A/N
Heyya peeps, ready for another chapter? This book has reached 2,000 views! That's absolutely awesome!
Just a special thanks to all reviewers, followers and the people who favourite (I still have no idea what they are called)
Elvisfonz23: Thank you dearly for the support, I am honoured to know that you like Kyle, and his interactions with YJ.
MarrisaKeye: Cheers for the follow.
Bluehulk45, and Elvisfonz23: Thank you for the favourite.
(I am now volunteering to be a beta testers, so, if you want me, come get me.)
Chapter 10) Fight, or Flight...
Aqualad's POV- Fifteen minutes prior
Glancing nervously over my shoulder at the prone figure of Kyle, I melt away any doubts that had started to seep into my thoughts. No matter how cruel it seems, Kyle would want us to carry on with the mission, but truth be told, he is a tough warrior, and will survive. The same cannot be said for the countless over lives in our hands, who depend on us to end LexCorps reign of terror. We will destroy those missiles, because as long as we draw breath, nothing can stop us.
When I first encountered this unorthodox team, my only wish was to be professional, and do what is best for justice... however, I have discovered over time that I am overly fond of my companions. Superboy- a mighty powerhouse, who hides a deep love of the team. Miss Martian- her naïve nature makes her uncontrollably likeable. But, both Robin and Artmeis are unique, in that they both pursue a path of the dignified soldier. Then, you have Wally and Kyle, no words can be used to describe their unusual behaviour, except joyful. In situations that normally break most beings, they both thrive and see the brightest side of the moment.
Sometimes, I wish that I share their enthusiasm, but I consider myself realistic; realistic in terms of the severity of the impasse, whereas those two are pleasantly optimistic about the littlest of matters. Still, it can prove to be a unnecessary burden at times.
"Aqualad!" Robin abruptly focuses me with a snap of his voice, directly taking control of the circumstances in my brief absence. Nodding to him in acknowledgment, I continue sprinting down the vast hallway, heading to where the stockpile is supposedly located- Robin, and Miss Martian on my tail- followed closely by the bounding Kryptonian, shaking the earth with every waking leap.
"Nearly there people, just try to keep up." the boy wonder assures, putting his head down, and setting the pace for the rest of us. For a non-powered human, his elegance and speed impresses me, his motions are precise and thoroughly controlled, as though a constant dancing rhythm.
"Shut up Robin, you're starting to sound like Wally, and you know what I do to annoying things." Superboy telepathically growls, the threat being carried over by the mental link. It's still remarkable to me that Connor hasn't grasped the concept of etiquette, but then again, he barely has any manners at all. Compared to most beings, he could be classed as barbaric.
"Yeah, sure, keep telling yourself that. Maybe, one day you will... grow up." Robin viciously counters, directly assaulting Superboy's odd aging process. By that, I mean how he doesn't seem to be a one year old, then we discovered that due to the cloning, he will sadly retain his physical appearance- until the day he meets his end.
"Shut up! Before I make you! " Connor furiously retorts at the sneer, but managing to maintain an appropriate level of control over his body. Secretely, I am very proud of him for this, because at least he is moving in the right direction, albeit taxingly.
"Focus on the task at hand- we can deal with this problem later, whereas this, we cannot." I decisively intervene, cutting off any more potential squabble that the two may hold. Now is not the moment to be foolish as to argue with our peers; now, is the time to do what we intended to , it is disturbing that dissent in the ranks is still occurring between my fellow members, as that is unacceptable, and needs to adapt.
Finally ending their dispute, we rush to the inner sanctum of the palace, determined to wipe out any threat that enters our immediate proximity. Once we arrive at the impressive chamber, the first thing to be fully noticed is the dirty green cases on the ground, all of them many metres wide. Perhaps this is the sole target we have been assigned to sabotage, but this all seems too... easy. No mission worth it's risk is ever this simple, unless it is a trap. Then again, the trap may have already been sprung. Or, this isn't as welcoming as it seems.
"Watch your backs, this could be a trap. " the young teen next to me advises, whilst examining the open space in front of us- The room is wide, and long, with an open top which makes little trickles of moonlight poke in.
"Maybe we should rethink our strategy. " I calmy suggest, unfazed by the bizareness of the apparent ease facing us.
"You kidding me? Just wait here, I'll handle this. " Superboy confidently smirks, leaving us, and strolling up to the awaiting box. The only thought that is running through my mind at this moment is:
"what a fool." I muse, astounded as to the behaviour of the Boy of Steel. Unluckily, I momentarily forget about the telepathic link, and my thought is brought across.
"Connor, I think that Kaldur is right, you should really come back here." Megan agrees, begging the clone to return to us willingly, however I know that her plea is falling on purposely deaf ears. Superboy is not known for his ability to follow orders, or listen to concerned allies.
"Yeah right." he snorts, shaking his head at her suggestion. "Since when do I run away from anything? " he carries on, sauntering arrogantly to the cache, and ignoring our further attempts to reason with his unreasonableness.
Out all of sudden... nothing happens.
All of the tension evaporates as Connor flips open the stockpile, reveling at the detonators within, designed by LexCorp in case their weapons are ever uncovered. . If only we knew where the missiles are. Picking it up, Superboy instantly presses the button.
This will not be good.
Kyle's POV
Soaring fist first toward the slender warrior, I experience the weirdest sensation ever- an interesting sense of... duty- something that I usually never feel. But with this man, I feel as if it's my sacred duty to end his villany, before anybody else suffers harm. Still, the way the decrepit man is smirking at me puts me off edge, in the middle of a fight, no-one should be doing that.
Unless, you know something the other doesn't.
But... what?
Focus on the fight, Kyle! I force my body and mind to direct all attention to the Ra's, who is still swaying in the wind with his hands placed casually behind his , I realised why. Attempting to stop mid-air, it was too late; with a swift movement no-one his age could possible imagine, he strafes to the left and observes me soaring by. Next, he snatches my ankle out of mid-air, before pulling down, making me smack onto the ground.
Groaning at the wrecking pain flowing through my stomach, I heave my body the ground with a grunt. That's it, this old creep is going back into his coffin. Raising my fist up to attack the man, I spin around and see he is frightfully gone. Well, I guess Batman had to get it from somewhere, right? Grasping my ribs, I sharpen my human senses to catch this guy in the act.
However, I miserably fail, and I am sent to the ground again by a sudden sucker-punch to the base of my skull. That hurts as much as Superboy's slaps, which is saying something about the roughness of this old-timer. Squinting the wash away the blurriness invading my eyesight, some inner part of my brain whispers to me that he is directly behind me, so, I instinctively swing my hand up. Surprisingly, I do it just quick enough to whack him in the chin. When I dart up, and turn around, I could practically smell the shock coming from him.
"Sorry about that. My mother would kill me if she found out that I just smacked an OAP. But, that felt really, really brilliant." I provoke, putting on a face of mocking concern. "Need any help with that?" I push further, hoping that he will lose his well controlled temper soon.
"It is not your mother killing you, that you should be worried about, child." he maliciously threatens, wiping a bead of blood coming from his mouth. "Shall we continue?" he challenges, and adopts a battle stance, again. This time it more genuine, perhaps realising that I am not a pushover. Or at least, he has less doubts.
I'm going to teach this guy that he is deadly wrong- nobody can beat a Green Lantern, as long as they know they will win.
And, oh, I know that Ra's doesn't stand a chance against me.
Changing my pose into the typical Lantern stance - stood with feet shoulder lengths apart, with a straight back, and ring hand pointing to Ra's- I ready my imagination to come up with an ingenious way to battle this monster. Without any more tension, I launch chains of will towards him, slithering across the ground. Although Ra's al Ghul swipes at them with his sword, and breaks them into little pieces, I saw a slight pinch in his expression: he knows that I have the flexibility factor.
Deciding to await him this time around, he accepts the challenge and bounds towards me, heading in from several angles at varying times, looking to confuse me. Keeping my gaze fixed on his erratic movements, I construct a sword and shield, prepping for close combat.
Finally reaching me, we engage in a vicious battle of skill and brutality. Even though he has he countless years of experience on me, somehow I am managing to hold on, even if barely. "Struggling?" Ra's taunts in the midst of the slashes and parries.
"Nah, you?" I chuckle, much to the elders annoyance. Upping the intensity, he switches tactics, now coming in with rapid lunges, which I have to quickly evolve to. However, I don't do it hastily enough, and he contacts with my leg, shallowly cutting open my left thigh- my armour just stopping the blow.
Being given this new pain, I grit my teeth together and fight against it, as it increases heavily over the short period of time since I received it; slowly etching away at my energy and pain tolerance. "Need... a... breather?" I sassily question him, whilst blocking another lunge with my shield. I hiss as he manages to slide in my blade, hitting my chest and breaking apart the material, making an obvious hole.
"Do you ever shut up? I have seen... children... with less talk in them as you." Ra's snorts, grunting with the effort of his next attack.
"Sorry man, I'm afraid that... that's classified for..he time being. Do you...mind coming back in the next... five years... or so?" I laugh in short bouts, being cut off by my lack of breath, at this moment in time. With a roar, he slams his sword into my shield with a slash, forming a huge crack down it's centre. Coming to terms that it can't take another blow like that, I let it go and attack with my sword, using two hands.
Furthermore, I go on the offensive, hacking wildly and without a general target- a rookie mistake- capitalised upon by my opponent. Turning my mistake to his expert advantage, he opens a gap in my defence by trapping my arm with his, holding it in place with a ruthless grip.
Agony cripples me, as his sword breaks through the hole in my armour, going straight out the other side. Slumping to the ground with no feeling in my body, I gaze up at the victor. "It seems that brains beat brawn, doesn't it?" he sinisterly grins, straight down at me.
"I wouldn't say that you have brains, because you are also a fool." I gasp from the searing pain in my chest and leg... make that my entire body.
"Oh. Do please enlighten me, young hero." he sarcastically snickers, pacing in front of me. "Let me have a gander. Your pathetic little friends are here to get the detonator, am I correct?" he presumes, my silence agrees with him.
"Of course they are, douche. Why else would we come to this hell hole, to watch the sand roll over the dunes?" I chortle at his assumption, anybody with a brain cell could figure that out.
"So, you wouldn't mind me telling you that the missiles are beneath this very palace, would you? Beneath the detonator, in fact." he answers callously, sighing deeply to himself. Does that mean they will die?... No, the team is too stubborn to go out like that. This man is under-estimating us, like every other villain does. I'm going to make sure he pays for it, dearly. "We will make sure that all see the light." he concludes.
The light?
Summoning whatever will I have left in the deep expanses of my soul, I focus it all into my chest. A surge of energy hits me, as I feel the wound slowly closing, but I doesn't last long, stopping before I fully heals. On the other hand, that is all I need. Constructing a pen, I send it into Ra's sword hand, making him squeal and making his weapon clatter to the ground.
Smiling at the moment, I leap up and punch him at the bridge of his nose, with enough force to knock him out. Looking down at his unconscious rag doll, one solitary phrase comes to my thoughts. "It seems the pen is mightier that the sword." I say, blowing a raspberry at the elderly man. Am I full of regret for knocking out an old man, like that? Maybe... nahh, of course not.
My moment of victory is spoiled by a large explosion that ripples through the air, stumbling me back a few steps. Momentarily aghast, I retain my calm, and glance to the epicentre of the blast. That is when I noticed the air shimmering ever so gently. It has to be what I think it is.
Surely enough, the bioship emerges from the skies above me, it's sight a welcoming gesture; it's sound the relaxing tidal wave, touching the golden beach. "Took them long enough, didn't it?" I mutter, amused at the timing of the unexpected arrival. Before I soared to join the ship, a pang contorts my face. For some odd reason, I have a feeling that I have missed something. It's annoying, but I can't quite put my finger on what it is.
Oh no... Artemis!
Running headless in all directions, I come across the limp carcass of the archer- unmoving, and ghostly pale. Praying to whatever god is presiding over us, I spurt to her, instantly checking for any vital signs. Come on! Come on! I frantically pound on her chest, performing what CPR usually looks like; I never took the Oa class... if there was one. "Don't die, you insignificant, conniving, heartless, little bi-"
"What was you about to call me!?" she suddenly springs into a seating position, and yells furiously in my face.
"Bi-eautiful." I quickly respond, hoping that this would be the end of her wrath. To my surprise, she only growls and falls back into a prone position, staring at the bioship above us. That was a close one. Imagine if I actually said it. I joke with myself, whilst internally combusting with relief. "Well, that was anti-climactic, huh." I crow at the startling situation- Artemis is alive, I'm alive, and hopefully everybody else is alive- not too bad, for a days work.
"I'm keeping my eyes on you, Lantern." she weakly jests, coughing mid-threat. Holding onto her, I blast off into the air, and fly to the spectacular sight of the bio-ship. It never ceases to amaze me, how that thing always turns up at the perfect interval. Boy, am I glad to see it now.
Entering the flying machine from the temporarily opened hatch, I slowly place her aching body into her seat. "What the hell! Artemis!" Kid Flash exclaims at the way I put her down, no doubt also regarding the dried patch of crimson just below her girly-bits. After, he dashes over and commences touching her all over the place- ears, legs, and fingers.
"Wally! Wally! WALLY!" she screams at the probing, giving him a seriously creepy glare. Backing away apprehensively, he slumps back into his assigned chair, avoiding all the concerned eyes facing his way. "Can we leave now?" she begs, tapping the floor with her feet, impatiently.
"Let's go." Miss Martian accepts, directing the ship back home. The usual silence follows, until the nagging question I have becomes to much to bear.
"Whyareyoustillalive?" I blurt out, shifting uncomfortably in my swivel chair. The team all look severely confused, so I'm assuming that I spoke too fast again; oops, my fault. "Why are you still alive?" I coolly interrogate once I calmed down.
"Gee, thanks, Kyle, great to know you care." she acerbically answers, shaking her head all the way through.
"Not the best thing to say." Robin jovially interferes, gladly snapping up the chance to get one back at me. Think of something witty to say... nope, I have absolutely nothing. Instead, I purse my lips and endure through the inevitable showdown.
I hate my life.
A/N
As I stated before, I am now a potential beta reader, so PM, or review with your request, and I will answer ASAP.