...
Tianjin
A slight clacking sound could be heard over the light drizzle of the evening rain. The sounds came from the window of a fairly large single story building as a shadowed figure tried to gain entry. Soon enough the figure let out a grunt of satisfaction as the window came open, allowing the individual to gain entry into the house as he dragged the sack he had in with him.
He stepped lightly, careful to move along the walls and to avoid making any unnecessary noises. There were a few times when he accidentally stepped to heavily on one of the floorboards and he cringed inwardly at the loud creak, praying inwardly that no one had heard it. Thankfully it seemed that his prayer was answered as there was no sounds or any signs to suggest that anyone had heard him, and so he continued. After bumping into a few objects in the unfamiliar surroundings, the figure finally made his way into the kitchen. He was quick to stuff his bag with silverware and the expensive looking china.
When he was done with that, he made his way into the living room and started placing ornaments and any other valuables into the bag. With that done and the bag being rather sizeable, the burglar decided to chance it and see if he could get anything from the bedroom. The house had three bedrooms and he made his way into all of them, slowly cracking the doors open to avoid waking the occupants.
It seemed as though the home owners had all gone out which allowed the burglar a few more liberties. Greed began to shine through as he focused less on being stealthy and more on stuffing his bag. There wasn't much cash in the house but there were a lot of jewelry and expensive items and the thief had no problems helping himself to them. By the time he was done the only things left in the house were either things that were either nailed to the floor or were too heavy to lift. Even he was struggling to carry all the pilfered goods in his bag out of the house.
He was making his way to the window he had used to gain entry when a flash of lightning outside illuminated the room for a split second. In that second he was able to see a masked individual sitting casually with crossed legs in one of the sofas and watching him intently. He dropped his bag in shock and was immediately on alert.
"Yǒurén zài ma?" (Is anyone there?) He called out as he slowly walked towards the chair with his eyes strained to see if he could make out the individual, but he couldn't see anything of the sort not even a silhouette. Rather than offer him any comfort that only served to worry him even more. Another flash of lightning illuminated the chair and further proving that there was no one sitting in there. The burglar felt his blood run cold however when the lightning allowed him to see the large shadow cast over him.
He turned around wildly in fear and was once again greeted to an empty room.
"Zhè shì shénme guǐwū?" (What kind of haunted house is this?" The man asked under his breath, he could hear the panic in his own voice and mentally berated himself for not carrying a weapons with him. At least with that he would have some form of security, but unfortunately he wasn't that kind of burglar. He stole but he didn't kill, but at this moment he wasn't too sure if that was a good thing.
The burglar feeling terribly unnerved headed back to the window he used to gain entry and tried to force his bag of loot out of it. He had just managed to squeeze out the bag and made to climb out himself when he saw someone standing just outside the window and staring right at him. He immediately pulled himself back inside the house in fright and very nearly fell over. He had heard about the actions of the new more brutal vigilante but he never believed the man would ever concern himself with a crime like home invasion.
If he was the one that he had seen outside then-No! It wasn't him, it couldn't be him, it was just a nosy neighbour or a curious teen who just happened to be passing by. Yes that had to be it! It didn't make much or any sense but he refused to let himself think that way, because the alternative was just too horrifying. Either way he needed to get out of this house before the owners came home and called the police. He slowly moved back to the window and peered out of it to see if anyone was still standing there, and saw no one.
He made sure to check all along the streets to ensure that there was no one lurking around on the streets in wait for him, but there seemed to be nothing except his sack of stolen goods which was getting soaked out in the rain. With that, he then tried to make another attempt at leaving only for a flash of lightning to stop him.
What was unique about this lightning was the fact that the flash didn't come from outside but rather inside the house. Add on to the fact that he felt a strong grip on his shoulder immediately after, and you could understand why he was petrified in terror. Then the person who was holding him turned him around slowly and he could no longer deny the terrifying truth of the situation.
He was here.
With that realization, he let out the most high pitched, ear piercing scream that had ever erupted from his throat before. Unfortunately it was masked by the roar of the thunder outside before it could actually reach any ears.
...
Gotham
Artemis had not been having a good day, hell she hadn't had a good couple of weeks ever since meeting the masked asshole twice, but today was just especially horrible. Her frustration at not being able to go on missions had been building up to rather unhealthy levels, the fact that she believed that her team mates still blamed her for it due to no one saying otherwise, namely Wally. Aqualad had, but she put it up to him wanting to minimize team conflict, so he didn't really count.
She didn't understand why or when the speedster's opinion had started to matter to her, only that it did and that pissed her off even more. Then add onto that the fact that she had practically been cajoled into attending Gotham's most prestigious high-school for the elite and snotty, where she had almost immediately been made an outcast. Probably because she lacked the characteristic douche bag air that almost everyone seemed to have there.
After that she found out that the only reason Green Arrow had decided to take her under his wing was because her mother had to beg both him and Batman. As if her esteem hadn't taken enough hits already. She wasn't even able take out her anger on the lowlifes of Gotham City like she had been doing for the past week thanks to one bird themed, caped sidekick that she had the pleasure of calling a teammate which had taken them out before she could.
Thankfully Robin had good news in the form of Batman having decided that their suspension was now over and would be meeting them in the Mount Justice headquarters to give them a mission. Unbeknownst to the younger hero, he had just barely saved himself from being socked in the jaw courtesy of the female archer, though he did ask not-so-subtly what she was doing in Gotham rather than Star city in a rather weird way, though she didn't put too much though into it. The two had then made their way via zeta beam to the Mount Justice headquarters only to immediately get swamped by what could only be described as Red Tornado's vengeful siblings.
And after a few somewhat brief altercations with the Red siblings, Robin had been captured like the others in her team, leaving her as the only person able to still fight. She had immediately retreated back into the vents of the structure to avoid getting drowned by the evil water controlling robot, though she wouldn't say nearly getting cooked by the female android was a good trade-off. Which brings us to where we are now.
Artemis hastily crawled through the somewhat tight vents of the Mount Justice headquarters. She had been making turns and taking bends, careful not to move in a straight path for too long lest she get barbecued by the flaming attacks that came after her.
She took another sharp turn just quick enough before a stream of fire flew past her and down the space that she had turned from. The passing embers of the flames singed her skin slightly as it flew past and she could feel her stomach churn at how close it had come it to killing her.
She quickly crawled down the vents turning left and right to evade the pursing fireballs, with no actual destination in mind. After a few more turns, she sat with her knees to her chest and shut her eyes tightly as she tried to ignore the situation she was in. It didn't help that the water using android who sounded way too much like the Justice League's own Red Tornado had taken it upon himself to be her own personal alarm clock of doom.
"Three more minutes."
The mechanical voice came echoing through the vents reminding her just how much time she had left before her friends all met their watery or fiery end at the hands of the androids who were holding them hostage.
"I can't ... I can't stay here, I need to get out of here. I should find a way to call the League. Get backup." Even as she said it, she knew it wasn't possible. The androids had taken the zeta beams offline and the only other exit was currently being guarded by the same robots that she was running away from.
She was trapped and she very well knew it. The worst part was that she couldn't keep hiding in the vents because her friends were counting on her to save them. And she felt that she needed to make up for getting them all suspended.
As she thought about that, her hand suddenly reached into the holster on her thigh and she pulled out a strange looking but familiar knife. She had grown developed a strong attachment to the strange weapon. At first she had just kept in in her costume and only had it with her when on patrol. After a few days however she took to carrying it with her everywhere, mostly because it reminded her of the person who gave it to her.
"Hey you said that you're going to be here if I'm in danger. I don't know how in hell a knife is gonna tell you that but if you're listening then this is the best time for you to appear again. I could really use your help right now." She muttered, seemingly speaking to the knife she was clutching like it was a walkie talkie.
After a few seconds passed and nothing happened, the archer grit her teeth in frustration. "Why the hell isn't it working? That jackass gave me this damn thing and didn't leave any instructions on how to use it! I'll be there when you're in danger my ass ... I don't think I've ever been in this much danger in my life and he's still not here. Why the hell did I even think that this was going to work! Hell, why did I think I could trust him in the first place!" She ranted somewhat quietly but you could hear the anger and frustration in her tone.
"You talk to yourself a lot." A voice commented calmly from behind her.
She turned her head and came face to face, well face to mask with the same blond teen she had been trying to contact. His one visible eye still had the same disinterest that she had come to accept as normal for him, but got a glimpse of an unfamiliar emotion in them though it disappeared too quickly for her to be sure what it was, or if it was even there.
His outfit still looked mostly the same as when she had last seen him though she did notice that his jacket now sported a hood that partially obscured his hair and face. On seeing him the girl was immediately swamped with relief, though she would never let him know how happy she was to see him. Instead...
"How long have you been back there? Why didn't you say anything? Were you just going to keep sitting there and keep watching me break down? Speaking of, what were you doing back there anyway." She fired off question after question, making her irritation known to the other blond.
"Firstly, I've been here ever since you called me. Secondly, I did say something, that's what started this conversation. Thirdly, no. And to answer your final question, I appeared behind you so as not to startle you, and the view. qlso helped" That last comment got the archer's jaw to drop in disbelief. Especially since he was able to say it with a straight face.
"Though I would advise you to speak quieter, I don't believe you want to give away our position to those two." He continued while pointing down at the slits in the vents grates that gave them an overhead view of the two androids.
'Oh, so that's what he meant by the view.' She realized though she couldn't help but feel the slightest bit of disappointment. She didn't let it show however. "How did I not notice that before?" She asked in a hushed whisper.
"Maybe because you don't pay attention to your surroundings. Though it would probably be wise for us to move right now." The blond teen said and they watched as both androids looked up at where they were before the male looking one sent a jet of water right at them.
"Move, now!" The teen yelled and both of them began crawling away as fast as they could before the water started to flood the vents, eventually catching up to them and threatening to drown them both.
The blond pair was pushed through the cramped metal corridors of the vents with incredible force. Eventually they found themselves being pressured against one of the vent walls. Water rushed into their ears, noses, and mouths cutting off their oxygen and quicky drowning them. The male of the two reached out time grab Artemis and pulled her close before they both disappeared and reappeared in the showers coughing out the water they had ingested.
After a few more minutes of retching the two finally manged to regain their composure, though Artemis felt rather lightheaded from the sudden hit of vertigo.
"What ... the hell ... just happened?" asked Artemis, rounding on him while he plucked yet another of those weirdly shaped knives from the walls of the bathroom stall.
"I believe we almost drowned." the teen answered. The girl was forced to admire how casual he sounded. He was soaked from head to toe but yet he still managed to look as calm and indifferent as ever. It was both admirable and irritating to the young woman.
"I'm not talking about that! I'm asking how we suddenly got here from the vents." The girl yelled at him while leveling him a ferocious glare.
"They'll find us again if you keep yelling like that." He stated simply.
Her glare intensified.
"I teleported us here. I don't know why you're so surprised, you've seen me disappear and appear before." The archer had no retort to this, instead she stared pointedly at the knife in his hands.
"You use those things to teleport right, those weird knives like the one you gave me." She stated having drawn that conclusion herself from what she had seen.
"They are my Hiraishin kunai and yes I can instantly teleport to any location I've already marked with them."
"When did you have time to mark the showers?"
"While you were busy talking to yourself, I decided to plant a few of them around just in case we needed a quick exit from a perilous situation, like we did just moments ago. You're welcome." This was only a half truth. He had actually created a shadow clone and sent it off to stealthily place markers around the base. He wouldn't tell her that though, while he was interested in her, he didn't trust her enough to give her that much information.
"Well if you can transport with it, then what are you waiting for, transport us to the Justice League headquarters."
"Unfortunately, it's not that easy, like I said I can only teleport to any place where I've already placed a marker. And from my knowledge your Justice League has its headquarters in space. The Watchtower I believe it's called, that doesn't make it very easy to infiltrate." He stated stunning her a bit because she didn't know about the Watchtower's existence.
"Besides there's still a lot friction between me and your Justice League, especially Batman. I don't think they'd take too kindly to me suddenly appearing in their stronghold, even if it is for a good reason."
"So what are we supposed to do now, and I hope you're not going to tell me that we are going to have to fight those two crazy powerful, homicidal robots." She stated in a harsh whisper.
"We aren't. You are." The blonde said it so simply and yet it didn't keep the girl's jaw from dropping.
"What!!!"