AN: Oh. My. Gosh. I am soooo sorry. There was homework and chores and Doc Manager kept deleting my work and being grounded and just...ugh. #Issues.
Disclaimer: You know the drill. Me no own.
Whisper aimed yet another kick at Kaldur's head. The Atlantean knew that he was going easy on him, but Kaldur didn't seem to mind. As long as Whisper simplified his fighting style so it was one punch or kick at a time, then the two were evenly matched.
Whisper turned and ran at his opponent once again. His punch was blocked, but he quickly ducked into a backhand spring. They continued on, exchanging punches and blocks, before they came to a standstill. Their fight was interrupted of the arrival of Conner, M'gann, and Wolf, the two former smiling lightly.
The young teen walked over to the Atlantean and put one hand to cover the side of his mouth. "You know they're a couple, right?"
"I believe I knew before they did." The pair exchanged a small smile before turning to Wally and Artemis, who were just entering.
"Do we tell them," Whisper asked. He honestly couldn't believe they hadn't noticed it yet.
"It is not our place."
Wally stopped at the edge of the sparring circle. "So if Zatara's our babysitter of the week, why is he still here?" He motioned to Captain Marvel and continued. "And why is he eating my snacks?"
Before anyone could answer his question, the Zeta Tube announced, "Recognized: Batman 0-2."
The Dark Knight stalked in and instantly ordered, "Computer, national news."
An image of Cat Grant came up on a holographic screen. "The initial attack was short-lived, but Metropolis was granted only a short reprieve." The image changed to a giant plant creature and various heroes. "And despite the intervention of Superman and the Justice League, there seems to be no end in sight."
"Should we get out there," asked Whisper, albeit, a little excitedly. He had never faced a giant plant monster and he was interested, sue him.
Batman turned around to face the Team. "No. The League will soon have the situation under control; that's not why I'm here. According to your intel, Sportsmaster supplied Cadmus' Blockbuster formula to Kobra."
"Who combined it with Bane's Venom to create Kobra Venom."
"Which the Brain used to create his animal army."
"And upgrade Wolf."
"The Brain also used inhibitor collars like the ones at Belle Reve Penitentiary."
"Batman," Artemis interjected. "Is it possible that plant thingy's on Kobra Venom, too?"
"I had Green Lantern run a SPOT analysis." Batman swiped his hand, pulling up a holographic diagram. "The vine cellulose does contain trace amounts of a Kobra Venom variant."
"These cannot be coincidences." Whisper pulled up a keyboard as Kaldur spoke and started typing. "Unrelated criminals are cooperating with one another worldwide."
"Exactly. It's now clear our enemies have formed some kind of...secret society of super-villains." Whisper froze momentarily at those words. Yes, the Talons had connections everywhere, but they couldn't be behind it. They just couldn't. "The attack on Metropolis is only the beginning."
Whisper took that moment to report his findings. "Got that right." He began pulling up smaller holographic images of different cities. "Plant creatures have sprouted in Gotham City, Paris, Star City, Taipei-." Whisper was cut off by the abrupt arrival of static on all screens.
"Dude."
"It's not me." Whisper began typing frantically. "Someone's cutting into the satellite signal. All satellite signals."
The static suddenly cleared, revealing a stark white face with bright red lips. The clown tapped on the camera glass a few times before leaning in closer. "Ladies and gentlemen," the Joker rasped. "I interrupt your regularly scheduled mayhem to bring you this important announcement..." The camera was moved, revealing six individuals. "...from the Injustice League." A strangled chuckling could be heard from the madman.
"We are responsible for the attacks on your cities," Count Vertigo began. "If you wish to save them, a ransom of ten billion American dollars is required. Delivery instructions have been sent to the United Nations. There is no time limit. But, the longer your government's wait..."
The screen turned to face the Joker again. "...the more we get to have our jollies." He began laughing again, before switching the camera off entirely.
The Team stood in silence, watching Batman activate his comm. unit. "Roger that, Aquaman. The U.N. will prepare the ransom as a fallback, but it won't come to that."
Whisper took to the keyboard again, pulling up an image of the super-villains. He began calling them from memory while outlining their faces. "Count Vertigo, the Joker, Poison Ivy, Ultra Humanite, Atomic Skull, Black Adam, Wotan. Seven heavy hitters. Probably connected to everything and everyone we've faced." Whisper inwardly sighed in relief that no criminals directly related to the Talons were present.
"There's your secret society," Wally stated.
"Not so 'secret' anymore."
"Perhaps after India, they knew we would deduce the truth and saw no point in hiding any longer."
Wally clenched his fist excitedly. "Yeah, well that was their mistake. Right now, I say we go kick some plant creature butt."
Batman intervened quickly. "The Justice League will handle the plants. I have a different job for this team."
Whisper wisely tuned out the sound of Wally's complaining and Artemis' physical abuse.
"With the plant creatures attacking so many locations simultaneously, there must be a central control system. Your mission is to destroy it."
Zatara slowly walked up to the Caped Crusader. "You realize what you're really asking them to do?"
"They're ready."
Whisper sat at the front of the Bioship, silently checking his supplies. He had studied the Joker, and to be honest, he didn't like the information given. Despite being completely insane, the Joker was fast, agile, and absolutely unpredictable, making fighting him a challenge. Not to mention he gave a bad name to clowns everywhere. That was just wrong.
The teen's attention was adverted when suddenly, Miss Martian said, "Dizzy."
Doing his part to lighten the mood, Whisper asked, "Martians get airsick?"
"She does look a bit greener than usual."
"Not me," Miss Martian insisted. "Her."
"I feel fine."
"Not you. The Bioship. She's trying to shield us but-." She was cut off by the ship suddenly careening sideways and crash landing.
After recovering from the initial whiplash, the Team exited the ship, which was quickly filling with water. Whisper removed his rebreather, listening to Miss Martian explain the Bioship's condition. Suddenly, a strong since of lightheadedness hit him. The teen collapsed, gathering his strength, until he heard Aqualad tell him mentally, "Whisper, Miss Martian, disappear. Fulfill the mission objective. We will keep them busy."
Whisper immediately did so, melting into the dark forest around him.
Silently walking through the undergrowth, Whisper looked at the holographic map he had pulled up.
"I've lost contact with Aqualad and the others. Should we-."
"Sorry," Whisper interrupted. "That's not the gig. This is." He moved aside a branch to reveal a hemisphere-shaped building. "The Injustice League central control system. Looks like that plant is acting as an antenna to control the other plants worldwide."
The pair's viewing was cut off by vines wrapping around their torsos, turning them to face their perpetrator. "Well hello." Ultra Humanite landed beside Poison Ivy. "And goodbye."
Thinking quickly, Miss Martian used shifted the gun pointed at her head, promptly freeing herself and Whisper. The former merely disappeared while Whisper ran towards the trees, listening to Poison Ivy's voice behind him.
"Sorry Whisper, I'm putting an end to your little reconnaissance mission."
"Great," thought Whisper sarcastically. "You patrol with Batman once or twice and take on Clayface, and suddenly everyone is after you." Dodging the vines the villainess sent his way, he slid on a large one before launching himself to a branch. Whisper grabbed it and swung, using the momentum to rebound of trees and land safely on the ground.
Soon, Whisper felt like he was playing a game of cat and mouse. It greatly upset him that he was the one with a fetish for cheese. A rather quick moving plant caught him off guard, sending him sliding along the muddy ground. The plants poised to attack once again, but thankfully, exploded. Whisper saw a the air move in front of him and heard Miss Martian say, "Whisper, she's made contact."
"Artemis?"
Whisper could hear the scowl in Miss Martian's, "No."
Not two seconds later, the two witnessed their Team fall from the sky. It looked like one of those days.
Mentally summoning his teammate, Whisper and Miss Martian climbed to the plant. Their companions had the fight under control and they needed to take the plant out. Using telekineses and throwing, all the wisps in Whisper's belt were soon poised to explode in a matter of seconds all along the weed.
Whisper had just enough time to take in Ivy's stunned face before the whisps detonated, leaving a smoking carcass in place of her 'baby.' Narrowing her eyes at her, he said seriously, "Timber." He considered that revenge for hunting him down with vines earlier.
Apparently, Ivy didn't like that revenge because she instantly sent a cluster of plants at him and Miss Martian. Fortunately, his companion mentally halted the attack. Unfortunately, Miss Martian was suddenly shot aside by Atomic Skull.
Whisper dove aside before sprinting along the roof, heading back towards ground level. Behind him, he vaguely heard Joker exclaiming, "Inconceivable! Unacceptable! Retributionable! That last one might not be a word. So sue me." Whisper felt a twinge of annoyance. Butchering the English language was his thing!
The teen put that thought out of his head as he reached Miss Martian. Helping her to her feet, he dashed off once again, narrowly avoiding a blast from Atomic Skull. Whisper continued running through the trees, keeping an eye out for any enemies.
Suddenly, Wotan rose above the others and announced, "Enough." Whisper chucked several whisps at him, but to his chagrin, the sorcerer blocked them with a mystic shield. "That is so cheating."
Whisper's inner rant was cut off by Wotan pinning him to the ground, with lightning no less. The teen vaguely heard the shouts of his teammates around him, but all he could focus on was the pain. After what seemed like hours, but he knew it to only be a few minutes, the shocks running through his body subsided.
In the distance, Whisper heard Kid Flash shout, "Aqualad, no!" A second later, Dr. Fate rose into the sky and began fighting Wotan. Whisper pushed himself to his knees and stiffened as he heard a splash. Turning his head, Whisper wasn't surprised that the Joker had chased him down personally. Didn't he feel special.
"Whispy Boy, you are mine," the Joker declared in a deep voice. The clown flicked out a switchblade before advancing on Whisper. The adolescent quickly jumped back, barely dodging the knife that was slashed at his chest. Whisper flipped over the Joker's head, regretting using all of his whisps to blow up the vine. The madmen followed closely, cutting all the way.
For the second time that night, Whisper found himself in a game of cat and mouse. Everything the Talons had told him about the Joker was absolutely true. Whisper had to push his acrobatic abilities to their limits to stay out of reach of his weapons. It soon became a pattern. Dodge. Flip. Jump. Flip. Dodge. Flip. Dodge. There were no openings to exploit, no weaknesses. Without projectiles, Whisper was stuck on rerun until he got help.
After another ten minutes of avoiding attacks, help arrived. Whisper had been backed into a grove of trees and cornered. Luckily, black batarang came out of nowhere, dislodging one knife from the Joker's hand. The clown spun around, a mischievous smile on his face. Whisper sighed silently as he saw the entire League descend from the sky.
Batman stepped forward on the muddy ground. "It's over."
The Team stood assembled in front of Batman, hands behind their backs.
"I expect written mission evaluations by tomorrow morning. Until then, good job." The Team's eyes widened at the tiny grin that appeared on the Dark Knight's face but Whisper all-out beamed. Good, Bruce was showing emotion even with the cowl on. Spending all your time pouting was not good, even if Whisper had done it for years himself.
The Team filed out one by one, except for Whisper, who stayed at Batman's request.
When Whisper tilted his head to the side, Batman replied to the teen's silent question. "Would you like to stay at my place tonight?"
"Sure," Whisper responded slowly.
Batman merely nodded and Whisper ran off to get a change of clothes. He returned a few minutes later wearing non-muddy clothes and had a bag slung over his shoulder. The two walked straight into the Zeta Tube in silence.
Whisper and Bruce sat in the dining room, enjoying a delicious, although late, dinner. Finally, Bruce finished eating and wiped his mouth with a napkin before leaning his elbows on the table.
"So what did you think of fighting the Joker?"
Whisper's fork paused halfway to his mouth. Tearing his gaze away from his mutton, he looked up at Bruce. "Excuse me?"
"The Joker? What did you think?"
The piece of mutton was slowly lowered to the plate as Whisper leaned back in his chair. "Fighting him was hard. He was unpredictable, not to mention creepy."
When Whisper caught sight of the small smile on Bruce's face, he narrowed his eyes and scowled. "What's so funny?"
Bruce shook his head slightly and said, "It's nothing. Just...'creepy' is what most normal children use to describe the Joker. You are far from normal and more experienced, yet you still refer to him that way."
Whisper shrugged. "Well he is. Realclowns don't go around killing people. They make you laugh and take care of you. The Joker ruined what most kids should feel when they look at a clown."
It wasn't until hours later, when Bruce was preparing to get a few hours of sleep, that he realized the significance of what Whisper had said. He spoke as if he knew about clowns personally. Bruce's mind flashed to Richard Grayson, but he immediately classified it as wishful thinking.
Richard Grayson was dead, and nothing was going to change that.
The leader of the League of Talons was a patient man. He looked on as the messenger stuttered over the news of the boy. The one that had reported the initial sighting of the boy had been...dispatched after he made a typo on a bulletin. The new messenger wasn't much better though.
"Th-the plan worked, sir. He went to stop the group with the rest of th-the sidekicks, I mean partners, and C-Count Vertigo said that he f-fought well."
A nod was all the courier received. The young man rushed out of the room, thankful that it was over.
He just didn't know he would be headless by morning
AN: Sorry for the lateness! I'M SO SORRY! PLEASE FORGIVE ME!
SPOILER FOR 'SUMMIT'
F*CK YES! THAT IS HOW NIGHTWING ROLLS! AND OH MY GOSH! THE SPITFIRE FEELS! JUST...AIIIIIIEEEEEE!
Again, sorry for lateness.
-GSDLover