Chapter 64: Calm Before The Storm

Authors Note: Hello everyone I hope you are well and happy. I am doing great I am making progress on my next story and I know how much everyone is looking forward to that. I gotta fix the bios on my home page I forgot what copying and pasting does from Microsoft. Okay now to tie up something I have been putting off for a while now and this chapter is based off my favorite Justice League Unlimited episode. Get ready for some nostalgia and get ready to feel.

Disclaimer: You are my sweetest love that love I always wanna hug, because I really love you the world just has to know!

Jayden and Ally were currently on speaking terms at the moment. It's been a week but since that night she and a lot of others don't have much trust for him at the moment. They even went as far as taking their own teams whenever trouble happens. Jayden led the group he took that night while Ally led hers.

Right now he was on a leave of absence from work, he knew if he put up a fight she could swipe his company out from under his feet before his ass met the floor. Its times like this he held off proposing or he would be screwed. For now he just spent some time with his brother who at the moment was also having a hard time coping with his new environment.

Sarina had just been accepted into the Young Justice program and Tim and Dick were showing her around while Damian was still left in the dark. So for now Jayden kept him company and his skill sharp.

"This is crap!" The boy screamed. He leaped up in the air and dived his foot towards Jayden's face, but Jayden having more experience grabbed him by his ankle in midair and threw him aside. "It's been over a week and he still won't let me join him!"

"Bruce likes to take his time, especially with you." Jayden chuckled. Damian let out a snarl and charged at him. He swiped his fist across his face but Jayden dodged them easily and swiped his feet from under him. "When Jason and I first joined we weren't allowed to go out alone or aid him on super missions like going after alien labs or super criminals. Our jobs consisted of stopping petty crimes and fires."

"So what did you do?" Damian snarled as he pounced on Jayden.

"What could I do?" Jayden grunted as Damian held onto his throat restricting his breathing. "We were hot headed kids with too much to prove, same as you. Bruce knew with our unstable minds we wouldn't last a night without his help. So we waited and watched as we proved ourselves to him."

"And then he let you patrol by yourself?" Damian asked. Just then he found himself flipped over Jayden's shoulder and slammed onto the ground. The wind was knocked out of him as Jayden pinned him to the ground.

"Yeah, but me and Jason spent most of our time together." Jayden said as he helped his brother up. "We were partners."

"So you're saying I just have to wait?" Damian asked in disbelief.

"Wait, watch, learn and don't kill people." Jayden said in a stern voice. "If you screw up Bruce will kick your ass."

"What if I joined you guys?" Damian asked.

"No, Talia wanted you to join Bruce for a reason, and if she finds out you're with me she would kill me, literally." Jayden said as he sat under the tree near Wayne Manor.

"You ever regret it?" Damian asked sitting next to Jayden. "Leaving Bruce and the team."

Jayden thought long and hard about this. There were times he wished he hadn't taken up the sword but then again the only reason he did most of this was because of Dick and Aqualad's stupid plan to infiltrate the Reach.

"No, I don't." He said in a low voice.

"Just wish he would start to at least trust me enough to join him on patrol." Damian pouted. Jayden let out a chuckle and ruffled his hair.

"Give him time kid, he'll come around." Jayden laughed. "Now come on lets go again."

(!)

Blaze had just finished his second block at school and was now gathering his stuff for study hall. He had a project for criminal law due next week and he and Theresa were working together on it together. Blaze wouldn't lie he liked the misguided clone. She may have been cloned by an evil genius off of the world's greatest super hero, but she was nice and he was her friend. But for some reason of late she started to get more…affectionate.

After that whole bounty incident she's been hanging around him more and getting more hands on. He didn't know how to respond to her. Even though he had help from a lot of his friends, he was still trying to pick up the pieces of his life. First school then his shadow warrior duties but now came along his next challenge, being a boyfriend.

It wasn't Theresa he was worried about it was another girl who had her eyes set on him. She was a young African American girl with green eyes and blue hair, it was dyed but it gave her an unusual exotic look. She was giving Blaze a mischievous grin which made the young boy blush.

"Hey how you doing?" She asked, giving him a sly look that made Blaze's cheeks glow red.

"Um…I'm fine…my names Blaze." He said holding his hand out, after rubbing his sweaty palm on his pant leg.

"Kaitlin, you don't remember me Blaze?" She asked. He looked at her confused.

"I'm sorry?" He asked.

"Damien Cole, he kidnapped me when I was twelve." She explained. "He had me in his car and drove off but then you jumped down and blew his tire out. You tried to get him but you rescued me from the car fire and brought me back to my dad."

That's when it hit him. After he left the orphanage he went hunting for Cole. One night he saw him abduct a girl right off the streets and into his car. Blaze quickly charged up an attack and blew his tire out and he ended up crashing into a building. When he saw the bastard stagger out he was gonna kill him but was distracted when he heard a little girl scream. He saw that she was in the back seat and the car was going up in flames. He quickly saved the girl and brought her back to her father and disappeared for a while. Never would he have thought he would have seen her again. Or that she would have a crush on him.

"Hey Blaze!"

"Oh damn." Blaze thought as Theresa and Jenny ran up to him.

"You ready to work on our project?" She asked. Kaitlin glared at the clone and Theresa glared back. "Friend of yours?"

Kaitlin quickly lost the scowl and put on a fake smile.

"I'm Kaitlin, a friend of Blaze." She said.

"Theresa, I'm his girlfriend." She stated harshly. Jenny standing behind her grinned at that as Kaitlin rocked back and forth.

"Really, he hardly mentioned anyone being his girlfriend since I said I had a crush on him." Kaitlin said playfully. Both Jenny and Theresa glared at Blaze who rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Well, I gotta go, see you later Blaze." She quickly pecked him on the cheek and skipped away leaving the poor boy under the murderous glare of his supposed girlfriend and sister.

"I'll be right back." Theresa said as she set her books down and took off after Kaitlin, but was quickly stopped by Jenny.

"No, no, no, no, no…Remember your anger management classes." She said as she showed her the breathing exercises. "In through the nose and out through the mouth and you!" She exclaimed at Blaze. "What are you doing screwing around when you're already in a committed relationship?"

"Well-I wouldn't really, I mean I like Theresa I really do, but we never you know said we were a couple or anything, she just kind of well…threw herself at me." Blaze said carefully.

Theresa actually looked a little hurt and without a word ran down the hallway. Before Blaze could go after her he was quickly stopped by Thomas, Sam and Zack.

"Nice going buddy, not the best choice of words, but you could do a lot worse." Sam reassured as he rested his arm around his shoulder.

"I know right, but you'll have two hot chicks fighting over you, you gullible little bastard." Zack said ruffling his hair. "It's what every guy dreams of."

"This will be a story to tell your friends one day." Thomas quipped in.

"So you guys think instead of being honest and considerate to girl's feelings you'll just let them duke it out until you become bored and choose the victor." Jenny asked unimpressed. The three boys looked at her as if she had taken crazy pills.

"Yeah, what's wrong with that?" Sam asked as the other two agreed.

"Gee I don't know, what do you three think about this?" Jenny asked playfully as she looked over their shoulders.

The three boys turned around and their eyes immediately widened when they saw Kris, Christine and Sarah behind them. Jenny and Blaze grinned madly when they saw their faces.

"Fuck me running." Sam blurted out.

"You and I are gonna have a little talk later." Kris said as the three left the group of boys.

"God dammit." Sam grunted.

(!)

Maria was currently dancing with her new boyfriend Leon, after she had saw the man that night they stopped Black Mask, she tracked him down and pretended to be a silly damsel in distress. Now she was being spun around the dance floor laughing and smiling carefree. He had asked her out that afternoon to go to a new dance club that had opened. Normally cops wouldn't be allowed in, but he saved the owners daughter from a drug lord and he paid him back his debt.

After dancing for over an hour the two finally took a breather and sat at their table, they ordered a couple of drinks and talked about their work.

"So tell me Maria, what brought you here all the way from Mexico?" Leon asked taking a sip from his drink. Maria had worked on her alibi since she got her green card.

"Well, back home I didn't have much money for school and our town wasn't that rich either." She said in a pitiful tone. "So me and a couple of my friends got together and hung out one night. While we were talking we started taking photos of each other in dresses, one of my friends worked as a tailor. Anyways, she took a few shots of me and she looked at them and said I could really be a good model, but I was skeptical, they were my good friends of course they would say that. So as a joke and without my say so they sent them to Alexandra Kinsley right here in Gotham and a few days later she called me up for a job and after that I became a fulltime model."

Wow, I hear that Ally is a real sweetheart, what she's doing with a bum like Jayden I'll never know." He grunted as he downed his drink bitterly. "Guys a pig."

Maria knew this was the image Jayden himself built around him to avoid suspicion, but hearing those things about the hero of her village made her sad. But like Jayden and Ally taught her just smile and nod. And that's what she did.

"I know he's not the nicest guy around, but it sounds like you hate him for a more personal reason." Maria asked as Leon let out a heavy sigh.

"Gordon was my hero when I was in the academy," He explained. "All anyone ever talked about back home was how awesome Jim Gordon was for working with the Batman and how he cleaned up crime. He had an affair with a woman his partner while looking for Batman and eventually his wife left him. A few months after that Jayden, was suspected for being the new player in town known as Shadow and was investigated. Jayden was the nephew of Barbra Gordon, his niece and he found it disgusted that Jim would do such a thing. Jayden called him a filthy pig in front of everyone when Gordon called him out and I never really got over that."

"Wait, where was this being held?" Maria asked.

"Oh sorry, jumped ahead." Leon chuckled. "Jayden was trying to license his new I.D trigger safety device and pass a new bill. Gordon made a joke about him putting that same device on his .44 Shepard which was their link between Shadow and Jayden and Jayden said no and Gordon made a quip about him being Shadow. Jayden then said he'd been screwing his wife to hard and he wasn't talking about the fun way."

"Oh, he meant cheating on her." She muttered.

"Yep, and everyone laughed and Gordon walked away trying his best to keep his head up high." Leon smiled. "That's what I always admired about him."

"He's you're hero." She said softly as she caressed his cheek. He looked up at her and smiled back. He was about to lean in and kiss her when another song started up. "Oh this one sounds good come on!"

She quickly grabbed his arm and dragged him to the dance floor and started dancing. Leon just shook his head and held her close.

"Another time." He said to himself.

(!)

Mark Kyle was down at the board walk waiting by the carnival gates. He saw a lot of his crew in there on dates but he was too old to hang out with them he need someone his own age.

"Mark!" A voice shouted out.

Mark looked over and grinned as mad as her sister when she's about to steal a rare gem. Her blonde hair her green eyes his new girlfriend, Carmen Geller. Mark saw her at the gym a few weeks back and signed up for a membership. He asked her out eventually and he felt like it was love at first sight.

"Hey Carmen, how are you?" He asked.

"I fine thanks," She blushed. "So, you ready to go in?"

"Always." He said as he let her hook her arm around his arm.

They spent the next hour riding the rides and playing games until they stopped and grabbed a bite. He had a slice of pizza and she had a burger.

"So, um are you having fun?" He asked.

"Yes," She giggled. "You?"

"Yes, nothing could ruin this moment." Mark said.

"Little Marky?" A voice exclaimed.

"Oh damn."

Selina walked up wearing a casual T-shirt and jeans with Holly right behind her.

"My little baby brother what are the odds." She squealed as she hugged his head tight to her chest.

"In your favor dear sister in your favor." Mark sighed as Selina looked over to Carmen.

"Hello I'm his older sister Selina and this is my sister Holly." She said pointing at the young woman who was eating cotton candy.

"I'm Carmen funny Mark didn't say he had a sister." She stated as she looked over to her blushing boyfriend.

"Now you know why." He grunted as Selina continued to embarrass him.

(!)

Max and Kei were walking down the boardwalk as Kei held her big, blue, grumpy teddy bear Max had won for her. Max was trying to relax but this was all still new to him. He also knew that Ally and Hilary weren't having fun with their boyfriends right now. Jason was on thin ice but at least Jenny hadn't turned her back on him.

"You alright?" Kei asked breaking his train of thought.

"Yeah, just thinking about Jayden and Ally, they had a fight and they haven't been speaking to each other lately."

"I'm sorry, is it about you know what?" She asked.

"Yeah, we had a lead to find out who's been causing us all this mischief and Jayden went out on a limb and never told Ally or the team about it." Max admitted shamefully.

"Maybe Jayden should learn to trust his team more." Kei said.

"He didn't want to risk Ally or his younger friends seeing us mutilate the League of Shadows." Max sighed. "He didn't want them to be scarred. They are just kids you know and some of them don't kill."

"Isn't it the leaders job to teach them about that," Kei stated. "Isn't it the leaders job to trust his team also if his team didn't trust him from the start wouldn't they have never joined in the first place?"

At that Max remained silent, not because he didn't want to argue, but because he had nothing to argue. She was right and if history has shown anything it's when a woman's right she's right.

Just then his phone started ringing and he reached in his pocket and answered it. He looked at it and saw that there was an incident happening at Gotham Park.

"Crap, Kei I gotta go." Max said.

"So does everyone else." Kei said as he looked over at the rest of the group to see that they were quickly running away. Max was about to apologize to her when she interrupted him with a kiss. "Good luck."

Max smiled and quickly ran off to see his team and find out why this was calling all members.

(!)

They quickly made it to the park where Batman, Robin and Batgirl were waiting in a large mutated forest. The trees were glowing red and looked like something out of The Wizard of OZ then there was the large dark castle surrounded by a dark thorn forest. That was a combo from Sleeping Beauty and Beauty and the Beast.

"What's going on?" Shadow asked Batman.

"It's Ace, she's turned the park into her personal fortress." Batman said.

"Ace, I've been looking for her for a while." Shadow said.

"Well what are we doing?" Gauntlet asked as he lit up his hands. "Let's go get her."

His question was answered when a ninja with spades on his suit jumped down from the trees and attacked him. The rest of the team tried to assist him but they were also jumped by the new Royal flush gang.

The queen of hearts was flying in on a large card and fired at the group with her royal scepter. Ronin and Artemis quickly scaled the trees and attacked. Ronin quickly sliced the scepter in half while Artemis fired a putty arrow and encased her to the ground.

A brute king with duel axes sliced down on Batgirl and Star. He swung his ax at Batgirl, but Star quickly snapped the whip around his wrist and stopped his attack. With his strength he quickly pulled her over his shoulder and slammed her onto the ground. Batgirl quickly leaped into the air and kicked him in the center of the face knocking him onto the ground. Star sent a surge of electricity through her whip and knocked him out. Star looked up and gave Batgirl the thumbs up which she replied with a chuckle.

Phoenix as swarmed by a few ninjas and he was ready to light them up when one of them started twitching and attacked his partners. Phoenix was confused for a minute until all the men were down and the last one standing just collapsed on the ground.

Just then a girl with black hair, red eyes and wearing what Kaitlin wore this morning for school.

"Kaitlin?" He asked.

"It's Spectra actually." She winked. "I'll explain later right now let's save your friends.

Phoenix nodded and shot at a few ninjas and Spectra manipulated one of the trees off the ground and into a large group of ninjas.

Shadow and Batman were engaged with a knight with a diamond symbol on his armor and a red claymore. He swung his large blade around wildly as Shadow raised his sword and blocked it. He struggled for a moment before Batman threw his batarangs at his head. The knight staggered away and Shadow fired a beam of energy out of his hand. The knight raised his sword for another attack when a small dark figure leaped in and placed an electric charge on his chest. He quickly jumped away as the charge went off and knocked the knight out.

"Great work Damian." Shadow said.

"Thanks." Damian said as he looked over at Batman for approval. He just narrowed his eyes and regrouped with his team. Damian let out a grunt and Shadow placed his hand on his shoulder calming him down.

"Don't worry he didn't compliment me either." He grunted.

Just then the Raven flew in and Thanatos and Apollo jumped out. Shadow quickly ran up to them as did the rest of the group.

"Where the hell have you two been?" Shadow snapped.

"Figuring out what we're up against." Thanatos said as he pulled up Ace's file. "You all remember Ace's ability right?"

"Yeah, she had the power to hallucinations in our heads to get us to do her bidding." Reaper said.

"Not anymore." Thanatos said. "She has evolved. Her powers not only allow her to create hallucinations but also she can telekinetically warp reality." Everyone looked a little unconvinced.

"You mean this fairytale crap we're seeing right now is real?" Surge asked.

"Real, growing and permanent if we don't stop it." Thanatos stated. "Apollo, tell them."

"Way back when we stole a few samples from Ace's DNA." She said pulling up a holographic image of Ace and zoomed in on her brain. "Her powers in her mental patterns have caused an aneurism in her brain and she'll be dead soon."

"Problem solved." Whisper grunted getting elbowed in the arm by Gauntlet.

"Not that simple I'm afraid, Whisper." Apollo explained. "When she goes, the psychic backlash could kill everyone in range of her powers. Meaning what we're standing on will go off like a nuke and wipe out half of Gotham."

"Which is why I created this disruptor." Thanatos said as he pulled out a small cube which ironically had the same size as a deck of cards. It emitted a blue glow as it lay in his robotic hand. "You have to take her out before she takes us all down with her."

Everyone was a little shaken by this as they each shared the same look of doubt. No one wanted the city to be destroyed but they didn't want to kill a scared little girl. Letting out a heavy sigh Batman reached for the device with a grim look on his face. But before he could grab it Shadow hand blocked his hand.

"I'll do it Bruce," He said in a low tone. "Ace helped me take these guys down when Hush ran the show. Maybe I can get close enough to…It has to be me." A small bit of metal poked out which looked like a wrench.

"You know you're agreeing to kill a child right?" Batman asked. "This isn't like killing a bloodthirsty criminal."

"Which is why it has to be me." Shadow said as he pocketed the device. "You'll just screw it up."

With that Shadow ran off towards the dark castle. With every step he took the dark forest cleared a path for him and granted him entry. When he arrived he was standing in what looked like an enchanted forest you would see in Narnia or again Oz.

It was warm, sunny and beautiful a perfect world for a little girl. Speaking of which he saw her, it had been awhile but he still recognized her. She was in her leotard her hair was still short and black and her gaze was as cold as ever. She was now just swinging on a classic wooden swing set staring at the dark warrior.

"Shadow." She greeted.

"Ace." He responded as he walked towards her.

"Did you like playing with my new Royal Flush Gang?" She asked in a monotone voice. Shadow could hear some sarcastic tone in her voice.

"Yeah, my friends and I had a hell of a time kicking their butts." He joked.

"I liked your friends better." She said. "When I was in their heads I saw a lot of their past, they were a lot like mine except they got a happy ending. Not me."

"Life isn't a game kiddo, it isn't a story and it doesn't end with the hero saving everyone and living happily ever after." Shadow told her. "I thought it was a game when I was a kid, until I lost my brother."

"But you got him back." She said.

"No…I didn't." He muttered.

"Hmm, I remember Cadmus had me play games when I was a kid too." She said as the wind picked up. "They weren't any fun either. They strap me into their machines, poked wires into my brain, 'Ace can you move this object with your mind?'"

She then pulled a tree up from its roots and threw it into the sky.

"Yeah, I can move it." She said with bitterness. She then stopped swinging and the wind died down. "They weren't really games they were training me. Turning me into a weapon for justice, they got their weapon. I got cheated out of my child hood."

"Yeah my friends and I know what that's like." Shadow said in a calming manner. Hell his friends were all tainted when they were just children. It's what made them strong it's what made them Shadow Warriors.

"You do don't you?" She said with sincerity, Shadow remained silent. "You don't have to answer, I read your mind. That's how I knew you weren't going to use Thomas's weapon on me."

"Course not." Shadow said. He pulled the device from his belt and threw it away without even giving it another look. "I don't kill children."

"You were going to try and convince me to fix what I've changed…before I die." She muttered.

"Yes." Shadow said in a low tone.

"I'm dying very soon." Her voice got more and more shaky causing Shadow's heart to ache.

"Yes…I'm sorry." Shadow said. He then kneeled down next to her and pulled his mask off. "You know my friends have suffered in the past, but you know why they live happy today." Ace looked at him with hopeful eyes. "We try and correct our wrongs and when we do that it makes us a permeate Shadow Warrior and we're never alone."

Ace looked down for a moment before turning back to him. Tears slowly ran down her cheeks as she started to tremble.

"Will you stay with me…I'm scared." She whimpered.

Shadow didn't even have to answer. He sat on the swing next to her as she dried her eyes and kicked the dirt beneath her feet. He took off his glove and held his hand out to her. She let out a small sniffle and held his hand tight happy that she had a friend who understood her.

Back outside everyone looked around anxiously as they waited for the results. Eventually the threes turned back to normal the forest disappeared and the Royal Flush gang turned back into the convicts and civilians they were before.

They all turned to the castle and saw it disappear in a blinding light as Shadow walked out holding Ace's lifeless body.

Breeze went to talk to him, butt Batman stopped her. He knew she wanted to console him, but he knew his son.

He just needed to be alone.

Ugh, sorry for the long chapter I just promised a few people a little development. I didn't want them feeling left out. Next chapter is when the shit hits the fan so I hope to see you again. Also saw man of steel today and it was awesome go check it out if you want.