I said before I already have a lot of these chapters typed out for a while. I was sitting in a nice quiet and sacred place Wednesday though, and had a little bit of inspiration for some additions come to mind to help the plot out. Especially after looking over the last chapter. So I took some time to write them out. And yes, it's in connection to what I said past chapter.
Also, warning, character death ahead (in case the chapter title didn't give it away)
Mailbox Time!
bearhow: Technically, it took you five books and over 300,000 something words to do it. This is one story, and... actually, it might not be for a while yet. You're probably right. Enjoy anyways!
Golem XIV: Yeah. Not giving anything away. On either subject. Sorry friend.
WarpCrazy: Yeah, I'm enjoying the fluff and banter. I can't wait for it to evolve to relationship banter. :)
TheAlienHeart: Looks like you have some multiple personalities there friend. I agree with the dark one though. Murphy's Law it is.
Mr. Ursine: You are allowed to grumble at the sight of the FU flag. I hope I don't get mobs on me for what comes next.
Eris: I'm glad you're also enjoying the banter. As to whether or not Beast Boy shows greater powers than he's already shown, well you'll just have to wait and see. :)
Pixel-Pie02: I'm glad you were able to enjoy the chapter friend! I can understand the sick med thing too. Also, just know, the last chapter tickled your sweet tooth... I have a feeling this one won't tickle. In fact, it might hurt.
RPG Persona: Glad to be hearing from you again my friend! I hope things continue to improve for you at home. As to the comment about the Crocodile Hunter voice, my profile explains it. It was just something random that came to mind that I found funny. Anyways, hope you continue to enjoy!
Since Last Time: 3 more favorites, 3 more follows (Total: 264 Favorites, 301 Followers)
Updated: April 28th, 2019 11:00 P.M.
Chapter Thirty-Seven: Death of a Little Birdie
The front Entrance to the Hall of Justice
A bunch of different cameras flashed brightly repeatedly. The persons who held them kept switching positions to get a better picture of the hero approaching the doors. Other, more brave reporters thrusted forward past the others with mikes in their hands to try and get near the hero without getting in his way.
"Batman, we want to know what went down in Smallville today!"
"Why did the Justice League have to evacuate Superman's hometown?!"
"Which villain were you all fighting!? I assume you evacuated the town to fight a villain!"
"Was the enemy apprehended?!"
"Is the danger past!?"
"Did the villains get away?!"
"Can we at get a comment!?"
The caped crusader calmly walked past the different reporters from different news agencies. He didn't turn his head to acknowledge them. "No comment." He said gruffly.
Questions upon questions kept on being showered down on Batman by the different reporters. Until finally he walked past Captain Atom and Shazam who stood guard outside the doors of the large extraordinary building. The two of them got in the way of the reporters to bar the way.
"Please, we are not giving away anything at this time." Captain Atom said calmly.
"Except maybe I'll give an autograph or two for the fine young ladies." Shazam said cheekily while winking at a particularly attractive dark haired reporter. The reporter blushed, while the pudgy camera guy who stood next to her fumed a little bit. Probably a boyfriend, or a crush. With all that acne and how geeky he looked, most likely a crush.
"Can we at least get a statement for why the Justice League had to evacuate everyone in Smallville?" The acne covered camera guy asked in a tone of frustration.
"All we can say right now was that it was necessary for everyone's safety. That is all." Captain Atom said with finality.
The questions kept on pouring in after that like machine gun fire. "What was the danger?!" "Is the danger past!?" "Are we all in danger!?" "Can we really count on you to protect the citizens of the world?!" Etc. But the two heroes kept silent on the subject after that. Captain Atom did the main job of blocking the entrance, while Shazam signed autographs for some of the reporters. Including the dark haired one. Much to the displeasure of her acne covered camera guy.
Meanwhile on the inside, a rather heated discussion was taking place at a long U shaped table that wasn't used much anymore because of the WatchTower. The heated discussion took place between multiple sections of heroes sitting or standing all around the U shaped table.
"It's just two rogue heroes. Two, freakishly weird looking rogue heroes. How is it that after the first sighting we've had in months that none of us can figure out which direction the two even went?" Aquaman said in a low voice of frustration while slamming the blunt end of his trident into the ground.
"Beats me. Maybe it's because one of them can ****ing teleport! While the other can shift into creatures so small he could ride on a person's hair and never be noticed!" Speedy shouted in anger back at Aquaman.
"You told us this side mission would only take a day. It's been months." Kaldur said calmly, but with an undertone of anger towards Superman. "This is costing too much valuable time. Time which we could be using to fight worldwide crime, and to figure out the Light's latest schemes. Not with tracking down two fugitives that keep on disappearing without a trace."
"Hey, cut the man some slack!" The Flash said before Superman could speak. "We never thought it'd be this hard in the beginning to try and apprehend two teen heroes! Okay! This is catching us all off guard by this point!"
"Yeah! I'm lucky me and Speedy are still able to use our arms after the last time we faced the two of them!" Green Arrow said heatedly.
"Because you decided to throw all logic out the window when you took them on with no more back up than me and Speedy!" Hot Spot said angrily.
"At least I didn't lose a one on one with them." Kaldur said. The two got face to face blazing with anger.
"I can't believe it." The Green Lantern Hal Jordan said while shaking his head in disbelief. "I finally get back from helping the Labarians in the Ranthax system with rebuilding, and this is what I'm greeted with?" He asked skeptically.
Starfire slammed her first into the table. "Why is it taking the forever to capture our former friends!? Me and fiancé Richard promised each other we wouldn't finish the tying of the knots until we accomplished the capturing and exiling of them!" Starfire screeched in fury with her green eyes blazing.
"Is it even worth trying to capture them anymore Starfire?" A young girl with pink hair said to her. "I think Kaldur's right. If we focus too much on tracking the two of them, we could risk our world either being destroyed or taken over by another evil force like the Light."
"Shut up Kole!" Nightwing silenced her with his surprise outburst. "You have no idea what the two of them did before! You were hiding in the ice with your caveman friend when all the **** hit the fan!" Nightwing roared in anger.
Kole stayed silent and backed up away from him in slight fear. Before Nightwing could press further though, Superboy got in Nightwing's face. "Chill out Dick. She was only making a valid point that Kaldur had addressed." Superboy said calmly.
"Oh, and I'm sure you wouldn't agree with Kaldur too then about giving up, huh?" Nightwing said sarcastically.
"I'm not saying we should give up." Superboy said a little heatedly.
"We just can't leave the world unprotected from the other dangers in it by focusing on two small ones." Blue Beetle said as he appeared beside him to back him up.
The different arguments continued hand in hand all across the room. "This is ridiculous!" "The villain I captured earlier today got away because I had to search a town for nothing!" "But they killed Terra and put Wonder Woman to sleep!" "Did they though?! We still have no clue what happened in Midway City!" "I should just go back to being solo! At least I got stuff done instead of wasting my time with this ****!" "We should just stop searching! It's ****ing pointless!" The arguments went on and on…
Zatanna stood silently to the side with Doctor Fate. Looking over the whole exchange with slight nervousness in her face.
"Enough!"
The other heroes went silent at the loud deep commanding voice. Batman finally appeared at the head of the table. He looked around at everyone with a flat look on his face. "I didn't call this emergency meeting just to have all of us here bicker like schoolkids on a playground."
Most of the other heroes around the table grumbled to themselves and either sat down or moved to the sides. However, they remained quiet and refrained from further arguing. "Is everyone here Clark?" Batman asked Superman.
"There's still a couple heroes out on mandatory patrol in the plains. Otherwise as far as I can see we're all accounted for." He said calmly. He had been one of the only ones who had managed not to participate in any of the arguments.
"Alright." Batman looked at the assembled group again. "I called for this emergency meeting here in the Hall of Justice because A. Martian Manhunter is currently going through the WatchTower to find out what went wrong with our surveillance systems. And B. We need to address the topic of the two fugitives."
Everyone remained silent. "It has come to my attention as of late that not everyone thinks we should continue focusing on tracking down the two fugitives. They think we should be focusing on other villains and villain groups. Is that correct?" He asked.
No one dared to speak up. A few shifted uncomfortably in their seats. Batman narrowed his eyes at the group. "Need I remind you of the atrocities the two committed months ago with bringing Trigon the Terrible into the world? Or how those atrocities have a chance of happening again in the future should the forces of Trigon manage to meet up again with his demoness daughter Raven?" He asked.
It was silent for a moment…
"Need I also remind you of how they beat two teenage heroes to the point that they retired? Or how they killed the geomancer Terra and put Wonder Woman under a sleep spell for the last few months?!"
"Don't forget almost making me and my protégé lose the use of our arms." Green Arrow added bitterly.
Batman looked around at the heroes. "Just because we haven't had any run ins with them lately doesn't mean we should take them any less seriously! It's because they've been able to evade us for this long that we should take them more seriously!" He said in anger.
"But Batman. You said we haven't had run ins with them in the last few months. We haven't even heard of them doing anything wrong the last few months-" Kole finally tried to say.
"The Light hasn't been spotted in two years girl! Do you think that means they aren't still a threat to the peace of those we try to protect?!" Batman asked.
Kole immediately shut up and paled. She retreated from the table to a corner where her caveman friend was busy playing with a vase. "These two committed a horrid crime, and our duty is to make sure they come to justice. Not to let them get away with the crimes they commited." Batman said.
"And we get that." Kaldur said calmly with a flat look on his face. "But expending all of us on a deadend course will do none of us any good."
Before Batman could speak, Superman put a hand on his shoulder. Batman looked to him, and then nodded. "That is why we still have a couple heroes out searching the plains instead of here at this meeting Kaldur. We're trying to get out of the dead end we're faced with so we can track them down." Superman calmly explained.
"And I'm assuming after this meeting you'll be sending all of us out to join them?" Kaldur icily asked.
Superman and Batman both remained silent at that. Zatanna shifted uncomfortably in her corner by Doctor Fate. "That's what I thought." He grumbled to himself. "You're just going to waste our time yet again after our fruitless search of Superman's hometown. Why am I not surprised?"
"Yeah, I'm sure that strategy will work again. Just like the last dozen times we swarmed the continent en masse looking for them." Cyborg grumbled sarcastically in his seat.
"When are we going to realize that the same strategy we've been using again and again isn't working!?" Bumblebee asked. She got some shouts of approval from various heroes around the table.
"Hey, it's worked a couple times in the past!" Nightwing yelled as he stood up angrily from his seat.
"Yeah. But weren't they found last time because Superman happened to stumble upon them? After several months of failing to find them?!" Aquaman yelled angrily in his seat.
The teenage heroes started to argue and bicker again. The adult heroes all looked on the verge of joining in.
Zatanna again looked really tired, and put a hand to her head at the sudden headache. "This isn't helping." Zatanna muttered to herself.
"If it helps, I'm still keeping tabs on the other villains and villain groups in case something arises. I'm not trying to leave us completely blind to outside dangers that could help out the two fugitives!" Batman said in frustration to the leader of the Young Justice. His face looked pained like Zatanna's. Like...
Kaldur looked like he was going to speak again.
Beep! Beep! Beeeeeeeee!
A red light started beeping loudly on Batman's wrist, catching all the gathered heroes off guard. All the arguing immediately stopped as they tried to discover the source of the noise. Batman looked down at it, actually looking a little surprised for once. "The bat distress signal? But he told me he'd never activate it… unless-"
Batman's eyes widened. He pressed the button, and a hologram of the U.S. appeared in front of him. The red light was blinking somewhere in southern Nebraska. "That's where Aquagirl is searching…" Aqualad (Garth) said. "Along with-" Nightwing was adding.
"Jason!"
Batman ran for the Zeta Tube hall. The other heroes followed behind soon after.
At the foot of a hill
"Oof… urgh…"
A teenager clad in a uniform similar to Nightwing's old Robin uniform fell to one knee. He had burn marks on his arms, and several gashes in his left side and leg. Despite his injuries, he pulled out two bird a rangs from his belt. 'I never thought it would come to this.'
"Hmmm, even with all your injuries, you still have some fight left in you! I'm slightly impressed! Slightly." An immature nasally voice said in the shadows of the night.
Jason Todd, AKA Robin quickly got back up and threw them in the direction of the voice. The first one missed, but the second one looked like it sliced the shadowy figure along the cheek. "Ow! No fair! I thought you were down!" He hissed in pain as he gripped his face.
Robin pulled out several more. "Sorry, not sorry." He said. "I refuse to go down that easily."
"You mean like that girl who died protecting you from that fatal blow a few minutes ago? Shame, she was really pretty-"
Robin's eyes narrowed in anger, and he threw four bird a rangs all at once interrupting the shadowy figure. Just before they made contact though, the figure disappeared into a red portal. The bird a rangs continued through the air.
Robin backed up at that. "What the heck-" He started to say.
Pow!
A stream of red energy slammed into his chest, knocking him back into a large rock. He collapsed painfully down at the foot of it. That last hit had definitely broken a few of his ribs.
The figure appeared out of another red portal looking disappointed. "And her being heroic by taking that hit was meaningless, since I'm going to finish you off anyways." The figure finished.
Robin gritted his teeth as he sat up. "You can kill me if you want, but you won't get away. The WatchTower has been observing this whole fight, and my distress signal-" He was saying.
The figure started to laugh, cutting Robin off. "Oh, I already know you called in that crazy old Bat. I allowed you do that. As to the WatchTower observing this fight, let's just say that magic has a wonderful effect on electronics. Hell it's how I've managed to stay under the radar for years!" He said happily at the end.
Robin's face scrunched up in confusion. "Then why did you attack us-" He started to ask.
"Oh it's simple, but I won't bother to bore you with the details." The figure again cut him off. "As for killing you, I'm afraid that L-2 has already called dibs on you after your father, whoever that is, *shrugs* refused to take his daughter's hand in marriage. Though to be honest, she's a little too crazy, even for me." He said with an indifferent shrug.
Robin scowled. "I am not going to be nobody's little plaything." He growled out.
The figure laughed as he got closer. "Oh, don't worry about that. After he's done resurrecting you and everything, you'd be lucky if you even remembered your old life."
The comment confused Robin. "Resurrect-"
Ksch!
The rest of his sentence was cut off as a blade made of pure red energy impaled him in his right pectoral. His eyes widened, and a scream of pain he didn't recognize as his own came from his lips. It was like the blade itself was burning his skin like acid. "Yes. He can bring anyone back to life as long as he has the body. So I don't even have to bring you to him alive. What fun!" He said happily as Robin fought to not blackout from the pain.. "So, any other last words before I finish killing you little birdie?" The figure asked curiously.
Robin looked to be entering a state of shock. However, his eyes still narrowed at the pale figure above him. "Yeah, **** you." He said, before he attempted to stab the figure in the leg with his last bird a rang.
The figure easily dodged the blow, and threw Robin away from the rock onto the grass. "Oh yes! Struggle little hero! That'll not only make it more fun, but it'll also make the scene look more authentic when your daddy arrives!" The figure yelled gleefully.
Robin got up to one knee again. Blood loss was already making him weak. He coughed up blood, and he realized then that there was no way he was going to make it. All his training under Batman to that point hadn't prepared him for the shocking reality that he was going to die.
'I'm sorry Tula… it looks like your death was in vain after all.' He thought.
"Again, sorry about your friend, but I have a tight deadline to keep. Heroes to destroy, worlds to conquer, all that jazzy good stuff. So I shouldn't ramble on, and since you're dying anyways. I'll make sure to make it look like two certain heroes were the ones that did this." The figure finished evilly.
"Meow."
The figure turned. "Will you shut it Teekl! I already know they're coming! You don't have to keep on telling me to hurry up!"
Robin's eyes didn't even widen. He was already passing out.
Slash!
The world went dark…
…
…
…
"Jason! Jason!"
Batman appeared at the foot of the hill looking around. He brought his communicator to his mouth. "Does anyone have eyes on Robin!?"
"No, but I found Aquagi- oh ****!" Bumblebee yelled in shock.
"What is it… ... oh ****." The Flash mumbled after that.
"Flash, Bumblebee?" Batman asked.
"I, I don't believe it." Green Lantern said next in disbelief.
"What happened to Tula?! Is she okay? What is it?!" Kaldur and Aqualad both asked over the comms.
"We're coming in with Bio ship. What's the status of her injuries?" Miss Martian asked.
"It's too late." The Green Lantern said sadly. "I'm sorry. I can't find a pulse on her."
"What?!" Kaldur and Aqualad yelled at the same time.
At that moment, Batman finally spotted something by a large rock at the base of the hill. "Jason, Jason!" He yelled.
When he got near, he didn't see a body. Instead he saw parts of a torn up, blood stained, red, yellow and green uniform. Judging by the amount of blood he saw on the ground, he knew that it was too late. It was all over the grass, and its iron tang in the air was strong. It was almost sickening.
"Bats, did you find him?" Black Canary asked over the comm.
"No… I'm afraid his body is gone." Batman said somberly. Silent tears of grief came down his face as he bent his head down to the ground in shame. 'Jason, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry I didn't make it…' He thought.
…
Batman's sharp eyes noticed something besides the blood. There was several bird a rangs sticking out of the ground around him. A couple of which had blood and… tufts of green colored hair sticking to them? He picked one up to examine it, and his gaze hardened as he reached a conclusion in his mind.
...
"Where is she! I need to see… no… no! Tula!" Kaldur screamed in misery nearby as he ran out of Miss Martian's red bio ship.
"Tula. Please wake up." Aqualad had made it to the area before Kaldur. He was holding his dead girlfriend's body in his arms, and he was sobbing into her hair.
The other heroes who were there were silent. Bumblebee, who had known about Aqualad's underwater girlfriend for a while had tears of sorrow for her friend traveling down her face.
Kaldur looked down at her in shock, and then he looked up at the heroes. His usually calm face was now etched with anger. "Who did this? WHO, DID THIS!?" Kaldur screamed in fury.
"Kaldur'ahm, you need to calm down! Anger isn't going to help avenge Tula!" The Flash said to him.
"No! I will not calm down!" He said angrily. "I want the recording from the Watchtower on this area, now! I want to know who did this to her!" He yelled at the Flash.
"There isn't one." Superman said somberly. "Jon Jon'z has all the systems shut down so he can check to see what went wrong with them earlier, remember?"
Kaldur looked like he was going to say something, but then he broke down sobbing. Nightwing, who had been at his throat before appeared next to him and hugged him close. Kaldur accepted his friend's comforting hug.
"Guys, I think I found something."
There was silence for a moment as Cyborg walked up holding a piece of cloth in his hands. "What is that?" Superboy asked.
"Blue material. Polyester fibers interwoven with steel strands. It looks like it was torn off in the middle of the attack…" He had to pause as he examined it. "And I can think of one person who wears thus color pattern." He said with no emotion.
"Not just her." The others turned as Batman approached. "I found green hairs all over where Jason's fight was."
The other heroes went dead silent at his words. The realization seemed to be sinking in to them all. "You, you're saying that they did this?! The two of them, killed these two heroes?" Superman asked in shock.
Batman nodded his head. "I'm afraid so."
Superboy and Blue Beetle looked to each other. A hidden message seemed to pass between them. "You don't think-" Blue Beetle started to quietly ask.
Superboy put a hand over his mouth cutting him off. He looked around to make sure no one was listening. Including Miss Martian nearby. "Later. The two fled east though and not north…" He whispered, before looking around to make sure no one was listening in. "Something isn't right about the timing of all this, but there's nothing we can do about it now. We'll have to wait until we see them again and get the truth from them." He whispered quietly.
Blue Beetle nodded, and the two faced Kaldur as he finally got up off the ground to face Batman. "You were right." Kaldur said. His voice was dead. "We can't take the two lightly anymore…. I'll go out now and search. And I won't stop until those two pay for what they did here." He finished.
Superman's own face hardened. 'If I had only tried harder, this wouldn't have happened… I can't hold back next time. I won't hold back. Those two have to be captured.' He thought.
Batman nodded his head as did the other heroes, and then they looked out over the plains of Nebraska. "You all know what to do. Let's look while the lead is fresh." He said flatly.
The gathered heroes congregated into groups, and started to search the surrounding area once again.
To the side, Zatanna was bringing Tula's body to the bio-ship. Looking down at her peaceful face, a thought came to her mind. A thought that seemed to nag at her.
'Those two haven't killed up to this point… so why would they kill now?'
...
She shook her head. The same tired look from before filled her eyes. "It doesn't matter. I have to keep my eyes on the prize." She muttered to herself.
Author's Notes:
Yeah, I just did that. Part of what took place between the two seasons of Young Justice specifically were the deaths of these two heroes. I just felt I'd come up with my own way for how the two died. I realized that with months having gone by and another failure, the heroes would need a major form of motivation to get them going hard again.
Anyways, hope you all liked it! Remember, favorites and follows equal hugs, and reviews equal cookies!
Till Next Time
Allen
