N2: HELLO! I AM ALIVE! I'm soooo sorry it took me so long to update and I apologize in advance for the chapter. It not bad, in fact I think it's pretty good but...oh wait and see. I blame school and Christmas and New Year for the lack of date I guess. Or you could thank Christmas becasue I was planning on updating on Christmas as a present but didn't have enough done. Plus I got hooked on Hot Wheels: Battle Force 5, call me a nerd, I don't care, I bask in nerdy-ness. ALso I AM NOW A BROWN BELT IN TAEKWONDO! THAT'S VERY CLOSE TO BLACK! FREE PORN! HA got your attention huh? Anywho I got motivation from Cirruz The Night Elf. THat name should be underlined, All caps, any thing 'cause anyone who loves this story should be thanking that wonderful author. I too that Cirruz for the wonderful PM. THank you sooo much, that made me feel motivated and very much loved. I re-started working on the second chapter that night and even took my computer to school! No real plot occurs it's probably going to be the only filler in the story. And so the rest of the note and the then the *muwahahaha* story.
Dedication: Cirruz The Night Elf for the wonderful motivation! I have a picture of the PM on my phone! No lie! In fact if you and Riqis Inna Sunja are reading this reading this, PM me and I'll, at the risk of sounding vain, let you two be in the N2 note! If you want to of course.
Legend
"Talking"
"Thinking"
Lyrics
/Mind Link/
Disclaimer: I in no way own or profit from the making for the Young Justice Cartoon or comic. All rights and profits belong to DC comics, Gred Wiesman, Bradon Vietti , and Cartoon Network.
Deliverance in the Labyrinth
Chapter 2: Inferno
"It's still coming!" cried Wally; suddenly he felt his feet slip on the floor, which he realized as he was coated in a slippery substance, but it wasn't water. He turned around to see the boulder coming. There was no way he could run on this substance. The boulder rolled closer and was almost on him when…
"Kid!" Artemis yelled, she shot a single arrow, which exploded to launch a net in the boulder's path, temporarily blocking the rock's path. She and Superboy hurried over to help the Speedster up.
"You ok?" Superboy asked as he pried the substance off of Wally's feet. Once he was free KF hopped up and grabbed the two pulling them away.
"I'm great! Now lets go before the boulder-" He was cut off by a the sound of ripping. The three turned and their eyes widened in horror as the boulder broke free of the net and continued on its way toward them. They turned around and continued running. They heard Robin's voice coming from up ahead.
"Superboy, Artemis, KF! Over here!" The three saw the other members of the team standing at another fork in the path, "Come on!" Robin yelled and the three followed the rest of the team into the left path.
"It's still coming!" Miss Martian yelled, but Robin shook his head,
"Don't worry," He said reassuringly, "We'll be alright," The rest of the group looked at him incredulously but decided to put faith in their youngest teammate. They braced themselves for the impact they all thought was coming but it never happened. The boulder rolled down the other path and they all heard the sound of it crashing against a wall. "A dead end," Thought Wally, "What if we had gone down that way?" he thought ominously and gave in involuntary shiver. They all let out a collective sigh of relief.
"Is everyone alright?" Aqualad asked and they all nodded their heads. Miss Martian turned to Robin who was looking at some data on his computer.
"How did you know this way was safe?" she asked curiously, the rest of the team listened in, wanting to know how he had accomplished the efeat of not getting them killed.
"Dang, no signal," He muttered before turning to the Martian, "Huh? Oh! How'd I know this was the way? Simple, the floor sloped up going left and down going right. A boulder can't roll uphill so it made sense that left was right...again!" The others laughed but suddenly their leader collapsed, cutting their good humor short.
"Aqualad!" They all cried as they hurried over to him. Robin checked his vitals and shook his head.
"He's dehydrated," Rob explained, "With the lack of water, his gills have nothing to draw on to give his body support."
"We need to get him water, and soon!" Artemis urged. KF shot her a look,
"Thanks, Modo!" Robin's lips twitched at his friends teasing, which turned into a full-fledged grin when Artemis smack Kid upside the head.
"KF!" He called drawing his friend's attention away from his argument, "Got any water we can use?" Wally looked through his supplies for a moment before making a small noise of victory and handing The Boy Wonder a small canteen, which the youngest teen then poured over Aqualad's head. The teen leader sputtered as he came around. Aqualad's eyes opened and he made out several shapes hovering above him; he stared for a moment before his vision cleared revealing his teammate's relieved faces.
"W-What happened?" He said as he slowly sat up with Robin's assistance. Wally grinned and thumped the leader on the back.
"You passed out, man," He explained, "Dehydration. You've got Rob's quick thinking to thank that you're still with us!" Aqualad turned to face Robin.
"Thank you, Robin," He said solemnly. The Boy Wonder grinned and gave his leader a thumbs up.
"No prob!" He replied but his smile soon faded and was replaced with a look of seriousness that the team was not used to seeing, even Artemis had only seen it once and that was in the middle of the attack on the base by the reds. In the pipes when he had yelled at her to "get traught or get dead!"
"We should get out of here," The raven-haired teen said as he stood up with Kaldur, his body supporting the still weak Atlantean, "We don't know what other trap Zucco has planned for us," "His name tastes like poison," Robin noted dryly. Miss Martian, who had heard the thought as Robin hadn't put up any mental barriers, shivered at the malice in the teen hero's voice and decided she didn't want to know how he knew what poison tasted like. Superboy walked over and took Aqualad from Robin. He held the leader bridal style and nodded at Robin once he had situated his leader's weight and with that the team ran off down the hallway with the youngest leading the way. Every once and while the group would come across a fork in the path or a turn in the hall but Robin never hesitated and lead them on with a rapid pace. When they turned left down a corridor they were greeted with a four way split in the hall, with two of the passages going either left or right and two more sitting next to each other.
"Well this is just great," Wally muttered as the six of them caught their breath, "Any ideas Rob?" the Teen Speedster asked his friend who was looking at his holographic computer.
"Nothin' " The Boy Wonder said as his fingers danced across the screen. He shook his head and frowned at the thing on the screen. The team crowded around the youngest member as he explained their situation.
"Up till now the passage ways have followed a fairly predictable pattern of a straight hall with four turns the first three being tricks leading to either a dead end or a trap of some kind. The last turn on the right leads to a two way split with the right path filled with some kind of explosive and the left being the next hall. The pattern repeats once before the directions switch and what was on the right is now on the left," As Robin finished explaining the team stared at him in wonder. He shrugged at their astonished looks, "What? It's easy if you think about it."
"How do you know all this?" Artemis asked, hands on her hips, "You don't go down all that passages so how'd you figure it out?" The other members turned toward the raven-haired teen in anticipation.
"A map," he answered as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, "I used sonic frequencies to echo map the place."
"Like echolocation?" Wally asked. Robin nodded in confirmation as Megan stepped forward,
"How could we not hear it?" Miss Martian asked. Robin turned to Conner.
"Superboy can hear it. The pitch is too high for anyone who's ears are any less than super to make out," Now addressing the clone he asked, "You've heard a hyper pitch sound haven't you? It's not constant, but it almost…I dunno bounces?" Conner nodded slowly before responding,
"I thought it was an effect of the maze. You know a disadvantage or something," Robin nodded in understanding before returning to his computer.
"I've been trying to echo map the rest of the maze but it seems that something is blocking my signals. I can't…quite…get…a fix," He said, obviously preoccupied. Suddenly a loud sound pierced that relatively quiet maze. Wally, Robin, and Artemis recognized it as music.
"What is that?" Kaldur asked, his hands covering his ears, the music was rather loud. Conner's hands already covered his ears and he seemed on the verge of collapsing, the super ears Robin had mentioned weren't always an asset.
"It's Hollywood Undead," Artemis explained, "Their a band. This song is called City," Suddenly the lyrics became much louder and Megan shivered at the slightly disturbing lyrics. Especially to a Martian whose worst fear was fire.
Let's watch it burn
Let's watch it burn
Let's watch this city burn the world
Let's watch the city burn
From the skylines on top of the world
Till there's nothing left in her
Let's watch this city burn the world
"That's creepy," Wally said as he and Conner tried to comfort the distraught Martian despite their own discomfort. Miss Martian had collapsed at the mere mention of such a massive amount of fire.
My body doused in ash with two empty cans of gas
The only evidence they have is a police sketch of my mask
And it's hard at times to ask if you can save my heart for last
And it's hard to face the facts when the darkness fades to black
It's not just make believe when they make me take a seat
And they put amphetamines in the air and make me breathe
So come on and grab your children, look out for burning buildings
And villains who pillage, they're killing by the millions
And billions of people die for a lost cause
So now I pray to my nation destroyed under God
Suddenly, the team could take no more of the haunting lyrics. They began to run through the maze, Robin once again leading. His directions were a little less sure but they encounter no traps so they didn't care. All the team wanted to do was escape the song that seemed to promise death.
It's the end of the world
All my battles have been won
But the war has just begun
Let's watch this city burn
From the skylights on top of the world
'Til there's nothing left of her
Let's watch this city burn the world
The city looks so pretty, do you wanna burn it with me?
'Til the skies bleeds ashes and the freaking skyline crashes
They catch us with matches to ignite the flame
And all the hopes of a youth deemed freaking insane
As they ran Conner's ears picked up on the sound of roaring flame.
/Guys! / He yelled in their mind link, but the warning came to late. Flames ripped around the corner and nipped at the teams heels like hellhounds. Megan screamed and passed out. Superboy caught her with ease, never breaking his rapid pace as he caught his girlfriend. The music continued only making this seem like a scene in some kind of twisted movie.
They say,
Take the pill
In god we trust
Go and kill
God loves us
As in life as in death
Breathing 'til there is no breath
I will not die in the night but in the light
Of the sun with the ashes of this world in my lungs
But who am I to say let's all just run away
Grab your saints and pray, we're gonna burn this world today.
They turned a corner and came to a halt.
"Dead end!" Artemis screamed panic in her voice.
Say it's the end of the world
As in heaven as on earth
We've been dead since our birth
Let's watch this city burn
From the skylights on top of the world
'Til there's nothing left of her
Let's watch this city burn the world
Kaldur began to feel the effect of the extreme heat and started to sway. Wally helped him keep his balance, but at that same time the inferno wall rounded the corner and traveled closer and closer to the heroes.
Let's watch it burn
Let's watch it burn
The city looks so pretty,
Do you wanna burn it with me?
The city looks so pretty
Do you wanna burn it with me?
The city looks so pretty
Do you wanna burn it with me?
We use the trees as torches
Do you wanna burn it with me?
Fill the streets with corpses
Do you wanna burn it with me?
Watch the city fucking bleed
Do you wanna burn it with me?
Bring the world to its knees
Do you wanna burn it with me?
Let's watch this city burn
From the skylights on top of the world
'Til there's nothing left of her
Let's watch this city burn the world
Let's watch this city burn
From the skylights on top of the world
'Til there's nothing left of her
Let's watch this city burn the world
Conner clutched Megan closer; Wally, Artemis, and Kaldur moved to provide each other comfort in what their last moments. The wall of flame rushed closer…
Let's watch it burn
Let's watch it burn
Let's watch this city burn the world
N2: I'M SORRY! I had to end it like that! Cliffhangers are so much easier to pick up from than chapters that end decently. I'M SORRY! Especially for how short it is. Taekwondo started back up as well as school so I canna promise anything but I have a good ides for the next chapter and I want to get it out there soon. Plus I have a story to write for English so I'll probably be working on that. HELP! does anyone know of a good app for iphone that I can write on? If do please let me know. And yes, I do listen to Hollywood Undead. I blame it on a friend/...something at school who got me into them. He's a something 'cause I'm not sure what exactly we are. I mean I HAD emphasis on had a crush on him, but now I think of him as friend but I not sure what he thinks of me soooo yeah he's a friend/ something. Sorry 'bout the rant. lol :) Stay tooned for more, hopefully a longer and less cliffhanger chapter of Deliverance in the Labyrinth! Any one who can guess what will happen next gets cyber hugs and plushies! Maybe the disclaimer too 0_0. Any who! I love you guys and hope to see you in the next chapter!
Thanks a bunch ~Noa Nee