Chapter 28

Way to go Molly Grace 16 for guessing who our mystery person was. though I suppose Gizmo's appearance was a bit obvious. Haha 'Crud-munchers' was a dead giveaway it's an insult only Gizmo says XD personally I think he'd be perfect to go up against Hardwire, Mariko's new alter, in this fiction he's much older though. Well anyhow I'm babbling, ONWARD TO THE BATTLE FIELD!

"Woohoo! You're the most fun I've had all week!" Hardwire—Mariko's new hero name—said as she punched the hooded figure across the building once again, and sending another jolt of electricity. She then looked to the Team.

"Like them?" she asked holding up her hands, "I made them myself; better than a regular taser."

"Mariko you are so out of line right now!" Kid shouted, Hardwire frowned.

"The name is Hardwire; and I don't care Kid," She said, "I was put on this team to help—and against my better judgment—that's what I'm doing."

"Hey you Snot-suckers! Don't ignore me!" The boy shouted, Hardwire looked over her shoulder, at him.

"You're still not out; man this kid can sure take a hit." She mumbled, the boy grinned.

"Insulated suit, I don't feel a thing." He bragged, Hardwire frowned and turned toward the boy and cocked her head to the side.

"Who are you anyway?" she asked.

"The name's Gizmo; and I'm smarter than some slug-face like you'll ever be!" Gizmo shouted, Hardwire glared.

"You wanna try and match wits? Go find a gerbil; that should be a perfect match for your intellect." She scoffed, "In the meantime let me show you what a true genius can accomplish. Oh Tony-boy!"

Gizmo scowled not sure who she was yelling for when suddenly someone came crashing down on top of him.

"Crud!" He shouted as he pressed a button and a pair of jets came out of his bag and rocketed him out of the way as Tony landed on the ground.

"You missed, you stupid Cyborg!" Hardwire shouted, Tony sighed.

"Sorry Ma'am. He moved." He said. She sighed and looked back to the others.

"You guys leave Gizmo here to me n Tony; you find out what SportsMaster's up to." She said, "And don't worry I won't let shrimp over here touch your bio-ship."

"How do we know we can trust you?" Super-boy asked, Hardwire huffed.

"Then stick around; either way doesn't matter to me." She said, then dug into her belt pockets and pulled out a coiled up cord. "Tony grab him and hold him stead—"

Suddenly something shot at Mariko and a cord wrapped around her, then there was a sudden snap of electricity. Mariko screamed as electricity surged through her body and she fell to the ground.

"HA! Take that snot!" Gizmon shouted, Tony glared and ran at him only to have Gizmo blow him back with a press of a button. He then looked to Hardwire, "Say don't I know you? Now I remember you; you're that young genius Vandal Savage had palin' around him for a while. I heard he dumped ya."

Hardwire glared up at the boy as he grinned.

"Who'd have thought I would be replacing someone like you," Gizmo said, "Guess you're not as smart as you thought."

Just then Gizmo's body was thrown high into the air, he looked down to see Miss Martian using her powers to levitate Gizmo's body in the air. Superboy and Kidflash then ran to Hardwire who was still on the ground.

"Are you ok..?" Kid asked, Hardwire was silent as her face was unreadable because of her goggles.

"Get me…out of this." She said in a dark tone. Superboy and kid looked to each other then Superboy grabbed hold of the electrified rope and ripped it apart. Sparks flew as the cord was severed and Hardwire soon stood and glared up at Gizmo.

"Crud! Do you have any idea how long that took to make?!" he shouted down at them, Superboy scowled.

"Not nearly as long as you're suffering will be, I can assure you of that." Hardwire growled, "Tony! Grab him, and rip his little backpack off."

"Yes Miss Mariko!" Tony shouted as he stood and jumped into the air and grabbed Gizmo.

"Let go o' me slug-face! SNOT!" He shouted as Tony then grabbed hold of his bag, "Hey get your sticky paws off my bag! CRUD!"

Tony smirked as he held the newly torn robotic bag from Gizmo's back. He then looked back to his master, "I've got it!"

"Miss Martian; I believe you can release our little Oni from the air." Hardwire said sweetly, Miss Martian nodded, then released Gizmo who fell to the ground. He stood to run but was forced down by Tony who glared down at him.

"Snot, crud, slug-face!" Gizmo shouted as Hardwire walked up to him.

"Leave him to me; once he's dispatched I'll go back to the Cave. That make you happy Senpais?" she asked, Kid and Superboy looked at each other, then to Miss Martian who shrugged.

"Works for us…uh Hardwire…" Miss Martian said, the other two nodded and then trio ran off after the others. Hardwire then looked back at Gizmo.

"What are we going to do with him Miss?" Tony asked.

"Let me go you stupid idiot crud-muncher—snot sucker!" Gizmo shouted, Mariko sighed and removed her goggles. "Old hag!"

"URESAI!" she shouted, glaring at the boy with her multi-colored eyes. He was silenced almost instantly as he looked at her blue and purple eyes that hid her insanity. "You work directly under Savage-sama?"

Gizmo nodded biting his bottom lip to keep it from quivering in fear. Mariko glared.

"That treacherous—ahoka! He replaced me." She said holding in her anger, though Tony and Gizmo could both see she was completely livid. She then began to laugh, softly at first, but it soon turned to near hysteria. "I'll make him pay for replacing me!"

Suddenly Mariko stood limply her face stared down at the ground and was covered by her blue-green hair.

"M-miss Mariko," Tony mumbled stretching out his hand to nudge her when suddenly her face revealed an emotionless demeanor.

"Ippen, Shinde miru?" She mumbled, then pulled back her fist which was still gloved by her electro-gloves and gave Gizmo a swift smack in the head there was a small snap of electricity as Gizmo was left unconscious. Then everything fell quiet.

"M-miss Mariko…" Tony asked, grabbing onto Mariko as she fell into him, he blushed slightly. "Miss…are you…are you ok?"

"Toki ni watashi no kujō wa, fukushū sa reru nodesu ka?*" Mariko mumbled as she sobbed into Tony's chest. Tony looked down at his young master, and held her close but decided it was best he said nothing.

~0~

Later when the Team returned—having discovered that SportsMaster was simply a distraction for Gizmo—who had also disappeared. Everyone figured that Mariko took him to prison herself, since they were filled in by M'gaan and the other two that she was there, she had also promised to go back to the cave after she had finished up.

"You should have seen it; I never would have thought she could fight like that." Wally said, "She…really had out backs there."

"I told you she could be trusted. There's good in her, I just know it." M'gaan said sweetly the others nodded.

"Guess Batman was right to put her on the Team." Conner said, then the team realized that the Cave was unusually quiet.

"Anyone disturbed by the fact that there's no heavy punk music being heard?" Artemis asked, the team nodded, then headed for Mariko and Tony's room. When they opened the door they realized it was completely empty; nothing. Not a single shred that proved that Mariko was ever there. Everything had been stripped, from the colorful posters to the strange looking guitar she had. All that was left was the costume that she had worn when fighting Gizmo. It laid folded on the bed that was there with a slip of paper on top of them.

"I knew it! She completely bailed! Why did we ever trust her to come back here!?" Wally shouted.

"There has to be a reason she's not here…and why her room is like this." M'gaan said.

"Reason? She's a crazy nut-job she's insane and we let her on the Team, we shouldnt be wondering why she did this we should be searching the Cave's database incase she's hacked it!" Wally shouted.

"That's enough Wally!" Kaldur said sternly. Robin looked to Mariko's bed.

"Even if she did hack our databases she wouldnt leave behind a trail," He said, as he picked up the envelope. "Besides look here she left something."

"What is it?" Zatanna asked looking over Robin's shoulder.

"A...note." Robin said, "From Mariko."

~note~

To the Young Justice Team;

I realize that I'm not cut out for this hero work after all. I tried my best I really did, but if I'm going to take down Vandal Savage; I can't be paling around with a bunch of goodie-goodies who play by the rules. Let's face it; that's not who I am.

Jigoku Shoujo.

P.S. Tell Wally I didn't hack anything.

Wally frowned when he read the last line then looked to the others. Mariko had gone, and if her note was telling the truth it wasn't to go back to The Light.

"What do we do now?" Artemis asked.

"I'll take the note to Batman, and explain the situation." Robin said.

"In the meantime, get some rest." Kaldur said, they all nodded and left the room. Once Robin was alone he noticed the second letter simply reading; 'Promise kept.'

~0~

"Miss Mariko, what are we gonna do with him?" Tony grumbled pointing to Gizmo who was at the moment still with them.

"Cram it's not breath! I'm only stickin' around to get back at her!" Gizmo growled. Tony frowned.

"Snot breath? Where do you get these insults?" he asked, Gizmo glared.

"Oh what d'you want? I'm a 14 year old genius! I don't see you comin up with anything better!" he growled.

"Would you two both cram it!?" Mariko shouted turning to the boys, then her stare went to Gizmo, "Ippen, shinde miru?"

Gizmo went silent as Mariko turned her back on the two.

"Good to see you're alive, Mariko Miko." A voice said, Mariko scowled and looked back.

"Jigoku…Shonen."

Short chapter? I know, but hey sometimes ya gotta have a short chapter yaknow? At least it wasn't a long filler chapter right? Meow; Mariko's on her own from now on—well on her own with Tony, Gizmo and maybe our favorite Witch-boy—or is he just mine in this story? Who all's a Klarion fangirl? if so I share your love! whee! also if you want to feel the full drama in Mariko and Gizmo's fight scene; listen to the Ai Enma character song; you'll feel the heavy drama. I was listening to it when I typed it.

Anyway (*) What Mariko said in this scene was; 'When will my grievance be avenged?' Marikpo—and myself—is a big fan of Jigoku Shoujo or Hell girl, it's an anime that I will have Mariko explain later on in the chapters. Fact what she asked Gizmo; 'Ippen Shinde miru' was a quote from the Japanese dialogue roughly translated it means 'Care to give death a try?' or 'would you like to try dying once?' there are many different translations circulating around the internet; my favorite of course is the official English dub 'Perhaps it is time to die,' and 'Care to give death a try?' but that's me; Review please! 'See you later armadillos—unless I see you first. Haha!'