Disclaimer: I don't own DC Comics (unfortunately).
Recap: Clark finally learned about David in the last chapter while a certain young speedster and his vigilante friend discovered something startling within Luthor's compound:
"Uh...Flash?" David had grown mysteriously quiet where ever he was in the room. "I just found Superwoman." There was a pause.
"Oh yeah," David countered from the back of the room. "Well I just found the Martian Manhunter, at least, I think it's him."
Resurrecting the Red
Chapter 15: The Fastest Man Alive
"What're we going to do?" David asked. "We can't reach Dick on the radiolink." He and Terry were standing in front of the cryotube containing the Martian Manhunter.
"Rescuing Bruce and Evan is our first priority," Terry said, then hesitated. "But we can't exactly leave them here either." They had checked the other tubes, but neither of them recognized any of the six other people.
"If we stay here too long, we'll probably get caught," David pointed out. Terry grimaced as he debated on what to do. It was likely that they would regain contact with Dick once they stepped back out of the room, but it was possible that they might not be able to come back for the two Leaguers.
"Are you sure it's them?" David asked. "What if they're clones?" Terry bent closer to examine the control panel. It looked like he'd be able to wake them up, but he wasn't sure.
"If we get them out, the alarms will probably go off," Terry said. He studied David for a moment before smirking.
"What?" David asked.
"I have an idea," Terry smirked. He handed his tracking device to David. "Here, you can follow the signal to find Bruce and your uncle." David took the device and raised an eyebrow at his friend.
"Yeah...and what are you going to do?"
"Get them out."
"That's crazy McGinnis! I can't leave you by yourself!"
"That all depends on you, aren't you supposed to be the Fastest Man Alive?"
There was a long pause before an identical smirk crossed David's face as well. He looked once more at the tracker before tossing Terry a lopsided salute.
"Don't get yourself killed Supreme Commander. I don't want to have to answer to Dana."
"Get going Flash."
There was a sudden gust of wind as the Flash zoomed out of the room and down the corridor. Batman turned around and began to work on the control systems. The time for secrecy had ended.
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Dick glared at the computer screen. What the hell was going on over there?
"Terry...David?"
There was static, then...
"Mr. Grayson, it's David."
"Where's Terry?"
"He's busy. We've had a change of plans, so I've got to hurry. Talk to you later."
"Change of plans? What are you...David! Dammit," Dick swore. What were they doing? Sections of the compound's computer layout had started blinking red, indicating that the alarms had been activated.
"Terry?" he tried again.
"..Dic...bit busy...alk later..."
"Terry!"
There was no answer and Dick massaged his forehead. Teenagers. Had he and Wally been that bad at that age? He paused then and frowned. Terry and David were smart kids. Something must have happened that had caused this reckless change of plans.
But what?
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"Whoa!"
David swerved out of the way as hidden weapons began to discharge at him. He checked the tracker again before taking a left turn down a hallway. He unexpectantly came to a dead end. A snap of air caused him to whirl around to see that a temporary wall had snapped down from the ceiling, attempting to block him off.
The Flash smirked as he placed his hands on the wall in front of him. The wall and ceiling began to shake as his hands vibrated through the solid material. David stepped through just as a force field snapped on behind him. Without a microsecond of hesitation, the young speedster zoomed on through the compound.
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Terry lifted the disorientated Martian out of the cryotube. The man groaned as his eyes fluttered open.
"What…where am I?" J'onn J'onzz rubbed the back of his head weakly.
"Everything's going to be okay," Terry assured him quickly. "Sit here a sec while I get Superwoman out."
"Super…?"
Terry ignored the confused Leaguer as he ran towards Kara Kent. As he had suspected, he had caused the alarms to go off by deactivating one of the cryotubes. He didn't have much time.
Nearly two minutes later, Kara Kent was sitting weakly on the floor next to J'onn J'onzz. Terry was checking Superwoman's pulse when the door swished open. He rolled over and flung a batarang at the man who had entered.
"Batman?" Debray asked in surprise. Terry grimaced at the sight of the cyborg. This wasn't going to be fun.
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Alexandra Luthor glared as she tried to figure out the situation. She immediately suspected the Justice League, but she wasn't sure what their objectives were. If they were after Waller, she wasn't here.
She had thought they were after Bruce Wayne, until the alarms in the cryogenics lab began to go off. Luthor had immediately sent Debray to investigate. Chameleon was still a long ways off and Jon-El…
"What do you want me to do?" Jon-El asked. Luthor paused a moment before turning around.
"Take Wayne and Kae. I want them out of here."
"What about you?"
"I have to wipe my files." Fortunately, Alexandra didn't have all of her files here, and of what she did, there were backup files that she had hidden elsewhere.
Her fingers danced over the keyboard as her mind raced. There were at least two people, possibly more. Who had the League sent? Who…
Batman. The kid must have somehow been able to track Wayne. If Jon-El took him, then they could be tracked to a new location. She quickly spoke into the clone's radiolink.
"Jon-El, Wayne might have some sort of tracking device on him. Get rid of it."
"Yes ma'am."
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David, incidentally, reached the chamber holding Bruce and Evan a mere three seconds before Jon-El. The two stared at each other in surprise as they froze in front of the sealed doors.
"Uh…who are you?" David asked. "You one of Luthor's toadies?" The teenager barely ducked as the clone's fist came flying at him. However, David gave a yelp as twin laser beams hit him in the chest.
David flew back and hit the wall with a crack. His vision blurred momentarily as Jon-El smashed through the wall. The clone had decided not to waste time entering the code.
Jon-El gave a cry of surprise as a red blur flew into him. Something punched his face, which of course caused him no harm. The red blur gave a hiss before pummeling its fists into the half-Kryptonian's chest.
Laser beams shot out of his eyes again, but the blur was gone. Jon-El jumped back up and flew through the gaping hole in the wall. He rushed at the Flash and caught him in a headlock.
"Da…Flash!" Bruce yelled. Evan stared in horror as the clone held his nephew in a choke hold.
David grimaced as he heard Bruce faintly yell something about using his powers. Use his…he couldn't hardly think.
"I told you, you can't beat me," Jon-El said.
"I'm…the…Fastest…Man…Alive," David gasped. Jon-El gave a start as David's hands suddenly clasped onto his arm and began to vibrate violently. The clone was forced to let go as he felt his flesh begin to burn.
David staggered a step before whipping around and grabbing a hold of the clone's skull. His hand started to shake. The half-Kryptonian screamed painfully, churning the eighteen year old's heart. David quickly let go and grabbed Bruce and Evan before zooming off through the compound.
Jon-El staggered angrily to his feet. His head hurt like hell. He took a moment to curse quite creatively before taking off after the Flash.
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"Hey Spaz Man, why don't we give up and call it a day? Luthor's probably missing her pet monkey," Terry taunted. He leapt out of the way as Debray fired at him. Several cryotubes smashed behind him and the teenager sincerely hoped that they weren't ones with people in them. He was doing everything he could to keep Debray away from the still weak and disorientated Martian Manhunter and Superwoman.
"I'll have your head boy!" Debray yelled. "I should have killed you when I had de chance!"
"But you didn't, did you Bananas for Brains?"
Debray gave an enraged yell at the insult as Terry flung a batarang that sliced through several wires underneath the Frenchman's left ear. Bruce had always advocated that Batman should always be silent, so as to intimidate his opponents. However, Terry had discovered that mouthing off accomplished a similar purpose. It tended to piss people off.
He couldn't help it if he liked to talk.
Terry tackled the cyborg and punched him in the face. The Frenchman gave a grunt as Terry slammed another fist into his stomach.
A shock of electricity burnt Terry as Debray grabbed a hold of his suit. Twisting wires from his hands began to connect to his suit, slowly draining the power from it. Terry tried to slam his fists against the Frenchman, but instead found that the suit wouldn't let him.
Debray punched him. The bitter taste of blood entered his mouth and Terry knew that his mouth was going to be swelled up the next day. The Frenchman reached back to punch him again, but a sudden hand held it back.
"I have no idea what's going on and I still feel like crap," Kara Kent growled. "But I'm not in a good mood." Kara punched the cyborg, sending him flying through the wall. A flash of laser beams severed the wires that were still connected to the batsuit.
Terry gave a painful grin as he regained control over his suit. He stood up and studied the blonde haired woman in front of him.
"What's going on?" Kara asked. "Who are you? You're not Bruce."
"Uh…"
"I don't believe we have no time for that at the moment, Superwoman." Terry and Kara looked over to see J'onn J'onzz slowly making his way towards them. "We should get out of here first."
"Right J'onn," Kara said. "We'll…"
A red flash zoomed into the room. Kara and J'onn blinked in surprise as the Flash appeared with two men, one who looked strangely familiar. The old man's blue eyes widened in surprise as he studied the occupants of the room.
"Batman…" Flash started. There was a crash as David hit the wall. Jon-El halted as he also took studied the room. His head tilted curiously as he looked at Kara and J'onn. There was a sonic boom as a flash of red hit him full force, sending them tumbling out into the hallway.
"We need to get out of here," Terry said. He and Bruce exchanged looks and the older man nodded. "Superwoman," he continued. "I need you two to get Bruce and Mr. Kae out of here. I need to help Flash." The two Leaguers still didn't appear to have yet recovered all their strength.
Kara and J'onn's eyes snapped over to the elderly man next to the young Batman. Bruce smirked slightly before his eyes narrowed at them.
"Don't just stand around Kent, do what he said," Bruce snapped. There was a boom from the hallway as Flash and Jon-El continued their battle. "Terry, go help David and get out of here!"
"I called the car," Terry said on his way out. "It should be here soon!" He sprinted out into the corridor and activated the boosters on his feet. Terry spread his wings and shot down the now devastated hallway.
"Terry! What the hell is going on?" Dick yelled. The interference in the radiolink had disappeared the moment Terry had left the cryochamber.
"Hard to explain," Terry said quickly. "Flash is fighting some freak with superstrength and I'm going to help."
"What about…"
"Superwoman and the Martian Manhunter are getting Bruce and Mr. Kae out."
"Okay…wait…WHAT?"
"Busy now, talk later," Terry said.
"McGinnis!"
Terry gave a grunt as the wall to his left exploded. David came crashing through, sending the two teenagers sprawling. Terry recovered enough to pull the dazed David out of the way as Jon-El flew at them.
The red head looked worse for wear. His grandfather's suit was torn in places and a shock of red hair was sticking through a ripped section of the mask.
"Flash!"
The teenager groaned in reply. Terry rolled them out of the way and punched the incoming clone. The batsuit greatly enhanced his physical strength, but it still did little more than to knock the half-Kryptonian back a few feet.
At a sudden thought, Terry pulled out a small set of objects that he had recently pilfered from one of Bruce's old utility belts. He flung them at the ground, causing an explosion of foul smelling gas.
Terry scooped up David and flew down the corridor. Hopefully the gas would slow him down. Just in case, Terry stuck a special batarang in a passing wall. Three seconds later, it detonated, causing the ceiling and walls to begin to collapse.
"McGinnis," David suddenly groaned. "Put me down."
"We don't have time to stop," Terry snapped. "This place is coming down." Perhaps that explosive batarang hadn't been the best idea.
"I've got just enough energy to get us out of here," David shot back. Terry relented at a glare from his friend.
Seconds later, a now physically ill Terry felt himself being lowered onto the grass. A wave of fresh, night air revived him enough to keep from throwing up. Being dragged along by a speeding David did little for the stomach. There was a soft thump as David collapsed on the ground next to him.
"Tomorrow's going to suck," David groaned. "I still have to write a paper."
"Oh yeah," Terry muttered. He had to write a paper too, not to mention his chemistry homework. "School's going to be hell."
A trio of three shadows loomed over them, underneath the bright crescent moon. The teenagers looked up to see Bruce looking down at them. His mouth quirked up into the faintest hint of a smile as he studied the two young heroes. Rex Stewart and Donna Troy also studied the young duo, who as of yet, had refused to budge a muscle. They had arrived right after J'onn, Kara, Bruce, and Evan had exited the abandoned warehouse. The two surprised Leaguers had then been greeted to the sight of David and Terry zooming out of the building.
"So…" Rex said slowly. "What'd we miss?"