Chapter 61: No Man's Land

Authors Note: Okay everyone another chapter coming up. Also as I might have mention Illusive Man has started up his story and he is looking for oc's, I sent him one and I know you guys have too. Speaking of which my opening will be featuring my oc for his story. Also, yay I have 400 reviews and it's all thanks to you guys! Okay new chapter in 3…2…1.

Disclaimer: No owning of Batman here.

"Look, for the last time I am thrilled that you are so eager to join our cause, but we aren't looking for new blood right now." Shadow said to a bouncy young girl

She wore a black skimpier version of Breeze's wardrobe and has long light brown hair and bright green eyes that looked through her domino mask with pleading eyes.

"Please!" She begged and even sunk as low to start pouting. "I want to help people and be a hero like you guys!" She said placing her hand on her waist while holding up her fist and winking.

"Ugh, look," Shadow said lifting up his glasses and wrinkling his nose. "You're a nice girl, but we aren't as cool as you may think. We are vicious and blood thirsty."

"And I'm not?" She huffed placing her hands on her waist.

"You just gave me a coloring drawing of a Shadow Warriors poster you've been working on." He said holding to poorly drawn picture. "You have the heart of a child."

"But the mind of a warrior." She stated playfully while Shadow let out a heavy groan. "Besides I know those guys are a part of a secret organization called the Red Crosshairs."

Shadow's eyes widened in shock as he looked down at the girl.

"What do you know, tell me now." Shadow ordered.

"Um…I know they are bad guys and they are red…" She said sheepishly.

Shadow was this close to throwing the poor girl halfway across the world when an awful idea came to mind.

"Okay, you really want to help?" Shadow asked as the girl looked at him with gleaming eyes.

"Yes, what can I do?" She asked.

"One of my associates Red went to take down the Red Crosshairs Organization." He said as he handed her a data pad. "I placed a tracker in the handles of his handguns. I want you to track his coordinates and assist him anyway possible."

"Yes sir." She exclaimed as she hopped on her bike. "Anything else I should know?"

"Yes, there a message for his eyes only I want you to show him. Then he'll know I sent you." Shadow reassured. Knowing he was just screwing with her he knew Red would look after her. He quickly typed the message in her data pad.

'She's your problem now.'

"You can count on me!" She said as she sped off towards Marcas. When she left Shadow broke down and laughed.

"Oh, I am such a bitch!" Shadow chuckled. "God this must be how Bruce feels with Sarina."

"Hey I take offense to that!"

Shadow looked up to see Batgirl who was sitting in the tree.

"Oh god dammit!" Shadow shouted.

(!)

Reaper, Phoenix, Hitgirl and Artemis were patrolling the lower east side of Gotham noticing how quite it was. It was calm but an eerie calm and everyone knew it.

"Something is about to happen." Artemis said. She looked down at the streets from the top of an apartment building and saw that there were no cars around or pedestrians outside.

"What the hell is going on?" Phoenix asked. "I haven't heard a siren all night."

"Maybe because we kicked so many asses the other night we scared every criminal silly." Hitgirl grinned. Reaper wasn't convinced as he looked up some criminal files on his wrist computer. The holographic screen came up and Reaper shook his head.

"No, we still have some big players around." He stated. "Cobblepot, Scarecrow, Deadshot, Ventriloquist and the man himself Joker."

"Now all we have to do is find them." Artemis said.

"No need we found you." A gruff voice chuckled.

Everyone turned and scowled at the sight of Oswald Cobblepot and an entire gang of mercs armed in tactical gear and military grade assault rifles. Reaper glared at the short stocky man who lit up a cigar but then grinned to see the broken bottle over his left eye was still jammed there from that night Reaper first stopped him.

"Nice to see you Ozzy, you know they sell real monocles at a jewelry store a few miles from here." Reaper joked. Cobblepot let out a snarl and a puff of smoke.

"I told you I would find you, you little bastard." Penguin said in a low tone. "As long as I draw breath and as long as you're still around. I would find you and kill you, but this gets a whole lot better."

"How so?" Reaper asked.

"Well some dark fellow offered a very hefty price on your head, a price that sends chills down every criminal back." Cobblepot chuckled taking another drag from his cigar.

"How much?" Hitgirl asked.

"One. Billion. Dollars." Cobblepot whispered.

The four heroes eyes widened in shock. Who would pay that kind of money to have them killed, there had to be more to this.

"You're an idiot." Artemis snapped. "That kind of money doesn't even exist."

"Oh, but that's where your wrong my dear and I aim to collect." Cobblepot then snapped his fingers as his men readied their guns. "Open fire!"

The mercs sprayed a thousand bullets at the team, but they quickly jumped over the edge of the building and fired their grappling guns at another building safely lowering themselves down into the streets below.

Just then a tank crashed through the building and an attack helicopter flew over their heads and more troops swarmed the streets. The four looked around at their situation in disbelief.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Hitgirl snapped as she readied her dual .45's.

"I'll draw the attack chopper away." Phoenix shouted as he lit up and flew of towards the chopper. The remaining three quickly took cover behind a building before the tank fired a round at them destroying a good chuck of the street.

"This is bullshit!" Hitgirl screamed as she fired a few rounds around the corner hitting a few mercs. When she needed to reload Artemis fired a few exploding arrows at a couple of larg groups. Reaper went to his radio.

"Shadow, we need help now!" Reaper shouted. "A Cobblepot ordered a hit out on us and has half a fucking army here to kill us. We need backup!"

"We know, Deadshot has us pinned down and Thanatos is dealing with Black Manta." Shadow shouted as Reaper heard gunfire in the background. "Whisper stay down, we'll try to send help but just keep low as long as you can!"

"Alright!" Reaper said as he formed his scythe gun.

He then quickly dived out of the alleyway and fired a few energy bolts at some nearby cars blowing them and a few mercs up as well. He then ran towards another group and reformed his scythe and sliced down a few others.

Artemis fired a few arrows into a few other mercs and Hitgirl jumped out and threw a few hand grenades blowing up a large portion but the tank was still a problem. The lid popped open and a gunner started firing down upon them.

The heroes quickly ducked behind cover, but a police cruiser stormed in and was gunned down immediately. It swerved near Hitgirl who quickly pulled them to safety.

"You boys okay?" She asked. One was a senior officer and the other was a young cadet.

"We're fine a few broken bones but guess it beats being dead." The senior chuckled.

"Guess so." She joked as she spotted something in the car. "Oh come to momma." She holstered her handguns and reached in and grabbed a pump action shotgun and some shells in the glove compartment.

She pocketed the shells and aimed her new gun at a merc who had Artemis pinned down and blew him away. Artemis nodded at her and quickly grabbed her bow and fired at another merc.

Just then Cobblepot and the rest of the mercs quickly arrived at the end of the street and pointed at them.

"What are you waiting for kill them all!" He shouted as he fired his umbrella gun.

They all dived behind cover waiting for their chance to strike but the tank was still keeping them under pressure. Hitgirl managed to fire a few more shot but let out a growl when she didn't feel a shell load into the chamber.

"I'm out." She groaned.

"Me too." Artemis said while holding her empty quiver.

"Dammit." Reaper shouted. He peaked around the corner and saw everyone loading their weapons. "You guys might wanna get ready to run." He said as Hitgirl pulled out her .38 mustang.

Just then a flash whipped past the last band of mercs and all their guns, even Cobblepots umbrella was gone. They were all shocked for a moment, but quickly pulled out their side arms, but again the flash whipped past them. Cobblepot scowled so hard that the glass bottle cracked.

"What is going on?" He shouted at his confused mercs.

"Looking for these?"

Everyone, including Reaper and his team looked over to see Zoom twirling a hand gun with his left hand and holding an assault rifle with his right.

"You know these are very dangerous weapons." Zoom chuckled. "You can really hurt someone." Cobblepot let out a snarl when he saw his umbrella dangling off his wrist.

"You!" He shouted at his tank. "Kill him!"

The tank was about to fire when a red beam sliced the barrel in half. The gunner on top looked over to see what it was when he suddenly felt the tank being lifted off the ground. Everyone looked underneath to see Theodosia flying in the air holding the tank over her head. She let out a loud grunt before smashing the tank on the ground upside down.

Cobblepot and his men were frozen in fear and were about to run, but all of them felt a surge of electricity run through their bodies. It lasted a minute but they all fell to the ground unconscious.

Cobblepot was both angry and afraid at this point. His men were dead or unconscious and he was weaponless and outnumbered. He slowly backed away until he bumped into something. He froze and looked up to see Reaper standing over him, his eyes shined red in the moonlight.

"Your number is up Cobblepot." Reaper raised his fist and crashed it into his face knocking him out cold. He then looked over to see Zoom holding a now exhausted Surge over his shoulder and Theodosia landed next to them.

"Thanks for the help guys." Reaper said looking at Surge. "You okay?"

"Yeah." Surge panted as he gave them the thumbs up. "Just too much overcharge." He then looked around confused. "Where's Phoenix?"

Just then the helicopter that was attacking them earlier was still shooting at a small orange light that was flying around. They watched as the small light flashed and transformed into a giant flame image of a phoenix. It let out a screech and flew into the helicopter blowing it up as the phoenix flew over to the group. The flames evaporated around Blaze who was soon entangled in Theodosia's arms and being kissed deeply. Everyone else watched as their young friend was being mauled by his girlfriend.

"He's right there." Reaper chuckled. "C'mon let's go help our team."

(!)

Thanatos was currently fighting underwater blasting at Black Manta's divers. They were using high tech tridents to fire energy beams at him. Lucky for Thanatos he upgraded his suit to withstand the pressure of the ocean.

He fired his ray gun at another diver vaporizing him instantly as he moved towards Black Manta's sub. He used his magnetic boots and hands to stick himself to the surface as he radioed his team.

"Ronin, Gauntlet I'm on the bow of the submarine and transmitting my signal." Thanatos said. "Sam, if you're going to do this then you might want to do it now."

Up on the surface Gauntlet nodded to himself.

"Okay, Ronin stay behind me, but not to close." He said as his body started glowing orange. "It's going to get hot."

"Ready when you are." Ronin said as he put on his persona breathing helmet. It was a black dark tinted helmet with a one way visor and a breather down at the mouth piece.

Gauntlet quickly dived into the pier and fired jets from his feet. Bubbles formed all around him as his temperature evaporated the water around him. His quickly found the front of the sub and held his fist out launching himself into the sub and through the steel of the submarine.

It took a minute but he eventually melted through the ship crashing water into the ship along with him. Thanatos quickly followed as Ronin was sucked into the ship. Thanatos quickly ripped a large steel panel off the floor and pressed it against the hole. Gauntlet rushed over and welded the hole shut with his powers as Ronin dealt with the security.

"Great plan Sam." Thanatos said as he backed away from the now fixed breach.

"Yeah thanks." Gauntlet said.

"C'mon guys Black Manta is going for the escape pods." Ronin said as he ran out the door followed by his friends.

"He's already leaving, what a wimp." Gauntlet grunted.

"He probably didn't expect one cyborg to take out his underwater drones or his men." Thanatos grinned under his helmet.

"Yeah, he probably hauled ass when I breached his sub." Gauntlet chuckled.

They quickly ran through the halls quickly taking down any guard that got in their way. They finally made it to the evacuation deck only to run straight into a trap.

Black Manta's men quickly circled them as the man himself walked towards them. They couldn't see under his helmet but they all knew he was grinning.

"So three warriors managed to breach my hold." Manta said through his helmet. "I am impressed, when I met Shadow all those years ago I thought he was a renegade but he's actually proven to be a qualified leader."

"Why are you attacking us, do you want to die?" Ronin asked as he pulled out his scalers.

"No, I want the bounty it will come in handy for a future project I am working on." Manta chuckled.

"Who's the idiot that would put a price on our heads, it seems counterproductive." Gauntlet asked.

"How so?" Manta responded.

"Because they ironically put a target on their heads." Thanatos said in a low tone.

Just then a panel pulled out of his shoulders and fired off a few pod missiles. He took out a few troops before taking an energy beam in the chest from Black Manta. He fell back while Ronin dived towards Manta and sliced through his chest plate and then delivered a jump kick to the same spot.

Manta staggered back as Ronin attacked again, but Manta quickly blocked his attack and sent a fist into his face. Ronin fell back as Gauntlet dealt with the last troop. Manta fired a beam at Thanatos and knocked him back and then another at Gauntlet, who quickly brought his arms up in an 'X' formation. The beam would have melted his arms but thanks to his powers and the gauntlets themselves he blocked the beam and absorbed the heat.

Gauntlet charged up some of his own power and bounced the beam back at Manta striking him in the head. His helmet flew off as he fell back onto the ground unconscious. Ronin quickly ran over to check if he was still alive, he nodded his head as Gauntlet felt a metal hand grab his shoulder.

"Great job Sam." Thanatos said.

"Thanks Tom."

(!)

Black Mask and his crew were chasing after Mystico, Star and Dusk until a few Gotham PD cruisers whipped around and started chasing them. Gordon was in one of them with his newest detective Leon Marsden. He was a new detective from the beat and was already Gordon's most trusted men.

"Not gonna lie sir, this isn't what I had in mind for me day!" He said as he loaded his gun and fired at Black Mask's car.

"Trust me son it won't be the last." Gordon said pulling out his .357 and blowing out one of the tires to one of Mask's crew member's car. The car crashed into a nearby building as Mask still kept going. He popped out a couple of times and fired the warriors, but Mystico created a barrier turning the bullets into mercury.

Dusk, on his bike, swerved around Mystico and fired his handgun at Mask, who ducked back in the car. All the while this was happening Mystico caught a glance at Leon and was a little distracted as she flew through the air.

Leon loaded another clip in his gun and some bullets into Gordon's when he saw Mystico. His blue eyes widened as he saw her slender but toned body and her biker suit was definitely leaving nothing to imagination. He just wished he could see her face behind those glasses and her hair without that skull cap.

Mystico wouldn't admit it, but she was actually attracted to this man. She saw him as a dirty blonde cop with blue eyes, but she could read a lot from a person's eyes. He had the same determination and gentleness of Red or Shadow. She flew blindly for a few minutes to realize that she had been caught ogling him.

"Hey Mystico focus!" Dusk shouted as he fired at Mask again.

"Leon, hey give me my gun!" Gordon shouted.

Both day dreamers were broken from their thoughts and quickly turned to their companions.

"Sorry boss, here's your gun." Leon said handing him his gun back.

"Lo Siento." Mystico said as she flew up ahead. She got a good look at the tires and with a quick spell she shot a fire bolt at it and caused Mask and his team to crash into an adult movie store.

Dusk and Star quickly jumped in and knocked out the crooks and Mystico was ready to take down Mask, but he was too quick and fired a round at her. Leon quickly pushed her out of the way and took a round in the shoulder.

"Kid!" Gordon yelled as he shot Mask in the knee and was knocked out by Dusk. Mystico checked the arm and pulled out a white cloth.

"Careful, wouldn't want you to get dirty." Leon chuckled as she rolled her eyes and placed the cloth over his shoulder.

"Now you see it," She said as she swiped the cloth off to reveal his shoulder being healed. "Now you don't."

"Wow, that's a good trick there darling." Leon said as he stuck his hand out. "I'm Leon."

"I'm,"

"Mystico, c'mon Deadshot has Shadow and the rest pinned down in crime alley!" Dusk shouted.

"Sorry," Mystico shouted as she ran off taking a glance at Leon before leaving. Gordon walked over and helped Leon to his feet.

"What was that about kid?" He asked.

"I think I'm in love." Leon grinned.

(!)

Shadow, Breeze Apollo and Whisper were all pinned down at the end of crime alley. They didn't have anywhere to maneuver while still having mobsters trying to get to them. Normally Deadshot would just pick them off but every time they got close enough to the warriors they would jump out of cover and give him a chance to kill them.

Shadow jumped out from cover and fired at the thugs. He quickly ducked back underneath as a bullet from Deadshot whipped past his head. Shadow loaded his gun and looked towards his friends.

"Any ideas?" He asked.

"We have some cover down the alleyway maybe we can dodge him enough to get close." Whisper said.

"Hell we have been training for this." Shadow said.

"Seems a little too risky." Breeze said.

"Then stay here and keep those bastards out of our way so I can get close enough." Shadow said looking at Whisper. "You ready?"

"Always." She said.

"Be careful." Apollo said.

The two quickly jumped from cover and started running down the alleyway as Apollo and Breeze fired at the bounty hunters in their way. Deadshot tried to shoot Shadow but every time he had him in his sights he would use his Adonis power to flash out of the way. He then tried to get Whisper who was fast, but not super-fast. He loaded a bullet into his gun and fired a round at her shoulder knocking her down.

"Whisper!" Shadow shouted as he threw a few smoke pellets down blocking Deadshot's view.

He waited patiently for the smoke to clear just as Apollo and Breeze carried Whisper to safety. He was about to shoot when he realized something.

"Where's Shadow?" He asked himself.

"Right here!"

Deadshot's eyes widened as he quickly turned his rifle around at Shadow who leaped out of the darkness behind him. Shadow knocked the rifle out of his hands and knocked both of them off the roof and onto the ground.

"What do you want Lexton?" Shadow asked aiming his gun at him.

"I want the bounty." Deadshot chuckled.

He then whipped his hand around and fired a few rounds from his wrist guns. Shadow quickly ducked behind cover and fired a round into the gauntlet destroying it. Deadshot quickly pulled out a machete and engaged Shadow who had his sword drawn.

While those two fought more of Maroni's thugs came in along with Falcone Juniors men. They were about to engage when Ronin and Reaper jumped out from the shadows and cut them down.

A few thugs aimed their guns at them until they felt a burning sensation in their hands. They quickly dropped them to see that they were glowing orange.

"Hot enough for ya boys?" Gauntlet chuckled as his arms glowed orange. Phoenix jumped in shot the guns with a few energy bolts destroying them as the two engaged. Soon after all the warriors were taking down any crook that got in their way.

Meanwhile Shadow and Deadshot were still engaging in sword play until Deadshot pulled out a flash bang. Shadow quickly activated his powers and charged up some energy and shot it at Deadshot knocking him down on the ground.

Deadshot let out a growl as he aimed his remaining gauntlet at Shadow, who aimed his magnum back at him. Before either one could fire Shadow's gun was knocked from his hand and Deadshot's gauntlet was destroyed. Shadow looked down at his wrist to see a black batarang stuck in his wrist.

"Stay out of this Batman, I can handle this myself." Shadow snarled as he glared at Batman.

"Shadow behind you!" Batman shouted.

Before Shadow could react Deadshot stuck his machete in his stomach. Shadow spat blood from his mouth. Everyone let out a shout, but Shadow still fought on as he pulled out two small throwing knives and stabbed them into Deadshots's shoulders.

He let out a scream as Batman quickly pushed Shadow out of the way and proceeded to beat the crap out of Deadshot. While the warriors and Bat crew dealt with the remaining thugs Shadow pulled the machete out of his stomach and watched as the wound slowly closed up. His veins flickered green as his stomach started to feel a little better.

"Who started this?" Batman shouted at the now broken Deadshot. He let out a groan as Batman held him up by his collar. "Who?"

"Chill." He said his voice barely above a whisper.

"He'll relax when you tell us who sent the bounty." Batgirl snarled.

"No, Joe Chill."

Batman's eyes grew dark as Shadow looked over at him to see an evil twinkle in his eyes. Batman dropped Deadshot and didn't even look at him.

"Tell the mob bosses and everyone else the bounty is off." Batman ordered in a cold tone. He nodded before being knocked out by Batman. He quickly stormed off as Batgirl and Robin chased after him.

(!)

Back at home everyone was recovering from the battle and being treated by Christine who was out of her armor. Sam was getting stitches as he looked over at Jayden who was still wearing his armor and coat. He stared out the window of the penthouse and down at Gotham with a blank stare.

"So who is Joe Chill?" Gauntlet asked.

"Joe Chill is the one that murdered Thomas and Martha Wayne." Jayden said as everyone tensed up. "He's the reason Bruce became Batman."

"So are we going to kill Joe?" Sarah asked as she recovered from her bullet wound.

"No, we have to keep Batman from killing him." Jayden explained getting a few looks from his crew.

"I thought you wanted him to be a killer like us," Max stated. "I thought that's why you were mad?"

"When I was a boy, but when our team started to get together I realized he doesn't need to kill if I'm doing it for him." Jayden said sitting with his team. "We'll tell the mob bosses that the hnt is off and then we find Batman and try and calm him down."

"What about chill?" Thomas asked as he tinkered with his armor. At this Jayden let out a sigh.

"I honestly don't know," He said with a solemn look on his face. "What I do know is that his wallet doesn't even come close to our bounty and he doesn't have the brains or balls to come after us."

"Then who did?" Blaze asked.

"You think it was Cyrus?" Mark asked.

"I don't know," Jayden got up and went to his office. "I need to investigate this further. For now just catch your breath."

As Jayden walked away he felt a familiar presence linger around him. As if he was being watched by Batman only it didn't feel like Batman this one felt…dark.

On the roof a boy wearing a black League of assassins robe pocketed a listening device and stared out into the city.

"Fine, if you nor Batman won't do what needs to be done then I'll do it myself." He said with determination as his green eyes shined in the moonlight. "I will prove to mother and grandfather that you both are weak and I will take what is rightfully mine. All I need to do now is find Joe Chill."

With that he leaped off the roof and off into the darkness.