Chapter 34: Start To A Merry Christmas

Authors Note: Thank you all for your support I enjoyed this story arc very much. This chapter will conclude the end of the Hush Arc and now a quick Christmas spoof featuring what the Shadow Warriors do in Christmas. This will not only just be for cheers and joy but it will also feature the future plot for the Reaper and Hitgirl Arc. Okay, enjoy everyone. Also Tonycakes updated her story Laughing All The Way give it read.

Disclaimer: I do not own Batman.

The Shadow Warriors were exhausted from their fight as they all staggered towards the Raven. Shadow saw a lot of faces as he smiled at his restored friends.

"Hey kids how ya doing?" Shadow groaned sarcastically. Reaper scoffed as he leaned on Hitgirl.

"Head better days Jayden," He chuckled sarcastically. "Had better days."

"Hey, you guys put up a pretty decent fight." Phoenix joked.

"Yeah, but you had a huge disadvantage." Star chuckled.

"Why, because you had a Superman clone on your side?" Breeze groaned.

"No because they had me on their side." Shadow gloated. "By the way what happened to Ace?"

As he said that they had just walked across a balcony that overlooked a lobby and saw the young girl staring up at them with manic eyes. Jayden looked down at her as the two just stared at each other for a few minutes. Ace finally broke the stare and then ran away from them and out of the building. Whisper and Theodosia were about to leave when Jayden stopped them.

"Leave her, we'll find her another time." Jayden sighed. "Let's get the hell out of here."

Everyone was relieved as they started to slowly move towards the entrance of the building. They were just about to walk out when they started to hear what sounded like clapping. Everyone either slowly turned due to their exhausted mental states or snapped their heads over in surprise as they saw the one responsible.

There he stood on top of the balcony above the warriors, wearing his black jumpsuit with metal plating and his mask with a bronze side on the left and a black side on the right.

"Slade!" Everyone shouted as they aimed their guns or readied their weapons as the soldier stopped clapping.

"Congratulations children." Slade sneered in his superior tone. "You managed to kill Hush and bring down all of his accomplices and his plan is nothing more than a mere pipe dream. But there will be much more in store for you." He warned as his tone grew darker as he looked down at the warriors.

"What the hell are you talking about you lunatic?" Shadow growled, aiming his gun at the mad man's head. His question was answered when Slade pulled out a silver syringe from his pocket and held it out.

"Seth Gallagher had absorbed your power and made it his own." Slade explained. "And as you explained multiple times the only way to acquire a perfect sample of the Adonis formula is by using a sample of your blood." Shadow's eyes widened as Slade grinned under his mask. "That's right, Thomas Elliot planned to sell it to the highest bidder, but I managed to steal it for my own purposes. Purposes that will be revealed in due time."

The Warriors were about to attack him when he pointed down below them. They all looked under their feet and their eyes widened as a large glowing 'S' appeared under their feet. Gauntlet felt the ghost of Vulcan start to freak out as his wrist started glowing again.

"Seth Gallagher is a soul eater." Slade started up again. "He only stays in hell when Trigon has no use for him anymore. You only postponed his actions for now, but he will be back and he will finish what he started. You know that whenever Trigon is involved, something far more wicked than you've ever faced will be coming."

"And what are going to do?" Gauntlet snarled his voice sounding like someone was speaking over his own. He could feel Vulcan getting angry at the fact that Slade would bring up the devils name.

"I don't tend on revealing it." He gloated causing Gauntlet to growl. "Besides, you need to heal if you plan on facing me again." He glared at the Shadow Warriors once more before turning to leave. "You be good boys and girls now." Just then Whisper and Red Crosshairs pulled out their guns ready to shoot, but before they could fire Slade threw a flash bang at them. The bright light blinded the warriors and wounded Red's eyes. When their vision returned they all looked up to see that Slade had disappeared.

Shadow let out a loud curse as he stormed out of the Wayne-Tech building with his crew following behind him.

(!)

Back at The S.W headquarters, the warriors were all gathered in the common area where they would discuss team meetings. It was a spacious area with leather seats positioned around the holographic projection computer. They were all just sitting around bandaging their wounds and going over what they had all just heard. Everyone remained silent for a while until Ronin decided to speak up.

"Okay, what the hell happened back there?" Ronin asked. "Why was Slade there and what did he mean by Trigon who the hell is that anyways?"

Just then Gauntlet shot up from his spot on the couch with the same orange hue he used against Leonae and Gallagher.

"Don't say that name again!" Everyone jumped while Marcas and Jayden sat up from their seats, weapons at the ready. The hue started to die down as Sam started to calm down. "Sorry, Vulcan freaks out at the name because his people thought of him as the devil, which he kind of was and they thought he would come just by mentioning his name. Anyways, let's just call him Scath that's what the mark means." Everyone nodded and started to settle down again as the team looked to their leader for advice. Jayden looked at his team, their eyes pleading for answers. He tried to think of something encouraging or at least enlightening but he couldn't find the right words. Jayden let out a heavy sigh and plopped down hard on the couch.

"To be honest, I haven't got the faintest fucking idea what to do." Jayden sighed, causing everyone to either glare at him or to look away in disappointment. "We're going up against a lot of heat here. We've got Slade who's a highly trained and highly intelligent. Let's look down his list. He used Two-Face to get those robot suits, he used Damian to get that splicer formula, he used Sarina and Joker to steal the suppressant to my power and now he used Hush and all this other nonsense to obtain the Adonis formula." As he counted down the list of Slade's antics, the team including some of the downers of the group such as Ronin and Whisper were even beginning to lose hope in their leader. "Then there's Gallagher who supposedly can't die as long as Scath keeps bringing him back. And of course there's the big cheese himself, Tri-I mean Scath. He's pretty much a go himself. A false god but a god none the less, how the hell are we gonna stop him?"

Everyone really started to lose morale as he went on about their many failures.

"I mean look at us, we kill some bad guys here and there but all we do is help aid a bigger evil." Jayden stated bitterly. "We killed Damian only for Hush to take Frost and give Slade the splicer crap we crippled Leonae only for him to get robot arms." He emphasized with a laugh. "Do I really need to keep going on how much we've failed?" He then looked down at his feet, not daring to look in the eyes of the people he was supposed to give hope to. "Are we really as selfish as Hush and Seth said we were? Are we just…just as bad as they are?"

Just then when the warriors were about to give up all hope, Sam shot up from his seat and punched Jayden across his face. Jayden fell back over on his chair as everyone looked at the young demi-god in shock. No one knew what to say as Sam gripped the collar of Jayden's coat with his gauntlets and lifted him off of the couch.

"Hey, we all have a past we regret and we do create villains as much as we stop them!" Sam shouted as his leader looked at him with wide eyes. "But as long as heroes like Batman, The Justice League, The Teen Titans and The Shadow Warriors exist, everyone can look towards the future with high hopes."

Jayden was stunned at his young friend's harsh but true words. He had been acting like he was betraying everyone by leading them to destruction and ruin. All those months ago he hadn't even thought about starting a whole team of warriors like these.

Sam.

Blaze.

Marcas.

Ronin.

Thomas.

Christina.

Flynn.

Hilary.

Whisper.

Jenny.

Theodosia.

Jason

Ally.

They all depended on him to lead them to victory with every battle and to make sure they stay on the straight and narrow line of what was good and what was evil. Jayden looked at Sam with soft eyes filled with confidence as he placed his hands on his shoulders. He felt Sam relax as let go of Jayden's collar and sat back down between Blaze and Ronin.

"Look guys, I'm sorry." Jayden said, everyone looked at him and gave him a nod of approval. "I really wasn't myself after I took down Hush. We all fought a great fight and with this new threat coming we all need to be ready when it arrives, but until then we just need to keep doing what we do best, kicking evils ass and put an end to it if we have to! And never let doubt and guilt hurt us!" Everyone got up from their seats and cheered in agreement.

"We are all together in this!" Sam said.

"We're a team!" Flynn cheered.

"No, we're a family!" Blaze retorted.

"We only kill if we have to!" Hilary said.

"And if we do it's with honor." Ronin said.

"We work together from here till the end." Jenny stated.

"Mess with one you mess with all." Theodosia said.

"No secrets between us." Thomas said.

"We look after each other." Christina said softly.

"We work as a team or not at all." Whisper grunted.

"We are warriors of peace not order." Jason said.

"We view everyone as people not objects." Ally said.

"And we will continue to fight until the end!" Marcas cheered.

"Till the end…" Jayden whispered as he and his friends put their hands in the center sealing their teams bonds forever.

(!)

Meanwhile outside of the mansion, a man dressed in a green question mark covered business suit and matching bowler hat stood on top of the roof while wielding a question mark shaped cane. The man let out a high pitched chuckle twirling his cane in joy as he used a listening device in his cane to hear everything that went on.

"Rest well, Shadow Warriors." The man chuckled. "For once you are rested both mentally and physically, I, Edward Nigma, The Riddler, shall see I you are worthy of being called heroes and worthy adversaries." He let out another chuckle as he disappeared into the night.

(!)

The next morning The Shadow Warriors awoke still sore from their battle with Hush but feeling better about themselves. Jayden and Ally walked down to the kitchen of the Headquarters as everyone else started to join them. Both Jayden and Ally smiled at the large horde of friends and teammates they picked up along the year. They all exchanged pleasantries as they all walked down to the kitchen. As they walked Jayden saw that everyone was accounted for except for Whisper.

"Hey, has anyone seen Whisper?" Jayden asked.

"Nah, maybe she ditched us like the silent loners in the movies." Hilary yawned as she rubbed the sleepiness from her eyes. "She's as creepy as Ronin if you ask me."

"I'm still here." Ronin grunted, still wearing his uniform.

"And?" Hilary asked rhetorically. Ronin let out a grunt and was about to storm off when she placed a hand on his shoulder. "I'm kidding."

"Yeah, I haven't seen her either maybe she is just keeping to herself." Jenny chipped in, her hand slipping into Jason's as she walked. "She's probably mediating or cleaning her guns or…do you guys smell something?"

The second she said that everyone caught a hint of something in the air and took a whiff, simultaneously they all let out a sigh of relief and continued on towards the kitchen. Once there everyone's eyes widened at what they all saw.

On the kitchen table there was a whole spread of breakfast dishes covering every inch of the table. The plates consisted of pancakes, waffles, bacon, eggs, toast, diced up fruit and so on. On the counter of the kitchen there were pitchers of water, milk and multiple flavors of juice and a pot of fresh coffee. Everyone stared at the buffet of breakfast as they found the one responsible for it all.

She looked Caucasian judging from her skin color, she had long brown hair, which she kept tied in a ponytail. She wore pink pajama bottoms and a black tank top which was covered by a white apron as she continued to cook.

"Um…Excuse me?" Jayden asked, still trying to comprehend what was happening.

The girl couldn't hear him due to the headphones she was wearing as she sang along to the music while she continued cooking.

"Aw, she's got a beautiful voice." Christina said as she still clung to Thomas.

"Agreed." Theodosia said.

"Hey!" Jayden snapped.

The girls head whipped over in their direction and her blue eyes widened but the softened as she looked at everyone. She smiled warmly at everyone before taking of her headphones.

"Good morning everyone." She greeted as everyone still stared at her with confusion. "I hope you are all hungry, I made enough for everyone." She started pointing over at the spread on the table as everyone followed her finger. "I just put everything out, there's enough to go around plates and utensils are on the counter along with glasses and napkins so…yeah enjoy!"

"Um…Who the hell are you?" Jayden finally asked causing the girls expression to drop in confusion.

"What do you mean, don't you remember I'm Whisper." She said. "Well actually my name is Sarah Copeland. I guess I didn't really give a proper introduction. I was born in Canada my parents, god rest, were private investigators. I'll go into detail about them another time. I was found and trained by the Question I already told you that, I attend Gotham High and I am a straight A student so far so…yeah."

Everyone remained silent for a minute before shrugging in agreement and moving on to the breakfast. Well, everyone except Blaze, Jason and Sam who had already started devouring everything in sight.

"Wait, wait, wait, I don't get it!" Jayden snapped. "What about Whisper the hard-ass brawler who beat the crap out of everyone in her path?"

"Well, I'm still her at night." She said dumbfounded as if her leader was stupid. "But now I'm me again."

"Well I can see that, but what about you know this?" He asked.

"Well, just because I am Whisper at night doesn't mean I have to live the rest of my life as a brute." She chirped.

"She has split personality disorder." Christina shouted as she ate her breakfast. "She probably feels herself turn into Whisper when she wears the mask, but when she takes it off she goes back to being normal."

"Ugh, well whatever thanks for the breakfast." Jayden sighed when he realized something. "Wait, you said you went to school how? You would need money and at least a letter from your guardians."

"Well, you see I did send them a check and once they saw the name they really didn't care about meeting my guardians." She said sheepishly as the oven dinged. "Oh, my muffins are ready!"

"Oh you've gotta be freaking kidding me." Jayden grunted.

"Nope, they are done!" She cheered as she pulled out a pan full of muffins.

"No, I mean you stole my checks and forged them!" Jayden shouted.

"No, I didn't." She said playfully. "But Whisper might have…Muffin?"

"Ugh, sure thanks…this is gonna be one hell of a partnership." Jayden sighed as he bit into his muffin. "And this is really good."

"Thank you!" Sarah beamed. Once everyone was settled everyone started talking about running training sessions, other people's interests and of course Christmas coming up.

"So, what are you guys gonna do for Christmas?" Christina asked. "I don't mean to sound cold, but you guys are the only family you have."

"Well, my parents and I will probably celebrate as always." Jenny said.

"Kris invited me to her father's dinner party." Sam said causing all of his guy friends to look at him coyly. "Yes, her step father will be there."

"Eh, the rest of us will hang out then." Jayden explained. "Christmas may be about presents and junk, but I enjoy hanging out more."

"Agreed, let's all just hang out and do secret Santa's and stuff." Sarah said causing everyone to chuckle at her. They all thought it was funny that such a sweet girl like her was ever a brutish grunt like Whisper no less than twenty four hours ago. Jayden raised his mug of coffee up proposing a toast.

"To family!" He said as everyone else followed his lead.

"To family!" Everyone cheered.

(Two Weeks later)

Jayden was currently sitting on his couch in his penthouse watching his giant HDTV as everyone else was out for the evening. Sam and Kris were doing some Christmas shopping while Thomas and Christina went on a double date with Jason and Jenny. The rest of the girls were out shopping and what not as Jayden, Ronin, Marcas and Flynn were just hanging around the penthouse waiting for something to happen. Marcas and Ronin were playing chess as Flynn started pacing around nervously.

"You should take a load off and relax." Jayden deadpanned as Flynn whipped his head at him.

"How can I relax?" He snapped as he stomped over towards Jayden who was still flipping through the T.V. "You said you would help me find Phantom, but all we've been doing is chasing down thugs and petty bullshit!"

"Yes, that's what the monitors have been picking up." Jayden said as his eyes remained glued to the T.V. "I'm sorry that Joker isn't burning down orphanages or Ivy isn't releasing poison gas, but we've taken on every crime and every lead came up dry. Face it Phantom is laying low."

"Yes, and we need to be on guard for when he resurfaces and comes for us!" Flynn shouted. "Or did you forget what happened when Hush got the drop on us!"

Now it was Jayden's turn to get angry as he shot up from his spot on the couch. The two were now eye to eye as Jayden's glare burned a hole through Flynn's tough guy attitude.

"Okay buddy, tell me what leads do we have on Phantom, tell me where his men hang out and tell me where he is?" Jayden snapped.

Flynn started to calm down as he understood what Jayden what was talking about.

"Okay, he is keeping his head down." Flynn sighed. "I just want him taken care of before this gets out of hand."

"Here this will keep you busy." Jayden said as he handed him his phone. Flynn went through it and raised an eyebrow at what he saw.

"Freeze escaped from Arkham along with Zsasz?" Flynn read. "It also said his wife Nora has also been taken, what gives?"

"Freeze and I have had a shaky truce you see." Jayden started explaining as Marcas and Ronin stopped playing Chess and looked over at the two. "I donate money for his research in curing his wife and he stays in Arkham and stops committing crimes."

"So, why would he go with Zsasz and break your truce?" Marcas asked.

"That's what I intend to find out." Jayden said, flipping on his shades as he walked out of the room.