4.
Jump City Safe House
October 04
07:29 UTC
Turning at the sound of the computer's voice, the group was surprised to see the yellow clad Bart Allen, Kid Flash. Walking midway down the steps, the speedster stopped in his tracks and looked the group over with a 'deer in the headlights' look on his face. Taking the next step slowly, he carefully planted his foot on the lower board with his eyes never leaving the others.
"This is awkward," Kid Flash said once he reached the bottom of the stairs. "Tension is thick as...something thick. Maybe a marshmallow. Or pea soup. Which reminds me, I'm hungry."
Reaching into his forearm compartment, the second Kid Flash pulled out an energy bar and proceeded to open it.
"Bart, where have you been?" Nightwing asked, irritated. "You just took off on us."
"And I have a good explanation," Kid Flash said through a mouthful of food. "With what's been going on, I thought we may need some back up."
"And you recruited?" Superman asked.
"Well, yeah."
"Did you know about this?" Wonder Woman asked Nightwing.
"No," Nightwing answered with a shake of his head. "Not a clue."
Going up to Kid Flash, the interim black ops leader took him to he side. "I want to know everything. Where you found them, what you taught them, how you knew of them, everything."
"And I'll be happy to tell you, later," Kid Flash told him. "But right now, they're upstairs waiting to be allowed in."
"Why did you not just bring them down with you?" Starfire asked. "Is it customary to have new friends wait?"
"Well, I didn't know if it would be okay to do so since they're not part of the teams yet. And it's not customary to have friends wait. Now if it's a guy waiting for a girl to go on a date, he better be prepared to wait several hours after she says 'five minutes'. At least that's what Wally told me."
Heading back to the stairs, Kid Flash stopped and turned back to Nightwing who was shaking his head at what was just said. "Just don't tell Artemis I told you that. Wally's request. Kay, guys! You're clear to come down here!"
Pushing the switch to open the locked, reinforced door, the ones Kid Flash had found made their way into the room. Stepping down first, a set of heavy, steel-tipped boots stomped on the wooden planks. Behind them, a set of more dainty combat boots walked in step with the first. The third pair of boots had a golden cane accompanying them with the fourth set traveling so light, they barely made a noise.
"Guys," Kid Flash announced, "I'd like for you to meet, Hank Hall. Hawk."
Taking his place at the right of Kid Flash, the teen known as Hawk crossed his well defined arms over his chest. The black steel-tipped boots were complimented with a pair of black jeans with pointed metal studs lining the hem of the legs and pockets. A red sleeveless shirt was worn underneath a sleeveless, black leather jacket with red and black two toned fingerless gloves covering his hands. His hair was short and spiked with a red streak going down the middle.
"Dawn Hall. Dove. His sister."
Joining her brother, a white haired teen girl placed a hand on her hip. She was a sharp contrast to Hank as she mostly wore white with areas of baby blue. White boots had the end of her matching jeans tucked into their top as a metallic silver studded belt finished off the bottom portion of her look. As for her top, a stylish white poncho with a baby blue dove motif in its middle covered what looked like a matching white leather vest with silver bangles adorning her wrists. Her right arm was mostly covered by the cloth with her left arm mostly exposed.
"Their strong, fast, can fly, and can fire a wicked light beam. Next is Courtney Whitmore, Stargirl."
Stepping to the left of Kid Flash, Stargirl stood with her golden staff placed across her shoulders, the top of which ended in a hook-like curve. Red boots covered up to mid calf with red kneepads mounted in their positions on top of tight, blue pants with a white belt keeping them up. A blue, long sleeve, midriff bearing top showed off her stomach with a large, white star positioned over her chest. Smaller stars lined her sleeves with red gloves covering her hands, ending at the wrists. She moved a strand of blonde hair from the front of her masked face, similar to Artemis', but blue, and grinned.
"She's really good at fighting with her staff and uses it to fly and shoot energy blasts. She's also really into music and, well, you should see her with headphones on and fighting to her own beat. And last but not least is, um, well, we just call him Jericho."
Taking position beside Stargirl, a blonde male teen nervously grabbed onto his left arm as he bit his bottom lip. His clothing looked to have been from the seventies with belled blue jeans topped with leather strips twirled to make a belt and brown cowboy boots. A brown, wool lined vest covered his neatly pressed white shirt. All in all, he did not seem like a superpowered individual, just an ordinary human being. As if that were not enough to have the others think he was not 'hero' material, he also did not have any built whatsoever. He was as skinny as a beanpole where the others had some sort of muscular built to them like the young members of the black ops and Titan teams.
With the introductions over, Kid Flash smiled like a proud parent as he bounced on his heels.
"And what can...Jericho do?" Nightwing asked.
Slapping a hand on his shoulder, Kid Flash let out a quick breath. "I don't know. But it's incredibly crash."
Looking back at Jericho, Nightwing saw the teen give a nervous grin and cock his head slightly to the side. His peaceful-like demeanor did not give the black ops leader any confidence in him.
Jump City - Outside the Dome
October 04
07:53 UTC
Moving outward, the red dome covering the city stopped just shy of the city limits as it had nearly completed covering all of the bustling metropolis. It was strange, inside the dome, the atmosphere was red but outside, dawn had arrived with the sun claiming it's place in the vast blue, never ending sky. It was a perfect fall day with the exception of an entire city being cut off from the outside world due to the emergence of a demon god with the ultimate goal of claiming the world as his own.
"We have got to find a way to stop this." Entering a few calculations into his holo-computer, Atom shook his head at the results. "Great. Just great."
"What's the news?" Captain Atom asked as he walked up behind him.
"Not good. It seems every ten minutes the dome enlarges by twenty percent more each time. By this rate, there won't be a west coast tomorrow. And there's no way we're getting in there."
"Dig?"
"That's another problem." Increasing the size of his screen, Atom showed the captain even more 'good' news. "It's not simply a dome. It's a sphere."
Displayed on the blue tinted computer screen was a side view map of the city. Situated in its middle was the dome with a time readout of its size increases.
"Computer readings show it will continue to grow until it covers the planet entirely. We only have a few weeks unless we stop it. But how we can, I have no idea."
"Well if Fate's in there, we should...hey, who's that?"
Turning to where Captain Atom was looking, Atom saw a young caucasian man wearing a brown trench coat touching the dome as if studying it.
"Hey!" Captain Atom shouted. "Don't know how you got past military, but this area's off limits to civilians!"
"Good thing I'm not a civilian then. Don't like the cities all that much," the man said.
Dropping his hand, he turned to the two League members. His clothing was slightly askew with his button up shirt, although neatly pressed, was untucked on one side. Even his tie was loosely done with a small gap under his neck. Black slacks were sharply pleated with small splotches of mud around the ankles as well as on his dress shoes.
"You need to step back across military lines," Atom told him. "This is a restricted area."
"But I'm here on business," the man replied.
"And what business is that, pray tell?"
Reaching into his inside coat pocket, the man pulled out a small bag of red Twizzler candies. Taking one, he inserted it into his mouth and left it there as he sucked on it on the side of his cheek. Giving a smug grin, he simply walked off while replacing the bag back inside his coat. "Take it easy. I can tell when I'm not wanted. But this, this can only be solved from the inside. By the daughter."
"The daughter?" Atom said. "You mean Raven?"
Walking away, he gave them a small wave. "Tell my little magician, Zatanna, I said 'hi'. She'll know where to find me."
Watching as the man left, both Leaguers could not shake some strange vibes they received just standing close to him.
"Hey," Captain Atom yelled. "Who are you?"
"John!" a female voice called from overhead.
Looking up, the Leaguers and the man caught sight of Zatanna coming in for a landing. The moment she touched ground, she went up to the man and hugged him, receiving one in return.
"Glad you could make it on short notice," Zatanna said as they separated.
"You got my ride, Alec, to thank for that. But he really doesn't like to be out and about if you get my drift."
"I can imagine. Find out anything about this thing? Even my magic can't penetrate it."
Pulling the candy from his mouth and chewing on the piece he bit off, John looked back at the dome. "No one outside the city or on this plane can stop it."
"And what does that mean? My father-"
"Your father can't stop Trigon. From what you told me about him, and from what I studied, no human can take him down. Fate may be a Lord of Order, but his body is pure human. Even if you have something with a familiar, it still wouldn't be enough."
Looking back at the dome, John grinned and took another bite of his candy. "No worries, love. She'll be back. Like a carpenter told me when I crossed over once, have faith. Twizzler?"
Handing her the bag, Zatanna grinned and shook her head as she took one of the red twists. "How can you be so sure? I have friends in there fighting for their lives and ours against a-"
"Seemingly impossible enemy," John finished for her. "Have faith. Especially in the ones your father spoke about. The one trained and the one born."
Taking her hand, John kissed her knuckles and turned to leave. "I would stay, but I still have to deal with other pressing issues. But I'll stop by the tower next Sunday. Take you out somewhere nice."
"Other pressing matters," Zatanna muttered. "And what are those?"
"My friend Alec? He was attacked by four idiots in Louisiana after they fought a zombie named Grundy. Figure I'd help him mess with them a little. Something about a need to study how they were made. Do me a favor will you? Look up a person named Anton Arcane in your League computers. He's the one who hired those outlaws. They may want to pay him a visit as well after being played by him like they were."
"If we live that long."
"We will. Trust your protege, Zatara."
"Sure thing, Constantine."
Walking away, John Constantine finished his Twizzler before standing still and tucking his hands in his pockets. The ground around him began to move as plant life enveloped him.
"Alright, take it easy this time, Alec," John said as he began to sink into the ground. "Or I'll give you my dry cleaning bill."
Watching as her boyfriend disappeared from view, Zatanna took a bite of her candy then looked back at the dome. Captain Atom and Atom were now moving away from it as it was time for it to expand again.
"Trust my protege," Zatanna whispered to herself. "Wish I knew where she was."