Afterlight
Chapter Five
"But you can't make people listen. They have to come round in their own time, wondering what happened and why the world blew up around them. It can't last."
― Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451
January 3, 2016
A day of working with Manta had not smoothed over our differences. We clashed at every turn, although we were both getting better at hiding it. Well, he was, I was constantly getting on his nerves with snide comments or bits of advice depending on my mood.
The biggest test would be how we functioned on missions. I planned to stay out of the way and observe during missions, but I didn't want to be completely useless. I would have to see how that worked out after our first mission. If it ended up being too much trouble, I would have to figure something else out.
And by trouble, I meant not being able to keep my uncertainties in check.
Black Manta was even more problematic than his son. He showed up at random times, ridiculing my work in attempt to distract me or make me slip up. It was grating on my nerves to the point that I was ready to snap.
"Manta, Oblivion," Black Manta stalked into the room, "Come with me."
"Oh, I hope we haven't disappointed you," I snarked as we followed him into his office.
"The Light has requested that you two complete a mission," Black Manta ignored me, "I am not happy about this."
"Congratulations, Manta, the Light trusts you enough to let you go on a mission for them," I nodded to the man, "You're moving up."
"Enough!" Black Manta snapped, "You two are supposed to retrieve a device from an operative being held in a holding cell in a police station. I do not like this. They'll be expecting you."
"Tough," I snapped, "Do you have the information?"
He practically threw the flash drive at me, "This is a suicide mission."
"We will not die. The Light would not remove one of the operatives of the League of Assassins. The mission will succeed," Manta said firmly, "We will need a Manta-Flyer."
"There is one waiting for you in the bay," Black Manta rested a hand on Manta's shoulder, "Do not die."
"Trust me," I intervened, "With me around, he won't die until I say so."
The Manta-Flyer surfaced a quarter of a mile away from the port we were supposed to be at. Manta and I swam the rest of the way due to the fact that we were afraid of being detected if the ship moved any closer. There was an old, condemned dock at the edge of the main port of entry that could be used to gain access to the rest of the docks.
We silently climbed onto the dock, grabbing old blankets lying on the dock to dry off the water dripping off of us. I shuddered at the smell, and hoped that it wouldn't rub off on my uniform. Casting a glance at Manta, who had not worn his helmet for this mission, revealed the same expression. I tilted my head towards the buildings, and he nodded.
The police office was located in the center of the shipping district, and had a full staff of fifty people or so, but only fifteen were in the office at any given time. It was a holding area for stowaways and criminals caught in the shipping district. The city police visited them every two days to pick up prisoners needing transfer.
Manta and I had already created the plan, having had a few hours to talk while the pilot had flown us here. The plan was simple, just like this job. There was absolutely no way that we could mess this up unless we went way off the plan.
I was curious to see how he handled a sudden change in a mission. My file on this mission had an extra page that had been for my eyes only. It had stated that I was to kill the operative for their failure after retrieving the package, something that they apparently trusted me to do.
The police office was surrounded by a barb-wire fence, complete with a sign that warned trespassers away. I snorted at the sign with a picture of a barking dog. We crept to the back of the building and watched for patrols. There were none, as expected.
Manta nodded at me and drew out a single water bearer. It transformed into a sword, which he slashed across the fence. The rusty links parted easily against the force of his blow. He pushed the links to the side and gestured for me to go first.
I darted through the gap and pressed myself against the wall of the jail. The closest door led to an office used to enter arrested individuals into the city's database. The next door was the back door of the jail, and also led to the break room.
My partner joined me. He nodded at the break room door and held up a hand, counting down to our attack. On zero, he sprinted over to the break room door and kicked it open. I performed the same act on the office door. The man sitting inside leaped out of his chair and was rewarded with a knife in his throat.
I moved swiftly, kicking the next door open and tossing a smoke pellet into the room. In the confusion, I took down several officers with my swords. Manta was just as fast, although his movements were much less lethal. When the smoke cleared, all of my opponents were dead, and his were unconscious. That fact heightened any suspicion towards him.
"The area is secure," Manta stated, "I do not think any of our officers will be moving anytime soon."
I didn't blink at the hidden barb, "Where is our target?"
"Here," I caught the ring of keys thrown my way, "She is this way."
Our target was sitting in a holding cell, arms crossed and head bowed. She did not lift her head when we opened the cell door, and only moved when I approached her, "Indigo?"
"Yes," The dark-skinned woman confirmed, "That is me."
"Do you have the package?" She nodded, "Give it to me."
"Here," She handed me a small box. Through the clear plastic, I could see the microchip resting inside, "I retrieved it. Has the Light granted me mercy?"
"Mercy?" Manta asked from behind me as I shifted my balance.
"Yes, they have," I pulled a sword from its sheath and stabbed her through the heart. She gasped, eyes wide in death, "You have been granted the mercy of a swift death."
"Oblivion!" I was yanked backwards. Manta slammed me against the cell bars, "What are you doing?"
"Following orders!" I shouted. I kicked him away, "You had your orders, and I had mine. The package has been retrieved. The mission is a success."
"You just murdered someone in cold blood. Do you not have a conscience?" He yelled. Was he kidding me? No one had a conscience in this game.
"I follow orders given to me," I retorted, voice raw. He couldn't judge me, he didn't known me.
"Following orders is not always the best action," He growled. I twitched my hand, blood falling off my sword in droplets, and tucked it into its sheath.
"You don't know that," I narrowed my eyes, knowing he was right even if I refused to believe it.
"You have failed anyways. She still lives," I narrowed my eyes and glanced at the woman, who was gasping, hands fluttering over the gaping wound in her chest. I had missed, but how?
Before I could figure it out, police sirens began to wail outside. One of the police officers must have hit a panic button before being taken out. I cursed and raced out of the cell, launching myself through a window and landing in the yard.
The spray of bullets that greeted me was blocked by a shield of light. Manta crouched beside me, speaking to me in urgent tones, "There are too many of them. If we manage to escape, we will have to split up and meet up later. This is a tracking device. It will transmit my location to you, and yours to me."
I accepted the small device, "One hour, Manta. Don't mess this up."
I increased the brightness of my shield, blinding the officers. Together, Manta and I fought through the wall of uniforms around the building. There were dozens of them, all firing at us. I called up another shield, wrapping us in it.
Manta broke through first, and I quickly followed through the hole. I yanked myself free as a recovered police officer grabbed at me. With one quick movement, I pulled his gun away from him and shot him in the chest. Barely glancing at him, I continued to run.
Forty-five minutes later, I watched police cars race past my perch on a building. I breathed a sigh of relief when they did not return. Satisfied with my work, I began to walk across the building, playing with the small tracking device that Manta had given me and ignoring the ground below me.
"Wha-" My shriek was cut off as the roof gave out beneath my weight. I landed in a graceless heap of plaster and shingles, a bookshelf collapsing beside me.
"Really? That roof was not up to code," I wiggled free of the debris and stood, finally realizing where I was.
I was in a large library, complete with a row of computers against one wall. I angrily kicked away a chunk of plaster and began to search for the door, only to trip on a magazine. I cursed and grabbed the magazine, intending to rip it to shreds. I froze as I read the headline.
BATMAN'S NEW ROBIN. OLD ROBIN DEAD?
I shrieked and threw the magazine away from me. Robin wasn't dead. Ra's al Ghul had sworn that no one would get hurt. I couldn't let myself feel any doubt towards the League of Assassins. It was too dangerous for me and the ones I had sworn to protect.
I began to walk towards the door, resisting the urge to investigate. I had to trust the League of Assassins. Talia al Ghul was my mentor, and Ra's al Ghul my master. They were the ones who held my loyalty. I must trust them and prove my loyalty-
"Shit," I swore and hurried over to a computer.
I pressed the button to turn it on and watched as it wheezed through the startup routine. If anyone discovered that I had done this, I would be screwed. I had to do this this, though. I had to know about the last few years.
"Finally!" I beamed at the login screen and connected my tablet to the computer.
Once I had found the username and password, I logged on and opened up an internet browser. I hesitated briefly before typing in Kyara Wayne. The results astounded me, and I clicked on a news site in order to figure out where to start. The headlines freaked me out even more.
KYARA WAYNE MISSING, PRESUMED DEAD.
NO SUSPECTS IN MISSING WAYNE'S CASE.
CAR FOUND CONTAINING BLOOD MATCHING WAYNE DAUGHTER'S.
BRUCE WAYNE DECLARES DAUGHTER DEAD. ASKS FOR PRIVACY.
"No," I breathed, horrified. They had thought that I was dead when I was alive. No, that hadn't been part of the deal. Ra's al Ghul had sworn that my death wouldn't be faked.
If he had broken that part of the deal, then he could have broken the rest of it, too. I typed in another search term, Second Robin. I quickly learned that two years ago, the first Robin had disappeared and later debuted as Nightwing. Less than a month later, a new Robin had shown up in Gotham, guessed to be around fourteen years old.
His name was Jason…
I typed in my father's name and a request for the names of the kids he had adopted. Dick Grayson was listed on one news site, as was Timothy Drake, the newest Robin if the pictures were anything to go by. There was one final name, Jason Todd. Deceased had been typed next to his name in red font.
Frantic, I continued to search. Jason Todd had been fifteen when he had died in a bombing in some obscure country. A few days before that, Batman and Robin had been seen in the same town that Bruce Wayne and Jason Todd had been visiting. Joker had also been seen in that town.
Joker must have had something to do with Jason's death. I found that Joker had been admitted to Arkham Asylum six months after Jason's death in a full body cast, courtesy of Batman. Joker definitely had a part in his death. That didn't explain why Joker had been in that country though.
Two years ago…I tapped a finger against the desk. The League of Assassins had been up to something in that same country around the time of Batman and Robin's visit. If Batman and Robin had gone to that country to stop the League of Assassins, Ra's al Ghul would have wanted to distract them. Joker would have been an excellent option.
The only problem was that the Joker was unpredictable and insane. He would have been happy to kill Robin, if only to spite Batman. That was how Jason had died: Ra's al Ghul had hired the Joker like a common crook, and had expected him to act like one.
Ra's al Ghul had broken our deal. People had died due to his actions, and my foolish belief that Ra's al Ghul would be faithful to our deal. I had messed up to a point where it might not even be fixable. I didn't know what to do. I couldn't declare that I hated the League of Assassins. That would be suicide.
Anger suddenly flared in me, burning brighter than anything I had felt in a long time. I had given up my soul for that monster, and he had betrayed me. All this time, I had forced myself to believe that I was loyal, not knowing that he couldn't even honor an agreement. I had lost everything because of him.
I drew in a shuddering breath, and realized that I was crying. I removed my mask and swiped at my eyes in order to clear my vision. Crying would not help anyone, let alone myself. The League of Assassins had lied to me. They had ruined me and turned me into a monster.
"You figured it out," The soft voice of Manta broke me out of my thoughts.
I hurriedly shoved my mask back on and looked at the man standing by the door with a helmet under his arm. I didn't know where his loyalties lay, "No."
"Oblivion," I shoved past him, "I am sorry. I know this is hard for you."
In a flash, I had a knife to his throat, "Nothing is hard for me, Kaldur'ahm! The only thing that is hard is listening to you talk. I have learned nothing tonight besides the fact that you do not know how to trust the Light."
"They killed him, Kyara," He stopped as I dug the knife in. I didn't realize I was shaking until he pointed it out, "You are shivering."
"My name is Oblivion," I spat, "You will call me Oblivion. I am loyal to the League of Assassins, and through them, the Light. You need to convince me that you are loyal to the Light. Do not step out of line again, Manta, unless you want to die. Understood?"
He glared at me, "Yes."
"Good. We need to rendezvous with the Manta-Flyer," I stormed past him, not waiting to see if he followed. If a few more tears slipped down my face, I didn't acknowledge them.
When we reached the dock, the Manta-Flyer was nowhere in sight. I frowned at Manta, "We'll swim?"
"Yes," He said harshly, and dove into the water. I sighed and followed him, knowing that I could have handled the library situation better.
A quarter of a mile out, we spotted the Manta-Flyer floating on the surface. I kicked to the surface, inhaling sharply to get rid of my gills. I grimaced as a wave smacked me in the face. The water was ridiculously rough considering how smooth it had been earlier.
We climbed onto the Manta-Flyer's hull, the hatch spinning open as a soldier prepared for our arrival. I reached it first, and paused as I started to climb down it. I stared at the ocean, and how it had begun to smack the Manta-Flyer in earnest. I adjusted my balance as the ship rocked, almost flipping with the force of the waves.
"Manta, did Indigo's file say anything about her powers? What she could do?" I asked as I continued to watch the water.
"Only that her exact powers were unknown," Manta was watching the ocean as well.
"Well, that explains why she's coming towards us," I nodded towards the waterspout spinning towards us.
"You do not think – " Manta stumbled as a particularly large wave washed over the Manta-Flyer, "Troopers, seal the Manta-Flyer and submerge. Activate evasive maneuvers. We will signal for our pick-up."
"Sir," The trooper nodded and slammed the hatch shut. We dived off the hull and swam a few yards away to clear the way for them.
"We're being attacked by an angry drop of water," I said in disbelief, "I should have made sure she was dead."
"She must have the power to control water, and a regenerative ability," Manta muttered, "How do we stop her?"
"We get her to form back into a human," I decided, "But we need to get back onto land."
"Hold on," Manta grabbed my waist and pulled us under. I inhaled, the pain burning through my throat as gills formed, and held on as Manta used his water bearers to propel us through the water.
We had just surfaced when I heard the agonized scream, "No!"
The water around us surged, and for a brief second, I saw Indigo's face before the waves slammed us against the legs of the dock. I cried out as my back slammed against the pillars, spine screaming. Next to me, Manta yelled, water bearers flashing.
A shield of water surrounded us, and I strengthened it with my light. I glanced at him, "We need to get out of the water, now!"
"We are under the dock, make a hole!" I nodded and clapped my hands together, light shattering the wood above us. Manta grabbed me and propelled us through it so we landed on the dock above.
We dropped our shields, the rain hitting us with full force. Together, we retreated off the dock and onto the concrete. I gasped and pointed at the rain, "Found her."
The rain was meshing together to form Indigo, who stalked towards us with water flowing behind her, "How could you? After all I've done for the Light?"
"You failed them! You deserve it!" I shouted back, "Accept your sentence!"
Manta shifted beside me, water bearers glowing. The rain around us began to change shape to match Manta's commands. Indigo snarled, "I failed in a suicidal mission! How do I deserve it?"
"Stop!" Manta shouted, twisting his water bearers. The giant eel he had been shaping out of water bowled her over.
Not even pausing to think, I raced after the eel and tackled Indigo. She hissed, form beginning to turn to water, but I refused to let that happen. I pulled my swords out, beheading her in one swift movement. The moment I did, the waves calmed and the storm stopped.
I stood, looking at the corpse. Blood oozed out of it, but I didn't care. A soft whisper caught my attention, "Kyara, what have you done?"
I looked at Manta's horrified face and shrugged, "What I had to."
Manta didn't bother hiding his sadness as he corrected me, "What you wanted to do."
January 6, 2016
"We're delivering tiny aliens," I kept my voice as serious as possible given the information.
Manta wasn't amused, "Kroloteans. The final shipment."
"And then what? They fly away in their ships?" I was surprised that the Light had allied themselves with aliens in the first place.
"You know about the ships?" Manta wasn't surprised. Then again, after the events that had occurred three days ago, I didn't expect that anything could.
"Yes, I was sent a file on the Kroloteans last night. I was curious to see what you knew. What's the second stage of this plan, Manta?" I leaned against a shelf in the Manta-Flyer.
"The bomb must be placed in the lowest level of their base. Then, it will be detonated after we leave. The Kroloteans will be eliminated," Manta's voice lacked emotion, "As required by the Light."
"You're learning," I nodded approvingly, "Excellent. How do you know that the Justice League or their little team won't find us?"
"I expect that they will have figured out where the Krolotean base is by now, especially after their assault on one of their outposts. If they attack while we are there, then so be it," Manta stated, most of his attention captured by the map pasted to the wall, "They will not interfere with our mission."
"Very optimistic," I nodded, "Keep going at the rate you are, and you'll have me convinced of your loyalty in no time at all."
"That is the plan," He muttered, "Pilot, drop below the ocean's surface and use the underwater entrance."
"Yes, sir. Adjusting settings to drop below the surface," The pilot typed something into the computer, "Altitude of Manta-Flyer decreasing now."
The Manta-Flyer shuddered as we dropped to the ocean, "Entering ocean now."
I barely managed to keep my balance as the stupid submarine-plane slammed into the ocean. It shuddered as it broke the ocean's surface, waves buffeting the outside of it. Five seconds later, it leveled out, having gotten to the correct depth. The soldier expertly piloted us through the opening and surfaced inside the Krolotean base.
"Soldiers, escort the Kroloteans off the ship. We will be along shortly," Manta ordered, smooth and efficient.
The soldiers marched out of the room, leaving us alone, "Oblivion, I will be contacting my father to inform him that we have docked. I assume that you will want to be present."
"Correct," I answered, ignoring the barbs in his voice. He could judge me if he wanted, but I would not care.
Manta took the vacant pilot's seat and pressed a button on the control panel. A transmission screen opened up, showing the upper half of Black Manta. He and his son exchanged greetings, and Black Manta managed to nod in my direction without adding any comments.
"We have docked inside the Krolotean base. The Kroloteans have been unloaded," Black Manta quickly explained, "I am ready to proceed with the next phase of the plan."
"Proceed at your discretion," Black Manta advised, "Excellent work, son."
Manta removed his helmet, "Thank you, Father."
The screen went black as Black Manta ended the transmission. I sat in the seat next to him, "That was very dramatic."
"Yes," He pressed a button, "Soldiers, be on guard when you take your posts. I fear we will have visitors tonight."
"At least you're thinking ahead. I hope you keep a clear mind through the rest of tonight's events," I arranged myself so that I was more comfortable, "Well, we have a long time to wait."
"Perhaps not," Manta leaned forward and pressed the same button he had pressed before, "All sections report."
"Section one secure," Came the immediate reply.
"Section two secure," I raised an eyebrow as Section three failed to report in.
"Section four secure," Manta frowned at the silence.
"Section three report," He ordered. Nothing but silence came back, "Section three, are you secure?"
"That's awkward," I murmured at the silence, "You were correct."
"We will need to find the problem," Manta placed his helmet on his head, "Are you coming?"
"Do you need to ask?" I retorted as I stood.
"I hope that one day you will say no," I glared at his retreating back before following.
Outside, soldiers patrolled the base. Kroloteans were everywhere, working on various projects. I assumed one of the projects was a zeta tube, but I couldn't be sure. I focused my attention on the various platforms in this place, looking for anything out of the ordinary.
"On the levels above us," I nudged Manta and nodded at where I had seen Robin moments before.
"And in the water," Without warning, Manta swiveled and blasted the water with a laser, exposing Aquaman and someone I believed to be called Lagoon Boy.
I sighed and unsheathed my swords. It seemed like we wouldn't be able to complete our mission without interference from the Justice League and their brats.
Author's note: Hello! Here is the next chapter as promised. The next one will be released next week around the same time.
If anyone wants to learn more about Jason Todd, there is an awesome movie, Batman: Under the Red Hood, which I recommend.