AN: Sorry for getting this chap up so late in the day. Was working getting the gym I train at painted, watched my Cowboys beat the Redskins, and had to put up some decorations. But here it is, finally!
Gordhanx - In the comics, there was a young version of Brother Blood I based this version on. He had vampiric powers and thought he would be a cool villian to put against the team.
missvisibleninja - Thanks. I like bouncing back and forth like that.
Eric - With Blood, it kind of makes him a real vampire as he needs blood to rejuvinaye by 'bathing' in it.
Noctis11 - Yeah, Nightwing's still solo but Cyborg's bouncing around as a tech guy for all three if I had to put him somewhere, it would most likely be the League. As for Mar'i, keep an eye on my tumblr for an idea.
Black Victor Cachat - If I do stories like the posters, they'll be one shots, not in the seasons. For Blue Beetle on War World, I would think the Reach would allow his scarab tech to hack into just about any computer system. Since it's a 'living' weapon so to speak, it could actually have te mind to think and bypass the firewalls of any and all tech, and I was thinking Terra would be on a lower power level than Red Inferno but could one day be on par with him thrugh enough training. And no, Brother Blood in this one is based on a younger vampiric version in the books.
Natalie - Epic battle? This be Young Justice, girl, of course there will be an epic battle. I love writing epic battles in these type of stories. But as for when Trigon will come in, you'll just have to stay tuned. :)
2.
Gotham City
July 9
21:29 UTC
"I ain't tellin' you nothin'." Sitting on the rain soaked ground, one of three criminals Vibe and Kid Flash apprehended shook his head to get the exes rain water off.
"Then we're not letting you in." Standing in the doorway of an adjacent building, Vibe leaned against the frame with his jacket halfway zipped up. "Gotta admit, it's a little chilly out here. And it's only going to get cooler, this being Gotham and all."
"Yeah, who'da thought Gotham got this cold in July. Guess that's life up north for ya." Rapidly tapping his fingers on a crate, Kid Flash hummed a happy little tune while bopping his head to the beat.
"You can't make me talk, freaks," the thug yelled. "I now my rights! If you're not cops, I don't have to do what you say."
"Would you believe we're not cops, but recruits from the police academy?" Kid Flash asked.
The thug raised an eyebrow of doubt.
"How about a couple of boy scouts?"
The thug rolled his eyes.
"How about a couple of kids playing police officer?"
"Anyway, you have two choices," Vibe said, ending the speedster's search for viable aliases. "One, you can stay out there in the rain, possibly get sick, let pneumonia set in, then have to spend the night in a prison hospital before being put in a cell for a few months where we will have our friends interrogate you until you're too scared to keep anything from us. Or two, you tell us what we want to know, we get you into shelter, give you something to eat, and let the police pick you up as we go about our merry little way."
Turning his head to face the other direction, the thug they caught harassing bums on the street with his cronies kept silent. Despite his thick layers of clothing, he was soaked to the bone. For it being the middle of summer, Gotham was still a little cool at night, mostly due to the lack of heat retaining surfaces. Then again, the lack of sunlight during the day and constant downpour did not help matters much. Had it not have been raining, it would be another warm night in the city, still, it was not like it was anywhere close to freezing, just enough to give a chill from an unexpected cold front.
"This is getting us nowhere." Abandoning his rapid tapping, Kid Flash brought up his left forearm and opened the shallow compartment. Inside was a power bar waiting for him to devour.
Noticing the reaction of the criminal sitting in the rain, Vibe got an idea and snatched the snack from his partner.
"Hey," Kid Flash said. "I was eating that."
"Give me a second." Pulling the thug in from the rain, Vibe let out a grunt as he found himself barely able to drag his overweight body into the doorway then waived the bar in front of his face. "You hungry?"
Still not saying anything, the thug followed the bar out of the corner of his eye. Rain drops beaded down his dark skin with the light from outdoor lamps reflecting off his shaven head.
Opening the bar, Vibe grinned as he let the aroma of chocolate chip fill the thug's nose. "You hungry, buddy?"
As if to answer him, the thug's stomach growled.
"Who's a hungry boy? Who's a hungry boy?"
Swallowing, the thug licked his puffy lips, curtesy of Kid Flash smacking him before being tied up.
"Who's a hungry boy? Who's a hungry boy?" Vibe said, keeping up his child-like voice, like a pet owner speaking to a dog.
"Um, I, I'm a hungry boy," Kid Flash said while eyeing the power bar himself. He was practically drooling.
"Yo, we're here." Coming down from the sky, Static allowed Robin to hop off his electrical construct with Blue Beetle landing nearby. There was no need to worry about being electrocuted as he was adversed to not allow that to happen.
"Got anything yet?" With a few quick strides, Robin reached the doorway the others were occupying with Static and Blue Beetle behind him.
"Nothing," Vibe told him. "Guy's hungry though. Thought I would use a snack to-"
"What snack?" Blue Beetle asked.
Looking at his hand, Vibe saw the majority of the power bar was missing. His first thought was perhaps the thug had bitten the bar without him knowing. Then he heard a loud gulp beside him. Looking at Kid Flash, Vibe rose an eyebrow and crossed his arms over his chest.
"What?" Kid Flash asked. "I said I was a hungry boy." Bits of the power bar was still on his chin.
Shaking his head in a disappointed manner, Vibe tossed the rest of the bar at his friend then turned to Robin. "Forget that idea."
"It's okay." Moving past the bound criminal, Robin raked a hand through his hair to get some of the rain water out. "Any clue as to what he might know?"
"I heard him mention something about an old man in a cloak and a white woman with skull face paint," Kid Flash explained. "Guy said he was planning on kicking them out of his turf or something so I got the drop on them and Vibe here incapped the others."
Facing the tied up thug, Robin kneeled down to where he was eye level with him. "Wanna tell me what you know about the woman and cloaked man?"
"Bite me, bird boy," the thug snapped. "I ain't sayin' nothin'."
Nodding, Robin stood and gestured for the others to huddle. "Alright. This guy knows something."
"So what do you suggest?" Vibe asked.
"Plan 'B' with a touch of 'D'."
"'B' and 'D'?" Blue Beetle said shocked.
"Rob," Kid Flash said as he grabbed his friend by the color of his uniform, "that's the line. If we cross the line, there's no going back."
"Yeah, I know." As he removed Kid Flash's hands from his neck area, Robin and the others failed to see a worried expression cross the captive criminal's face.
"Are we sure we want to do this?" Static asked.
"He won't talk," Robin told him. "We don't have a choice. So who wants to go first?"
"Well, I could probably electrocute him," Static said.
The thug's eyes instantly grew wide as the black teen hero created a small electrical discharge around a fist.
"Or I could staple him to the wall and shoot him with a steadily increasing pulse of sound waves," Blue Beetle added while making his hands turn into their staple gun and pulse cannon modes.
"Speaking of sound," Vibe spoke up, "I can make any and all sounds he hears grow louder every time he refuses to answer until his head explodes."
Panicking now, the thug saw the teen known as Vibe cause an old metal crate to explode using sound waves.
"Actually, I have a better idea." Taking a small pouch from his utility belt, Robin unzipped the brown leather object and took out several metal instruments. "You guys ever seen what holds your skin on?"
Several minutes later:
Standing on a ledge overlooking a thirty story abandoned hotel, the five man team quietly scoped out the building and the surrounding area. Hardly anyone dared to venture through crime alley at night, one of the only areas of Gotham known for having a higher level of criminal activity. There was something about the near ghost town setting that simply just attracted the scum of Gotham.
Currently, no one was out on the streets, save for a few homeless civilians trying to get out of the rain by huddling under encoves built into the surrounding buildings. Occasionally, a car would journey down the street, creating a wave of water from the over flooded storm drains with the driver purposely attempting to splash anyone close enough to the street. A few dumpster divers raced to their make shift homes with whatever scraps they could find in hopes of going to bed with a somewhat full belly.
Getting the required information out of the thug did not take too long as he confessed everything. And by everything, he yelled out how he scammed his grandmother's social security check, stole from his father, car jacked a senior citizen with Alzheimer's, bullies grade school kids for their lunch money, and several other crimes throughout his life, and not one of the team members remotely did anything to him. They never had to, he was that scared hearing what they would do to him, not knowing they were bluffing the entire time.
"Can't believe that works every time," Static said while keeping low behind the ledge of the building they were on.
"I know," Blue Beetle said. "'B' and 'D', bluff and deceive. How great is that?"
"Any thought as to how we go in?" Standing beside Robin, Kid Flash munched on another of his power bars as the Boy Wonder meticulously went over every spot they could be spotted from.
"I have some thoughts." Lowering his binoculars, Robin turned to the others and knelt down. Picking up a piece of broken stone, he made a quick sketch of the building.
"Alright, now, from the public records Barbara was able to relay to my holo-computer, there are four main entrances. Blue, you go in through the roof hatch, but only after you give us about five minutes to enter in case we should draw attention to , you and Vibe go in through the back entrance. It should lead to the kitchen then into a dining hall. Static, you're with me. We're going in through the front. We will then go floor by floor until we find the guy the thug mentioned."
"Old, decrepit, wears a red cloak, fallowed by a white skeleton woman and some other guy, right?" Kid Flash said as he counted off on his fingers.
"Right." Standing, Robin took hold of a grapple gun from his utility belt. "Remember, he said people, both homeless and criminals, have been disappearing around here. Some have turned up not themselves, whatever that means. Just goes without saying but, everyone stay on alert. We found something Batman may have missed tonight, so it's up to us to see what's happening and put a stop to it if we can."
Firing his line, Robin had the grapple gun force the cable to grow taught once it fastened to a stone statue across the street. "Stay in your teams and on constant radio contact. No one try to be a hero. We go in, surround them on all sides, and gather whatever information we can. If push comes to shove, we run. Head to the nearest room where you are and get out by the window, got it?"
Nodding, the others were ready to move out. As one, the five teens ran, swung, or flew across the few remaining streets to the hotel where they took their positions. Landing on the roof, Blue Beetle ran up to the access door and kicked it open in one hit. Hurrying onto the darkness, he had his scarab engage the night vision setting of his HUD with a countdown of five minutes, his signal to head the rest of the way in.
Landing on the ground in front of the building, Robin waisted no time in getting to the front double doors with Static close behind. The two forced their way in and entered the lobby, which was devoid of any and all life, but had enough leaks caused by the rain seeping in from the floors above.
Arriving at the back entrance, Vibe and Kid Flash ignored the homeless people trying to sleep and made their way to the back door. Finding it unlocked, the two took it as a sign of some unfortunate person looking for shelter and put it in the back of their minds.
Across the way from where Kid Flash and Vibe were, the police car of the two officers sat as still as ever. It's lights were now off as it sat in the shadows, completely hidden from view.