A/N – Thank you all for your reviews. Please continue reviewing! I own nothing except Dark Justice.
"You're getting slower and slower Uncle Barry – soon I might be able to outrun you walking!" Kid Flash exclaimed when Flash and Lady Martian returned. Lady Martian was in her Black Canary disguise again and Flash's armor was deactivated.
Young Justice was currently playing a video game, Kaldur and Megan both sitting out so the others could play. Wally had paused it when the two heroes entered, making Robin groan in irritation. Artemis huffed and Superboy just shrugged and turned to look at Black Canary and Flash.
Flash smiled playfully, squashing all uneasiness he might of felt. He had been mistaken for his uncle before as both the Flash and Wally West, the later no longer existing in his mind. His voice had become very similar to his deceased Uncle's as he'd grown up.
"Yeah right Kid – I can still beat you any day." He shot back lightheartedly. Wally beamed.
"Did you guys find out who was kidnapping those lone heroes?" Kaldur asked concerned.
Black Canary shook her head solemnly. "Not yet, sadly. We'll find them eventually though, and take 'um out. Don't worry – we'll take care of it." Then she smiled. "Thankfully nothing else is malfunctioning, so you guys should be fine in here. We'll have to get Batman to double check his work on the recognizer – I'm surprised the genius messed up on it."
"I'm sure Batman just wasn't focused on it." Robin said, instantly defending his mentor.
Black Canary and Flash both laughed at the thought of the Dark Knight messing up anything, let alone a simple recognizer. The messed up recognizer was Nightwing's work, having purposefully snapped several wires to make it so that it miscalculated the person's identity. It was mean to be a cover, so that Lady Martian could come in as anyone and no one would know otherwise. Batman had fixed it however and the recognizer had correctly labeled both of them that morning. Thankfully no one else had come through to prove it fixed. Nightwing had broken it again during breakfast, so they should be good.
Besides, both future heroes knew that the League wouldn't come to check up Young Justice til tomorrow. Tomorrow they would move into the next part of their plan: locking up both their younger selves and their mentors.
Black Canary turned to leave. "We'll see you guys tomorrow!" Flash called to the young heroes, knowing it to be true.
Wally waved at his uncle as he left and grinned at his teammates. "I'm glad they trust us." He sighed happily. He didn't know what he would do if his uncle and idol didn't trust him. Uncle Barry was practically his dad. Robin grinned in agreement – Bruce was practically his world.
Megan nodded enthusiastically. Her uncle meant everything to her; she'd do anything for him and didn't know what she'd do without him. Kaldur nodded as well, feeling the same about his King as Megan did for her uncle.
Artemis, not one for gooey emotions, just unpaused the game with a sneaky grin and the digital fight began again, Kid calling out indignantly about Artemis 'cheating'.
"Identification: Hawkman."
The next day the members of Young Justice all turned to see the familiar form of Black Canary enter. They were all enjoying a nice lunch in the kitchen – Megan hadn't been able to repeat her previous success from two days ago so they had made Kid Flash run out for a pizza.
"It can never get it right, can it?" Black Canary muttered amused. Robin frowned, sensing something weird. Kid Flash just grinned mischievously.
"Don't worry about it getting your gender wrong. It did that to Batman too." Kid Flash said. Black Canary and the members of Young Justice laughed at that, some at the very idea and some at the memory.
"I wish I could have seen that." Black Canary said with a smirk of her own, knowing that technically, she had.
Kaldur caught the attention of the older heroine. "Are you here to check up on us? Because we're fine; our mentors need not worry so much."
Black Canary was shaking her head before Kaldur had finished. "Nope, I'm here of free will. Flash couldn't come today – he had guard duty for the injured heroine." None knew she was lying on that last part. Flash was actually waiting just outside Mount Justice with the others, waiting for her to give the signal that the coast was clear.
"Ah, I knew you cared Canary." KF joked holding his hands over his heart.
Black Canary huffed. "Don't be annoying. Now, you kids want to see something really cool?" She said, catching all the young heroes' attention.
"You bet!" Robin said grinning while Kid Flash fist pumped. Even Superboy looked interested.
"I'm glad you all are suited up – that means we don't have to wait. Follow me." Black Canary said. She lead them down several of the lesser used Mount Justice hallways until they got to a dead end hallway with no doors. She led them all the way to the end before stopping at a blank wall.
"Uh, no offence Black Canary, but there isn't anything here." Artemis said in confusion. She felt slightly on edge, with Aqualad and Robin sharing her feelings. Superboy, Kid Flash, and Miss Martian were plain confused.
Black Canary just rapped the on the wall rapidly three times in a row. A muted click sounded and the whole wall slid aside to reveal a stark white room. Amazed, the whole team wandered inside.
"What is this room?" Superboy asked, noticing the see-through rooms. Those plexiglas boxes didn't look friendly in his opinion.
Black Canary smirked. But instead of looking cocky it looked devious to them. "The containment room. Sleep well. Activate." She commanded. With a rapid knock on the side wall the secret wall door swiftly began to close.
The Young Justice team, realizing that they had been tricked, made a mad dash for the door. Only Kid Flash got through, blurring out just before it closed. The others ran straight into the closed door. Superboy pounded into it but it barely dented the thing. He growled angrily.
"What did she mean activate?" Artemis said warily, her bow in her hand with an arrow strung.
"That," Kaldur said, pointing to the circular devices on the walls. Robin had just enough time to see that there was some sort of black symbol on it before a large hole opened on the symbol, a yellow gas pouring out.
"Crap!" Robin hissed. "Cover your breath!" Robin commanded, covering his own mouth with his breathalyzer.
Aqualad, Artemis, Miss Martian, and Superboy all covered their mouths and noses, but it was no use. Robin watched his teammates quickly collapse to the ground in a dead faint.
"This is a disaster, heavy on the dis." Robin muttered. Now that he thought about it, he was starting to feel a bit dizzy. Robin's knees buckled and he fell to the ground. His last thought was on how in the world Black Canary had gotten a chemical that could get through his breathalyzer and why she had turned on them in the first place.
Kid Flash zipped into the hallway. He spun around to see the secret door closed, Black Canary standing there with her hands on her hips and a frustrated look on her face. "I should've known you'd get out. I should've just activated those stupid devices and closed the door with no warning. Shit." She muttered.
Kid's hands curled into fist and he glared at Canary. "What the heck? What was that for? You're supposed to be a hero!" Kid Flash yelled.
Black Canary sighed. Some things about Flash didn't change with age. "I am a hero. And I really didn't want to do this, Wally. Whatever, I suppose." Black Canary took a deep breath and let loose a loud screech. The powerful screech sounded through the hallway and Kid Flash clamped his hands over his ears, trying to block out the sound. It was too strong and with pain ringing through his ears and head, he collapsed.
Black Canary gave a gleeful smile and clapped her hands together. "Finally! Now, to double check." The future heroine reached out with her mind into the containment room. Yep, all their younger selves were unconscious, KF included.
Black Canary shifted back into Lady Martian, considerably happier than yesterday. She reached out with her mind once more to detect the six awaiting minds outside. With another smile, she sent out a simple message.
Young Justice is down.
It took about three seconds for Flash, clad in his usual black armor, to appear beside her, coming to a graceful stop. He looked down at his younger self lying unconscious on the floor before turning to glare angrily at her.
"You weren't supposed to hurt them!" Flash snapped.
Lady Martian rolled her eyes. "He got out. I had to contain him before he informed the League. It's not my fault you like to mess up plans."
Flash just continued to glare at the young woman. "You just screeched because it was me. Anyone else you would have mentally lulled unconscious." Flash muttered accusingly before moving over to pick up his younger self in his arms. Flash had to admit that this was a little strange, even for Dark Justice.
The rest of the team finally made it to the hallway. Tigress glared at Flash the second she saw him. "You could have waited for us, Crimson Speedster." She growled, but there was a light tone to her voice. She was being extra nice to anyone who sped up her revenge.
"I don't see the difference between Scarlet and Crimson." Flash muttered and Lady Martian reopened the containment room door to reveal the fallen Young Justice members.
"Crimson is associated with blood." Superman said plainly before picking up his younger self. The other Dark Justice members moved to recover their respective younger selves with Red Arrow leaning against the doorway, unconsciously shifting to guard duty. They locked their younger selves up in the cells, making sure to be careful. None of them wanted their younger self hurt any more than they wanted their mentor hurt.
"Man of Bloody Steel," Flash reiterated, fondly petting his younger self on the head before exiting Kid Flash's cell. Wally West was still alive here, and it somehow made his younger self different from his future self. He just couldn't figure out what that difference was yet.
"Guys, we all know the Light likes to make us the villains; there's no need to rub it in to each other." Red Arrow said from his doorway, thinking of his own press nickname – Bloody Arrow. Honestly he thought, rolling his eyes.
Tigress snorted in agreement. "Our press sure does love blood, doesn't it?" She asked sarcastically. She then turned to Lightning Trident, a huge feline smile stretching across her face. "Sportsmaster is dead. It was easy enough to hunt down the man like the rat he is – was – and have my fun. I haven't felt this good in a while." She practically purred in delight, her golden eyes seeming more alive than they looked the last time she killed her father.
"Good for you Tigress," Trident said, not bothered in the least. They had lost their morals when they'd lost their mentors. "Nightwing, when will they be here?"
Nightwing lifted up a blue and black gauntlet and pressed a few unnoticeable buttons. A screen appeared on the gauntlet displaying something no one else but Nightwing could see. "In just over half an hour Batman and Martian Manhunter should show up to check on Young Justice if my memory serves me right, which it does. However, we can call in the heroes a little early if we want to. I'm sure if, say, Kaldur sends in an emergency message to League that Mount Justice has been attacked, we can guaranty all the mentors will show up."
Everyone looked at Lady Martian. She huffed angrily. "Why do I feel I'm doing all the heavy work?" She asked and no one cared to respond. With a sigh she morphed into Aqualad and left for the living room with its giant monitor.
"Red Arrow, I want you to go get your younger self and bring him back here. You should be able to remember where you were. Superman, you know what your job is. Tigress, you have watch duty. You've gotten enough action this morning." Trident commanded before exiting the room, the rest of Dark Justice trailing behind him.
Tigress planted herself in the monitor's chair. On the screen was the all the security cameras in Mount Justice, both inside and out. Tigress just stared at the screen, replaying her father's death over and over in her head. She could feel the violent, clawing hunger that had begged for revenge inside her chest ease once more. It had been there since the day her father, just a week after the Day of Darkness where her mentor was killed, came to her apartment she shared with her mother and set loose a set of tigers on them, saying that hunting was his new favorite sport and that he wished his traitor of a daughter would've died with her mentor. Sportsmaster had known everything thanks to Light, and he had come for revenge.
The tigers had killed her mother before she could even get her bow, to her devastation. In a blind fury she had killed the tigers, earning herself a painful clawful to the face among other wounds before they both were death. Her father had then set a hunting gun on her, but she had dodged the bullet and shot her father in the neck with one of her sharp tipped arrows before she knew what she was doing.
Later on, after her team had told her that what she did was perfectly acceptable in her situation and that they didn't hate her for it, she had secretly wished she had shot him in the eye instead, that she had covered his body in arrows slowly and painfully instead of killing him with one quick shot. He had taken everything from her – he had deserved a longer, more drawn-out death.
She had made sure he got it this time – Sportsmaster hadn't even known she was his daughter until the slow, bloody end.
Oh yes, revenge was sweet.
~I wish these chappies were longer but I'm trying to not put out everything I have at once. Don't worry, I've already have the next three or so chappies done, they just need to be edited one last time.
Did you like Tigress/Artemis' past? I know that she isn't wearing the original Tigress costume but I like the one I made up. It's pretty much the one she wears in my other story, "Close To You". And I wouldn't make any of the members of Dark Justice go insane without a reason.
Also, I've been thinking about, after I finish this story, writing one that tells the actual tale of the Day of Darkness and the things the team went through to change from Young Justice into Dark Justice and go further in-depth with these seven characters. I've kinda fallen in love with them. If enough people want me to I can start before I finish this story. Just a thought.
~For I Will Run You Over