Chapter 39: Coordination
As Robin, M'gann and Sara make their escape into the forest, the remaining seven of us (including Wolf) stand our ground and hold off Count Vertigo and Black Adam.
Adam rushes towards Aqualad to punch him to the ground. Before he does, I raise my fist and use my power ring to hold him in place just before he makes contact with Aqualad. Wolf jumps onto Adam, biting on his right arm. Adam backs off with Wolf still latched onto the Kahndaqian. However, Adam throws Wolf off him and towards Artemis and Kid Flash before they can attack him.
Just as Black Adam launches towards Artemis and KF, I step in front of my friends blocking him. I create a wall construct, blocking Adam as he attempts to punch me. He manages to make a hole or two in my construct.
I then create a battering ram construct, grabbing a hold of it. With Adam still in front of me, I dissipate the wall and collide the battering ram against Adam. Catch is, I extend my battering ram when it hits Adam, sending him backwards until he hits a tree's trunk. I then create a set of chain constructs to hold Adam for now.
I turn to see how the others are doing. Artemis and KF are staggering back up as Wolf is circling Vertigo, who is sending disorienting waves at a shielding Aqualad.
Before I can do anything else, I feel a surge of electricity surging through my body from above. The pain coursing through my body lessens seconds after. I look up to see where this came from, and I find my answer.
The man floating above us is pale white, with black hair/facial hair and red eyes. He sports red armor and a black collared cape with gold lining and interior green. Wotan.
I shake off the lightning off my body and levitate, following Wotan into the air. I send an energy blast towards the sorcerer. Wotan meets my attack with his own magical blast. Both blasts continue to eat at each other, neither gaining an advantage.
I decide to cease my energy attack and duck below before Wotan's magic hits me. Before Wotan can counter, I think of a clever idea. Let's see if I can pull one over this sorcerer.
I create four constructs of myself. Then I coat my entire body in green. Since my constructs only come in one color, it would make sense to make myself entirely green to blend in with construct Kyle Rayners. Just me, myself, I and my constructs.
My constructs and I fly through the air, bobbing and weaving through the air as Wotan attempts to shoot me out of the sky. He manages to hit one Rayner construct, destroying it.
"You think yourself a sorcerer, Green Lantern? My magic is beyond your capabilities!" Wotan yells at me.
Another construct collides into Wotan, pushing him through the air. Wotan slams his fists into the construct. Magic seeps onto the construct, breaking it apart and releasing its grip on Wotan.
The last two constructs and I fly in a single file line. Circling Wotan doing so. Each of us raise a fist towards the sorcerer. Sending multiple blasts of Lantern energy towards him. Wotan protects himself with a magical spherical barrier.
I create a giant hammer construct above Wotan. As we continue to circle Wotan, I motion the hammer construct to slam into his barrier. With a thunderous noise, it slams the barrier towards the ground with extreme speed.
However, Wotan dissipates the barrier and levitates back to the air with me, myself and I. The two Rayner constructs move towards him from opposite ends. He drops below, letting the constructs crash into one another. Leaving only a cloud dust of energy.
Before he can see me, I sneak up behind Wotan. I grab a tight grip around the sorcerer, not letting up on giving him up.
"Release me at once, adolescent!" He commands me.
"Only when I'm ready to, Wizard of Oz", I say to him.
I speed off quickly before he can recite an incantation. I also start to spin rapidly while doing so, making it much harder for him to concentrate on a spell. With the speed we're going and the centripetal force I'm building, we should hit the ground within seconds. I may not get back up right away, but I know for certain Wotan won't.
Suddenly, I feel a nausea overcome my body. This pain forces me to slow my descent and stop my rotation. It also forces me to lessen my grip onto Wotan, letting him slip away from me. Before I know it, I crash onto the dirt ground like one of Hal's crashes. I feel like I've just crashed really.
I look before me and I see my friends – Aqualad, Superboy, Kid Flash, Artemis, even Wolf – all on the floor unconscious. I turn my head left to see Count Vertigo standing above me. Sending pulsating, disorienting waves right at me close range.
"Do not fear, Lantern. It will all be over soon."
With the sky getting darker on us, Robin, Miss Martian and I tread through the swampy terrain. The others were able to hold off Vertigo and Black Adam long enough for us to make our escape. Hopefully they were able to fight just the two of them off. If not, either we go back for them or they'll be able to hatch an escape plan. Either way, I know they'll be okay. Especially with Kyle with them.
I blocked contact with Aqualad and the others. Should we—
Sorry, that's not the gig. This is. Robin says to M'gann as we see our target. A dome-shaped greenhouse with a giant plant growing on its top. The Injustice League central control system. Looks like that plant is acting as an antenna to control the other plants worldwide.
So, all we have to do is disconnect that one giant plant and that'll sever the connection to all the others. Easy enough, I say.
"Well, hello", a feminine voice says from behind us. Just as we turn around, a group of vines sprout from beneath us. They wrap around our bodies, restraining us from any movement. The vines elevate in height, keeping us away from ground level.
Looking forward, I see a pale skinned woman with long red hair and light green eyes. Wearing a green jumpsuit covering her body, legs, arms and neck, as well as smaller lines around her body. Poison Ivy.
Behind her jumps out a giant albino gorilla with a small scar on its lips' right side, and his revealing brain on its head showing scars. The ape sports a red ammunition vest fully stocked, carrying a hi-tech machine gun with a sniper's scope in hand. Ultra-Humanite.
From the darkness of the forest, a third figure joins the two. Wearing a brown clothe, stitched and sewn together, covering his chest and arms; a pair of brown leather gloves; grey ragged pants and brown clothe for his feet. With a hood over his head, you can still make out his face. It's hard not to. A burlap sack covering his entire face, except for his eyes, which look completely white, and his mouth area that is sewn together. Around his neck lays a hangman's noose. In his hands, a scythe as long as my staff with a grip to handle in combat. Scarecrow… Just looking at him gives me the creeps.
The three of us continue to struggle out of our restraining vines. Humanite raises his weapon against his shoulder, aiming at us through his scope. Humanite motions his weapon at us, stopping and targeting Miss Martian.
"And goodbye", Poison Ivy says to us.
I struggle even harder, looking to M'gann as Humanite targets her. M'gann, his weapon. Lower its aim. She looks to me and nods in response. Her eyes glow green as she looks towards the albino ape. As he pulls the trigger, his weapon is lowered towards the vines themselves. He shoots three times, hitting each vine holding us. The vines destroyed, we each leap away as we face our new opponents.
Robin ducks and dodges Poison Ivy's vines, maneuvering through them and the trees. Miss Martian maneuvers through the air herself, avoiding Ultra-Humanite's blasts. Leaving me to have to avoid Scarecrow's reach with his scythe. And possibly his gas.
I reach for my staff on my side. Taking it out, I extend it to its full length. I rush towards the ragged reject as he starts swinging his scythe in his vicinity. I slide forward, slipping between Scarecrow's legs before his swing can cut me down. Still on the ground, I strike him down with my staff. Knocking him off his feet and on his back.
Quickly, I get back to my feet. I run the opposite direction as Scarecrow gets back up himself. He throws his scythe in my direction, circling its way like a boomerang. I plant my feet on a tree trunk in front of me. Boosting myself up into the air just as the scythe lands itself into the tree.
Scarecrow raises his right hand towards me as I fall back to ground level. Fear gas! I quickly take out a ribbon, unravel it and lash it around right arm. I pull the ribbon inward, forcing Scarecrow to move forward. Right where I'm above him.
By the time I land, Scarecrow is to my back. His gas released, but nowhere near me. I look to the others, who're still avoiding they're playmates too. Thankfully nowhere close to Scarecrow and his gas.
"Ah, so you're more concerned with your compatriots than you are yourself. Interesting", Scarecrow says in a low, raspy voice. He pulls his scythe out from the tree near him and cuts the ribbon tied to his arm. "Just from this encounter, you would rather me gas you than your teammates. Am I right?"
I don't answer him. Refusing to give him an inch into my head. While Scarecrow's deranged, he's also a psychologist. Able to pick a person's brain as well as deduce their own fear. I give him a hint of fear from me, he'll have the advantage.
"Perhaps we should put that theory to a test. Discover what fears lie with—" A flurry of shurikens fly towards Scarecrow, forcing him to shield himself as they tear his outfit. A pair manages to pull of his hood, revealing his burlap masked face even more so.
Before he can react, I rush towards the Halloween reject as fast as I can. Staff in hand, I smack his scythe out of his hand. I plant my left foot against his neck, pressing him against the tree. I press harder against Scarecrow, glaring into his eyes as he does his victims. "Not today, doc." Twirling it for momentum, I swing my staff and strike Scarecrow in the head. He falls to the ground, hopefully knocking him out for now.
I make my way over to Robin, who is still running from Ivy's stalking vines. A vine erupts from below a tree Robin is running on, sending him into the air. I quickly make my way to him, catching him before he crashes into the bayou mud.
"You okay? Feeling the aster yet?" I ask him in his own weird tongue.
"Definitely not", Robin answers back.
Looking up, we see a group of vines ready to strike down on us like thunder. Suddenly the vines are ripped to shreds out of nowhere. A camouflaged Miss Martian swoops down to gather with us.
Robin, White Canary, she's made contact.
Artemis? Robin asks.
No, Miss Martian answers.
Miss Martian notions both of us to look up above. We do so, and we see what who she's talking about.
AN: Hello again! Just wanted to see how everyone's enjoying the chapter.
I know I've already talked about why I wanted to introduce Scarecrow right now. Now I want to talk about how I wrote him. I wanted to a Young Justice version of the Scarecrow. To where we know who he is as soon as we see him, but with a dash of something different. I also felt making him be able to fight physically along with using the scythe like Sara does with her staff would be a good fit. As for his voice, in my head I heard the Scarecrow from the Chris Nolan trilogy, more so when he used the fear gas. But the great thing about reading is that everyone has their own interpretation in their mind. I just hope you all enjoy Canary vs. Scarecrow.
Like always, you have any questions, comments, ideas or suggestions, leave a review for everyone to see or PM me anytime. Enjoy the time you have with your own spit fire!