Youth
Stephano Hungary: Okay… So, after a long time of not updating, here we go! I finally got a free weekend of no homework; AP English was seriously kicking my behind, but I got that A!
Disclaimer: I do not own Justice League Unlimited, or any spells or magic amulets that are similar to the ones mentioned in real life. :3
Chapter 3: Chaos 101
"Stop, Eris!" A guard yelled. A pale-skinned woman with red eyes, and long black hair, wearing a black toga, sprinted along a rocky path, the sky burned like fire above her. "Catch me if you can! Hahaha!" Eris laughed as she continued to run further away. Her hands glowed red as she touched the side of a rocky mountain. After she touched it, a red energy flowed around the mountain before it collapsed, stopping the guards from chasing after Eris. "Oops, sorry!" Eris said as she giggled. After running for a few more minutes, she came across a colossal stone door that had a Themiscryan symbol carved into it.
Eris's eyes widened with excitement.
"Finally after all these centuries…" The red energy Eris summoned from earlier came back as she touched the door. After a few seconds, the door began to crack, and an entrance was made, small enough for Eris to walk through. The light coming from the other side of the door was shining a bright blue, "The entrance to the human world…"
Wally woke up with a yawn and stretched like a cat, "Guh! Man, what a night…" He got off his couch and went to take a shower. After he felt that he was sufficiently clean, he stepped out of the shower. Wally wiped the steam off his mirror and began to imitate people, "West… Wally West." Wally switched from the smirking look on his face to a dark, serious one, "I am… the FLASH!" As Wally did his imitation of Batman, that's when he froze and stared at his reflection with a shocked look on his face, remembering the events from last night. "Oh… no."
He sprinted to get dressed and ran out his apartment, using his super speed to run towards Gotham City. 'Please be a dream! Please be a dream! Please be a dream! Please be a dream!' Wally thought frantically to himself. He ran down the driveway that lead towards the Wayne Manor, and jumped over the huge gate, and stopped at the doormat. 'Please be a dream…' He thought to himself one last time before he pressed the doorbell.
-Ding, Dong!- After a few seconds of waiting, Alfred opened the door, "Morning, Master West." He said, greeting Wally. "Yeah, hey, Jeeves! Say, uh, is Bruce home, by any chance?" Wally tried to look over Alfred's shoulder when an irritated voice spoke, "You're late." Wally looked down and saw a young Bruce Wayne, looking at him, annoyance clearly written on his face. Wally's face turned into a look of extreme disbelief, his eyes then rolled up into the back of his head, and he passed out. Alfred and Bruce gazed at his body. "…Oh, you have got to be kidding me." Bruce said.
Eris walked through the entrance to the human world, and she gazed around the Themiscryan cavern, "Well, this isn't very exciting…" She kicked a nearby rock with her foot and sighed, "No, not exciting at all…" All of a sudden, the sound of swords unsheathing and sandals running across the ground filled the cave. A woman's voice spoke up, "That's as far as you will go, Eris!" The black-haired goddess looked up, and gazed into the face of a blonde-haired, blue-eyed woman that was in the company of dozens of women dressed in warrior garments. Eris leaned back on her right leg, her left hand on her hip, and smirked, "Ah, Hippolyta, it's been a while; the centuries have been good to you." Hippolyta scowled, "Spare me the pleasantries, Eris. Either you go back to the realm from whence you came, or my warriors and I shall do it for you."
Eris rolled her eyes and got into a fighting stance, "I think I'll choose the latter." Hippolyta shouted out a battle cry, and the other Amazon warriors joined in with her yell, and began to charge the goddess. Eris' smirk grew wider as she mumbled to herself, "Finally, some action." She dodged the sword thrust of one of the warriors, and delivered a swift roundhouse kick to her face, the battle had begun.
"Ugh…" Wally groaned as his eyes opened and he slowly sat himself up. "What happened?" Suddenly, his eyes widened and he frantically looked around the room, "This isn't my place… Oh, no!" He jumped up off the couch he was laying on and ran into a room with a large table, and saw a little Bruce eating. "So, you're awake." Bruce said, "Oh, man, it did happen!" Wally yelled. Bruce looked up, "What are you yelling about, now?" "Y-You! You're actually a kid! D-Do you know how wrong that is?!" Wally shouted, waving his arms back and forth.
Bruce rolled his eyes, "Whatever…" He stood up from the table and grabbed his jacket off the back of his chair before he walked towards the front door. "I'm gone, Alfred!" Bruce yelled into another room, "Alright, Master Bruce." Alfred replied. Wally watched Bruce walking, "Well? What're you waiting for? Let's go." Bruce said. Wally shook his head before following him to the door, "So… Uh, Bruce… Whaddaya wanna do?" He asked the boy. Bruce scoffed again, "Look, I don't care what we do as long as I'm away from here. Now let's go!"
Eris stood over the Amazon warriors; a sneer was evident on her face. She flipped her waist length black hair over her shoulder, "Well, now that that's taken care of…" Eris walked over the bodies of the unconscious warriors, out of the cavern, and headed towards the shore. Once she got there, she cracked her fingers and her body became surrounded in a red glow, "Wonder if my flying powers still work…" She shut her eyes in concentration, and suddenly, a pair of black wings sprouted from her back, "Oh, yes!" Eris yelled joyfully as she soared off the island, heading west, "I wonder how much mortals have changed over the years… I think they're overdue for a little chaos." Eris began to cackle with thoughts of future pandemonium and discord.
"AAAAH!" Bruce screamed as he held on tight to Wally's neck as he sprinted down the highway. Wally grinned at his screams, "I know! It's pretty exciting isn't it?!" Wally yelled back to his screaming passenger. A few minutes later, Wally stopped at his apartment in Central City. "Well, that was fun." He said. Bruce's left eye twitched as he slid off of Wally's back and onto the carpeted floor. His hair and clothes were in disarray. Bruce relaxed himself and then gave Wally the hardest glare he could muster, "You…" He hissed. Wally grinned again and laughed at Bruce's appearance, "HAHA! It's so funny to see you like this! You're just not as intimidating, and it's easier to annoy you, too!"
Bruce hissed through clenched teeth, his fist clenched tightly as well. As Wally started to calm down, he looked at Bruce and his outfit. It was way to showy, heck, his tie looked more expensive than Wally's whole outfit! "You know what we should do first?" Wally said. Bruce took a deep breath, "What?" was his irritated reply. "We should go… SHOPPING!"
A look of fear crossed Bruce's face. He remembered when Diana went shopping with Audrey in Paris, and he shivered. His knees were on fire for more than three-and-a-half hours. "No. There is no way that I am doing that." He looked at Wally and regretted it. Bruce flinched at how large and bright Wally's blue eyes became, his lip started to quiver, "Pleeeease?!" "I am not doing it, West! N-NO! I said NO!"
"I can't believe I'm doing this…" Bruce mumbled to himself as he stood next to Wally who was shifting through the racks of clothes. "Let's see, let's see…" He picked out countless shirts and jeans, and shoved them in Bruce's arms before shoving him into a dressing room. "Hurry up, man! The sooner you try on this stuff, the sooner we can leave!" Wally shouted to Bruce through the door. Bruce growled loudly as he tried on the clothes.
-30 minutes later-
Wally leaned on the check-out counter, staring down at Bruce who continued to scowl in his new outfit. "Oh, come on, it wasn't that bad!" Wally said. Bruce scoffed, "Psh, says you."
Wally ignored Bruce as he stared at the check-out lady, her name was Cindy. The two briefly flirted for a couple minutes before Cindy acknowledged the little boy scowling at the floor, "Aw,Wally, he is just too cute!" Cindy, "What's your name little man?" "Brandon. Brandon West. I'm Wally's cousin from Gotham city." Bruce replied calmly, looking uninterested. Wally nodded his head, "Yeah, his 'rents are on vacation and they asked me to watch him for a while." the blonde woman looked at Wally, "Aw, that's so sweet of you to take care of your little cousin like that."
"What can I say; I'm pretty stand up guy." Wally grinned. Cindy pulled out a piece of paper from her purse and wrote something on it. She handed the scrap of paper to Wally, "We should, uh, do coffee sometime…" Wally took the paper and put it in his pocket, "Yeah, we should. Call you later." He winked at her and put a hand on Bruce's shoulder and grabbed their bags as they walked away from the checkout counter.
Once they were out of the clerk's vision and earshot, Wally grinned and pumped his fist, "YES!" Bruce looked at him strangely, "You are insane." Wally wrapped his right arm around Bruce's shoulder, and smirked widely before saying, "I may be insane, but, you, sir, are a chick magnet."
Before Bruce could give a response, screams rang out throughout the city. Wally quickly ran back to his apartment, throwing his stuff in the room before heading back to his previous spot with Bruce. The two nodded and headed around a corner on the sidewalk, and as they did, they looked up; a giant shadow loomed over them and an unearthly cry was heard. "…Wow," Wally started, "That's not something you see every day." Bruce unconsciously nodded slowly as well. This was definitely something you don't see every day.
Eris landed on the outskirts of a city. She read a nearby sign, "Welcome to Central City. Hm…" She looked towards the city and saw that there was plenty of plenty of people, "Hehehe…Oh, this is going to be fun…" She chuckled as she walked towards the city, the grass and plants that were at her feet wilted and died as she walked on them.
As she strolled down the street, Eris saw a poster that had a picture of a museum on it that read, 'Special Greek/Roman Exhibit! Come and gaze at the wonders of the Greek/Roman Century!' She raised an eyebrow, "Greek/Roman Exhibit, huh…?" The exhibit was being held at the Central City Museum of Natural History, located exactly on the street she was on, in fact, it was only a couple blocks away from her. "This could be interesting."
She walked into the museum; it was fairly empty, seeing how it was only 10:45 in the morning. Eris walked past the front desk, and saw the sign for the Greek/Roman exhibit to her right and was about to head towards it before a hand touched her on her shoulder. She paused and turned around to face a man in a blue uniform. "Can I help you?" "You need to pay for a ticket first before you go into the museum." "Do I now?" "Yes, you – AH!"
Eris's eyes glowed red and the man grabbed at his head, it felt like it was going to split in two. After a few seconds, what seemed like hours to the man, he passed out on the floor, his body twitching. Eris sneered at him before she continued walking. "Oh, wow…" When looking at the exhibits, she noticed that they had a special mythology section dedicated to the monsters of the Greek/Roman time. The selection ranged from the Hydra to Cerberus, and they were built to a gargantuan size, more than likely to accentuate the creatures' animalistic features.
Eris smirked in delight and then began to chuckle as her eyes shined red. A red light surrounded her hands as well as she placed them onto the Cerberus model. Soon, the model began to look more and more life-like, before you knew it, it really was alive. "RARR!" The three-headed dog barked and began to growl. Eris cackled, "HAHAHA! It really worked!" She gazed at the other models and smirked even wider. As she headed towards the other models, Cerberus roared and crashed through the front of the museum and started to wreak havoc upon the city. Eris shrugged her shoulders, she would get him later, but for now, there is other chaos to start.
Bruce and Wally stared as a three-headed dog tore through the bed of a semi-truck. "No…way…" The two of them mumbled.
Wally quickly changed into his Flash outfit in a private area, while Bruce just stood in place; there really wasn't anything that he could do. When Flash came back, he placed his hand to the comm.-link in his ear, "Yeah, guys…We've got a bit of a problem." "I can see that, we'll be there as soon as we can. Until then, try to stall." J'onn responded. "Okay, stall, stall, stall…" Flash looked around his area trying to see if he could use anything. When he couldn't find anything he put two fingers into his mouth and whistled hard.
Cerberus stopped whatever he was doing and stared in Flash's direction. "Hey, Fluffy, over here! That's right I'm talking to you!" Bruce froze as Cerberus began to stalk their way, "What are you doing?!" He hissed through clenched teeth, Flash shrugged his shoulders, "I'm stalling, what does it look like?" Bruce pinched the bridge of his nose with his finger and thumb, "It looks like you're trying to get us killed – AH!" Cerberus jumped towards them, its mouth wide open.
"GAH!" Flash jumped into action, grabbing Bruce and running out of the way. "Okay, you stay here, and I'll handle Fluffy." Flash ran back towards the giant dog, leaving Bruce on the rooftop of a building. Bruce rolled his eyes, "Right, like he can take on a giant, three-headed dog without any help…" He leaned over the edge of the building, looking around the city for any clues as to how the beast came into the city. 'It had to have come from some place…' "GAH!" Bruce snapped his head in the direction the noise, and as soon as he did, Flash came barreling down the street before slamming into the side of a car. Flash groaned, "Aw, man, I thought dogs were supposed to be color blind!"
Bruce pinched the bridge of his nose again before he continued his search. "There!" He cried. He saw a giant hole in the front of the Central City Museum, and flashes of red lit up the building every couple of seconds. Bruce looked around the building he was standing on for any escape routes, and fortunately found a fire escape. He ran down a couple of steps, and flipped over a few railings and ladders, and landed gracefully in the alley.
He peeked around the corner and saw Flash punching one of the dog's heads, and he then decided to sprint across the street and into the museum. The first thing he noticed once he came in, besides the rubble, was an unconscious security guard. He looked at his body, not seeing any injuries or other signs of a struggle, "Who could have done this…?" Bruce whispered to himself. He rolled underneath the front desk once he heard footsteps coming towards his area. He peeked around the desk and saw a tall, pale-skinned woman with long black hair dressed in a short black toga walk past. He shook his head, unconvinced that he was seeing her surrounded in a red light.
'It's gotta be her.' He thought. Bruce looked on top of the desk to see if it had anything he use to defend himself, all he had to use was a stapler and some sticky notes. He wanted to slam his head against the desk so badly. 'I guess it'll have to do…' Bruce picked up the stapler and threw it as hard as he could towards the woman's face.
At first it looked like it was going to hit the woman, but in a split second, she brought her right hand up, caught it, and crushed it without breaking a sweat. She dropped the crushed metal and it clanked on the floor. She looked towards the desk and her eyes glowed red, as well as the desk. She then flicked her head and the desk went flying out the side of the building, leaving Bruce defenseless.
Bruce quickly stood up and jumped into a defensive stance. The woman chuckled and whistled. Bruce furrowed his eyebrows as he looked towards the hall the direction that a noise was coming from. "Oh no." He said, and with good reason. A hideous creature that had the body of a lioness, had a snake for a tail, and had the head of a goat placed in the middle of its back. It growled and smoke leaked out of its mouth. "Chimera, be a dear and… exterminate this little pest for me." The woman said as she twirled a lock of hair between her fingers.
As soon as she uttered those words, Bruce sprinted in the opposite direction, heading down another hallway. "RARRR!!" Chimera roared and breathed fire in Bruce's direction, but missed as he turned down another hallway. The beast then sprinted after him, intent on getting her kill. Eris looked on as Chimera ran down the hallway and then walked out in the street. "What?!" She shouted. She saw Cerberus getting his butt thoroughly handed to him by six other people, five of them flying while the other was on the ground.
Eris noticed that one of the flyers was wearing the Amazonian armor of champions. Once she got a closer look, she noticed that it was Diana, Hippolyta's daughter. "This just got interesting." She flew up and floated above the battle between the giant dog and the other heroes. Eris then raised her hands in the air, and black storm clouds began to form above her. She threw her hands down and six bolts of red lightning came down and struck each of the heroes. "AAAH!" They yelled as each of them fell to the ground.
While on the ground, Wonder Woman gasped and turned to Flash, "Flash, where's Bruce?" "He should be on top of that building that I…left…him…on…" When Flash and Wonder Woman looked in the direction of where he was pointing, they saw that the building that he was referring to was thoroughly destroyed. Wonder Woman's eyes widened and she then glared at Flash, "You were supposed to be watching him!" "I was, I swear!" Suddenly, a voice interrupted their conversation, "Well, Diana, it's good to see you again." Wonder Woman looked up and saw a woman with black wings flying above them, "Eris…" She hissed. The group shook their heads in disbelief, "Eris? The Eris?! Goddess of discord Eris?!" Superman shouted. "That would be the one." Diana replied.
Eris giggled, "Glad you still remember me, sweety. But in all seriousness, this is not how I wanted to spend my first day out of Tartarus. First that pesky little boy tried to ruin my fun, and now you guys had to go and beat on my poor little Cerberus…" Eris cooed as she patted Cerberus on one of its heads. The league snapped their head up at what she said, "What did you do that little boy you mentioned?!" Wonder Woman asked as she and the others stood up. Eris stopped petting the dog as she listened to Diana. She noticed that there was a hint of fear in her voice, in fact, the whole group looked distressed.
"Well…" Eris looked at the museum, and saw flames sprouting out of some of the windows every few seconds, apparently Chimera hadn't succeeded in killing the boy yet after all. Eris smirked and her eyes glowed red, 'Chimera, change of plans, don't kill the boy, bring him to me now.' She commanded to the beast telepathically. Soon, Chimera burst through one of the windows, Bruce trapped firmly in between its teeth by his shirt. Chimera ran on top of Cerberus's back and stopped on its head, standing next to Eris, "This wouldn't be the little boy you all are so worried about is it?" Eris asked.
"Bruce!" Wonder Woman gasped, "Give him back, Eris!" Green Lantern shouted as he began to float in the air. Eris grinned, "I don't think so." She snapped her fingers and Cerberus and Chimera disappeared, and Bruce ended up being held by Eris by his shirt. "If you want him back, meet me at the labyrinth, I'll have a little game planned for you." Eris and Bruce began to glow a bright red. Superman and Wonder Woman sprang into action and flew towards them as fast as they could, "Tah!" Eris said as she and Bruce disappeared, making Wonder Woman and Superman crash into each other. The two shook their head, and stared at the spot where Eris and Bruce were. "This is not good." Superman said as he looked back to the group, all of them looking worried. Flash had his teeth and fists clenched tightly, 'I should have been there. I was supposed to be watching him…'
.:End:.
Stephano Hungary: Here's chapter 3, and I hope you guys enjoyed it! Chapter 4 will be up as soon as possible.
Preview of Chapter 4:
"You won't get away with this Eris." Bruce said as he stared at Eris. He was dangling upside down from the ceiling of the labyrinth by an inescapable and unbreakable rope, and Cerberus and Chimera circled the ground below him. They both stared up at him, eagerly wanting to swallow him whole.
"Oh, I don't plan to. This is just a game." Eris replied as she lay across the stone throne sideways, "And when I play games, I'm the only winner." Bruce frowned and shut his eyes, hoping that the league would be able to handle this situation.
Let's hope the league can take this goddess down!