Justice League of Amazons: Halo
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Chapter 8
Gotham City.
The sound of flesh being smacked, and bones crunching could be heard in a warehouse and if one entered the warehouse, they would find three costumed women fighting a group of women wearing something akin to military fatigues. Nearby were crates filled with an assortment of no doubt illegal high-grade weaponry. One of the costumed women, a gorgeous blonde wearing a leather jacket, bodice, fishnet stockings and high-heeled boots somersaulted over one of the militant women before spinning around and grabbed her and threw into another of the women.
One of the other costumed women, this one with dark hair and wearing a purple and black costume and armed with a crossbow, fired quarrels into the knees of her opponents. But one got in close and tried to smack her in the face with a metal pipe. The dark-haired woman avoided the swing and threw a hefty punch into her attacker's stomach, knocking the wind from her. As her opponent wheezed and gasped for air, the costumed woman then swung a fist into her temple knocking her out.
The last of the costumed women, a slightly shorter and younger woman with red hair and wearing a black and yellow costume tossed small bat-shaped projectiles, knocking weapons from her enemies' grasp before she pulled out a small baton. With the press of a button, the baton extended into a full-length staff and both ends fizzed and sparked with an electrical current. Spinning it in both hands, the young woman rushed to meet her opponents, using the electrified ends of her staff like a taser.
The blonde haired woman spoke to her comrades as she blocked and avoided strikes from one opponent. "This is going well enough!" she commented before she grabbed a flying fist and with a brutal twist, she dislocated the wrist of her opponent eliciting a cry of pain before she threw the injured woman to one side.
"You'd think Intergang would learn not to come to Gotham after all these years!" the dark-haired woman replied as she roundhouse kicked a thug in the face before flipping over another. She then performed a leg sweep, knocking her opponent to the ground before leaping onto her and with three quick punches, she knocked her opponent into unconsciousness.
"With the state of the world as it is today, I'm not surprised Intergang is trying to muscle in on every city it can!" the redhead exclaimed as she used her staff to block strikes from a metal pipe.
"Good thing we got that tip-off from C," the blonde said as she flipped one thug over her shoulder and slammed her into the ground.
"Gotta love the Chief's toys," the brunette laughed as she fired a crossbow bolt into the gun barrel of one thug's pistol, jamming it before leaping over and delivered a straight kick into the thug's chest, knocking her into a wall. The thug slid down the wall, dazed and slipping into unconsciousness.
Then a loud voice spoke over the intercom of the warehouse. "You idiots! Can't you dumb bitches do anything right?!" the intercom shouted with the voice of an angry woman.
"So, C's intel was on the money," Helena AKA Huntress said as she loaded a fresh round of crossbow bolts into her crossbow.
"Looks like Intergang has a new leader," Dinah AKA Black Canary commented.
"Then let's take her down!" Barbara AKA Batgirl declared.
Who it was that the three Gotham heroines were hunting was the new leader of Intergang. Maria Contranetti before the events of Aresia's Virus was once a female comedian who struggled to get fame and recognition in life. There had also been rumours that she was a difficult person to work with as well as possessing an abrasive personality that may have been part of the reason she struggled in life. But since the Virus, Maria had come into her own by taking charge of Intergang. There had also been rumours that she had acquired a Green Lantern Power Ring and with its power, she used to take the riches and luxuries she felt had been denied to her in life.
Maria's voice spoke over the warehouse intercom. "You know, I used to admire broads like you three," she said conversationally. "But I quickly realised that you only got to where you were in life because you had every man falling at your feet, while I had to kiss the feet of every man to crawl up the ladder!" she added spitefully.
"Hmph, sounds like someone has issues," Helena muttered.
"Yep, classical behaviour of a narcissist," Dinah commented as she cracked her knuckles before looking at one of the warehouse cameras and shouted, "Why don't you do us a favour and come down here yourself, Miss Contranetti? We'll talk to the judge for you, make sure you get a nice comfy cell," she offered.
"Tempting, but hard pass!" Then bursting out some of the larger crates were humanoid shaped robots. "Z8-A combat trainers. I had some of my girls tweak them a little, remove that annoying non-lethal protocol in them. Enjoy!" Maria laughed as the androids moved towards the three heroines.
"Z8-A combat trainers? Cheap trick," Dinah muttered as she rolled her shoulders to ready herself. Taking in a breathe, Dinah unleashed her infamous Canary Cry. The hyper-sonic sound waves tore through the first group of the androids, destroying their internal circuits and tearing apart their bodies. The other androids managed to escape the Canary Cry and surged towards the three heroines. Barbara moved quickly, tossing a grenade that exploded in a burst of electromagnetic energy; the androids caught in the blast had their circuits fired and they fell to the ground with clatters and clangs, twitching slightly as they short-circuited.
"Was that an EMP grenade?" Helena asked Barbara as she fired a crossbow bolt into the head of an android, destroying its CPU.
"Yeah, C gave me the designs for it and that was the prototype," Barbara replied as she her battle-staff to knock a Z8-A's head off, leaving its body twitching on the ground.
Dinah delivered a spin kick to an Z8's torso knocking it back onto the floor before delivering an axe-heel kick into its chest, destroying its internal mechanisms. The Z8 twitched and tried to latch onto Dinah's ankle with one working hand but Dinah slammed her boot into the automaton's hand, smashing it.
"Is that you all got, Maria?" Helena called out to one of the cameras.
"Not at all, Batgirl-wannabe!" Maria taunted over the intercom. "Frosty! You and Sparky are up!" she ordered and descending down from the warehouse ceiling were Louise Lincoln AKA Killer Frost, and Leslie Willis AKA Livewire.
"Oh, great! These two!" Barbara muttered disdainfully. "What did the Militant Comedienne promise you?" she asked the two criminals.
"Eh, bucket load of cash, chance to kill you three, what do you think?" Killer Frost said as her hands were wreathed in chilling fog and she formed a long icicle in her hands to use as a spear.
"I still haven't forgotten what you and that Super-slut did to me last time!" Livewire spat as her body arced with electrical currents.
"You gotta let that go, Willis! It's not healthy," Helena snarked at the electrokinetic villainess.
"And you call beating on people healthy?" Livewire retorted. "I imagine I could write a paper on people like you!" she taunted.
"We could say the same as you," Dinah said dryly.
"Are you mooks gonna just stand there talking all night?! Get to fighting!" Maria shouted through the intercom.
"Couldn't agree more!" Helena muttered as she launched herself at Killer Frost who thrust her ice-spear at the brunette. Livewire threw bolts of electricity at Dinah and Barbara who cartwheeled out of the way.
"You've fought Livewire before, right?" Dinah asked Barbara. "Any idea how to beat her?" she also asked.
"If we had some electrically resistant substances like silicate powder, we could take her down, but I don't have any on me!" Barbara said in frustration.
"She's an electrokinetic, right?" Dinah asked and Barbara nodded. "We just need some water to short her out then!" the blonde said. Barbara looked up and saw the warehouse sprinkler system.
"Give me some cover!" Barbara said to Dinah who nodded and leapt towards Livewire. Barbara ran up the stairs leading to the sprinkler system activation button. But as Barbara neared the activation, a steel door slammed down in front of her and Maria's voice spoke.
"Nice try, little girl! But you ain't getting off that easy!"
Barbara frowned before digging through her utility belt and pulled out a spray cannister. "My belt is looking more like a demolition man's wet dream these days," she said with some humour as she sprayed some gel onto the door in the shape of the bat insignia on her chest. Standing back a short distance, Barbara prepared the detonator and pressed firmly on the button.
With a loud of explosion of sound, flame and smoke, the steel door was blasted to smithereens, sending smoking chunks and splinters of steel flying. Barbara then rushed into the room and found the sprinkler system activation button. Slamming her palm onto the button, Barbara gave a triumphant grin as water sprayed down into the warehouse.
As Dinah avoided each beam of electric energy, the sprinkler system activated sending water cascading down onto the occupants. Livewire gave a scream as the H2O pelleted her body, shorting her out and knocking her unconscious. Killer Frost however was unaffected, but she simply increased the cold intensity around. Helena gritted her teeth as she was struck by a freezing gust of icy air, ice crystals forming on her body. Dinah moved in to help the brunette, but Louise slammed her palms onto the ground and formed an icy cage around Dinah.
Barbara made to help her comrades but Frost threw a thick wall of ice onto the doorway trapping the redhead within the room.
"Cool off," Killer Frost quipped sarcastically, mentally patting herself on the back. Then from out the shadows, a long braided leather whip wrapped itself around the cryokinetic criminals legs and with a forceful yank, said cryokinetic was sent falling to the floor.
"Who?" Helena muttered through chattering teeth. Stepping out of the shadows was a familiar figure to everyone in the room. She was clad in skin tight leather, wearing a black cowl with ears on her head and clawed gauntlets on her hands and in one of those hands was the handle of a whip.
"Selina?" Barbara gaped in surprise. Indeed, it was Selina Kyle AKA Catwoman who had joined the fray. Selina's reputation as a world-class burglar with a particular bent for feline-themed valuables and antiquities. Her crimes were well known to authorities, what was also known was her on-off relationship with Batman when he was alive. Barbara knew to some extent the relationship Bruce had with Selina, but it was always frustrating to watch how Bruce would always give Selina a chance to go straight. For short periods of time, Selina would attempt to go straight, but through either circumstance or just sheer boredom, she would go back to old habits.
To be fair, Selina was something of a hero to the downtrodden of Gotham and she was a strong patron of wildlife preservation causes, particularly those that dealt with cats both big and small. But Selina was always in the grey area of heroism, walking the thin grey line between good and evil. But one thing most people could say about Catwoman was that she was not like Poison Ivy or Harley Quinn, both of whom were associates, even friends of hers.
Helena gritted her teeth and spoke, "Switching sides, Selina? Or just serving your own interests?" she asked accusingly.
"Or our three little heroes could say, 'Thanks for the help,'" Selina bit out as she flexed her gauntlets and claws sprung out on each finger.
"Catwoman?! Geez, just when I thought I had this in the bag!" Maria's voice complained over the intercom. "Hey, cat-lady! How much you asking to get rid of these bimbos?" she asked.
"Not interested, Maria," Selina replied dryly. "You got nothing I want!" she declared.
Maria made a complaintive noise and said, "Fine! I've had enough for one night! I'm outta here!" And in an explosion of emerald green light, the roof exploded and soaring up into the sky was Maria Contranetti.
"You saw that, right?" Barbara asked Helena and Dinah.
"Yeah, we saw it," Dinah replied. "Looks like the Militant Comedienne does have a Green Lantern Ring," she said grimly.
"Here, let me get you outta that," Selina offered to the blonde, placing a couple of small explosive charges on the ice before detonating them. In a small explosion of ice, Dinah was freed from her icy prison. Dinah went over to help Helena.
"You okay, Huntress?" Dinah asked the brunette who replied, "Just peachy. I could do with a hot bath and some cocoa," she muttered before she looked at Selina who was tying up Killer Frost and Livewire.
"What do we do about her?" Helena asked Dinah and Barbara.
Barbara looked at Selina and spoke to her, "Why did you help us, Selina? What's your angle?" she asked.
Selina gave a chuckle. "Is it so hard for you to believe that I actually wanted to do my part in keeping Gotham safe from Intergang?" she said.
"You could, but we all know that you've always got some sort of angle in whatever you do," Dinah pointed out. "So, what is it you're after?" she asked.
Selina sighed, folding her arms under chest, and said, "Look, I'm not blind to what happened to the world and the state it's in now. I'm not completely self-serving in spite of my reputation. I want to do my part and make up for what I've done and what I've thrown away."
"You're talking about Batman, aren't you?" Barbara asked neutrally.
"You could say that," Selina said softly. "I'll admit that I didn't always treat Batman properly, hell I even used and took advantage of him at times," she added.
"At times?" Helena raised an eyebrow underneath her mask.
"Okay, most of the time, I took advantage of his sympathy and him wanting to save me," Selina admitted. "And since he's no longer around, plus with all the other men in the world, I've got a lot of regrets about it," she said.
"So, you think helping us will earn you salvation?" Dinah asked.
"Not exactly," Selina said with a frown. "I'll admit, I've got dirt under my fingernails and a nightmare of a resumé, but you all know this is Gotham. You do what you gotta do to survive in this city," she added.
The three Gotham heroes exchanged glances; they could not deny that Gotham was a rough place to be, even for those well off or well-to-do. And with the event of the virus eliminating nearly all men in the world, Gotham became a much harder place to live in. The Gotham City Police Department had an especially hard time as much of their workforce had been male. The left over female police officers were working double or even triple shifts to keep things going smoothly, or as close as possible. But the numbers of shifts were taking its toll on the GCPD and exhaustion was beginning to seep through.
Even Helena, Dinah and especially Barbara could feel the exhaustion taking its toll on them. Barbara had it especially hard since the death of her father, Police Commissioner James 'Jim' Gordon, one of the truly decent police officers of the Gotham City Police Department who had not been affected by nor fallen prey to the corruption of Gotham City. Even though with much of the male population gone, crime and corruption still ran rampant in Gotham City, though to a slightly lesser degree. Some of the prominent Gotham crime families such as the Falcone family still operated with the female members picking up the slack in the absence of the male family members.
"So, what is it you want, Selina?" Helena asked pointedly.
"Simple: I want to do some good with my life, and I feel I can do the most good if I join the Justice League," Selina replied.
Deep frowns formed on Dinah, Helena and Barbara's faces and Barbara was the first to speak.
"Even we were open to that idea, who's to say that you won't use the Justice League for your own ends?" the redhead asked.
"Or for that matter, how do we know that you're not using it as an opportunity to get close to the Spartan?" Dinah added.
"Like you all aren't trying to get closer to the Spartan?" Selina said silkily. The three heroes winced slightly as if they had been caught out by the question. Selina had a slight smirk on her lips as she added, "I'll admit there's the appeal of working closely with the Spartan, and perhaps getting even closer to him on a more personal level, but my interest in making sure the world keeps spinning is purely professional."
Helena glanced at Dinah and Barbara, nodding her head over to a corner. Getting the message, Dinah and Barbara huddled over with Helena to talk it out.
"What do we do?" Dinah asked the other two. "We can't really let her join the League, can we?" she added.
"Well, Selina has always been a grey area for most people," Helena replied. "But she's not like most of the other criminals and she has helped the downtrodden and disadvantaged of Gotham a fair number of times," she said.
"True, but she's always got some scheme or angle in line for whatever she does," Barbara said. "Believe me, I've seen it plenty of times with Batman," she added.
"And we have to keep in mind that she may use the League as a chance to get closer to John," Dinah pointed out.
"True, but aren't we all trying to get closer to John?" Helena replied and Dinah nodded, conceding the argument.
"What do you think, Babs?" Dinah asked Barbara. "You know Selina better than we do, what do you say?"
Barbara thought about it for a long moment; in her mind she could hear Bruce telling her to give Selina a chance. But her more cynical view was that Selina would simply use the Justice League to her advantage. But as she also knew that Selina did have good intentions, even if they were of a grey colour at the best of times.
Barbara then nodded and she looked at Selina and said to her, "We'll talk to the rest of the League and see if we can get you some probationary membership." Then fixing the cat burglar with a glare, she added, "Don't make me regret it!" she warned.
Selina nodded before slinging her whip and swung off into the night.
TO BE CONTINUED…
A/B: there! The eighth chapter of this done and dusted! I'm sorry if this was so short or was not a Master Chief centric chapter, but I wanted to show what some of the JL was doing while Chief was down in Atlantis, plus I needed a way to introduce Catwoman into the story. I will admit that writing Catwoman as a character is very difficult because she has such contrasting aspects to her personality, origins and characters; from her less than ideal childhood to her teenage years as a prostitute and her first foray into crime as Catwoman, not to mention her turbulent relationship with Batman and how she tightrope walked the line between hero and villain, being somewhere in the grey area.
Anyway, not much more to say, so I'll just leave this here and the next chapter will be a JL-centric chapter to showcase what the other JL members are doing, as well as the Gotham heroines bringing forth Catwoman's case to the JL and her desire for membership.
So, that's about all from me and I'll see you all in the next one.
Be kind to one another,
Angry lil' elf.
