Author's Notes:

Here's Chapter 5 at last! Woot woot! Before it goes on to the chapter itself, I'd like to acknowledge a couple of people.

T2Angel: Thanks a ton for your continued support throughout these BOTF stories. Your reviews definitely inspire me to keep writing and posting more chapters for them!

Sailor Sacred Moon: A big thanks to you for following these stories as well, and asking me to continue. Being asked to continue writing a story tells me that I'm on the right track.

Please read and review (and enjoy if you can)...

Warhawk ran through the streets of Metropolis as Batgirl limped as fast as she could after him, despite the deep wound on her lower left leg that was quickly becoming infected from the dangerous smoke lingering in the air. Coba knew that the quickest way for her and Warhawk to get back to the JLU Tower undetected would be to run. After over an hour of agonizing running and breathing in the contaminated air, the girl collapsed a few blocks away from the JLU Tower, coughing violently.

Seeing his companion's predicament, Warhawk knelt down next to her. "Come on, kid," he said as calmly as he could, although he was mentally swearing at her for being weak. "We're almost there. Don't give up now."

Coba looked up at him feverishly, coughing up blood as she did so. Stewart cursed at himself for being harsh on her the whole day, especially during the past hour, fearing that this day may have very well been her last. "Wasn't... going to," Coba said hoarsely in a halting voice. She winced as she managed to stand herself back up. She tightly closed her eyes and bit her lower lip to get her mind off of her pain before carefully taking a step forward to make sure she did not fall to the ground as a result of her wobbly legs. If only the quickest and least detectable way back to the Tower didn't involve running through smoke! she thought irritably, spitting out some blood as she staggered quickly forward.

Stewart stood up and quickly caught up to Coba, surprised at her large amount of strength and will. I've seen even the most powerful of warriors fall down and not get back up voluntarily, he thought in shock. He managed to bring himself out of his thoughts. "Hold up!" he barked.

Brooklyn rubbed an ear but kept walking. "No need to yell," she gasped: "we're right next to each other."

"Just stop a moment!" Warhawk said seriously. He waited until Coba stopped and looked up at him before he continued. "You're smarter than this!" he scolded. "You'll get yourself killed if you keep moving quickly in your condition."

"We'll both be killed if we don't," Coba countered raspily. "Superman will pick up our trail any second now!"

"He doesn't have the heart to kill us!" Warhawk said irritably.

"I know!" the girl snapped. "But whoever's controlling him does!"

The large warrior was about to inquire what Coba was talking about when a red laser-beam hit a spot on the concrete that was between the two vigilantes, sending them flying in opposite directions. Superman landed directly in front of Coba's landing spot and gripped the small warrior in a dangerous choke-hold. As if it was second nature to her, Coba instincively tracted out her claws from her right glove and swiped it across her captor's chest. The Man of Steel released her and let out an agonized scream—

—combined with a shrill shriek that was not his own!

Batgirl hit the ground and found herself unable to move as a result of her surprise at the shriek instead of the pain from her fall, her aching legs and her damaged lungs. Even Warhawk was shocked by the strange sound, but he was the first to come back to his senses. He dashed to where Coba lay and lifted her to her feet. "Come on, kid, focus!" he said urgently. "What do you suggest we do?"

The young girl came to attention as Superman stopped screaming, glaring at her as he did so. "Split up," she answered. "You rally up the rest of the team and head for the Tower. I'll distract him."

"Are you crazy!" Rex exclaimed. "You'll be killed!"

"We'll all be killed if we don't do this!" Coba pointed out harshly. "Get going!"

Although he did not get along with Batgirl—and she was telling him what to do—Warhawk could not help but feel a sense of admiration for her. "Alright," he said solemnly. "Good luck."

"Good luck to you, too," Coba said quietly. Both heroes spread their wings and gliders and launched into the air as Superman's lasers struck at where they had been standing.

Knowing Batgirl and Warhawk's plan, Superman flew after them. Once he was directly behind them, Coba nodded to Warhawk before they went in opposite directions. Instead of going after the girl like they had expected, Superman went after Warhawk. Brooklyn back flipped in the air and chased after them at full speed. The oldest member of the League had almost caught up with Stewart when Coba suddenly attacked him from behind, causing him to fall towards the ground.

Although he knew what was going on, Warhawk did not dare to stop or turn around. Batgirl was depending on him to lead the rest of the team away from the fight, and that was a plan he was going to stick to. That kid's got more guts than I do, he thought. I can't let her down.

Superman managed to straighten out his flying form before he flung Coba off of himself. Changing course, he flew after Warhawk once more. Coba managed to catch herself with her gliders and chase after him again, but she knew she would not be able to catch up to him as quickly as she had before due to her worsening condition. Superman could see his pursuer's slowing pace and grinned evilly. "Give it up, runt!" he mocked. "You'll get yourself killed before you can get to me!" Without further ado, Superman went as fast as a speeding bullet—not his fastest pace, but it was still an unreachable speed for Coba's suit's technology.

"We'll just see about that," Coba murmured under her breath. She switched on a tracking screen in her mask's visor. Let's hope Warhawk doesn't know that I had placed a tracer on him when I first got Superman off his tail, Coba thought. Well, at least not until later. I don't want him to take it off. She noticed the tracer she had placed on the metal-clad hero come to a stop and then make slight movements. Knowing that Warhawk had just found the rest of the team, Batgirl changed her flight direction and flew towards the tracer's signal.

~!~

Warhawk only had to search in the few precious moments Coba had bought for him until he found Aquagirl and Lantern. Letting out a sigh of relief, he landed in the area between his friends. "Aquagirl!" he called out.

At the sound of her heroine name, Marina turned to face the speaker, surprised to see Stewart standing alive and well in front of her. "Warhawk!" she gasped, running towards him and flinging her arms around him in relief.

Kai-Ro had also turned to see the tough hero. "We thought you were dead!" he stated. "How did you survive that blast?"

"Never mind that," Warhawk said urgently, pulling Aquagirl away from him as gently as he could given the circumstances. "Superman's gone rogue. We've got to get back to the Tower before- -"

An all-too familiar pair of lasers struck the concrete next to the heroes. Warhawk quickly grabbed Aquagirl and Kai-Ro before jumping out of the deadly rays' path. Superman loomed above the trio, glaring dangerously at them. "You will all pay for your treachery," he growled.

The young Green Lantern looked up at Kal-El curiously. "What treachery?" he asked. "I don't recall either of us committing such an act."

"He's bluffing," Warhawk said impatiently. "Don't listen to him."

A small, black figure slammed into Superman, sending him into something of a stumble in the air. "Get out of here, now!" the newcomer shouted to the three oppressed heroes in a hoarse voice.

Superman gripped Coba in a headlock and ripped her suit's gliders off of her back. He was preparing to slam the girl to the cement far below when she switched on her suit's electrical feature, causing him to scream in agony and let go of her as he fell to the ground. Batgirl knew he would survive the fall, but she also knew that she would be killed by it. She managed to throw herself at the nearest building and grab hold of the nearest building's rooftop. Her arm muscles burned as she pulled herself herself onto the roof, using her legs to push herself up, wincing as her left leg's now infected wound brushed against the side of the building. Once she was on the roof, she rolled over so she was on her stomach. She used her sore arms to push herself up so she was sitting up, but quickly realized that she had no more energy to do anything else. Coughing up another mouthful of blood, the small warrior could only sit and wait for her opponent to recover and finish her off. She knew that she would not, however, allow his task to be that easy.

Warhawk turned to Marina and Lantern. "Head back to the Tower," he instructed. "Be careful not to attract Kal-El's attention."

Although Kai-Ro quickly did as he was bid (having sensed the seriousness of the situation in Warhawk's voice), Marina could not help but look at her large friend concernedly. "But what about you?" she inquired.

"I'm staying to help Batgirl," Stewart replied. "Go!"

Aquagirl nodded and ran after the young Green Lantern, silently hoping that all would turn out well for her companions in the end.

Rex turned his attention to the battle above him, disturbed to see Superman get up from his landing spot. Hang on, kid, he thought urgently. I'm on my way. He expanded his metal wings and launched himself up into the air and towards the fast-approaching fight.

Superman stood up painfully, his eyes filled with rage. "That's it, runt!" he shouted. "You've gotten in my way for the last time!" He soared into the smoke-filled air once more. His eyes scanned the tops of the buildings, but there was no sign of Batgirl. Knowing that she must have turned on her suit's camouflage, Superman used his laser eyes to strike every rooftop.

The Man of Steel's ruthless efforts were rewarded by the sound of a pained scream. One of his lasers had struck a part of the cement roof just a foot away from where Coba had been hiding, disrupting the suit's camouflage and breaking a couple layers of skin in her left arm as it launched her ten feet across the roof. Superman landed in front of Brooklyn and grabbed her by the front collar of her suit, pulling her up as he did. He yanked off her mask and flung it to the roof. Coba drew out a batarang from each wrist and swiped them at Superman's chest, but the powerful man tightly gripped her injured arm with his other hand until she screamed and dropped her weapons. "You just don't know when to give up, do you?" he taunted.

Coba glared at him defiantly and spat blood at his face. "Look who's talking!" her voice hissed.

Before Clark could respond, Batgirl slashed a claw across his arm. Superman yelled in agony as he released Coba, allowing her to fall to the roof. His eyes narrowed with anger once more and forcefully kicked the girl in the chest twice. Although she was now terribly weakened from her opponent's attacks, Coba turned on her suit's electrical field and gripped Superman's leg as it came at her again. Kent let out another scream of agony and tried to kick Coba until she let go of his leg, but the stubborn girl clung on as tightly as she could, fighting off the blackout from her intense pain that was trying to overwhelm her senses. Superman finally fainted from the shocks, falling to the roof with a thud.

After spitting out the blood that had been held in her mouth during her struggle, Batgirl tore open the Man of Steel's shirt to see a starfish-like creature on his chest. Being careful not to scratch the hero, she pulled the creature off of his chest. She weakly pulled out a bag from her utility belt and placed the creature inside before closing the container. With the problem out of the way, she feebly crawled to where her mask had landed and pulled it back on as a familiar, metal-clad figure landed next to her. "What... kept you?" she gasped.

"More of a who," Warhawk replied with a small grin, gesturing to the edge of the building.

Batgirl managed a weak grin at the sight of the Batmobile. The red windshield opened up, allowing Batman to jump out of it and onto the roof. He knelt down next to his wounded half-sister in concern. "What happened?" he inquired.

"A fight," Coba said weakly. "I had to... knock him out."

At that moment, Superman woke up with a pained groan. He stood up solemnly after a few seconds. "What happened?" he inquired.

"You mean you don't remember?" Stewart spat with rage. "You've been trying to kill all of the members of the League and you don't remember?!"

Coba weakly held up a hand to silence her teammate. "It wasn't... his fault. A starfish-like thing... was on his chest... controlling him. It's... in that bag." She pointed to the bag that still lay on the roof. "Be careful when... you go near it," she warned.

Warhawk heeded Brooklyn's warning as he lifted the bag, but left it shut. He looked at Superman quizzically. "Know anything about a starfish thing?" he interrogated.

Recognition flashed in the old hero's eyes. "Yes," he answered. "I remember now."

"Let's discuss it later," Batman said abruptly. "We need to get back to the tower and get Batgirl treated. The others would like to know what's been going on, too."

Superman nodded gravely. "They would. I have a lot to answer for." He looked directly at Coba. "And, Batgirl?"

"Yes, sir?" the girl rasped.

Clark grinned. "Thank you... for stopping me."

Terry grinned roguishly. "You forgot to point out that she didn't use Kryptonite."

All four had to laugh a little at Batman's joke. "That," Superman said with a chuckle, "that is very true."

Oh my gosh, a starfish caused all that trouble? I didn't see THAT one coming! Oh wait, yes I did :P. Okay, not when I first watched the episodes themselves, but still. Character poll is still up on my profile page, though I now recommend waiting at least until after the end of this story, for I added in the JLU members to the list. Please leave a review in the box below.