Resurrecting the Red
Chapter 23: In the Line of Fire, Part III
Booster Gold watched as Wonder Woman punched Galatea through a bulkhead. The clone halted herself in midair and flew back at the Amazon. Both women exchanged blow for blow, pitting titanic strength against each other…the kind that would level a city in an instant.
"You know I'll be out of here soon," Jon-El taunted. He smirked at his three guards. Zaranna glared at him while Red Tornado continued to watch impassively. Booster Gold continued to concentrate on keeping up the forcefield.
Dr. Steven Carter, unlike his father, the former Booster Gold, had always been a quiet and thoughtful man. He was very different from his show-boating father, who had always been obsessed with fame. This often brought embarrassment to the younger Carter, who was already at odds with his father. When he wasn't being Booster Gold, he ran a small medical clinic down in San Antonio.
"The floor!" Zaranna suddenly warned. Booster Gold looked down in surprise as the floor began to melt under their feet. Green radiation poured up from the lower level as Blight melted away the half-Kryptonian's prison.
"Jon-El…!" Steven shouted. The machine gave a spark as the kryptonite barrier died. The clone gave a smirk as Blight fired another blast of radiation from below to cover him.
Booster and Zaranna wasted no time in throwing up a barrier, but Jon-El was faster. The half-Kryptonian knocked out the magician before she could cast any spells. Steven immediately rushed to his friend's aide and checked her pulse. She was still alive, but she was badly injured.
Meanwhile, Red Tornado was faced with the task of trying to halt Jon-El and Blight, who had now paired up against him. The android cast a look down at Booster Gold and saw that Zaranna was in grave condition. The two men shared a look before Tornado told him to go.
Booster Gold scooped up the unconscious Zaranna and raced down to the Medlab. He was a Justice Leaguer, but he considered himself a doctor first.
He had a feeling that he would be better off applying his medical skills down in the infirmary.
They might need it.
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Diana cursed when she saw that Jon-El had been freed. However, she had no time to contemplate this as Galatea threw a punch at her, which she managed to block.
The Amazon gripped the other woman's wrist and twirled her around before throwing her at Jon-El. The other clone twisted out of the way of Tornado's attack and caught his "cousin."
"Give it up," Jon-El warned. He and Galatea smirked at the heroes.
"Oh, I don't think so," a new voice said. Diana grinned as Kara Kent flew at the surprised Galatea.
"Don't interfere Diana!" Kara called as she punched her clone. "This is my fight!" Diana shrugged as she and Tornado focused on Jon-El and Blight. Both men only smirked at them.
"Bring it on, Old Lady," Jon-El taunted. Diana raised an eyebrow.
This kid needed to learn some manners.
"Tornado," she said calmly. "Take Blight. The kid's mine."
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Clark Kent and Donna Troy were busy with Bizarro and Chameleon when J'onn finally showed up to take Kara's place. The Martian gave them a nod as he faced off with the now dismayed Chameleon.
Donna Troy kicked Bizarro towards Clark, who clasped his fists together and hammered them down against the deformed clone. Bizarro smashed down through several levels of the shaking compound.
Seconds later, an infuriated Bizarro was flying back at them.
"Me Bizarro smash!"
"This is getting repetitive," Donna muttered. She twisted around the ugly clone and struck the back of his neck with her elbow. Then she hooked a leg around his left ankle and swung him around before driving her other foot into his stomach.
Clark merely scratched his head as Bizarro plummeted to the ground. The clone twitched, but didn't move.
"Between you and Diana, I'm hardly needed," Clark smiled.
"Stop being humble," Donna said. "He'll probably be awake in a few minutes and mad as a hornet."
The two superpowers looked down at where Warhawk and Aquagirl were currently battling the Shade.
The two younger Leaguers appeared to be having some trouble against the Master of Shadows. Aquagirl had briefly managed to freeze him in ice, but the Shade merely melted into a shadow and appeared across the room.
Warhawk, meanwhile, seemed to be having better luck since his armor was made from Nth metal. The magical properties of the metal were having more of an effect on the pale man.
Rex punched him.
The Shade flew back and melted once more in the shadows before any real damage was done. Rex Stewart took to the air as he waited for the villain to reemerge. Merina covered the floor with several feet of water as she too waited.
They didn't have to wait long.
Shadowy hands reached out from the walls and attempted to grab both of the Leaguers. Rex swooped around them as Merina danced along on the water, avoiding the shadows.
Suddenly, the Shade gave a scream as all of the shadows in the room abruptly lit up in a flash of energy. He fell out of the wall and weakly onto the ground, floating in the water. Aquagirl immediately seized the chance and froze him in a crystal of ice.
Rex whirled around to see who their secret helper was.
"Mom!" he yelled.
Shayera Hol Stewart flew down to her son, cradling her mace as her lips widened into a smile. Her red hair contained only the tiniest amount of gray and, except for one small, faint wrinkle, her face seemed untouched by the last several decades.
Shayera saw movement out of the corner of her eye and swooped in before any of the others could react. The awakened Bizarro, intent on fighting Superman and Donna Troy again, failed to see the mace wielding Thanagarian.
He collapsed again, out cold.
Rex looked around before pressing the radiolink in his ear.
"Batman, Green Arrow," he said. "Report your situation."
"We've got them," Ethan answered back. "We could use a little help with our extraction though and…oh wait. There's my sister."
"Black Canary and Green Lantern should be enough," Rex answered back. "Get up here when you can. This place looks like it will collapse soon."
With that, Warhawk looked around him suddenly.
"Where's J'onn and Chameleon?" he questioned. Clark shrugged his shoulders, and frowned as he did so. The last time he had seen the two men fighting, they had vanished through the wall.
"Speaking of them, where's Huntress?" Donna asked.
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Chameleon grimaced as J'onn pressed in on his attack. Both men were fairly evenly matched, although the green metahuman's strength was slightly superior. However, it was J'onn's mental abilities that were proving to be his undoing.
The metahuman was an empath only. While this offered some defense against the Martian, it wasn't absolute.
The two men, somewhere outside the compound, floated in the freezing Rocky Mountain air. Sweat dripped down Chameleon's face as he attempted to block J'onn's telepathic attacks.
That failing, he grasped his head in pain as the Martian drove through his defenses. He lost all sense of self as his mind was thoroughly invaded and destroyed.
J'onn watched in growing pity as the metahuman looked around him in terror. His memories completely wiped, Chameleon had no idea where or who he was.
He now also had the mental capacity of a child.
J'onn silently grasped the other man's cape and gently dragged him back to the compound. He hadn't intended to inflict as much mental damage as he did, but the Martian hadn't felt there was much choice.
Chameleon was just too dangerous.
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Matt peered curiously through the green shield. They had run unexpectantly into Green Lantern and Black Canary. Now the former had both he and Amanda Waller in a green ball of energy that he was using to transport them, leaving Terry and Green Arrow with more freedom to act.
The Green Lantern intrigued the young McGinnis, as he was apparently not much older than himself.
"Hey, how old…" Matt started to ask him.
"Not now Matt," Terry ordered. He and Ethan had taken the lead as Green Lantern floated behind them. Black Canary, or Emily Queen, had taken up the rear.
Matt glared at his brother as his bottom lip jutted out slightly in a pout. Amanda noticed this and felt a hint of a real smile. The boy was really growing on her.
Matt and Amanda looked on as the others suddenly came to a stop.
"What is it?" Amanda asked.
"Huntress," Terry answered. "The Boyscout just sent us a message. He said that this place is about to collapse and that he spotted Huntress near us with his X-Ray vision."
The group veered off to the left and was soon greeted with the sight of two fighting women. A panting Huntress was holding her left arm, which sported a deep gash from her shoulder down to her elbow.
"Huntress!" Ethan yelled. The red haired beauty cast him a look before ducking a blow from an equally exhausted Curare.
"Careful GA," Terry said. "Her name's Curare, she was a member of the Society of Assassins." As he said this, Curare's eyes flashed in recognition as she saw Batman.
"So she's from your Rogue's Gallery, huh?" Ethan asked dryly.
"Oh yeah," Terry answered.
"Come on Huntress, let's go!" Black Canary shouted. Huntress glared obstinately at her before throwing a kick at her opponent.
"Hey Kairo, do the honors please," Ethan said.
A green light broke off from the ball of energy surrounding Matt and Amanda and grabbed the red haired woman, pulling her back in a rubber band effect. Elizabeth Szasz glared hotly as she found herself sharing a ball of energy with Waller and Matt.
"I'm not done yet!" Elizabeth protested. Black Canary smirked at her.
"Yeah, you are," Emily Queen said. "You can fight her again later, but first we've got to get out of here."
"We'd better grab Curare too," Ethan pointed out. "She might know our identities since she's associated with Luthor."
"Too late," Terry said.
The others paused and looked around. In the seconds they had been distracted, the former assassin had already slipped silently away.
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Barbara Gordon drummed her fingers against her arm as she watched the dark skinned teenager. Dick had volunteered Max Gibson to her to assist her. Barbara was glad she had come.
Barbara had fed Mary McGinnis a little white lie on how Terry and Matt had witnessed a crime and were now giving a report to the police. Being the protective mother that she was, Mrs. McGinnis kept calling, demanding to talk to her sons.
"Are you ready?" Barbara finally asked. Max gave her a thumbs up sign as she tapped a few commands into a keyboard with her other hand. Barbara picked up the phone and took Mary McGinnis off hold.
"Yes, Mrs. McGinnis…I have Terry right here," Barbara lied. She held the phone out to Max, who had already hacked a line into the phone call.
"Hey Mom," Max said. She was using a computer program to disguise her voice as Terry. Since the two were best friends, she knew exactly how he would answer.
"Terry, are you two okay?" Mary McGinnis asked worriedly.
"I'm fine Mom," 'Terry' said. "We won't be here much longer."
"But school…" Mary started.
"Commissioner Gordon has sent emails to our teachers, excusing us for our absence," 'Terry' answered. "Just in case it's a long night."
"…Alright," Mary McGinnis finally said. "Where's your brother? I want to talk to him."
"He's in the bathroom," Max answered. "He's fine, Mom. Don't worry. I'll call you back a little later."
"Alright, bye Terry," Mary said.
Max clicked off the phone and sat back with a look of satisfaction. Barbara shook her head. She pitied the poor mother. Mary McGinnis didn't deserve this, especially the lies. The Commissioner decided that she and Terry might need to have a talk on the importance of being open with your parents…
Then again, how long had she waited before telling her father that she was Batgirl? Barbara realized suddenly that she had no room to talk.
"That was pretty good, Kid," Barbara told Max. The girl grinned at her. The Commissioner gave her a considering look.
"You ever consider a career in law enforcement?" Barbara asked suddenly. Max gave her a surprised look.
"Uh…no," Max answered truthfully. Barbara Gordon gave a wry smile.
"Want to work for me?"
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Static and Flash gave a sigh of relief when Star Sapphire finally collapsed on the floor and didn't get back up. David, after his momentary dizziness, had joined the fight again.
"I suppose we'd better keep an eye on these two," Virgil said. "If they wake back up again…" He paused when he saw David stumble a step.
"You okay?" he asked in concern. Flash was holding his head again.
"It's that voice again," David mumbled. Virgil felt his concern deepen.
"Voice?" the older man asked suspiciously. He didn't like the sound of that. In Virgil's experience, hearing invisible voices was never a good sign.
"Yeah," David said. "Ever since my fight with Jon-El, I've been hearing this voice. Bruce and J'onn seem to think it has something to do with the fact that I almost fell into the speed force."
Virgil stopped cold.
"You almost what?" Virgil almost yelled. No one had told him about that. They had lost Wally to the speed force; they didn't need to lose David.
"Nnn," David grunted. He fell to his knees and clutched his head.
"Flash!" Virgil yelled. He gripped the young man's shoulders and shook him, but no reply. "David!"
Suddenly, David froze as he appeared to be listening to an invisible voice.
"David? Kid?" Virgil asked cautiously. David suddenly spun around to stare at the older man; he seemed to have trouble breathing.
"It's Him!" David nearly yelled. "I know it is!"
"Wait, wait!" Virgil protested, holding up his hands. "Calm down. It's Who?"
"My grandpa," David nearly whispered. "I asked him his name and he said it's Wally West."
Virgil stared.
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Author's note:
I concentrated mainly on the fights going down on Earth. Next chapter I'll focus more on Galatea vs. Kara, Diana vs. Jon-El, as well as the Dr. Fate vs. Inque, Red Tornado vs. Blight things. There'll also be more David in the next chapter as well.