MOUNT JUSTICE
AUGUST 19, 14:22
Ghost sat opposite Black Canary, his mask hid his emotions easily, his frame was rigid and his shoulders set square. His hands were locked together by the fingers. Black Canary sat opposite him, she lent forwards, her eyes locked on Ghost's white lenses.
"Do you know what you did Ghost?" The older woman asked sympathetically.
"I almost killed someone." Ghost said bluntly.
"Why did you do it?" She asked again.
"Because…" Ghost trailed off, his fingers wringing together, presumably out of nerves.
"Because what?" Canary prompted.
"Because I wanted to!" Ghost snapped, looking up quickly. "I saw that bitch trying to kill me and I was desperate to watch the light fade from her eyes. I wanted to shove my fucking blade through her stomach and rip her guts out." He looked at her, his set shoulders softening.
"Is that wrong? Because I was always taught it was right," He stood up and began pacing animatedly. "I was grown in twelve weeks! Twelve fucking weeks! All that time I had these G-nome's pumping my head full of shit that you lot are suddenly telling me is wrong. You all preach that I can change. Every one of you is convinced that if you give me lessons I won't kill, that if you drill it into my head that it'll make me stop. Well guess what, it fucking won't!" He surprised Canary by slamming his hands onto the arms of her chair, leaning in and putting his masked face a few inches from her own.
"Change doesn't just happen, hell it doesn't happen at all. Everyone has this little bit of themselves that tells them what the solution to all their problems is, murder, you lot say you solve problems, but you don't." He violently shoved himself away from her, spinning a circle and letting out a laugh. "I was born to kill, I learned to kill, that was all I learnt. Do you know why I can read? Because I needed to be able to follow written directions! What sort of a jack shit reason is that to teach me to read, not that it was a good thing, not that it was something every kid should know." He sat down and laughed again, swinging one leg off the arm of the chair. He grabbed an apple from the bowl on the table next to the chair. Ghost threw the apple up and then snatched it out of the air.
Canary sat, rooted on the spot, her eyes wide as she stared at Ghost. Ghost laughed.
"I can see it in your face, you think that's horrific, but you know what? You won't stop it, you can delay it all you want but that won't end it. The only way to end something is to kill." With that, Ghost stood up and walked through the door, which had been locked by Canary.
"I'm telling you, it wasn't Ghost!" Artemis snapped. She sat on one of the boxy green couches in one of the spare rooms, her hands on her knees and looking at the floor.
"Artemis," Robin began, "Everyone else saw…"
"They didn't see though, I was in first, I saw him, he was just... rabid."
"What do you mean?" Batman asked sharply.
"When GA brought me to the cave we saw Ghost and he was calm, when we first went to the mission he was calm, when him and Superboy picked up the assassins outside of the school, he was calm. It was only when he fought Cheshire that he lost it." Batman nodded before turning to the door.
"We will take what you have said into consideration." He said before opening the door and gesturing for her to leave. As Artemis walked out of the room, she saw Ghost ambling out of Canary's office. From behind her Batman called out.
"Ghost, over here, me and Robin need to talk to you." Ghost glanced up, sighed and walked into Batman's room. Artemis sat down in the lounge with M'gann, Wally, Superboy and Kaldur. After a few minutes Ghost tromped in and stood in front of Wally in silence.
"Budge, Wally." Ghost said. Wally glanced up at him and stood up. Ghost pulled a cushion off the chair and reached below it in silence. A few seconds later, he pulled out a large pistol from the chair's bottom. Ghost marched out of the room, whistling innocently. Conversation was about to resume when Batman's voice was heard.
"Ghost! No guns!"
"Don't worry, it's loaded with rubber bullets…Probably." Robin groaned before the computer called out.
Recognized: Batman 01, Robin B01, Ghost B07.
CAPE CANAVERAL
AUGUST 19, 20:48 EDT
Batman and Robin stood back to back, punching and kicking in all directions. Ghost stood amidst a swathe of Shadows, ducking and twisting past strikes. His swords were lashing out, butting people in the head, knocking them out cold.
"I need to get to that rocket!" Batman yelled, his voice carrying across the sounds of violence. Ghost and Robin nodded.
"We'll run distraction for you!" Robin yelled in return. Batman began to head for the rocket, forcing his way through the crowd of Shadow soldiers. Ubu stopped in front of him, standing by a refuelling truck.
"You will not interfere with the masters desires!" The brute of a man yelled, swinging a double fisted blow downwards. Batman spun out of the way before delivering a kick to the face.
"The Master must learn to live with disappointment." Ubu seemed to ignore the kick before grabbing the bat by the neck and slamming him against the truck. Batman struggled before the truck sped away, an orange cord around Ubu's ankle pulling taught before ripping Ubu off his feet. Robin sprang off the truck and landed next to his mentor.
"Robin, where's Ghost?" Batman asked.
"Over there, fighting one of the Shadow's top dogs." Robin said with a smirk. Batman glanced over and saw Ghost fighting a silver haired man. Batman knew the man, he was David Cain, who had attempted to teach the young Bat how to kill, preaching that killing was always the thing to do. David Cain was one of the most premiere assassins in the world, he was on of Ra's al ghul's most trusted subordinates and one of the best fighters in the shadows, but Ghost easily dodged every swing from Cain, moving with a discipline and calmness that made him look like a robot. Artemis was right, he didn't seem like he was about to kill Cain, he seemed perfectly in control.
David Cain let out a grunt of true rage as his sword collided with Ghost's crossed blades.
"You know our techniques?" He said confused, this was something he had only just noticed as the Assassin seemed to know what Cain was going to do before he did it, almost as if he was the perfect fighter. Cain sprang back in an effort to put some space between him and Ghost, but Ghost saw that coming and moved forwards, taking advantage of Cain's retreat to push him back.
He grinned as he saw one of the acolytes dashing forwards to support him, only for Ghost to become translucent as the sword slipped through him. He dove backwards through the Acolyte, who stumbled backwards, onto the Ghost's blade.
As the Acolyte's body fell limp to the floor Ghost lunged again, bringing his sword up towards Cain's face. David dodged, but the blade still made contact, cutting slightly into his flesh, leaving a red wound on the man's cheek. Ghost moved in again, bringing his sword to level with his shoulder, lunging straight at Cain's chest. Cain brought his own sword and his free hand up, catching Ghost's sword by the hand guard. He smiled as Ghost stiffened out of shock. Before Ghost's left hand flicked rapidly to his belt and drew his pistol. Cain accepted his death almost immediately, he was one of the fastest of all the shadows, the only one aside from lady Shiva to be able to keep up with Ra's himself in sparring matches, but Ghost could simply phase through any attacks that Cain sent his way.
The sound of Ghost's pistol punctuated the air, ringing in Cain's ears even as he felt his life- not fade? What had happened? He opened his eyes and was surprised to see that Ghost had left. Cain let out a roar of anger as he realised that the gunshot, and the ringing it had left in his ears had disguised any footsteps that Ghost made as he left.
"Bats!" Robin yelled, drawing the vigilante out of his thoughts. "You need to get to that damn rocket."
Batman nodded and turned, racing over to the rocket's launch frame. He began to scramble up it, as he climbed a bullet pinged off the frame next to his head.
"That was just a warning shot, leave or I put a bullet in your brain." Batman turned, already knowing who he would see, he was faced by the beautiful but deadly Talia al ghul. Talia looked at him.
"You can't stop me Talia, I have to prevent your father from killing everyone."
"I must beloved, I must." Talia responded. Below them there was a series of loud explosions, presumably from league f shadows explosive.
"It's not like I approve of this." Talia said, gun still aimed at Batman's head. "But I cannot risk a confrontation between the only two men I love in this world."
"Then you are going to have to shoot me." Batman said bluntly. Talia sighed and lowered her gun. Batman smirked slightly before swiftly disappearing skywards. He ran to the rocket and began to work on opening the nose cone.
He had just opened it when a voice spoke from behind him.
"Detective." Batman turned.
"Ra's al ghul." He responded spitefully.
"Such contempt and yet I've always admired you, I felt like you were the only one worthy of my legacy. Why are our encounters always so… adversarial?"
"Something to do with your loathing of humanity." Ra's sighed.
"Come now, detective, I only loath this… overpopulation. Humans regularly cull rabbits, what makes this so different?" Batman replied with a bat glare. Ra's almost laughed.
"No matter, ignore me if you wish," He raised a red launch button. "Your response is of no matter to me." He placed his thumb on the button before pushing it. Nothing happened. Ra's pressed the button again, looking confused. There was a crack, the sound of a gunshot from behind Batman and a bullet struck Ra's in the chest. The bullet was made of rubber, but that didn't mean it packed any less of a punch. Ra's stumbled backwards, shocked, and fell.
Batman turned to face Ghost and raised an eyebrow.
"Whoever said explosives don't fix problems?" Ghost called, walking forwards.
"I blew up the launch computer," Ghost said with a shrug, "Rocket won't launch." Batman stepped up to the edge of the frame and looked down at the crumpled green form of Ra's al ghul. Ghost stepped up beside him and looked down.
"Oops." Ghost muttered before turning to him.
There was a moment of silence before a huge, echoing boom sounded below them and Ghost winced ever so slightly. Batman raised an unseen eyebrow at the assassin.
"Big Oops," Ghost muttered before turning to face Bats, "I fancy a drink, I really fancy a fucking drink." Batman nodded.
"You were supposed to stop the Batman." Ra's al ghul said, glaring down at the silver haired assassin in front of him.
"I tried, master, but they had a third with them."
"What?" Ra's asked just barely concealing his shock
"He speaks the truth, father, a boy in white followed the bat up the frame, it was he who shot you."
"I thought it was odd to be hit, especially since the bullet came from nowhere."
"Yes," Cain said, "That would have been him, when he first attacked me he was invisible, it was only once he figured out that I knew where he was that he became visible. When one of the acolytes tried to attack him, the acolyte's blade slid right through him and he ignored it, he then dodged through the acolyte and ran him through."
"A non-fatal blow," Thalia said, "We gave the acolyte medical attention, the blade avoided any vital organs."
"Even so, impalement with a blade has only a small chance of being non-fatal," Cain said, "it should not give us comfort that he can do so."
"Hmm, no it should not." Ra's said, "Cain how is the girl coming along?"
"She is developing well, but I must recommend not sending her into the field until next year, at the very least, she requires further training to be able to counter all the weapons we predict she will face." Ra's nodded before sighing and turning.
"I will consider the threat of this, white-suit and make a decision later, in the meantime, send Ravager to liaison with The Light." Thalia and Cane both nodded before rising and leaving the room.