Chapter 40: Exposed Shadows…
My head… Still throbbing from Vertigo… Where are we…
Slowly, my eyes open to find the answer to my own question. I find my friends – Kid Flash, Superboy, Artemis, Aqualad, and Wolf – all unconscious. Slacking against a set of bars or on the floor. Bars?
I shake myself fully awake to see that we're flying through the air. But not because of me. We inside of a golden cage big enough for all of us. Wotan. He must've made this to make sure we wouldn't get out.
Aqualad, on the floor to my left, begins to stir awake. I check on him, seeing no wounds or injuries. I look to the others and find no visible injuries to them. At least we're not dead yet.
"Aqualad, wake up", I say to my leader. It seems to do the trick. His eyes pop open fully, slowly sitting upright.
"They awaken. You're certain this will hold them?" Vertigo says in his obvious foreign accent.
"The cage is impenetrable", Wotan answers his colleague. "Even the Superboy has no chance of escaping."
"You are not the only one trained in the mystic arts, Wotan", Aqualad yells to the vile sorcerer. Aqualad grabs the bars before us. Using the mysticism in his Atlantean tattoos, he attempts to break the cage open. But the electricity coursing through his body does nothing to our entrapment.
"Please, Atlantean. Do not pretend you're in my league", Wotan says to Aqualad.
"Good thing too. From what I've heard about this Injustice League, they suck as bad as Toyman does making toys for kids", I jokingly say to the baddies holding us.
"Silence, you insolent bug!" Vertigo yells to me. "Soon, this will all be over with. The Justice League will be no more, and you sidekicks won't be missed by anyone."
"Don't call us sidekicks", I say back. I create a sawblade construct. It's a longshot, but maybe my ring's power can cut through Wotan's magic. The sawblade touches the bars before me, only making a grinding noise that starts to wake the others.
"Ugh… Can you turn that down, I'm trying to sleep", Kid Flash sleepily says.
"Well too bad", Artemis says to him. "Naptime's over. We need a plan to get out of here."
"Working on it", I respond. "Any word from the others, Aqualad?"
"No. They are to stay on task and complete the objective."
"Maybe they can help us get out of here too, cause I'm not having much luck here", I say as I take a break from cutting through the bars. I look to my sawblade construct. The blades look smashed to bits. I dissipate the construct. "Magic, the one thing my ring can't cut through. So freaking weird."
"Um, guys", Kid Flash says to get our attention. We look in his direction and see where we're headed. A large dome building with a giant beanstalk growing up towards the sky. "Any ideas on escape before we become plant food?"
"Yeah, and she's headed our way", Superboy says, looking behind us. Aqualad and I join Superboy and sees who she is. The Bioship! She must've recovered.
The Bioship zooms right above us, flying past soon after. Looking through the bars, we see Wotan falling downwards. She must've knocked into him from behind. But that means…
"Everyone hold on!" I tell my friends just as the magical cage keeping us in the air disappears. All six of us fall towards the swamp water below us. Using my ring, I'm able to levitate all six of us safely to the ground. With no time to spare, we land in the bayou marsh swamp. We've gotten our hands dirty before with these missions. But with the muddy water we're in, we'll be rolling in dirt.
As we all stagger to our feet, before us stands a gun totting, albino gorilla ready to fight. Superboy and Wolf immediately take an interest in Ultra-Humanite. "I hate monkeys", Superboy says. Tell us something we don't know. Both he and Wolf charge after Humanite.
I shake off the weariness and the mud in my hair as I stand straight. Artemis and Aqualad follow in suit. On a small hill to our right, Poison Ivy appears with a number of vines willing to kill us for her.
Aqualad and Artemis both reach for their weapons. Unfortunately, there not with them. Vertigo must've taken Aqualad's water-bearers and Artemis' bow and quiver while we were out cold. Makes me glad he didn't go for my ring.
"Ah, I feel naked. And not in a fun way", Artemis says.
Ivy launches a pair of vines towards us. The three of us manage to dodge them with ease. "We will make our own fun, as we have been trained", Aqualad responds. "Maneuver 7."
As soon as Aqualad utters the words, he and Artemis go into action. Aqualad groups his hands together, lowering them knee level. Artemis runs towards him. She places on foot on his hands. Using his hands as a launching pad, Aqualad boosts Artemis into the air. She majestically jumps over the vines in front of us. With a whirl, Artemis spins and kicks out her right foot, planting it against Poison Ivy. Creating these maneuvers and training us on them is proving to be a great idea.
Kid Flash and I face a now landing Vertigo and Adam. Kid runs towards them both. "Kid, wait!" But Vertigo sends a disorienting wave towards the speeding speedster. Weakly approaching them, Adam punches Kid Flash out of the way. My turn.
Before I make a move, I notice Vertigo is wearing a headpiece that runs from the back of his head to his ears. The waves go through our eardrums, disorienting our whole bodies.
For precaution, I create an earmuff construct to let that happen again. I fly over towards Vertigo and Adam next. Vertigo sends another wave my way. But I feel fine. No feelings of nausea or weakness throughout my body. It worked!
Vertigo's expression is a mix of shock and frustration. I grab a hold of the Count and fly straight up to the sky. Black Adam follows me. Continuing up, Vertigo continues his mental attack, but to no avail. He even starts yelling at me. Too bad I can't hear him.
"What's that? You're gonna have to speak up a bit?" That just makes him angrier. He tries again with the wave. Adam's still on my tail… I have an idea.
"Okay, this is your stop!" I turn around and throw Vertigo straight down. Right to where Adam is still tailing me. While still using his mental waves. Even Black Adam can't not be affected by that. And he is. Covering his ears as Vertigo crashes into him. Both villains go tumbling down to the swamp water. Thank you for flying Air Rayner. Please come again.
Suddenly, my body feels an explosive shock wave through the air. I don't need to hear to know something big just exploded. And man is it ever huge.
With the others now free and fighting the Injustice League, Robin, Miss Martian and I are now able to continue with the mission objective.
All three of us climb up to the top of the dome greenhouse. We all look upon the giant beanstalk of a plant that's controlling the plants attacking every major city in the world.
"Any ideas on how we're supposed to cut this 'antenna'? If I had a big enough axe—"
"We blow it", Robin says cutting me off. Robin opens just about every pocket in his utility belt. He pulls out a number of his stylized batarangs.
"You have enough to knock this beast down?" I ask Boy Wonder.
"Of course. Can't ever have too many batarangs", he answers. "Miss Martian, take as many batarangs as you can and place them up top. Canary and I will place them on the roots down below."
"Got it", Miss M responds to. From his utility belt, she telekinetically places over two dozen batarangs onto the higher parts of the plant. Robin tosses a handful of batarangs to me. Both Robin and I begin placing them on the roots.
As I place our explosives for this giant weed, I look to the battlefield before us. Artemis and Kid Flash are facing off against Poison Ivy. Aqualad is helping Superboy and Wolf fend off against Ultra-Humanite. And Kyle is… taking to the sky with Vertigo in hand. And Black Adam following him. Hope you know what you're doing.
I don't see Wotan or Scarecrow though. Wotan may still be out from when M'gann had the Bioship ram into him and crash into the swamp. Scarecrow, however, may still be out cold from our fight. Though he may be lurking about, waiting to strike fear into our friends.
As I place the last batarang in my position onto the killer weed, I regroup with Robin and Miss Martian. The three of us back away from the soon to be destruction, not wanting to get blown up ourselves.
Without any further ado, Robin detonates the batarangs. The many explosives send the vines into a fiery flaming death. Ripping the plants apart from the root as well as breaking the glass from the dome. With the plant antenna now destroyed, the plants across the world are hopefully withering away into nothingness. Unfortunately, now we have to deal with one very pissed off gardener.
Robin, Miss M and I look down to the field. We see Ivy standing alone, horrified and angered by what we've just done. And to make her even madder, Robin does this.
"Timber."
Screaming with anger and agony, Ivy launches a dozen mutant vines towards us. Miss Martian steps forward and mentally rips the vines apart.
Out of nowhere, an energy beam blasts Miss Martian out of the sky. Robin and I duck for cover. We look to our left to see the remaining Injustice Leaguers finally joining the fight.
To the left is Joker. No need to describe or introduce that lunatic. To the right is a man wearing a yellow jump suit and a teched out helmet with see-through goggles. The only visible part of his body is his face, which looks to be dried up like a decaying body near death. Atomic Skull.
"Children? Children foiled our plan?" Joker rants as Skull shoots another beam towards Robin and I. "Unconceivable. Unacceptable. Retributionable! That last one might not be a word. So sue me."
Robin and I slide down to the ground to join our teammates as Skull and Joker chase after us. Looking across the area, I find all our friends across the marsh swamp. Kyle floating back down to join us. As for our enemies, all of the Injustice League bands together, ready to finish us off.
"Kill them. Kill them all." Vertigo commands his Injustice League, to which they happily oblige.
Ring in hand, I shoot an energy blast at Atomic Skull. He shoots his own energy blast at me. Both shots collide, neither one giving an inch to the other. Pour on the will! My energy gains more strength from within. It beats out Skull's energy, sending him flying on his back.
I look over to White Canary, who's facing off against Joker and Black Adam. She dodges Joker's butterfly knife weaving through the air. Not to mention making sure Adam doesn't smack her into the ground.
I create a spiked mace construct, as big as Adam himself. I rush through the air, winding up my throwing arm mace in hand. Throwing it, the mace hits Adam on the spot. The impact sends him through the air and into the forest.
Landing near Canary and Joker, I look to her as she sees me. Time to try out another one.
"Maneuver 9", I say, to which she receives immediately. Canary runs to me, with Joker following, as I group my hands together for a launching pad. Placing one foot on my hands, I boost Canary right over Joker, who is now facing me. He slashes his knife towards me. I duck, tucking my arms and fists inward. I jab him left and right three times, then have Canary high kick him in the jaw. The impact sends him on his back into the water.
Canary jogs over to me, a bit worn out from the just tested team tactic. She reaches out her hand to me, to which I grab it in return. "Great teamwork", she says to me.
"Fights not over yet. Let's keep it up", I say to her. Canary smiles back to me.
"Enough!" Wotan screams up from above. A batarang is thrown at him midair. It, however, has no effect on the dark mage.
"Wotan's mine. Help the others", I say to Canary. She nods in response.
I fly up to face Wotan. But before I get even close to him, out from his hands comes lightning. One of which hits me midair. The lightning sends my ass back to earth and continues to electrify my body. I look around me and see Wotan is doing the same to everyone else. Keeping them from moving or defending themselves. That's what they have me for.
Using my ring, I create a shield construct over my body. Protecting me from the lightning for now. But not just me. There's a shield construct for every one of my friends too. Though at the rate Wotan is still pouring on the electricity, they won't hold out for long.
I look back to my right and see Aqualad and Miss Martian near me. Barely, with the lightning crackling above me, I make out what Aqualad says to Miss Martian. Plan B.
Miss Martian's eye glow green. As I motion to stand back up still shielded, I see that the Bioship is repositioning over her and Aqualad. An opening is made at the bottom of her. Out of it falls the duffle that Aqualad brought with us on this mission. He grabs it. Unzipping it, he pulls out…
"The Helmet of Fate!" As soon as Wotan sees the helmet, he ceases his attack. My shield constructs dissipate right after. He's gonna put on the helmet and become Doctor Fate!
"Aqualad! You can't put the helmet on!" Canary screams, pleading with our leader.
"No, Aqualad! Don't!" KF pleads with him as well. Black Adam punches him, sending Kid into a tree. His right arm is impacted. I even hear a crunch when he it's the tree.
Despite Kid's and Canary's pleading, Aqualad dons the helmet. And just like Wally before him, Kaldur becomes Doctor Fate. Kaldur/Fate levitates up towards Wotan, squaring off for a magical duel. "Wotan, you are mine."
Sara told me about Wally putting on the helmet when he and Kent were cornered by Klarion. She said that she'd never seen anyone with so much power and control in her life. She also said that the Lord of Order residing in it wouldn't release Wally from the helmet until Kent talked him out of it. What if Nabu doesn't release Kaldur?
"Don't be afraid", a low-toned voice says from behind. Distracted, I didn't even notice someone closing on me. Before I can turn around, I feel a tightness around my neck. Rope it feels like. I place my hands on my neck, trying to grab a hold of the rope.
A gloved hand covers my face. From it comes a green vapor cloud surrounding my face. Sadly, I inhale it through my nose. As soon as that happens, my body starts to shake. I fall on the ground, shaking uncontrollably. The man appearing before me looks to be that of Scarecrow, only he looks more terrifying and menacing than he should be. As if he was a demon. What's… what's happening to me…
"Let us see if the Green Lanterns truly are without fear…"