Hunters of Justice (RWBY/DC)
Chapter 26: No Haven
November 14th, 6:00 AM
10,000 feet above Ruins of Blüdhaven
With the tip of her tongue poking out of the corner of her mouth, Ruby sat on one of the side seats inside the Javelin and remained focused on the scroll held in her hand. She was playing a game to pass the time as they flew from Gotham to Blüdhaven, a trip that wouldn't normally take too long, but they were taking a longer route in order to try and thwart any would-be sensors the League of Shadows might've emplaced. They doubted anything bad would happen, but it was better to be safe than sorry.
Not that Ruby minded. In fact, she appreciated the fact that they were taking their time. She was almost about the beat the latest Gym, and this fight was proving to be excitingly difficult.
"Come on, Nox. You can do it," Ruby muttered under her breath as she 'ordered' her Zubat to use a Poison Sting on Misty's Staru. Wondering what Ruby was so focused on, Weiss leaned over to get a closer look, then scoffed and rolled her eyes.
"Why Zubats are your favorite Pokémon is beyond me," Weiss stated in a joking tone, causing Ruby to break her attention away from her game to lightly glare at Weiss.
"Oh yeah? Then what's yours?" Ruby asked, certain that Weiss wouldn't be able to provide a satisfactory answer.
"Ralts," Weiss answered immediately. Ruby's retort vanished on her lips, and she thought for a moment. Weiss saw this and smirked lightly. "What, so I can't enjoy a nice game, too?"
"No, no, that's not what I…" Ruby stopped, then took a deep breath and sighed while Weiss giggled. "Anyway, I just like the Zubat line. I think they're neat."
"I like Torchics!" Yang added with a chuckle from the copilot's seat as Green Arrow helped guide her along. The heroes figured that, with all the practice Yang had been getting, now was a good time to get some actual flight experience on her belt. One by one, the unoccupied members of Team RWBY turned their heads to look at Blake, who was silently reading a book on her scroll to pass the time. Her ears twitched as she finally noticed the attention she was getting, and upon glancing up to see everyone looking at her, she sighed and placed her scroll on her lap.
"If you must know, Gastly," Blake quickly answered, then turned back to her book. Ruby smiled, then turned back to her game. Weiss chuckled, then sat straight on her chair once again.
"Try to hurry up, Ruby. We're almost there," Weiss said, and Ruby quickly nodded, her gaze never leaving her scroll.
"I know, I know. I'm almost done," Ruby replied, her fingers bouncing off the buttons as fast as she could go. Satisfied with her partner's answer, Weiss looked around the cabin towards the various monitors detailing their current location. They were several hundred feet above Blüdhaven, hidden well within the thick layer of clouds that seemed to hang perpetually over the entire area. Shown as thin blue lines, topography maps of Blüdhaven were displayed, showing ruined buildings and bombed-out structures. Time had not been kind to the city, that much was certain.
More importantly to the former heiress, she focused on the distinct lack of heat signatures that would indicate a human presence in the city ruins. It was as though Blüdhaven was truly abandoned, but now she and the others had ample reason to find that suspect. There were obviously some kind of jammers down in the ruins, blocking any attempts to peek inside, which was the primary reason why they hadn't begun their insertion.
"Anything yet, Arrow?" Black Canary asked as she walked over to lean against the back of Green Arrow's chair.
"Sensors can't find any SAM sites or anti-air guns. We're safe, for now, but I don't like it," Green Arrow replied, a small frown crossing his face. The older, experienced superhero felt his instincts screaming at him, but so long as they stayed above the cloud layer, they should be fine. Still, they had to set down eventually, otherwise this entire mission would be a waste.
"We'll stay up for another five minutes, then we'll find a safe place to land," Green Arrow finally said. His girlfriend and partner nodded, then walked back towards the cabin to take a seat next to Blake and opposite Weiss. The air was silent for a moment, outside of the dull hum of jet engines rumbling outside, and Blake felt her attention slowly shift from her book towards Black Canary. The elder blonde noticed this almost immediately, and chuckled.
"What, cat got your tongue?" Black Canary joked. Upon seeing Blake's unamused stare, Black Canary suddenly remembered a key detail about Blake's heritage and winced. "Wait, sorry."
After a moment, Blake sighed. "No, it's fine." The Faunus attempted to turn her attention back to her book, but now she found that she couldn't. A question she'd been meaning to ask was wracking her brain, and it wouldn't let her rest. Finally, with a sigh, she saved her progress and closed her scroll. Blake figured it was time to put it away, anyway, so instead she turned her attention towards Black Canary.
"Actually, I have a question," Blake stated.
"Shoot," Black Canary replied, cracking her neck in anticipation.
"When we first met," Blake began, "you…screamed at us with enough force to shatter glass. Was that your metagene?"
"Yes, actually," Black Canary answered with a smile. "I call it my Canary Cry. It's about ten times stronger than the strongest sonic weapons currently on the market. Could bend steel, if I wanted to. But, doing that makes my throat hurt like hell, so I don't do it often."
"I bet." Blake winced, not wanting to imagine the condition of a person's throat after screaming that powerfully yet still doing so. The Faunus then cleared her throat and turned back towards Black Canary. "If you don't mind me asking, how'd you awaken them?"
"Actually, I was born with them," Black Canary answered. Seeing the younger girl's confused expression, Black Canary smiled and shook her head. "Here's the thing about the metagene, Blake. It's not always random. Sometimes, they can be passed on. For me, my Canary Cry came from my mother, the first Black Canary."
"Oh, so the metagene can be inherited?" Weiss asked, perking up and giving rapt attention to the discussion at hand. "Just like my family's Semblance. I take it it's not common?"
"Depending on what it is," Black Canary admitted. "Even then, it's not always guaranteed that the inherited powers are exactly like the parents'. You know Black Lightning?"
"Yes, but not in any significant way," Weiss replied, and Black Canary nodded.
"Well, he has two daughters around your age, both of whom inherited his powers. But theirs are completely different. His eldest, Thunder, can alter density at will, while his youngest, Lightning, can generate electricity. He himself can only manipulate, store, and alter electricity. Goes to show that metahumans are a wild and varied bunch."
"You're telling me," Blake said. "Honestly, some of the powers and mutations people have on this planet make the wildest Semblances on Remnant seem tame."
"I've actually been putting some thought into that," Weiss pointed out. "About the power discrepancy between the humans of Earth and Remnantians. Both species have a similar biology and even access to a metagene, which if I remember correctly, was previously exclusive only to Earth, correct?"
"Yeah, that's right. The other species in the galaxy that have fantastic powers tend to have a universal set while humans are much, much more varied and rarer," Black Canary clarified, and Weiss nodded.
"Yes, just what I thought. Regardless, I can't help but compare and contrast the powers of Earth and the powers Remnant."
"And? Don't leave us hanging, Weiss-Cream," Yang called out. "Also, Ruby? Get off your game. We're about to drop below the cloud layer."
"Alright, just let me save," Ruby said, beating the Gym Leader and quickly pressing through the dialogue so that she could save and power off without losing progress.
"Anyway," Weiss continued, "I've found that the best comparison I can make between Remnant and Earth is that of two neighboring peaks on a mountain. One, Earth, is much narrower and starts lower on the mountain, yet extends high into the sky. The other, Remnant, is much broader and starts higher up, but the peak doesn't go as far as Earth's."
"I think I see what you mean," Black Canary hummed, rubbing her chin while leaning forward. "So, what you're saying is that while Remnant had a lot more people capable of having powers and the baseline was much higher than Earths, the upper-levels of Earth were much greater than that of Remnant's?"
"Precisely." Weiss nodded, then raised a solitary finger. "Not including Superman, Martian Manhunter, or any other alien who calls Earth home, nothing on Remnant compared to the strongest heroes and villains Earth has to offer. I suspect the Grimm were the cause of the power discrepancy, in some form or fashion. I don't have any evidence to back it up, but I wouldn't be surprised if, at one point in Remnant's history, we were extremely similar to Earth and its people. Then, when the Grimm attacked, only the people with the Aura metagene survived to have kids, drowning out any other potential metagene sources that could've been there. Eventually, everyone on Remnant could have Aura, and while that in and of itself provided many strengths and variations, it potentially excluded us from many other sources of power."
"Hm, interesting," Black Canary murmured. "Next time you see J'onn, try bringing this up with him. He loves this kind of stuff."
Weiss smiled. "Thank you, I think I will." The heiress moved to continue their discussion, only for Ruby to suddenly shout.
"Got it!" Ruby said, smiling happily while pocketing her scroll in her HAZMAT suit's pocket. Upon seeing the slightly exasperated looks on her teammates' faces, Ruby cheekily smiled and tilted her head. "I am now saved."
"Good," Weiss dryly replied, rolling her eyes. "Glad that's all—"
Weiss was stopped when an alarm began to blare from inside the Javelin's cockpit. The superheroes shot their attention towards it, and a second later, a loud explosion went off in front of the aircraft.
"Damn!" Green Arrow cursed as he swerved the aircraft away from the anti-aircraft fire. "Yang, get in back! Canary, get over here!"
Without saying a word, Yang jumped out of her seat just as Black Canary ran over and sat herself down. AA fire continued to explode around them, occasionally joined by a few missiles that they had to roll away from.
"What's going on?" Ruby asked, sealing her helmet onto her suit and strapping herself into her seat as her teammates did the same.
"The League of Shadows," Blake said quietly, flinching as more explosions sounded around them. "It was a trap the whole time. They were waiting for us."
"Yeah, no shit!" Yang sarcastically replied, loading Ember Celica in anticipation of a fight breaking out as soon as they landed. If they landed, she had to remind herself as the Javelin continued to dodge. During a particularly heavy swerve, Yang and the rest of Team RWBY held onto their chairs tightly despite their safety harnesses. Even then, they felt the g-forces press against their bodies, and they all grunted in discomfort.
"We've got missiles locking onto us!" Green Arrow shouted over the chaos, trying to escape with the Javelin intact. The sound of bullets ripping through the Javelin's wings were telling him that wasn't happening.
"Launching flares!" Black Canary replied, watching as yet another missile veered off course and exploded harmlessly in the atmosphere. To her alarm, the explosion was much closer this time, and they didn't have very many flares left. Green Arrow noticed this as well, and he scowled deeply.
"Girls, secure yourselves! We're aborting!" Green Arrow called out. Yang wanted to protest, but as another shockwave rocked their vessel, she knew it was the right call. She didn't have to be happy about it, though.
The Javelin began to rapidly climb towards the layer of clouds above. AA-fire and missiles trailed after them, trying to shoot the League aircraft down. Green Arrow and Black Canary bobbed and weaved to the best of their ability, but the field of shrapnel was too great. The jet engines became riddled with holes and the thrust began to sputter. Despite increasing their throttle, the engines slowly failed, and as though in slow motion, Yang watched as a lone missile moved towards them. At the last second, Black Canary and Green Arrow rotated the Javelin, causing the missile to strike the wing and shred it off.
They began to freefall, rotating horizontally in a death spiral as small objects flew around the cabin. Green Arrow and Black Canary tried to maintain control, but to no avail. The Javelin was going to crash, taking them down with it. From behind their helmets, Team RWBY shot each other quick glances, then all nodded at once.
"Arrow, Canary, come on! We're leaving!" Ruby shouted as she unhooked herself from her seat. Immediately, her body flew off the seat and struck the ceiling, but she was able to get a grip on a cupboard and prevent herself from flailing all over the place. From her position, she saw Weiss stabilize herself and Yang with her Glyphs, while Blake nimbly scaled the walls of the aircraft to help Green Arrow and Black Canary move towards them.
"Where's your parachutes?" Black Canary asked, grabbing her helmet as it flew towards her and putting it on her head in one deft motion. Green Arrow did the same, and silently Blake had to admit the maneuver was impressive.
"No time," she admitted. "We're going to jump."
"Are you insane?!" Green Arrow barked. "From this height?!"
"No, and yes." Despite the situation they were in, Blake couldn't help but smirk. "Don't worry, this isn't our first landing strategy."
"The fact that you people name this is concerning!" Black Canary noted, and Yang grinned.
"That's the spirit!" she exclaimed, moving herself towards an emergency release hatch. They watched as the altitude continued to drop. Three-hundred feet, then two-hundred feet. Finally, when the altimeter read one-hundred feet off the ground, Yang pulled the hatch, causing the door to explode from its hinges and shoot way. The heroes, already placed in front of the door, immediately jumped out one by one. Soon, six multi-colored bodies were in freefall, rapidly descending towards the ruins below. AA fire continued to trace the crashing aircraft, and to their relief, none seemed to notice them.
"There!" Ruby pointed towards a ruined apartment complex. From what they could see, nothing was firing out of it, making it appear to be an ideal landing zone. Nothing about their landing strategy was ideal, of course, but Ruby preferred to look at the brighter side of things. Around her, the heroes focused their attention on Ruby's chosen spot, and each stated their agreement towards the site. They angled their bodies towards it and formed a slight arrow-shape. A dull explosion sounded behind them, revealing that the Javelin had crashed, but they forced themselves not to pay attention.
When they got close, each hero reacted differently. Ruby spread her cape wide, allowing her to wobblily glide towards their destination. Blake, meanwhile, threw her grapnel towards a nearby outcropping, allowing her to swing to a gentle stop after several quick steps. Yang, grinning to herself, did a similar action to her partner, firing multiple grappling hooks to slow her descent considerably. Had her Dust rounds been available, she would've simply used the recoil to redirect her descent, but nothing on Earth was that powerful yet.
Weiss, meanwhile, gracefully formed a series of platforms that both slowed her descent and allowed her to bounce to safety. Black Canary, spreading her arms and legs wide, shouted at the top of her lungs towards the ground, the sound waves pushing back against her body and slowing her enough to where she was able to land onto the ground with a roll. She landed on her feet, and soon she spotted Green Arrow firing a line arrow into a building both in front of him and behind at the same time. He was using his bow as a zip line, using his momentum to carry up the line at first, then he began to slow down and reverse towards the ground below.
One by one, each hero landed on the ground, immediately pulling out their weapons and scanning the area for any signs of movement. They found none, then regrouped and panted heavily. Their eyes made contact from behind their polarized helmets, and RWBY could feel the inquisitive looks the older heroes were giving them.
"So," Yang finally said after a momentary pause, "how was your first landing strategy?"
"… Fine, all things considered," Green Arrow admitted. He took another look around the ruined building, then frowned. "Let's find a better spot. One that's less…exposed."
Green Arrow watched as another patrol of assassins ran through the streets. They were clad in black protective gear, obviously meant to shield them from the harmful effects of radiation, and each had their clandestine organization's logo stamped into the material. It was a pointed, horned skull encased in a circle, and as with the rest of their armor, was completely black. Had it not been for his own suit's optics, he doubted he would've seen it in the first place.
'Why so many criminal organizations feel the need to have brand recognition is beyond me,' Green Arrow thought, shaking his head while bringing his bow to his chest. He pulled back on the string, an arrow nocked and ready to fire as soon as the patrol even thought about turning towards them.
"Second Blade, report," Green Arrow's suit picked up the League's transmission. The patrol stopped, and the apparent leader brought his finger to his head while lowering his suppressed rifle to his hip.
"Lady Shiva, there's no sign of them," he reported. That was good, it meant they hadn't spotted them yet. "Shall we continue our search?"
"Indeed, you shall. But not where you presently are. Continue to sector nine," Lady Shiva's voice came through the comms channel. Green Arrow frowned. Lady Shiva was one of the League of Shadow's top assassins. If she was here, that meant this operation was of critical importance. If getting shot down wasn't proof enough, this was the clincher.
"Yes, my Lady." The assassin's comms shut off, and with a quick series of nods, the assassins ran off, nimbly bouncing from various surfaces towards the rooftops across from them and out of sight. Only when Green Arrow could no longer see or hear them did he finally relax, letting out a breath he didn't even know he was holding. He released the tension in his bow, then stepped back into the ruined apartment complex and walked back towards his comrades.
With their Javelin shot down on the other side of the city, the heroes had managed to find a relatively safe haven in a bombed-out apartment complex. The words 'Arcadia Commons' could be seen in faded outlines where a neon sign once stood. Green Arrow couldn't help but sigh. As much as he acknowledged that Blüdhaven, back when it was still a thing, was one of the worst cities to live in, it was still home to thousands of people. It had existed for centuries, and in less than a day, it was gone. Wiped off the map and completely lifeless. It was a damn tragedy.
Still, he couldn't ruminate on the past. Right now, he had a job to do.
"Any luck on talking to the Watchtower?" Green Arrow asked. Crouching in a corner, Weiss and Black Canary shook their heads, their fingers pressed tightly to the sides of their heads.
"Nothing," Weiss said. "We're being jammed, that much is obvious."
"Why hasn't the League sent people down here yet?" Yang asked. "It's been almost an hour since we were shot down."
"If I had to guess," Black Canary began, "it's the very same jammers that are blocking our communications. The Watchtower might not even know we've been shot down. Even then, I wouldn't be surprised if the jammers and the radiation is playing havoc on the teleporter."
"So, what you're saying is that we're alone?" Blake asked. When Black Canary nodded, the Faunus frowned and looked away. Clenching her fist, she stood up and walked towards Ruby, who herself was laying prone next to a shattered window. Ruby was looking through her scope, scanning for any signs of activity, but so far she found nothing.
"Ruby?" Blake called out. "You find anything?"
"Nope," Ruby replied, popping the 'p'. "Can't tell yet if that's good or bad yet."
"How so?"
"I mean, obviously them shooting at us is bad and all, but if they were, we might be able to figure out what to do next."
Blake paused, the nodded. "That's fair."
The Faunus then turned back to face the others. Despite their helmets masking their expressions, Blake knew they were all unsure of what to do. Truth be told, she didn't know either, and so she patiently waited for someone to make the first move. Overhead, they heard the rotors of a helicopter pass overhead, shining a spotlight onto various buildings in an effort to flush them out. All of them had concealed themselves carefully, preventing the helicopter from spotting them. As it flew away, each of the heroes watched it go, and soon Green Arrow stood up and walked before them.
"We can't stay here," he declared. "That much is obvious. But, with our comms jammed, there's no way to call in evac. So, as much as I don't like saying this, we're going to have to keep going."
"Right," Ruby called out from her perch. "I think…our best course of action is to find those jammers. We shut those down, we can call the Watchtower for help."
"Any luck finding those?" Yang asked, but Ruby shook her head.
"Not yet," the Red Reaper admitted. "But, I do see a lot of helicopters circling an area about a mile from us. It could be a good place to start, if nothing else."
"Well, we don't have anything else to go after," Green Arrow said, sighing to himself and shaking his head. He then turned towards the rest of the group, holding his bow and arrow in front of him. "You girls ready?"
Yang was the first to stand up and nodded. "Yep."
"I recommend staying street level," Blake added, checking Gambol Shroud with a quick pull of the barrel. "More cover that way."
The others agreed, and soon all six heroes were on the ground level of the apartment complex. Their eyes were focused on the sky, which had the faint light of the sun begin to peak over the horizon. Although they would normally view that as a good thing, right now the darkness was their greatest source of cover. Once the sun was up, stealth would be that much harder.
When the coast was clear, the heroes sprinted across the street and into a building opposite them. What the building used to be, they couldn't tell. All they cared about was that it had a partially standing roof and walls, which offered them enough cover to carefully traverse the city unimpeded. The heroes snuck their way through the building, past shattered corridors and through long-since decayed doorways into an alleyway behind the building. After checking for any patrols, the heroes stayed close to the wall and continued moving.
As they neared the exit to an alleyway, however, Blake suddenly stopped as her Aura tingled and held up her hand, her usually reliable ears futilely twitching under her helmet. Her comrades stopped immediately, none of them making a sound so that Blake could concentrate. She then motioned for them to hide, and so they threw themselves behind some dumpsters just as a small patrol of assassins appeared at the front of the alleyway. The assassins had their rifles at the ready, each one shining a bright flashlight into the empty space between them.
"See anything?" one of them asked, a woman judging by the sound of her voice.
"Thought I heard something," another said, this one more clearly a man. He motioned for his compatriots to follow, and the three assassins slowly entered the alleyway with their rifles trained forward. Their flashlights arced along the ground and walls, trying to find anything of interest. At the same time, the heroes braced themselves, the Remnantians putting their fingers on their triggers while Green Arrow crouched down and pulled back two arrows on his bow. The lights grew more intense as the assassins grew closer, and everyone knew that a fight was about to break out. The only question was who would be the first to strike.
Determined to be the first, Green Arrow waited until the tip of the first assassin's rifle poked out from beside his dumpster. Then, in one fluid motion, he broke cover, tripping the assassin with a sweep of his leg then fired both arrows into one target's chest each. The assassins' bodies spasmed as electricity coursed through them, allowing the other heroes to pile on top of them and wrestle their weapons away.
The entire action took less than three seconds. Soon, all three assassins were tied to a broken pipe, their feet bound together and their hands above and behind their heads. Each were glaring at the heroes with complete hatred and disgust, which didn't concern the heroes at all. Instead, they were crouching before them, aiming their weapons at the villains' heads while searching their persons for anything they could use.
"Found something," Yang said as he pulled out a folded piece of paper. She unfurled it, revealing a hand-drawn map of the Blüdhaven ruins. Yang broke into a small smile as she began to make out various sites of key interest scattered around the city. Communication jammers, AA-turrets, SAM launchers, and most importantly, a central storage area near the docks that was heavily fortified. If she was a betting woman, that was undoubtedly where the League of Shadows were keeping the Grimm. Black Canary then walked over to Yang, who silently handed her the map and allowed her to take a look.
"Thanks, boys," Black Canary told the nervous assassins, then she threw out her leg and kicked them all in the head, knocking all out. "There, that'll hold them for a while."
"I already took out their cyanide pills," Weiss pointed out, frowning deeply. That was the first thing they took from them, as the last thing they wanted was for the fanatics to kill themselves before they could be questioned. That proved to be harder than anticipated, hence why they shifted towards searching for anything physical they could use. The fact that someone would be willing to eat cyanide just to avoid capture was sickening to the former heiress, and part of her wondered if every League assassin was willing to go that far. It was a disturbing thought, one she didn't prefer to dwell on. Neither did the others for that matter, so none felt the need to bring it up again.
"Alright, I found the closest jammer to us," Black Canary declared as she scanned the map into her suit's HUD. She then spread it to the rest of the team, and a small mini-map appeared on the bottom right of their visors. The superhero then crumpled the map and threw it into the dumpster, and after one final check to ensure the assassins weren't going anywhere, the heroes continued down the alleyway and ducked into a nearby building.
Judging by the emptied shelves and cashier desks, this building used to be a grocery store. Long-since faded scorch marks and bullet holes lined the walls, and occasionally they could see bare skeletons laying crumpled on the floor, scorch marks lining the bones where Parademons clearly shot them with plasma cannons.
"Arrow, Canary," Ruby quietly spoke as they passed through this hallowed space, "did you two fight in the Darkseid War?"
The two older heroes paused, then slowly nodded. Green Arrow then said, "I had only been on the scene for a few weeks at that point. Hadn't even met Black Canary yet. That week was…the most harrowing of my entire life. I couldn't even count how many times I thought I was going to die."
"Same," Black Canary whispered. "I took part in the Battle of Gotham City. So many innocent lives lost, and all for what? Just so a mad god could get more power? It was all so pointless."
"Thank the Gods you all stopped him," Yang spoke quietly. And she meant that, not just because she had grown to care about Earth and its people since she arrived. Perhaps a bit more selfishly, Yang knew that had Earth failed in repelling Darkseid, the entire universe, including Remnant, would fall to his whims. They would've fallen years before Brainiac ever found them. It was a disquieting notion, all of their fates being determined by a conflict somewhere light years away that they were never even aware existed, let alone able to do anything about. It only made her more determined to make every difference she could.
The heroes continued making their way towards the nearest jammer, which if their HUD's scales were correct, was still nearly a mile away. At the pace they were going, it would take at least an hour to get there, and by then the light of the sun would be blazing over the horizon. But they couldn't afford to go any faster. If they tried, the risk of being spotted and attacked rose exponentially. Odds were destroying the jammer would catch the League's attention, but at least then they could prepare and fortify their position. Better to be attacked prepared than attacked off-guard.
Yet, as they continued their trek, Blake couldn't help but feel as though someone was watching them. Not with malicious intent but…something else that she couldn't quite describe. The rest of the heroes felt the same, but none of them could see or hear anything. If anything was watching them, it didn't feel the need to make itself known for now. Still, they kept their guards up. If anything tried to come after them, they'd be ready.
Their target was found in the ruins of a bombed-out school. The ceiling had a massive hole in its center, allowing soft rain to fall on the cracked tile floors. In the back of the hole was the jamming device, surrounded by dozens of heavily armed League of Shadows assassins. Her helmet's HUD highlighted infrared laser sights attached to their rifles, and on a few she could make out swords and knives strapped onto their persons.
"Alright, we take this nice and slow," Green Arrow whispered. On the other side of the compound, nestled between some craggy chunks of concrete, Blake saw Green Arrow looking towards her. Her HUD was outlining his body with green, but even then her innate night vision made it easier to see. Not that it would be much of an advantage soon. The Sun would be up at any moment, so they had to take out this jammer quickly. Blake swiveled her head, spotting where each member of her team was located. Ruby was in a partially destroyed apartment complex overlooking the school, aiming down Crescent Rose to provide sniper support. Yang and Weiss were on ground level at the western side, prepared to insert themselves into the fray as soon as things went hot. Blake herself was on the south end, Green Arrow on the north, and Black Canary finally took up the east. They had the assassins completely surrounded, and that wasn't even including the traps they'd set around the perimeter just in case they were spotted. Now that they were as prepared as they could've been, it was the best time to press their advantage.
With her belly firmly touching the ground, Blake began to crawl inch by inch towards the school. She avoided taking the most direct path, knowing that although it would be the easiest to traverse, it would also present the most opportunities for the assassins to spot her. They'd prefer to prevent that from happening for as long as possible. Inch by inch, Blake pressed forward, taking cover behind large pieces of rubble whenever she could. When she got behind one, barely fifty meters from the school, Blake had to pause as a guard on patrol passed by. She pressed herself to the ground, trying to make her body as small as possible so that the guard wouldn't notice her. The tactic worked, and without even sparing a second thought he continued his patrol.
Once the coast was clear, Blake began to move once again. The area she was now crawling against was disturbingly clear of debris, likely to make traversal easier for the assassins. That and make it easier to spot intruders. So, the Faunus increased her pace, careful not to be too obvious or make too much noise. As she neared the wall of the school yard, Blake's ears twitched as she heard another passing patrol, this time a trio of armed men chatting among themselves. Knowing that she didn't have much cover, Blake did the only thing she could think of. Using her hands as shovels, she covered herself with as much debris as she could, then went completely still just as the patrol entered her view. They were chatting to themselves, their voices slightly muffled by their helmets yet still clear enough for Blake to understand them.
"So," one of them asked, a woman judging by the curvy shape of her armor, "what do you think about those 'Grimm' things?"
"What do you mean?" another asked, this one a man.
"I mean, don't they kinda…freak you out?"
"Are you questioning the Demon's will?" the third asked tersely, but the woman shook her head.
"No, not at all. I agree wholeheartedly with what Ra's al Ghul desires of them. They're perfect for cutting humanity down to a manageable size without destroying the world along with it. It's just…" the woman shivered and looked towards her compatriots. "They freak me out. The Grimm are just so…unnatural."
The two men looked at each other just as the three walked past Blake's position. The Faunus, despite knowing her suit would silence her breathing, ceased to do so and became as still as she possibly could. To her alarm, the assassins stopped, but instead of turning towards her in suspicion they simply turned to face each other.
"Yeah, I think I can understand that," one of the men quietly said, likely to ensure none of the higher ups heard them. "I know they're important and all, but I don't feel safe around them. The looks they give me… It's like they're boring into my soul."
The second man, after taking a quick look around, nodded. "I know how you two feel. Sometimes, I too feel the same way. Part of me even feels as though we are playing with forces outside of our control, but I always remember that what we're doing is just. For the world to be saved, mankind must be controlled, and from what we've seen, the Grimm truly are the best way to achieve that end."
The other two assassins looked at him, then nodded before resuming their patrol. Blake, meanwhile, scowled silently, her eyes following them as they disappeared from view.
'Idiots,' Blake thought. She wasn't too surprised, if she was being honest. The League of Shadows, from what she'd read about them, were always looking for ways to cull humanity. Whether it be war, disease, or simply terrorism, nothing was off the table for them. To hear that they wanted to unleash the Grimm on the world under the hopes that the monsters would do their job for them was entirely in character, but it still made her blood boil. The Grimm were not able to be controlled in the slightest. Remnant had tried to do so for years. At most, they could be directed, but trying to do so was a fool's game that would end with utter destruction. Her thoughts drifted back towards Mountain Glenn, which fell because of one man's attempts to control the Grimm backfiring spectacularly.
But Mountain Glenn was only one city, one that was able to be 'contained' almost immediately. If the League of Shadows tried to repeat what Doctor Merlot did but on a global scale, she couldn't begin to fathom just how many people would die before the Grimm could be contained. They had to stop them, here and now, before it got to that point.
Slowly, Blake crawled out of the debris covering and continued her crawl along the outer wall of the school. Her eyes immediately tracked towards a small hole that led inside, and she made a beeline to it. Once she got near, Blake managed to squeeze her body into its small frame and soon found herself in a dark room. There were rows of desks and chairs lining a blackboard, and Blake instantly recognized that she was inside what was once a classroom. Upon noticing the small size of the desks, Blake's expression softened, and she sighed. She already knew this was a school but knowing that it was an elementary school made the atmosphere all the heavier.
Still, she couldn't focus on that. Instead, after scanning the area to see if the coast as clear, Blake stood up and pressed two fingers to the side of her helmet.
"I'm inside the school," she announced.
"Same," Green Arrow replied instantly. "I'll take the top floor while you stay on the bottom. Be quiet but take out anyone you can without making a scene."
"Got it," Blake said before signing off. Pulling out Gambol Shroud, Blake made her way towards the half-broken door and slowly opened it. The partially rusted hinges creaked, but Blake was able to see that no one was in the immediate area. With the coast clear, Blake began to move down the hallway, her weapon readied in case she came upon anyone.
Eventually, Blake had to stop to take cover behind a wall outcropping as she spotted a guard walking in her general direction. The hallway was dark, allowing the black-clad Faunus to escape the assassin's sight as he walked past her. Then, without warning, Blake reached around and put the assassin in a choke hold, dragging the struggling man into a nearby room and out of sight.
With his throat constricted, he wasn't able to let out a cry for help, so he tried punching her head repeatedly in an effort to free himself. Blake let her Aura take the blows, and soon the man's struggles slowed until he himself went completely still. Only then did Blake let go, gently lowering him to the floor before tying him up with a pair of cuffs she had on hand. A quick glance through her HUD told her he was still alive, and their assault would begin far before the next radio check-in would alert the assassins to his absence, and so she left him behind.
Blake continued her trek deeper into the darkened school, making her way towards the jammer. Through shattered windows, Blake could see the device more clearly. It was located in the center of a large crater, a sturdy metal antenna topped with a dish. A red strobe light was blinking on top of it, telling her that it was activated. The only reason why their own communications were still working was because it was apparently attuned to jam certain frequencies, frequencies only useful for long range communications. Short-wave radio was completely unaffected. If they had any hope of calling for backup, they had to take it out and hope there weren't more.
She soon came across a pair of assassins, their backs turned to her as they were walking along the hallway. Leaping up into the air, Blake planted her feet onto their backs, causing the surprised villains to hit their heads on the ground and be knocked into unconsciousness. Their weapons scattered along the floor, and Blake quickly picked up both full-grown men and their rifles with a soft grunt before depositing both into a nearby closet. After cuffing them, she exited the closet and continued moving.
As Blake got closer to the jammer, the number of guards steadily increased. Some were alone, others in pairs or small groups. She managed to silently take them out one by one. It was easier for the lone guards. A simple choke hold or punch to the back of the head was enough to get the job done. The most difficult was a man who was standing in the middle of the hallway with no easy way for her to go towards him. There was, however, a partially destroyed classroom with a large hole in its wall, a hole the assassin happened to be standing next to. Using a smaller hole, Blake was able to enter the room and sneak along the bottom edge. Once she was behind the assassin, she quickly reached over, grabbed him, and pulled him inside to deliver a single punch to his helmet. It did the trick, knocking him out instantly and allowing her to move forward once again.
For the small groups, Blake acted fast, hard, and above all else quietly. Using her superior agility and flexibility, she would attack all at once with a combination of punches, kicks, using her ribbon to wrap one and use their body as a flail to slam into another. Before long, the bottom floor was devoid of any conscious assassins, leaving only the guards directly at the jammer.
"Nightshade, I'm good on my end. You?" Green Arrow asked.
"I am," Blake replied, taking position along a shattered wall looking out onto the jammer's position. Above her, Blake saw Green Arrow's bow just peeking out from behind a corner, two arrows nocked and aimed at a pair of guards. Blake aimed Gambol Shroud at another, steadying her breathing and waiting for Green Arrow to give the signal.
"Knock 'em down," Green Arrow ordered, releasing both arrows at the same time which struck the unsuspecting assassins in the head simultaneously. The arrows stuck, giving them barely a second to figure out what was going on before an intense electrical shock coursed through their bodies. They dropped to the floor like a lead bricks, twitching and spasming just as the other guards turned to look at their fallen comrades. Before one could shout, Blake threw Gambol Shroud towards him as a grapnel, wrapping the ribbon around his body. Blake pulled him back while jumping forward to knock him out with a flying kick to his head. As she was still in the air, Blake pulled out a pair of shock disks and threw them into another pair of guards, who were aiming their rifles in an effort to gun her down. The disks connected to their bodies before they had a chance to fire, and like the first two they fell to the ground spasming. Finally, Green Arrow fired another arrow into the last remaining guard, who was trying to radio for help before the shock arrow knocked him into blissful unconsciousness.
The air fell silent, and after taking one final scan of the surroundings, Blake sighed in relief.
"Area's secure. Get on over here, guys," Blake called out over the radio. In response, she heard a series of dull thuds as her teammates took out the remaining guards on the outside of the school in quick succession. She then saw the group enter the building, carrying the unconscious assassins over their shoulders to safely place away. Once they were all ready, they regrouped at the jammer, eyeing it for a way to turn it off without raising suspicion.
"So, what do we do now?" Yang asked, placing her hands on her hips while looking up at the top of the radio antenna. Blake, meanwhile, was looking at the control panel, but to her irritation it wasn't written in English. Instead, her HUD was identifying it as Arabic, and without a steady connection to the Internet, it was proving hard to find a translation. Luckily, Green Arrow seemed to understand the language as he walked up to the panel and began to type in a command.
"You girls get ready," he said, his eyes focused on the panel before him. "Whether this gets us to talk with the tower again or not, the League of Shadows will notice. They'll come in full force, so we'll need to run as fast as we can."
"Right," Ruby declared, shifting her weapon to its marksman rifle configuration. Black Canary smiled and patted the Red Reaper on the shoulder. Green Arrow, meanwhile, continued to type, and once he was finished he pressed the 'Enter' key and looked up at the dish. At once, the red strobe light ceased flashing, and the dish tilted down. The jammer was now officially off, and immediately Black Canary pressed her fingers to her head and began to speak.
"Strike Team to Watchtower, can anyone copy?" she called out, hoping to get a response. Instead, she only received static. Black Canary cursed to herself while trying again. The response was the same, and with a huff she tore her hand away and curled it into a fist.
"Dammit, no response. There must be more jammers," Black Canary told the others. At the same time, a dull alarm rang out over Blüdhaven, and soon they spotted several helicopters begin flying in their direction.
"Damn," Green Arrow cursed, going up to the top of the roof to get a closer look while trying to find an escape route. To his alarm, he could see heat signatures coming from all sides as dozens of assassins raced towards them.
"How many?" Black Canary asked as she pulled out an explosive charge to place on the tower. Detected or not, the last thing they needed was for the assassins to turn the jammer back on. Though Yang saved her the trouble by the simple expedient of stabbing her hands under the machine's base and ripping it from its moorings, the whole thing toppling to the ground with a satisfying smash.
"I count sixty, coming from all sides. We're cut off," Green Arrow revealed. The other heroes scowled and Black Canary bit back a curse. Both at the faster than expected response and at the unspoken assumption that this was just the first wave. Thoughts raced through their heads as they tried to figure out what to do. They could try making a break for it, cutting through the enemy line and get the hell out of dodge. But that would involve them leaving a highly defensible position, and that could get them blindsided or caught out in the open by heavy ordinance. One by one, they all came to the same conclusion. As much as they didn't want to, the safer option was to stand and fight, leaving once this first wave was eliminated.
"Looks like the stealth mission's done," Yang said, loading fresh shells into Ember Celica. At the same time, she patted her lower back where her newest backup weapon was stored. Then, as the helicopters grew closer, the heroes spread out, taking position along the external walls and roof of the school where they watched a small army of assassins close in on all sides. There were several dozen men and women, armed with rifles, swords, bows, and more. Overhead were two transport helicopters armed with side-mounted chain guns and were soon joined by a single attack helicopter. None of the heroes minded, instead taking position and waiting for the opportune moment to strike.
No one said a word as the assassins charged forward, their rifles raised and their fingers hovering over the triggers. Overhead, the attack helicopter loaded missiles and aimed its chin-mounted machine gun, swiveling around as it tried to find a target. None of the heroes cared. Instead, Ruby simply shifted Crescent Rose into its 20mm configuration, planted it against the ground, and aimed at the back rotor. She didn't pull the trigger immediately, however, as she and her allies waited for the first wave of assassins to pass through the partially destroyed streets and alleyways that led to the school.
Then, without warning, the traps they had placed around the perimeter ahead of time activated. Arcs of electricity shot into the air, bouncing off the metal pipes, guns, and swords. League of Shadows assassins twitched and screamed in agony as they fell to the ground, their muscles no longer responding to their commands. Not everyone was caught, but their allies' anguish gave them pause. Ruby was satisfied with that opening, and so fired a single 20mm round into the attack helicopter. The shot struck, carving a deep hole into the tail that caused the helicopter to spin out of control. The pilot attempted to pull out, but soon the helicopter crashed hard into the top of a nearby building. Brick and concrete flew out in all directions, and from her scope Ruby could see the pilot and copilot slumped over, knocked out by the force of the crash.
The two support helicopters veered off, firing their chain guns towards where they thought Ruby was hiding. None of the rounds hit, allowing Ruby to quickly aim and fire another shot into one of their tails. Again, a helicopter spun out of control and crashed, but before Ruby could fire a third, the helicopter flew out of sight behind the ruins of what was once a skyscraper.
"Dang it!" Ruby shouted, briefly standing up to try and find a better shot. A few rounds flew past her head, making her yelp and duck back down to avoid the attacks. Swapping out her 20mm magazine for her 7.62 marksman rounds, Ruby zipped away in a cloud of petals and landed on the ground just as the first assassins entered the perimeter. Aiming quickly, Ruby fired single shots into each assassin's head, the electrified rubber bullets sending them to the ground in pain. Once the magazine ran dry, Ruby reloaded and continued to fire, and by the time the assassins managed to get to her, nearly twenty by Ruby's quick count were laying on the ground groaning in pain.
Smirking under her helmet, Ruby reconfigured Crescent Rose into its scythe form. The assassins, unused to seeing such a large weapon wielded by a little girl, flinched. The Red Reaper eagerly took advantage of their momentary pause, rushing forward and knocking one in the gut with the blunt end of the scythe. Another tried to fire, but Ruby continued her momentum to twirl the scythe vertically, knocking the rifle out of his hands while simultaneously uppercutting him. He flew up into the air, landing on the ground with a thud just as Ruby turned her attention to the rest of her attackers.
There were ten of them, flanking the Red Reaper from all sides. Unlike their fallen brethren, these warriors were ready, and were already firing fully automatic fire into Ruby's body. Their shots, unlike the petty criminals and gangsters Ruby had previously encountered, were calm and precise. A few rounds bounced off her Aura before Ruby petaled away, but the assassins followed her form until she reformed against their flanks. They fired again, causing Ruby to yelp before she began spinning Crescent Rose in front of her to block the bullets. A few managed to make it through, but the makeshift shield was enough for her to formulate a plan.
With her weapon still spinning, Ruby crouched down and focused her semblance on just her lower body. Then she leaped forward, boosting herself to plow her weapon into the group of assassins before her. Surprised, only a few managed to dive away in time, the rest sent flying back from Ruby's blow. Ruby stopped spinning her weapon, turning around to count how many were left. The assassins were down to four now, and a pair were already getting up to aim their weapons toward her again.
"Oh, no you don't!" Ruby shouted, bursting forward and reappearing in between them. She kicked one in the chest, knocking the air out of their lungs and hit the other in the head with the back of her scythe. Both assassins fell to the ground, one clutching her chest and wheezing before Ruby kicked her head to knock her out. Satisfied that these two were dealt with, Ruby turned to face the last two, who instead of picking up their rifles pulled out thin swords from their backs. They were already charging, and Ruby swung Crescent Rose towards them in an attempt to hit both at the same time.
To her surprise, both dodged her attack. One by diving over it, the other sliding underneath on his knees. The airborne assassin landed with a roll, swinging his blade at her while continuing his momentum. Ruby parried the strike with the shaft, but before she could retaliate, the other struck low, aiming for her ankle. The blade bounced off Ruby's Aura, giving her time to leap back as the two assassins continued charging towards her.
All three descended into a tight, brutal melee, the two assassins working together seamlessly to keep Ruby on her toes. One would strike high, the other low. One from the back, the other from the front. They knew that Ruby was faster and stronger than them, so preventing her from focusing her attention on one or the other was the only way they were going to win. Ruby, however, was quickly catching on to their game. She was blocking each strike more effectively, her retaliations getting closer and closer, and eventually she was able to pivot her body away from a stab at the last second, loop her arm around the assassin's, and hurl his body into the other. Both crashed onto the ground, and Ruby used Crescent Rose like a golf club to knock both into the air and crash into a large chunk of concrete. They groaned while sprawled on the ground before slipping into unconsciousness.
Ruby glanced around, seeing that her immediate area was free of assassins. Gunshots were being fired in the distance, but before Ruby rushed off to join them, she held her weapon tightly to her body to give it a big hug.
"Oh, I'm so happy you're back!" she exclaimed then rushed away, leaving a cloud of rose petals in her wake.
Meanwhile, on the other end of the school, Weiss was deflecting numerous streams of fully automatic gunfire with her Glyphs. Her back was against the wall, allowing her to keep her attention focused squarely in front of her. The Ivory Mage wasn't concerned. Indeed, the Shield Glyphs were providing her ample time to think and strategize on how to move past her current predicament. The solution was remarkably easy. With the Glyphs still in front of her, she knelt down and stabbed Myrtenaster into the ground, concentrating as hard as she could. Behind the assassins, Nth Metal-infused Glyphs formed, and they barely had time to look down before the fantastic metal inverted gravity's pull, sending them skyward. Once the gunfire stopped, Weiss smirked and stood up straight, dissipating the Glyphs in front of her and forming one behind her.
"Amateurs," she mocked, then Weiss launched herself towards the nearest assassin, swinging the flat of Myrtenaster's blade against his body to send him flying back. Forming another Glyph in front her, Weiss rebounded, striking another while they were still trapped helplessly in suspension. Like a pinball, Weiss bounced back and forth among the assassins, striking each one with either her blade, fist, or feet. Before long, each were knocked out, falling back to the floor with deep thuds against the cracked concrete ground or being sent flying into the shattered windows of what used to be apartments. When Weiss gracefully descended on the ground, one final assassin that wasn't caught in her initially attack charged her with his sword raised high. Without even batting an eye, Weiss riposted, sending his blade towards the ground while driving her elbow into his face. He fell to the ground like a brick, and Weiss rolled her eyes before silently moving on to the next group she could see.
On the northern end of the school, where what used to be a parking lot was now filled with rusted carcasses of long-since abandoned cars and buses, Blake and Yang took the fight to the assassins head-on. Using Ember Celica to deflect the bullets aimed towards her, Yang plowed into one assassin before throwing a few punches into his ribcage. A crack followed, and the assassin fell to the ground in anguish before Yang continued onto the next one. She aimed her arms at two separate targets and fired single slugs into each of their chests, sending them down while she absorbed their bullets without a fuss.
"Come on, guys!" Yang mocked, ducking under a swung sword to deliver a headbutt to her attacker's chin. "Give a girl a good time, will ya?"
The assassins growled in annoyance, and behind her helmet Yang smirked. As cool and collected as these assassins liked to make themselves out to be, it was proving remarkably easy to push the right buttons and set them off.
"I guess that's what happens when you follow a loser like Ra's al Ghul! No challenge whatsoever!" Yang yelled out in a mocking tone.
"How dare you besmirch the Head of the Demon!" an assassin yelled out furiously, exposing himself just long enough for Blake to fire a single shot into his head, knocking him out. Blake rolled her eyes as she used a shadow clone to avoid a burst of gunfire, firing two shots into her attacker before continuing on. The Faunus knew what game her partner was playing, and she couldn't deny the results. Insulting their cult-like leader was certainly enough to get the assassins riled up, and a riled-up fighter was a less effective fighter.
Still, she had a job to do, and she wasn't the best at playing the obnoxious target like Yang was. So, with her sheathe cleaver in one hand and Gambol Shroud in the other, Blake leaped from car to car, slicing at any enemy in her way. She chopped their weapons in half, fired shots into their bodies as she soared over them, kicked a few others to make them into her steppingstones, and throughout it all prevented a single shot from getting through. Copious amounts of shadow clones were taking the blows for her, and occasionally she even used them to boost herself higher into the air so that she could soar above an enemy.
During one such maneuver, Blake threw Gambol Shroud around a pole and used the ribbon as a swing, allowing her to kick an assassin in the head on her downward arc. Landing on the ground with her legs spread out, Blake dodged another burst of gunfire with a shadow clone taking her place, then threw her weapon towards the attacker. He dodged, causing the chain scythe to embed itself into the concrete behind him, but Blake was fine with that. Without skipping a beat, Blake pulled herself forward much to the assassin's surprise. He fired a quick burst of bullets which bounced off Blake's Aura while she firmly planted his foot into his chest. He was sent sprawling to the ground, and Blake quickly leaned down and delivered a solid punch to the side of his head, knocking him out instantly.
The Nightshade stood up and looked around their general area. She saw dozens of knocked out assassins laying around, some on top of cars while others on the pavement. Surrounded by a large group of bodies was Yang herself, currently holding a man by the scruff of the neck and rearing her fist back. She punched him squarely in the face, causing his head to slump to the side. Yang nodded to herself, then let go of the assassin and turned to face her partner who was now jogging over to her while firing potshots towards oncoming enemies.
"So, ready for round two?" Yang asked cheekily. Blake rolled her eyes and inserted a fresh magazine into Gambol Shroud, and together the two partners raced forward once again.
Unlike their charges, Green Arrow and Black Canary didn't have the luxury of having Aura to protect themselves. Their suits could take a few shots, of course, but that didn't mean they could walk into oncoming fire without a care in the world. That being said, they weren't completely out of options, especially after Black Canary shouted towards them with enough force to both blow them away and send their guns flying out of reach. Still screaming at them, Black Canary prevented the assassins from so much as even trying to retaliate beyond futilely clutching the sides of their heads to protect their ears. This gave Green Arrow an opening to fire a cluster of arrows into their bodies, sending them sprawling to the ground twitching uncontrollably.
Another assassin entered his view, this one armed with a bow and arrow. Immediately, Green Arrow leaned his body back just as the assassin let her arrow loose. As the arrow passed Green Arrow's body, he deftly caught it by the shaft, nocked it against his own bow, and fired it back towards the assassin. She yelped as her body was pinned to the wall by the arrow, otherwise doing no damage to her person, but before she could do anything more than sputter angrily, Green Arrow fired a concussion arrow into her head, knocking her out.
"Honestly, what did she think was going to happen?" Green Arrow asked as he calmly nocked another arrow and fired it towards an enemy. "Getting into an archery battle with me…"
"Arrow, your ego is showing again," Black Canary lightly mocked as she released the tension on her throat. This allowed an assassin to regain his bearings and charge her, pulling out his sword in an effort to cut her down. Black Canary merely dodged and ripped the weapon from his grip, followed by a series of light punches to his head to disorient. Then, with her attacker stunned, she gripped both sides of his head and brought it down to her rising knee, knocking him out and sending his body sprawling to the floor.
"Sorry, can't help it," Arrow said as he calmly released a trio of arrows into a group of assassins. He then heard another assassin charge him from behind, and without looking, he aimed his bow behind his back and fired a single shock arrow into their chest, sending them spasming to the ground. Seeing this, Black Canary couldn't help but chuckle, shaking her head as she dodged a sword swing from another assassin then screamed with enough force to send him flying back into a wall.
"By the way, I've been meaning to ask," Black Canary began, screaming at another group of assassins, "when's the next date night? It's been a while."
"I know, and I'm sorry about that," Green Arrow regretfully answered. "Been kinda busy as of late."
"Same, but hearing about that little double-date back in Gotham got me thinking," she admitted, spin kicking another assassin in the head at the same time.
"If you want, when we're back in Star City I can call a few restaurants, get us a reservation," Green Arrow offered as he swung out his bow to trip an assassin, firing an arrow into his head once the assassin was flat on his back.
Black Canary smiled at the suggestion as she headbutted another assassin who came from her flank. "That sounds lovely."
Green Arrow smiled back, and together the two heroes turned to watch as a group of assassins aimed their rifles at them. Without missing a beat, Green Arrow nocked and released an arrow with a large, bulbous tip that, once it neared the assassins, exploded outward to envelop them in a heavy net. Black Canary then followed up with her Canary Cry, sending them flying back and knocking them out once they hit a chunk of concrete. Taking a moment to collect their breath, the two heroes looked around to see if there were any more. To their relief, they saw none.
"Alright, I think we're good," Green Arrow called out over comms. "Regroup on our position and we'll—"
"Head's up, chopper's back!" Yang cried. Alarmed, Green Arrow turned his head to watch as a lone support helicopter flew towards them. It was flying close to the ground, careful to keep the buildings between it and Ruby's sniper rifle. Before any of the heroes could react, its gunners fired their chainguns towards them, forcing them to scatter and hide behind cover.
"I can't get a shot!" Ruby exclaimed, having already shifted Crescent Rose into its 20mm configuration. "He keeps hiding behind the buildings!"
"Can you reposition?" Black Canary asked, flinching as a burst of bullets struck the wall next to her, shredding part of it off.
"Not without getting shot!" Ruby replied. Green Arrow bit back a curse, ducking as a series of bullets ripped through the wall he and Black Canary were hiding behind. The helicopter was circling them now, firing its weapons every few seconds in an effort to keep the heroes at bay. If it even caught a tiny whiff of color, the gunners would fire on that position, preventing any retaliation from ensuing. They weren't in a good position, and all of them knew it, but the elder superheroes were struggling to find a way out of it without getting themselves injured or worse.
"Green Arrow, I have an idea!" Ruby suddenly shouted into their comms.
"I'm all ears, Reaper!" Green Arrow replied, moving along with Black Canary to a safer position. The two heroes stopped at a large hole in the wall, where they could clearly see the helicopter passing by overhead.
"Do you have any explosive arrows?"
"Yes," he answered, beginning to see where Ruby was going.
"Perfect. This jerk's moving too fast for me to get a shot on him, but if I can get his attention—"
"It'll give Green Arrow an opening to put this bastard down," Black Canary finished. Green Arrow nodded. A simple plan, but one that they would make do with.
"Let's do it," he said, pulling out an explosive arrow and prepping it against his bowstring. "Ready when you are!"
"Got it!" Ruby called out. With the helicopter circling above, Green Arrow watched with bated breath as he waited for Ruby's signal. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a flash of red as Ruby broke cover from the inside of a destroyed school bus. She dashed along the ruined parking lot, and the helicopter turned to fire its guns at Ruby. At the same time, Green Arrow stood up and pulled back his bowstring, preparing to fire the explosive arrow at the tail rotor.
Then, before he could release the arrow, a single shot went out. The chainguns on both sides of the helicopter stopped firing, and the gunners fell lifelessly off the craft and crashed onto the ground below. Another shot fired, this time shattering the glass of the cockpit. The pilot slumped over, and the helicopter nosedived into the ground, exploding in a ball of fire and sending metal shards flying everywhere.
Everything was silent as the heroes struggled to comprehend what just happened. Ruby was now standing in the open, staring at the ruined helicopter with her body radiating confusion. Green Arrow, with his arrow still nocked and the bowstring pulled back, was already scanning the area, trying to find where the shot came when a third went out. A spark rang off of Crescent Rose's blade, startling the Red Reaper as she burst away to take cover once again. Before Green Arrow could do the same, however, he heard a body fall to the ground with a wet thud, and he looked to see that the bullet had ricocheted straight into an assassin's head. He was clad head to toe in a debris-lined ghillie suit right next to where Ruby previously stood, and suddenly the superhero felt a chill run down his spine.
Evidently, Ruby spotted the body then too, as she said, "I didn't even see him…"
"Who the hell…?" Yang asked, taking cover behind a car. Green Arrow and Black Canary, meanwhile, remained silent and looked at each other. Slowly, realization began to form in their minds, and their eyes narrowed. Nodding to each other, Green Arrow aimed his bow straight up through the hole and released the explosive arrow. He watched as it soared high above, then on the top of its arc another shot rang out that struck the arrow in the center of the head, causing it to explode harmlessly away from anybody else. RWBY, Green Arrow, and Black Canary watched as the dark smoke cloud slowly dissipated, and tension began to fill the air around them.
There was only one person on the planet skilled enough to make those kinds of shots, and both League members knew exactly who he was.
"I know you're out there, Deadshot," Green Arrow called out on open comms, much to RWBY's surprise. Ruby herself gasped, recognizing the name, but before any of her teammates could ask what was going on, they heard a man chuckle over the comm channel.
"Took you long enough, Arrow," a gruff voice laughed. "Was beginning to think you'd lost your touch."
"Why are you here?" Green Arrow, unamused, demanded. The man on the other end merely laughed.
"Why do you think? In case you're wondering, I'm not here to kill you. I had ample opportunity to do that ever since you and your buddies arrived. You're welcome, by the way."
"Gee, thanks." Green Arrow scowled. If he knew Deadshot, and after several years of dealing with the assassin, he liked to think he did, he was likely tracking himself, Black Canary, and his charges ever since they arrived. Perhaps even before.
"What do you want?" Black Canary asked, curling her hand into a tight fist.
"Right now? For you six to stay where you are. My boss, for lack of a better word, wants us to get along for the moment, so the rest of my team's coming down to meet you all. Don't try to leave."
With that, Deadshot shut off his comms, leaving only static. Green Arrow bit back a curse and shook his head, then calmly broke cover and walked out into the open while keeping his eyes where he assumed Deadshot was located.
"What's going on?" Blake asked, looking around to spot anything while keeping behind cover.
"Don't bother getting behind cover, Nightshade," Green Arrow said. "He could hit you anyway, and besides, right now he's being 'cooperative.'"
"'Cooperative?'" Weiss asked, slowly standing up as Black Canary joined Green Arrow. After a moment, she too broke cover to join them. "Does that mean this 'Deadshot' is a good guy?"
"No," Green Arrow answered immediately, scowling as he finally saw five individuals, three men and two women, walk towards them from all sides. "They most certainly are not good guys."
[~][~]
Hello, everyone! Here's the latest chapter of Hunters of Justice. Special thanks to NaanContributor and Jesse K for all their help bringing this to life.
RWBY, Green Arrow, and Black Canary are deep in Bludhaven, and now they're joined by the infamous Task Force X. I can't wait until I can show you guys how that interaction is going to play out next chapter.
Now, onto the Q&A:
mellra: Possibly. I can't and won't delve into any details now, obviously. But I will say that Harley is mostly based off of her iconic DCAU incarnation.
Chaldea: Unfortunately, I can't answer that right now as the answer to that is a massive spoiler. I can say, though that the Wonder Twins don't really exist, or at least in the present day. They're mostly a media franchise at this point that started in the 60s. Whether or not they existed in the 60s is up in the air.
Alexbaker42: The Legion of Doom doesn't exist yet. At most, the League has faced the Secret Society, but no Legion of Doom. As for iconic villains, that's half of the story right there. You can expect to see more of it in the future.
OldDCFan: Yeah, that episode was great. Don't know if that'll fit the overall story, but its definitely something to consider for a Chibi chapter.
RandomName3064: Actually, I believe that Adam's death was a perfect end to his character. He was a monster who had to be put down and allow the story to progress past him and the effect he had on Blake and Yang. I am glad that you're enjoying the story, and I hope you continue to enjoy it in the future.
Jacob: Thank you!
jb4280218: Kinda, but the Spectre is more the DC version of Ghost Rider, or rather Ghost Rider is the Marvel version of the Spectre.
Knight of Fate: Thank you, I'm glad you liked it.
Jacob9594: Yeah, that was fun for me to write as well.
meeyaaargh3412: Yeah, she figures that, but that doesn't mean Lucius still shouldn't be admired and emulated. Hence why she is.
Jebest4781: Thank you, I'm glad you liked it.
Jackalope89: Yep, that's how. And as with the rest of those snippets, it actually happened. I'm glad you liked the Grinch chapter, and yeah Diana is just the best, isn't she?
captaindickscratcher: Not to mention that Yang was severely holding back the entire time, as she didn't want to kill anyone. She could've gone all out from the get go, but that would've resulted in her killing everyone in the room. Which makes it even more impressive for her, in my opinion.
I Am The Prophet: Thank you, the Grinch short was fun for me to write as well.
SulliMike23: You'll have to wait and see on that front.
That's it for this chapter, I hope you all enjoy! See you all next time!