February 13
2016
After Mom left, Nightwing and I decided to leave the departure of the Justice League's 'Big Guns', out of the Media.
Until further notice, I will be in Wonder Woman's shoes, literally. Should 'she' need to make a public statement, I look more like her than Cassie does. And with some higher heels, I should be able to match her height. And, of course, I need a wig, and her outfit, but both of these are easily acquired.
Conner will pose as Superman, M'gann will shift into Martian Manhunter, and Nightwing will be Batman.
That night she left, Haneul stayed the night.
NOT LIKE THAT. Get your head out of the gutter.
We did rest in the same general… area… in the same general… space… but it was only because I didn't want to be alone in the apartment!
I mean I do have Sko, but that's not the same!
Shut up.
Of course his brothers teased us about this non-stop when they discovered that he was not in his room before we arrived back at the cave.
But we all know better than to tell Nightwing this.
Any and all of this.
"Zeta Shield relay satellites are all in place. Activating satellites," Doctor Strange begins to narrate. We see a live feed from space, as the yellow translucent shield reaches each satellite in the sky. "Congratulations. The Zeta Shield is now operational."
"Absolutely historic. Professor Carr, you should have your cave-school pupil write a term paper about this!" La'gaan teases Garfield, who is working on his school work.
Garfield cuts his neck with his finger, signaling La'gann to shut up.
"With the Zeta Shield in place, no alien can teleport to our planet from off world," La'gaan begins, holding M'gann around her waist. "Even your 'Strange' friend won't be able to travel to-and-from Rann without prior approval."
"Shield's great. But it won't stop a space ship. Or a boom tube," Conner crosses his arms over his chest.
"What's a boom tube?" Jaime asks. "Not compatible with what!?" He asks even though no one has said anything. "I swear I don't understand half the things you say!"
I raise an eyebrow.
"Feeling's mutual," Mal says, raising his own eyebrow at Jaime's strange behavior.
Jaime looks away sheepishly.
"Where's Nightwing?" Conner asks, clearly aggravated that M'gann and La'gann are making googly-eyes at each other in the middle of the Cave.
"Taken the night off. Personal business," Mal answers.
"Perfect," Conner sighs, looking around.
"So...Back to movie night, Angelfish?" La'gann asks M'gann, getting impossibly closer to each other.
"Tag. You're it," Conner growls at Jaime, taking the boy by the arm, and dragging him into the hangar.
"Uh, what?" He asks in shock. "Uh, W.B! A little help!"
I rush over to the two boys in attempt to help Jaime from Conner's grasp.
"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Con, yo! What do you-?"
"Taking the night off! Personal business," He replies sarcastically.
D.C
Conner grabbed Sphere, and we took off into the sky, and to D.C. Of course Wolf jumped in before we took off though.
I sit with Blue Beetle in the back, while Conner and Wolf take the front.
"Right already, I'll ask," Blue says to himself.
"Ask what?" Conner asks, a bit annoyed.
"Oh, any piece of this mission you feel like letting us in on? Look, I know you only picked me because Gar was studying, and La'gaan and M'gann were… whatevering. And W.B's here because she's worried... But I'm here, ese. And I want to help," Blue explains.
"We want to help," I correct.
"...Yeah, okay…" Conner gives in, as a holo-screen clicks to life in front of Blue and I. "The bomb Aqualad used last month to destroy Malina Island was clearly of alien origin. Obviously the Kroloteans that perished there didn't know anything about it. So we need to figure out where it came from. The criminal organization Intergang has a history of trafficking in alien tech smuggled to Earth through boom tubes. So I've been keeping tabs on Whisper A'Daire one of Intergang's top lieutenants. Tonight her boss Bruno 'Ugly' Mannheim crawled out of hiding to meet up with her. We have both in that truck. And it looks like they are headed for… the Hall of Justice."
We wait a few more minutes before the woman with long red hair, and the man with a Hulk Hogan shaped mustache, hop out of the truck carrying a large case.
"Can you scan that case?" Conner asks Blue.
"Yeah, sure," Blue affirms, turning his arms into what I assume is a scanner.
"Not compatible again? What does that even mean?" He asks irritably to himself, shaking his arm.
"Blue. What do you mean? Who are you talking to?" Conner asks, concerned about his well-being.
"It's the scarab," Jaime sighs, pointing to the blue and black mechanical bug on his back. "The thing stuck to my spine that gives me the armor. The powers. It's an artificial intelligence created by Ted Kord. You know, the previous Blue Beetle," Jaime begins.
"Yeah. I knew him. Good man," Conner states.
"So I hear. Guess he was a super genius or something. Captain Atom figures the scarab was Kord's ultimate invention," Jaime says. "The Light killed him before he had a chance to use it. The Scarab advises me. Think Jiminy Cricket with a really bad attitude. But it can't scan the briefcase for some reason."
"Can it scan the Hall? Ugly may be about to launch an attack against whoever's inside. And it's shielded from my infrared vis-" Conner begins.
"Scan complete. Hall's deserted," Jaime interrupts with a report.
Ugly opens up the case, and a glowing red… typewriter?... reveals itself.
"What is that thing?" Blue asks.
"I assume a retro-typewriter…?" I guess.
Sphere starts beeping, and whirring angrily, as if she sees someone she doesn't like.
"Don't think so. But the way Sphere's reacting, I bet it's Apokoliptian," Conner hypothesizes.
"Meaning?"
"Meaning bad news. Let's go," Conner orders, moving Sphere down to the action.
"Perhaps we should create a plan of-" I begin to assist.
"No time!" Conner shouts over the wind as Sphere dives down.
Whisper notices us in the air, and Ugly straightens himself up holding the typewriter in his hands. It begins to emit a red glow, sending radio waves all around us.
Blue begins to shout in pain, holding his head with his hands.
"Blue!" Conner shouts, turning to face us both.
"Jaime, what's wrong?" I ask, moving to make him look me in the eyes.
He doesn't answer, still clutching his hands to the sides of his head where his ears would be.
"Game's over, Ugly!" Conner shouts, jumping down off of sphere along with Wolf, and onto the ground in front of the two villains. "Time to hand over the device."
"You're half right," Ugly acknowledges. "Game is over."
The plaster, and concrete of the wall begins to crack behind the two mercs. Sphere lowers Jaime and I to the ground, and I hear Wolf begin to growl, his ears flat against his head, and eyes set dead ahead on the cracking wall.
A large creature burst out from the Hall of Justice. It looks like Groot grew over blue crystals and large boulders, then decided to make himself about 20 feet taller. Through some of the roots, I can clearly spot a pulsing yellow light, as if fireflies were trapped inside.
It stood up straight, and roared into the air. The roar sounded a bit like a T-rex mixed with an electric car engine. In other words, I nearly went deaf.
It growls in our direction.
"Attack," Ugly commands.
The monster lifts it's crystal-wood arm in the air, then lets gravity slam its fist down to where S.B and Wolf stand.
I see Conner shake himself out of his shock, then he jumps out of the way before the creature's fist hits the ground.
Conner jumps up above the creature, then slams his fist into one of the crystal spines on its… head…?
Conner lands on the ground near it's foot, and moves just before the foot moves to flatten him.
Wolf uses Conner's distraction to jump on the beast's foot, and begin to rip and tear at it's wooden leg. Conner decides to join it seconds later, using his powers to beat the wood off of the leg.
'Maybe I should help…'
Sphere makes a small whirring sound.
I look down at Sphere's 'nose' and I see a small blaster-like device popping out from the metal.
It releases a similar sound wave to that of the typewriter in Ugly's hands, but this sound wave fights off the Apokalyptan one, making it safe for Jaime again.
Jaime breathes in relief, opening his eyes, and tilting his head to the side as if he were listening to someone.
"Jaime, are you alright?" I ask, standing over the latino boy.
"Yeah… Yeah, I'm good," He states, looking around me to watch the fight. "What is that thing?!"
"I'm not sure, a hybrid of sorts perha-"
"You know, I'm bilingual, and I still have no idea what you just said!" Jaime shouts.
"I'm fairly certain I was speaking English," I fold my arms over my chest.
"Not you, the Scarab," Jaime corrects. "Okay, that I get!"
He grows his bug like wings, and begins to fly into the fight.
"Blue, wait! We still don't know how to defeat it!" I shout after the boy. I roll my eyes. "And men wonder why women live longer…"
I jump out of Sphere, and land right beside Wolf.
Blue loads his sonar cannon, and shoots it at the monster.
"BLUE, NO!" Conner shouts up at him, but it's too late.
The sonar hits the crystals, lighting them up a light blue color, before releasing it back out into the air as a larger, more powerful charge.
It knocks me back along with Conner and Wolf, and it shoots Jaime out of the sky.
I groan in pain as my sight swirls around.
"Oooowwwww…" I groan, trying to sit up.
I hear a loud creaking come over us. As I attempt to open my eyes, I see a small blue mass right in the foot-path of the monster.
"Blue… BLUE!" I recognize after my disorientation passes.
The monster slams his foot into the ground, directly on top of Jaime.
I reach my hand out in a futile attempt to reach him, but it was just that. Futile.
My eyes shift slowly over to the Mercenaries. They spoke in raspy tones, but all I could make out is that Conner and I would be too time consuming to kill. And that the League would be here soon.
If only.
They use the typewriter thing to make the monster step off of Jaime, and reach down to pick up Whisper and Ugly.
'They're getting away…' I tell myself as the monster grows large, yellow, bat-like wings from it's back.
'No… It's not going anywhere,' I mentally growl.
I shakily stand up, and shake my head from the disorientation. I glare up at the retreating creature, and I begin to lower myself onto the ground in a take off position.
'No one hurts my boys and get away with it,' I growl, and launch myself up off the ground, and into the cold night air.
Conner and Jaime
When the two boys regained their consciousness, they realizes that the other resident super-strength powered hero was missing.
Conner deducted that Adeline probably went after the beast in an angered frenzy. He assured Blue that they'd catch up to her as soon as they could find the Appellaxian.
"How're the ears?" Jaime asks as the wind whistles through the air around them.
"FINE!" Conner shouts. After a second, he realizes that he said that just a bit too loud. "Fine. But what were you thinking using sonics against an Appellaxian?"
"Dude! Never even heard of an Appe-laxative before tonight!" Jaime defends, crossing his arms over his armor.
"You freshmen never do the homework. Haven't you read the case file on the League's first mission? Haven't you taken the guided tour of the Hall?" Conner lists off, rolling his eyes.
"Those are rhetorical questions, right?" Jaime asks.
"The Appellaxians were an alien race of energy beings that attacked Earth twelve years ago. They inhabited elemental host bodies, including one made of crystal that could absorb and redirect a sonic attack!" Conner shouts over the wind.
"Ooooh," Blue says stupidly. "So what were they doing inside the Hall?"
"The original seven members of the League drove the energy beings off world. The empty husks the aliens left behind became the League's first trophies. Ugly's device must have reactivated the husks. Combined them somehow into a creature he could control. Sphere's tracking the device's Apokoliptian energy readings," Conner explains. "We're closing in."
Adeline
I flew a bit behind the monster to make sure it didn't spot me.
It flies surprisingly fast for a giant wooden, crystalline, stone made Appellaxian. We must have flew miles away from Washington D.C, as there were snow covered trees everywhere, and the only nearby civilization was a nuclear reactor base.
In other words, I still need to get them away from the area before they make the Appellaxian attack. Any small change in the immediate area could affect the reactor, and I really don't want to see if I'm nuke-proof.
The Appellaxian lands a few miles out from the reactor, and sets the mercs on the ground.
I silently land myself on a snowy pine-branch, making sure that as little snow fell as possible.
The Appellaxian straightens up, and make a low, rumbling sound. Like a moaning tree.
"It sounds... sad," Whisper notes, her eyes drooping a bit in sympathy for the Appellaxian.
"Don't go sentimental on me, A'Daire," Ugly spits, holding the typewriter back up. "It's a construct of wood, stone, et cetera. This gizmo pulled together the residual psychic energy of its former alien hosts. But that monster doesn't feel anything. And with this thing as my enforcer I can expand Intergang's reach exponentially."
'Who's the real monster here?' I growl.
"Wow, five syllables. I didn't think you knew any words with more than two," The voice of Superboy retorts from the sky.
'How did I not hear them?' I wonder.
"Hilarious. But we'll see who's laughing when I-" Ugly begins.
"Regeno-sphere," Conner interrupts, ordering Sphere. "Jam all Apokoliptian signals in the area."
A sonar blast erupts from Sphere's nose, and the typewriter begins to spark, and fizzle. Ugly tosses it on the ground before it could cause any major damage to his hands.
Upon being freed, the Appellaxian begins to moan, and growl even louder, advancing slowly on the mercs who controlled it, crushing the device under it's large feet.
"Uh-oh," Ugly notes.
"Uh-oh is right," I growl, not moving to protect the mercs as the Appellaxian slams it's rock fist into the two, knocking them out, and sending them flying back.
The Appellaxian then turns, and jumps in the air, knocking Sphere out of the sky with S.B,, Wolf, and Blue still aboard.
Thankfully, I spot Wolf and Conner leap out before Sphere slams into the snow covered ground, and is then nearly crushed into scraps when the Appellaxian lands on her.
The power and magnitude of the Appellaxian's landing was enough to create a small snow storm.
Snow and dirt flies everywhere, as Conner struggles to stay on one place.
Even I'll admit that I had some trouble staying on my pine branch.
The tree sways backwards, and I take it upon myself to grip onto the trunk of the pine with my strength.
As I block my eyes from the large chunks of snow, and wood, I hear a slam, then whimper.
'It hurt Wolf!' I deduct.
The wind and snow begin to settle, and I barely take a second to reveal myself.
I leap out of the tree just as Jaime comes around. His arms in the shape of a battering ram.
He slams himself into the Appellaxian's arm, only to be thrown down a second later.
I search for my own landing on the creature, and I slam myself into it with my full dead weight.
The Appellaxian crumples to the ground, but only for a second. That second is enough for me to unwind my lasso, and begin to twirl it around, aiming for the crystals on the top of it's head.
As I toss it over and around it's largest spine, I tug on it with most of my strength, attempting to turn it away from the reactor.
"Any chance I could get some help?!" I shout down to the two heroes.
They don't answer.
I continue to attempt steering the Appellaxian away, but this is no horse.
It bounds over to the Nuclear Reactor, and I pick up the sounds of the warning alarms blaring at the sight of it.
As we get close enough, I hear the sound of automatic weapon fire.
'Do they really think that guns are gonna stop it?!' I silently judge in my head.
The guards continue to shoot at the Appellaxian, and I struggle to stay aboard.
The Appellaxian must have grown tired of their games. He throws down a large piece of wood, nearly missing the guards, but making them scatter.
Now I go into panic mode.
I fly up in the air, and attempt to at least throw it off course with my momentum, but all I could manage was to stall it for a few seconds before it realized that I was still alive.
It reaches up, and swats at the lasso, trying to take me down with it, as though I were a spider connected to a single thread of web.
"Deploy! We can't let it breach the reactor!" The saving grace voice of Superboy shouts over the wind, arriving just as the Appellaxian breaks through the wall of the facility.
"How long does it take to fly half a mile?" I complain, letting the monster go so Blue Beetle could use his battering ram to knock the beast back, and onto the ground.
Conner jumps onto the Appellaxian's right arm, while I assist Wolf with the left.
"We had to take care of the mercs!" Blue defends.
"Hold it down! Lock it down!" Conner clarifies, struggling to keep the creature down.
"Working on it!" Jaime shouts, slamming his arms together, trying to create a larger staple-gun than he probably ever has.
He wastes no time in tossing the staples around the Appellaxian's arms, torso, and legs.
"Sphere! Pill-bug mode! See if you can take control of it!" Conner shouts as he and wolf hold it down, along with Blue's Staples.
Sphere rolls around, and transforms into a strange bug-like creature. I've only ever seen it once, but this time is no less impressive.
Sphere tries to jump into the Appellaxian's head like a tick, or flea, but the creature hed-buts Sphere away, breaking the staples as it does so.
It tosses Conner into Blue, knocking him out of the air, then he throws Wolf off of it, making him whimper as he skidds on the ground next to Conner.
"I don't suppose we could just ask it to play nice?" Jaime asks, half jokingly. "Wait, you mean it's possible?"
"Jaime, what's the bug telling you?" I ask, making my way up into the air, once again attempting to use my lasso to stop the creature from creating a nuclear reaction we all won't like.
Jaime stands up, and forms his arm into a sonic cannon.
"Stop Blue! Sonics don't work! Not as an attack!" Conner shouts, recovering quickly from the tossing.
"But maybe as a-" He doesn't finish his thought. He shoots the blue sonic cannon at the Appellaxian. But this time, a red sonic wave returns to him within his own frequency.
He cries out in pain as the Appellaxian returns the continuous blast.
"Blue! Break off! Whatever you're doing, break off before it kills you!" Conner shouts at Jaime, moving to try to yank the sonic cannon away from the Appellaxian.
"No! It's not attacking. It's communicating!" He shouts in pain. "Communicating its pain. Listen," Jaime's voice changes in tone. As his eyes become wide, and still. "Where is the stillness of wood? Of stone? Of crystal? Of metal? All this noise. All this life. Is pain. We sense the power in this place. Power enough to destroy us. To end the pain. To be still again."
"I can relate… I mean, we can help you. We will help you," Conner corrects himself.
"The stillness you seek can only be gained my inner realization," I begin to explain. "Reaching your own inner peace is something many of us can- AHHGGGHHH!"
A loud screaming sound whistles through the air, making everyone cry out in pain.
I crumple to the ground, trying my best to block out the sound, but the scream is eardrum-shattering.
Soon, there was a large blast, warming me to the core, then, the screaming stopped.
As I begin to lift my arms away from my ears, I spot Jaime in Conner's arms.
"Blue!" I shout, wasting no time making my way over to the two. "Blue, are you alright?"
He only groans in pain.
"Don't know who you guys are," A voice states in the back. One of the security guards, I bet. "But you took that thing down! Probably saved the whole east coast!"
"...It was alive…" Blue says softly, reaching out to a lit up ash piece. "A-And now it's gone. Who attacked? Who killed it?"
"Someone ugly," Conner growls, looking back out into the forest.
"Allow me," I snarl, cracking my knuckles, and unstrapping my lasso once more.
"Add's don-" Conner begins, but I don't listen.
'A life is a life, no matter how big, or small,' I remember Dick telling me, back when it was only the few of us on the team. 'No one has the right to decide when someone else's life is to end.'
I storm into the forest, searching for footprints, and signs of life.
I kneel onto the ground, and I spot large indentations in the snow, leading away from the scene.
My eyes narrow, and I follow after them, hovering just above the snow, so I don;t confuse my prints with those already on the ground.
'It only happened moments ago… how far could they have gotten?' I begin to wonder.
"Wonderbat, come in," Conner's voice crackles over the comms. "Ugly and Whisper are still here. Alive, but non-responsive."
'Then who made these tracks?' I wonder.
"Wonderbat, come in," Conner repeats. "Addie, are you okay?"
"I copy," I whisper, not knowing my surroundings. "I'll be there in a second…"
I glare at the prints, and the forest, and reluctantly decide to return to the boys.
'...This isn't right… Something doesn't feel right…" My subconscious all but alarms me.
'I know, but we are unprepared… we best gather more information… I want to know what killed the Appellaxian, but whatever it was is obviously more powerful than 4 heroes. We can't take him alone.' I respond to myself, floating away, and back to the boys.
'Who says they were alone?' My subconscious asks.
Gateway City
Midnight
After discovering that the two mercs were not in their right state of mind to pull off something like homicide, We all agreed to brief Nightwing in the morning tomorrow.
Or… today... I guess.
I decided to go home, and hopefully get some much needed sleep.
As I enter the apartment, Skotádi bounds into the front room, and all but tackles me to the ground.
"Nai, to skotádi. Eímai spíti," I comfort the dragon, rubbing his head.
He lets his tongue fall out of his mouth, and he closes his eyes in happiness, as if to say 'Yes, human. Yes… love me…'
I pat his head one last time before I make my way to my room.
Skotádi had already pushed the door open with his nose.
My room always looks the same.
Except for the Magician on my bed.
That's always a welcome surprise.
"I see you're back in time for Valentine's day," Han's sleepy voice begins as he sits up in my bed.
"So, how'd it go?" His heavily accented voice asks, using his magic to pull me towards the bed, and into the spot next to him.
"You don't want to know," I reply, letting him lead me to a comfy place.
"I do," He counters. "But maybe in the morning…"
"Maybe in the afternoon," I retort. "I feel like I could sleep for days…"
"Well, it's a good thing I can stay here for days…" Han replies, shifting so that he could wrap his arms around my waist, and pull my back to his chest.
I take a deep breath, and relax myself, hearing Skotádi move to lay down on his bed.
"Are you alright, Princess?" Han asks.
"Just… a lot happened today… A lot that I just can't explain…" I state. "I'll tell you tomorrow. I'm beat."
"Goodnight, Princess," Han whispers in my ear as my eyes close.
"Goodnight, Han," I whisper back.
Across the street, on a rooftop…
'She has no idea. She doesn't know what game I'm playing at yet... ' A glowing yellow figure crookedly smiles from a rooftop, looking directly into Adeline's room. 'Soon, I will end her. Them. EVERYONE. She had her chance to be happy. Now, it's my turn. Sweet dreams, Princess… May I forever plague your dreams-no- nightmares.'
The figure send out a small, thin strand of a golden thread into Adeline's room. Fear.
He watches as it snakes into her head, and smirks when her face contorts into an expression of anguish.
Nash Jordan smiles brightly as he places the Fear of himself into Adeline Prince's mind.
'This is my endgame.'
Hey everyone! I know I've been gone a while. First it was the concussion, then grades, and now sickness. I cannot win this year. So, I'm sorry for the delay, but here it is! I hope this little slice of the new Nash Jordan makes up for the loss time! I know most of you have been asking to see him return :)
As I stated above, I am very sick at the moment, and I do want to get this up today, so I'll get back to my commenters on my next update when I feel better. I still love to see the comments though! They make me all warm, and happy inside. I love you all!
-Gargoyle77