Chapter 70: One Way
Authors Note: My, oh my I feel the love I'm always getting new reviewers and support every day. You all made this story possible and gave me encouragement and ideas and help whenever I needed it. We are almost at a close and this long story is just part one of our story and this chapter is just another step forward. Enjoy.
Disclaimer: I do not own Batman or any DC characters.
(Hospital/ 2 days earlier)
Jason Todd had just witnessed Sarina plant a bullet in Jayden's head. He let out a loud scream and charged at her, but Joker knocked him on his back and aimed his gun at Hood. Before he could fire Damian dropped down on Joker and smacked the gun out of his hands.
The boy struggled with him before Sarina knocked him off her father. As Damian flew back his finger caught the pin of one of Joker's grenades and pulled it out. Joker panicked briefly before throwing the grenade away on the ground. Everyone quickly jumped away before the grenade went off and destroyed the floor beneath them.
They all fell through the floor and into the basement below. Hood was laying on top of Jayden and realized that he was struck in the head with a paint round not a bullet he was only unconscious.
Hood let out a sigh of relief before throwing Jayden over his shoulder and running out. Unfortunately he was stopped by a familiar face.
"Adrian Baron." Hood grunted as the young sorcerer smiled.
"So sorry to interrupt this touching family reunion, but the Green Lantern Corp. is on their way to arrest the perpetrators who released those criminals." Adrian chuckled.
"And you're planning on framing Jayden." Jason chuckled darkly. "Not happening."
"Now, now Jason, even you should know how powerless you are to stop me." Adrian chuckled.
"We'll see about that."
Hood pulled out his guns and opened fired on him, but with a small surge of his magic all the bullets started to form up in a ball of metal. Adrian swung his hand towards Jason who quickly ducked out of the way as the bullets whipped past him.
He then drew his knives and charged at Adrian swiping his blades at the young headmaster. Adrian proved to be more resilient than Hood expected. He easily avoided the blade with his keen reflexes and giggled at each attempt on his life.
Hood let out a snarl and thrust his blade towards his face, but Adrian merely bobbed his head left and right and occasionally leaning his head back when Hood swiped at him. Enraged, Hood started to attack more wildly as Adrian continued dodging. He then decided to humiliate Hood more by swatting at his wrist knocking away each and every one of his attacks.
"And here I thought you would be better than Jayden." Adrian chuckled as he blasted Hood away with a burst of dark magic.
Hood landed on his back and to make it worse right in front of the broken Sarina who held a crowbar over her head.
"Deja vu all over again, huh Jason?" Sarina giggled as she brought the crowbar down.
She was quickly blocked when Hood blocked the attack with his boot and kicked her back towards her father and mother who were both accompanied by Cyrus, Red Saber and a few of the formerly deceased enemies of the Shadow Warriors.
Raven, Damian and Robin walked up behind Hood with a shocked expression on their faces.
"Jason, they've taken them!" Damian exclaimed.
"Don't worry we'll get them back with Batman." Hood reassured.
"No, they've taken the justice league too, it was a trap." Raven sneered. This shocked Hood as he looked back at her with a terrified glare. "These minions, the ones the warriors defeated, they have been powered by my father's dark magic and enhanced with new abilities."
"Dammit, we have to get the Warriors and get out of here." Jason grunted. Robin ignored all of this and ran up to Sarina.
"Sarina, please I know you're better than this." Robin pleaded. "You have to fight it."
"Fight what?" Sarina scoffed. "Maybe this is the real me did that ever occur to you?"
"No, you would never succumb to your father's ways. This is just his sick hold on you and you are strong enough to break it."
Joker let out a disgusted grunt and pushed Sarina behind him, not even caring that she landed on her back and scrapped her elbows.
"You're wasting your time bird brain." Joker grunted. "She's mine, Batman and his friends are beaten and the Shadow Warriors, each one who has been a pain in my side are all going to watch as the world burns. The last thing you'll be hearing as Trigon smites you is the sound of our family laughing."
"Dammit dad, that freaking hurt." Sarina grunted while her mother dusted her off.
"Oh shut up." Joker grunted. "You have my wit and B-man's training you should be an unstoppable killing machine. Or you will be when I'm through with you, hell you won't even feel pain anymore."
At this Harley looked a little discouraged. She walked up to her man hesitantly and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Pudding, she's still our daughter," She reassured hesitantly. "Maybe we should,"
She was interrupted by a backhand to the right side of her face. Harley went down and Sarina started to get angry at the abuse.
"Don't tell me how to raise my daughter!" He snapped.
"Don't slap her again." Sarina warned.
Joker looked at her for a moment as Harley staggered to her feet only for Joker to smack her again, this time not even bothering to look at her. She went down again and Joker glared at Sarina.
"See what happens when you talk back to me." Joker asked rhetorically. "You think I like hitting your mother?"
"Yes, you say it all the time how much you love it!" Sarina snapped as Joker had a skeptical look on his face.
"Your right, in fact I'll do it again!" He shouted with sick pleasure while raising his hand to hit her again. Before he could strike Sarina had grabbed him by his wrist and twisted his arm behind his back.
"I said stop it, now!" She snarled. Joker tried to break free but she only tightened her hold on him.
"Now, now dearie." Joker pleaded. "Let's be friends huh?"
Just before she was about to snap his arm in half Adrian fired a wave of magic at them and quickly pulled all the warriors to his side. Next to him Cyrus and Red Saber walked up behind him and drew their swords.
"You failed." Adrian chuckled. "My minions have apprehended the Justice League, the Shadow Warriors are defeated and you mere runts have no chance in stopping me or Trigon. It's over."
"Not while I'm around." Hood grunted.
"Jason, we must retreat." Raven warned.
Robin quickly grabbed Sarina who was unconscious from the blast and ran towards Raven. She quickly opened a portal and everyone followed her in and shut it before anyone else could follow.
"Aren't we going to go after them?" Saber asked.
"No, they can no longer stop us." Adrian mused. "We've won."
"What about this vermin?" Cyrus asked kicking Jayden.
"Wake him up," Saber said. "I want my rematch."
"No, the green lantern corp. will be here soon we need to hand these ones over in order to keep them off our backs." Adrian said to Saber's disappointment.
"No, you said that if I joined you I would be allowed a rematch!" Saber shouted.
"I said maybe, and in case you forgotten my goal is to summon Trigon not to settle a school yard blow out. You don't like it go back to Martin that is if he doesn't kill you for turning on him." Adrian snapped.
"I would never betray him, but I had a fight with Shadow and I intend to finish it." Saber grunted.
"Still don't think the Shadow Man will see it that was, now shut up and get these ones to Eden, that's where I am arranging for the green lantern corp. to meet me." Adrian ordered as he opened a portal to his compound.
(Prison world/present time)
Deep in the jungle region of the planet, Hitgirl was sitting on the edge of a rocky cliff looking through a pair of high-tech binoculars at an oasis surrounded by Reach warrior's cladded in red armor. She zoomed in on a small cave and saw what looked like the Reach ambassador and scientist grabbing a few bits of scrap before walking back inside. Hitgirl quickly zoomed out and climbed back down to her team.
"Okay, they are definitely working on something and they have taken over the safe zone." Hitgirl informed.
"Did you get a look at it?" Gauntlet asked.
"No, it was in a cave, but they were using some tech from some inmates." Hitgirl stated. "It's gotta be worth the look."
"It's not like we have any ideas of our own." Phoenix said. "What will we do when we get there though?"
"Infiltrate their lair and grab the scientist and force them to let us use the boom tube." Surge said.
"Okay, but first thing is first." Shadow said drawing his sword.
"What's that?" Mystico asked.
"Those lizard lions sneaking up behind us." Ronin grunted.
Just then a crossbreed of lion bodied animals with lizard heads jumped out of the bushes and trees. One of them dived towards Ronin, but the stealth assassin dodged the monster large fangs and swiped his scaler across its chest. He then brought the tip of his weapon down and stabbed it into its neck killing it.
Soon more started charging towards them and the warriors engaged them. Apollo, Hitgirl and Whisper opened fired on the monsters with their guns and killed as many as they could. Thanatos opened fired with his weapons and watched as they scattered away and Surge formed his two electric blades on his wrist and sliced through them. Zoom ran around them creating a small vortex suffocating them before using his body to ram them with great force.
Theodosia knocked them all away with her strength and froze a few with her super breath. Shadow, Reaper, Star, Dusk and Artemis fought off with their close quarters combat.
Shadow and reaper cut them down with their blades while Artemis fired arrows hitting each one. Dusk and Breeze knocked them down with their blunt weapons while Star gashed them with her whip.
Mystico used her magic to weaken the trees roots and crush the monsters with the fallen trees and then crushed the tree into wood chips firing them into more oncoming lion lizards. Phoenix and Gauntlet had enough of these mutants and decided to end this.
The two fire starters charged up their power and hovered above the ground. Back to back the two extended their palms and sprayed beams of fire all around them and their team incinerating all of the mutants around them. They all let out shrieks of pain before turning to ash along with a small portion of the forest.
"Great work everyone." Gauntlet chirped.
"Yeah, real stealthy." Surge grunted as he toned down his electric power. "Those Reach assholes probably know we're coming."
"We need to go now." Ronin said with urgency.
"Okay, double time it people." Shadow said as she pulled out his berretta's and gave one to Dusk and the other to Zoom. "We're going to need as much covering fire as you can give us and we don't have a lot of ammo left. So make them count."
"You got it." Dusk and Zoom said in union.
"If I can get to that portal I can get us back home." Reaper said. "So everyone stick together."
Everyone nodded and quickly ran off after the Reach camp and their only way home. Hopefully.
(!)
Whisper, Ronin and Hitgirl scouted up ahead and armed with their blades. They snuck up behind a few Reach warriors patrolling the oasis and took them down quietly. Ronin shined the light off his blade and out towards his friends letting them know they could proceed through the jungle.
Zoom and Theodosia used their super speed to quickly hide the bodies as Mystico used her magic and hid them from a lot unwanted eyes. They saw that fortress they built was made out of the trees surrounding them and that they had the safe zone under their control.
They slowly moved towards the cave avoiding many Reach Warriors as they moved weapons and crates of scrap technology. The plan was to have Reaper and Thanatos fix the boom tube while the rest of the team held off the warriors.
They had to move fast though Mystico was burning a lot of energy by hiding them. Jayden quickly led his team towards the cave entrance and readied their weapons.
"Okay guys, is this it." Jayden warned. "We go home, or this becomes home. Are you ready?"
"Never been more ready." Gauntlet grinned.
"We will get home and end Trigon once and for all." Whisper grunted.
"And take out anyone who gets in our way." Phoenix said.
"Alright, let's go."
"About time." Mystico grunted as sweat beaded down her cheeks.
Shadow charged up all his Adonis power and charged straight towards the cave. The former Reach Ambassador and Scientist both jumped in surprise before starring in horror.
"Y-You!" The Ambassador stuttered.
"Me." Jayden muttered.
He quickly rushed over and grabbed the ambassador by the collar of his coat and slammed him against the wall. Jayden pressed the blade against his throat as gunfire and laser burst echoed outside.
"What do you want?" The ambassador asked.
"We have need of your boom tube." Jayden said while looking over at the archway. "And we really need it now so…"
Reaper and Thanatos quickly stepped inside and started working on the boom tube while Jayden held the ambassador hostage.
"You will not take what we've been working on for years just in the blink of an eye." The ambassador growled. "Especially, since you're the one who sent us here in the first place."
"You brought it on yourselves." Jayden grunted. "You and the Light."
"Jayden we'll need ten minutes to get this thing working again." Thanatos said pulling up holographic blueprints on his wrist.
"We'll get you all the time in the world guys." Jayden grinned as he restrained the ambassador and scientist. "You two stay here."
Jayden drew his sword and ran out to help his friends. Breeze helped a winded Mystico inside the cave while Dusk and Zoom kept them covered with suppressing fire.
Hitgirl took out a few with her silverballers while Whisper emptied her desert eagle into a few more. The two quickly ran out of bullets and pulled out their spare pieces, .38 snub nosed handguns. When those were emptied they resorted to their blades. Hitgirl pulled out her dual short swords while Whisper pulled out her combat knife.
As those two were ready for a fight an arrow flew between them and a horde of Reach Warriors before exploding. The two looked behind them to see Artemis with a smug grin on her face.
"Show off." The two grunted sarcastically.
"Well don't get used to it, I'm all out." She said as she held out her empty quiver. Hitgirl grabbed a few of the warrior's laser staffs and threw them at her friends.
"These will have to do for now." Hitgir said as she aimed at a few warriors and fired at them.
Gauntlet fired his last magnum round into a reach warrior and vaporized him before another warrior blasted him in his shoulder. He went down and Phoenix quickly came in and blasted the warrior with a fire bolt. Apollo jumped in and gave them covering fire as Phoenix carried his friend to safety.
"You okay Sam?" Phoenix asked.
"Yeah, Artemis hits harder when she get mad at me." Gauntlet chuckled. "This is nothing."
"Ha, try angering a female clone of Superman then come crying to me." Blaze joked.
Speaking of the clone she was currently being shot down by a few warriors and lying on the ground unconscious. Just before they could finish her their staffs turned into anacondas and attacked them. Theodosia looked over to see Mysitico staggering over to help her up.
"Great magic trick." Theodosia said.
"You like that you should see me pull a rabbit out of my hat." She chuckled. "I've never missed Mexico so much in my whole life."
"We'll get you home, don't worry." Theodosia said as they staggered off to the cave.
Ronin, Surge and Jayden fought off the warriors as best as they could but there were just too many of them. Jayden warned them that they had hostages but they weren't hesitating they were just as determined to leave this hell hole as they were.
Jayden cut down another warrior as did Ronin and Surge blasted a few with his electricity. Hitgirl and Whisper rained fire on them as Artemis and Breeze beat them down with their staffs.
Dusk and Zoom used up the last of their bullets on the warriors and switch to hand to hand combat. Zoom whip past them and Dusk used his strength to beat them down, but they were starting to get back up into a corner.
"Flynn, we need an update, now!" Jayden shouted.
"It's almost ready, get in here now." Flynn shouted.
"Everyone, back to the cave!" Jayden shouted as he and his team rushed towards the cave. When they returned Flynn had activated the portal and watched as an orange portal opened in the middle of the cave. Jayden grinned as he looked over at the ambassador and scientist.
"Well it's been fun catching up and all, but I really should get going." Jayden chuckled. "So thank you for the help and remember stay the hell away from Earth or I'll kill every last one of you."
"Self-destruct sequence initiate: Horse Head Nebula 2312." The scientist muttered.
Just then the computer monitors started to light up and a ten second timer started going off. Everyone panicked and quickly ran out of the cave before their one way ticket went up in fiery wreckage.
The Shadow Warriors stared at the cave watching the smoke of the Boom Tube pour out. Some warriors fell to their knees while the rest just stood there in shock.
"We're never getting back now are we?" Whisper said with tears running down her cheek. Whether it was Sarah's or Whispers were unknown.
"We failed everyone." Thanatos grunted. "Our mothers and fathers would be ashamed of us."
"No, they wouldn't." Jayden grunted. "They wouldn't approve but they would be proud of what we have done."
"Even if it meant losing and causing Armageddon." Surge grunted.
"We did our best." Gauntlet said as he fired up his fist. "And that's all that matters."
They all looked to the distance to see an army or Reach warriors. Jayden looked at his team and they all looked back at him. They knew they did all they could and they didn't have any regrets.
"Last stand?" He asked.
They all nodded and stood by his side and readied their weapons. Their hearts were heavy and they had no chance of surviving, but they didn't care and they would never give up.
That was the way of the Shadow Warriors.
As the Reach warriors came closer a large black portal tore open in the sky and a large black claw grabbed the warriors, carrying them away from the prison world.
When they came back on the other side they were greeted by a familiar face.
Or a familiar Red Hood.
"Hey Jason." Jayden muttered.
"Hey brother."