Chapter 3
"Normal talk"
"Thought"
"Hologram, communicator & video link"
DROP ZONE: GOD VS TITAN
Location: Santa Prisca, June 19; 00:43 ECT
Inside a Venom producing factory on the Island of Santa Prisca, a tall man wearing a black and white luchador mask walked up to the cage separating him and his men from the rest of his venom factory. It appeared as if the Santa Prisca Venom facility was taken over by the infamies Cult of the Kobra, if the men in the red cloaks and masks resembling an angry snake, pointing their guns at anyone that was dressed differently were anything to go by. A Kobra agent was standing in front of a caged door that led to a closed off part of the factory that had only one other door at the other side.
"Nuestro maestro sublime proclama que partirá esta instalación ...si... Uno de vosotros, derrota a su campeón en combate singular. (Our sublime master proclaims he will depart this facility...If...One of you defeats his champion in single combat.)" proclaimed the Kobra agent.
The masked luchador stepped forward, past his men, and walked to the caged door.
"Solo que sea interesante. (Just make it interesting)," he said as he opened the cage door and walked in. As he stepped across the threshold, he saw two people on opposite sides of the room, one girl and the other, a scrawny boy, both with orange hair.
The weak boy entered the arena and moved the hair away from his eyes with an arrogant smirk on his face.
Bane's attention was pulled from the kid to a sound of something falling next to his feet. He looked down and picked up the object. It was the same device that he used to administer the Venom to increase his strength. Bane turned towards the Kobra agent that stood behind the gate he'd just walked past.
"Usted me diera mi última arma, cuál es el truco. (You would give me my ultimate weapon, what's the catch?)" asked Bane as he put the device on his left arm and connected the tube on the back of his skull.
"Sin capturas difícilmente podría probar la destreza de su campeón... Si no estaban en su mejor momento. (No catch, it would hardly test his champion's prowess...if you weren't at your best,)" said the Kobra Cultist.
As the Venom started flowing along the tube and reached Bane's skull, he spoke. "Quieres mi mejor? (You want my best?)" He then started to transform as his pupils dilated, muscles bulged, veins appeared on his arms and he beginan to grow larger. He turned towards his opponent. "Lo tienes.(You got it)."
At the other end of the arena, the scrawny boy was approached by his sister, and she injected him with some sort of serum. Then she walked back out and closed the cage. The boy started to trash around, clutching his head as whatever the drug was, it appeared to hurt a lot.
He fell to his knees and started to transform, his back bulging out, and he started to scream, his voice getting deeper. His teeth sharpened and become more animal-like, his skin turned gray and started to come apart, on some parts of his body exposing the naked red muscles that lay beneath. His tank top got destroyed as he grew larger and became more beast then man.
Bane and the beast began their brawl.
While at first Bane appeared to have an advantage, as he has more fighting experience and was able to defend and attack, that all ended when Bane went for a strike to the beast's chest and it did nothing. The beast smirked and started to strike Bane on the head, and then struck him in the stomach, making Bane spit out some saliva.
As Bane was about to fall back, he was stopped by the beast grabbing his right arm and throwing him against some pipes, loosening the joins as a bit as a bit of smoke started pouring out. The beast did not allow Bane to regain his breath as it quickly sped towards the downed drug dealer and slammed him into the pipes once again, cracking them, releasing a large cloud of smoke. The monster then picked up the downed Bane and threw him out of the smoke screen and jumped after him. It then used the momentum of its fall to strike a devastating blow to Bane's head, even going so far to destroy the stone ground that lay beneath them. Bane tried to get up, but he was unable to win the fight against unconsciousness.
With Bane defeated, the monster moved away from its downed foe, and when the other cultist saw this they slowly, started to chant.
"Hail Kobra."
"Hail Kobra."
"Hail Kobra!"
As the chanting got louder, a man with pale white skin and a red cloak, with the hood shaped like a cobra's head, could be seen smirking in the rafters above.
"HAIL KOBRA!"
Location: Mount Justice, June 22; 17:00 ECT
We can find our favorite hero in the room he was assigned by the members of the Justice League, sitting at a work table, listening to some music, examining the parts that he got from the android, Mr. Twister.
He could honestly say whoever made this machine was a freaking genius. The designer had used the basic principles of how Tornados were made, and taken it to a whole new level. He was able to make technology that would allow someone to create a twister small enough to be considered a side show attraction, or make them big enough so that they could be considered natural disaster, however, the problem arose in two key factors that would allow such a thing to happen.
The first was, of course, power, as you would need a lot of power to produce any type of tornado, or twister in this case, and the second was control. You would need some way to stop the giant tornado, or a small one for that matter, as they could become self sustaining if left unchecked.
Naruto could not figure out how the android accomplished this. He would have to study the inner workings of the full body, which at the moment was not possible, as the rest of Mr. Twister's body had been destroyed, and he doubted that Tornado would let Naruto take him apart just so he could figure out how to use the damn thing.
The boy's train of thought was interrupted by a small blinking light on one of the computer screens, indicating that the team was needed for a mission. He gave a tired sigh as he got up and turned off the music and all the computers he was using. He suited up in his hero outfit and then whistled faintly, signaling his companion that it was time to leave.
The G-elf quickly came running towards his friend and jumped on to his right shoulder. Naruto looked at him and smiled.
"Are you ready to go, my little friend?" he said as he scratched the G-elf under its chin, which earned him a small purr from the monkey-like being. Naruto stopped for a moment, then gave another sigh as he shook his head. "I know you want to stay, but we need to help our team, and we both know you're the only one that can link me and the rest of the team together if M'gann gets knocked out."
Naruto stopped for a moment again as he received another message from the G-elf. He twitched one eyebrow and lightly bonked the G-elf on the head. "No, you stupid monkey, you're not just a relay dish for us! You're as much a part of this team as me," he said as he petted the G-elf on the head again, and then turned towards the door. "Now, let's go before Batman gets even more broody then he already is."
With that, they walked towards the meeting area.
As he entered the main area where the rest of the team was, he leaned against one of the walls so that he was in Batman's line of sight, while still staying out of sight of his team. He nodded towards the caped crusader, as if telling him to start the meeting. He got no response from Batman beyond him starting to explain the mission.
The Dark Knight brought up a holographic map of an island. "Isla Santa Prisca," he said. "This island nation is the primary source of a dangerous and illegal neo-steroid. It's a strength-enhancing drug sold under the street name 'Venom'. Infrared heat signatures indicate the factory is still in operation, but shipments have stopped going out. That's where this team comes in."
As he spoke, images flashed on the holographic screen of the factory, and of a few known criminals who worked there. "This is a covert recon mission," Batman said, turning to the team. "Observe and report only. If the Justice League needs to get involved, it will." He returned to the hologram and brought the map of Santa Prisca back up. "The entry plan we've devised calls for two drop zones, here and here." The map showed the entry points that they will be using in bright color against the dark background.
Robin, who was practically one step away from jumping in joy, spoke up. "So…Who's in charge?"
Batman and Red Tornado looked at each other and back to the team. "Work that out amongst yourselves," said Batman, getting a satisfied smirk form Robin, who in his head had already proclaimed himself the leader. "Now move out."
Location: Caribbean Sea; June 22; 20:08 ECT
Naruto saw the smirk on Robin's face, and he somehow knew that the other was thinking about how he was the leader now, even though he had not been voted in by the whole team.
Sometimes Naruto thought that from all the time that the Boy Wonder had worked with the Dark Knight, he could at least know that he was not ready for the role of leader. Though perhaps it was because he worked with Batman that he thought he was entitled to the position of team leader.
Now, don't get Naruto wrong, he didn't think he would be a better leader than Robin! No, he would probably be worse, seeing as how he was unable to even talk in his Titan form without a psychic on hand, and then there were his people skills, or lack thereof. He was known to be blunt, and could easily offend someone by just making an observation.
So no, he didn't want to be the leader of the team. He knew he was not the right for the position.
"Drop zone A in 30," M'gann suddenly spoke as she stood up. Aqualad nodded and stood up as well, hitting the logo on his belt to transform his suit into a stealth version.
"Ready," he said.
"Putting bioship in camouflage mode," M'gann said as the ship turned practically invisible and flew low over the sea water. A hatch opened in the ship, big enough for a person to jump out of. Aqualad quickly dived into the water with barely a splash. He wasted no time as he swam to shore, where he ran towards a giant machine and attached a rod-like device to it. He then put a hand to his ear and spoke.
"Heat and motion sensors are patched. Data is now on a continuous loop…Move in."
The rest of the team were preparing for the next drop point when they heard Miss Martian speak as she stopped the ship above a small clearing. "Drop zone B."
Kid Flash pushed the symbol on his chest and his costume transformed, just like Aqualad, into a black and grey version of the original.
"How cool is this?" he said as he showed off to M'gann.
"Very impressive," she answered as she stood up and used a mental command to make her clothes transform from a white shirt and blue skirt into a black, skin-tight suit with a red X over her chest, and a dark blue cape.
"Uh, that works, too," Kid Flash said with a small, awkward chuckle as he then quickly turned towards the Superman clone and spoke. "Hey, Superboy, not too late to put on the new stealth tech!"
All it got him was a stern look from Superboy. "No capes, no tights. No offense," he said.
"It totally works for you…" said M'gann as she went into a borderline fan-girl mode, but she then remembered what she said and tried to save the situation, "in that you can totally do good work in those clothes…" she said as she blushed while looking away.
Kid Flash was ignoring the conversation as he looked at Naruto, who grabbed a line that had come down from the ship's roof and hooked it to his belt. "Hey, Sentinel, how about you? I think Batman made a suit for you, too." However, he was completely ignored by the teen, who just continued to have a mental conversation with the G-elf on his shoulder.
Eventually, he stopped and looked at Kid Flash.
"Hmm, you say something?" Naruto asked as he looked at the young speedster, who turned around and crossed his arms before mumbling something under his breath, and then speaking in an annoyed tone.
"Nothing, let's just go." With that said, he used his own line to drop down, followed by Robin and Naruto, while Miss Martian flew down. They were about to move to their positions when they had to dodge a falling Super boy, who smirked once he landed.
"Knew I didn't need a line."
"And yet, creating a seismic event may not have helped us much with the covert," said Robin as he got up from the ground.
"Aqualad, Drop 'B' is go," spoke Miss Martian through the communicator.
"Head for the factory. I'll track your GPS and rendezvous ASAP," came Aqualad's voice over the communicator.
"Roger that," said Robin as he was looking at a map of the island. The team rounded on him and he then lead everyone towards the factory. They quickly made their way through the jungle that covered the island, tracking through some tricky obstacles, but they were making good time. As they continued their journey, they were suddenly brought to a halt by Superboy.
"Did you hear that?" he asked as he looked around, getting the smartest response possible from Kid Flash.
"Uh, no. Wait…is this a super hearing thing?"
M'gann spoke without thinking. "You do have great ears."
She was ignored by both Kid Flash and Superboy, while Naruto and his G-elf looked at each other before they both simultaneously rolled their eyes and just looked away from the failed romance triangle.
After snapping back into reality Kid flash looked back at Robin and spoke.
"Ok, Rob, now what?" He saw that Robin was not there anymore as he looked around for him and found nothing. "Man, I hate it when he does that."
"I'm guessing by your tone Robin does this a lot…" spoke Naruto suddenly, looking at Kid Flash with a bored expression on his face.
"Yeah, he-" Kid Flash tried to explain, however, he was interrupted by Kaldur, who broke in over the com.
"Superboy, Kid, switch to infrared…See if you're being tracked."
The two nodded as they moved a bit forward, and both activated their own unique sets of thermal vision. Kid, who put his goggles over his head, spoke first.
"Got a squad of armed bozos incoming," he said as he saw them moving from their right side.
"Two squads," corrected Superboy, who saw another squad coming from the left. "But they'll meet each other before they find us." They were interrupted by a loud sound of gun fire.
"No super hearing required now," said Kid Flash as he turned off the infrared setting on his goggles.
"Swing wide, steer clear," came the voice of Aqualad, but Kid dismissed him.
"Yeah, as soon as I find Rob," he said as he sped off. However he did not get far as he tripped over a rock and fell on his ass. "Huh? Oof! Aah!" he shouted as he slid into a clearing and saw that he'd landed right in front of the two groups. "So much for the stealthy approach!" he said as they all pointed their guns at him.
As they were about to fire upon him, two batarangs landed in front of the two groups. They both then started to flash red and released a bright flash. The two groups were momentarily blinded as they fired widely, hoping to hit their adversary with sheer mass of fire. Suddenly, two of the thugs got kicked in the head, courtesy of the Boy Wonder.
"Hyah! What is wrong with you guys?" shouted Robin as he battled the angry people with guns. "Remember covert? Why didn't you follow my lead, vanish into the jungle?" he shouted again, sounding angry as he thought that his plan was the simplest to understand.
"That's what you were doing?" shouted Kid Flash as he used his super speed to attack the thugs that were trying to turn him into a human cheese wheel. "Way to fill us in…We're not mind readers, you know!" He then looked behind himself and saw Miss Martian, using her psychic attacks to throw thugs around left and right. "Uh! …Er, I'm not, anyway," The young speedster corrected himself.
M'gann just looked at him before shrugging her shoulders. "You told me I could only read the bad guys' minds," she said as she continued to beat down the armed criminals.
While the arguing was going on, Superboy had tackled the luchador mask wearing man and tackled him to the ground. However, the luchador was able to get free from the hold, and he twisted Superboy's arm behind his back and started to put pressure on it with the intention of snapping it like a twig.
The luchador was, however, not prepared for Superboy's superior strength. Thus, the clone was able to get out of the hold and punch the man into a tree, where he gave him some quick jabs to the face that were strong enough to knock the man into unconsciousness.
While the rest of the team was duking it out with the criminals, Naruto just stood there, waiting for the right moment to strike, but his mind wondered a bit as he thought about the team as a whole.
He looked at his companion, who was sitting on his shoulder. "They seem to be all over the place," he said, "and they don't function as a unit. Robin and Kid Flash both want to lead, but they don't realize that they are both not ready."
In response, the G-elf's horns glowed as he relayed his thoughts to his partner. Once Naruto received the message, he looked at his partner with a raised eyebrow before speaking again. "You know that I don't want to be leader, and you also know why I'm sticking around this little group, so don't ask stupid questions like that. Not if you already know the answers." He sounded a bit annoyed at the end.
Naruto then saw that a couple of people dressed in red and black were trying to get away from the battle. He smirked at that, before growing armored plates over his body and taking a low running start, while his companion moved to his back so as to not fall off.
"I guess its time to get to work…" he said right before he took off. As he ran towards the group he picked up speed, building momentum. Once he reached the group, he stretched out his arms to the side and as he was near enough he used his momentum to slam into most of the group, knocking them to the cold hard ground and straight into unconsciousness.
He missed one. Just as he was about to go after him, he saw Aqualad jump from the trees and use his mystic tattoos to knock him out with a small current of electricity, preventing any chance of escape.
With that done, they all rounded up the criminals and tied them to the large trees that made up the jungle of the island. Once all the thugs were rounded up, the team gathered to compare notes, so to speak. Robin was the first to speak, as he had the most information on the group that appeared to have taken over the factory of the dangers drug.
"I recognize those uniforms…They belong to the cult of the Kobra," said Robin while he looked at the downed adversaries.
"I am certain Batman would have mentioned it if he knew a dangerous extremist was running Santa Prisca's Venom operation," spoke Aqualad as he looked at Robin.
"Agreed…And since there's clearly no love lost between the cultists and those goons, I'm betting Kobra came in and tossed them out," Robin said as a smirk came on to his face and he continued: "That's why normal supply lines have been cut off." He finished by crossing his arms across his chest.
"We get it, Kobra wanted super cultists…Mystery solved," said Kid Flash, who appeared to be a bit fed up with Robin's actions on this mission. "Radio Bats, and we'll be home in time-"
He was interrupted by Robin. "These cultists aren't on Venom… Kobra's hoarding the stuff." The Boy Wonder talked as if he was the leader of the group. "We don't leave…Not until I know why."
The young speedster was ticked off. "Until you know why?" he said in an angry tone.
"This team needs a leader," argued Robin.
"And it's you? Dude, you're a 13-year-old kid who ducked out on us without a word," shouted Kid Flash, as he knew that Robin was not ready.
"Ha ha! And you're a mature 15? You blew our cover first chance you got!" said Robin, laughing sarcastically.
While this was going on, off to the side, M'gann and Superboy were watching this all unfold. M'gann, being as curious as she was, asked Superboy a very important question relating to the subject at hand. "Don't you want to lead?"
Superboy shook his head in response. "You?"
"After my first mission, where I nearly lead the team into believing that Mr. Twister was Red Tornado, no thanks." M'gann shook both her hands a little in a negative motion.
"You did all right," said Superboy with a small smile that had the immediate reaction of M'gann blushing as she turned away with a smile of her own on her face.
Watching the weird couple was Naruto who thought that those two should just get together so that he could avoid seeing these stupid attempts at flirting. Once they concluded their little talk, Naruto diverted his attention to the two heroes, who'd now decided to take a leisurely stroll while still arguing.
"Yeah? You don't even have super powers!" shouted Kid Flash, who was immediately countered by Robin.
"Neither does Batman!" he shouted as he got into Kid Flash's face.
"Duh, you're not Batman." Kid Flash countered this time.
"I'm the closest thing we've got."
As Naruto continued to watch this, he was getting more and more annoyed at what the two sidekicks were doing. In his mind, it was pointless. Even if one of them actually won the argument, they would still need the support of the whole team, so that meant that the entire thing was just a big waste of time, and Naruto hated wasting time. He could be doing much better things than this, like finding his mother, or trying to figure out the Mr. Twister arm, or…anything was better than this, really.
As he saw that the two of them were about to go back at it, his eyebrow started to twitch dangerously and he spoke. "Hey you two little princesses, would you just kiss and make up, or better yet just shut the hell up because you're getting on my nerves."
Kid Flash and Robin suddenly became aware of how close they were, and quickly jumped back with horrified looks on their faces. With that done, Naruto was going to speak again, but was interrupted by laughter from one of the prisoners that were tied to the tree. As they turned around to see who was laughing, they saw the masked Luchador who'd been knocked out by Superboy.
"Such clever niños. But you only know half the story." He spoke with an arrogant smirk on his face. "Let me show you the rest… Get you into the factory via my secret entrance."
Miss Martian moved closer and then kneeled to the eye level of the luchador. "There is a secret entrance, but he's also hiding something."
"Ah, ah, ah, chica," spoke the luchador as he looked at her with a same arrogant smirk as before. "Bane is not that easy."
As Miss Martian looked into his mind, trying to extract the information, she was suddenly stopped, could not get past the stupid mental block Bane put up.
"Ohh. He's mentally reciting football scores in español …This could take a while."
"It's not complicated…" said Bane as he looked at the other heroes. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend…"
Location: Venom factory
In the factory, the cult followers of Kobra were making more of the new drug they had used on the young boy, while watching over them, in the higher platforms, was the leader of their little cult. He was interrupted from his snake-watching, so to speak, as he was approached by one of his loyal followers.
"Sublime master, he approaches," said the cult member as he bowed to the person they all worshiped as a god.
The leader looked at his subordinate, nodded, and spoke in a monotone voice. "Activate the radio jamming net…Nothing must interfere." With that, he turned back to his snake watching.
Back with our heroes, we find them on the top of the cliff overlooking the Venom factory. The young heroes decided that they should release Bane, so they did, and he led them to this location.
"Look at all that product," said Robin as he looked at the crates that were being loaded by Kobra cultists. "A buy is going down…"
"But if Kobra's not selling to the usual suspects, then…" continued Aqualad, but was interrupted by Robin.
"We need to identify that buyer." Robin moved away from the cliff.
"Just what I was thinking," said Kid Flash with a smirk. However, it quickly turned into a frown as Robin spoke.
"Yeah, you're the thinker."
"Sarcasm? Dude…A real leader would focus on getting answers," said Kid Flash with dull tone as he watched Robin move towards Bane's location. He saw Bane move a large boulder out of the way, exposing a hidden entrance to an abandoned mineshaft.
Bane looked towards the young heroes. "Answers are this way," he said as he walked into the cave, followed by Naruto, while the others followed with a bit of reluctance.
Kid Flash let his thoughts be known before he started moving. "So, now el luchador is our leader."
With that they walked through the narrow corridors, paying close attention for any traps that may have been set by Bane or his men. As Bane got some distance from the young heroes, he thought that he would be in for a quiet walk that would allow him to think of a plan that would allow him to get back his island. However, his thoughts were interrupted by someone walking next to him. He looked to his right to see that it was the young hero that had a scarf wrapped around his neck, concealing his identity, and he seemed to have something on his mind.
Bane was surprised when he heard a voice inside his head.
"Hello, Bane. Do not be alarmed, I am speaking to you through a mental link that was established by my friend here," said Naruto, looking at the G-elf on his shoulder.
"What do you want, niño?" Bane thought as he looked at the young hero. In response, the kid looked at him, and he could just feel the smirk that was hidden under that scarf.
"Well, since you asked, I want to know how your Venom works, and why you didn't use it when you fought Superboy."
Bane was honestly shocked that a hero would ask such a thing, but then he simply chuckled. "And why should I tell you this, niño? Your mentors already know Venom's chemical composition, so that begs the question, why don't you ask them?"
Bane was surprised when he heard the young hero chuckle as well, and then looked him straight in the eyes. "Well, for starters, I don't have a mentor, and second, we both know who has this information. Thus, we both know that he is reluctant to give it up. As to why you should give me the information, well, who better to know the inner workings of the drug than it's largest distributor as well as its biggest user?"
As he said this, Naruto chuckled again and looked behind him to see what his team was doing, as well as to see if M'gann was listening in by some chance. However, he was happy to see that they were all preoccupied with the arguing of Kid Flash and Robin. Seeing that it was safe to continue speaking, he looked at Bane again and continued. "As for why I want it, well I have quite a bit of knowledge in biochemical engineering and other fields of science, thanks to some outside sources. Thus, I want to explore the possibilities of the venom that you produce."
Bane was honestly impressed with the way the young hero thought, but this also gave him an idea how to get out of the fight, and all it would cost him would be a small bit of information that was already known to the Dark Knight, so there was no harm done. However, he knew that he should still see how this would benefit him.
"While I understand your interest in my Venom, niño, I still do not see the profit I would have from this arrangement."
Instead of the worried look that Bane was expecting to come over the young hero's face, Naruto got a look that showed that he'd thought of the answer way before they started to speak.
"The Venom you use now, you are dependent on it. You have no choice but to take it every twelve hours, or else you weaken and go into withdrawal. Thus, it's not you that dictate the times you use the drug. It is the Venom that controls you…" said Naruto, as he knew that even though he didn't have the slightest idea how Venom was made, he did know a lot about Bane.
He had read about him during the trip to the island of Santa Prisca, knowing that it was better to be prepared than be sorry. However, his revelation shocked Bane, who may have known that this was his weakness, but he also ignored it, arguing to himself that it was a minor price to pay for the advantages it provided.
Bane smirked and released a small chuckle that went unnoticed by everyone but Naruto. "Very good answer, niño. I shall give you the information you seek, but in return, if you should find a way to cure me of this addiction…Now, you will find all the files inside my personal office, copy whatever you need and then leave." As he gave his last statement, he moved forward and ended the conversation.
Naruto looked at his little friend and nodded to him, giving him the signal to turn off the psychic link, and felt his mental connection to the other man disappear. After his little conversation with Bane, the rest of the trip through the mine was relatively quiet, if you ignored the bickering between Kid Flash and Robin.
Finally, they all came to a halt in front of a pair of heavy iron doors. Bane opened the doors, and as the young heroes moved inside, they came in out a small room that appeared to be a storage closet or a changing room of some kind. Bane again moved forward and opened a much smaller wooden door.
Robin then slowly peaked outside, and he saw no guards nearby.
"All clear," he said in a hushed voice as he looked around once more before sprinting into the factory.
The others followed behind, but once they had all exited the small room, Robin was nowhere in sight. Bane got annoyed that a child may have just compromised their position, and he looked at Aqualad, a scowl still present on his face.
"Has that little fool already been caught?"
Aqualad looked at the ground while releasing a sigh. "No, he just does that." He looked at Kid Flash, who was standing next to him with an arrogant smile plastered on his freckled face.
"Stay put… I'll get our intel and be back before the Boy Wonder," said the young speedster before he sped off not hearing Aquald as he tried to stop him.
"Wait, Kid!" Kaldur said as he tried to reach him, but it was impossible. He was not nearly fast enough to catch him.
"Great chain of command," said Bane in a mocking tone, a smirk on his face.
Amongst all the confusion, no one noticed that Naruto had disappeared as well. The rest of the team that remained together, and their prisoner, moved closer to inspect what was happening. As they moved behind some boxes, they saw the full size of the shipment for the first time.
Above them, the young Boy Wonder could be seen sneaking in the main control center, knocking out the Kobra cultist inside with a gas batarang that he threw into the side of the control panel.
Back to Aqualad and the others, you could see them observing the cultists at work.
"It's a massive shipment," spoke up Aqualad as he looked at one of the cultists using a forklift to pick some of the boxes.
"Yeah, but they're only taking new product off the line…They're not touching this Venom." continued Superboy as he saw that the workers weren't moving closer to the team's position, but were only taking the newer creates that were positioned near the doors of the factory.
"Maybe freshness counts?" asked Miss Martian awkwardly as she looked at her two teammates.
Before anyone could answer, Superboy heard something that sounded like the engine of a helicopter. "Helicopters coming," he said as he turned around and looked at the direction the sound was coming from.
Back in the command center, we find Robin typing away at the computer that the Kobra cultist had been using just before he was knocked out by Robin. Kid Flash then sped into the room, eating a chocolate bar.
"Whatcha got?" he asked as he ran next to Robin.
"Chemical formulas, I'm guessing it involves Venom, but…" Robin would have continued, but Kid Flash jumped in.
"This one's Venom, and that one's - whoa…that's the Blockbuster formula from Cadmus!" he said shocked as he looked at the chemical components. "Mixed correctly, Kobra's new juice is three times stronger than Venom and permanent," he continued, shock clearly heard in his voice, "but how did Kobra get access to project blockbuster?"
"Our mystery buyer must also be Kobra's supplier! Using the cult to create a Blockbuster/Venom super-formula," said Robin as he stood up from the chair, already thinking of a plan. He put a hand on his earpiece in an attempt to contact the rest of the team. "Robin to Aqualad, we got…static," he said as he heard that someone was blocking the signal.
The helicopter landed and out came a tall, strongly-built man, cutting an intimidating figure. He had short, blond hair, and his face was covered by a gray hockey mask, which revealed only his brown eyes. He wore a sleeveless, blue muscle shirt, with a collar that covered some of his neck. He wore arm and elbow pads and fingerless gloves. On his left arm, he had metal plates attached that seemed to act very much like armor. The pockets of his black pants bulged with weapons. He also has a belt that seemed to be similar to the one Robin wore.
As the man walked closer, he stopped next to Lord Kobra, who was with his minions, Mammoth and Shimmer. The man then spoke up.
"Lord Kobra," he said in a calm tone.
In response, the self-proclaimed God spoke. "Sportsmaster," he said as he looked at Shimmer, who moved a bit closer carrying a case, and opened it. "The shipment is ready."
Sportsmaster picked up one of the vials of the new drug. "The new Kobra Venom?" asked the blond haired man.
"A complete success…" said the so-called God simply. "Our friends will not be disappointed."
"This is a game-changer…Finally, we can go mano-a-mano with the Justice League," continued Sportsmaster, still examining the sample in his hand.
None of the people present could see a camouflaged M'gann, who was watching the whole thing go down.
"Aqualad, sending you a telepathic image of the buyer now," she said as her eyes turned white and she focused on the buyer. She then transferred the image to Aqualad, who saw the man and was shocked at who it was.
"Sportsmaster, he is the buyer?" asked Aqualad, looked at Superboy, then looked down and put two fingers to his ear so that he could contact the rest of the team. "Aqualad to Red Tornado. Do you read?"
All he received was static.
"Ugh…Can't reach the League, Robin, or Kid… Comm's jammed," he said, and you could hear a bit of anger in his voice. "We need a plan, no-"
He was interrupted by Bane, who spoke up after a long time of silence. "I have a suggestion," he said as he jumped down from the walkway they were standing on and started to attack the guards.
As he took one down, the other one tried to shoot him, but Bane quickly grabbed the barrel of the gun and moved it downward, letting the agent fire a couple of shots into the floor, then knocking the man out. The shots had the expected effect of attracting the other people that were having a meeting outside. Mammoth was the first to hear it and quickly jumped towards the factory.
In the rafters, Aqualad and Superboy looked at what Bane was doing. "What is he-" Aqualad tried saying, but he and Superboy were interrupted by Mammoth coming crashing through the windows. They abandoned their position and landed right in front of a squad of cultists, all pointing their guns at the two. In the back were Lord Kobra, Shimmer and Sportsmaster.
"Destroy them!" shouted Kobra, and his followers attacked.
Superboy and Mammoth started a brutal grappling match as they tried to get the upper hand over the other. Aqualad used one of his water barriers to create shield, blocking the bullets that were being rained upon him by the cultist, and he used the other one to shoot small water bullets at the enemy.
Mammoth and Superboy had by then changed their fight from a grappling match to a simple yet brutal slugfest. Sportsmaster, who was observing the fight, saw that some of the soldiers were suddenly being flung around like rag dolls, but neither of the two fighters were close enough to be responsible.
Then he saw something in the air that seemed not to belong - he saw that it was M'gann, who was throwing the cultist around. He decided to interfere and help the cultists. He picked a cylinder like object from his pants pocket and then pressed a button on it that made it extend into a spear. He then waited for the right moment and threw it at the Martian girl.
M'gann was able to see it, however, she was unable to move out of the way in time, and her cape was caught. As the cape got pierced by the spear, the missile suddenly exploded and knocked M'gann to the side, momentarily taking her out of the fight.
As this was going on, Kid Flash and Robin arrived at scene. While Kid went to help his friends, Robin had other plans, and disappeared into the shadows.
Aqualad was able to move back and get some real cover, however, he was flanked by some more cultists. As they were about to fire, they were suddenly knocked down, thanks to a super-kick from Kid Flash, who gave him a thumbs up, but he had to quickly hide behind a support beam so that he wouldn't get pumped full of lead.
Aqualad got angry that he could not speak to the team to organize a retaliation, but then he remembered something. "Miss Martian, radio is jammed! Link us up!" he shouted to M'gann, who shook her head of the cobwebs that were caused by a spear exploding in her face.
Once she did, her eyes glowed white, and she spoke telepathically. "Everyone online?"
"Yeah," said Super Boy as he blocked another of Mammoth's punches.
"You know it, beautiful," said Kid Flash as he did his best impression of a sexy voice.
"Good…We need to regroup," said Aqualad, but was interrupted by Robin.
"Busy now."
Outside, near the helicopter, Robin landed and looked around, when he heard a voice.
"Batman must be desperate if he sends his whelp to task me," said Kobra in a monotone voice. As he looked at Robin with a neutral face, Shimmer stood next to him.
"What's wrong, Koby? You look disconcerted," asked Robin with a smirk as he moved into a fighting stance and prepared to fight.
Kobra looked at Robin and then at Shimmer. "This is beneath me….Shimmer, take him."
Shimmer charged at Robin, but he jumped over her and landed with his back facing Kobra, while he looked at Shimmer with a smirk. He was about to start his offensive when was interrupted by Aqualad shouting at him through the psychic link.
"Robin, now!"
Robin frowned, then threw a flash bang on the ground and disappeared, leaving Shimmer and Kobra alone.
Inside the factory, Aqualad was attacking the Kobra cultists, but he knew that they needed to regroup. "Strategic retreat…Kid, clear a path," he said mentally.
As they all moved to the entrance that they had been shown as they escaped, Robin used the computer to close the large doors, but that did little as Mammoth smashed right through them. Aqualad then had an idea that would stop the beast. "Superboy, the support beams!" he shouted.
Superboy nodded and started to destroy the beams. As he did this, the part of the cave that separated them and their pursuers was blocked off, leaving the group safe for the moment. Mammoth just looked at the rubble that was blocking his path to the enemy before just walking away silently.
On the other side of the wall of rubble, the young heroes gathered in a circle with sober looks on their faces as they all thought at what had just happened, But they were knocked out of their reverie by M'gann's horrified cry.
"NARUTO!" she shouted as she looked, around searching for her teammate, but it was all in vain. He was nowhere to be found.
"Wait, I thought he was with you guys while me and Robin looked for information on the new Kobra Venom!" exclaimed Kid Flash, looking at the other members of the team.
"He was, but we must have gotten…separated," said Aqualad, the only one who was not losing his cool under the pressure that the disappearance of their teammate presented. Everyone looked at Aqualad, and were about to ask more questions, when they were interrupted by the sound of a fist meeting rock.
They looked, and saw that Robin had punched a larger part of the rubble. Robin had his head down in shame, thinking that he was the leader of the team and that he'd just screwed up royally.
"How could my first mission as leader go so wrong?" he said, releasing a sigh of frustration. "We got spotted on a simple recon mission, we trusted a known criminal, and now Sentinel is missing…how he could it go so wrong…" He repeated the last part a couple of times more.
"You do have the most experience," Aqualad said, bringing Robin's full attention on him. "Perhaps that is exactly what has left you unprepared…Fighting alongside Batman, your roles are defined…You two do not need to talk. But this team is new," he said, pointing at all the young heroes gathered. "And a leader must be clear, explicit…He cannot vanish and expect others to play parts in an unknown plan."
Robin's eyes narrowed behind his domino mask, making them appear to become nothing but slits.
"Oh, so I'm supposed to hold everyone's hands!" he shouted, but then he calmed down just as quickly as he'd got angry before. He just released a small chuckle and looked at Kaldur with a small smile. "Who am I kidding?...You should lead us, Kaldur, you're the only one who can."
Wally jumped in to protest. "Please! I can run circles-"
"Wally, come on," the Boy Wonder interrupted. "You know he's the one…We all do."
He received smiles from all the others. Miss Martian then jumped in as she bonked her head lightly, as if she'd just remembered something.
"Hello, M'gann, it's so obvious!" she said with an even brighter smile.
Superboy then gave a small smile before speaking. "Could have told you."
They all looked at Kid Flash, who looked annoyed at first, before sighing and simply smiling as well, giving his OK. Aqualad then smiled and walked towards Robin, before putting a hand on his shoulder.
"Then I accept the burden until you are ready to lift it from my shoulders," he said. That got him a smile from Robin, and he continued. "You were born to lead this team…Maybe not now, but soon."
Aqualad moved a bit way to stand in front of the team gathered there, before speaking once more. "All right…Our priorities are preventing that shipment from leaving this island, and locating Sentinel."
The rest of the team nodded, but Robin just had to add his two cents in. "Funny, I had the exact same thought."
Location: Venom factory/Helicopter area
Lord Kobra, Shimmer and Mammoth looked at the helicopter, as Sportsmaster exited the vehicle and looked at the self proclaimed God.
"Sabotage…" Sportsmaster muttered. He knew that his only means of transportation off the island at this time had just been grounded for the unforeseen future. "Robin?"
"Undoubtedly," responded Kobra, before turning towards his subordinate. "Find the problem…Fix it." Shimmer bowed silently in response and walked towards the helicopter.
Kobra was then approached by some more of his followers, who also bowed before speaking. "Master, shall we send search parties after the intruders?"
They received a narrowing of the eyes from their supposed God. "Don't be absurd…They'll come to-" He was interrupted by the sound of more gunfire, coming from the factory that had just recently been cleared of those pesky heroes. "It appears that they have made their move..." he said calmly, before turning around and looking at Mammoth, giving him a simple nod.
The giant thing smirked and jumped towards the factory once more.
Location: Hidden Tunnel
"Sportsmaster's the supplier/buyer. But it still doesn't track. He doesn't have the juice to acquire the Blockbuster formula, or to get Kobra to do his dirty work," said Robin as he and the rest of the team ran towards the exit to get angle of attack on the enemy.
"And neither of them have the chops to bond Blockbuster with Venom. That took some major nerdage," said Kid Flash. He might have been an idiot, but he was still really smart. He just didn't want to show it in his words.
"I believe the expression is the tip of the iceberg," added Aqualad as they came up to the exit, but were stopped from exiting the tunnel by a large, hulking figure blocking their path. It turned out that the beast was instead Bane, who had gotten his hands on some of his Venom.
"Halt, niños. I'm feeling explosive," said Bane as he armed the explosives that were planted around the entrance of the cave, showing the heroes that he meant business.
"You betrayed us, why?" shouted Aqualad. He'd thought that, even though Bane was a criminal, their goals had aligned to make the man think twice about double crossing them, but apparently he was wrong.
"I want my factory back," said the Venom addict as he looked at the sidekicks for any excuse to detonate the explosives looming over their heads.
"Kid, you'll need a running start," said Aqualad through the mental link that M'gann had established while Bane continued his monologue.
"So I forced you into a situation where you would either take down my enemies, or die trying," Bane said, releasing a chuckle dripping with arrogance. "If the latter, the Justice League would certainly have come to avenge their sidekicks…And when the smoke cleared, Santa Prisca would be mine once more. Blowing the tunnel with you inside should have the same effect." He was about to press the trigger when something zoomed past him, and he hit his own empty hand with his thumb.
"With what?" As Bane turned around, he saw Kid Flash looking at him with a small smirk, tossing the trigger up and down. "This trigger thingy?" the kid laughed.
Bane got angry and lunged at the young speedster, intent on smashing him into the ground where he would then pound the insolent pup into a bloody mess, but it was not to be, as he was suddenly picked up by Miss Martian's telekinetic abilities and then turned around in the air to face the rest of the team.
Superboy moved to stand under the Venom-addicted criminal. He smirked at Bane. "Finally…Drop him," he said.
M'gann dropped the criminal, and he landed straight into a massive punch, courtesy of Superboy. The team then moved Bane's body to a tree that was close to the cliff that overlooked the factory, where they tied him up and gave him a nice look to see his factory fall.
Afterward they gather to come up with a plan, when they heard a giant explosion followed immediately by the sound of gunfire. They looked down towards the factory to see what was going on, and were shocked to see that some of the forklifts used to carry the drug exploded, and that the cult followers were being thrown around by a figure that they recognized.
He wore a very familiar symbol on his back, and had bright blond hair. They quickly started to formulate a plan that would allow them to help their comrade.
Location: Bane's office
While the rest of the heroes were exploring the Venom factory, Naruto had snuck into Bane's office, where he and his friend had been searching for any information they could find on Venom. Bane' office was lavish in design, showing that the Drug Lord had a lot of income. It was a large room, with a fine oak desk with a glass inside to display whatever Bane fancied be displayed there, a red leather chair, and a computer on the side.
He also saw that there was a large fish tank, big enough to drown at least three adult men without feeling cramped. Inside the tank, he could see small fish, and on closer inspection they turned out to be piranhas.
"It seems that Bane's sticking with the whole evil motif quiet well," said Naruto to his partner, and chuckled. He then moved towards the desk, sat in the chair, which he had to say was quite comfortable, and started to search through the files that were on Bane's computer, while his friend looked through the paper files that were in the drawers of the desk.
Naruto quickly checked the content of the files and then copied all the information that was useful to his flash drive, which had been provided to him by the Justice league. His attention was then diverted from the copying files to his partner, who he noticed was not there anymore.
As Naruto looked around, he saw him on top of the water tank that held the piranha. He saw his friend straighten up from a crouch, and in his hand he held one of the fish that had previously occupied the tank. The G-elf then raised the struggling fish over his head and opened his mouth.
"No, stop. Don't eat that…" Naruto said, which got him the attention of the monkey-like creature. It closed its mouth and looked at its companion with a look that almost screamed why, which prompted Naruto to continue.
"Well it's just that you don't know where that's been, and you also can't just eat everything that looks appetizing to you."
That just made the G-elf lower its head in defeat, before it looked up with its best impression of a puppy dog face. To Naruto, that was something that made him rethink his decision, as right now, to him, the creature looked like a kicked puppy, and who could say with a straight face that they would not help such an animal?
He sighed. "Fine, you can eat it…but don't go crying to me when you get sick."
The G-elf made a face that was as close to a smile as its physiognomy would allow, before raising the fish over its head once more and dropping it into its awaiting mouth. It then happily chewed on the fish, smacking contentedly, while Naruto went back to searching for any information. He was about to search the content of the glass case when he heard the sounds of gunfire and destruction.
He quickly moved to the door of the office and moved to the outside, the G-elf following closely behind. As he came out of the office, he saw that the Kobra cultists were battling his teammates, but before he could help them, some more cultist surrounded him on both sides, pointing their guns at him.
He reacted quickly, growing his plates out of his skin, and charged at the group on his right. The two groups opened fire at the same time, but it did nothing as the bullets bounced off skin and flew in different directions.
As Naruto reached the first group, he started his assault. He grabbed the first thug and quickly broke his weapon in two before attacking his arms. He delivered a powerful, two-armed chop to both of the cultist's elbows, shattering them and bending the arms at an unnatural angle. Finally, he punched the cultist in the face, breaking his nose and knocking some teeth out of his mouth.
Once the thug fell to the floor, Naruto quickly moved to the others surrounding him, who stupidly continued to pour fire at him, even though they could clearly see that it did no damage. Naruto delivered a powerful kick to one of the thugs while punching another in the chest, sending them both into opposing walls, where they then crumbled to the floor.
This continued for the rest of the group, as Naruto systematically disabled his attackers. Once done, the only one still conscious was the one that had a broken leg and was currently screaming, clutching the shattered limb. The other group had stopped firing, shocked at how efficiently the young hero had dispatched their comrades, and some of them were even shaking from fear of what would happen to them.
Naruto looked down at the still screaming cultist, then simply stomped on his chest, knocking the air out of him, sending him straight into unconsciousness. Then, he turned to the rest of the cultists before sighing theatrically.
"Damn, he was annoying…" said Naruto, giving the survivors a meaningful look. "Now, who's next…" he said with a smirk beneath his plates and scarf.
The cultists shakily raised their weapons and were about to fire, but were suddenly stopped when a translucent image appeared behind the blond boy. It had the appearance of the blond, but was much larger, and towered over them all. Naruto then started to move forward, and as he moved, the beastly image released a giantic roar.
The cultist threw their guns at his feet, falling to their knees and putting their hands behind their heads. Naruto smirked at the display and felt a weight on his shoulder. He looked and saw that it was his first true friend, and that it had a large bundle of rope under one arm and duct tape in the other hand.
Naruto smirked as his scales receded, and he spoke. "Ha, what did you do, you little devil?" He saw the G-elf's horns glow, and it relayed its answer. Naruto burst into a fit of laughter.
After he got himself under control, he made the few cultist that remained conscious tie up the others, before tying each other, while Naruto tied the last one and checked the restraints, before putting duct tape over there mouths. After everything was done, he threw them all in a closet that was nearby.
As he returned, he saw that the other young heroes had escaped back into the tunnel, but in the process, had left him behind. Naruto was a little hurt, but he was used to it. With his escape route closed off, if the giant mammoth returning from the tunnel without his teammates was anything to go by, Naruto decided to go back to the office and see what else could be found there. He moved towards the desk once more, while his companion returned the fish tank.
Naruto saw that all the files he needed were downloaded to the flash drive, ejected the drive and pocketed it in his back pants pocket, while he focused on the glass case. He saw many objects inside, of different shapes and sizes. There was a broken batarang, an empty vial, as well as a white metal bracelet with button on it and a tube next to it.
Naruto removed the glass, noting that it was a bit heavier than normal, but it was no problem for him. He picked up the white metal device and examined it, concluding that it was a device that had been previously used to administer the Venom into Bane's system, but he must have traded up and used this one only as a possible backup if he lost the one he used now.
Then he suddenly remembered that every evil villain usually had a secret compartment to hide anything of greater value to them. He started to search for any hidden panels, or a button of some kind. He searched the whole room for a while, even looked under the chair, but there was nothing that could be found. He was about to give up, when he remember the one place he hadn't looked…under the table.
He quickly felt under the table with his hand and was pleased to find a button. He pressed it and suddenly he could hear a small click. A panel opened, and something fell into Naruto's awaiting hand.
He moved the item into the light, and saw that it was a vial of Venom. Seeing this, Naruto smirked, before he whistledm getting the attention of the G-elf, who was munching on another piranha. Naruto noted that there were very few piranha left inside the tank. He motioned for his companion to come over, and once the G-elf did, Naruto gave it the Venom and the injection device.
"Keep it safe while I try to get the attention of our team, and in the process, perhaps get a sample of that Kobra Venom or whatever it's called…"he said, and he remembered something that made him chuckle. "Damn, we were lucky that Bane's computer can access the others in the facility."
The G-elf nodded and jumped away to hide away so that it wouldn't get caught it the firefight that would no doubt happen once Naruto revealed himself to the enemy. Naruto then got a serious look on his face, seeing his friend run off.
He made the plates appear once more over his body as he left the office. Once outside, he saw two guards patrolling the area right below him. He smirked as he got on the top of the railing and waited for the right timing before he jumped. As the moment came, he jumped down, cracking the concrete floor beneath him as he landed, gaining the attention of the two guards as well as several in the facility.
He dashed towards the two closest gunmen, and once near enough, he smashed their heads together knocking them out. He heard a shout from behind, and he saw that the origin of the shout was a group of Kobra cultists, who opened fire upon him.
Naruto simply walked towards them with a calm expression on his face, 7.62 rounds pinging harmlessly off his armored form, while the cultist grew more and more panicked as their assault proved useless against their foe. As Naruto reached them, he simply gave each a quick and precise jab that knocked them into unconsciousness.
He did this for every group he encountered, and by the time he'd nearly reached the doors of the factory, he was quite bored. He didn't get the expected challenge he'd been silently craving.
However, what Naruto did not know was that he was about to get the challenge he craved. As he reached the doors, something landed a few feet away, kicking up a lot of dust. Once the cloud cleared, Naruto could see Mammoth standing there in his silent glory, his hands crossed over his prodigious chest, simply waiting for Naruto to make the first move.
At least that was the plan until Naruto spoke.
"So you're Mammoth? I was honestly expecting more from you - I guess we are all disappointed at one point in our lives…"Naruto disregarded the growl this statement, and continued. "Hmm, but I have to say that, while you may have some strength, you are still one of the ugliest freaks of nature I have ever seen, and I have spent my chilled hood with some really ugly individuals, trust me."
This got the result that Naruto wanted, as Mammoth roared and charged at the armored teen. As the beast grew near, it readied a massive fist to punch, to knock the blond boy out or kill him, whichever. As it drew near, it saw that Naruto was not moving, and was standing in a relaxed stance, with his hands in his pockets.
Mammoth, not thinking anything of it, just threw the punch once he was in range, and struck the boy right in his jaw, knocking his feet from under him and dropping him to the ground. Mammoth smiled as he saw the blond's head snap backward and dent the concrete, then lay sprawling on the ground, not moving a muscle.
As he was about to turn around and return to his master, he heard a wheezing chuckle, which then turned into full-blown laughter. To Mammoth's shock, Naruto was laughing and getting back up. For a few critical moments, it didn't even occur to him to try and stop the boy from getting back up.
Once Naruto was back on his feet, he looked at Mammoth straight in the eyes.
"Hah, hah - I see you're taking this seriously after all…let me return the favor."
He charged at the beast and delivered a powerful punch to the side of Mammoth's cheek that made the creature stumble back. Once Mammoth got his footing back, he looked at Naruto, rubbing his jaw. Naruto then charged at the beast and Mammoth did the same, as they drew closer, they both cocked back their right hands back and prepared to release them.
Their knuckles smashed together like two colliding freight trains, releasing a small shock wave. They then both fought for dominance, but soon saw that this was going nowhere, and disengaged. Mammoth tried a different approach, a double arm attack in attempt to crush the blond. However, it backfired as Naruto used his agility to dodge the assault and get behind the beast. He then locked his arms around the beast's stomach, dug his feet in the ground, and used his impressive strength to lift Mammoth off of the ground and deliver a crushing suplex, dropping Mammoth directly on his neck.
As Naruto got back on his feet, he saw that Mammoth was slowly rising off of the ground and appeared to be only momentarily stunned. That was enough for Naruto, however, who picked up a forklift that had overturned during their initial clash, and used it to smash Mammoth's face in.
The only effect it seemed to be having was leaving an imprint of the monster's face on the side of the forklift.
Naruto looked at the imprint and the shrugged. "Hmm, look at that. I think I just created a masterpiece!" He then looked at it again, and then at Mammoth before chuckling. "Well, you did most of the work so... I guess you can HAVE IT!" Shouting, he threw it at Mammoth, who had finally risen to his feet, and his eyes widened when he saw a forklift with an imprint of what seemed to be his face heading straight for him.
He had no time to react. It smashed into him and he was sent flying. Once he and the forklift landed, the forklift's abused engine had finally had enough insults, and it suddenly exploded and knocked Mammoth even further away, where he landed a few feet away from his master.
Kobra, Sportsmaster and the cultists watched in shock as their greatest weapon was just defeated. They all looked at where Mammoth had come from, and saw through the fire a shadow that then turned into a person. Kobra then spoke up once the boy came in sight.
"Who are you, and how dare you stand against a God!" he shouted, but he did not receive the response he was expecting.
"Sorry, I'm an atheist…" the boy said with a smirk hidden behind his plates and scarf. "But since I do quite like the myths of the Greek Gods, how about you prove it? How about you show me who's stronger, God or TITAN!" His eyes started to glow a bit brighter, as if the sun were rising in them, and smoke started to rise from his body in long streamers.
Kobra saw this as a challenge to his Godhood, so he stepped forward, letting his cloak fall to the ground like a wrestler preparing to jump into the ring. But before he continued on, he turned to Sportsmaster.
"Take the shipment while I deal with this insect," Kobra snapped.
Before Sportsmaster could reach the helicopter, he was stopped by a figure that had fallen from the sky. Once it stood up, he saw the red S shield on its chest, indicating that he was facing Superboy.
"Let's go, coach," said Superboy, smirking as he got in a fighting stance.
Sportsmaster looked around and saw his cultist backup getting knocked to the ground by a speeding figure. It stopped at one of the cultist, examining the mask that he had taken off of the cultist. This was Kid Flash, who had a happy expression on his freckled face.
"Cool, a souvenir!" he said, and sped off.
Aqualad had suddenly appeared behind some cultists and attacked them with whips that he had made with his water bearers. Seeing that they were getting pushed back, Shimmer was about to run back to her master to warn him and try to convince him to retreat, but was stopped from doing so by Robin dropping down in front her.
As Robin stood from his crouching position, he smirked at Shimmer before getting into a fighting stance and gave her a come and get it motion with his hand. "Round two."
Shimmer screamed in rage and charged at the young Boy Wonder.
As the heroes continued to fight, Naruto turned back to the self-proclaimed god and saw that the man still stood there with his arms crossed, a neutral look on his face. Naruto smirked and got in a fighting stance of his own. "Now, where were we?"
He charged the supposed God and went for a simple, yet effective right hook, but Kobra somehow managed to evade it, and was shocked as he saw the fist that had barely missed him make contact with the ground and shatter it. Kobra had no time to think further, as Naruto used the momentum from his punch to spin his leg around in attempt to hit Kobra straight in the face. No luck there, either, as Kobra kept evading his strikes.
This continued for a while, as Naruto just continued to attack, while Kobra dodged his attacks, but Naruto had noticed that Kobra was getting sloppier, maybe even a little tired, and he knew that if he got one good shot in, he could finish it, so devised a plan that was stupid yet effective.
He charged Kobra, and once close enough, he went for a wide strike, leaving his chest and face exposed. Kobra saw the opening and took advantage, ducked under the fist before kicking the boy in the knee, which made it buckle, and then following it up with a strike to the chest and a quick open palm blow to his opponent's chin.
Time seemed to slow down as the strike tipped Naruto back, and it appeared that he was defeated, but just as he was going to fall he stomped his right leg behind him, steadying himself, and then with a quick move that was almost impossible to see, he grabbed the pretend God by the neck and lifted him off of the ground and then brought him close to his face.
Naruto opened his mouth, releasing a large amount of steam directly into Kobra's face. "I…win."
He did a quick spin and threw Kobra into the jungle, where he crashed through multiple trees and fell to the ground. Naruto was about to go after him when he was interrupted by an explosion that happened in the air, and he could see that it was the chopper that had previously escaped. He turned around and saw that all the thugs were defeated by the other members of the team.
Then he looked back at where Kobra had previously been and he saw that he had disappeared. Naruto shrugged at the stupid God-pretender and walked towards the team, who had gathered all the bad guys and tied them up, although Mammoth was tied with a couple of metal beams.
As Naruto approached the other members of the team, he could hear them talking.
"We picked the right guy to lead," Robin said, but was cut off by Naruto, who decided to jump in at this time.
"Oh, so you two idiots finally got off your high horses long enough to elect Aqualad the leader?"
He received two glares from Robin and Kid Flash.
"Hey, where have you been all this time, and why did you suddenly attack the bad guys alone?" shouted Kid Flash, getting right in Naruto's face, who just got an annoyed look.
"First off, get the fuck away from my face. Second, I was searching for anything that could help us with the mission. Third, I attacked so that you guys could see where I was after we got separated when you escaped and I was held up, and fourth and finally, if you ever get in my face again, I will knock your teeth out…Got it?" As he finished, he gave a glare to Kid Flash before looking back at Kaldur.
Robin gathered his composure before he looked at Aqualad, then he smirked and spoke.
"As I was saying, this automatically makes you the right guy to explain this mess to Batman." He started to laugh as he walked away while Kaldur looked down in thought.
Location: Mount Justice August 4; 01:06 EDT
"A simple recon mission, observe and report," said Batman as he walked in front of the line of heroes that had been on the Santa Prisca mission. "You'll each receive a written evaluation Detailing your many mistakes."
The young heroes, except Naruto, looked down in shame.
"Until then, good job." Batman turned around to face the heroes. "No battle plan survives first contact with the enemy. How you adjust to the unforeseen is what determines success," he said as the heroes gained proud smiles on their faces, "and how you choose who leads determines character." Robin and Aqualad's smiles became even brighter.
With his debriefing finished, Batman left, while the young heroes chatted amongst themselves. Naruto, however, moved away as his friend jumped on to his shoulders. Naruto looked at him and said, "Did you get it?"
In response, the G-elf raised his tail, showing Naruto a vial of purple liquid, which brought a smile to Naruto's face. With his question answered, he and the G-elf walked towards their room to do some work on the new, and old, projects they had.
Location: Unknown
"All I recovered is a single ampoule of Kobra Venom," said Sportsmaster as he stood in front of multiple computer screens.
"Peut-etre the drug can be reverse engineered," said one of the blurred images on the screens in a heavy French accent. "Mais, what of our young heroes? First, Cadmus, then mister Twister.
Now, Santa Prisca."
"Once is happenstance…Twice is coincidence…But three times is enemy action, and enemies of the Light must not stand..." said another voice in a much deeper voice then the first.
TO BE COUNTINUED? (yes)
Okay, done! Finally! This one just kept on dragging out, and I had a lot of shit happening at the same time, so I hope you enjoyed it.
R&R
Till next time, true believers! (wait, no, wrong company!)