Disclaimer: I do not own the Justice League/ JLU

Pyschotic

Aggression

Jay tried to keep her expression from giving anything away as she looked up at the old house where she'd lived for about six months. In her entire career in foster care she'd never managed to stay up to six months anywhere, except with Maggie Lawrence. Old Maggie Lawrence had been really weird. A woman of about 55 years of age, she'd looked ten years older with her tanned dark skin and the nest of wrinkles that covered her face. She'd obviously spent a lot of time in the sun when she was younger, but Jay had never been able to get any kind of information out of her. Not talkative at the best of times, they'd gone days sometimes without saying a word to each other.

The creepy thing about Old Maggie was the way she used to watch Jay. Like she was expecting Jay to do something, and wanted to catch her at it. Jay never had any idea what, but it had made her especially tense to know she was under such close scrutiny. They'd had a hell of a time keeping the magic under wraps when Jay had been so on edge that a clink of dishes in the sink could make her jump. In the whole six months she'd been there the only times she'd ever relaxed had been when Maggie went away for a week at a time. Not that those had been particularly pleasant times- Maggie was so suspicious of having her stuff taken that if she wasn't in the house she'd lock every room except Jay's. Jay had even had to eat out - breakfast, lunch and dinner- because she couldn't get into the kitchen.

Even when Maggie was gone, Jay had the feeling that she was being watched. Once she'd even gone so far as to check her room for hidden cameras or microphones, but she'd found none. The paranoia had just added anxiety for Jay.

Yeah, what with voices in our head if we'd added in delusions of persecution we'd be positively schizophrenic!

Jay had spent enough times in pro bono psychiatrist's offices to know that she never wanted to be there again.

Flash came up beside her and gave her a funny look as she stood there stock still staring up at the house. "You all right?" He asked.

It snapped Jay out of her reminiscence. Glaring at Flash for having caught her in a weak moment, she just growled out a "yes" and strode up to the door.

"Chill, I was just trying to be nice." She heard Flash mumble behind her back, but chose to ignore him this time. She couldn't help being antsy, this place just gave her the creeps.

Keeping one step ahead of Flash, Jay made her way to the front door and tried the handle.

"Locked." She informed Flash, before narrowing her eyes on the keyhole. Her eyes took on their tri-coloured hue as Psychotic channeled a tendril of magic, shaped it to fit the lock, twisted and –

"We're in." She grinned over her shoulder, her three toned voice laced with triumph. This was when they all felt their best, working so closely together that they were as close to being one person as they could get. It felt special, being this close to two other people.

There's something inherently crazy about that sentence.

I disagree. It made perfect sense to me.

Yeah, but you're Psychotic. And while we're on the topic can I just point out how confusing it is that our collective name when we're being a superhero is Psychotic, and your name is also Psychotic? Makes it sound like you take over when we do our hero thing.

Jay, you really think this is the time to go in to this?

Indeed, Jay. I agree with Jay. Incidentally, I deplore your hypocrisy.

Touché.

As Psychotic, she floated through the now open door. Maggie's low watt bulb barely illuminated the corridor. As usual when Maggie wasn't there, every room door was locked.

Not that that's going to stop us now!

With a grin Psychotic maliciously unlocked every single door in the house simultaneously. Floating into the front living room, where Maggie used to spend most of her time, she took a look around. The room looked unused, a layer of dust coating every surface. Maggie had never been the cleanest of people, but this was too dirty even for her. The dust lay completely undisturbed except by the breeze Psychotic made as she floated in. Flash walked slowly in after her.

"Anything missing?" He asked, casting a disgusted look across the room.

Psychotic shook her head. "When was the last time anyone saw Maggie Lawrence?" Three voices asked the question in perfect time. Flash raised an eyebrow before answering.

"I don't know. There haven't been any police reports for a missing person, or for any disturbance in the neighbourhood. In fact, as far as they're concerned up until last night there was nothing at all suspicious."

Psychotic nodded, then floated back past Flash, brushing close by him as she passed him to get to the door. A frisson of awareness went up her spine as she hovered within an inch of touching him, but Jay resolutely ignored it.

Hold up. Frisson of awareness? 

Concentrate.

Yeah but… first you say he in a she-brain, then there was 'fall for that smile' and now 'frisson of awareness'?

Help me out here Psychotic, can you make the idiot pay attention to the matter at hand?

Indeed Jay, you seem unnecessarily preoccupied with Jay's stray thoughts.

They're just interesting thoughts is all I'm saying.

Jay pulled their collective attention forcibly back to the house they were in, snapping them back into their 'Psychotic' mindset.

Ok, please tell me you all found that as hilarious as I did.

Concentrate, dammit!

A cursory glance at the ground floor rooms had indicated nothing out of place, as far as she could tell, and they were already halfway up the stairs, Flash following closely behind. On the second floor landing she spent a necessary five seconds unlocking the doors up here. Preliminary glances into the rooms showed nothing. Unable to resist, she hovered along the landing to the last door on the left, nudging the door open. Pausing in the doorway, she scanned what used to be her room.

Ho-ly crap.

I find it difficult to believe that you two would live in such a mess.

We didn't Psychotic. This definitely happened after we left.

The room was a tip. The cupboard had been haphazardly emptied across the floor, the drawers were all pulled out of their frames and their contents strewn across the bed. The mattress was half pulled off the bed, the sheets ripped off and thrown over the rest of the mess.

What were they looking for? We left nothing in here.

Are you two sure?

We didn't have anything to leave, Psychotic.

Behind them, Flash had caught up and got a look at the room. He let out a low whistle. "Wow, what was in here?"

She shrugged. "Used to be my room." Psychotic floated in a few feet, keeping herself suspended above the mess, trying to pick out a pattern in the chaos. "I only left clothes, school stuff, that sort of thing. Don't know what they would've been after."

Do you hear something?

She cocked her head, making a slow turn in the room.

"Do you hear something?" Flash asked, a frown marring his features as he looked around the room.

They both held perfectly still and silent. A very quiet high pitched whine had started in the room, over which came regular beeping. One every second, but speeding up.

Flash figured it out way before Psychotic could have. "A bomb!" He shouted, speeding to Psychotic, grabbing her round the waist then legging it for the front door. They just made it past the threshold when the whole house went up in a ball of flames with a rumble like the gods burping. Psychotic threw up a shield to protect them from the heat as they were thrown across the street to crash against the fence of the house opposite, which promptly collapsed under their combined weight.

They lay still for a minute, as the heat dissipated and the ground stopped rumbling. As soon as it seemed safe to, Psychotic dropped the shield and Jay took full control again while the other two retreated in shock. Her wide chocolate brown eyes stared incredulously up at Flash where he was stretched out above her, shielding her with his body. They were both breathing hard, and Jay could hear her heart beat frantically in her chest.

"What…?" She barely managed to breathe out.

Flash shook his head. "I have no idea."

"We… uh, should probably get up and investigate."

Might be a good plan.

Jay took a deep breath, aware of how close Flash was to her. His face was inches from hers, their breath mingling as they calmed themselves down. She couldn't tell where he was looking, his mask hid everything from her, but the tension between them built as they lay in silence. She could feel her heartbeat speeding up again, this time not from shock, and the thought galvanized her into action. She opened herself up to the other two, feeling them fuse with her, distracting her from the direction her thoughts had previously been going. Flash pulled back slightly as her own eyes changed colour again.

Psych, are you hearing this stuff? Speeding heart rate? Frissons? Am I the only one here able to smell the smell of impending gossip?

I do not think this is the appropriate time, Jay.

I'm just saying, if it'd been you or me, our heart rate would've been just fine.

Do be quiet, Jay. And if it is not too much trouble, could we please concentrate?

Psychotic channeled enough magic to gently lift Flash and herself up to standing. She set Flash back down, but remained hovering and quickly scanned the area. Following the explosion, an eerie silence had settled on the neighbourhood.

It's really deserted out here. Isn't that a bit weird?

Yeah.

Flash seemed to be having similar thoughts as he looked around suspiciously. They held still for a moment, listening carefully.

It sounds like there's something in the backyard.

Psychotic cocked her head for a better listen. They couldn't see the backyard at the moment since the house was in the way, but there was a soft rustling coming from back there.

Sounds like people packing up to leave.

They wouldn't have heard it if it wasn't so quiet otherwise. A quick glance over at Flash made it clear that he hadn't picked up on it.

I am using the magic to enhance our hearing. This is probably why we hear and he does not.

Huh. I didn't even know we could do that Psych.

Well I simply extend the magic and look for disturbed air particles which I focus in on and –

Yeah, whatever Psych. I didn't want a lesson.

Flash looked over and opened his mouth. Psychotic gave a sharp shake of her head and brought a finger up in front of her mouth, indicating to him to stay quiet. Then she pointed to the still smoking house. Having no clue if he'd understood, she then levitated straight up to roof level. The roof of the house had collapsed in on the right side of the house, but on the left was still there in bits and pieces. What little cover it provided, she used, continuously shielding herself from the heat of the smoldering house. Flying over the roof, she looked down into the backyard.

A team of three men were collecting handfuls of small cloth bags and throwing them in to a sports bag. Each man wore some variation on the black shirt/ black jeans combo, with close cropped hair and wraparound sunglasses obscuring their eyes.

Bit late in the evening to be wearing sunglasses, don't you think?

Psychotic looked back at Flash and pointed down to the back of the house, hoping he got the message. Apparently so, because in a second he was amidst the team of men who froze, dumbfounded, as Flash appeared before them.

"Aw shucks, you didn't think I'd miss all the fun, did you?" Flash grinned winningly at the men, who launched themselves backwards, dropping whatever they were carrying and reaching for the guns they each carried on their backs. Before any one of them could get to his, Psychotic had snapped the guns off them, using the magic to crush the weapons before they could do any harm. Surprised by their sudden lack of weapons, all three men still reacted in seconds, clearly trained for just this situation. One 

sprinted backwards, bringing his sleeve up to his mouth while the other two attacked Flash. Psychotic left Flash to deal with them and targeted the third, flying down from the roof.

"Requesting backup, gamma team down!" The third black-clad man was growling into what had to be a microphone on his sleeve. Psychotic didn't stop long enough to let him give any more information. Putting on a burst of speed, she used her momentum to deliver a kick so hard it sent him into the back fence where he slumped unconscious.

Psychotic looked around to where Flash was finishing up with the other two.

"Don't let your guard down!" She yelled at Flash.

"Why? We got these guys!" Flash answered, a frown of confusion marring his brow.

"Yeah, but I think this one just called for backup." As she finished the sentence, the steady growl of a helicopter engine became audible above their heads. "See?"

"We can handle them." Flash sent her a cocky grin, as the helicopter noises got louder. He'd barely had time to finish the sentence before a stream of heavy machine gun fire ripped through the house, and but for his light speed reflexes, would have ripped through him too.

Without thinking further Psychotic shot straight up in the air, intercepting the helicopter just as it came over the house. She threw up a shield as more gunfire came straight for her, the heavy bullets bouncing straight off while she sent a bolt of pure magic aimed straight for the helicopter rotors.

The chopper dipped and swerved, neatly avoiding her bolt.

How on earth did they do that? Can choppers move that fast?

I wouldn't know.

It was a point blank shot!

Psychotic didn't have time for more thinking before the helicopter came back at her from her left, forcing her to send up another shield as they took more shots at her. She sent back a volley of her own, but there was some pilot in that seat because he dodged her bolts as if the helicopter was a playful kitten instead of a however-many-tons machine.

Psychotic launched herself backwards as the helicopter kept coming for her, trying to get some distance between them so she could think. This clearly wasn't any ordinary technology. If she had super strength she'd just fly at it and crush it, but that was hardly an option. But maybe if she boxed it in…

Before she'd finished the thought six walls of magic made an enlarged cube around the helicopter, which tried to shoot its way through. When the gunfire didn't make a dent on the lilac walls of magic, the chopper just hovered, giving Psychotic the opportunity to start bringing the walls in closer. If she could just get close enough to knock out the rotors, she could get the whole machine on the ground and the crew unconscious and that would be the end of that. But the constant firing of the chopper's gun 

kept a lot of outward pressure up on the walls she was trying to push in, and it was a lot of force to overcome.

A shout from below distracted her momentarily. She held the magic but stopped shrinking the cube while she took a look down. There was a scene of chaos on the ground. The backup must have been pretty nearby. Another team of about 20 men had joined in the fray, and while Flash was doing a good job of holding them back, they were obviously well trained enough to be giving him some trouble.

Deal with the helicopter first. Then we shall aid Flash.

Psychotic pulled her attention back to the helicopter and redoubled her efforts, shrinking the cube as fast as she could. They'd have to run out of ammo soon, surely? They were firing so much, so fast… they'd need to have filled up that entire helicopter with ammunition to keep this up! But at the moment they weren't letting up. If there was just somewhere she could set down so she wouldn't have to waste magic keeping herself flying… but that wasn't an option with the chaos down there.

Just concentrate.

She was so focused on her goal that she didn't hear the warning shout Flash sent up, and it took her a minute after she was hit to realize what had happened. Something slammed into her from her right with such force that it sent her hurling across the neighbouring houses so fast that all she could see was a blur. She didn't have time to react before she was falling to the ground, still stunned. She landed in an ungraceful heap, hitting the soil so hard she left a dent.

Ugh. What was that?

Psychotic sat up and shook her head to clear it. She'd learnt very quickly in her simulations that a close body shield was a useful thing to have up, and luckily she'd trained herself to surround herself with one as soon as she accessed the magic. Otherwise that blow might have hurt a lot more than it had. Looking around she saw the small missile that had been launched into her side, lying on the ground beside where she'd fallen.

I'm surprised they didn't use an exploding one. Surely that would be a little more certain to do the job?

The sound of the helicopter above her brought her back to the present. Looking up she realized she'd lost her cube when she'd lost her concentration on it, which was singularly irritating. With a glare, she set it back up again, blocking the helicopter back in.

The chopper hovered again, and then – it moved. In a flash of blinding white, it just moved.

One minute it was in the cube, the next it was hovering in the sky behind her, leaving an empty purple box floating in the middle of the air.

That teleporter! It must be the same guy!

The energy signature is indeed the same. 

Psychotic let the cube collapse before hurling a few bolts straight for the underside of the helicopter. As before, the chopper just swerved out of the way. The movements were almost graceful, surprising for such a cumbersome looking machine. With a grunt of frustration, Psychotic launched herself straight for the chopper, hoping to get close enough to make it impossible for her to miss.

The helicopter sped away from her. With a barely suppressed yell of anger, Psychotic followed, speeding up to catch up with the chopper.

Hmm. Didn't know we could go this fast.

Psychotic just sped up more. Within seconds they were back over Maggie Lawrence's house, where the chopper swerved round and came up behind her in a graceful arc. Psychotic pulled herself up short and twisted round, aiming a bolt which the machine just dodged. Below her, Flash was down to about 15 men who were still putting up quite a fight. A few more men were around the periphery of the back garden, dragging wounded mercenaries towards a convoy of Jeeps lined up just behind the now demolished back fence. The bags they'd initially come for were nowhere to be seen. Psychotic glared at the cars and sent a few bolts to crush a few of the vehicles before the helicopter sped for her, rotors first. Hopefully that would slow them down a bit.

She flew herself out of the way of the chopper, then implemented her latest idea. Instead of a bolt of magic, she sent out ropes, throwing them haphazardly around the helicopter and letting them tangle into the rotors as they fell. With a grin of triumph she 'pulled' with the magic, tightening the ropes around the spinning blades. A few really ominous noises creaked out of the chopper as the rotor blades started to slow down. A little more and they'd stop, sending the blasted thing crashing into the ground where she hoped it would smash to pieces.

Instead, it moved again. A flash of white that nearly blinded her, and the motors sounded behind right behind her. She didn't have time to dodge before the helicopter blades smashed into her, on catching her from the back and swinging her round in an arc before she was thrown off to crash into one of the deserted houses across the road.

Where the hell are all the people? I'm sure there were neighbours when we were here.

Not the time!

This was getting ridiculous. Between the crazy movement of the helicopter and the teleporting, Psychotic was having a hard time coming up with a way to stop the damn thing.

I suggest you get moving, the 'damn thing' is coming back!

Psychotic sent an irritated glare up at the fast approaching helicopter. Flying at it didn't work, shooting at it didn't work, tangling it up didn't work –

Is it not electronic?

Duh Psych. How do you think it keeps those blade things turning?

I only mention it because if I am correct does the magic not blow out electronics if you have a surge of power?

Psych, you are a genius.

Psychotic glared up at the machine as it approached. It hovered directly above her, a good twenty feet up, high enough for it to react if she did anything, but too far for her to get close without their noticing.

How much of a surge can we manage?

A lot. Psych has a lot of magic holed up.

Here goes.

A deep breath in, a calming of her heart beat, then Psychotic just let loose with all the magic she could, sending a pulse of magic straight out in all directions, tinting the air lavender as it radiated out. Even if the chopper saw it coming, there was so much magic in every direction that it wouldn't be able to dodge.

The wave went right through the helicopter, shorting every circuit as it passed through, causing a series of blow outs that randomly set off the guns, sent the lights flickering, stopped the rotor blades, and then in a glorious electric overload, caused the entire machine to just explode.

Psychotic flew straight up through the falling debris, clearing the dust cloud and then pausing to survey the destruction with a sense of deep satisfaction.

Now let's go find Flash.