AN: Another change, the Justice League are not sanctioned by any government.
Enjoy.
xXx
Bruce Wayne murmurs to himself as he types away to his super computer as files after files pop up on the large screen. He has yet to change out of his Batman armour, something that Alfred has made sure to mention a couple of times.
A year has passed since the disappearance of the Joker and he has yet to find any clues on the whereabouts of the Clown Prince of Crime. There is also the fact that the blood sample he found at the crime scene a year ago was also the Joker's which just makes his disappearance even more confusing and worrying.
However, he may have finally found a possible lead to the Joker. On the screen of his super computer are several pictures and files about a certain Rider that has been causing death all over the country. Bruce narrows his eyes at the few pictures that were taken of the individual who has eluded him more than once.
The pictures show a flaming skeleton in leather, driving through the streets with its equally flaming motorcycle. There have been whispers about the thing a few years back but it wasn't until last year that it started to work double time on killing known criminals in every state and city. There were even a few times that it raided prisons, just to kill the criminal inhabitants while leaving the guards unconscious. While it may just be killing criminals, Bruce and the rest of the Justice League know that it's just a matter of time before its bloodthirst starts to target innocents. That's why the entire League has been told to look out for the Rider if they see it and to contain it if they can. Unfortunately, nobody has yet to meest the Rider, face-to-face as it always disappears by the time a League member arrives.
He clicks a few more buttons on the console which zooms the camera angle closer to the Rider or more importantly, its collar. Sitting on the collar of its leather jacket is the same symbol that was etched on the wall of the crime scene a year ago. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that the disappearance of the Joker and the increasing actitivy of the Rider is connected.
Typing away, he brings up a few more files of other criminals that have disappeared from radar. Pictures of Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy, Deadshot and even his former protégé, Jason Todd. Near the time of Joker's disappearance, Deadshot and Harley were both springed from Arkham Asylum without anyone noticing their disappearances. Around the same time, Poison Ivy and Jason has disappeared from sight, something that isn't normal as at least one of them should have gotten his attention.
Bruce leans back into his seat and frowns in thought. "But what's the connection?"
xXx
"We are ready".
"It's about fucking time!"
"Shut up midget."
"Want to fucking go!?"
"I'm surrounded by idiots."
"Hahahahaha!"
"Sshh my babies. Ignore them, they're all idiots."
"How have I not killed any of you before?"
"Maybe because you don't got the balls?"
"*munch*"
Naruto rubs his brow in frustration as his allies bicker with one another, except for Harley and Mammoth with one laughing her sanity off while the other munches away on an apple. For the last year, he has focused his time and energy on improving his allies skills and making new ones for them in order to diversify their skills in battle. While he trained the new Akatsuki on their roles, Ghost Rider did his usual thing and spread the influence of Akatsuki to show the world that he's just the beginning to what's to come. While his group of killers and Meta-Humans still act like children at times, they have the necessary skills and minds to finally make a difference in the world.
Naruto releases a portion of his KI to the surrounding area, immediately causing the bickering people to quiet down and tense up. With their attention on him, Naruto's Rinne-Sharingan springs to life before several dimensional portals open up around everyone.
"Let the Purge, begin."
( Jump City )
On the motorway, four Titans are driving past vehicles left and right in a high-powered buggy, created by Cyborg himself. It has no roof or doors which is to make it weigh less so it can move faster. The occupants of the high-powered buggy are Speedy, Beast Boy, Hot Spot and Kid Flash.
"Doctor Light is at it again" muttered Speedy as he swirves the buggy around a truck and takes a right that takes them away from the motorway. "I sometimes wonder if the criminals just get more stupid the more times we beat them."
"Haha! Good one" laughed Beast Boy from the back seat, slapping his knee.
"Dude, I don't think he was making a joke" deadpanned Kid Flash from his seat beside the green-skinned Meta-Human.
"Let's just hurry this up. I ordered a pizza five minutes ago and need to get back in the next twenty if I'm going to make it back in time when it's delivered" said Speedy before spinning the wheel to swrive the vehicle to a stop in front of the bank which currently has a smoking hole through the centre of it. Luckily, any passerbys have run off at the first sign of danger.
Beast Boy hops out of the buggy and places his hands on his hips. "So, how we doing this? I go in all rhino with Speedy riding on me and firing off arrows like pew, pew and you guys run in behind us an-"
"How about I just run in, pick him up and we head back to the Tower in order to savour the taste of Speedy's pizza?" remarked Kid Flash before he blurs through the hole of the bank.
"Hey! That pizza is mine!" Speedy yelled through the hole.
Hot Spot eyes the surroundings but notices something odd. Walking over, he falls to his knees and narrows his eyes to the road. "Guys, it was Doctor Light who was seen robbing the bank, wasn't it?" he asked, curiously.
"Yea, that's what the caller said. Why?" asked Beast Boy.
"Cause I don't think Doctor Light has size twenty feet" he said, referring to the large footprints in the cement floor.
Before Speedy or Beast Boy can say anything, a yellow blur is thrown out of the bank and into the buggy, making a large size dent into it while also causing it to skid across the road. Said yellow blur is Kid Flash, groaning in pain as he uses the dented buggy to lift himself to his feet.
"What happened?" asked Speedy, aiming an arrow towards the entrance of the bank. Beast Boy has changed himself into a green lion while Hot Spot erupts into flames and has two fireballs waiting in the palms of his hands.
Kid Flash groans as he finally gets to his two feet. "Umm, I'm not actually sure. I think I just hit a wall."
Speedy shakes his head. "I don't think you hitting a wall will throw you outside the building." Before he can say more, an uneasy tension fills the air when they feel the ground shake for a brief second before stopping and continuing again. It continues for a few seconds until a shadow walks out of the hole of the bank with Doctor Light in its right hand. Everybody's eyes widens when they recognize the giant when he comes out of the shadows."Holy shit.." muttered Speedy in disbelief.
Standing outside the bank with Doctor Light in his large hand is none other than Mammoth, although with a few differences. One being that he has grown bigger the last time they've seen him. It actually looks like he has grown an extra two feet. As well as that, his muscles seem to have grown in size, almost looking like boulders underneath his long black jumpsuit with yellow stripes decorating it. Attached to both of his wrists seem to be a large cuff that are yellow in colour but glow an ominous red from time to time.
Beast Boy reverts back to his human form, scratching the side of his face. "So~, what now?"
Speedy answers by narrowing his eyes and pulling back the string of his bow. "Titans, go!" He releases the bowstring and watches as his arrow hits Mammoth to his chest with the tip exploding upon impact. Beast Boy reverts back to a lion and charges into the smoke cloud while Hot Spot follows behind him.
Beast Boy lunges at the smoke cloud with a roar, only for a large hand to grip his throat and carry him in midair. The smoke clears up to show Mammoth growling and tightening his grip around a struggling lion's neck. "Bad kitty" he growled before throwing the lion at Hot Spot who shoots fire to the floor to jump over Beast Boy to get to Mammoth. Hot Spot twirls in the air and throws two fireballs at Mammoth which explode upon impact. Landing, Hot Spot gulps when he notices that Mammoth doesn't seem to be effected by his fire. In fact, he looks more pissed than anything else.
Before Mammoth can attack, Kid Flash runs up and appears in front of Mammoth, hand on hip. "Hey big guy, remember me?"
Mammoth looks down at Kid Flash and instantly recognizes the person who not only trashed the Hive Five base but also turned Jinx against them. "You..."
"Yep, that's m-AAAHHH!" Kid Flash screams all of a sudden when he blurs away in time to avoid Mammoth's punch that has gone clean through the pavement. While the sudden increase in strength is slightly unnerving for Kid Flash who is taking a few uneasy breaths, it's the speed he did it all with that freaks him out. He actually felt the wind blow beside him when he barely dodged Mammoth's fist.
Speedy murmurs to himself as he launches arrow after arrow at Mammoth and watching his weapons either bounce off his chest or explode with non effects whatsoever.
"Whatever that jumpsuit is made out of, it's durable as hell" he thought, watching another of his exploding arrows do nothing but seemingly tickle the large Meta-Human.
"Uhh, where am I?" muttered Doctor Light, finally coming out of unconsciousness. He remembers blowing up one of the safes in the bank but before he could take anything, something hit him in the back of his head and everything suddenly went dark for him. Noticing that his feet aren't touching the floor, he looks up and sweats when he sees the largest man he has ever seen hold him up from the back of his costume. He blinks, recognizing something about the large man. "Mammoth?"
Upon hearing his name, Mammoth looks down at the man in his hand whole ignoring the arrows bouncing off of his chest. "Light" he grunted, clearly not happy.
"Okay, we're getting nowhere with this" said Speedy, loading up an arrow but not firing. He sees Mammoth lift Doctor Light up to the same height level and wonders what he is up to. "What are you doing?" He gets his answer when he sees Mammoth pull back his arm with his fist clenched. "Kid!"
"I'm on it!" called out Kid Flash as he runs across the road and grabs Doctor Light before Mammoth's fist can hit him. Kid Flash appears behind a ready Speedy, Hot Spot and Beast Boy and drops a very pale and sweaty Doctor Light who is shaking on his knees.
"H-He was g-going to k-kill m-me" he muttered, feeling very terrified of the giant Meta-Human.
Kid raises a brow. "I wouldn't go that f-" Kid is interrupted when a shock wave from Mammoth's punch knocks everyone off of their feet and into the walls of the building in front of the bank. "Never mind" he grunted, prying himself from the wall.
"What in the.. he was actually going to kill him?" muttered Hot Spot, eyes wide in disbelief. He has never met Mammoth in person but the few times he has heard of Jinx talking about him and Gizmo, he has never heard of them actually trying to kill someone. Rob and injure people yea, but not kill them.
Mammoth grunts in annoyance while he looks across the road at the four Titans and shaking Villain. "That's my target."
"Umm dude, you okay?" asked Kid Flash with his arms up to show he means no harm. "You okay in the head or something? I know you're not the best of guys but to kill? Not cool dude." From his memory at raiding the Hive Five Base on the day he first met Jinx, Mammoth wasn't this violent. Yes, he is a bit stupid but not killer stupid. He'll need to have a word with his girlfriend when he gets back to Titan Tower.
"I don't think he likes what you just said to him" warned Beast Boy, noticing Mammoth's light growl. Unlike everyone else, he is feeling all his animal instincts roar and squeal for him to get away from Mammoth, something that has never happened before. Not with the usual hard head but there is clearly something wrong and not just with the increase of size and muscle mass. Something in those eyes of his are causing shivers to crawl down his spine.
"You don't even know who you're really protecting" told Mammoth, his eyes locked solely on Doctor Light's who hides his head back under the tipped buggy he's hiding behind.
"It doesn't matter who we're protecting, what matters is that we protect and save everyone from people like you" spoke Speedy with his bow and arrow aimed at Mammoth.
"Even if that person you're protecting is a serial rapist?"
This got the required reaction as Beast Boy somehow turns greener than normal, Speedy almost let's go of his grip on his bow, Kid Flash chokes on a bit of his saliva and Hot Spot widens his eyes before glaring at the buggy Doctor Light is hiding behind. What got Mammoth to grin is how Doctor Light's head pops out of his hiding spot and looks over at the giant of a man with guilty wide eyes.
"Is that true?" Hot Spot flares his flames, causing Doctor Light to duck back into his hiding spot.
"I-I don't know what he's talking about! Just arrest me and get him away from me!" screamed Doctor Light, more sweat pouring out of him.
Beast Boy feels his stomach churn from the obvious increase of distress in Doctor Light's tone of voice. "He's right, isn't he" he gasped, staring at Doctor Light in ironically, a new light. Not a good one. While he isn't one of the brighter Titans in the Tower, he does wonder how they have never heard of Doctor Light's newly discovered crime. "But how come we never heard about any of this from victims or witnesses?"
"Because he kills them all so nobody can ever find out about them" grunted Mammoth, eyes still on the upside down buggy. Beast Boy widens his eyes and shivers at the thought of such horror done by Doctor Light, a criminal that he thought of as more of a joke than anything else.
Speedy shakes his head and pulls back the string of his bow. "It doesn't matter, this changes nothing." The other three Titans look at each other and can see in each others eyes that something has changed but steel their resolve and prepares to fight. They can discuss the details of Doctor Light's unknown sick crimes later but for now, they need to arrest Mammoth.
Mammoth shakes his head. "Doesn't matter anyway." He calmly walks over to the Titans, clearly not feeling threatened to the group that use to beat him and his team on a weekly basis.
Speedy frowns while wondering why he is so calm. "What do you mean by that?"
"Because you're already beaten."
Before the Titans can respond, all four scream in pain as lightning courses throughout their bodies. They collapse to the floor with a numbing pain filling their persons. Hot Spot groans as he reverts back to his human form and the last thing he sees before everything turns dark is something small and round shivering to sight.
"Hahaha! Take that you Titan dweebs!" exclaimed Gizmo's voice from all four of his Eyebots that turn off their cloaking. One of Gizmo's latest inventions has been his Eyebots, small and round machines that have a floating system, a cloaking device and a laser that shoots both lethal and paralyzing rounds. Gizmo is quite proud of his invention which he intends to use to spy on the Akatsuki's enemies. The only downside is that he can't operate them in the Sage's private dimension and needs to be in the same dimension as them so he can control them. Apparently, its very difficult for his Eyebots to operate when his electrical signals are being monitored in a different dimension. That's why he is currently in a hidden location that only the members of the Akatsuki know about.
( Eyebot from Fallout )
The Eyebots move away as Mammoth stomps past the unconscious Titans and to the buggy that his target is hiding behind. With one hand, he grabs the rims of the buggy and easily lifts the vehicle over his head. Looking down, he sees Doctor Light shiver as he looks up at himself with fear in his eyes.
"P-Please, d-don't d-do t-this" begged Doctor Light with his eyes full of tear.
Mammoth drops the buggy to the side and grabs his target by his throat and lifts him up in the air. Before Doctor Light can cry out, a slight twitch of Mammoth's fingers causes the Villain's neck to snap to the side, instantly killing him. With no hesitation or guilt, he drops the corpse and walks over the Titans and chuckles when he notices one of Gizmo's Eyebots zapping Kid Flash a few times.
"And this is for wrecking my workbench! And this is for trapping me in a cage! This is for making Jinx betray us! And this is because I felt like it!" laughed Gizmo while he has his Eyebot zap the speedster over and over again, causing the Titan to yell out in pain while still unconscious. The other three are shooting lasers into the road while floating around in a pattern.
Mammoth walks down a dark alley and disappears in the darkness while the Eyebots use their cloaking devices to vanish when they complete their work. Just in time too because the sound of police sirens fills the air as they leave.
When the police arrive to the scene of the crime, all they find are the unconscious bodies of four Titans, the destroyed bank, the corpse of Doctor Light and the smoking insignia of Akatsuki in the road.
( Gotham City )
In one of the tallest buildings in Gotham, Black Skull is found in his office looking over a few reports about his newest shipment of weapons that are suppose to be in at the end of the day. By his side is his assistant who has the same serious expression he loves so much. By the double doors of his brightly red coloured office are four of his best bodyguards, all with their hands behind their backs and wearing expensive black suits.
He puts down the reports and opens his mouth to speak but closes it when he suddenly hears gunfire. "What the hell is going on!" yelled Black Skull as he stands and slams his hands on top of his desk.
The double doors open and one of his bodyguards frantically runs in. "Boss, it's Harley Quinn! She's killing everyone downstairs!"
Black Mask scowls, seemingly not liking the news. "What the hell is that psycho doing here?" he thought to himself. "Well? What are you still doing here? Get down there and kill her! She's just one woman!" he ordered the guard who looks between the doors and Black Mask, seemingly thinking if he should follow those orders.
Before Black Mask can pull out a gun to shoot his clearly disobediant employee, one of the four guards by the doors notices something outside the window. "Lookout!" he yelled, pulling out his pistol alongside the other guards who pull out their own respective pistols. Black Mask turns around and widens his eyes when he sees Red Hood hanging just outside his window from a black wire.
Red Hood narrows his eyes at Black Mask and kicks himself off the window while pulling out one of his pistols with his free hand. Black Mask and his assistant think fast and runs away from the desk and behind the five bodyguards who all have their weapons aimed on an incoming Red Hood. "What are you idiots waiting for!? Shoot him!" yelled Black Mask while pointing to the vigilante.
Red Hood fires his bullets into the window which weakens the glass enough for him to smash through it. He let's go of the wire and rolls behind Black Mask's desk just in time to avoid the gunfire. With a click, he empties his empty clip and loads a full one into his pistol. With his gun fully loaded, he positions himself so that his feet are facing the desk. He pulls back his legs and with a good show of inhuman strength, kicks the hardwood desk which flips in the air before it rolls across the floor.
Black Mask and his assistant just barely jump through the doorway to avoid getting squashed by the runaway desk. The four bodyguards on the other hand are now staining the office rug with their blood after getting crushed by the desk. The only positive thing is that the desk is blocking the doorway so Red Hood can't get through it.
"Sir, we need to head to the rooftops. I'll call in a helicopter to pick us up" spoke his assistant who takes out her phone and makes the call.
"Don't have to tell me twice" said Black Mask who gets up and runs towards the stairway along with his assistant. By the time he gets to the end of the hall, he hears something off behind him and turns around in time to dodge his desk that flies over his head and crashes through a wall.
"Where do you think you're going?" called a clearly smug Red Hood who is twirling one of his blades from the other end of the hall while walking down it in an almost painfully slow rate.
"Fucking prick" muttered Black Mask as he takes out the pistol in his jacket and empties his clip into Red Hood. Red Hood doesn't even try to dodge the incoming shower of lead and instead, swipes his knife through the air several timed to cut through and deflect the bullets with surprising accuracy. "You got to be fucking kidding me!" remarked Black Mask before he runs up the stairs. "I thought only Batman has those kind of skills!?"
After an exhausting few minutes of running up several flights of stairs, he finally makes it to the rooftop where a helicopter and his assistant are waiting for him. "Good to see you're safe sir."
"Yea, I'm fine. Let's just get hell out a here" replied Black Mask while fixing his tie.
His assistant nods and tips her glasses. "Of course sir. If you'll ju-" The assistant cuts off when a knife find sits way into the back of her skull. Rolling her eyes, the assistant collapses face first onto the rooftop, dead. The murderer walks around the helicopter to show that it was Red Hood. Without even glancing, the vigilante raises his gun and shoots several bullets into the pilot.
"Remember me?" taunted Red Hood.
Black Mask staggers back before he turns and runs back to the door that leads to the stairway. He opens the door to only meet the end of a sledgehammer which strikes him across the face and throws him back a few feet.
Groaning, Black Mask grabs his face to ease the pain and opens his eyes just to see Red Hood looking down at him by his head while a happy Harley Quinn twirls the sledgehammer which he guesses to be the offending weapon that hit him.
"Fine, fine, I give. You got me" grunted Black Mask as he pushes himself to a sitting position and glares up at Harley who grins down at him. Now that he thinks of it, he wonders why Harley Quinn and Red Hood if all people are actually working together and why they want him. "So, what do you want from me? Money? Guns? A recommendation?"
Black Mask let's out a small gasp when he feels the familiar feeling of the end of a barrel touching the back of his head. "Wai-BANG!" The crime lord collapses to his side with a fresh bullet hole going through the back of his skull to the front of it.
"I've wanted to do that for a long time" said Red Hood with a grin behind his mask as he holsters his gun back under his jacket.
Harley smirks as she rests her new hammer, courtesy of 'Boss', on her shoulder. "Oh~, what did he do to you?"
"That's none of your business."
"Phooe. You're no fun" pouted Harley who pouts even more when Red Hood presses the top of his Akatsuki ring and vanishes from sight and from the dimension. "Jerk" she muttered before copying the motion and vanishing.
( New York City )
"Hahahahaha! Come and catch me bug boy!" laughed the Green Goblin as he flies through the air on his glider. Following behind him is the rookie sensation hero, known as Spider Man who swings through the city of the Big Apple to try and stop the Villain from killing anymore innocents. Just five minutes ago, the Green Goblin invited himself, via the window, to a corporate meeting between the High Management of Oscorp Industries and killed everyone in it. With a single throw of one of his explosives, all that was left in the meeting room is a pile of skeletons.
"Why can't I go one day where I don't have to chase after a bad guy" groaned Peter Parker as he does an eccentric flip in the air while shooting a few balls of web at the Green Goblin who skillyfully dodges them and laughs out the same insane laugh from before.
"Try again!" The Green Goblin who is also publically known as Norman Osborn pulls out an explosive and throws it back at Spider Man who widens his eyes behind his mask upon recognizing the offending item.
Acting fast, he shoots a web to the top of a nearby building and pulls himself up hard to dodge the orb. Not done, he uses his free hand to shoot another web at the falling bomb and pulls hard on it which throws the item above himself and high into the air. Just in time as it explodes in a wide green explosion that could have caused major damage to the public if it got anyway close. Peter sighs in content from the wall he is sticking himself on before looking over at the Green Goblin who is stationary in the air.
"Nice one but can you handle all of these?" exclaimed the Green Goblin while throwing two handfuls of familiar orbs but these ones have wing expansions that grow at the sides. The airborne weapons all lock on Spider Man who notices the very sharp blades that makes up the wings. Shooting a web at the skyscraper across the way, he swings himself away in time to avoid the very deadly weapons but they all swurve and fly towards Spider Man.
Green Goblin smirks from atop his Golblin Glider as he watches the annoying hero avoid his weapons. He reaches into his pouch to pull out a few more of them but notices movement to his right. He flies to the right in time to avoid a very large Venus fly trap from eating him whole. Keeping a distance from the plant that he notices is somehow growing from a greenhouse on one of the top of the many skyscrapers, he notices the offender who is standing beside the overgrown plant with her arms folded.
"Poison Ivy!, what do in owe this great pleasure?" smirked the Green Goblin while spreading his arms out wide like as if he and Poison Ivy go way back.
Said Meta-Human stares at the Villainous billionaire with half-lidded eyes. "Just shut up and die." The Venus fly trap sprouts out roots from its body which all rapidly stretch to Green Goblin who swirves around the offending plant and flies towards Poison Ivy with one of his bombs in his hand and a cold smirk.
"How about you die instead?" chuckled the Green Goblin who throws his explosive at the Meta-Human. Said Meta-Human commands a root to wrap around the bomb before it can get anywhere near herself. She doesn't even flinch when it explodes which lightens up the area in a green glow and warms Poison Ivy from the heat of the explosion.
Green Goblin flies higher into the air in time to avoid the Venus fly trap from eating him but the plant continues to chase after him, growing even more large at every second. Getting annoyed quickly, he takes out three explosives and chucks them down the open mouth of the plant and laughs to himself when it explodes into chunks of plant tissue that rain down the street, harmlessly.
Poison Ivy growls silently to the sight of one of her 'babies' dying right in front of her while the offender just laughs away to himself. Her patience only gets worse when the Spider Man fellow drops down by her side and shoots a web to her hands, sticking them together.
"Green Goblin is one thing but an overgrown weed? No thank you" quipped Peter as he pulls onto his webbing to get Poison Ivy off her feet. To his surprise, he soon finds out that his strength isn't enough to bring Poison Ivy to his side. In fact, a powerful tug from his webbing causes him to lose his own balance, feeling too surprised to actually correct himself.
"Let go of me!" With strength that someone of Poison Ivy's size and stature shouldn't have, she pulls her webbed hands over her head and brings them down beside her, slamming Spider Man into the rooftop and making a nice set of deep crack and a small crater into the concrete.
"Gonna feel that in the morning" groaned Spider Man. His Spider Sense tingles all of a sudden and with renewed energy, he jumps away in time to avoid a large root from grabbing him. Said root continues its assault which forces Spider Man to avoid it which gives Poison Ivy plenty of time to deal with the Green Goblin who is now charging at her.
"Got you!" Two large spikes expands from the front of the glider which the Villain intends to use to pierce Poison Ivy. However, the Meta-Human smirks before reaching a hand into the pile of leaves that makes up her clothing. Pulling her hand back, she throws it upwards toward the Green Goblin who notices something small getting into his line of sight. A second later, he recognizes the small dots to be seeds.
"What the?"
All of a sudden, the seeds explodes in a cluster of roots that quickly wraps themselves around the Green Goblin before he can do anything about them. With his quick downwards descent and the sudden lack of balance, the he falls off his glider and rolls painfully onto the rooftop as his flying vehicle crashes a few feet away from Poison Ivy who makes her way over to the downed Green Goblin who struggles to get the plants off of him.
"Stop your struggling. There's no getting away when my babies get their roots on you" told Poison Ivy with a small smirk.
Behind his mask, Norman Osborn smirks because unseen behind the roots, he just barely presses a button on his wrist console which remotely controls his glider. Said glider floats up and turns to face the back of Poison Ivy before it sails through the air with its spikes glinting from the sunlight.
Peter jumps past the root that has been following him for the last five minutes and cries out to Poison Ivy when he sees that Norman's glider is going to stab her from behind.
Unknown to both the Villain and Hero, Poison Ivy already noticed the incoming glider the first moment it sprung back to life. Slightly turning to face the incoming glider, she reaches her hand out and to the surprise of both Spider Man and Goblin Glider, she catches it by the front spike. The glider struggles to push back the Meta-Human who's feet are starting to crack the ground underneath her, yet she doesn't even flinch. Having enough, she raises her free hand and slams it down on the glider which sticks into the floor in front of herself.
"Cute" she smirked to Norman Osborn's clearly shocked face from behind his mask. "Now that's settled, time to come with me. There's someone who is looking forward to meet you." She walks while swinging her hips and taps the top of Norman's mask with a flirtatious smirk.
Spider Man gets out of his surprise and runs towards Poison Ivy to stop her. "Stop!"
Poison Ivy turns to the rookie hero and smirks while releasing her pheromones. Peter goes to grab her arm but suddenly stops himself and feels himself lose control over his own body. "Maybe next time, little spider" smirked Poison Ivy before she taps the top of her Akatsuki ring and disappears with Green Goblin. All Peter can do is stand on the rooftop in a daze for an hour until the pheromones wear off.
xXx
Norman grunts as he topples to the floor with a spurning stomach and a headache. With his arms tied behind his back, he barely gets himself to his knees. He tries to stand up but Poison Ivy grasps his shoulder from behind and with pushes him down with surprising strength.
"Ah, Norman Osborn. One of the many blights that is slowly killing the planet."
Norman turns from glaring at Poison Ivy and looks up to see an unknown man standing a few feet in front of himself. What catches him off guard is the fact that he never once noticed the man get in front of him. "You know my name but I don't know yours."
Naruto lightly smiles and with a flick of a finger, Norman's mask disconnects itself from his armour and falls to his knees, exposing the face of the insane billionaire. "Usually I would but you're not going to live long enough for it to have any meaning to you." Before Norman can open his mouth to reply, Naruto's Rinne-Sharingan blaze to life and he places one hand on Norman's head. The Villain tenses up with wide eyes and gasps as Naruto uses his Human Path to absorb his soul. With a tug, Naruto pulls out a ghostly version of Norman Osborn and absorbs it through his fingertips. Closing his eyes, he not only absorbs the soul of Norman Osborn but also the memories of the Villain.
Poison Ivy feels a chill crawl up her spine as she stands back and watches her leader absorb a literal soul right in front of her. As a former Villain, she has seen many type of individuals with all sorts of powers that range from super strength, flight and even to control electricity. But to absorb souls is something entirely off the scale of amazing powers. She can guess that not even Superman can defend himself once Sage gets his hands on him.
Her eyes flicker to Norman's body which collapses to its side with lifeless eyes staring past Sage's feet. "Want me to get rid of that for you?" she asked. Some of her plants have an acidic juice that she can use to break down a corpse. With the training and power boost from the Sage, it only got stronger along with the rest of her skills. A year ago, she wouldn't even dream about catching something as fast and dangerous as the Green Goblin's Glider, yet she did.
Sage shakes his head at her. "No need. I have a plan for that" he told her while the King of Hell erupts from violet flames beside the Sage and swallows the corpses of Norman Osborn before vanishing.
Poison Ivy can only guess how many more abilities her boss is hiding from everyone else. "I'll never get use to that."
Naruto leans down and picks up the mask of the Green Goblin and looks at it for a moment before he walks towards the small river. "Never will I."
( Metropolis )
"Come on big boy, don't be shy. I won't hurt ya" muttered Deadshot as he aims his sniper rifle from atop of the skyscraper owned by Wayne Enterprises. His target, Kingpin, is currently in his armoured limousine with a protection detail surrounding him. In front of his limo are two black Suvs with another pair following behind them. He can make an educated guess that his guards are all heavily armed and heavily paid to protect the biggest crime lord in the country.
It's a shame that it means nothing to Deadshot.
Even with his target being a few miles away from his current location, all Deadshot feels is confidence in himself. After calculating the wind speed and direction, distance and angle from hid target, he corrects his weapon and pulls the trigger.
Kingpin smirks as he takes a sip of his expensive champagne while his party girls rub themselves off of himself. His good mood can't fade since the reason he is so out of his usual comfort some which is New York is because he got a message from Lex Luthor himself about a business proposition that he can't hope to ignore. Seeing as Lex Luthor is one of the wealthiest and smartest people on the planet, whatever proposition he makes will most likely involve finance and advance technology that he can use to finally take care of that pain in his ass, Spider Man.
Unknown to Kingpin, his message from Lex Luthor has been wired by a certain mercenary who is gleefully watching his limousine a few miles away from atop a building.
Deadshot's bullet flies through the air in a blur and after a few seconds, makes contact with its target a few miles off. The bullet easily drills through the armour in the limousine and cuts straight through the forehead of Kingpin who jerks his head back with a shocked expression on his face before the light in his eyes fades away. The party girls all scream in horror as the limousine driver stops with the Suvs and Kingpins bodyguards all run around the vehicle in a panic.
Deadshot chuckles before his sniper rifle disappears in a poof of smoke. The right elbow of his jacket glows bright lines for a brief second before fading away. "I should seriously consider thanking Sage for the bullets" thought Deadshot with a smirk underneath his mask. Not even his armour piercing bullets could have any hope of cutting through Kingpin's limo. He knows because he tried before. Kingpin is always worrying over his protection detail since he is a paranoid fool.
After stretching his arms and ignoring the sirens and alarms from the distance, he presses the top of his ring and disappears. His job is done so he leaves the rest to his boss.
xXx
Lex watches the city of Metropolis from his penthouse office chair with his legs folded and his hands resting on his knee. By his side are his loyal Amazon bodyguards, Mercy and Hope who stand by his side with their hands folded behind their backs.
Lex chuckles as he swirves his chair around to face his table and presses a button on his beeping answering machine. "Yes Gillian?" He doesn't need to ask to know why she's calling but he has to keep up appearances for the sake of his employees.
"Sir, your seven o'clock is here."
"Good, send him in" told Lex before he leans back into his comfortable chair. A few minutes later, the double doors to his office open and in walks the large figure of Kingpin. Lex stands and walks around his desk and shakes the large hand of the crime lord. "It's good to finally meet you, Kingpin. I've heard quite a bit of your accomplishments."
"I can say the same thing, although your accomplishments are on the more hush side of things" chuckled Kingpin who takes an offered seat in front of Lex's table.
Lex smirks as he sits back on his own seat. "True but it gets results, that I won't deny. Speaking of which, the reason why I've invited you here."
"Yes, I hope I wasn't just wasting my time coming over here. I'm a busy man" told Kingpin as he lights one of his cigars and blows the smoke, uncaring that he is in someone else's office.
Lex's eye twitches in annoyance to Kingpin's blatant disregard to respect but he keeps his patience. He needs Kingpin's contacts to achieve his goal which he hopes to put an end to Superman and the annoyances which are the Justice League. The goal to find more Meta-Humans he can hopefully employ and if not, eliminate so they can't cause any future problems for himself. If Superman can form a group of Super Heroes, then he can form his own group of Villains.
Beside him, Hope and Mercy narrow their eyes at the disrespectful crime lord but control themselves from acting out. "Yes" Lex coughed into his fist. "What I called this mee-" Lex stops himself when his answering machine beeps again. He presses the button with a light scowl, not once noticing Kingpin's eyes narrowing. "What is it Gillian? I'm in the middle of so-"
"Sir, that isn't the real Kingpin! Kingpin has been found dead in his transport vehicle a few minutes ago! You're meeting with an imposter!"
Lex widens his eyes and looks up at 'Kingpin' who stands up and flicks away his cigar as Mercy and Hope push their boss behind themselves. "Oh well, didn't expect the facade to last this long anyway." Mercy places a hand on Lex's desk and uses it to push herself up to swing a kick the imposter's temple. 'Kingpin' catches the kick with ease and swings the Amazon to the other bodyguard which causes them to hit the wall and dent it with their bodies. "She can hit a lot harder than I expected" he thought while shaking his slightly throbbing hand.
The Amazons get back to their feet and take martial art stances that 'Kingpin' recognizes as Muay Thai and Karate. "Stand down and you won't get hurt. I'm not after you, I'm after him" told 'Kingpin' who points a large finger at Lex Luthor who has his back to the wall, waiting for the moment when he can make a run for the exit.
"If you want him, you'll have to go through our cold dead bodies" told Mercy with a glare.
"Where the hell is my security!?" wondered Lex who counts in his head how many people he's going to fire for failing at his hour of need.
'Kingpin' shakes his head in an almost pitying manner. "Very well."
The bodyguards don't wait up for him to move as Mercy jumps off the table into the air and lifts her left leg up for a dropkick while Hope ducks low and throws a punch towards 'Kingpin's' genitals. The imposter shows an impressive show of speed and agility for a man of his size. 'Kingpin' jumps to dodge Hope and jumps off her back to spin kick Mercy through the side wall. Once he lands on his feet, he spins on his heel at the same time that Hope is turning to attack. He blocks a thrown fist which is what Hope waits for so she can grab his limb and pull him towards her while jumping up with her knee sticking out to hit him in the face.
Imagine her surprise that instead of dodging, 'Kingpin' purposely headbutts her knee and instead of his skull getting crushed like a grapefruit, its her knee that is hurt. She cries out in pain while grabbing her injured knee but 'Kingpin's' fist hits her in the stomach which causes her to slightly bend over and cough up saliva before 'Kingpin' swings his large fist down at the back of her head. Hope's head bounces off the floor and then meets 'Kingpin's' boot which hits her through Lex's table and into the wall, causing Lex to jump out of the way unless he wants to get crushed. She slides down the wall and slouches to the side in unconsciousness.
After knocking out Hope, 'Kingpin' raises an arm to block a roundhouse kick from Mercy. The impact causes a miniature shock wave to shake the office and to shatter the window glass but neither pays any attention to it.
Lex uses this as an opportunity to run towards the exit so he can hopefully make it to his underground lab and get his Kryptonite suit so he can fight. That plan fails as the imposter lifts up a chair with his leg and kicks it towards him which hits the side of his chest, causing Lex to fall and grab the injury in pain.
"You're going to pay for that" growled Mercy while clenching her fists.
'Kingpin' smirks in an arrogant way that annoys the Amazon. "For a bodyguard, you're not doing a good job."
Just as he expects from her, the Amazon loses her patience and attacks him wildly. She throws a barrage of punches that 'Kingpin' counters with a barrage of his own. Each punch causes a miniature shock wave to erupt from their fists but both continue to attack, one trying to overpower the other while the other tests the other's strength.
Mercy tries for another roundhouse kick but 'Kingpin' catches it with his left hand and before she can pull it out of his grasp, he pulls the limb over his head and brings the Amazon along for the ride. The bodyguard shouts out in pain when 'Kingpin' slams her into the floor, making cracks and a small crater underneath herself.
Mercy opens her eyes to see 'Kingpin' over herself with his fist pulled back so she crosses her arms to block some of the force. It does little when she relises how much the imposter is holding back because her defence is immediately broken from his punch which throws her through the floor and the floor of every level in the skyscraper. 'Kingpin' glances down through many holes and sees a small speck at the bottom which he guesses is Mercy.
With both annoyances taken care of, 'Kingpin' turns to Lex who limps towards the exit but is soon in the hands of the imposter who lifts the injured billionaire by the collar of his suit. "W-Who are you?" coughed Lex while he struggles to free himself from the imposter's grip. To actually see both of his bodyguards defeated is something that he is still finding hard to believe. With their Amazon origins and their skill in martial arts, they should have defeated the fake 'Kingpin' with ease. They've gone toe-to-toe with Superman for fuck's sake!
Kingpin calmly stares into Lex's eyes before his own ones shifts into the powerful Rinne-Sharingan.
"A Ghost from the past."
xXx
The double doors to Lex Luthor's office burst open and a dozen armed security guards run in with guns out and ready to fire. However, they look around the room to only see that nobody is in the office, not even Lex Luthor himself.
Mercy limps into the office with her right hand holding onto her bleeding left arm and looks around but they don't see anyone in it, just the unconscious body of Hope against the wall. The only new addition to the room is the scorch mark on the wall behind Lex's desk and glares at the symbol of a cloud.
"Find them! They can't have gotten far!" she ordered to the guards who run away to scour the building of every room. Unknown to the group, there search is pointless because they have already left the dimension.
( Gateway City )
A female figure in yellow cybernethic armour bangs her fists into a control console when she watches her minions fail to kill one man or whatever it is. What's worse is that it's killing all of them with ease, almost child's play.
"Kill him you fools!" yelled the professional criminal, Doctor Cyber who is currently sweating a lot underneath her cybernethic armour. Just barely half a hour ago, she has been planning the destruction of Paris in her hidden bunker in the outskirts of Gateway City when explosions erupts and shakes the facility. She has been watching the source of her disruptions from a monitor in the control room and has been growing nervous.
All of a sudden, the monitor shatters when Doctor Cyber throws a chair through it when she sees the last line of her defence fall. All that's left between herself and whatever that thing is, is a wide ten inch door of steel and her ten remaining followers who are currentlyaiming their automatic weapons at the doorway. With no visual on the enemy, Doctor Cyber looks over from the end of the long table to the doorway and stands up to fight.
In an agonizing few minutes which feels like days, everyone but Doctor Cyber jumps up when a flaming fist of bones punches through the centre of the steel door. Two of its flaming hands grasps the edges of the small hole and rips an even bigger hole out of it to shoe Ghost Rider in all of its unholy glory.
Not needing to be told, all of Cyber Doctor's remaining followers open fire on Ghost Rider who merely stands by the destroyed door and takes all of the bullets. One of the minions throws a grenade at the Rider who catches it. It looks at the explosive before it erupts in its hand. While the smoke clears up, the soldiers reload their weapons and aims their weapons at the smoke cloud while hoping that the monster has died.
Doctor Cyber knows better than that. She has seen footage of the Rider taking a rocket to the chest and still walk off without a scratch. She highly doubts that a grenade and a few bullet can injure it.
Just as she expected, when the smoke clears up, the Rider is still standing in the same place without a scratch on it. It lifts a bony finger and waves it around the room before keeping it on Doctor Cyber.
"Guilty."
Like as if the declaration is an invitation, the rest of the minions fire again but this time, Ghost Rider replies kindly. It grasps the chain that is around its chest and pulls it off and gives it a swing. The chain immediately erupts in flames, causing the Rider to laugh almost maniacally. With a single swing of the chain, the two closest minions are cut in half from their waists. Another swing causes the chain to grow in length and tie itself around the neck of another who grasps the chain and tries to take it off. As the chain burns into the screaming man's neck, Rider pulls the chain which throws the minion into the air towards itself. When the minion gets close enough, Rider swings its fist to the side and hits the minion into the wall with enough force to make a crater in the steel wall.
Rider steps forward towards another minion while ignoring all the bullets hitting of itself. Grabbing the end of the minion's rifle, it back slaps its enemy with enough force to snap his neck. As the corpse collapses by its feet, Rider uses one hand to aim the rifle and shoots at the rest of the minions. Bullets rain across the room with many of them ending up inside the bodies of Doctor Cyber's minions.
Rider drops its smoking gun and steps forward to Doctor Cyber who has yet to move from her chair. One of her minions still breathes by the steps that reaches up to the table but ends up dead when Ghost Rider steps on his head and pops it like a balloon. The real uneasy part about the scene is how it does it without even looking or noticing. Rider stops just by the end of the table.
"I've heard rumors about you and your exploits. They say your kill count reaches up to the thousands." She chuckles dryly, accepting the fact that she's going to die.
"Your hands are stained with the blood of the innocent. Thousands of pure souls have been lost because of your actions" spoke Ghost Rider.
"Oh? And your hands aren't covered in blood?"
"I end the lives of the corrupt and evil. Lives who are all worth nothing."
The Villain laughs at its response. "And what about their innocent families? Mothers and fathers who suffer for the lost of their child which you killed? What of their children who have to live the rest of their lives without a father? Do their lives not matter?"
Ghost Rider snarls at the Villain, growing in temper which she can tell from the way its flames get brighter and larger. "The deaths of the evil will prevent the corruption of future generations. If sacrifices have to be made for them then so be it."
The Villain's shoulders sag as she tilts her head. "No matter what I say, there's no difference. I die and you walk out." Taking this as a sign, Rider walks over to the Villain with the intention to kill. "However..." The Villain grabs the edge of the table with enough grip to crack it and lifts it up. She swings it like a baseball bat and hits the Rider into panels and consoles which sparks and drowns it in electricity. "If I'm going to die, I'm going to die fighting!" Cyber lifts the table over head head and throws it into Rider who looks up in time to see the table collide with itself. The force of the table and Cyber's strength is enough to cause the damaged machinery to explode.
Rider is throws across the room in even more flames and hits a wall upside down and lands on its skull. A few seconds later, it stands back up and stares up at Cyber cracks its neck.
"Let's dance."
xXx
Outside the flaming facility, two members of the Justice League have just arrived on the scene, only to find dozens of bodies and a few piles of ash scattering the grounds.
"What on earth!" gasped Supergirl as she floats to the ground as she looks around the bodies who all look like to have died in great pain. "Who could have done such a thing."
"I think I know" said Princess Diana or known more as Wonder Woman. "The foul Demon that Batman has been hunting for the previous year." Her assumptions are proven correct because two heavy metal doors in the flaming facility open up to show Ghost Rider walking out with a helmet in its hand. A helmet that Wonder Woman recognises and causes her eyes to widen. "Doctor Cyber" she gasped as she stares at the bloody helmet of one of her rivals.
Rider stops when Supergirl lands in front of itself and glares at it with enough heat to make any man flinch. Rider merely rolls its skull.
"Innocent."
"I can't say the same thing about you" growled the cousin of Superman.
Before Rider can speak, a golden lasso wraps around itself and ties its arms to its side. Following the kenghth of the golden lasso, Rider sees Wonder Woman floating in the air and glaring at itself with heat similar to that of Supergirl.
"Innocent."
"Foul Demon! So many lives gone and for what goal!? Tell me!" Wonder Woman's Lasso of Truth glows as it takes effect and forces Rider to speak the truth.
"They spill innocent blood for their goals of terrorism that spread fear and evil across the world. I killed them to end the cycle of hatred and cure the corruption that fill the hearts of the weak and feeble."
"Killing isn't right and it doesn't matter who it is! Who gave you the right to choose who can die or not?" spoke Supergirl while still glaring at the Rider.
"The lost souls of the innocent."
Flames erupt from Ghost Rider and travels up the lasso and burns Wonder Woman's hand which causes the hero to cry out in pain and is forced to let go of her lasso. Ghost Rider untangles itself from the lasso before picking up a corpse by its feet. It throws the corpse at the injured Wonder Woman who doesn't see in time to dodge the body that hits her with enough force to knock her out of the air. Rider notices the other hero move but Supergirl moves faster than itself and punches it across the jaw before Rider can react.
Supergirl takes a step back when Ghost Rider twists its face around and glares at her. The fact that her punch has unhinged its jaw makes the sight pretty gruesome in her opinion. Ghost Rider back hands the Kryptonian into a nearby armoured vehicle which collapses on itself. Groaning, she pushes herself up and sees that the Rider has disappeared. She uses her X-ray vision to be sure nut she can't see him anywhere. The only thing left of it are a pair of scorched boot prints where it was once standing when it back handed her.
"Clark isn't going to like this."
Page 22 of 22