Hey Folks! Welcome back to another chapter for YJ: Legends Are Made. I'll keep this AN short. I simply wanted to apologize for such a long wait for the update. I am in a serious transition period and am working 13–14-hour days because of it. As such, I don't always have the energy to write. That being said, None of my stories are abandoned. (Even if maybe, they Should be due to how inactive I am with them lol) Please see the bottom for a bigger AN. With that, Let's not waste any time and get right into the chapter. Let's GO!
CHONG MAI – SECRET MILITARY FACILITY
June 6th, 2008. 1510 (3:10 PM) KST
Jack's POV:
Stepping onto the ruined runway of the facility would have been odd enough…
But doing so after having passed through the legendary 'House of Mysteries' was another thing altogether in Jack's opinion.
After Wesley and Eva had come back to them Jack had been quick to go over all of the relevant data with everyone before setting up their plan of attack.
They would be splitting into two teams.
Wesley, Ted, and Eva would be assaulting the facility directly in the effort to recover Richard Tyler; and hopefully any and all of his Miraclo pills.
'Whether or not they've been discovered by Chong Mai's local forces.'
Jack, Helena, and Grundy would be moving out separately in hopes of not only providing a distraction so as to lessen the interference the others were bound to run into, but if needs be; engage the possibly now freely rampaging mech that Chong Mai's military had unleashed.
Jack knew for a fact that Chong Mai had been the setting for the very first episode of Justice League Unlimited where the crazy nuclear super bot had been…
'I just really hope that we can deal with this thing quickly. Even if all of us went at the thing I don't know if we can stop it. So here's hoping it isn't operational' Jack thought pensively as he considered their options.
Unfortunately, the sight that the group came upon filled Jack with dread.
The local forces were scattered about the vast runway, pieces of melted tarmac could easily be spotted as bright glowing golden flames were still burning along pieces of the area, and if that wasn't a big enough indicator of the mech now being fully operational then the large flight hanger before them that looked as though it had been melted on the one end did the trick.
Those things…along with the even more obvious sign…
'The damned thing being visible in the distance. Well…at least it's not moving terribly fast. That's a plus.' Jack thought sarcastically to himself as he turned to lock eyes upon his small contingent after spotting the large mech; now thinking they'd have to quickly take a moment to revise their plans a bit because of said mech being operational.
In doing so though, he found himself having to take immediate action.
"GRUNDY DEFENSIVE POSITION!" Jack screamed as he bolted forward while he brought his shield to bare, giving himself cover as he sprinted forward.
Fortunately, in the time since freeing Grundy they had run a few training drills together amongst their groups few bonding activities, as Jack saw the large zombie quickly interpose his large body between the rest of their group before a large barrage of automatic gunfire started to rain down upon their position from their right; where a remaining group of working military transport vehicles still stood with a grouping of soldiers scattered about.
Jack amped up in a split second, and bolted straight for said opposition.
A large scattering of blue bolts barely passed by Jack's sides as his quickly moving form advanced, and as he made it into the ranks of the enemy soldiers he felt the cold air begin to settle over him and the area as he shield bashed his first opponent; knocking the weapon from the enemy soldier's hands as he flew off of his feet a short distance before coming to land on his back in a groaning heap.
Jack quickly moved again, zig zagging between the grouped vans using them as springboards as he would quickly shield check, left hook, or Spartan kick an adversary along the way; sending the majority of the enemy soldiers not only to the flat of their backs but in most cases to the land of unconsciousness.
The sounds of foreign shouting, scattered gunfire, and the blast waves from Eva's ring blasts intermingled; causing the area to sound exactly like what Jack had told everyone to be ready for as the absolute worst case scenario going into this mission.
'A Warzone.'
Jack leapt up and over one of the larger transport vans, and as he came down he chucked his shield to his left while drop kicking two men simultaneously; sending them crashing into the smaller jeep behind them hard enough that the double doors both not only gained small dents but shattered windows in the process.
With just a minor thought Jack's shield flew, and proceeded to hit one man in the head before then pin ponging its way between three other foes before starting its path back towards Jack.
Jack immediately kipped up off the ground after his back touched the tarmac from the drop kick, and he then caught his shield with his left hand as he met it halfway while it flew back towards him while he sprinted into his next set of enemies.
A quick series of follow up attacks put the scattered soldiers down for the count, after which Jack made his way around the larger transport vehicle and laid eyes on his team.
Ted and Helena were in the midst of popping some of the extra glue capsules he and Wes had brought along over the collection of the downed enemy contingent, Eva was reaching into the dark brown satchel she'd brought with her as she stood next to Wes whose gas gun was smoking ominously as he stood over one of the downed soldiers; and Grundy was simply standing to the side looking off into the distance at the mech as it walked closer towards the mountain range that was in sight.
Not wasting any time Jack gained everyone's attention by banging his right hand once on his shield, the dull metal ring from his primary tool drawing everyone's eyes to him.
"Alright everyone, listen up. We're sticking with our formations, but with that machine active and on the loose we're gonna have to change our thoughts about how this was gonna go. Ted, Wes, Eva? You three are essentially gonna be on your own in the facility. We won't be able to come in and back you up. Helena, Grundy and I are gonna do what little we can to slow that mech down. Here's hoping that the local forces will give us their aid and we can shut that thing down for good before it does any kind of serious damage."
Jack watched his words crash over his friends, and the looks varied.
Wes was the hardest to read, as his mask covered all of his face; though his body language remained as tense as it had been since they'd arrived. If Jack was asked to put money on it, he'd simply say that Wes was tense strictly because of the 'why' they were even here in the first place.
Ted stood with both of his large arms braced across his broad chest, and his jaw was locked tensely as he looked back at Jack.
Grundy to most probably the surprise of no one, seemed almost completely unfazed about the entire situation, and was simply waiting for the groups to move along.
Helena and Eva both seemed focused, though Eva seemed a bit more on the excited side; while Helena seemed to be exuding an aura of wariness and caution.
Eva was the first to respond to Jack's words out of the group.
"Dinnae you worry about a thing. The three of us are mair'n enough tae handle these goons. We'll get in there, grab Wes' godson, an' haul arse right on oot ae there. If we're lucky, John and ol' Occult'll join us by the time we're done and then we'll link back up wi you. Clear this whole fankle up, right and bloody quick."
Eva's enthusiasm did a bit in helping the anxiety fade that Jack himself felt, as he had truly been hoping to not have to get involved with the Brimstone mech.
'But, how's the old saying go? Life's what happens when you're busy making plans.'
Jack's gaze was pulled up by Ted's gruff voice sounding out.
"I don't like this."
Jack didn't have time for any arguments to ensue so responded immediately.
"What's to like? This entire situation is bad, but we have to get on with it."
Jack locked eyes with Ted, doing his best to say with his eyes that now was not the time for them to be having a conversation like this one. Jack could tell that Ted was at war with his own feelings, and very nature over this; as he seemingly wanted to argue.
Thankfully, after a few moments the seasoned champion let his arms down before lightly shaking his head and speaking once again.
"Sigh. Alright Might. It's you're show, so you run it. But don't any of you go and take any unnecessary risks while you're out there ya hear me? We'll be with ya as soon as we can."
Jack dawned a small smile before they all shared brief handshakes, and even a one armed embrace on Eva's account before their groups started to head off.
"Jackson."
Jack had been headed to mount up into one of the larger transport trucks that Helena was in the process of hijacking for their purposes when he heard Wesley call out to him, though not at a full shout.
'Geeze Wes, let's just out my identity for everyone in the immediate area.'
Jack stared into the lenses of Wes's mask, and did his best to say exactly what he was thinking without using the actual words; and the brief silence seemed to do it for the formerly retired mystery man.
"Ah…my apologies, All Might. I just…I just wanted to thank you. Again. For all of this."
The sincerity in Wes's tone softened any ill feelings that Jack had over Wes's small faux pa in using his actual name in the field.
'He has been out of this for a while after all.' Jack thought before responding.
"Don't worry about it Sandman. Just Get in, and get him out. Then we're all out of here." Jack said with a small smile and a nod before turning his back on his academic mentor and heading towards the now started transport truck.
He hopped up and into the passenger side…knowing that he was about to face what easily classified as the greatest challenge he'd had to date.
'Time to go to work. Time to go Beyond.'
WASHINGTON D.C. – GENERAL WADE EILING'S OFFICE
June 6th, 2008. 0300 (3:30 AM) EST
General Eiling's POV:
At 72 years of age, many would have expected Wade Eiling to be showing signs of slowing; but he had been a military man pretty much all of his life. His high and tight hair was now fully gray, but his light blue eyes still shone with a level of intensity expected out of a man half his own age.
He had in fact lost a few inches in height due to the decay of time on his body, but due to keeping himself to a strict regimen alongside a good diet he had kept a rather full figure. Standing at 5'10 he wasn't overly packed with bulging muscles, but he was solid and his size matched the level of strength he was still able to put out in his slightly advanced age.
He'd been unable to sleep again, as was most nights since his wife Angela's passing only a month ago, so when the call came in for him to report in to the White House for an OP brief; he quickly and readily obliged.
He dawned his full dress uniform, along with all of his accompanying ribbons and medals; the number of them considered staggering by some of those that knew him personally.
Driving from his townhome, it had taken him only twenty minutes to reach the White House; and by the time he'd joined the President not even half of the Commander and Chiefs cabinet was in attendance.
It took another ten minutes for their ranks to be full, and once they finally were the OP brief began in earnest.
Nothing that was said in the meeting made Wade feel comfortable…
'Not a God damn word of it.'
The Deputy Director of the CIA had been in attendance, and he'd passed on news that not a single person had been happy to hear; least of all himself or the President.
The meeting had concluded with little fanfare, and everyone knew the kind of situation that they were now facing.
'Not only does a foreign country go and make themselves a God damned nuclear 'Super' weapon, but they get a hold of one of the few men we have behind the scenes that our country truly counts on. And then if those two bits of news weren't troubling enough, if the intel is right they've gone and lost control of the damned thing!' Wade thought to himself as he sat in his high back black leather chair, behind his large cherry lacquer stained desk; his hands folded tightly in front of him on said desk.
Wade Eiling wasn't a fool.
He'd done some things that he wasn't totally proud of in his life, but one thing about it all remained true.
'Everything I've done, I've done for the betterment of my country; and I'd do it all again.' Wade thought to himself as he considered his options.
Plans had already been drawn up, discarded, and then even re-examined.
The entire situation was a logistical and political nightmare, leaving their government in a very vulnerable position.
'If we're left on the back foot every single time a non-UN affiliated country wants to try and arm up against the rest of us, just because of the Justice League's existence… we're all gonna wind up in a lot of trouble. It'll be WWIII before anyone realizes it.'
Thanks to the projected path of the mech's current destructive line, the so called 'Brimstone' mech would eventually hit China's borders next to Chong Mai.
Those projections alone had already allowed the President to let everyone know that as a UN affiliated ally, he'd be reaching out to China's representative to initiate a call to the Justice League to allow them to act.
'But unfortunately under UN sanctioned directives, it'll only be in a relief or investigative capacity. Which means at best they'll only be able to send One representative to initiate talks with the locals while making an assessment as we're dealing with a Non-affiliated country. The member will only be able to act if the situation in genuinely and directly dire…'
Wade wasn't gonna let those thoughts hamper him though, because while they'd only be able to get away with sending one of the Leagues members…
'I have the Perfect one in mind for this mission.' Eiling thought to himself before reaching into his left uppermost desk drawer, allowing him to pull out a specially designated SAT phone.
Wade Eiling had in fact done many things that he wasn't necessarily proud of…
But helping to frame Nathaniel Adams, and thereby giving America the recently returned 'superhero' Captain Atom was Not something he regretted in the slightest.
'And I probably Never will. Because Now of all times, is when we need a man with his exact skills and abilities.' Eiling thought before initiating the phones call sequence.
Eiling could count himself among only four individuals in the White House who had access to a SAT phone like the one that was currently buzzing in his ear, as each was utilized as the White House's direct line to the Justice League.
The line only rang four times before it was finally answered, a deep and rich voice sounding out to Wade over the receiver.
"Good Morning General Eiling. What can I do for you?"
Eiling had already spoken to most of the main members of the Justice League once, so the voice rang clearly in his ears with familiarity.
'The Martian.'
"Greeting's J'onn. I'd apologize for the early hour of the call, but I'm afraid it's bad tidings that come with it; so we're just gonna have to skip the usual pleasantries."
If the so called 'Manhunter' of the League was offended by his words or stiff tone, Eiling couldn't tell. Barely a second passed by and the Leaguer picked right up after Eiling.
"Of course General. We had already received a call, alerting us to the developing crisis in Chong Mai. Has a verdict been reached on which of us the President would like to send to assess the situation?"
It was at times like this that Eiling hated the way that their system worked, as if it had been left solely up to him; this call would have been made already and they'd be dispatching a much larger response force.
"The consensus was a simple one really J'onn. We'd like one of your heavy hitters to go over there. More specifically in this case, the President would like you to send Captain Atom. If I could speak with him for a moment that would be ideal, as I'd like to quickly discuss the parameters of this operation."
A beat passed and the Martians smooth voice came back over the line to Wade.
"Give me one moment General."
Only a couple of seconds passed, before a slightly deeper and gruffer voice came over the line.
"This is Captain Atom."
"Captain this is Four Star General Wade Eiling. You're being activated, code word: BROADSWORD. Acknowledge."
It took only a singular beat, but Atom demonstrated that he himself was still a Military man at heart; as he responded appropriately.
"Acknowledged. Response: BULWARK."
Even though the superhero couldn't see it, Wade nodded once before speaking again.
"You're Nation needs your help son. This isn't only a matter of helping an allied nation, but a matter of National security. Your mission upon entering Chong Mai is to not only stop the target designated as the Brimstone mech, but to see to its complete and utter destruction. This is to send a message. Chong Mai needs to understand that they've almost gone beyond the pale with this move. This message won't just be for Chong Mai either, we need any others that find out about this just what happens when you take these measures. The President expects your full cooperation, as well as your discretion with your mission's objectives. Am I Understood soldier?"
"Yes Sir."
Wade couldn't help but let the small smirk settle upon his face at the man's, response.
"Excellent. You're to move out immediately. Take whatever measures necessary to resolve this issue with haste. And Captain…remember that your primary objective is the Brimstone mech. We do have an American agent behind the lines, but any and all other concerns fall as secondary objectives to you dealing with the mech."
A small beat of silence passed before Atom's deep voice came back over the line again.
"Understood General."
"Excellent. May God be with you soldier."
CLICK
After hearing the line cut off Wade took the phone and replaced it into its designated drawer, before standing up and walking over to the west side wall of his office where his liquor cabinet sat.
He quickly grabbed himself a small crystal glass, and filled it with a generous pour of 16-year-old Aberlour scotch whiskey. He knocked back the whole thing in one swallow, before quickly pouring himself a second before moving and retaking his place behind his desk.
'With any luck he'll resolve this issue quickly and concisely'. Wade thought as he started to slowly sip at his second drink, allowing the smoky vanilla flavor to settle over his taste buds.
'And if all goes well…maybe he'll be able to handle the issue, but only just enough to deal with it while turning himself into a martyr. That way I'll be able to close the book on the memory of Nathaniel Adam's for good.' Eiling thought with another smirk as he considered the proposed energy output of the Brimstone mech, believing that it would be more than enough to overwhelm the atomic superhero in the very end.
CHONG MAI – SECRET MILITARY FACILITY
June 6th, 2008. 1545 (3:45 PM) KST
Ted Grant's POV:
Breaking off from Jack and Helena had left him with a nasty twisted up feeling in his guts, and it took everything to keep himself from constantly looking off into the distance as they took the stolen transport vehicle towards the walking nuclear death machine in the distance.
Shaking his head for about the seventh time in a row, Ted kept his head on a swivel and looked around to ensure that they weren't gonna get blindsided by an enemy attack team.
'But boy I'll tell ya, if this sure don't bring back memories.' Ted thought as he considered the whole situation, finding himself comparing their little groups current mission to what things had been like for the JSA during WWII.
His small squad thankfully didn't have to travel far to get to the outside of the edge of the flight hanger, and upon getting there they were actually treated to a better view of the facility in its entirety.
The flight hanger was the tallest part of the building, sitting at a height of what Ted would bargain to be at least nine to ten stories high. Behind the massive flight hanger however was a long rectangular set of gray cement looking connected buildings that probably weren't even half the height of the hanger itself.
Overall, the facility was massive, and Ted was concerned that the time it would take to even find Wes's godson would be the main enemy they'd have to overcome; not the soldiers stationed there.
Coming up to the side of the flight hanger Ted thought that they'd wind up having to run down the tarmac, either towards the blown-out section, or the actual large open hanger door.
Their resident magician Eva Kramer had other plans though.
"Stand back old timers. Call me… Jaquelin Frost!"
The young girl brought her right hand up palm facing outward towards the hanger wall, before bracing her wrist with her left hand.
Ted watched keenly, as a bright blue light encapsulated around her hand while the ambient temperature around them began to drop dramatically and glistening white air particles began to become visible.
A rush of cold air, a wave of light and deep blues, and of course the visible beam of now concentrated cold that blasted from her hand were all brilliant to watch; but the duration of the blast was barely a four second burst, so the show wasn't very long.
Once the burst ended though, a section of the side of the flight hanger that was just slightly taller and wider than Grundy sat before them.
The young woman then quickly mumbled something to herself under her breath while moving her hands in a twisting "Tutt" pattern, a blazing golden unicursal hexagram blazing to life before dropping the giant golden holy shotgun he'd seen her use back in Gotham as it materialized before it fell into her grasp.
She quickly planted her feet while leveling the stock of the gun to her right shoulder and pointing the over-under barrels directly at the ice encased wall.
"Fire in the hole."
Ted got the privilege of watching her pull the secondary trigger on the gun…
What came next, was a complete round turn on the feeling he'd been exposed to just a second ago with the chilling blast of her ring.
The gun sounded off as if it were an actual living fire breathing Dragon…
'And the damn fire burns hot!' Ted thought as he not only listened to, but witnessed as the under barrel unleashed a short streaming burst of dark red and orange death that dramatically raised the temperature around them.
The temperature change caused an awesome burst as the flame connected with the magically created ice, the wall suddenly exploding inward to give their squad their chance to move into the facility.
Eva turned slightly and smirked over her shoulder at the two older men before attempting to storm the breach, but Ted's right hand struck out and caught her by the left shoulder.
The young woman turned an affronted look to him, but Ted couldn't have cared less.
His gloved left hand shot out and stopped right in front of her, a spare black domino mask sitting in his open palm.
"You're not workin with your con-man mentor kid. We keep our identities a secret while we're here. Put it on. We should have done that before we got here, but better late than never."
He watched the young girl look at the mask with a certain level of distaste before locking eyes with him again; an affronted visage on her face.
She held his gaze, and Ted would give her credit where it was due; she didn't flinch for even a second as he hardened his eyes and locked his jaw.
She attempted to pull off the same look, but if Ted was being completely honest it looked more like an affronted pout towards the end…and it took everything he had not to laugh in the young woman's face.
'If she thinks she's gonna intimidate me, the fledgling's got another thing comin to her.'
After another moment of that the young woman finally seemed to catch on that Ted wasn't going to bend, and took the domino mask from his grasp with a jerky swipe.
He listened to her complain under her breath as he took a couple steps forward and past her towards the breach…
"Stupid old… Bloody mask…Fuckin-"
BANG
. . .
. . .
Ted came back to consciousness amidst a storm of yelling and scattered gunfire pinging off of metal, with his back firmly propped up against the side of the outside of the flight hanger.
Eva was shouting her head off at the enemy force inside, and Wesley was pulling double duty with not only trying to keep the young woman together and safe from harm; but with attempting to check on him.
"TED! Are you alright?!"
Ted brought his right hand up and wiped at the blood that was trailing down from underneath the right side of his mask, before shaking his head and adjusting as best as he could to being able to hear again.
No one ever really asked him what it was like to just up and die and then all of a sudden come back again whole and hearty…
And for that he was eternally grateful, because he just didn't have any other words for the experience than jarring; and didn't wanna go through explaining it to anyone.
'No matter how many times it happens.'
His 'Amulet of Sekhmet' had saved his bacon again, giving him another thanks he'd have to chalk off to Kent Nelson for even thinking to give him the artifact so long ago.
The amulets origin coming from the cat 'Goddess of War' of Egypt, her domains being those of medicine, protection, and healing; all of those things having combined to give him his '9 lives' that he was once again so thankful for.
Ted patted over the center of his chest where said amulet rested under his light armored jacket, before bringing both hands up signaling that he was okay as he rose to stand again.
Eva had obviously traded a bit of gunfire with the forces that had aligned against them from inside the tattered hanger, but it was also clear due to the multiple shots that were still pinging off of the inside of the hanger walls that she had probably either had very little effect…
'Or there's a full-on battalion in there.' Ted thought with annoyance as he pulled both of his compatriots back a smidge so that they would have better cover away from the gap in the wall.
"Alright. We need a plan of attack. We can't just charge through and hope for the best. Wes? You got enough of your gear on you that we can cause a distraction? Maybe even make a dent in those mooks?"
Wes signaled in the positive to the question, and Ted quickly changed gears; asking Eva to swap out from using her gun for now with said swap being back to her ring.
Eva would throw quick two second blasts in at intervals between the oncoming barrages of gunfire, and while she did that Ted observed Wes manipulating two of his patented gas canister cartridges. Normally a single cartridge had over two dozen burst shots worth of Wesley's sleep gas, a sizeable amount for someone who typically only dealt with street level crime.
'But we're up against a countries military…and they undoubtedly aren't gonna take our interference lightly; so hopefully Wes has got one of his ingenious plans up his sleeve.'
Ted observed as Wesley had pulled a small toolkit from inside of his duster, and though he was confused as to what the man may do at first, he was glad that he kept any comments he may have had to himself.
Within a few moments, Wesley had done what Ted would consider to be the impossible and rigged the cartridges. He then followed up by drawing his wirepoon gun and attached the sleep gas cartridges; along with what looked to be three of his explosive blasting capsules onto the larger head of the gun.
Wesley after making the final attachments looked at Ted and made a gesture with his hands to signal both Eva and Ted out of the way.
"Duck back girl!" Ted said as he moved with Eva to the opposite side of the open breach as a fresh hailstorm of gunfire started to peter off into nothing.
Wesley wasted no time in stepping forward, and once he was in line with the center of the room; he pulled the trigger.
'But not before setting one of the explosive charges to blow!' Ted thought with a minor amount of glee.
Ted didn't have long for that thought to settle before he watched Wes disengage the coupling end of the wire from his launcher, before handing him the open end.
"Quickly! Whiplash it! Like Diana would!"
Ted was thankful for all the experience he could recall with having watched said maneuver, as it made it easy to not flounder in light of being asked to attempt to replicate it.
His strength was by no means as great as Diana's, not by a long shot, but Ted knew his own strength and it would do here.
He quickly cracked the end of the wire from one side to the other, and as the head at the end of the length hit the apex of its flight it veered and turned; and then the explosive charge that Wes had set detonated the entire rigging.
He had been right when he considered the sheer number of soldiers in the facility, as the area was teeming with them.
The crack he'd done with the wire however had ended with the payload of sleeping gas going off almost dead center of their entrenched opposition, and because of that all three of them got front row seats to a mass pass out.
Within moments the gas fell upon the gathered enemy forces, and within seconds dozens of men and even a few women began to collapse into unconscious heaps on the ground.
The only ones that were spared that same result were the ones up on the catwalks higher up in the facility.
Ted quickly grabbed both of his compatriots by their shoulders and bum rushed through the breach with them before they came to stop and stand behind a large gray metal vidmar assembly on the work floor.
A small amount of gunfire would still go off every now and again, pinging against and off of their cover, and Ted knew that the cover fire was meant to keep them pinned down while someone made to advance on their position.
"You two try and take some more of these bums out. I'm Goin' in."
His statement saw Eva bring shocked eyes up to look at him, and he couldn't lie he found the young girls surprise amusing, even in their current position.
"Fuck d'you mean?! Where the Hell do you think you're goin', old man?!"
Ted simply smirked and walk back a bit towards the way they'd come in, stopping in front of one of the enemy's smaller jeeps that was nearby.
A quick punch rendered the window nothing but shattered bits, and Ted used that to open the door; before he unceremoniously wrenched the door from the vehicles frame.
Holding the door at lower parts of the sides Ted walked to the edge of the vidmar and poked his head out, bullets quickly pinging off of the side near just where he'd poked his head out.
Amidst the scattered machines, broken vehicles, and downed adversaries Ted saw the far side wall.
Said far side wall had a wide-open hallway that led seemingly deeper into the facility.
"I'm goin in is where I'm goin girl. Give this old man some cover would ya?" Ted asked before bringing the jeep door up as a makeshift shield, and charging straight across the bay, bellowing at the top of his lungs.
The plan had been twofold.
To not only move forward deeper into the facility, but to also draw the enemy fire so that Wes and Eva could take down the remaining stragglers.
The plan worked like a charm.
'The old 'bait and catch'. Works every time…though... not without some bumps along the way.' Ted thought as he dropped the door to the cement while flexing his aching back muscles as he finished his mad dash a foot or so into the open hallway.
Thankfully on his run his compatriots hadn't been idle.
Ted had actually caught a few bullets to his ballistic jacket in the back as he finished clearing the bay, but he wasn't alone in the hallway as both Eva and Wesley's panting forms stood just beside him.
They'd both used their weapons, the gas gun and ice ring respectively; and had downed the last of the foreign soldiers as they made the run a few seconds behind Ted.
After a moment to catch her breath, the young woman spoke out with an excited grin on her face.
"That… was fucking amazing! Yer an absolute madman, Ah can see where Spangles gets it fae!"
Ted couldn't help but chuckle along with Wes as they took in the young girl's enthusiasm, but the moment of levity didn't last.
The hallway led forward to a four-way intersection and a small band of soldiers came around both corners ahead of them, foreign yelling preceding a hail of fresh gunfire that came flying at them.
Thankfully though, their youngest member was on the ball, as she'd dropped to one knee and used her magical ring to erect an ice barrier that they all dropped behind just in the nick of time.
The ensuing moments were something else for Ted, as he didn't have any long-range options.
Both Eva and Wes began utilizing their resources, Wes with his gas gun, and Eva with interchanged shots from her ring and her massive shotgun.
At a break in the fire from both sides... Ted had had enough, springing to his feet while hefting the jeep's door again as he vaulted over the ice barrier.
With the door brought to bear Ted charged down the small strip of hallway that had to be fifteen to twenty feet long, but he cleared the stretch in moments.
As he was coming towards the end of his mad dash he saw the ice slick on the ground, and in that moment decided to emulate something he'd heard Jack had done with his shield.
Ted quickly dropped the door and jumped while landing on it.
The door slid only a couple of feet further, but Ted used his muscular legs to push and leap off of the sliding implement before it collided with the ankles of one of the still standing soldiers.
Ted's large frame flew through the brief space of air, and as he began to come down, he double clotheslined two of the other standing enemies; the force of his movement combining with his sheer size and weight making both of his enemies tumble end over end from the strike before landing in heaps next to him.
CA-CLICK
SMVOOSH!
Ted had heard the gun racking and had thought he'd be dying for the second time that day…
But fortunately, the young Miss Kramer acted quickly, and as Ted turned and rose from his kneeling position, he saw an almost completely frozen Asian man standing before him; gun arm raised at a downward angle to alight to where his head had been just a second ago.
A small sense of self-doubt nagged at Ted's brain before his typical temper struck, leading to him cold cocking the guy right across the left side of his jaw with a right cross.
As his two teammates finished coming up the hallway, Ted was able to take a better look around.
The gray walls were dashed with bullet holes, and the shining waxy floor was coated in shell casings, patches of ice slick, and what looked to be fire extinguisher discharge.
'Probably the remnants of Wes's gas.'
Ted was pulled out of his thoughts by Eva's voice as she playfully ribbed him.
"Mind yersel' old boy, Ah cannae protect you all the time."
Wes chuckled as did Eva, but Ted quickly lunged forward, and it was only thanks to his own training and experience that he was able to knock the main barrel of Eva's gun up and away as he lunged forward.
"WOAH WHAT THE HELL!"
His proximity had made her shout out... Loud, but thankfully she hadn't pulled the trigger and realized just why he'd lunged forward; as Ted's right foot lashed out and kicked a sidearm from the hand of one of the seemingly downed men.
A follow up kick saw the young man's head bounce off of the shining concrete floor, where he then lay in a heap.
"…"
Eva stared at him gob smacked, and though he couldn't see his face Ted knew that Wes was just as surprised.
"If we're gonna keep score, that makes us even. You should take your own advice girl. And Wes? You've been at this for waaay longer. You should have policed these mooks better. Remember, we've got a newbie with us. Neither of us needs her life on our conscience."
Ted had done his best to keep his tone light, but he hadn't been able to keep the tinge of judgement out of his tone when he started to address Wes.
Thankfully both of his teammates took the remarks seemingly in stride, if their nodding heads were anything to go by.
Ted did his best not to dwell on the fact that at that moment they could have lost Eva, and that both he and Wes would have been responsible.
Ted knew that he wasn't the best about it, and while that was no excuse; seeing the failure to double check their downed enemy's come from Wes was sobering.
Wes was one of the smarter of the members of the JSA, and back in the day during WWII he'd been the one to establish their tactics for a lot of the OP's they'd wound up running.
'Including the breaching and clearing plans. Sigh. I can't really blame him for losing a step though…he's been out of the hero game for too long. We both have if I'm being honest. I shoulda pushed harder to keep him home.' Ted thought as he shook his head, doing his best to not let his mind go to darker places.
All three of their group was pulled from any kind of introspection when one of the other downed soldiers groaned, doing his best to attempt to crawl away from the mess in the center of the four-way intersection.
Ted quickly shifted gears and walked up to the crawling form of the enemy soldier and kicked him once solidly in his side, not only winding him but turning him over.
Ted proceeded to lean down and take the man's visible combat knife and sidearm off of him before hoisting him up and slamming him back first into one of the walls of the hallway.
"We don't have a lot of time, so talk. Where are you keeping the American prisoner?!"
Ted's question was met with a derisive snort before accumulated spittle hit the left side of his mask.
"Go to hell American! We will see you ALL in chains for this!"
…
Quickly releasing him Ted hit him in the gut with a solid right uppercut, dropping the man to his knees in a groaning heap; a deep retching sound coming shortly after and mixing with loud groaning.
"What's happening right now is that damaged cells in that area of your body are releasing arachidonic acid. Your body's converting it to prostaglandin, which is triggering a crap ton on enzymes which is facilitating all that wonderful pain you're in. You wanna throw up? It's not gonna help. It's gonna take about a minute for the acid to dissipate and your body's natural morphine process to kick in. Now you're probably wondering just why I'm telling you all this? It's simple. Your gonna tell me where your keeping the American prisoner or I'm gonna keep hitting you, and eventually? Your just gonna be a useless sack of flesh and smeared blood on the ground. So why don't you spare both of us a lot of time, and you a lot of suffering and answer my question?"
A few moments passed and Ted wasn't sure what it was that did it, whether it had been his tone, the hit, or the threat of more to come; but the man spilled his guts.
A second after he was done speaking, Ted socked him right across the jaw and dropped him to the floor with the rest in a knocked-out heap.
When Ted looked at his compatriots, he noticed Eva's star struck look.
" Oooo that threat was bloody visceral! Absolutely brilliant!" The girl proclaimed with a wide grin on her face.
Ted could only roll his eyes in exasperation at the girl's excitement over him threatening the soldier.
'Girls had a heck of an upbringing that she thinks that was brilliant.' Ted thought as he took the right corridor with his teammates in pursuit.
Their group wound up having to push into and up two more hallways before they came upon the concrete stairwell that the soldier had indicated, and along that entire way they'd faced opposition.
Another two dozen soldiers set upon them on their way, and they all wound up unconscious, beaten, and half frozen.
The closer that they pushed towards the stairwell though, Wes wasn't speaking anymore; and Ted noted a marked increase in his speed.
As soon as they reached to where said stairwell was in sight, Wes broke formation and sprinted ahead.
'God dammit.'
That move threw them into another engagement, as there was another hallway to the left of the large stairwell, and a group of soldiers came out of it right as Wes was moving past the opening.
Ted listened as small arms gunfire immediately went off, before a large cloud of Wes's gas lit off amidst the group of soldiers.
'Jesus Christ.' Ted thought as he and Eva started a careful approach.
Wesley's knockout gas was a very powerful compound, but it was also in its own way very finicky.
You needed to be exposed to a certain amount of it for it to actually knock you out, and thankfully thus far he and Eva hadn't been close enough to any large concentrations of the stuff.
'But now it looks like Wes just emptied the entire canister he had loaded.'
Ted could remember that that was a tactic he'd often used during WWII, using it to break into the fray and take down a mass of Nazi soldiers at once.
'Hopefully he's okay now.'
"Sandman! You alright?!" Ted shouted amidst a gathered clash of shouts, a smattering of gunfire, and loud thuds.
Only one foreign voice was shouting out after a moment, and Ted and Eva got the chance to see the man back out of the cloud of gas with his back to them.
Said soldier turned around and locked his eyes on them, and looked as though he was going to bring his rifle to bear; but he was quickly interrupted.
A smaller version of the head of Wesley's wirepoon gun burst out of the smoke, and through the soldiers right shoulder; not only staggering him forward but disarming the man.
The man had barely grunted from the attack, but then quickly let out a girlish scream as the wire dragged him back into the slowly dissipating but still condensed cloud of gas.
One final loud thud sounded out after that, and then after a few more moments the gas began to dissipate more; revealing a whole and hearty Sandman standing over the downed contingent of soldiers.
Eva without missing a beat let out a whoop of joy at seeing Wesley, once again showing her youth with her excitement over the entire situation.
"Aye that's the good shite! Went full 'Silent Avenger' on 'em!"
Ted could only shake his head as he walked forward while trying not to reprimand the young girl, noticing the tinkling sound of the bullets hitting the ground as Wes patted himself down, dislodging them from his ballistic weave.
'So, they did get a few hits in.' Ted thought as he studied Wes, also noticing that one of the shots must have hit Wes's mask; if the mark on the left lens was anything to go by.
"You okay there?" Ted asked with some mild worry.
Wesley held his left hand up, a slight tremor to the appendage before he shook his head.
He finally responded after another moment of silence.
"I'm sorry about that. Yes, I'm fine. Mostly. Just 'Got my bell rung' as you'd say Ted." Wesley said, his synthesized voice coming out with a slightly humored lilt to it.
After ensuring that Wes was okay, they tightened their group up and began their trek up the stone stairway; making their way up to the second floor where they were told Richard was being held.
As the small group alighted at the top of the stairwell on the second floor, on the left-hand side two guards stood with automatic rifles strapped across their chests.
Evan and Wes were quick on the draw, and as both men were both turning to attempt and bring their weapons to bear, they were hit with a blast from Wes's gas gun before they were frozen in place by a blast wave from Eva's ring.
As they moved forward towards the guarded door Ted noticed that Eva was now currently shaking her hand out and taking her ring off, and Ted was going to make sure that she was alright before a ruckus sounded out from behind the steel gray door in front of them.
The team wasted no time, and Ted stepped forward and Spartan kicked the door off of its hinges; only to be met with the sound of gunfire once again as it retreated away from them.
Thankfully none of their group were hit, as the shooter was an older man that was fleeing the large amphitheater style room they were stepping into.
The room was mostly covered in tile, outside of the round skylight roof that had six windows.
All the tables and cabinets were stainless steel, and on an operating table in front of them in nothing but his small clothes was an older white male, who could only be Richard Tyler.
That was confirmed when Wes rushed past Ted and was by the man's side in a moment, going so far as to take off his hat and mask to look the man in the eyes.
Ted could understand the why of it, so he didn't say anything to Wes about it and instead set about getting to work even though he firmly disagreed.
"Eva, get your gun up. Keep an eye out. I'm gonna check the workstations for Richards pills."
Ted caught the young girl nodding out of the corner of his eyes as he pressed deeper into the room, making his way over to and then by Wesley while he spoke in a hushed tone to his godson.
It took him a few moments, but Ted ripped through every drawer and cabinet he could see, before turning to the workstation computer they had in the room: which had a tank full of small scorpions next too it of all things.
After noticing the scorpion tank, Ted took a better look around.
Just to his left hanging down from a part of the ceiling was a set of chains, and on the end of the chains was a set of shackles.
The very table that Richards barely moving body was on also had a set of shackles.
Ted and Rex Tyler hadn't ended things well…but being in the here and now and seeing his only son on the table in front of him stirred his regret.
'We'll get him outta here. Everything's gonna be fine.' Ted thought to himself.
Ted slowly approached Wes while Eva kept up watch for them, slowly making his way over until he was only about a foot or so away from the two extended family members.
Getting that close…had honestly been a mistake.
Because it allowed Ted to finally get a good look at Richard as he lay on the table.
He was covered from head to toe in black and blue marks, dozens of minor gashes as well. His toe and fingernails had been forcibly removed, and half of the said fingers were twisted and bent at odd angles. The worst thing though was the left side of the man's face, and down the left side of his chest. All of his veins were pronounced, and were almost purple in color.
The look of him struck Ted still as if he were made of stone, even though he desperately wanted to move forward and put a comforting hand on his now silently crying friend as he spoke to his godson.
Said godson's voice was strangled, most probably raked raw from screaming due to the torture he'd clearly been subjected too.
"I'm so…I'm sorry. They took…They took them. The pills."
Wesley was having none of that though as he responded to his godson.
"Shhh. You hush now. None of that. It doesn't matter. Right now, what matters is getting you out of here, and that's what we're going to do."
Richard however didn't seem to be paying any attention, as he spoke out again.
"Tell my family…tell em'...tell em' I love em'. That I'm... sorry."
Wes tried to refute it.
"You'll tell them yourself. Ted Help me get him up. Miss Kramer, can you door us?"
Any action they would have taken was stalled at the strangled gasp that came from Richards prone form.
"Richard?!"
Ted saw the man simply stare at his godfather while holding his hand, his deeply bloodshot eyes boring into his friend.
A deep shuddering sigh passed through him…
And then all was quiet for a moment.
Wesley became frantic for a moment, checking for a pulse, checking for his breathing.
The man quickly brushed past Ted and started looking at just what they did have in the room by way of medicine or even raw chemicals; but in the end there was nothing. Nothing that could help him.
Ted watched him fly into chest compressions and rescue breathes.
He did his best to hold his tongue for a few moments, to give Richard's death the reverence it deserved, but after a bit he approached and tried to place his right hand on his friends left shoulder.
"Wes…"
"NO!"
Ted had hardly ever heard Wesley shout, let alone with the level of despair that colored his tone in that moment.
He did the only thing he could think to do and pulled the man close into a tight hug.
"I'm sorry Wes. I'm sorry. But he's gone." Ted said as he tried to hold his friend close.
Wes wasn't like him.
Ted knew that if it had been him that someone had tried to hold in this instance, if it had been him standing over someone he loved like this; like Jack... he would have struck whoever it was.
Wesley… just went stiff as a board, barely breathing, barely moving. He stood still as Ted held him, turning the raging emotions inward.
When he finally did give in and started to hug him back Ted finally let a tear or two of his own fall, because the first anguished wail his old friend let out into his jacket was heartbreaking.
They stood in relative silence, Ted holding Wes as he wept over the loss of one of the only people he had left to call family. He looked slightly to his left and saw that Eva too looked sad, not because she'd known the fallen man, but because someone she'd come to respect was in pain.
The group at large was startled out of their moment as the double doors the spindly haired man had fled through glowed for a moment, before condensing down into a singular door. Said door opened and dropped both John Constantine and Dr. Occult into their midst before shifting back once again.
Both of the magicians came forward, and for a few brief moments all was silent as both men realized just what had happened.
Ted wanted to do more, give Wesley more time…but it wasn't meant to be.
After a few more moments of silence, Ted walked the two new additions through just what had and could be happening right this moment.
"We gotta move. They're gonna need help."
Ted watched Constantine nod before glancing at Eva, and the young girl spun a refreshed chamber barrel into her shotgun before putting on a determined face.
Occult spoke up before they could move on.
"Ted let's first get Wesley and his godson's body out of this place. Johnathan can use the House. They could even simply stay there for now."
Ted knew that Wes wouldn't be much more help going forward due to what had just happened and was more than happy to acquiesce to that request.
He was stopped from forming any kind of reply however because from the skylight above them, the room was bathed in a terribly bright golden light, while a horrible sound assaulted everyone's ears; the sheer volume of it causing the building to shake a bit.
That very event had caused everyone in the room to pull in on themselves, and upon recovering they all simply cast shocked and questioning glances at one another; even Wes.
In that moment... Ted was only thinking about one thing.
'…Jack.'
AND FIN! Alright Ya'll. That there is another installment of Legends Are Made. I hope you all thoroughly enjoyed it, and as always if you have any questions, comments, critiques (as long as they aren't rude) please feel free to voice them. I must once again thank everyone for the faves, follows, and reviews. They mean the world to me, and I honestly can't say anything more than that about it. Another big thanks to both of my personal friends Sauron and Wolfling, as they both are basically my beta readers/ muses for this whole process. They both listen to my crazy ideas, and I'm so far beyond grateful for them, you have no idea. A quick note for the coverage, the threat that Ted uses is pulled from and not exactly line for line but is from the movie Love and Other Drugs. (I was watching it the other day and it just kind of jumped out at me, so I turned it to my purposes.) Next chapter will be the final one in This ark. Something that I would like to ask directly of you my readers, how have I don't with that so far? Is three chapters sufficient for an Ark of a story, is it too long, is it too short, please let me know. Other than all of that, I'm pretty happy with the way things turned out, so now we wait until the next one. Until then everyone please stay safe, happy, and healthy! NEXT TIME on YJ: Legends Are Made! Chapter 24: GOING BEYOND!