Disclaimer: I don't own Young Justice… If I did it wouldn't be cancelled.
Note: Sorry for the wait on this one. I still don't actually have a computer to write on so it's been difficult to write. But there will be another chapter pretty soon. Oh and I redid the first chapter, making it more readable, because a year ago when I started this, my writing style and quality was REALLY different.
Agni sighed and decided to meditate. Elves don't sleep, they went into a fully aware meditative state A small nap wouldn't hurt. As he calmed his mind, the rest of the day began pop into his mind
Anna cast an ice spell around herself to knock her enemies back before turning and teleporting next to Agni.
"Regroup on the dance floor!" Agni barked his voice was magically carried around the room.
There was an almost completely silent sound of someone landing as Richie dropped down next to them, his boa staff was in his off-hand, casually. He had a serious face on and was looking a bit tired. Berzerker (on Beowulf), Bloody Arrow and Kal each came up within a few seconds and looked at their captain.
"Is that Deathstroke?" Roy asked curiously, pointing at the groaning Deathstroke who was beginning to stand up.
Agni nodded. The monsters were beginning to retreat to the opposite side of the room. Aquaman was still knocking out any that dared come close to him and his large monster. The sea serpent was slithering around next to him, snapping viciously at the Drow and demons.
Abaddon stood on the opposite side of the room, his monsters, demons, skeletons, and Drow were around him. They outnumbered the heroes about twenty to one. Just the odds Agni liked.
There was a rumble and the roof above them broke and Captain Atom came crashing through. He landed painfully on a chair. He was got up slowly and grimaced as he saw the monsters next to Abaddon.
"They've taken the roof." Captain Atom said to Batman
Green Arrow and Red Arrow plummeted down from the hole in the roof. Roy sported a large red gash across his face.
"Everyone here?" Batman asked
Robin looked at the monsters and Abaddon with interest "Why aren't they attacking."
"Honor of Battle. A mutual… time-out has been called." Richie said, shrinking his boa staff down.
"And as soon as it's over. He's going to run" Bloody Arrow observed
"Should we attack now then?" Superman asked "Take them by surprise?"
The Rangers looked at the kryptonian offended.
"What part of Honor of Battle did you not get?" Richie asked
"Is that a no?" Green Arrow asked "I thought uh… whatshisname Cursed Shadow said Drow were honor-less."
Everyone turned to hear Agni's answer.
He wasn't there. Just gone.
"Why does that not surprise me?" Robin muttered "What do we do, Batman?"
Robin glanced to where his mentor was standing seconds before.
He wasn't there either.
"That is not surprising…" Doctor Fate said
Abaddon stepped forward and smiled widely "So what will it be my friends? Surrender or be killed?"
Oliver sighed and rolled his eyes "What is it with bad guys and saying stuff like that?"
The half-demon sighed and muttered something to a Drow next to him. Robin watched carefully to read Abaddon's lips but the half-demon turned his back to him. He looked at the dark elf he was speaking to; he looked like almost any other Drow, white hair, dual swords and a small crossbow, although he did have a badge on his chest. He must be a Lieutenant. Robin observed carefully.
One thing did stand out about this Drow… He could have sworn he saw him before.
Robin looked up through the broken walls; three large Hellicarriers were whirring outside. He could clearly see large mounted guns and other assorted weapons.
Balors were beginning to get back up, and stand around restlessly. Abaddon's smile was growing ever larger. Things were beginning to look very bleak. By now the Joker, Sportsmaster and Deathstroke had recovered enough for them to be glaring at the small group of heroes.
"Hey. Wait a minute…" The Joker shouted "Where's Bats?"
"The dark elf seems to be missing as well." Deathstroke observed.
"Shall I send out a squad to find him?" the dark elf next to Abaddon said
"No need." Abaddon said slowly "I have already found him."
The dark elf looked up in surprise "You have, sir?"
The half-demon nodded and before the dark elf could dodge; his clawed hand shot out and grabbed him by the chest and hoisted him into the air.
"Have stupid do you think I am Agni!?" Abaddon roared "Did you seriously think I wouldn't notice Maelin'izdur was missing?"
So that's where I thought I saw him before… Robin thought He was the Drow Commander we captured.
Abaddon's sword slid out of its sheath and was held beneath the Drow's throat. "Now I will kill you in front of all your friends."
The dark elf in Abaddon's hands began laughing. At first it was nothing more than a chuckle before it went into full blown out laughter. "You are so stupid, you know that Abaddon?" it said "You will never win this war when you keep on underestimating me."
The heroes blinked as the dark elf the half-demon was holding exploded in a mass of purple fire, sending Abaddon and everyone near him flying away.
Several batarangs were flung down from above, explosions surprised the Drow and Skeletons, breaking their ranks and sending them into a chaotic frenzy.
The heroes smiled at each other for a second before they charged. As they charged they would see shadows dash around them. It was like the shadows themselves were on their side. During the short round two, they could see Batman and the two Boy Wonders dash around them, coordinating the attack.
Agni dropped in front of Abaddon before they explosions riddled the room. He stalked over to the downed half-demon and chuckled as he slowly tried to stand up.
"Do you not understand Don?" Agni said, using Abaddon's nickname, one that he had not uttered for over 20 years. "You might be immortal, powerful, and have endless amount of minions, but I will always beat you. We were prophesized to fight, and we will. We will fight to death." His dark sword slowly glided half way out of its sheath. "To edge of this earth, through all the planes of existence, we will fight to the death and each time I will win. I will be the victor of this war."
Abaddon was on his feet and had his sword out. "Not that I don't like your self-righteous, pompous, philosophical speeches, but I am going to take my leave."
Agni smirked "You'll have to get by me first."
The half-demon matched his smirk "That is not a problem." He said, lifting his arm, shooting a red bolt into the sky and dashing off.
Machine guns from the Hellicarriers began to fire upon what was left of the building. Not caring who got hit by them.
Agni pulled his cloak around himself tightly and sprinted after the fleeing half-demon.
Halfway across the building he had to take cover behind a broken piece of wall as several machine guns focused their fire on him.
Rockets began to shoot down from the large flying machines as well, Agni notice a clown standing on top, holding the controls to the turrets.
He dropped into his shadow as numerous rockets shot down at him. He jumped back out at random. He whipped his tomahawk out and began to fight his way through the waves of demons.
Abaddon had dashed through the large building towards the staircases. His plan was to get to the roof, bomb the place into a small pile of rubble and safely fly away to the Whitehouse where he would take charge of the country. One step closer to his ultimate goal.
The only problem was Wonder Woman. She just happened to be fighting off a balor on the staircase.
Abaddon quickly called a legion of skeletons to surrounded him as he tried to sneak by the Amazonian princess
Diana turned around to see Abaddon encircled by his minions. A small smile spread on her face as she marched over to him, cracking her knuckles
Agni leaped over a demon and landed in a roll. He came up, stabbing his sword into the chest of a Drow. He spun around and knocked a sword aside with his tomahawk.
The sword belonged to Deathstroke.
Cursed Shadow slashed his sword at the mercenary only to have it parried back at him.
"I don't have time for this." Agni hissed through clenched teeth as his sword clashed against Slade's.
"That's too bad." Deathstroke said, whipping out a pistol and empting his clip at the dark elf.
Agni lifted his cloak and blocked the bullets, but he didn't lower it in time to see Deathstroke's sword cut at his leg. With sword and tomahawk out, he blocked it and Cursed Shadow leaped at the mercenary. Their weapon's clashed in a furry of metal. Both were equally with their unique fighting styles.
Over his shoulder Agni could see Abaddon engaging Wonder Woman in battle, hoping that she would keep him there, the dark elf turned back to Deathstroke in renewed earnest.
Even after several more minutes of fighting there was no clear victor. Deathstroke had barely broken a sweat. Agni was just getting more annoyed, his opponents, aside from Abaddon, didn't usually last this long.
Slade darted at the Grim Ranger and shot several rounds from his gun, forcing Agni to dodge behind any cover he could find. Cursed Shadow barely managed to bring his sword up to block the mercenary's sword.
Having an advantage Slade fiercely attack Agni while he was still down. His sword slashed through Agni's defenses and hit his arm.
The dark elf growled inhumanly and rolled away from the mercenary. He inspected his arm but found no wound in his obsidian skin. His cloak was cut in three separate places but his arm was fine. Not having time to ponder why, Agni made a mental note to look into the matter further at a later date. He backed away from Deathstroke and brought his sword hand near his mouth. Whispering a barely audible word his ring's purple and red gem glowed brightly for a second before fading back to its usually murky darkness.
Berzerker? He called over the Ranger's mind link
Yeh, Capt'n? Berzerker called back
Can you get your dwarven ass over here and deal with Deathstroke?
Can't I'm a wee bit busy with da Balor ova 'ere. Maybe we should switch?
I'm trying to get to Abaddon
I'll send Superboy yer way den.
Agni said his thanks and returned his full attention to the mercenary in front of him. Slade was slowly circling him.
"Hey." The Grim Ranger called
"What is it now?" Slade asked not pausing his circling
"Look over there!" Agni said pointing in a random direction
"You expect me to fall for that?" Deathstroke said, actually stopping and looking at Agni in shock
Agni shrugged "I just needed you to stop moving."
Before Slade answered a hammer flew from behind him, striking him in the back and knocking him across the room. Lightning followed the hammer. It halted right next to the hammer and Conner appeared with above the hammer and it materialized in his open hand.
"Greetings, Superboy." Cursed Shadow greeted
Superboy grunted and swung his hammer into a demon that unfortunately passed him at the wrong time.
"I thank you for the assist with Deathstroke."
"You're welcome." Conner said slamming his fist into another passing demon and then throwing his hammer across the room. It appeared magically back into his hand after a second.
"I see you like that hammer." Agni commented, swiftly flowing through a group of Drow, killing them mercilessly
Conner smiled briefly and followed the Grim Ranger, keeping the demons away from him. "M'gann said I looked good with it." He stated briefly "More manly and like my own person… not a clone."
A small smirk cracked on Agni's face. He already knew they would make a good couple. He'd known Megg'n and Connie for around a hundred years. They were meant to be together. "You always were you own person, Superboy." He said as he weaved through swords and knives, his own weapons in a furry of attacks. "Let nothing tell you anything that differs."
Wonder Woman wiped a cut on her arm. Abaddon was definitely a strong warrior; there was no doubt about that, he had speed, strength, power, and a mystical magic that confused her greatly. She would have possibly been in trouble had she not seen Agni and Conner running up to them.
Conner reached them first; his hammer went straight into the unexpected chest of Abaddon. The half-demons staggered back several feet and barely brought his sword up I time to catch Agni's chokutō.
"Agni." Greeted the half-demon
Cursed Shadow swung his tomahawk, catching Abaddon in the arm. The half-demon back away and stared at the three heroes… well two heroes and Agni… that were facing him.
Before anyone did anything, hundreds of skeletons suddenly turned from whatever battle or fight they were in the middle of and surrounded them.
"I'll just leave you to deal with them, while I go catch my ride on the roof." Abaddon said backing away with a large smile.
"Abaddon." Agni called
"What?"
"You know something?"
Abaddon sighed and looked at the dark elf
"You know how I hid my necromancy from everyone else?"
"Of course I do. I was waiting to drop that… I already had plans on when to."
"Well… they know now."
Agni's eyes turned black and began to shine quite furiously. "Minions of the Dead." He hissed "You shall follow my command."
The skeletons seemed to hesitate as they slowly turned to Agni. Abaddon struggled to keep control over them, after a few seconds he suddenly paled and looked up at dark elf.
"Capture that warlock for me." Agni said as his eyes returned to their normal red. He stumbled, but managed to catch himself. It had been years since he had to use necromancy at such a large scale, it had drained a large amount of his magical reserves.
They skeletons turned to Abaddon at once and charged at him
"You are not related to Hades or something, correct?" Wonder Woman asked
"NO! Ahem… I mean, no Milady. Not in any way."
"Good…" she said watching the skeletons attack him, wave after wave.
The demons began to swarm the skeletons. They were smashing the bone warriors into dust, giving Abaddon ample time to turn and flee.
Agni growled and gave chase to his former friend. The half-demon was running up the stairs towards the roofs. The Grim Ranger had to fight through several enemies before he reached the stairs and bounded after Abaddon.
He flew up three flights of stair. Kicking open a door he burst onto the roof. What was still standing of it was covered in Drow.
Holes were littered around everyone, very large holes. Abaddon was already half way across the roof, moving swiftly through his minions towards the Hellicarriers at the far side.
Growling, Agni sheathed his sword and sprinted ahead. He used his tomahawk to knock some of the Drow aside; he leaped over a large hole, landed in a roll and continued running.
"Rangers, get to those big flying thing!" He shouted into his comm. after ducking under a Drow's axe and kicking the Drow down a hole. "Abaddon has fled to them."
"Team, go with them." Batman said
Agni could see the Hellicarriers beginning to take off, with Abaddon already safely inside. He wasn't going to make it before they got off the roof.
He ran faster and got to the edge just as they were moving away. He leaped into the air with all his strength, flailing his arms to catch onto something.
There wasn't anything.
Agni plummeted towards the ground. Twisting in midair, he took wild aim and shot a small grappling hook out of his bracer. He swung towards the bottom floor, fortunately through a window.
Batman threw several batarangs at the Drow that were still down there. It was mostly those demonic skeletons now. The Drow and mostly retreated after Aquaman showed up with half of the oceans horrors. The Joker was still fighting somehow. The Dark Knight raced towards the clown and flying kick him across the room. The Joker was back up in a moment and whipped a pistol out of its jacket.
Several bullets rang throughout the room; several of the stray ones hit a skeleton or two.
"Did I hit ya Batsy?" Joker called
Several batarangs flew through the room from an unknown direction and knocked the gun out of his hand.
"Guess that means no!" Joker shouted gleefully, picking up what must had been his crowbar, from off the floor.
Batman shot out from behind him and dealt him a hard punch to the kidney, making him double over as he knocked his legs out from under him. He lifted him back up and shoved him against one of the last windows that hadn't been shattered or broken.
"What are you and Abaddon planning?" he demanded, punching him several times.
"I don't know! He just pays me a LOT of cash the work for him." The Joker cried
"So you're just his lackey now?" Batman mocked
"Weeeeeeell. He pays me a great deal. Enough money to get me set for life. I was planning on over throwin him later."
Batman backed away and threw several batarangs, nailing him to the window frame.
The Joke smiled wildly "You just gonna leave me here?"
"I'll be back." Batman said uncaringly, turning to walk away.
Before he got too far he heard an earsplitting scream and the sound of breaking glass and wood. He turned around to see a hole where the window was. On the floor was a pile of broken glass, wood, stone, evil clown prince, and a Drow was sprawled on the top staring at the ceiling dazedly
"Ouch…" Agni muttered, not bothering to move "I think I might have broken something this time."
"What is it with you and falling on people?" Batman asked, giving the Dark Elf a hand up.
"I'm fine thanks for asking, only a bruise or maybe a broken bone." Agni snapped, reaching for his weapon's. His tomahawk was gone.
"I thought you were chasing Abaddon to the Hellicarriers." Batman said, throwing several batarangs at some fleeing demon.
"I'm not the parkourist I thought I was." Agni grumbled while fumbling through his Bag of Holding, looking for another tomahawk, but not finding one.
"How are you going to get him?" Batman inquired, slamming his fist into a skeletons exposed ribcage. He turned around to dodge a few swords.
"I'm not sure. I do wish I had one of those flying things." Agni said stabbing a Drow through the chest with his hidden blade.
"The Batwing is outside, I'll take us there." Batman turned to Agni
He wasn't there
The World's Greatest Detective paused for a moment
He wouldn't
Would he?
Oh fuck he did
"Robin!" he roared over the comm. "Get to the Batwing as FAST AS YOU POSSIBLY CAN AND TAKE NIGHTWING WITH YOU!"
Robin flinched from the loud yelling. He was calmly fighting through the waves of skeletons with Anna, Richie and Zatanna when his mentor began shouting at him through his comm. He sighed to himself and dashed to the Batwing followed by Nightwing. First he tells them to get to the Hellicarriers, now the Batwing… he really needed to make up his mind.
He reached the Batwing and found it empty. No one was around either. He opened and hopped in with Richie.
"I guess we should wait." Richie said wiping blood off of his staff with a rag he took out of his Bag of Holding.
Robin wrinkled his nose and nodded. He stared out of the window, watching the waves.
The top popped open and a black cape ruffled in the wind as it hopped in.
The Boy Wonder sighed and closed his eyes for a moment. He had been fighting for almost two hours straight now. It was hard to fight Drow and demons things without killing them.
"Where are we going, Batman?" Robin asked as they began taking off into the air
"To chase after Abaddon." A voice that was NOT Batman's said
He heard Richie snort and his eyelids snapped open
"AGNI?!" Robin screamed, the plane already in the air
"I know who I am." Cursed Shadow said gripping the controls steadily.
Robin shouted several things that were incoherent.
"Breath, Robin, breath or you might start hyperventilating." Richie said
Dick took a deep breath "Agni."
"Yes?"
"Why are you driving the Batplane and where is Bruce."
"I'm driving this because we need to catch Abaddon and Master Bruce… is probably still down there thinking murderous thoughts"
"Robin, Richie!" Batman shouted over their communicators "Where are you two?"
Agni switched on the planes radio "Sorry Batman, I needed to borrow this."
"Agni-" Batman growled before Agni shut the communicator off
"He's going to kill us." Robin said
"He'll try." Richie replied
Robin turned and glared at Agni "Do you even know how to fly this?"
Agni shrugged "I know the basics."
They flew in silence for several minutes. Agni handled the plane… decently. Robin barely noticed that the dark elf was incredibly nervous. It wasn't long until they could hear and see the Hellicarriers.
"Okay so I'm just going to land this on the roof with those other planes." Agni said, more to reassure himself than them
"Then what are we going to do?" Robin asked
"Hopefully everyone else will show up. If not, we will have to take him on alone."
"Great…" Richie muttered with a curse "Because that so worked the last three times."
"If you do remember we killed him each time." Agni pointed out
"Not that that helped very much." Robin retorted.
The plane suddenly jerked throwing Richie and Robin tumbling around
"Sorry!" Agni shouted, the plane was spinning in circles now "They're shooting at us!"
"Let me fly you moron!" Robin shouted before being thrown back again
Agni ignored the Boy Wonder and began closing in on the three Hellicarriers; he tilted the plane at an angle to land on the runways on top.
Robin rubbed his sore head and sighed before he looked at the windows. He did a quick calculation in his head. According to their speed and the distant from their plane to the Hellicarriers they wouldn't make it to the runway… they were going to hit the engines!
"Agni, pull up! You're not going to make it!" Robin yelled
Cursed Shadow shook his head and concentrated on steering the plane. It was closing in on Hellicarrier VERY fast
"You'll hit the engines!"
"I can do it!" Agni screamed over the roaring engines and gunfire of the Hellicarriers.
"Agni, I think he's right!" Richie yelled gripping the edge of his seat and preparing for impact
"I'll make it!"
Robin stared at the window fearfully. Damn that dark elf and his stubbornness
"Just gotta hit that flat area, over there…" Agni muttered to himself
The plan suddenly swerved dramatically out of the path of another rocket.
"Gods above… that was close." Richie murmured
"Agni, turn around!" Robin yelled as they narrowly dodged another rocket
"I'll make it!" Agni said reassuringly
"Watch out!" Richie shouted
Several bright balls of magic flew at them rapidly; Hieroglyphs appeared in the air around them, deflecting the magical attack away from them.
"Who put up wards around the plane?" Agni asked
"I did." Robin said smugly, relaxing for a second. Agni had spun that straight into the air and was now speeding straight down at the Hellicarrier
Robin sighed and reached over the seat towards Agni. He grabbed a red lever and pulled on it hard. The top of the plan opened
And flung them out of the Batplane.
Having not buckled himself in, Agni was flung away from his seat and was flailing in the air as Robin and Richie began drawing Hieroglyphs to catch him.
The dark elf hit a cushioning Hieroglyph in midair and it safely brought him back to his floating seat next to the two Boy Wonders.
"I would have made it." Agni spat as he buckled himself in
Robin just glared at him and pointed at the Batplane. It was slowly falling towards the Hellicarrier.
Richie sniggered as it sank into the Hellicarrier's spinning engines causing it to explode.
"Oh fuck…" Agni swore "Batman is going to murder me."
Robin shook his head "Nah, He'll just put you in a body cast."
They floated down for several seconds before they landed relatively safely on the deck of the Hellicarrier.
"Where the hell did he get THREE of these?" Robin wondered as they dashed towards the entrance
"Luthor." Agni replied shortly
"Should've known." Robin grumbled
It was very windy at their altitude. It was hard for them to stay on the deck. Nightwing and Robin had to use magic to keep themselves down; Agni on the other hand barely had trouble. It was like he weighed a ton.
They reached the door I seconds. Nightwing and Robin took places at the sides.
Agni pulled out an acid grenade and flung it at the door, but the wind whipped it from the air before it hit the door and blew it across the deck.
"Oh fuck me…" Agni sighed
"Anything else?" Robin asked his dark Elven comrade
Agni thought for a moment before nodding and walking up towards the door. He removed a stick of dynamite much to Robin's horror. He stuck out his hand to Nightwing who handed him a roll of duck tape; he proceeded to tape it on while they backed away to a safe distance.
"He's crazy…" Robin swore as he and Richie erected a quick magical shield
"Insane!" Agni yelled back to them, his finger flickered in a quick flame and he lit the fuse and fled and ducked behind his cloak when he reached Robin and Nightwing, who already had their capes covering their faces
There was a loud explosion and a large burst of flames. When the three hero- the two heroes and Agni looked over their capes, there was a large black hole where the door and a large portion of the wall used to be.
"I love explosions…" Agni said fondly as they entered.
Immediately they were met with a barrage of arrows and bullets from their left. Agni waved his hand and they mostly bounced off a magical force field, the rest missed them entirely.
"Nightwing, cover us!" Agni said backing away down the opposite hall; a volley of deadly throwing weapons flew over him as he followed Robin down the long metal hall. Nightwing caught up with them in seconds declaring that their pursuers were finished.
"We need to head to the main control station on the bridge, that's most likely where Abaddon is." Robin said to the blank face of Agni
"We need to go were?"
"The place where all the large computers go beep boop bleep." Robin said slowly
"Oh… you could have just said that."
Robin rolled his eyes beneath his mask
"We should hurry I can already hear footsteps coming towards us" Richie said, pulling out his boa staff
"How do you propose we get there?" Agni inquired
The footsteps where getting closer
"The vents?" Robin suggested
"No way am I going up there." Agni stated firmly
"Then we'll go ahead and meet you there." Richie said
Before Agni replied several bullets began to whizz by them. They were surrounded on all sides.
"Pfft…" Robin scoffed "You would think he would get better minions then that." Several smoke pellets dropped from his hand onto the floor and the whole corridor began to fill with smoke.
There were several flashes of metal as Agni made his way through the smoky hall, taking down everyone in his way with his punch blades. In the air vents, Nightwing and Robin were crawling through them, heading towards the main bridge.
"Robin? Nightwing?" Their earpieces crackled after a few minutes of crawling.
"Robin here." Boy wonder said, pausing his crawling for a moment "What is it?"
"WHERE ARE YOU GUYS?" what sounded like Anna screamed over their communicators.
"On one of the Hellicarriers." Nightwing hissed "And I would be thankful if you did NOT shout in my ear when we are try to silently sneak through the air vents."
There was a silent pause
"Agni is sneaking through an air vent?" Anna asked
"Of course not, he's… Agni." Nightwing answered
"He's below us causing havoc." Robin said
"The League is finishing up here, we are going to join you… somehow." Red Arrow said, joining the conversation
"I can try teleporting us in." Zatanna suggested "I'll need help from Anna because I'm already a bit exhausted magically."
"Well get here as soon as you can before Agni tries to blow this place up, he already took down an engine." Robin said
"How?"
"With the Batplane…" Robin said sullenly
"Duuuude… you guys are like, going to be in so much trouble and stuff." The stoned voice of Kal said
"Thanks for reminding me." Robin growled sullenly "Just get here as soon as you can, Robin out."
Agni sped through the halls, encountered very little resistance after the initial defense. He was beginning to get a bit suspicious.
Finding large metal doors blocking his path, Agni stopped and waited for the two counterparts to show up.
He only waited a few seconds before Robin and Nightwing dropped down.
"Stop for a mug of mead?" Cursed Shadow commented sarcastically
"We scouted ahead while we waited for you." Robin said cheekily
Agni rolled his red eyes and smiled "So what's ahead?"
"A LOT of men with a LOT of guns." Nightwing said, emphasizing on the word 'lot'
"Plan?" Robin asked looking at Agni
"Why me?" he protested
"Weren't you in charge of these missions since they are technically your guy's problem?" Robin asked rhetorically
"Don't get all sarcastic with me." Agni snapped "I only agreed to be leader of the missions that included finding my teammates.
"Doesn't matter right now." Nightwing interrupted
Agni sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I'll summon some shadow clones. I'll only manage around ten because I'm low on magic."
The Grim Ranger brought his index fingers and thumbs together, making an arrowhead looking shape with them. He muttered a few words under his breath and eleven shadows around him shot out of the ground and formed identical replicas of him… except for the eleventh
Robin looked them over, they looked exactly like the real thing, and then he got to the last one.
All of the clones were armed with an array of Agni's weapons; swords, bows, scythes, daggers and knives. They all had his black cloak on them as well.
Aside from the last one
"What," Robin asked choking back his laughter "Is that?!"
The last clone was dressed in a 'kill me orange' jumpsuit. He had a pouch strapped to his leg filled with throwing knives and kunai. His hair was shorter than everyone else's and was spiky. He had a bandana around his forehead with a metal plate on it. The metal plate had a small picture of a dragon engraved into its face.
"You got a problem with something short stuff?" The bizarre clone demanded loudly
Agni smiled wearily "Robin, meet Orange the Idiotic Loudmouth. My eleventh clone."
"Why do you have an eleventh clone that is… well that?" Robin wondered out loud
"The gods only know." Agni said surly "My eleventh clone always comes out like this no matter what I do."
"He's the odd one of us." A clone said
"The runt." A second clone commented
"You wanna have a go pretty boy?" Orange shouted at his fellow clone
"Bring it on Orange, I'll kick your ass so hard you'll turn black and blue!"
Agni sighed and bitch slapped his two clones
"BEHAVE YOU IDIOTIC MORONS BEFORE I DISPELL OU AND SUMMON MORE!" he shouted at them.
"There goes out element of surprise." Nightwing muttered under his breath
"They already knew we were here." Orange proclaimed
"Oh yeah? And how do you know?" Clone #5 asked
"I'm a ninja. I'm not telling you how I gather my info." Orange replied haughtily.
Cursed Shadow sighed and face palmed for several seconds. "Okay guys listen up, this is the plan. You are going to blow open the doors and charge in."
"But there's like three dozen people with weapons over there!" Clone #9 complained
"So?" Agni asked
"We'll be dispelled in seconds!" Clone #1 whined
"You're clones… it doesn't matter." Robin said
All eleven of the clones turned at him and gasped simultaneously
"I'll have you know, we are not JUST clones!" Clone #6 shouted
"Yeah!" Orange shouted
"We have feelings you know!" Clone #3 yelled
"Yeah!" Orange shouted again
"We're smart too!" Clone#10 bellowed "Well maybe not Orange…"
"Yeah- wait wha?"
Everyone sniggered at that
"Oh you guys think it's funny to make fun of the ninja, eh?" Orange glared at them "I could easily take you all with ease!"
"Just shut up! All of you!" Agni said "And get into your places already!"
The clones grumbled and got ready in front of the door.
"You owe me a LOT of ramen for this!" Orange proclaimed loudly
Clone #7 took out a grenade and threw it at the door
Instead of the sizzling acid that Robin expected, a VERY loud explosion ensued. Blasting the door right off and creating a big opening.
Agni sucked Robin and Nightwing into their shadows and zoomed by the whizzing bullets that tore through most the clones, effectively dispelling most of them. The rest poured in and began wrecking devastation to Abaddon's minions
While the two heroes and Agni, swept through the room in a shadow and appeared on the far side, exiting the shadow very quietly and hiding in the shadows.
Abaddon was standing in the middle of his troops blasting his dark beams at the clones, taking a few out of the fight.
Agni's chokutō slid out of its sheath and into his hand. "Ready guys?" he asked quietly, only five of the clones were still standing and Orange was nowhere to be seen.
Robin and Nightwing nodded and pulled out their assorted weapons.
They charged in all at once, completely destroying the back of Abaddon's ranks.
Dodging a sword, several bullets and a knife, Agni managed to get to Abaddon and fire blast him hard in the back, sending him flying forward.
Abaddon turned around and growled "Can't you just go die is some corner?" he demanded pulling out his large glowing sword and facing Agni
"Of course not." The Grim Ranger answered "Do you know how many people have already asked me that question?"
Their swords clashed with a ring of metal. They dance the dance of sword play for several minutes. Abaddon was beginning to get an upper hand as Agni's fatigue began to show. The dark elf's movements began to become a bit more sluggish, he was swinging clumsily and somehow missed several large openings in Abaddon's defenses.
"Tired, Agni?" Abaddon taunted, swinging his sword hitting one of his own men and slicing straight through.
"Of course not, Don." Agni panted, ducking under the brutal stroke
"Agni!" Robin called from the other side of the room where he was fighting with his eskrima sticks "They have reinforcements coming!"
"Erif pihw!"
A lash of fire shot through the air, hitting Abaddon hard on the back and launching him into a wall.
"So do you." Zatanna said, stepping into the room followed by the rest of the Team and Rangers
A hammer flew past them, hitting Abaddon in the chest and sending him through the wall and several more out of sight. A bolt of lightning that was Superboy followed it.
Agni smiled, drained and tired. He fought his way towards Zatanna.
"I couldn't be happier to see anyone else." He said when he reached her "We were beginning to get in over our heads."
"Is that the only reason?" she asked slyly, blasting a Drow with a powerful fire ball.
Agni smiled "It would take me a lot of parchment ant time to write them all down."
"Can you guys flirt LATER?!" Anna demanded, icicles shooting from her wand and imbedding themselves in the chests of the gunners "If you haven't noticed, we are in the middle of a fight here."
"One that you showed up twenty minutes late too." Nightwing retorted as he flipped by, bouncing off a wall and kicking a minion in the head similar to Robin
"Not our fault you guys hitched a ride on the Batplane." Red Arrow said, firing his arrows nonstop
"Then crashed it." Bloody Arrow reminded them.
There as a loud explosion and Abaddon came flying back into the large room, straight into the fist of Berzerker.
He collapsed to the floor and struggled to stand for a moment.
Agni darted at him. His sword came in low and his hidden blade came in high. Both attacks hit the dazed half-demon, slicing open his arm and chest.
Their swords clashed again, their fell into a frenzy of attacks at each other. With pure luck, Abaddon managed to knock Agni's Weapon out of his hand and it went clattering across the floor.
Cursed Shadow snarled and fire suddenly coated his arms, he smashed into Abaddon with all of his might, sending him skidding back and singeing most of his body
Abaddon growled inhumanely and slammed his into Agni who then flew across the bridge and through the window.
Everyone halted for a moment expecting him to back in.
He didn't
"Agni!" Anna shouted dashing through the battle towards the broken window. Outside was a sheer drop
Zatanna turned to Abaddon, murder in her eyes.
"Oh shit…" Abaddon said "Now was not the best time to kill him was it?"
The raven haired magician's eyes began to glow as she slowly lifted off the ground. Wind ripped through the room as she spread out her arms.
"That is not exactly good." Anna said to Robin, both were ducking behind a metal table to be safe from the flying debris and pure magical power
Chairs, tables, discarded weapons and balls of bright yellow fire smashed into Abaddon. Sending him flying about the room, never giving him a moment to regain his footing.
Several more squadrons came into the room and began firing at her. Their bullets only hit an invisible shield of Hieroglyphs.
Until someone came in with a rocket launcher…
It blasted into the magical barrier, breaking it through and through.
Zatanna flew through the air and hit a wall. She slumped to the ground motionless.
Superboy snarled and with a mighty throw of his hammer it blasted into the Drow carrying the rocket launcher, it caught him on the shoulder and took it clean off, leaving the evil elf to bleed on the ground.
Abaddon just kinda stood there looking dazed and shocked at what just happened.
"I…I just killed Agni! And that wench Zatanna!" he proclaimed proudly
Several things smashed into him at once. A large icicle, a few birdarangs, several arrows, a very heavy magical hammer, a throwing axe, several kunai and darts, and two separate blasts of water.
Abaddon fell to the ground from all of that, but it didn't keep him there for long. He right back up with a triumphant smile.
Until another hammer throw literally wiped it off of his face,
The air ripple and Conner swung his hammer and smashed it into the half-demon's face
"Those were my FRIENDS." He snarled, sinking his fist into Abaddon's chest
Stumbling back from the sudden pain, another swing from the hammer caught him square in the chest and sent him out of the room with unadulterated physical force.
Superboy, screaming with rage, lightning bolted after him.
Everyone, including the Drow, was silent for close to a minute. They just looked at each other, not sure what to do next.
"Well shit…" Berzerker said breaking the tense silence
The heroes resumed attacking, trying not to think of their downed friends who could quite possibly be dead.
"Red Arrow, Bloody Arrow, keep Zatanna out of harm." Kaldur called "Everyone else, take out the remaining enemies."
The two archers covered their magician friends until the battle was over, making sure she didn't come to any harm from stray bullets or anything else.
In a few minutes the place was clear. Conner hadn't returned with Abaddon yet, they could still hear echoes him screaming and swearing far off.
They gathered around Zatanna quickly to check if she was still alive. They couldn't feel her pulse very well, but she was still breathing shallowly.
Anna tried several spells but none of them seemed to work on her counterpart, after several minutes of trying she sighed in frustration.
"So what do we do?" Nightwing asked. Everyone turned to Kaldur who sighed and looked around
"We might as well try to find Superboy and Cursed Shadow. We will deal with Abaddon later."
Then the Hellicarrier began to rumble and shake. They would hear fighter jets, they all looked towards the windows to see a large amount of fighter jets outside, attacking the Hellicarriers with all they had.
They also managed to see a grappling hook, attach itself to the wall and an Orange jumpsuit slip into through the window with a large dark body over his shoulder. It walked over to the group and laid the body down.
"Agni?!" Anna screamed, dashing over to Orange and the unconscious body of Agni.
"Is he okay?" Nightwing asked as she checked him.
Agni moaned and rolled over
"I said I didn't want to go to this stupid party, but does anyone listen to the dark elf? NO! No one does. Next time someone else can be thrown out of a godsdamned window, then plummet thirty meters into an airplane, get shot at and be saved by a crazy clone in an Orange jumpsuit!" he groaned
"I'm insane." Orange said firmly
Everyone cracked a smile as Agni sat up and looked around. "Where's Zatanna?" he asked slowly
They made way as he slowly went over to her.
"What hit her?" he asked
"A rocket" Anna answered
Agni placed two fingers on her forehead and concentrated for a moment "It was enchanted, demon magic."
"That's why my spells don't work." Anna murmured to herself
Agni sighed and pressed his fingers on her forehead again; they stayed there for a number of seconds before he removed them and sat back slowly. "You can heal her now." he said simply, closing his eyes, breathing shallowly
"What did you do?" Anna asked warily
"Removed the curse from her. Moved it to myself." He said shortly
"But you could kill yourself!" Anna protested
Agni cracked a smile "It would be worth it." He said
Everyone was shocked silent
"Did Agni just think of someone else before himself?" Bloody Arrow asked
"I think he just did." Nightwing responded in awe "We need to record this and celebrate every year. The Day Agni Stops Being A Selfish Jack Ass And Thinks Of Someone Else Day."
"I help people all the time, Richie." Agni said
"Not like this." Anna said as she cast several healing spells.
Agni swallowed, his throat was dry, he had a killer migraine, his new cloak was riddled with bullet holes, he could barely feel his left arm after landing on it, and he just took a severely strong curse off of Zatanna and moved it to himself.
After a few minutes Zatanna was able to stand up and Agni was able to hobble. They were just about ready to go find Conner and Abaddon
When the place flooded with Skeletons holding guns.
"Well fuck me." Bloody Arrow said "There ain't no rest for the wicked or the good either apparently."
Agni and Zatanna ducked behind a metal table that once held a highly advanced and military secret computer while the other heroes tried to battle off the evil skeletons. Agni had picked up a gun off the floor and was pooping round and round into them, keeping them away from him and Zatanna.
There was another rumble in the Hellicarrier and every hero aboard groan at once
"What now?" Anna complained "What else do the gods have left to throw at us? How can this get any worse?!"
More rumbling came through one of the holes made by Superboy. Abaddon shot out of it, followed by Conner who stood over the half-demon and eyed him hatefully. Before looking up and seeing Agni and Zatanna ducked behind the metal table.
"You guys are okay!" he shouted happily
Agni nodded sorely.
"I thought you guys were dead!"
"So did I." Agni said
"I brought Agni back." Orange said, suddenly appearing silently behind Conner
Superboy yelped and swung his hammer in an arc at the Orange Clone
Orange yelped as well and hopped away from it "OI! I'm ON YOUR SIDE DUMBASS!"
"Who are you?" Conner demanded
"I'm Orange, duh." The Clone said with a roll of his eyes, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Conner we need help over here!" Kaldur shouted
"At least I was wrong." Anna said blasting through some skeletons with an exploding spell.
There was yet another rumble in the Hellicarrier. This time it began tipping sideways, sliding everyone towards the large window
"Oh yeah… I might have accidently destroyed an engine." Conner said
"Which one?" Robin asked
"Top port one."
"Oh fuck." Nightwing said "Agni took out the bottom one."
"Uh… whoops?" Conner offered
"I spoke to soon, didn't I?" Anna sighed "We have got to get out of here."
"Superboy, make us a pathway out, we need to get to the top, then we'll figure a way off." Agni ordered.
Conner nodded and began to destroy the walls of the tipping Hellicarrier, creating a path upwards.
Agni and Zatanna followed slowly. With everyone behind the Superman Clone who was working with all his might and speedily taking them through.
Zatanna screeched next to Agni who spun around to see her being dragged away by a rope
And Abaddon was holding the other hand.
Agni turned around and reached for his tomahawk
It wasn't there…
Agni cursed as he remembered losing it when he felt onto the Joker. He turned around; everyone else was a decent ways away, he turned back around to see the skeletons beginning to surround Zatanna who was on the ground with her back against the wall, feebly trying to defend herself with what little magic she had left.
He slid down and met Abaddon with his hidden blades. He managed to push Abaddon back and hold his place next to Zatanna while taking out several skeletons.
Abaddon lunged forward again, driving Agni away from Zatanna. After having driven Agni across the room with his sword's heavy strikes he back away.
"You have a choice now Agni." He said gleefully "You can chase me and kill me. Or you can save the girl."
Agni looked over the half-demon's shoulder. Zatanna was being surrounded by Skeletons armed with guns.
Cursed Shadow hesitated to go help her. His arch enemy was getting away. If he could only kill Abaddon once more, there was a possibility he could stop him from coming back and end the threat to his world. He glanced at Zatanna she only had a bit of power left, Agni could tell.
Agni went to go after Abaddon but halted "Ugh I'm on hero!" he swore to himself and dashed over to Zatanna.
He swept his sword off the floor and sliced through several skeletons before reaching her. He blasted fire out of his off hand before helping Zatanna to her feet and holding her up. He made towards the new path Superboy had made, the Hellicarrier was tipping so far onto its side that it was a steep climb.
Just as he reached the opening he heard bullets being shot at them. He felt at least two of them pierce his leg. He knew he was going to bleed out if he didn't hurry.
Orange appeared next to him, he had a kunai in each hand. Leaping fiercely after the skeletons he turned to Agni "I'll hold them, get to safety." He winked and turned back around to fight off the walking pile of bones
Agni smiled and limped along, holding Zatanna up to the best of his ability as he climbed to the top.
Agni had to kill a few Drow on the way but he finally made it to the top even though the last twenty meters or so had been a straight climb upwards. When they reached the top, the Hellicarrier was fully on its side and falling fast.
The Team and rangers rushed over to them and helped them up.
"What happened?" Kaldur asked
"Abaddon… got her." Agni wheezed "Shot, at least twice…right leg."
Everyone gathered at the edge and looked around. There were countless fighter planes, attacking the Hellicarrier followed by numerous fighters that belonged to Abaddon.
"What do we do now? The communicators are down. Miss M isn't here and no one has any magical power left." Robin said
Agni sighed and looked at them for a moment
"Do you guys trust me?" he asked
"Trust you?" Red Arrow repeated
Agni nodded
"Like hell we do!" Nightwing shouted, accompanied by the vigorous shaking of heads by everyone else.
Agni smiled "Good, because I don't either."
Everyone looked at him suspiciously
"What are yeh planning, Dark elf?" Connie asked slowly
"I'm going to ask you guys to forgive for this." Agni said solemnly "I only have a little magic left. This is our only chance, so you are going to have to forgive me for what I am about to do."
"For what?" Bloody Arrow asked slowly backing away from him.
Everyone's shadows suddenly leaped up at them and shoved them off the edge of the falling Hellicarrier.
Everyone's screams blended in with the roaring of the fighter jets and the loud bangs of bombs and bullets.
Agni leaped off the edge after them. It was getting hard for him to breathe now. If he was going to die, so be it, but there was no way in abyss he was going to let his teammates, his companions… his friends die to.
He raised his hand in front of his free falling body and concentrated. He tried as hard as he could to open a portal to the Astral Plane.
He called upon all the magic he had left in his body, but it still wasn't enough.
Agni's vision was becoming blurry as he blinked he kept trying to summon that portal for everyone.
Just before he blacked out, Agni spun himself around. He saw his friends falling after him, the Hellicarrier sinking into the ocean, the fighters zipping by around him.
And before he sunk into the deep seas of unconsciousness he saw a flash of purple.
Remember to Review!