Got the Sims 4, made two households of YJ Sims. Garfield set the kitchen on fire five times, Conner got M'gann preggers (The game did this, not me so I was surprised), Wally and Dick brake every electronic gadget in the house, Bart talks to himself (Why Jaime doesn't is a mystery), and Raven seems to have a crush on Gar and has been planting notes in his locker at school, but at least no ones dead yet. And no Tumblr post just yet, still working on it.
Veritas1995 - Nope, it didn't go too well for Cassie. Then again, nothing seems to go well for super powered people when their close to a 'normal life'.
Eric - I would think leeches would be able to bite through her skin, she's not bullet proof so I think it was possible. As for the differance between Jime and Tim, I wanted to bring in a little of the comic version of him cause I always got the impression he was high strung in trying to be Batman's partner with Dick Grayson setting the bar first, which would lead to how he sees and treats others, sort of like he could only trust himself and no one else. Won't answer the Stephanie Brown question, like you requested but as for the Kid Devil one, that was a slight mistake on my part, but he was stil supposed to be Kid and not Red. The part with Nabu, I think he wouldn't be afraid, but cautious, as to what Raven's aura gives off (I think he would sense something like that but her power would keep him from reading her clearly). And thanks for the compliment on my drawings, but please note threr is a reason they all do not match up with how I described the team whle in the field. That comes later. And glad you like Carter, I'm still being careful with making a second story with an OC.
OMAC001 - Thanks, it's been a pleasure in writing these and hearing how others are enjoying them. And it's funny how you should mention those two Titan villains as one just might be around the corner.
Riley 000 - No prob on the Tumblr posts and your comment on M'gann's reason for the soundproof bedroom gave me a good laugh. And yes, fallout from the Arlington incident will be addessed later.
Ben A - Thanks for pointing that out, I'll look into changing it when I have a free moment (my work and training schedule sucks right now)
2.
Bioship - Over Brazilian Rainforest
May 3
14:13 UTC
Back inside the Bioship, Jaime was sitting in front of the passed out Cassie, lightly slapping her face to wake her up. She let out a small moan as her face scrunched slightly and her head slowly shook from feeling her teammate's hands stir her eyes opening, the memory of what Jaime told her before passing out hit her and she began to squirm in her seat, making sure nothing else was on her.
"Easy. We got them all." Standing before her, Jaime handed her a water bottle and watched as she still continued to check herself for any other foreign bodies.
"I hate slimy things and I hate the rainforest!"
"We got them all. You had the ones on your back and three more on your legs. Hal scanned you with his ring to make sure there were no more. We weren't so lucky ether, except Hal."
"So I wasn't the only one who was having their blood sucked out of their veins to feed those...those disgusting, slimy, fat, pulsating little vampires?"
"Except for Hal. His ring made sure none got on him."
"...I hate power rings that aren't mine now."
"Good, you are awake." Coming in from the cargo area, Kaldur, dressed in his mission gear, sheathed his water bearers in there housings on his back. "We were waiting for you to awake before heading to the temple Blue Devil has pointed out for investigation. Hal, Oliver, and Blue Devil are changed and ready to go."
Taking his over shirt off, Jaime tossed the garment aside and had his Beetle armor cover all but his head. "I'm ready."
With her teammates looking expectingly at her, Cassie let out a small groan and ran her hand over her face. "I'm just glad I brought my stealth gear with the long sleeves. At least I'll be mostly covered. But if I find one more leech on me, I'm going to make sure those blood cultists pay for putting me through that."
Blood Temple
May 3
14:21 UTC
Keeping to the shadows along the tree line, the six man group made sure to recon the perimeter before risking going in. With the Bioship less than a minute away, they made sure a clear path was marked incase they should have to perform a hasty retreat. Electronic surveillance indicated no cameras or power sources were present as well as heat detectors showing no guards were keeping watch.
Some estimated seventy feet high, the temple looked to have been carved directly from a mountain from afar but was craved with weathered ares becoming clearer the closer the teams got to it. It was a solid building. Nothing but white, weathered stone made it up with vines and various other overgrowth climbing the outside. Four large pillars were placed in the entrance way, which was receded into the temple like an outside hallway. Large fire pits took up places around the flat, stone, open area between the structure and the tree line. To the members of the Black ops team, it looked just like any other temple one would find in Brazil's rainforest only with the strange, carved Blood Cult symbols adorning virtually everything they could see.
Using hand signals, Aqualad had Wonder Girl go in first with him following after she arrived at what was believed to be entrance to the temple. Blue Beetle stayed behind to cover them until the Atlantean leader signaled him to regroup. With the three at the entrance to the stone structure, each made sure they were ready for anything that may lie on the other side of the door.
"Are both of you ready?" Aqualad asked as he reached into a pouch and withdrew one of the pendants Wally and Artemis retrieved from those in the water station a few weeks back.
"Yeah. I still haven't seen any sign of cameras or guards." Keeping an eye out, Blue Beetle already had one arm morphed into his staple gun.
"You sure this is going to work?" Wonder Girl asked as the team's leader searched the door for any sign of entrance.
"Given how this pendant is formed, and from what Lilith has told me, there should be some sort of key hole for it to fit into. I just need to find the right location." As his hands passed over the old stone, Aqualad made sure to feel every bump and indention to find where the pendant key should go.
"You've been spending a lot of time with Lilith. Anything we should know about?"
Shaking is head, Aqualad continued his search as he answered the blonde Amazon. "I only stayed with her in an attempt to obtain any information I could. It has paid off."
"And the fact that after cleaning herself up revealed she's cute has nothing to do with it?"
It was minute, but the Atlantean's hand seemed to stagger at her words. "No. I just needed Any and all information I could get out of her."
Jaime Reyes, status of Aqualad's bio-signature indicate a rush of blood to his face, and heated skin.
Grinning under his armor, Jaime was glad he was to only one to hear his scarab tell him Aqualad was blushing at Wonder Girl's words.
"Found it." Sliding a loose square shaped stone to the side, Aqualad found where the pendant is to be placed for entry. It was just as Lilith had described, hidden behind a sliding stone on the wall.
Placing the pendant within the slot face first, to make sure the raised symbol would fit properly in the indentions, the three waited as it was rotated for a quarter of a turn with the sound of gears working coming from the other side. A few seconds later, a large portion of the wall they stood in front of began to raise slowly. Stone grinded against stone and dirt fell from the sides and bottom of the rising barrier, revealing a long stone corridor with torches lining the walls.
"Be on alert at all times. We do not know if there are traps or if any of the followers are within here." Grabbing a flashlight from his pouch, Aqualad waited for Wonder Girl to do the same before taking the first step inside. "Remember, we are to rendezvous with the others as they come in. Keep your GPS systems on should we become separated or lost."
"As long as this isn't like any Indiana Jones, National Treasure, or Librarian movie, this should be a walk in the paAAAGH!"
"Cassie!" Rushing back to where he heard Wonder Girl, Blue Beetle had his suits scanners search for what happened.
As the only one without a flashlight, as he did not need one given his scarab's light enhancing abilities, he quickly found a large hole stretching from one side of the corridor to the other to the other but no sign of his Amazonian girlfriend. Rushing to the edge of the hole, Blue Beetle and Aqualad searched the darkened pit and found Wonder Girl hovering in the air a foot or so above three foot tall serrated spikes sticking up from the ground. Nothing else was in the pit, giving them the impression no one had entered uninvited or at least tried to do so.
"Cass?" Blue Beetle called as he retracted his helmet. "Cass, you okay?"
"Yeah...yeah." Looking around herself, Wonder Girl made sure she was in no more immediate danger. "Just...thanking every deity I can think of that I can fly."
Flying quickly out of the pit, Wonder Girl set her feet on solid ground, after making sure it would not give, and looked back down where she had come from. "You used the key to get in, right?"
"That is what I have done," Aqualad answered. "I suppose I should have left it in the hidden slot outside instead of bringing it in with us."
"You think?"
"Actually, I think it would have been better if you placed it in the slot on the other side of the entrance." Reading the layout his scarab produced once his helmet was back on, Blue Beetle saw a mechanism from the trap door to the left-side wall and to a panel beside the door they entered in through. There was also another panel near the three where another pendant would go. Everything was connected together and ran off the same machinery. "It looks as if it takes two of those pendants to deactivate the traps. One to switch them off and another to keep them off."
"Great, and we only have the one. That's it I'm flying the whole way through." Floating into the air, Wonder Girl waited as the others were ready to follow her.
"That would be a good idea," Aqualad told her. You two should keep to the air and I will follow. Blue Beetle, take point and keep scanning for more of the panels. Wonder Girl, begin to drop the flares so we may find our way back incase we run into trouble."
As the two did what he instructed, the Atlantean team leader brought up his holo-computer and pulled out the sonic mapping device made to map out corridors, the same device he used in Hawaii when searching for the Trident clones lair. After the first shot, data came back and was displayed on his wrist mounted computer to show a sharp right fifty feet ahead of them when Blue Beetle found another panel. It did not take him long to find the trap it deactivated, a line of razor sharp arms stored within the walls on both sides made to slice a person in half.
"How do you want to go about this one?" Landing beside Aqualad, Blue Beetle showed him where the trap would spring. "It looks like a motion detecter on this one. The last looked to have a trigger Cass stepped on to activate it."
"You two go on ahead after I place the pendant in the panel you found. I will then throw it to you to deactivate it on the other side. The way it looks to be set up is those who enter deactivate the traps with their pendants then gather them on the way out. Express caution the deeper we go."
It was slow. The progress they made was burning time quickly with spotting and getting around the temple's security measures. There were a few Blue Beetle could deactivate or jam with others having to be bypassed carefully as they took their time deactivating them. With Aqualad's sonic pulse mapping device and Blue Beetle's scarab keeping track of where the traps were located, the trio found themselves to be close to a half mile below ground. At least a dozen corridors lay behind them with the main one opening up to a large open balcony. Stone railing kept those above the main floor from falling with large columns holding torches every ten or so feet. Intricate carvings covered virtually everything made of stone with the only empty space being the dome shaped ceiling. And then there was the chanting.
"Stay close to the ground and keep close." Issuing his orders, Aqualad took point and squat walked up to the railing, peaking through the small stone columns to see what was going on when his eyes grew wide.
Across a wide open area, a large golden circle was imbedded in the stone wall with red jewels making up what appeared to be a three or four eyed face of a horned creature. Several more torches kept it well lit with writing underneath the the golden circle. Below it stood a large crowd of red hooded figures with their heads down. All were chanting without any feeling or emotion in their words.
"What on Earth?" Keeping behind the large column to the left of Aqualad, Wonder Girl looked over the open floor below them and saw just how many people were in there. Gold littered the walls, depicting stages of some unknown being coming to life. "There has got to be a hundred people down there."
"Dios Mio." Using his scanner to zoom in on the plaques depicting different stages, Blue Beetle saw etchings of a man kneeling before an alter with a black heart within reach. As he looked down the line, the man was perceived to have eaten it and surrounded in light before becoming something else entirely.
"Do any of you know what those words on the wall are?" Wonder Girl asked.
"Can't tell you just yet," Blue Beetle told her. "My scarab's taking recordings of everything it can down here."
"Kaldur?"
Narrowing his eyes, Aqualad gave a small nod. "I do know at least two of those words. It is Atlantean."
"What does it say?"
Pausing for a bit, Aqualad could feel both Wonder Girl and Blue Beetle's eyes on him, waiting for an answer. "Demonic God."
AN: I'll go ahead and leave it off here to set up the next part. More answers and questions will rise so be on the look out for another early chapter this week.