MOUNT JUSTICE
AUGUST 8, 13:29
Recognised: Green Arrow 08
Recognised: Artemis B08
Green Arrow stepped into the Cave's training room, followed by his new protégé, and was surprised to see the white figure of Ghost sitting in the middle of the floor. The Assassin's hands were on his knees, his legs crossed.
"Ghost, what are you doing here?" Green Arrow asked, walking towards the boy.
"Robin doesn't trust me around water, thinks I'm going to try and Jaws someone." Ghost replied, not moving from his position.
"Well, either way I'd like to introduce you to my new protégé, Artemis."
"I know, Artemis crock, 15 years old, daughter of Lawrence and Paula crock, both of whom have worked as villains, Paula was Huntress and has recently finished serving time in prison. Lawrence was and is Sports master, who used to work with Huntress, but stopped when she took the fall for a combined crime. Was I wrong on any of that?" Artemis turned to glare at Green Arrow.
"You said only you, me and Batman would know! How does he know?" She snapped.
"Hey, don't blame me!" Green Arrow retaliated, raising his hands defensively, "He wasn't supposed to know, Ghost how do you know?" The Assassin sighed.
"I'm wearing a high tech hood and am currently connected to the justice league computer system, how do you think?"
"But, the mask?" Green Arrow said questioningly.
"Does not hide the eye colour, hair colour, skin colour, build or height. It was easy." Ghost muttered, his head turning to face the pair. "No worries though, everyone has a reason to keep secrets, I know yours so I will keep it." He stood up, legs unfolding smoothly and rising to his feet. He walked towards the kitchen and sighed.
Artemis and Green Arrow followed him as Ghost strode over to the fridge and, as if it was nothing special, stuck his hand through the fridge door.
"Good, Wally didn't nick my Ribena." Ghost muttered before opening the fridge and grabbing a bottle of purple red liquid.
"Does he do that often?" Artemis asked.
"No, not really, but hey, always worth checking." Ghost said, opening a cupboard and drawing out a straw. He unscrewed the top of the bottle and dropped the straw into it, before slipping the straw into his mask and sitting down, sipping away at the drink.
"Well, take a seat." Ghost said "The guys aren't going to be back yet."
MOUNT JUSTICE
AUGUST 8, 16:02
"The Wal-man is here, now let's get this party star-" Everyone turned to face the Zeta-tube as the red headed form of Wally tripped, beach ball, radio and parasol all flying across the room. He looked up to see Red Tornado and Batman staring blankly at him.
"Dead?" He asked tentatively.
"Wal-Man, huh, I love the uniform." A blonde girl who Wally had never seen before said, smirking sarcastically.
"You would do," Ghost said under his breath, just loud enough for Artemis not to hear him, "He's shirtless." M'gann giggled and Robin smirked.
"And who are you?" Wally asked, looking Artemis up and down.
"Uh, she's my new protégé." Green arrow said hurriedly.
"What, but what happened to your last protégé?" Wally asked shocked. He could tell by the unsurprised looks of his team mates that they had been told before.
"Well," Roy cut in, with the Zeta tube declaring his presence at the same time, "for starters he doesn't go by speedy anymore, and call me Red arrow." The red head had indeed changed, his usual red suit replaced by a black suit with a red upside down triangle on his chest.
"Roy," Green arrow said, shocked, "You look-"
"Replaceable." Roy snapped, glaring at Artemis.
"It isn't-it wasn't like that, you told me you were going solo!" Green arrow said, sounding slightly whiny.
"So why even bother finding a replacement, can she even use that bow?" Red arrow snapped in response.
"Yes, She can." Artemis responded, squaring up to Red arrow, glaring.
"Who are you?" Wally exclaimed, waving his arms.
"She's my niece." Green arrow responded quickly.
"Another one?" Robin muttered, questioningly. Ghost shrugged at him.
"But she is not your replacement," Kaldur interrupted attempting to calm Red arrow, "we have always wanted you on the team, and we have no quota on archers."
"Yeah, and if we did, you know who we'd choose." Wally said, smiling at his old friend.
"Whatever, Baywatch, I'm here to stay." Artemis said sharply. Red arrow sighed and began to walk past Kaldur before Kaldur grabbed his arm.
"You came to us for a reason my friend." He stated bluntly.
"Yeah, a reason named Doctor Serling Roquette." Red Arrow said. He waited less than a second before Robin had raised the data on Dr. Roquette.
"Doctor Serling Roquette, nanotechnology and claytronics expert," The dark haired acrobatic said, drawing up data on the woman and her work.
"Kidnapped two weeks ago, I assume." Ghost cut in, if Red arrow was surprised he did not show it.
"Yes, captured by the league of shadows. They forced her to develop a piece of technology, she calls it the 'utility fog' nanotech infiltrators." The archer responded, bringing up a keyboard and typing in something rapidly.
"Capable of degrading anything, metal, stone, flesh and bone." Ghost said, his suit's eyes glowing. Again Red arrow's reaction was stoic silence.
"But that's not the real purpose," The Archer continued, the conversation from the two merging together, "They can hack into anything, extracting data and destroying the original, before returning the copied data to the League of Shadows. I stashed her at the local high school and want you guys to protect her while she develops a counter virus." The Archer turned and calmly walked into the Zeta tube.
Recognised, Speedy-
"That's Red arrow, B06, update." The archer intruded as the light consumed him.
HAPPY HARBOR
AUGUST 3, 21:53
Miss Martian knelt on top of the roof of Happy Harbor high school, she looked across the school grounds.
All clear out here The Martian said over the mental link.
Ugh, I will never get used to this mental link thing. Artemis groaned, putting a hand on her head. Why couldn't we just use the comm link? The Archer continued. Ghost rose to his feet, walking out, speaking as he did.
Because, the shadows can intercept the comm link, this is securer.
Yeah! Wally snapped it's obvious, or are you that stupid!
Shut it Baywatch!
Shut it yourself blondie!
Oh you did not just insult me for being blonde!
And what if I did?
Oh, for gods' sake, shut up! Doctor Roquette snapped, coding this on a kiddy computer with less Ram than a wristwatch is hard enough, everyone shut it!
Artemis, Kaldur said, calm as ever go and join Miss Martian, Ghost and Superboy on border watch.
Fine Artemis muttered walking out of the door
I couldn't get the Justice League Roquette mentally muttered wiping her hand over her face.
Doctor, Aqualad asked, striding over to the woman can you track the fog?
Yes, Roquette responded but to do that, I would have to go online, which would closely resemble erecting an empire state sized neon billboard over our heads with the words assassinate me written on it. Aqualad smiled kindly, resting a hand on her shoulder.
We will protect you. Aqualad said soothingly.
Alright, tracking fog now.
Superboy scanned the shrubbery around the school fence before turning and leaping onto the roof. A second stride took him onto the other side of the building. He landed next to Artemis and M'gann, and strode towards the corner of the building a glance upwards revealed Ghost crouched on the corner of the roof, his mask swivelling to cover the outer area. Superboy glanced over his shoulder and saw M'gann glaring at Artemis as the two appeared to argue. Superboy was surprised when Ghost spoke calmly over the mental link.
Two, maybe three, thermal signatures a few hundred metres away, not necessarily threats, just to warn you. Ghost reported, turning and dashing across the rooftop, crouching on another corner of the rooftop.
Superboy, heat vision, can you see them too? Robin asked.
Wow, boy wonder, way to show your trust. Ghost muttered over the link. Superboy ignored him and turned scanning the woods as well, activating his heat vision. He saw a mess of heat signatures too.
Yep, there's something out there, I can't tell what though.
Do not worry Aqualad interrupted Miss Martian, Doctor Roquette has located the utility fog, reconfigure the bioship to allow Superboy and Robin to track it.
Of course Aqualad M'gann said before holding a hand out. The Bioship drifted down to the ground, opening the back ramp. Robin ran out of the school and into the ship, Superboy following behind him.
As the ship rose up and took off, a white masked figure poked her head out of the bushes, glancing at the group before retreating into the overgrowth.
And neither Ghost nor Superboy saw a trace of her.
M'gann stood at the south corner of the building, her eyes scanning the shrubbery. It was this focus that led to Cheshire being able to bury the needle of anaesthetic into the back of her neck, the Martian slumped into Cheshire's arms, allowing Cheshire to lower her to the floor.
"Pathetic," Cheshire muttered, "I expected more from one of the junior's." the girl said before raising a hand to her ear.
"Cheshire here, no need to come to assist, they're all pathetic."
"Roger that, Cheshire, we'll prepare Evac" a feminine voice said over the radio. Cheshire nodded before advancing towards the window of one classroom and slipping through the window.
Wally stood outside the door of the room that Dr. Roquette worked in, his fists were balled and he had to admit he was annoyed, was Artemis desperate to challenge everyone? He saw a shadow at the end of the hall, at least he thought it was a shadow, and sprinted to the end of the corridor. He saw another shadow, although it could have been the same shadow, at the end of the corridor again. Wally followed the shadow again and for a third time saw another shadow in the swimming pool.
He followed the shadow again although this time it was different, he slipped on a pile of baubles and fell on his back. Wally let out a groan as his vision began to fade in and out. A leg, wrapped in black leggings, pushed him over, face first into the pool.
Cheshire approached the classroom that Wally had been guarding, her eyes scanning the thermal signatures of the room, detecting one signature, with the bright warmth of an Atlantean, the girl outside the building and the last of the three remaining team members crouched on the roof. Cheshire smiled underneath her mask and approached, drawing one of her shuriken as she did so. The Assassin placed her hand on the door, and forced it open, swinging her shuriken as she did so.
Aqualad intercepted the shuriken, jamming his arm into the flight path.
An Assassin has attacked, reinforcements needed.
Roger, Aqualad, on my way.
"My friends are coming," Aqualad said, dodging a punch "Do you think that you can defend against all of us?" He questioned, swinging a punch at the assassin.
"No, not really, but two of you are unconscious, two are gone and I have one thing that for you is running out, time!" The assassin snapped back at him, "You know that shuriken was poisoned don't you?"
"Jellyfish poison, I am largely immune."
"Largely doesn't mean fully." Cheshire slipped another shuriken from her belt pouch and flipped backwards, throwing the shuriken as she did so. Aqualad lunged to intercept it before it could strike Roquette, but just barely made it.
"See?" Cheshire said, "You're slowing down already."
"He might be, but I don't plan to anytime soon." Ghost said from the doorway, extending his sword with a snick. Cheshire kicked Aqualad into a wall, where his skull caused a hollow thump and he collapsed. Cheshire turned to face Ghost.
"Five down, two to go." She said with a smirk in her voice.
"Yeah, but I don't plan on going down at all." Ghost responded, sliding down smoothly into a fighting stance.
Cheshire lunged forwards and swung at his head. Ghost dodged easily, grabbing Cheshire's wrist and twisted, throwing her onto the ground. Cheshire easily sprang to her feet and charged Ghost, thrusting her Sai at his head. The two continued to clash, equally matched, both fast and agile, their battle carried them around the room, kicking off walls and sliding under tables.
Ghost snagged his foot on a chair as he attempted to slide out of the way of a stab. He tripped, falling onto his back, he attempted to roll and come up on his feet but Cheshire kicked him mid roll, sending him sprawling, she stood over him, grinned and stabbed at his back.
ERROR: Host is in danger, insufficient response delivered.
Query: Necessary action?
Response: Effect control levels.
Status: Control levels adjusted: G-01=01% S-01=99% (Authorization D-01)
Orders received: (Source:D-01) Eliminate Cheshire.
Cheshire's Sai swung down at Ghost's back, but the White assassin suddenly became translucent, the Sai buried itself in the floor beneath him and he rolled, the Sai seeming to slide through him. Ghost kicked himself to his feet and attacked the surprised Cheshire with his bare fists. Punch after punch rained down on Cheshire's head and shoulders, a knee slamming into her stomach every time she tried to escape. Cheshire's breathing became laboured as volley after volley of punches struck her. Each punch drove her back until her back met a wall. Cheshire raised her arms over her head to protect her face but Ghost didn't punch again, instead he grabbed her around the throat and began to squeeze.
Artemis barged into the room and saw Ghost strangling Cheshire, but Ghost was different, his back was straighter, lacking the prepared arching of his back, his shoulders were a straight line and he seemed much more focused on the two.
"Ghost!" She yelled rushing forwards and grabbing Ghost by his shoulders. Artemis desperately struggled to drag Ghost off of Cheshire, her arms strained but Ghost did not move, his weight was too much to move. After tugging for a few moments Kaldur's hands grabbed Ghost alongside hers and he wrenched Ghost away from Cheshire.
"Ghost! Stop! Now!" Kaldur yelled, Wally and M'gann rushed into the room as well and stopped staring at the scene. Cheshire giggled with glee.
"You kids, always fighting, none of you can ever focus!" She yelled before springing to her feet and dropping a flashbang. There was a flash of bright light and everyone's vison went white and when it faded, Cheshire was gone.
The Team emerged from the school. Kaldur was shoving Ghost along, holding his wrists together and with a hand planted in between his shoulders. M'gann and Wally followed, occasionally sending mistrustful glances at Ghost, Artemis walked alongside the two, her eyes flickering every so often to him. She should have been angry at him, should have opposed him trying to kill Cheshire, but there was something wrong.
Ghost had been ridiculously focused on Cheshire, his head hadn't at first swayed from her, until she had disappeared, after she disappeared Ghost's shoulders had slouched, his back arched more and his focus had started flicking about. There was something very wrong about this.
Kaldur walked to a tree just outside of the school yard and shoved him to his knees. The intercom buzzed.
"Robin here, we located the fog's next target, bad news is we were too late, the whole buildings gone down, it's wrecked. What do we do?" Aqualad swore violently and buzzed the intercom himself.
"Be prepared to move on. We will relocate the Doctor and re scan for the fog."
"Cheshire here," Cheshire said over her radio, "Mission was a failure, four of the five went down with no trouble, but the fifth one proved an issue, I couldn't get past him."
"Acknowledged," A feminine voice responded, "We will try again, all four of us."
Dr. Roquette sat at the café computer, her fingers dancing across the keyboard as she coded the virus.
The computer scanned for the fog as Artemis and Wally sat on the counter next to it. The two exchanged a quick glance which settled almost instantly into a glare.
Stop it. Aqualad snapped over the mental link I can hear you glaring.
The Atlantean crouched in front of a tree, he scanned around before speaking out loud.
"Miss Martian, stay camouflaged and make a wide perimeter sweep!" He yelled. A few seconds later a tangle of red webbing exploded from the tree canopy and he was dragged upwards into the leaves. After a few second she was sent flying from the tree into the side of a van.
Seconds later the purple suited figure of Black Spider leapt out of the tree, Kaldur stood up straight, only to be knocked over by Hook, who leapt on him from behind. Aqualad collapsed and Cheshire sprinted across to them.
"The Martian will be back soon, we need to hurry." She said and her fellow assassins nodded.
Cheshire dove through one of the restaurant's sky lights and lunged at Roquette, knocking her to the floor. Cheshire raised her Sai, but was thrown backwards by an invisible force. Roquette rose into the sky, without moving her limbs and her skin began to turn green.
"We just got duped!" She yelled, "I'm going after the doctor, you two deal with these kids." She sprinted out of the Restaurant. Artemis turned and glanced at Cheshire's receding turn before sprinting towards the door, accompanied by a yell.
"Pursuing target!" Wally glared at her as she ran from the room but shifted his focus back to Black Spider quickly.
Artemis sprinted out into the street but stopped short as she saw another figure, female in a black jumpsuit and orange and black full face mask. The figure looked at her before pulling a pistol, aiming at her head. Artemis quickly knocked an arrow and drew, quickly firing at the new assassin. The arrow flew through the air, but stopped short as, to Artemis's shock, the assassin grabbed the arrow out of the air then she charged forwards and solidly punched Artemis in the face, dropping her solidly to the floor.
"Ravager here," She said over her radio, "Did you seriously struggle with this lot?
"Sue me," Cheshire responded over the radio, "I'm not a superhuman, some of us mere mortals have trouble defeating people who can go intangible."
"Intangible? What are you?" Ravager asked confused before being sent flying as a black motorcycle crashed into her. Ravager was sent flying, she struggled to her knees and turned, seeing the white figure of Ghost slowly walking towards her, sword in hand. Ravager struggled to her feet and sighed, drawing her sword and flicking it.
Ghost dropped into a fighting stance, twirling his own sword. The two began to slowly move towards each other, turning circles. Once they got within ten feet of each other both stopped circling, Ravager let out an agitated sigh before lunging, leaping off the ground before thrusting downwards with her sword. Ghost knocked the blade out of his path and grabbed her wrist before flinging her over his head onto the ground.
Ravager rolled to her feet and let out a furious growl before lunging back at him, swinging at his ankles before punching out at his stomach. Ghost attempted to leap over her swing but her punch knocked him out of the air. He twisted into a flip and crouched down.
Ravager stood straight and then sprang forwards again, somersaulting over his back before burying the tip of her sword into his shoulder.
ERROR: Host is in danger
Status: control levels adjusted: G-01=40% S-01=60%
Ghost reached behind him and slammed his palm into the sword blade, wrenching it out of Ravager's grip before standing and turning. He slammed his palms into her ears and she yelped as her eardrums popped under the sudden pressure. She dropped to her knees and attempted to punch him in the shin. Ghost sidestepped and, to the shock of Ravager, buried his sword to the hilt in her ribs. Blood pooled in Ravager's mouth and she collapsed forwards.
"So," Cheshire said, pointing her Sai at Roquette's throat, "you finished the virus, eliminating the reason for your elimination, but not the entertainment factor." She said before drawing her Sai back. Ghost kicked the door open and fired his pistol, the bullet cracked into the back of Cheshire's hand, causing her to drop the Sai. She turned and growled.
"Oh, you're back, ready for round two?" Ghost laughed harshly and lunged, swinging his sword precisely at her side. Cheshire lunged backwards, clearing the swords range just in time. Ghost then spoke, matching her retaliation blow easily.
"You know, radios can be hacked easily, and electrically operated gas filters, they can be shut off fully, easy." He said, and Cheshire noticed an uncomfortable emptiness, her breath became shallow and strained. She tried to swing at Ghost's head but it was sluggish, slow and easy for Ghost to catch.
Status: push the advantage, alter control levels.
Status: control levels altered: G-01=20% S-01=80%
Ghost's shoulders became firmer, tauter, and he grabbed the kneeling Cheshire's head, gripping her hair firmly, and slammed her into one of the tables. Cheshire groaned, her hands reached up and she began to claw at the strap of the mask. Ghost dragged her yet again up onto her feet and threw her across the room. Cheshire bent double over the counter.
As Ghost strode leisurely towards her, Cheshire ripped her mask away from her face, she turned and faced Ghost. Ghost strode forwards and then punched, slamming his fist into her exposed face. Cheshire lashed out and grabbed his wrists, twisting around him and slamming him into the counter. Ghost, silent still, lashed his hand outwards, smashing a jar of sugar. Cheshire ignored him, holding him against the counter with her own body, she reached to her belt, going to draw a knife before Ghost attracted her attention.
"Hey, Bitch." He said. Cheshire turned, momentarily forgetting herself and then Ghost's handful of sugar puffed into her face. Cheshire yelled as she was forced to close her eyes. Ghost forced her backwards, he drew his sword and raised it above her head before plunging down at Cheshire's head. M'gann telekinetically grabbed the sword and pushed Ghost backwards. Artemis sprinted forwards and pulled Cheshire to her feet, twisting her bow string around Cheshire's wrists to cuff her. Kaldur rose to his feet with the assistance of Wally and looked at Ghost, frowning.
"Artemis, return Cheshire to the rendezvous point, Robin and Superboy will return first. M'gann, supervise Dr. Roquette until the league returns to escort her back. Wally and myself shall return to the school and report to Batman."
A/N so, Ghost is a bit… temperamental. Next chapter is Downtime, so we get another psych session and some passing of the time.