AN: Sorry I'm in a rush, here's the second chapter of my story and the internet at my house is down. So I'm kind of kind trying to alleviate my backlog of fics. Hope you guys like it.
All Star Young Justice
Chapter 2
Sportsmaster released a devastating ring of fire from the air damaging several high rise skyscrapers around him including homes. Inside one apartment a young black mother grabbed her child by the shoulders and dove for the floor as the ring of fire raced over them setting the place on fire. Alarms sounded on the Watchtower in space and the Justice Cave simultaneously, while another one went off in the Hall of Justice in DC. Green Arrow and Black Canary looked up at the monitor in the cave showing the now empowered Sportsmaster on the screen.
"I just put that guy away." Green Arrow said.
"Justice League emergency, rouge metahuman activity in progress in Metropolis. Requesting immediate response from League members." a male computer voice said.
"This is Superman I'm in route to Metropolis." the Man of Steel said over the radio. At that time the Team raced back into ops.
"What's going on?" Kid Flash asked.
"Is that Sportsmaster? How did he get powers?" Robin said in shock.
"Not sure. Ollie any idea how this might have happened?" Canary asked.
"What makes you think I know? 15 minutes ago he was in an illegal arms shipment." Green Arrow said.
"Are you sure that's all it was?" she asked.
"Yes! We checked it ourselves; they were just your run of the mill assault rifles. There was nothing out of the ordinary from what I could tell." he said.
"It's not that I don't believe you Ollie. But we must have missed something. How else would a guy like Sportsmaster develop a power like pyrokenisis?" Canary asked looking back at the screen.
"Good question." he replied.
"Maybe he ingested some kind of metahuman pill or vial. Like the Blockbuster formula or Kobra Venom?" Robin suggested.
"Or a transdermal patch." Kid Flash added.
"How would any of those give a guy pyromancy?" Artemis sulked insulting them.
"Hey it's just a suggestion. Anyway I don't see you coming up with anything. And oh by the way you missed practice." Wally snarked back getting in her face Arty shot daggers back at him.
"Because I was with Green Arrow jackoff!" she shot back.
"Enough both of you. I already gave Artemis her training, getting back to the task at hand. What's happening in Metropolis is a League priority. You should be ready in case backup is needed." Black Canary said silencing the team. Conner shifted his eyes a bit before responding.
"How far is Superman from Metropolis?" he asked.
"At least two states away." she told Conner.
"How long will it take for him to get there?" he added.
"Depends on how bad he wants to get back. You think we should go over there?" she said turning her attention to Ollie.
"Flash said he's in route as well. We should at least provide some kind of back up." Green Arrow stated.
"What about us?" Superboy asked. The pair looked back at the team.
"Stay here till we say otherwise." she ordered and headed for the transporter with Green Arrow.
In Metropolis Sportsmaster continued his rampage as people ran from him, fleeing the streets. Green Arrow and Black Canary were Zeta Beamed into the open, in the street as people ran past them.
"Watchtower this is Canary we're in Metropolis and about to engage target." she said on her earpiece.
"Roger that Canary." a civilian dispatcher responded.
"Who else is here?" she added as Flash raced up to them and waved. Canary nodded and went back to her earpiece.
"Superman how far away are you?" she asked. In the skies overhead Superman flew into the city.
"Just got in, I have him in my sights." he answered seeing him and the fires from a distance.
"Prepare to engage." Superman ordered. Canary nodded on the street below.
"We're ready for him." she said looking up.
Superman flew in as Sportsmaster saw him from the corner of his eye. Sportsmaster turned and fired a full powered blast at the Man of Steel, who flew past it and punched Sportsmaster through a nearby high rise. The Man of Tomorrow hovered near the new entrance; inside Sportsmater was sitting upright in a pile of rubble and seemed otherwise unharmed. The villain chuckled rubbing his chin with his wrist.
"Not bad Supes. You really got me with that one." he said getting up. Superman remained stone faced as he looked back at him.
"Since when do you have powers Crock?" he asked in serious tone.
"Like the new upgrade Superman? I'm rather impressed with it myself." he said rotating his shoulder as he strode across.
"You know I've waited a long time for this. You and your lousy Justice League, think you can push guys like us around because you have powers." he said making his fist flame up.
"Shoe's on the other foot now isn't it?" he added staring back at him.
"Why don't you show me what you got?" Superman said undaunted.
"With pleasure." Sportsmaster replied and fired at him. The Man of Steel stood in the way and took the blast blowing out the outside of the building.
Sportsmaster threw himself at him drawing his fist back and threw his hardest hit. The Man of Steel caught his fist, Crock countered with a sudden blast of fire knocking him back. Crock went after him swinging his arm outward in a whip of fire striking him again, before throwing a kick sending another volley at him hitting Kal-El in the face knocking him to the floor. Sportsmaster chuckled as he drew one of his exploding javelins ready to spear the Man of Steel.
"This is even easier than I thought." he mused holding the weapon overhead and lunged at him.
Superman grabbed the javelin and stared Sportsmaster down before throwing it over the villain's shoulder into the roof creating an explosion. The blast hurling the villain forward, Superman used the man's inertia against him grabbing and throwing him out the building. As Sportsmaster fell out of control he hurled another javelin at the hero, hitting beneath his feet in the entryway and blew him back. The section of the building he was in started to collapse, while Sportsmaster regained control and threw a fireball a story or two beneath and caused the rest of it to collapse.
A supersonic scream assaulted the Sportsmaster's eardrums and shattering windows, as Diana used her Canary Cry from the streets below while Ollie leveled an arrow at him and fired. An electric arrow struck him in the back as a 100,000-volt charge went out. Smoke wafted off the bad guy's body as he hovered motionless in the air then removed the arrowhead from his back and looked down at the trio.
"I think we made him angry." Canary said before a stream of fire rained down on them.
"Scramble!" Green Arrow yelled as they separated and the torrent of fire hit.
"All right that does it." Flash said and started racing around the fire extinguishing it's reach. And quickly died out at the base as Sportsmaster watched. The villain launched a more powerful fireball knocking Flash back.
GA tumbled on his knee taking aim at Sportsmaster once again while Canary found herself in a similar position on the other side. The evil villain started to power up as his aura grew to massive size seeking to vaporize the area. Green Arrow took his shot, while Canary fired another sonic blast. The two attacks raced up to him in slow motion, before the arrow was vaporized in midair and the Canary Cry seemed to have no effect. A pulse of extreme heat went out devastating buildings, nearly claiming the Leaguers' lives. Buildings and high rises were melted from the inside out as Sportsmaster hovered over them furious. The three Leaguers having somehow survived the blast after Flash projected his speed aura to them.
Smoke flew from his fists, as Sportsmaster remained overhead, glaring down at the Leaguers. A rustling from a downed building signaled Superman's return as the Man of Steel broke out of his prison. Sportsmaster turned his head and saw the Kryptonian stand in the midst of the wreckage with his cape flowing over his shoulder and glaring at the superpowered villain.
"Hmm. I was wondering when you'd surface." was all Sportsmaster said.
The Kryptonian hovered above the wreckage while staring down the Sportsmaster. As he got higher he started to take in the scars of the battlefield and was horrified to see the arm of a young woman strewn out of a window. His jaw dropped slightly in realization that a life if not many others were lost. Sportsmaster gave a curious glance and could see what had attracted his attention.
"Hmm? Oh, well these things tend to happen don't they? How does it feeling having failed someone?" Sportsmaster taunted.
Superman was seething in anger and lashed out at the Sportsmaster tackling him in midair, plowing him through the top of a damaged building and into the street below. The Sportsmaster lay in a crater but continued taunting the Man of Steel.
"What? Is that a sore topic for you?" he chided and was punched in the face knocking him down the street.
Superman was back on top of him a moment later forcing his head into the dirt and wrenching his arm behind his back threatening to tear it off.
"Why would you do this?" he demanded.
"Why? I'm a mercenary Superman, it's what I do." he teased. Clark growled slamming his face through the pavement. His faceguard remained in tact.
"Oh come now Supey, we all know you won't kill anyone. So why even bother?" he replied assuredly.
"Doesn't mean I can't beat you within an inch of your life." Superman growled and hurled him into the air.
Sportsmaster flew end over end into the air but didn't seem concerned as Kal-El came at him and punched the superpowered villain as hard as he could in his face. A crack raced up the bottom right corner of his facemask and tiny fragments flew across. Before a right hook flew across his face, breaking his jaw if he were human. Plowing his fist into the man's chest smashing in his rib. And driving his elbow into the base of Sportsmaster's neck. The villain fell crashing into the edge of a rooftop by his neck while Superman grabbed his body and dragged his face down the side of the building tearing it apart. And finally piledriving Sportsmaster chest first into the ground destroying the sidewalk. The ground quaked as enormous cracks raced out to the street and rattled nearby parked cars triggering their alarms.
The Sportsmaster lay in a heap as Superman turned him over on his back and held his fist overhead. Out of breath and frustrated beyond reason, he seemed ready to finish him off. But the Man of Steel relented realizing he had beaten him into unconsciousness. The mysterious symbol had disappeared from his shirt as the Sportsmaster was now harmless. Kal-El continued to stand over him out of breath and turned to see frightened and horrified on lookers, and hung his head and sighed.
A few minutes later an ambulance had arrived to take Sportsmaster away as Flash, Green Arrow and Black Canary later stood with Superman. The quartet watched as the villain was rolled by gurney into the ambulance and took off while reporter Cat Grant interviewed the group.
"The League will investigate how Sportsmaster got those powers. That's all for now." Black Canary said dismissing herself amid of flash of cameras. Reporters continued hounding her for questions regarding Superman's battle while the Man of Steel remained despondent over the whole ordeal.
Looking at the building he himself damaged and where the battle had ended. And saw reporters trying to field questions from a distance but were held off by Flash and several police officers. The only officer facing him was a short, squat middle-aged man with gray hair and thick black eyebrows scowling at him. Detective 'Terrible' Dan Turpin the most caustic man on the force and one of Superman's biggest detractors. The Man of Steel sighed as Turpin smoked his cigar and slowly approached him.
"Boy, you really messed up tonight." he said.
"Not now Turpin." he replied.
"Or what? You'll take me down like you did him? Charming. Because of you people are dead tonight. Innocent people. Now I thought you superheroes were all about saving the innocent. I guess for a big, strong guy like you. You can't be bothered by issues like that when a guy with fire powers is threatening the city!" Turpin argued. It was then Green Arrow interceded, getting infront of him.
"And you, you're no better. I've heard things about you Green Arrow. As far as I'm concerned you're no better than he is." he said pointing at Superman.
"Why don't you go file a police report or something detective? We've all had a difficult day here." Green Arrow replied.
"Yeah? Tell that to those families of Suicide Slum. I'm telling you we were all better off when we just had to deal with the regular wackos. Not the special brand of crazy you bring to these streets. As far as I'm concerned you should be outlawed. Every last one of you." Turpin said poking his chest. Green Arrow however was more restrained and brushed off his idle threats.
"Take it up with your congressman then." he answered brushing aside his hand. Terrible Turpin glared at him and smiled.
"You know what? Maybe I will. I'll see you later archer." he replied and walked off.
"He's a real charmer." Black Canary said folding her arms.
"There's nothing else we can do here. Guess we better call it a night." Ollie said to Clark.
His teammate didn't say anything and simply flew off into the night sky.
"Think he'll be all right?" Diana asked.
"Who can say?" mentioned Ollie.
"He just needs time, I'm sure he'll be all right." Diana told him.
"I'll tell the other Leaguers not to bother him." Green Arrow stated as they watched him disappear.
Unbeknownst to any of them a street cam had captured the entire debacle with the feed leading back to Cadmus HQ where luminescent beings on computer screens discussed what they saw.
"What on Earth was that?" a woman's voice asked.
"No idea, since when did Sportsmaster develop powers?" a male voice replied.
"The Sportsmaster has never exhibited any powers that we're aware of. But this is an interesting development. Have one of our agents intercept his transport and bring him to us. We may be able to use this to our advantage." a second male voice said.
AN: *#! Apparently I'm in even more of a rush than I thought. If you see multiple posts I got my chapters backwards sorry for that. I'm a little hung up on the third chapter because I'm not entirely sure if I want to do a crossover based on my Teen Titans All Stars series. It's not necessary for you to read it, though it might help. I know I hate when people do that too. I'm not quite sure how well the two will mesh. In short, the above mentioned story takes place several years after the animated series ended and features older versions of the characters and would establish that the Titans are from Earth-1 which is sort of the 'mainstream' Earth in the DC Comics canon. Still not sure how or if that's going to work, so bear with me. It'll probably be a while before I can update again. Let me know if you approve or disapprove of this idea.
Please review,
The Green Gallant.