Blackgate Penitentiary November 11th 2010 1:00 PM EDT

Despite my quick reactions, the fastest person to respond wasn't me, it wasn't even Robin. Surprisingly at was Arthur who shook of the shock first and dragged us out of the way. He pulled us over under the bleachers, further back into the shadows as things started to go south. Robin, Wally, Kaldur, Superboy, Red Arrow, and I all got dragged into the dark where we could stay hidden as Arthur informed us in a tense whisper to be quiet. I was honestly kind of touched, this guy didn't know us at all, he must really love his daughter if just being younger than everyone else reminded him of her enough to protect us.

I made a mental note to ask Jim about Cluemaster and spring the guy as we left if he wasn't some baby eating psycho. Speaking of my teacher, I activated my sending stone, making sure to do a full broadcast so everyone on the team heard. "Jim where the actual fuck did you go? The Amazons are siegeing down the prison and they blew holes in a bunch of the walls. We need to get to Ivy and Miss Martian and get the fuck out of here! Robin thinks they might hit Arkham yet, and I do NOT want to deal with my Uncle getting loose."

I mentally thanked the gods that I'd decided to get these damn stones, they were proving insanely useful. Zee's voice cut into my analysis of the situation. "Morgan? What's going on? What do you mean a siege? Is everyone ok?" Her voice was worried but calm, and I smiled at how cool under pressure my girl was. We'd been through too much for her to crumble because of few giant flaming boulders falling from the sky, even if she'd been here to see it. I exhaled slowly, regaining my calm. We had the map, which meant we weren't nearly as in the dark as everyone else.

I scanned the yard as best I could from our spot under the darkened bleachers against the wall, trying to find some markers I could use to help Zee get a bead on us. "We're fine mostly. Miss M is still on the women's side of the prison, and considering the Amazon's just blew a hole over there and most of the people on this side are hardened male criminals who haven't touched a woman in potentially decades I don't want to leave her alone over there. Can you give me a heading for getting to where she is?"

The justice bros may have been holier than though assholes but they weren't that bad, especially not Miss M. She was probably the nicest person in the group, and I wasn't leaving her alone in a prison during a riot. Jim's voice cut in. "I can meet you there. I apologize for my absence, I had a matter to discuss with an old associate in the maximum security wing. It's been dealt with and I'm on the way to Miss Martian and Poison Ivy's location to wait for the rest of you. Do be cautious dear boy. This is going to be something of a kerfuffle." I winced at the phrasing, knowing Jim only got extra British when he was worried or upset.

Since this was going to be such a mess I slipped my costume from my ring and suited up. I wasn't worried about being connected to my cape identity since I had this disguise on, and my mask and gear would do a lot to protect me here. My Armor of Gloom had shit for magic resistance but it was tougher than titanium and ten times as light, and I never really felt comfortable without my sword. Arthur and his guys, all in the shadows nearby gaped as I slipped on my gear. The justice bros seemed less surprised, probably because they knew I could teleport and didn't understand the glory of the spacial ring.

I closed my eyes to check my total, I was sitting at twelve hundred points right now, which was pretty solid, but I also knew that this place was heavily protected. Even my non teleportation abilities would most likely be harder to use and cost more, which was why I'd brought supplies. Aside from not killing anyone and enraging the justice bros I was fully willing to unleash my Outer Body trained badassery on these idiots. Just my physique alone would be plenty for most of these morons, especially with their powers sea-. I heard a small click and a beep and looked down. The collar that I'd disabled had still been around my neck, at least a minute ago.

Now though, my collar and all the other collars on everyone we could see had opened and dropped right off. I stared in disbelief, turning to look at Robin who looked equally stunned. I had no idea what was happening, but the boy blunder was at least good for something. He frowned, clearly thinking this through with his big detective brain before responding. "Oh. Damn. I get it now. That's why the timing lines up so well with our operation. They used the same move we did. They snuck someone in on intake day. They must have expected the shield. Should have expected that. The male inmates would have had a size advantage with the collars working, but powers even the field."

Which meant we had to hurry the fuck up and get to Ivy and Miss M. Not only would it be even harder now, Ivy might be one of their targets to begin with, and even if she wasn't with her powers restored she could easily tear a hole in the wall with a beanstalk or some shit and walk out. I filled the girls in via the sending stone, not needing to tell Jim since he was here and wearing a collar. Finally Robin and I got the others moving and got ready to head out. Arthur seemed hesitant to see us go off on our own though. The ponytailed criminal frowned at us. "I...I want to come with you."

We turned to look at him in confusion and he just swallowed and powered through. "I don't know who you are or why you're here, but you're obviously kids." He nodded to Robin. "Hell that one looks like he's about twelve. As a father I can't let a bunch of stupid kids run off into a terrifying prison riot without at least trying to help them." His eyes were sharp and I could hear steal in his voice, and I saw in his aura that he meant it. He was genuinely scared for us and couldn't live with himself if he didn't come with. I checked with Jim, getting confirmation that he wasn't a psycho and then nodded. I made a mental promise to help him get out if I had the chance. To get home to his kid.

He exhaled heavily when I gave the ok, his body sagging like just making the decision to come with us had taken all the energy he had. His crew on the other hand didn't seem so willing to come along. Titus, or Czonk as he called himself, surprisingly didn't hesitate, but Faceless and all his other goons wanted no part of this nonsense. I didn't blame them for staying behind, though I could tell Arthur did, and once we had our whole team together I got a sit rep from the girls via the map and started guiding us towards Miss M in the safest, least enemy filled route possible.

Sadly, we didn't have the kind of advance warning I'd like. Everyone in this fucking prison had been a super criminal pretty much, and we didn't know who was who based on their civilian names. We were flying blind here for the most part. Still we managed to avoid the throng for the most part, at least until we got through the nearest hole and into a hallway. A hallway where we ran face first into a bunch of people we really didn't have time to deal with. I froze as we came into the hallway and took in the few people standing together inside.

Well, people was a bit of a misnomer in some cases. For instance, the giant fuck off pile of mud and rock I knew from the news was Clayface. I cursed as they turned to look at us. With the big pile of muck I could make out a creepy looking guy with long red dreadlocks who seemed to be standing in a way that shouldn't really be possible. On close inspection his knees and elbows seemed to be backwards somehow. Next to him was a massive man with metallic bronze skin and a long thick mane of red hair with a huge bristly red beard. Having been briefed by Jim on most of the villains in Gotham and possessing a perfect memory I knew this must be Girder, though the weird joint guy was new to me."

The inmates froze when we did, glaring at us as they tried to figure out what to do for a minute. The detente was enough time for me to size them up and put together a basic plan. I spoke over my shoulder quickly. "Kaldur, your water will be our best bet against Clayface, Kid Flash and I will help out there. Superboy and Czonk are on Girder. Robin, you and Red Arrow take Gumby over there. Arthur, let us know if you see anyone coming, the last thing we need is to get ambushed mid fight." Then I didn't have time to talk because the wait was over and the bastards rushed us.

As expected, Czonk and SB were more than a match for Girder. Surprisingly they didn't just crush him, the massive metal man was obviously stronger than I'd expected, but with Superboy to meet him head on he didn't get very far. The kryptonian boy smashed into the titanic form of Girder at full speed, nullifying his momentum. Czonk smashed a fist into the man but howled with pain as it smacked into his metal flash. I winced, but the big bald man barely took a minute to let the pain fade before he picked up a piece of rebar from the rubble and started smashing it into every joint or soft spot he could find.

Robin and Red Arrow had engaged the twisted man with the dreadlocks, and he was doing a surprisingly good job of countering them. Aside from being able to twist and react in unusual ways his body also deformed on impact rather than being damaged, and the two combatants, expert though they may be, were having some real issues making any of their attacks stick. That said they were more than good enough to stop him from hurting them either, so for the moment it was mainly a stalemate.

Clayface was the slowest to reach us, though admittedly it was more from mass than sluggishness, the massive pile of much coming at us like an avalanche. Kaldur stepped up, his tattoos lighting up as he pulled water from the spurting pipes in the destroyed walls to bring it smashing against the big villain. Though it wasn't enough to actually stop the bastard it was more than enough to slow him down, and Wally used the time to super speed over and pick up a bunch of rubble, clearly trying to build some kind of wall to slow him down. I applauded the creativity but it didn't amount to much here as Clayface planted his feet and walked right through the wall and water blast both, clearly at least annoyed but not much more than that.

I snarled at him but realized I needed my magic to manage this. I reached down for my demonic magic. I couldn't manage any huge spells for any length of time but I'd done some Outer Body training, instant effects could be scaled way up for a decent up front cost so I dumped in a hundred points of my twelve hundred and used a flash freeze spell on Clayface. The huge villain froze, but his momentum didn't, and his forward motion overbalanced the ice sculpture as it tumbled forward to shatter on the ground. I exhaled in relief before noticing the chunks of Clayface nearby starting to thaw rapidly. As I watched the bits of muck converge into the form of their main body I cursed. This was going to be such a waste of time.

Blackgate Penitentiary November 11th 2010 2:00 PM EDT

This was not an ideal situation. Clayface was annoying to fight. I'd expected the flash freeze to finish him but once I shattered the bastard the pieces had melted the ice somehow, some kind of vibration I was pretty sure. Water and Ice were out, but upon studying the villain I realized something pretty interesting. He seemed smaller. Like he's lost some of his mass shaking off the freeze spell. I stared at him in concern, how the hell was I supposed to put him down if a hundred point spell only took off a few inches of height.

On closer examination though it didn't seem like the ice was what had done the most damage. The main contributing factor was the water Kaldur had used. The issue was that the busted pipes nearby wasn't enough of it. I snarled at the wards here, if they weren't here to stop me I could have just dropped this asshole in the ocean with a portal, I refused to believe that wasn't enough water to put him down. Glaring at him though I had an idea. Points were universal, they could be anything at all, and since I could have any power, maybe I could just push them into someone else.

I stepped over to where Kaldur was and put a hand on his back, focusing on pushing twenty points or so into his body, and I easily felt the movement of the energy as it flowed into him. His blue glowing tattoos began to shine much more brightly as the points supercharged the living fuck out of them, and I felt him reach out to the surrounding water again through that connection. This time though that grasp had massively increased in range. Kaldur leveled a hand at Clayface and pulled on the water in the pipes and literally hundreds of gallons came pouring out.

It all gathered in a shifting mass above his head as he took control of the power and I stepped away so I didn't get wet. Wally darted back as well and we both gave Kaldur room to work with his new juice. Calling that much water had butned probably three quarters of that power but the last quarter was keeping fine since the tattoos were made for this to begin with. The entire purpose was manipulating available water so it wasn't too much strain just doing more. Kaldur faced off against two face now with a much larger pool of resources available.

It was a massacre. Massive columns of water extended like tentacles from the orb of liquid and smashed down on the villain shearing off pieces of his muddy body. He tried to fight back, but he couldn't even get close to Kaldur with all that water around, and he just got slowly shaved down to size bits at a time. By the time he'd finished crushing the bastard the others had finished, partly aided by the absolute shock their opponents had felt at watching their heaviest hitter get destroyed. Clayface was thrown back into the collar and I was able to use my hacking skills and my knowledge of how they worked to turn it back on.

I stared in awe at the water. I'd never thought of giving my points directly to someone else before. It had been surprisingly effective. It made sense too, considering how much energy they had and how they could become anything there was no reason they couldn't be given to others as fuel. I mad a mental note to try that out with a member of my team, but for now we had to just keep going. We had to get to Miss M and Ivy as soon as humanly possible. We re collared the villains like we'd done to Clayface and tossed them back into their cells. Then we headed out towards the marked spot on the map once again.

I shook off my surprise, we didn't have time for me to sit around and dawdle. I turned to Robin. "You guys good? We need to get going again this place is going crazy, we need to get to Miss Martian before the Amazons decide to grab Ivy, or they might snatch her up at the same time." Having said that, I was also kind of on edge. Some part of me felt like that was too easy. Clayface was a heavy hitter, though to be fair we had basically a hard counter for that bastard in Aqualad, especially with me giving his mojo a boost. Still, despite wanting to hurry I also planned to move carefully. I had a strong feeling this wasn't the end of our problems.

Robin clearly felt the same as he frowned down at the subdued villains. "We're fine, but we should try to scope things out, there are worse things here to run into. KF can you do some scouting ahead? Just to make sure we aren't on a collision course with Atomic Skull or something." I couldn't argue that, it was a good plan. Robin knew his team better than me, I got the impression he was a little salty about me shot calling that last battle, so hopefully this would calm him down a bit. Wally nodded and zipped off down the hall, moving so fast he was barely visible. While he did that I got back in touch with Zee to check on the situation from on high.

I got a response immediately. "Hey babe, the map is showing so many red dots and so many names we don't know that it's hard to see what's going on, but I will say there are a lot of women without last names circling around Ivy and Miss M. They don't seem to have made contact yet but they're in the area." I cursed, though I made sure to mention her method of telling Amazons from the other prisoners since I was pretty impressed she'd noticed that on the fly.

I relayed the information to Robin and he looked as unnerved as I felt. Luckily Wally got back shortly after with his report. Unfortunately he didn't look happy about what he found. His disguised face was set in a scowl. "Ok we have a small problem. Rhino, Grotesk, and Sumo are up ahead, and they got into the room where the prison keeps all the costumes and weapons. They let Reaper, Electrocutioner, and Firefly into the room to get their gear. Seems like the picked up Tiger Moth and Blitzkrieg from the womens side. I don't know what the hell they're doing, but whatever it is, I can't imagine them having that much firepower bodes well for anyone."

I looked at Robin questioningly and he groaned. "Rhino, Grotesk, and Sumo are all huge guys who are really strong, Reaper is a hook wielding maniac, Electrocutioner throws around lightning and Firefly is a nutcase with a flamethrower. Tiger Moth is a crazy dangerous assassin, and Blitzkrieg uses gloves that shoot explosive power blasts. All in all it's kind of a bad lineup for us, but it could be worse. Czonk and SB should be able to take their heavies. Me and Red Arrow should be able to handle Reaper and Tiger Moth. KF you're on Blitzkrieg and Aqualad you take Electrocutioner." He nodded to me. "Given what I've seen you do with that sword you should be able to take down Firefly. Be careful with him, that flamethrower is more effective than it seems."

I wasn't really worried about it. I shot a quick query to Zee and confirmed Wally's count. "My sources say these should be the last of the bad guys we have to mess with until we hit the womens wing. Our path is mostly empty and after these assholes its a straight shot down to the area where Miss M is." With that news lifting our spirits we headed for the spot where Wally had seen the enemy. We had the element of surprise on our side and we decided to use it. Wally attacked first, darting in to punch Blitzkrieg. The female supervillain lit up her power blasting gloves and hurled a burst of energy that exploded, distracting the rest of them as we all fell on them like rabid wolves.

Superboy and Czonk hit the heavies. Czonk took on Rhino with backup from Arthur while Sumo and Grotesk were left to the half alien bruiser. Robin and Red Arrow. Hit their respective targets. Red Arrow was on Reaper while Robin took Tiger Moth, and I was shocked at how skilled the pretty blonde woman was given that I'd barely even heard of her. I'd have expected someone that tough to be more well known. Reaper wasn't that skilled, but that hook was dangerous as hell and look nasty sharp. Aqualad used his massive ball of water from my boost to hit Electrocutioner which left me to deal with my only target.

I darted forward with my blade out to slash the line on the flamethrower and deprive the firebug of his weapon, but he jerked it up and pulled the trigger forcing me back. I danced out of the way, a bit of the napalm getting on my Armor of Gloom but not burning through. Firefly opened the wings on his costume and darted up into the rafters of the cavernous room we were standing in, some kind of huge central area where they kept all the cells. I growled and opened my own wings, flying up to meet him.

Still it was annoying to deal with, and I couldn't help but bellow "What kind of prison keeps a huge room full of all the dangerous weapons the inmates use right next to the cell blocks? Why do they even have that room?" I had no earthly idea why the hell that would even be a thing. I looked to Robin and even in the midst of his battle he made to to dart back and offer me a shrug. I could see from his aura he thought it was as stupid as I did. It's like Blackgate wanted people to try to escape.

Regardless I shook off the thought and darted after Firefly. The flame wielding villain was shockingly agile and incredibly quick with that flame thrower. Granted I was much faster, but the arc on that thing was long enough that he could keep me at a fair distance so he only had to make small adjustments to his aim while I was trying to cross like fifty foot gaps in the air between us. The firebug was obviously more than used to dealing with aerial attackers, and I planned to use this little battle in the Outer Body trance to improve my flying ability.

Luckily for me, between bursts of fire that semi blinded me in the dark the rafters were covered in deep shadows. I poured in ten points and shoved a thin spike of darkness into the wings of the mans costume, not enough to drop him immediately but the damage was heavy enough to cause him to spiral out of control and force him to do an emergency landing. He hit the ground hard enough to be too distracted to blast me with fire and I managed to get in close and cut his fuel line before stripping all his gear off.

By the time that was finished the others had managed to finish their fights, and despite Czonk having a broken arm and Red Arrow having his arm slashed open by readers hook they were mainly in decent shape. We stripped all their gear off and shoved them into the nearby cells, which I managed to actually get working again and close so we didn't have to worry about getting jumped from behind, and then we headed off down the hall. According to map it was smooth sailing from here, at least until we reached Ivy, and then the real party would start.

Blackgate Penitentiary November 11th 2010 3:00 PM EDT

Just like Zee and the other said the trip to the cell block where Miss Martian was stationed was smooth sailing once we bounced those losers out of our way. I secretly thanked the gods for having the foresight to buy that map because it was basically the perfect tool for a thief, especially combined with the sending stones. Zee and Artemis were able to walk use around all the obstructions that would normally have held us up, so we made pretty good time getting there. Once we got closer to our goal however we had to slow down because the whole block was surrounded by Amazons.

I got in touch with my team via my sending stones before we got too close. "Hey Jim, you here? If you haven't made contact we can meet up and go in together. Speaking of contact, Zee how am I looking in terms of the encirclement, any chance of us slipping through it? I'd rather not have to fight the Amazons yet if I can avoid it." I was pretty confident in my ability to take an Amazon warrior in single combat, but I was also pretty confident that wouldn't be the kind of combat I was going to end up engaged in. The rest of my current team might not fare as well, and if I got swarmed I'd end up having to blast my way out of here.

Jim responded before I could think too much into it however. "I have made contact with Miss Martian yes, though only via telepathy. I may have a method to enter without arousing the ire of the Amazonian forces however." He sent me a mental image of a room nearby and I grinned. His voice was wry as he commented on the entrance. "I admit the old enter through the vents gambit is a tad trite, but classics are classics for a reason. With the current ruckus there is little chance they notice us before we make our entry, and Miss Martian is on standby waiting for us. Though I've been asked to warn you there are...other factors at play."

I winced. That meant Ivy wasn't alone I was guessing. I glanced at Robin, I really didn't want to fight more prisoners, but if we just agreed to take them with us the justice bros would flip. I'd have to see exactly who was with Ivy and see if they were even willing to exchange passage for safety. I glanced back at Arthur, I already planned to take at least one criminal we hadn't planned for with us, and from what I could tell that would be a deal breaker for the sidekicks. I mentally sent a message to Zee and Artemis. "I'm thinking we might be at the end of our little alliance here in a few minutes. Our easiest way out is to bring a few extra people with us, having some favors in the bank might come in handy provided none of the people we bust out are too nuts."

Artemis answered. "Does that mean leaving my boyfriend behind? Because I'm not cool with him being left to rot in a women's prison. It seems like a bad idea to leave them twisting and burn those bridges. Also there's no way they won't see this coming. Like, expecting thieves to double cross you is pretty much hero 101." That was a good point, if anything it might be more unexpected if we did keep to our side of the deal. I just couldn't see a scenario where we got out of this without them turning on us after the job. Once our partnership was over they would definitely try to bring us in.

I sighed internally. "You're not wrong. But I can't see how we could have it both ways. We need to deliver Ivy to the Shadows, mostly because from what I've heard she needs to be kept on a tight leash. But I don't trust Robin not to try something stupid once we aren't useful. Ivy is necessary for the survival of the civilian populace but we aren't. Hell I wouldn't put it past him to have Batman and company waiting for us when we get back to land. They might be planning to use Ivy themselves. Wish we could consult Jim but he's right next to Miss M so this is going to be on us."

Luckily Miss Martian wouldn't be able to read my mind. However I still didn't know who was with Poison Ivy or if they were viable to be sprung from this place. I wouldn't want to let loose someone like the Joker. Luckily this was Blackgate and most of the really heinous assholes were in Arkham, so my chances of running into people I could actually work with were much higher. I decided the best bet here was to play it by ear, so I explained the part of the plan I was sharing with the rest of the team and we moved into position in the vent room with Jim.

My mentor nodded to us, but didn't speak aloud. This room was just on the edge of the encirclement of the Amazons and we didn't want to be noticed, so we had already arranged our course of action beforehand. I was curious though, why the encircling Amazons hadn't actually moved in to try to recruit the female inmates. According to Zee they were all sitting outside the room not moving at all. We made our way up into the vent, luckily the thing was actually pretty roomy for an air conditioning system, so we were able to climb through it easily. I honestly didn't know who designed this place, between this and that stupid room for storing villain gear it couldn't be more poorly thought out if they tried.

We made short work of the trip to the room that Miss M was in with Zee guiding us through the vents and when we finally got there I volunteered to go first in shadow form because it would be easier and faster for me to get out and harder for me to be noticed. I shifted my form and slipped down the wall into a shadowy corner and resumed my human shape, making sure to use my ninja skills to hide my presence. I was just lucky my shadow form and my teleportation were from different skills, it would have been much harder to get past the prying eyes around this place if I couldn't turn into a shadow.

Once again I decided to listen in before revealing myself, hoping to find a good opening. Miss Martian was nearby, disguised as a brunette olive skinned version of her normal self that looked maybe a few years older. She was looking around nervously. I finally saw why the Amazons were stalled outside, Ivy had used her powers to block the doors with massive tree roots, and the walls were covered in interwoven knots of rootwork. Miss Martian swallowed hard. "Um, Miss Ivy ma'am, should we really be staying here like this? Shouldn't we...like...go? What if the guards regain control of the prison, won't we be stuck here?"

The smoky voice of the extremely busty emerald green woman with the bright red hair was slow and lazy as she responded, as if she couldn't be less worried about the prison riot currently coinciding with an invasion by super powerful Amazon warriors. "Della, darling, you worry too much. We're safe enough in here while we wait to see if the situation settles down one way or another. If we break out before we're sure we can leave we might just get caught again, and then we'll be right back here in an even worse position. Besides, this is the kind of opportunity my employers won't pass up. I doubt they'll just leave me in here with everything going on. Don't worry dear heart, I'll protect you."

Poison Ivy shot Miss Martian a wink and the martian girl blushed heavily. Part of our research for the infiltration had been figuring out Ivy's type and having Miss M try to match it, we figured it would make her more likely to take a shine to the shapeshifter. Apparently it had worked because it was easy to see Ivy eyeing the girl as they waited. It made me smile internally that they secretly had so much in common, both being green, and Ivy wasn't even aware of it. I wondered if the redhead would still be interested once she saw the martian in her true form.

That was mostly irrelevant though, because Ivy's bragging gave me the perfect excuse to manifest, though I stayed in my humanoid shadow form just in case as I took in the women Ivy had gathered to back her play. They all swiveled to stare at me as I manifested and I recognized most of them. Killer Frost, Roxy Rocket, and white Rabbit. Jim informed me the last was Wanderer, a member of the Council of Spiders whose touch could kill, but none of them were particularly horrible or murderous that I was aware of, which made things much easier for me.

They didn't immediately try to murder me, which was a good sign, though I did see them ready to attack so I held up my hands. "Whoa there, don't shoot. Like the lady said I'm with her employers." I nodded to Ivy. "We're here for a pickup, they were hoping your powers might be of assistance with the food shortage. You ready to go?" I was hoping whatever hold the Shadows had on her would prevent her from telling me to just fuck off. Poison Ivy notoriously hated men, and while I was young enough that I might not count, with my mask on and in shadow form she couldn't see that.

Luckily it seemed like Talia's method of controlling her was viable, because other than shooting me a cold look she didn't behave with hostility. She stood and turned her back on me, speaking to Miss Martian soothingly and basically ignoring my presence. "See Della? I told you we would be fine. My employers sent us an escort after all, so there's no reason to worry." Her voice became frosty as she glanced over her shoulder at me. "Of course, I'm not going anywhere without my friends here. I trust that isn't a problem?" Her tone made it clear that if it was a problem it would be my problem and not hers but it really wasn't, this was a viable reason to try to force a compromise with the justice bros so it worked for me.

However, before I could confirm that there was a loud screeching from one wall, and we all turned to see the root coverage holding the door shut collapse inward, falling alongside the door itself as it was literally cut from the wall along with a decent chunk of the frame around it. There was a loud thump as the door hit the ground and a small woman with raven black hair hopped strode into the room through the dust and debris. She stepped casually over the ruined door and looked around until she spotted Ivy and company and gave them a pleasant smile. Her teeth were white is paper and her eyes were calm as she stepped into the room.

The woman was tiny. Her black hair was held back in a ponytail and her brown eyes were cold and remote as she took in the assembled group. Below her left eye was a small tattoo of an omega symbol, and her walk was confident enough that I doubted it was something as benign as body art. More importantly though her aura was...monstrous. The sheer amount of blood and death that had seeped into her presence rivaled the Warlord on his best day.

Her voice as she addressed the room was soft and casual. "Ah, wonderful, I see my arrival was timely. Greetings sisters, I've come to speak to you of the glories of our tribe. Please, just give me a moment to dispatch this man and we can speak." As she drew her sword, even more Amazons flooded in behind her and I winced. Shit. I had a feeling I wasn't getting out of this one as easily as before.

Blackgate Penitentiary November 11th 2010 3:30 PM EDT

I can't exactly explain how I knew this woman was so dangerous. It wasn't just the aura, or my experience with the Warlord in my Outer Body trance, though both of this contributed. I just got this sort of horrifying sense of danger from her, and I was not at all happy about it. I'd beaten the Warlord in the dungeon, but it had taken everything I had, and my teleportation powers had played a huge part in that. Without them I was stuck with pure sword work and a few magic tricks and I was a bit worried I wouldn't be able to defend myself.

Unfortunately I doubted she was going to give me the option. Granted I'd been learning like crazy from the Warlord so I'd be a much bigger challenge than last time, but it had only been a few weeks and even with my memory and reflexes I hadn't come close to digesting the literal millennia of combat knowledge that ancient bastard had possessed. That said I couldn't help but salivate a bit. If she really was at the same level that would be another source of training, a completely new style of combat to learn and combine with the Warlord's skills.

Despite how exciting that was I decided to do my due diligence and try to talk my way out of this first, even if I was almost positive it wouldn't work. I put my hands up placatingly. " Miss, there's no need for that kind of violence. I am but a humble retrieval specialist, sent by the lady's employers to escort her to their tender care. This isn't a kidnapping or some kind of coerced extraction." Behind me I heard soft sounds as the other members of the team dropped into the room and fanned out behind me, getting ready in case the Amazons attacked.

The brown eyes Amazon gave me a bored look. "I don't care. I didn't ask if she wanted to go, or if you were here to rescue her. I want her to come with me, and that means it's going to happen. Since you're here with the stated goal of preventing that I'll just kill you so that you can't get in my way." She bared her teeth at me in a vicious smile. "The fact that I get to slaughter one more despicable man is just a bonus." She drew her sword casually, the leaf bladed diphos a longer version of the short swords wielded by greek hoplites. "But feel free to keep talking, it'll make this quicker."

That was all the warning she gave before she lunged at me. Now when I say lunged, that gives the impression of someone winding up their whole body and hurling themselves forward. The process involves a shifting of many muscles, a setting of the feet, and a surge of explosive force to drive them towards the enemy. With my reflexes tracking that kind of motion is easy enough, and normal lunges aren't something I really worry about. That wasn't what this was. The Amazon went from standing perfectly relaxed to mid stab in a single, absolutely instantaneous movement that even I could barely track.

She combined every one of the aforementioned steps into one singular movement that she had clearly polished to perfection. Not just in terms of execution either. She activated every muscle, cascading them along her body in the perfect sequence to build the force needed, and going from a state of relaxation so deep I was surprised she could remain standing to complete tension like the crack of a whip. I should have died honestly. If I hadn't had my training, my enhanced body, my reflexes, and my King's Sword of Haste, I probably would have.

Luckily I was more than used to fighting absolute fucking monsters who defied convention after so many matches (most

of which I didn't survive) against the Warlord in my trance. My highly trained muscle memory mixed with my high dexterity and my triple speed reflexes enabled me to draw my sword and deflect the blow. I extended my wings and slipped the bonds of gravity as it hit, and the force propelled me up and back into the corner of the room, bleeding off most of the impact from the strike as I landed in a crouch at the top of the wall with my back against the ceiling.

The absolute shock on the Amazon's face was almost worth it, and every other person in the room was clearly just as stunned. The other Amazon's were openly gaping at me, their auras surging with disbelief that I'd survived the strike from their monstrous leader, and most of the others were just shocked she had tried to murder me without more than a word of warning. Her brown eyes, previously bored and cold, were alight with fire, and her slack jawed expression shifted into a grin as I floated down to the ground, not seeing a need to stay up on the ceiling since she wasn't rushing me.

She cocked her head at me consideringly. "That...was unexpected. Few are the warriors who can withstand such a blow from me." She bowed her head slightly in respect. "I am Myrina of the Black, Slayer of Echidna, Tamer of the Griffin. Your death will be a worthy one, and you have earned the right to know at whose hands you fall. Should you wish, you may tell me your name so that I might add you to my list of achievements if your skills prove worthy. A warrior who manages such skill with such juvenile bone structure is worthy of accolade."

Huh, so she could tell I was young from my bone structure? That was odd, but it was hardly the end of the world. Still, I liked this respectful warrior code stuff better than the casual murder threats, even if she was still going to try to off me. No reason not to keep it civil. I nodded back at her as she had to me. "Call me Random, apprentice to Gentleman Ghost, Slayer of the Warlord of Blood." For some reason mentioning the Warlord here felt right. None of my other fights really felt earned that same way, but the Warlord was a true monster, and I felt like it was only right to carry his title with me into this battle.

Without taking my eyes off her I addressed Ivy. "Miss Ivy, it seems like I'll be staying behind to hold them off. My boss, Gentleman Ghost, will escort you and your friends to safety while I deal with this, then I'll meet up with all of you once this battle is settled." This was actually perfect, the urgency and danger of the situation meant Robin couldn't pitch a fit about bringing along more people. I didn't really have time to focus on that though so I could only trust Jim to handle it. I was sure that Zee and Artemis would contact him when he was out of range of Miss Martian anyway.

Without bothering to pay much attention to how the rest of the team or even Ivy took that I took up a sword stance and faced Myrina. Given my focus on reflexes I decided to take up the defensive, my skills showed their value more reacting than acting. Myrina, clearly seeing my stand my ground, began to close in slowly, not lunging like before, but taking her time, treating me like a legitimate threat. Which on the one hand felt good but on the other hand would make this way harder so I was torn on how I felt about her new respectful attitude.

Much like before her attack was instant. Complete mastery of her body enabled her to shift from total relaxation to extreme speed. The energy that muscles produce is generated by the force of them snapping taught, so the more relaxed a muscles is to start and the faster it contracts, the more explosive force is generated. In a single muscle the benefits of being slightly more relaxed before you act is minimal, but for someone like Myrina who was not only already super strong but used all her muscles perfectly, the cascading effect allowed her to use monstrous amounts of power even compared to other Amazons.

The resulting combat style was a sort of stop motion tapestry of viciously fast nearly imperceptible strikes and perfect serene stillness that was jarring to say the least. To add insult to injury the state of relaxation she kept herself in when she wasn't striking allowed her to disperse the force of my own attacks, sort of like how drunk people usually get less injured in a car accident. Without my reflexes being what they were I was pretty sure I would have been bleeding out on the floor of that prison.

It was such a huge different from the combat style of the Warlord, who attacked in a sort of constant unceasing wave of polished skill. Where the Warlord has sharpened his technique to the absolute limit, Myrina had mastered the use of her body more than her weapon in general. I could see why she was considered so dangerous. The other Amazons had been stopped by the justice bros and it was just me and Myrina, but even one on one I doubted I would be able to beat her like this. She was slower than I was technically, but stronger, and her combat style exponentially increased the speed of her attacks in a way I was barely able to counter.

Oddly it was those moments of relaxation between attacks that let me reset and adjust to her insane jarring pace, and I knew that my reflexes were the only reason I could even manage that much. I projected a thought to Jim, having him relay the mental command to Miss Martian, who relayed it to the others in the worlds quickest game of telephone, and they all began to give ground, letting their opponents force them back toward the rear of the room where Ivy and the others were taking on a small group of weaker Amazons so they could escape.

Once they had retreated enough that it was me and Myrina in the middle of the room alone, I manifested a shadow blade alone the edge of my sword by burning some points and started lashing out with a series of slashes that cut through way more space than a normal blade could. Sort of a projected energy slash. Myrina of course was less than impressed, easily dodging the attacks, but even at a point a piece I was able to toss out easily a dozen of the attacks and she waited suspiciously, trying to figure out what my plan was as she dodged, clearly expecting me to pull something.

Which was fair, because it was becoming increasingly clear over the course of this fight that I couldn't beat her. Not with my magic so heavily nerfed. Next time would be different sure, after some time studying her fighting style with Outer Body and maybe with some serious stat buffs, but I absolutely wasn't a match for her in a fair fight right now. So I decided not to have one of those. The shadow edges I was shoot out may have been missing her, but they were hitting something. Specifically they were hitting the walls and ceiling as I steered the constructs to specific weak points.

The cutting attacks tore through already damaged supports and cut through crumbling stone over the course of a few minutes, and once the others were all out of range I took another shot from Myrina, using that same trick with my wings to propel myself back as far as I could go. She sneered at me for a second as I retreated, but her narrowed eyes widened in realization as she heard a grinding sound. I saw her mouth a silent curse as she looked up at the cuts I'd been making, and I have to admit, I smiled a bit. There's nothing quite as satisfying as dropping a building on an opponent.

Blackgate Penitentiary November 11th 2010 4:00 PM EDT

As soon as the ceiling came down on Myrina I turned and blasted the other Amazons holding up Ivy and co with a ten point burst of shadow and we fucking booked it. I was absolutely not equipped to fight her again here. I might manage something outside the island where I could teleport but for now discretion was the better part of valor. I focused on the sending stone "Hey babe we could use an exit plan. I just dropped a building on some Amazon super assassin and I don't think she'll be down long. You got an escape route for me?"

We bailed in a random direction and I was just hoping we hadn't fucked ourselves by going the wrong way, after a few minutes of running I got a response. "Go left." I did. "Now right. Keep going until you hit the end of that hall then wait. Ok, now go. Right again. Left and then stop." With our target acquired we didn't need to worry about keeping a low profile and could just run full out. With that in mind Zee was able to guide us in real time to circumvent the other groups running around and get us out of the prison.

The Amazon's didn't catch us when we hit the shore but we had another problem. We'd arranged a signal to call for another boat, but with the whole place surrounded I wasn't sure anyone could get through. We stopped at the shore and I scowled. "Shit, how are we supposed to get out of here if we can't get a boat in to pick us up." I bit my lip and looked down at the ocean before my eyes widened, I spun to look at Kaldur. "Hey Aqualad, any chance you've seen pirates of the Caribbean?"

He seemed confused by what I meant, so I guessed not, but luckily Robin got it. He rushed over to explain to his friend what to do while I made my way over to Ivy, speaking quietly. "Stick close once we're down there." I didn't have time to say more but luckily that little message was easy enough to pass. Luckily movies lied to us and Aqualad had to put way more effort into a spell like that than one would expect, so they were temporarily distracted. It was still viable however so we quickly got in position and set off.

Aqualad had us all standing close together, though I somewhat tweaked the positioning by messaging Jim and working with him. Miss Martian was too distracted by Ivy and staying in character now that we were out of danger tom notice. With that done Aqualad pulled the water from the ocean around us in a huge bubble and we started to walk. We took it slow, taking things a step at a time through the fine sand on the bottom of the ocean as we headed for shore. This would be a fucking mindnumbingly long walk unfortunately, but it couldn't be helped.

Walking along the ocean floor was weird. The sand had been stripped of moisture by the magic used to make the bubble but it still felt different than beach sand, and every step had to be carefully placed. Things like fish had been pushed clear but there were mollusks and small animals clinging to rocks or hidden in the sand that could easily be stepped on or even sting us. Once we got further out things seemed to calm down, and I turned to ask Robin about getting out of the water. "So what's the plan here? We going to walk a few miles and then meet up with a boat? Because its like twenty miles tom shore and I don't fancy being down here for that long even if it is kind of pretty."

Robin looked around slowly, as if expecting something awful to jump out from behind a rock before shaking his head. "We'll need to wait. We can't call for a boat this close to the Amazon fleet, they'll just sink it or get into a fight. We should get a few miles away and then check the situation up top. We can't even send for Atlantean reinforcements because of this shield so our only real option is to walk it for now." He sounded nervous and his aura was tense. He was absolutely trying to figure out a way to arrange for a League pickup and screw us over.

Of course it wasn't really an issue anymore, because right after he said that I felt my powers unshackle as we stepped through the edge of the wards on the island. Since I'm not a Disney villain I didn't exclaim "Fools! Now we make our escape!" And teleport right out, but I started gathering power for the teleport. There were quite a few people here and despite preparing it was going to cost me. I'd be at about a thousand even after this jump, so I wanted to do as much as I could to minimize further expenditure. Through trial and error in the Outer Body trance I'd figured out ways to mitigate the cost of transport but it took time.

Finally I was completely ready, but instead of just firing of the teleport I turned to look at Robin. "So, you're going to arrest us all when we get back to land huh?" He stiffened at that. As he eased himself into a combat stance I spread shadows along the sand below us, encompassing Jim, Arthur, and I along with Ivy and her friends minus Miss Martian. I smiled at Robin, who was clearly distracted waiting for me to attack. "Hey it's fine, that's your job right? Catching the criminals. But me? My job is to not get caught." I saw his eyes widen as he realized what I was doing but it was too late. "Don't feel too bad, you can always remember this as the day you almost caught the archcriminal Random." And the shadows swallowed us all. Ok, maybe I'm kind of a Disney villain.

Of course, I felt much less cool when the whole group got dropped on our asses in the Botanical Gardens. I winced as I stood up. I hadn't really perfected the cheap teleport yet, apparently the Outer Body trance could only do so much with stuff like spacial transport. Ivy and the others stood up fast, spinning around in circles to try to find the source of the attack but I put my hands up to stop them. "Whoa, calm down. It's fine. I'm just dropping us off. No need to get upset. Sorry we left your friend Della behind, she was Miss Martian in disguise, couldn't tell you with them listening in."

Ivy lashed out with her hand and a wall of greenery rose up around Jim, Arthur, and I. I winced. Ok, this had not been my best plan ever. Her dark green lips were peeled back from gleaming white teeth. "And why should I believe that? I don't know you. I don't know if you even work for my employer in reality or were just trying to use their name to take advantage of my abilities. Even if you were, what makes you useful now? Why wouldn't I just smash you like a bug and move on with my day?" I winced again, that was another valid point. But I had one of my own. I shifted to shadow form.

Jim, being Jim, was in zero danger here, and I doubted she cared enough about Arthur to try to get past my mentor. I doubted the plants would even slow him down, so my main focus was in maintaining my safety while I talked. Luckily I could have a conversation just as easily as a shadow. Not that it would be necessary for long. I raised my voice. "You know, your lurking is not useful. You could just come out and solve this." With my aura sight it was easy enough to spot Talia nearby, and I definitely wanted to avoid have my murder attempted by the crazy plant lady with the admittedly nice butt.

A soft laugh rolled across the room as Talia stepped out. "Very well, peace Pamela, Mr. Random and I have an understanding." I noted that she waited until I was functionally invulnerable to physical hard to make that statement. Fucking assassins and their backstabbing. Was there no one that could be trusted aside from my team? Hell the justice bros were supposed to be the good guys, and if they hadn't underestimated my teleport range and neglected to keep track of the boundaries of the island wards I probably would've been arrested.

Arthur for his part looked pretty relieved when the plant wall around us started to retract. I felt for him really, but come on, I'd broken him out of prison, a bit of a scare wasn't that big of a deal in comparison. After Ivy put up her plants I manifested beck to my humanoid shadow form. I wanted to be able to interact but I didn't want to be too vulnerable in case someone he tried something. I turned to face Talia. "You have our payment?" Despite out humanitarian reasons for doing this we still had a rep to maintain. Jim had negotiated us a new payment, considering the shitty gems were useless to us.

Talia nodded and gestured to a shadowed corner. Cheshire and Lady Shiva carried out a large crate and set it down nearby, stepping back to give us space as Jim flicked his cane to pop the top open. I looked inside with a grin. Metal. Ten bars of the stuff sitting in nearly packaged foam cutouts. This stuff was grade A material we could give to Artemis to work into weapons. I raised an eyebrow at our employer. "Is it unprofessional to ask how the hell you got this? I mean sure, there are a ton of Amazons in town, but Amazonium is rare even for them, right? You must have stolen a bunch of the stuff and melted it down, unless they brought it with them?"

Talia laughed. "That information is hardly relevant to you. We paid a high price to acquire the material, but given the speed with which you accomplished your goals I have no complaints. It was a pleasure working with you both, and I hope our future partnership will be just as fruitful." Jim stepped up to knock on the crate, storing it in his spatial ring and Talia look surprised. Luckily she probably assumed it was some crazy Gentleman Ghost trick. She turned to look at Ivy. "Come Pamela, we have much to discuss, our guests can see themselves out."

She turned and sauntered away, clearly expecting to be followed, and she wasn't disappointed. Ivy trailed after her, looking suspiciously back at us as she left. I exhaled in relief as I manifested back to my corporeal form. "Damn, that was tense. You good boss, Arthur?" Both of them nodded and I exhaled with relief. I looked at Jim. "By the way, don't you think it was ridiculous how bog of a crate they put those bars in? Like they would have fit in a shoe box probably. Just seems needlessly dramatic to stuff a huge crate full of styrofoam like that for presentation's sake."

My mentor snickered as we headed out of the gardens. "It's showmanship my boy, one of our later lessons. I'll teach you all about the fine art of presentation when you're older." I rolled my eyes at him but I felt my shoulder relax. Despite a huge clusterfuck we'd managed to get Ivy out of Blackgate and retreat safely. Granted we'd pissed off the justice bros something fierce, allied with the Shadows and potentially got the League members in town on our trail, but hey, omelets and eggs right? On second thought, it might be time to hole up on the island and work on the base. I had training to do anyway.

Well, big things going down, points to anyone who recognized Myrina, still up in the air about the part she's going to play in the future Meanwhile in the advance chapters. Some huge things coming down the pipe, powerful enemies, new abilities, big personal decisions and a huge reveal that will change the way Morgan uses his powers forever! pat-reon had the advance chapters at that site/malcolmtent