Gotc: Well, I'm back.
Ace: Yaaaaaay...
Gotc: Shut it. Anyway, the last chap started off a bit rocky, but I think this one will be a ton better.
Ace: Uh-huh, sure...
Gotc: One day you're gonna start listening to me...Like I said, this chap will be better, a bit more action, maybe a bit of a love interest? Either way you'll have to read to find out! Squeaky!!
Squeaky: Squeak! (Gotc does not own JL, so the thieves will have to look elsewhere. Oh, and Gotc wants me to remind the readers to review and stuff cause it makes her feel appreciated.)
Gotc: Thanks Squeaky. Enjoy!!! Oh by the way, Italics are a character's thoughts. Now enjoy.
Rise of the Guardian: Ancient Power, Modern Age
CHAPTER 2 : The Meeting
Batman scoured the dark streets and alleyways of Gotham, his practiced eyes searching for anything that might be out of the ordinary. But tonight, he was distracted. The words of that Shade dealer still swarmed around in his head.
"The Guardian is coming."
Who was this Guardian? What did he have to do with the outbreak of Shade? How had he managed to scare two hardened criminals into near oblivion? And what was he doing in Gotham?
Batman sighed in frustration. Right now the last thing he needed to worry about was another rouge vigilante. Granted he was one himself, but the with the Justice League around him, it tended to help keep his emotions in check when it came to dealing with criminals. This Guardian had no such restraint.
Raised voices coming from a bar below caught his attention. He reached for his grapple to investigate when a single man casually walked out. Taking note of the direction he took, the Dark Knight swooped down and peered into the bar. Three men all lay unconscious and the bartender was nowhere to be seen. Batman picked up the receiver of the bar's pay phone and dialed 911 before taking off after the man.
Alleyways twisted and turned into a never ending maze of brick and concrete, with hardly a lone street light to illuminate the path in the fading light of the evening. Every moment that passed seemed to drag on for an eternity, and every step led Batman further and further into the dangerous labyrinth. He knew full well that many gangs and crime bosses used this side of town as a base of operations, and the last thing he wanted to do was accidentally stumble across one with out backup. But every turn he made only reveled another trash filled alley. At last he stopped, knowing that going any further was a foolish idea.
"You know, I wondered how long you would keep following me for." A voice be hind him said.
Batman spun around, several batarangs already in his hand. A young man stood before hi, hands stuffed in the pockets of his jacket.
"Put those away." He said, "I didn't come here to fight you."
"What were you doing in that bar?" Batman said ignoring him.
"Having a drink." He shrugged, "Name's Ace Cooper. You?"
Batman responded with an icy glare.
"Oh that's right," Ace said, "You Justice League people don't give out that kind of information huh?"
"No, we just like the costumes." Batman growled, "There are three men unconscious in that bar you just walked out of. Care to tell me why?"
"You know, I had to go almost fourteen blocks out of my way to make sure no one was following you." Ace continued, "Those Shade dealers have all sorts of spies out around town, and I'm sure a couple will be looking for me after they find out I took out one of their top sellers."
"So you did attack those three men in the bar."
"Actually, they attacked me," Ace said, "Look, Batboy, or whatever they call you. You and your superpals will do better if you sit this one out. Believe me when I say, these people are the last you want to get involved with."
"You seem to have no problem taking them on by yourself." Batman said.
"I have experience." Ace said reaching into his jacket and pulling out a vial, "You know what this is? This is Shade."
"How did you-"
"Shut up and listen, you may learn something." Ace growled, "This is actually not a new drug. It's been around for hundreds of years, and as I'm sure you've discovered, it's incredibly easy to go overboard with the stuff. It's a berserker drug. A steroid on steroids, if you catch my drift. The samurai of Japan would take it before going off to battle, giving them increased stamina, strength, and a seemingly immortal appearance after taking blows that should have killed them."
"And you know about this how?" Batman asked.
"Hmph, you don't listen very well do you?"
"..."
"Look, I could care less if you and your buddies go out there and get some of this stuff off the street by busting some kid who has it," Ace said turning to leave, "But I suggest that you leave this alone, or you're going to be faced with way more than you're little organization can handle."
Ace turned around and started to walk away, when a batarang whizzed past his head and ricocheted off of a wall.
"You're not going anywhere. Even if all of that is true, you're in possession of a controlled substance. Which happens to be against the law." Batman said reaching for a percussion grenade.
"Last I checked, so was being a vigilante." Ace said over his shoulder, "I'm warning you one last time: Stay out of this."
"Sorry."
Batman tossed the grenade directly at Ace, detonating it right in front of his face. With out hesitation, he threw several batarangs into the smoke cloud for good measure, and stood ready for any attack Ace might try. Everything was quiet, and though the dust had started to settle, he still couldn't see into it.
"Must have knocked him out..."
Suddenly, four batarangs fell right in front of him, and hit the ground with a metallic clank.
"You're far too predictable," Ace sighed behind him.
"How-"
"When you wake up, I suggest you take my advice."
Before Batman could turn around, he felt a sharp pain in the back of his neck. The world spun around once, before darkness claimed him.
Ace grabbed Batman's cape as he fell, and drug the Dark Knight behind a dumpster, and went through his utility belt until he found a tracking device.
"You'll be safe enough here until you're friends can find you." Ace said to him, as he activated the transponder, before disappearing into the twilight, leaving behind only a faint beeping
-------------------------------------------
"Are you sure about this Wonder Woman?" Flash asked as he zipped from street to street.
"Yes. Alfred said Batman never came back last night, and he's not answering his com-link." She replied soaring overhead, "It's not like him to be out of touch for so long, especially these days. Superman, do you have anything?"
"I'm not sure, but I think I can here a transponder roughly coming from where you and Flash are now." He replied.
"Yeah, well it would certainly help if I had your hearing," Flash huffed.
The Scarlet Speedster finished with another alley leaving no piece of garbage unturned, and was about to speed off, when a man came running out of an adjacent alley.
"Hey! You there! Are you one of the Justice League?! Some guy in a bat costume is out cold back here!"
"Can you show me where he is?" Flash asked rushing over to him.
"Yeah, sure," the man said pointing down the alley, "He's about four or five blocks this wa-"
Flash cut him off and picked him up under his arm before taking off in the direction the man had pointed.
"Wait! Stop!" He cried after a three second trip.
Flash came to an abrupt halt and set the man on his feet, only to have him clutch his stomach and stumble to the nearest wall for support.
"H-he's behind...that dumpster..." He said turning a shade of pale green before bending over and losing his breakfast.
"Oooo...sorry about that," Flash grimaced, then remembering the whole reason he'd come down here, moved the dumpster and reveled his missing comrade.
"Guys! He's down here! He's out cold, but he seems to be ok." Flash reported before breaking open smelling salts under his friend's nose.
Batman coughed and sputtered a few times, before coming around.
"Hey there Bats, "Flash sighed, "You gave us quite a scare."
By the time the rest of the League arrived, Batman was starting to recover enough to recall the events of the night before.
"So let me get this straight," Flash said after Batman had recounted his story, "You were taken out by just one guy?!"
Everyone glared angrily at Flash.
"What?! It is Bats we're talking about."
"Maybe you should shut up for once." Green Lantern said crossing his arms.
"Flash does have a point." Superman said, "Out of all of you, Batman is one of the last people I'd want to fight."
"Superman's right." Hawkgirl agreed, "If he's strong enough to take down Batman, we need to be on our guard. Who ever this Ace Cooper is, he's obviously very dangerous."
"Ace Cooper?! And you're not dead?!"
"The League turned around to face the man who had found Batman. He had obviously recovered from his bout of motion sickness enough to listen in on their conversation.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt." He apologized.
"And who might you be?" J'onn asked
"Argon," He said with a small bow
His appearance was slightly odd. Spiked fire red hair adorned the top of his head, shading his sharp green eyes. A black jacket and pair of jeans hung on a sturdy, yet lean frame.
"Strange name." Hawkgirl said suspiciously.
"Mother was a fan of Ancient Greece." He explained.
"I can tell," Wonder Woman said folding her arms, "How do you know about this man?"
"You've got to be kidding me," Argon scoffed, "Ace is the undefeated fifteen time World Martial Arts Champion. His name is practically legend to every aspiring martial artist. No one's ever even been able to so much as touch him. I'll be willing to bet that your buddy over there never even seen Ace move before he bit the dust."
"Just because he's an accomplished fighter, doesn't automatically make him a killer." Superman reasoned.
"Heh. You Suits are so naive." Argon said shaking his head
"Care to run that past me again?!"Hawkgirl said grabbing Argon's collar.
"Look Pigeongirl," Argon growled, "Ace hasn't been seen or heard of in close to five years. After the incident, he all but disappeared off the face of the Earth. Now you want to put me down or not?"
Hawkgirl glared at Argon for a moment before relinquishing her hold on him.
"What incident?" Wonder Woman asked.
"You seven seem to figure these things out pretty well on your own, so I won't spoil everything for you." Argon said walking away, "Oh, glad your friend's alright."
"Thanks for the tip." Superman said.
"No problem," Argon said vanishing around the corner, "But if I were you, I'd stay as far away from Ace Cooper as you possibly could."
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"Think we can trust what that guy said? Flash asked.
"I'm not sure." Superman pondered, "But right now it's all we have. We need to find this guy as soon as possible."
"Whoa! Didn't that guy just say to stay away from him?" Flash recalled.
"Think about it hotshot," Lantern said, "Do you think it's better letting this guy run loose around innocent people?"
"Well no."
"The quit the wining and get searching."
Flash scowled at Green Lantern before taking off. Hawkgirl and Green Lantern followed suit and took to the skies.
"J'onn, take Batman back to the Watchtower and run a diagnostic to be safe." Superman said leaping into the air.
"No, this is my city and I will not let someone else do my job when I'm perfectly capable of doing it myself." Batman protested.
"Bruce, you're in no condition for this right now. And we need you at the Watchtower to find out what 'incident' Argon was talking about. My decision is final." Superman said before taking off after the others.
Batman angrily punched the dumpster that had concealed him for most of the night, and nearly fell over as everything around him began to spin. He still wasn't fully recovered yet, but that didn't mean that he wasn't able to do his job.
"Bruce, Superman's only doing what he thinks is right." Wonder Woman said, "This Shade has affected Metropolis too. He's just as adamant about it as you are."
"It's no excuse." He growled.
"Please, just go to the Watchtower and get some rest." She pleaded.
Batman stared silently at the dent he had made for a moment.
"Fine."
"Thank you." Wonder woman said taking off, then added, "I'm glad you're ok."
--------------------------------
Argon walked for several blocks before his cell phone began to ring.
"What is it?" He growled into it
"You're late." An irritated voice said, "What's taking you so long?"
"I had a run-in with the League"
"You idiot! I told you to-"
"Oh please, do you really think I"d let myself be caught by them? I'm better at this than you give me credit for." Argon said, "And besides, if I hadn't, I wouldn't have found out that Ace Cooper was in the city."
"WHAT?!"
"Knock it off. Panic doesn't suit you. Right now the League's after him and we're in the clear for now, though there's no doubt in my mind Cooper knows we're here."
"It's a dangerous game you're playing my friend."
"That's what you hired me for." Argon said before hanging up the phone.
Gotc: WOO!! Much better.
Ace: Not too bad...I like the mysterious thing with me.
Gotc: Shut your face before you give everything away. Anyway, I'd like to extend my thanks to moogsthewriter for the review! And I hope this is enough to keep you entertained until my next post! See ya everybody!! R&R!!