As always all characters are fictional. Wyvern, Deus, & Reaver are my characters. All other characters/locations are copyright of DC Comics & their respective creators.
The Last Secret Pain: The Wyvern Arrives Part XIII
Reaver was not pleased. The Titans were giving him all he could handle.
"Kara, wait!" Red Robin's order was not heeded.
"You sick murdering bastard!" He didn't know why she was so angry. Bruce had told him about how Reaver had killed them all but, was Kara's reaction in regards to their deaths, or how much it had hurt Wyvern?
"Not that I'm complaining" Cassie spoke up, "but, shouldn't one of us stayed behind to help out against Deathstroke?"
"Hey, he's got armor. Some of us don't." Bart seemed to be lingering on previously being shot.
"He's also going against the deadliest mercenary in the world. Why did we just leave like he said?" Cassie hated leaving her cousin to fight.
"Don't worry about Wyvern." Tim spoke up "We need to focus on Reaver." A volley of fire from MARK 1 accentuated the need for a cohesive team.
"Cassie, get Kara. Bart, Gar, we need to wait for backup, then we take Reaver down."
"I think not Robin." as he hit a button on the bangle he had on his left wrist he was glad he'd made certain his shields here fully repaired, Kara was out for blood. As the energy field formed thirty meters overhead, Reaver's confidence grew.
"With the exception of Kara, none of you will leave this battle alive."
The throwing dagger was a feint, but he figured he could use it to change the tempo of the fight. Deathstroke was pleasantly surprised when Wyvern caught the dagger in midair and threw it back at him.
"Going for what I'd least expect, nicely done Wyvern." Though the compliment was given with full respect, there was no response. Wyvern closed the distance and attacked with a three punch combination. The first two punches were dodged, the last one was blocked, but only just.
"Never met anyone that could go toe to toe with me in a solo fight. You ever want to make some money on the side, let me know. You'd make one hell of a merc." Deathstroke was actually enjoying this.
"Out of sheer morbid curiosity, how much were you paid for this?"
"25 mil for one hour of work." As they broke apart for a moment Deathstroke stared at his armored opponent.
"How much better would you be without that armor?" When his opponent didn't respond he actually shrugged his shoulders.
"Oh well, no matter. I was told to fight you to the limit, but I'm guessing you're one of the few metas that could give the Justice League a run for it's money." The energy shield descending between them drew their attention upwards.
"Damn, just when it was getting fun. Oh well, I've been paid so I think I'll leave. You managed to dodge all my ordinance." The only real ordinance had been a few grenades, the bullets were easy to avoid.
"This was just a game to you." Wyvern pointed out.
"Contract wasn't to kill, just to occupy your time. Next go around, I'll have to charge for an actual fight." As Deathstroke turned and left Wyvern couldn't help but wonder: what would have happened if he and Deathstroke had both been fighting to win?
The flash bomb had worked, as Reaver's vision cleared Tim had gotten them to a more secluded location to allow for the formulation of an actual plan.
"What was with you going psycho on Reaver back there?" Bart was surprised by her outburst.
"He's a monster and he needs to be stopped before he hurts any more innocent people." Kara responded through clenched teeth.
"I'm more concerned with the explosions I heard as the shield was forming." Gar spoke up.
"You mean you're not concerned with the automatic gunfire we heard before and after?" Cassie gawked.
"Wyvern wasn't hit, all the bullets missed him, I heard it." Kara interrupted.
"We should try to help him take out Deathstroke, that'll make it easier to mop up with Reaver." Cassie put forth.
"Never underestimate your opponent!" Wyvern's growl made Cassie & Gar jump.
"Jesus, what is it with you bat-boys & giving people heart murmurs?!" Gar spoke, his hand over his chest. Before Wyvern could respond Kara had unexpectedly embraced him.
"You beat Deathstroke?" Kara couldn't help the surprise in her voice.
"No, I was fighting defensively. His involvement was only to delay pursuit of Reaver. He is currently outside of the energy shield."
"Um," both Bart & Gar seemed surprised by how bland Wyvern made the statement seem. "care to define 'delay pursuit'?"
"Deathstroke was not trying to stop me. His role was as a distraction. Where is Reaver?" Wyvern bit out.
"Don't worry, we gave him the slip." Bart spoke up.
"That was a foolish move, there are still innocent people here!" Wyvern's displeasure caught them off guard.
"What?" Bart took an unconscious step back.
"You will evacuate the workers in the warehouses, then, take them to a safe location away from the fight. I will deal with Reaver." Wyvern ordered.
"You aren't going alone." As Kara spoke up the look she gave CJ showed no room for argument.
"Very well, but we must move quickly. The shield will allow the innocent people here to pass through, however it will prohibit any reentry." Wyvern instructed.
"Bart, Gar, let's go." Tim seemed to know what was coming next.
"Hey, why are we getting benched?" they both complained.
"Supergirl and Wonder Girl have Amazonian training. Red Robin was trained by The Batman. Bart, your speed would be too great a handicap within a collapsible force barrier. Gar, your shape shifting abilities will be no match for MARK 1." Though he made valid points the cold analytical tone he spoke with in no way softened the blow.
"He's right." Tim spoke up. "Plus, you're both healing from injuries."
"Well at least you don't sound like a machine saying it Rob." Bart tried to glare at Wyvern, then realized the futility of the action and turned to leave.
"He does have a point," Tim spoke up "you could stand to sound a bit more human when you speak." Wyvern ignored the comment as he turned to Wonder Girl and Supergirl to lay out his plan of attack.
"Who exactly taught you tactics?" Cassie was a bit taken aback at how thoroughly prepared Wyvern was.
"I read a great many books on military strategy as a child cousin." Before Cassie could ask any more questions, she was cut off.
"Where are you Wyvern?!" the bellow echoed off the buildings.
"He is frustrated, excellent." Wyvern keyed his communicator.
"Red Robin, are the civilians safe?"
"Yeah, we got them all out." Tim confirmed.
"Good," Kara growled "let's bury him here." As she turned Wyvern grabbed her wrist.
"No Kara, he is not worth it." Kara's eyes were wide with both surprise and anger at his words.
"Do not fall into the same trap that I did." he whispered to her. The light of realization made her see just what he'd struggled with for she knew not how long. The thanks she gave was in her smile.
"Are we ready?" Cassie broke the silence.
"Yes, but, we must proceed with-" Wyvern was cut off as an explosion blew him through the nearest warehouse which was, unfortunately, filled with construction equipment.
As Cassie went after Reaver, Kara kept an eye out for MARK 1.
"Look at me Kara." Reaver ordered. When he received no response he leaned forward to shout… and was promptly clocked by Wonder Girl.
"No one threatens my best friend, or my cousin like that. I'm gonna kick your ass from here to Arkham."
"Cassie, look out!" Kara's warning was just in time as she managed to avoid the plasma pulse the machine had fired.
As Kara and Cassie both moved to engage MARK 1, Reaver chose to pursue his original plan of escape.
"Greetings Mr. Doe." Reaver turned at the voice, narrowly dodging the fist aimed at his face, but failing to avoid the elbow strike that followed.
"Who are you?"
"Name's Ravager, I'm here to fuck you up royally." A pair of swords appeared in her hands as Rose moved to attack.
"I don't have time for this, MARK 1 get us out of here!"
"UNABLE TO INITIATE TELEPORTATION. WE'D NEED TO TAKE DOWN THE SHIELD FIRST."
"Rose fall back, we need to be careful." Cassie should have known the warning would go unheeded.
As she and Kara moved to assist their teammate, MARK 1 hit Cassie with a concussive pulse that knocked her into Kara. As she cursed in Kryptonese she helped Cassie steady herself.
"Where's Wyvern? He should be here by now." Cassie spoke through gritted teeth, the blow had impacted harder than she thought.
"Cassie, you're bleeding!"
"My ribs are friggin' killing me!" Kara set her down on a rooftop ten meters away & moved to bandage Cassie's ribs. Then she would leave to assist Ravager.
The swords buzzing about his head were making him slightly dizzy.
"My my, do we enjoy playing with our food?" MARK 1's programming allowed it to read the muscle movements of Ravager and transmit the most likely strikes she would attempt.
"How is it that Wyvern never has to put up with this shit?" Rose was not sure how all her moves were missing, until she saw the reflection of MARK 1 in a window.
"You cheating rat bastard!" The brief delay gave Reaver the chance to run away.
He could hear the exchange between them, but, he still needed to get the last of the ruined construction equipment off of him.
'I cannot believe I used to play with miniature versions of these as a child…' Wyvern groused as he shoved the remains of a backhoe across the wrecked warehouse. He heard Ravager's cry of frustration and tried to move, only to notice his leg pinned by a bulldozer.
'Are you fuckin' kidding me?!' with that less than polite thought he punched the bulldozer to get it away from his leg. As he rose he thought he felt that his armor was warmer than normal, but he attributed that to his fleeting mood of wanting to chum the waters of Gotham Harbor with Reaver's entrails. He heard MARK 1 moving around to return to the fray and made a fast exit, right through the other side of the warehouse.
'Oh shit!' Ravager barely had time to register the thought before a blur of red appeared in her vision.
"Thanks for the save Kara." Ravager gasped.
"Dearest Kara." Reaver's crooning made her want to twist his head off and shove it up his disposition.
"Did you know the agent who's death was caused by Wyvern?"
"I know what you did to his family, to him!" Ravager cringed as Kara's voice grew louder.
"You'll pay for what you did!"
"You and your teams already failed to stop me once." As he gloated several pods opened around Kara, making her stop her approach.
"Good girl, the pods I scattered around you contain a highly concentrated type of green K." His lewd smile made Kara's skin crawl.
"You only have one option Kara; submit yourself to me."
"I'd rather die you deranged freak!" Kara's outburst caused his grin to fade into a cold sneer in a heartbeat.
"You're forcing me to do this Kara, why can't you just-"
"REAVER!" The words hit their ears even as Wyvern's strike found it's mark.
"What is it with you & my ribs?" Reaver wheezed as he tried to rise, stopping the movement as his cracked ribs threatened to break.
"You are guilty of murdering a federal agent as well as your genocidal actions against the universe containing our original world. You will pay for your crimes." Wyvern's voice was a low rumble.
"You'll have a hell of a time collecting that bounty CJ, by the way, how'd your fight with Deathstroke go?" Reaver was trying to buy time.
"We both knew it was not a fight, you hired him as a rearguard."
"Too bad it didn't work, but I do have a back-up." The pods surrounding Kara spewed their contents.
"You can save Kara, or, capture me... clock's ticking hero." Reaver took off as fast as his injuries would allow.
"I'm on him." Without a look back at Reaver CJ tried to get to Kara, only to have her snatched away by MARK 1.
"No, look after my cousin!" Wyvern yelled as he fired a grapnel around MARK 1's fuselage.
'Why isn't Kara breaking loose?' CJ was trying to dodge buildings as he reeled himself closer to her, then he saw it, MARK 1 had a chunk of green K attached to the manacle around her wrists.
"A QUESTION, IF YOU'LL HUMOR ME CREATOR. WHY ALLOW A WANTED CRIMINAL TO ESCAPE? IF MY HOSTAGE WERE AN INNOCENT, I COULD SEE YOUR DOGGED PURSUIT."
He thought about another grapnel, but, the risk to Kara was too great.
"YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN ABLE TO PREVENT THIS. IS IT POSSIBLE THAT KARA ZOR-EL MEANS MORE TO YOU THAN YOU WOULD EVER ADMIT?"
'MARK 1's right, I should have seen this... why didn't I?'
"WE ARE AT OUR DESTINATION CREATOR. IF YOU WOULD BE SO KIND AS TO ANSWER MY INQUIRY?"
Luckily he'd managed to get high enough to miss being slammed into the walls, but he still had no opening to allow him to take out the green K.
"DO YOU EVEN KNOW THE ANSWER CREATOR?" It lowered Kara into the mouth of the large tube before stopping.
"THEN FORGIVE ME, BUT I MUST FOLLOW MY ORDERS." At that MARK 1 released both Kara and the kryptonite rock. Showing no hesitation Wyvern dove in after her.
"The shield's down, go tell Red Robin and the others what happened." Cassie ordered.
"Whoa, hold up. Are you sure you can fly? No offense, but, you look like shit Wonder Girl." Rose argued.
"Go, I have to help my cousin!" Cassie winced as she shouted at her infuriating teammate.
The tape job Kara had done, combined with her own healing ability would let her help Wyvern. She took off in the direction of the odd grouping of shadows that marked the final part of Reaver's escape plan. She wasn't surprised that he'd had trouble with the grapnel. His armor, though great for combat, must have been hell while hanging from a zip line ten meters off the ground.
'Hang tight cuz, I'll be there soon.' As she pulled within sight, she was surprised when the machine dropped Kara, but, she was shocked when Wyvern dove right in after her.
'She is falling backwards, which allows me the benefits of wind drag. The kryptonite is falling faster, however the spikes at the bottom of this trap are of the same composition. I have to reach her fast.' All this, as well as noticing the walls were completely smooth titanium, was taken in before Wyvern fell two feet.
His cape was causing minimal drag while Kara's was unknowingly helping to slow her fall somewhat. About halfway down he unfolded a collapsible promethium hook with his off hand as his right hand released a specialized bomb, then closed around Kara's wrist. As he slammed the hook into the wall he knew what was coming.
'This will be.' Then the pain of his left shoulder breaking was followed by his right shoulder being pulled out of it's socket.
As his eyes filled with involuntary tears, Wyvern saw the bomb he'd dropped hit the bottom of the shaft. The explosion destroyed the kryptonite spikes as well as the opposite portion of the wall causing water from the harbor to rush in through the new opening. Kara began to stir, even as the pain caused CJ's vision to fade to darkness.
She was starting to come around, but the explosion hit her like an alarm clock. She felt cold metal around her wrist just before she felt herself start to fall. Her hand shot out punching a hole in the wall to brace herself. She felt a heavy object fall past her as her memory clicked back into place.
"CJ!" she saw him hit the water even as she heard Cassie call his name from above.
She let go of her hold and flew down after him. Under the surface she saw a torrent of incoming silt in the water obscuring him from her eyes. She clawed at the gathered debris for what felt like an eternity before she caught a glint of metal darker than the swirling debris. Thrusting her arms into the silt she wrapped her hands around his chest and pulled.
They didn't know what to expect as they arrived, but seeing a soaked Supergirl carrying an equally waterlogged Wyvern was not even on Beast Boy's list.
"What the hell happened here?" Bart asked as the tube fell over into the harbor, the bomb and the water proving too much for the hastily built trap.
"Reaver tried to drop Kara into a kryptonite tiger trap, Wyvern rescued her." Cassie seemed subdued as Kara laid Wyvern on the pier and put her ear to his mouth.
"Rao, he's not breathing." Kara leaned his head back and began CPR.
"Damn you CJ, breathe! You're not getting away from me that easy!" Kara half shouted.
'You haven't told me how you feel about me yet!' Kara continued mouth to mouth, trying desperately to get him to breathe.
"Don't do this to me CJ please, we've only just begun to" Kara choked out.
"Kara, I hate to state the obvious, but, he's in armor. What good is CPR going to do?" Kara's answer was cut off as Wyvern started to cough up what seemed like gallons of sea water.
"CJ," Kara smiled as she leaned down towards him.
Wyvern spoke a few ancient runes and his armor disappeared, leaving him in his secondary costume. As his eyes found Kara she was close enough that he could see the individual drops of water running down her face. She smiled as her lips got closer to his, until she put pressure on his shoulder and Wyvern screamed in pain.
"CJ, what is it?" Kara gasped.
"Left shoulder… broken." Kara snatched her hand away as if it had been burned.
"Right… shoulder… dis… located. Pop right… shoulder."
"Hold him down Kara," Cassie could see where his shoulder was awkwardly angled.
"I'm sorry cousin, this is going to hurt." The noise made as his shoulder was popped back into joint made Bart look a bit pale.
"Hold on CJ, I'll get you to."
"Cave… mother… purple… ray." Kara could barely hear him whisper just before he passed out.
Kara cradled CJ as she flew as fast as she could to the Batcave.
"I'm sorry if this hurts CJ, but I called ahead. Diana's got the ray prepared." As soon as she touched down she found that Diana already had the infirmary prepped.
"Set him down and get that costume off his upper body." Kara was thankful that Alfred assisted with the removal of CJ's secondary costume, she didn't know how to remove it without causing him more pain.
"Dear lord it looks as if he's broken his collarbone as well." Alfred made sure he reset the bones as best he could, but each grimace from her son made Diana flinch.
"I believe he's ready." Alfred stepped back as Diana focused the healing ray on her son's left shoulder & collarbone.
"How did this happen?" Diana asked as the device mended her son's injuries.
"I let my anger get the better of me when we fought Reaver. CJ had to save me from a modified tiger trap." Kara looked up at Diana wanting to show her all the sincerity of her words.
"I'm sorry Diana, he shouldn't have had to" Kara's apology was cut off by Diana.
"Stop!" Diana shocked her into silence. "My son could no more let his only friend be hurt than he would let an innocent be harmed. This isn't your fault Kara."
"But it is." Kara whispered as she saw the broken bones re-knitting themselves under the healing ray's influence.
"He got hurt so badly because of me." she whispered.
"Kara?" CcJ's voice, ragged as it was, made her hopes rise again.
"CJ, are you alright?!" Kara felt a smile forming... he should be okay.
"Do not worry about me… are you unharmed?" She couldn't help but laugh at his words.
"Rao, what am I going to do with you CJ Wayne?" Kara felt the fluttering in her chest get stronger at his words.
"Lie still thisavros, you still need some time with the ray." Diana gently moved some stray hairs from around her son's eyes.
"Rest my treasure, you'll feel better in the morning." Diana glanced up, noting the concern on Kara's face.
"You know, if you were in Gotham Harbor... you could probably use a shower." she smiled at Kara's expression.
"Go home, I'll call you if anything changes."
"Promise?" Kara needlessly asked.
"You've my word Kara, and thank you for bringing my son home." Kara smiled, then surprised Diana by leaning down and planting a quick kiss on CJ's cheek.
Over an hour later Diana had finished on his left should and moved to his right.
"Alfred, can you help me sit him up please?"
"Of course Miss Diana, I'm quite glad that your ray is able to- dear lord!" He saw the scar.
"How did this happen?" Alfred gasped.
"He told me it occurred when he took the island of Themyscira." Diana hoped he didn't question this further.
"Who among the Amazons would have given him such a wound?"Alfred nearly gaped.
Diana's face fell as she admitted to Alfred, "I did." She continued working to heal her son in silence.
The next day dawned, figuratively speaking as they were in the cave, exactly as Diana knew it would.
"You couldn't have called me to say that my son had been injured?!" Bruce growled.
"Oh please, when was the last time you took my calls on patrol?" Bruce tried to glare at Diana, with no effect.
"The reason I didn't call was because I was tending to my son's wounds & making sure he would be comfortable." Bruce didn't miss Diana's use of the possessive when she spoke of CJ.
"Fine, you win that point. You couldn't tell me that OUR son was injured?" Bruce asked in a calmer voice.
"I'm sorry, but CJ was my main focus." Diana answered.
"Maybe I can call Kara for a-"
"Don't you dare! She's already beating herself up enough over this." Diana admonished.
"Diana, CJ damn near tore his arm off to save her. What exactly is going on between them?" Before Diana could answer she heard her son scream. The vortex caused by her swift exit nearly pulled Bruce off his feet.
He saw the shot, but, he was too close to move away. He'd made sure that it was just The Wyvern against Reaver. It would take more than some enchanted pea-shooter to stop him. He recalled Reaver's boast that it's runes would render his armor useless in protecting him and he'd intended to prove Reaver wrong. Once he was finished tearing his head off he'd go back to the Moon Dragon and to...
"Kara?!"Wyvern gasped as Kara appeared in front of him.
She shouldn't have been there, he'd made sure she was on board the Moon Dragon! Time seemed to slow as she took the shot aimed for him. Reaver's look of horror was brief as he glared at Wyvern, silently blaming him for Kara's actions. He tried to bring his fusion cannon to bear even as Wyvern threw an explosive Bat-a-rang at him. Reaver barely had time to get his shield up to guard his vitals as the cannons fusion battery was ruptured, even as Wyvern's own energy barrier protect himself and Kara. Wyvern didn't even notice MARK 1 take Reaver's limbless torso away. His eyes were focused on Kara as he grabbed her hand.
"He could not have harmed me Kara. Why…why did you do this?" The scent coming from her wound told him that Reaver had poisoned the bullet.
"Couldn't risk it." She smiled weakly as she felt her body growing cold.
"Why would you sacrifice your life for me? I am not worthy of it." Her eyes seemed to sparkle even as the light was fading from them. She used the last of her strength to tell him the reason she'd fought for so long at his side.
"I love you…" As her grip on his hand released he felt his already broken heart die. '
No... wake up please!'
"KARA!"