting with one another as she chewed anxiously. It was far too late for her to admit that she was in over her head, especially when she knew that she could hear the others sneaking around behind her.
But I have to be the one to find Killer Frost, Yessenia thought bravely, her head rising ever so lately in response, I have to prove to my team that I'm still the powerhouse. I have to prove that I'm still a worthy friend.
Yessenia shook her insecurities away, if only for a moment so that she could gather the courage to enter the room ahead of her. With hesitation now vacant from her actions, the girl twisted the doorknob silently, pushing the barrier open just enough for her to squeeze through. Almost instantly, it seemed as if the temperature dropped an additional twenty degrees, her breaths now coming out in white wisps like before.
"—You think what she said about Death is true?" The words came from the room she had just left, her ears annoyingly not keeping up with her. She stifled an annoyed groan, and softly beat at her temple with a limp fist, seemingly begging herself to focus on the task ahead of her. She stalked forward.
"He's Death. And besides, you've seen the phantom! Ain't no way he's—" Yessenia hit the side of her head again, perhaps a bit more roughly than she should have.
Focus. Find Frost. She all but commanded herself, her nails now digging into her palms instead of beating at her head. If nothing else, she had assumed she was going in the right direction, with each step progressively getting more frostbitten than the next.
Yessenia ducked out of view suddenly, her knees barely missing a protruding box as she did so. Out of the corner of her eye, and at a distance not easily scaled, Yessenia could make out the back of Killer Frost's glacier hair. Her eyes narrowed as she inspected the surrounding area briefly, before she took a quiet step forward just as she had done previously.
"Did you hear that?"
Once again, the voice came from behind her in the room she had just escaped, and it startled the girl more than she would have cared to admit. Her footing stumbled slightly, an echoing thud ringing out as she had corrected herself on the wall next to her. She barely had time to roll out of the open before the villainess spun on her heels.
If one could hear silence, that noise would be deafening then. Yessenia, who had slapped a hand over her mouth to remain quiet, closed her eyes tightly as she willed her ears towards Killer Frost's location. Her heart hammered too loudly, her breathing running almost too fast for her own good.
Please just focus on Frost. Just Frost. But despite her pleas, the girl couldn't dictate her ears' focus, as it seemingly paid too much attention to everything and anything else. She could hear the wind outside howling loudly, and she could make out Alyn's voice whispering towards someone else behind five closed doors, but she couldn't convince herself to think of Frost.
She smacked her temple again, her eyes still screwed shut. Before she could repeat the action however, she was interrupted by that same commanding tone from before, "—You heard her, be on standby, go to your positions immediately."
Great.
* Unknown Coordinates
September 12, 2017
20:10
"So, I know I was joking around earlier, but does anyone actually have a concrete plan?" Oliver asked suddenly, his voice now professional. His gaze lifted up from the control panel in front of him and slid onto the others expectantly then, his eyes hovering on Raja the longest, as they normally did. The two stared at one another.
The Muslim man was beside himself currently, his stoicism being replaced with confusion and dependency. The injured knuckles that he was previously tapping away on pulled tightly into a fist then, "I honestly don't know what to expect when we get there."
And there it was. The hidden honesty behind the statement that they were all thinking. Are we going into a situation in which the girls are okay? They called us, but no one was able to communicate with us. Why? Angel chewed at the end of his thumb, his eyebrows furrowed.
"I can't believe the girls ran off in the first place…" Angel murmured, "Especially since the last time any of us came face-to-face with Frost we left with major injuries."
No one looked over at Noah, but eyes became downcast at the thought of Alyn and McKenzie. The necromancer almost forgot that he didn't reveal to the team, even the medic, that he had not felt warmth since his previous encounter with the villain. Even when the team was stationed back at the base, his hands still shook in chilled pain, perhaps moreso then than now. He looked up at Oliver.
"ETA?" He asked the technician.
"Two minutes, maybe three," Oliver informed. "If you want to suit up, now would probably be your only option to."
Angel nodded then, his hands fixing a mask on his face. He seemed distracted then as he continued thinking, refusing to admit that he was worried about any of them. "Okay, step one will be securing the scene and making sure that we have no casualties or major injuries," Angel attempted to take back his mission, his hands making quick work to secure his tanned water pouch to his hip. "Start with perimeter and then move in. We will meet at the center unless we are directed otherwise—"
Raja spared a quick glance over at Logan as Angel continued his speech, the monologue happening in the background. Instead of applying additional layers or gathering some sort of mask, the Russian had chose to discard his jacket instead, the clothing laying messily at his feet. Raja's nose turned up at the smell of alcohol.
"Hey," he whispered faintly in Logan's direction, his words barely audible as to not interrupt the others or draw attention, "You going to be able to wear that?" He leaned in closer then, and tried not to be offended when Logan created distance.
After a moment of intense consideration, in which Raja was immensely grateful that the other did not have Superman's harsh gaze, Logan nodded stiffly.
"Alright, we're at the drop off point." Raja stood from his seat, his now-gloved hands bringing his scarf from around his neck to cover the lower part of his face. His eyes have yet to slide off Logan, and he watched as the other swallowed thickly, his hands slightly shaking as he procured his jacket back on.
Angel was the first to exit the backside of the jet, his knees bending slightly as he landed in perhaps a foot and a half of snow. He glanced back up at the others and provided them with a thumbs up, which Oliver took into consideration quickly. He was the next to jump, his hand placing cover for his weapon.
The remaining three seemed to follow instantaneously then, them all landing in the snow seemingly milliseconds after one another. It was quick work then as Noah disappeared into the shadowed woods, his figure reappearing in front of Oliver and Angel, who had already crossed a considerable distance towards a warehouse. Just as Raja was beginning his own hike, he heard a sharp inhale of air behind him.
Raja turne and watched as Logan subtly winced, the Russian's eyes slowly shutting as his jaw slightly trembled to match. He had almost immediately been left behind by the others as they took off, stomping out snow with each step that they took, but he could not bring himself to take off after them without Logan. Hesitantly, he reached forward, his fingers barely brushing up against Logan's jacket.
"Please don't," the Russian muttered, his eyes still closed, "You reek of vodka."
Fifteen minutes. It had been fifteen minutes since the Russian had first stumbled onto the plot of land, an almost too empty of a bottle being held tightly in his fist. He stared hard at the abandoned grave marker in front of him, words struggling to come out.
He took in a deep and shuddering breath, but he wasn't sure if that was the fault of the below-freezing climate or of the terror and unease he was wrestling with. He tipped the bottle's head up to his lips and took a sharp swing of the alcohol one last time.
He took in a shuddering breath.
"You fucking ruined me," he settled.
He felt guilty then, heat rising to his face as his cheeks and ears flushed red. He would have never been able to say that out loud to the man, not without immediate consequences followed quickly behind even after just the curse alone.
Logan tried to stifle the tremors, his gaze dropping towards his gloved hands. "I—," he stammered, eyes screwed shut as if anticipating a physical attack. "You—," he tried instead. "You—," he repeated, this time with added unshed tears accentuating his eyes.
He wiped at his face aggressively, trying to ignore the fact that his nose was beginning to drip. "Do you know how ashamed I feel right now?" The words were once again just a settle. "My team, my friends, they—they saw what I did to you. What you kept doing to me. They—"
He began to feel the wetness of the snow on his calves and became acutely aware of how uncomfortable his hat was then. He stiffly swallowed the bile that was creeping up his throat. "Tori hugged me for the first time after that, and instead of being able to…to, appreciate her kindness, I recoiled, I pushed her away so that I could go and—," he stopped, not wanting to admit to his father that he then spent the remainder of his night belligerently and convulsively weeping whilst fully clothed in the shower, unable to feel anything less than soiled.
That was when the first struggling gasp escaped him, a sob threatening to follow. "How am I supposed to go back? They know, they know I'm—," he gripped the bottle tighter, his eyebrows furrowing. "They saw that I just let you use me. I did nothing when your hands… I just—I always told people that my dad died serving his country, because I couldn't tell them that I ended your pathetic existence myself because you were a god damned faggot who couldn't stop yourself from touching your fucking kid."
His bravery soon died on his tongue, his stammers returning as he unclenched and clenched the bottle in his hands more frequently, anger pooling in his veins. "And in the end, despite you being gone, I'm still constantly getting fucked by you."
By the time he reached the final profanity, which had been spat out with such thick malice, he had begun to yell loudly, the vodka container in his hand feeling heavier than it did before. Then, without additional thought, the bottle had been pitched, the glass shattering on the edge of the gravestone.
The Russian couldn't help his trembling jaw or the sting from his unshed tears then, the horror of what he had said finally setting in. The slur had been so quick out of his mouth and was said with such ease that it seemingly, and almost instantly, sobered him completely. His chest continued to rise angrily then as he lowered his arm, his shoulders releasing their previous tension.
"Oh." And then, all at once, the dam inside him crumbled. "Oh my God." Here he was, angry, drunk, and fighting his internal homophobia with the only way he knew how. "God, I'm just, I'm just like you, I—"
He paused in an attempt to stop himself from choking on his own words then, his palms tight against his shut eyes as tears melted the snow from off his gloves. His chest was heaving in agony as hiccups interrupted even his own sobs, the stench of vodka on his jacket causing the boy to shake in panic. "I even—I even reek of—, " he didn't allow himself to finish before he stripped himself of his jacket, incoherent yells following suit as he dropped to his knees in front of his father's grave.
Raja knew that the medic's statement wasn't made out of observation or cruelty, but rather out of explanation, however minimal.
He slowly retracted his hand. "What can I do to help you?"
His question was met with a shaky intake of air.
"Is everything okay back there?" Oliver's voice suddenly rang out through the commlinks. Raja was forever grateful then that it was just the two of them left behind, as Logan steadied his footing, his arms throwing his jacket off of him once more that night. The fabric cluttered the snow with its darkened color.
Logan pressed a finger to his ear and confidently spoke then, "Fine. We are following footprints up the West end. Flanking perimeter."
"You're impressive. I almost believed you," Raja said, his tone just as formal.
"Nothing not to believe. Look," and with that, Raja noticed the faintest of footsteps leading the opposite way. Had he not been directed to their location, the Indian man would have never assumed they were there, as the snow had already been disguising them from view.
Raja strained his gaze to follow the prints, his eyes squinted. "You noticed this while panicking?"
"I was trying to think of something else to focus on," Logan admitted under his breath, before ushering Raja to follow him around the area.
Thank you guys for being patient with me, I appreciate it. I know it's been a while since my last update, but I didn't necessarily have the time to write until now. Due to the time in between updates though, I'm sure you all have different ideas revolving around your characters, so the questions for this chapter will pertain to that!
1. I have received updates around some of the characters' sexualities. Please indicate your character and their current sexuality (it doesn't have to change whatsoever, but in case you forgot which one you put in their original application, go ahead and reiterate which one you want me to follow now).
2. Styles have also changed between my previous update and now. Any wardrobe changes? Anything your character would be opposed to?
3. I have ideas for characters, but have limited developing them because I do not wish to offend/override you. Would you be comfortable with me developing things outside of your established canon? What would be a hard no for your character, if there is something you're against?
