I don't own Naruto or DC Comics
Infiltrator
Infinity Island; August 7th; 3:32AM.
The small island was quiet in the dead of night but, the guards never rested as they constantly patrolled the lonely facility; they looked for any suspicious activities at all corners of the compound.
One guard yawned, looking around with his enhanced viewing technology and rifle steadied at hip-height; He turned to face the jungle before an arrow with a red tip struck him in the back and electrocuted him silently, knocking him unconscious. A shadow sprinted through the jungle towards the compound itself, launching an arrow high-above the building it hooked itself to the guard-rail pulling the humanoid figure up the side wall in seconds.
The other guards patrolling didn't see a thing as he covertly moved up the wall and slipped onto the roof, he noticed a security camera in the way of his next movement, he slowly drew a crimson arrow back on his draw-string aiming for the camera but, instead of shooting it; the arrow stuck to the wall next to the camera beeping momentarily whilst wirelessly hacking the CCTV surveillance.
The silhouette slipped through the area and fired off a single arrow hitting one guard and electrocuting him into quiet unconsciousness; the guard beside him turned and aimed his rifle but, was also hit with an arrow of the same design. Silently putting them both to a long, painful sleep.
…
"We're losing patience," a voice announced as a woman typed away at her computer in the center of a dark room, where armed guards vigilantly watched the entrance for security, "Complete the project or forfeit your life."
"I'm completing as fast as I can," a woman, not unattractive, with short blonde hair and a long white lab-coat sporting glasses to further prove she was a science fanatic.
From the door the guards watched, a knocking came suddenly; one guard stepped in front to answer it but, was pinned to the ground by the metal door being kicked down on top of him. The man entered the room quickly grabbing the barrel of the remaining guards rifle and slamming it into his nose breaking it, he broke the rifle over his knee and kicked the man to the ground.
The woman turned around to face a tall man with orange hair, his outfit was skin-tight and his face was covered by a thin domino mask; his bow was gripped firmly in his hand and his entire costume bared the color scheme of red and black. This man was obviously no other than Roy Harper also known as Speedy; although, he preferred Red Arrow these days.
"Dr. Roquette," he spoke as he approached the computer she worked at.
"Please, tell me you're the advance guy?" she snorted in disbelief as she had no faith that a single archer was going to free her from her captors.
"The only guy," he said over his shoulder.
"You couldn't bring back up?" She remarked, "What, were there budget cuts?"
He pulled an arrow back on his draw-string and used an explosive arrow to blow a massive hole in the wall which had been several dozen stories up, "Now or never time Doc."
Bells rang loudly, alerting the entire facility to the intruder and their escape attempt, "We can't leave this!" she stressed at a machine sitting on the ground at their feet.
"Alright, either it goes or you do," Red Arrow stated blatantly firing another arrow at the door they'd entered from causing an explosion of a quick-dry cement formula that covered the door.
She sighed, "Right," taking off her glasses with a frown, "Take me."
Red Arrow proceeded to fire a grappling arrow down towards the trees below wrapping around a branch as he threw his bow around it using it as a zip-line, "Hang on!" he shouted as she gripped his torso and closed her eyes zipping through the air at impressive speeds just as a C4 charge blew apart the cement wall separating them.
They filed into the room and let off a barrage of bullets through the hole in the wall and towards them as they landed on the sand; lining up across the edge of the hole they open fired on the beach as the two ran for cover behind some trees. This wasn't the end though, the troops followed them out and through the forest firing at them as they approached the water.
Arrow pulled a large cloak off of an impressive speed-boat, pushing it out and hopping in, he started the engine and begun to accelerate when bullets began hitting the back of the boat.
"What do you call this, the arrow-boat?" Roquette snarked as Roy clenched the steering wheel.
"I call it a rental; now get down!" He pushed her by the top of the head forcing her down below bullet-range. He revved the engine to the highest degree accelerating the boat as fast as it was capable of going followed by pressing buttons on the console which caused red dots to appear all across the beach's picture on the GPS's map.
As they sped away, dozens of explosions went off taking down the firing soldiers on the shore-line, "I think we're in the clear!"
Roquette sighed as she brushed her hair from her face, "Great, that leaves only one problem, before you rescued me I had completed the task they captured me for."
"What task would that be?"
"Something I'm going to regret for a very long time."
…
Mount Justice; August 8th; 8:42AM.
Sasuke stood at the shore line of the small secluded beach bordering Mount Justice shirtless and wearing a pair of white swim-trunks; He had his Mangekyou Sharingan fully activated in both eyes and two Rasenshuriken in either of his hands facing the open sea. After nearly a week, his healing-factor had completely mended his broken arm and he was ready for proper training again.
Naruto used his chakra to stand atop the water several hundred feet away in his own porcelain cat-mask and white Anbu-Armor; he stood at the ready in his Honored Sage Mode with Kakashi's Mangekyou Sharingan activated in his eye.
"Ready?"
Sasuke didn't bother to respond as he launched the left Rasenshuriken towards Naruto whom vanished in a flash of blinding speed; he reappeared hundreds of feet in the air above Sasuke with a Rasenshuriken of his own.
"Wind Style: Rasenshuriken!"
"Wind Style: Rasenshuriken!"
The collision of their Jutsu's destructive force created an explosion of untold power over the water shaking the entire mountain which was less than a quarter-mile away; inside the plume of smoke, both opponents could clearly see each other as they landed on the water gracefully.
Feeling the earthquake was enough to cause Barbara, Dick, Wally, Superboy, Artemis, and M'gaan to file out of the mountain running towards the beach area in civilian clothing.
"Oh," Robin stated as he watched Sasuke and Naruto staring each other down on the water where smoke drifted around the area; there was enough visibility for them to be seen at least.
Barbara sighed looking over at the bright sun and blue sky surrounding it, "Nice day out!" she announced.
Superboy, M'gaan, and Artemis were dumbfounded, "You're telling me they caused that earthquake by punching each other?"
Dick scoffed, "Yea, Sasuke does it all the time, he has serious anger issues."
Artemis scoffed, "Who doesn't…?"
M'gaan looked over at the man in the porcelain mask, "And that's Naruto? He sure does look good out their…"
They group all glanced at her as she turned camouflage and backed away blushing deeply.
Artemis waved her hand at the battle casually, "So, Sasuke is like as strong as Superman or something?"
Kaldur snorted crossing his arms, "Sasuke told us that Madara would rip Superman in half; and then Naruto confirmed it," this put everyone in a tense mood.
"Who's Mad-ara?" Artemis shrugged, not seeing the big deal in all of this.
M'gaan recited the knowledge she remembered from their conversation from Sasuke, "Madara is an ancient ninja from Sasuke's home world who died long ago but, was reanimated under unusual circumstances and he followed him to this world where he plans to destroy or control it."
They switched their glance M'gaan who blinked curiously, "I'm guessing humans don't have eidetic memory?"
"Kryptonian's don't even have that," Superboy noted.
Artemis sighed as seagulls cawed above them flying in the bright sun, "So, the point is what they're doing is important?" the mood became even tenser when Naruto and Sasuke moved like bolts of lightning.
The team's tension was building as the two-ninja combated each other with serious intent to kill; M'gaan had an idea that caught everyone's attention, slapping her forehead she announced, "Hello Megan, we should hit the beach! The sun is out; the sky is blue! It'll be fun!" they all liked the idea as much as she did so they nodded in agreement, however; the battle was still going on in front of them.
Yellow and blue lighting clashed and collided across the water as the two begun fighting with every ounce of strength they had in them, their struggle ended with Sasuke elbowing Naruto across the chin and sending him into the water, although; he landed on his feet via chakra skidding to a halt.
Naruto formed one shadow clone next to him and inhaled deeply and with his extra set of hands he formed an orb of blue chakra in his palm with wind spinning around it viciously, the smoke still covered the area slightly but, this didn't stop Naruto from launching his attack.
"Wind Style: Rasenshuriken!" the attack flew through the smoke gliding across the water, Sasuke wasn't worried as he knew he could absorb chakra with his Rinnegan which was activated in seconds. He moved to absorb the energy as the attack approached but, what Sasuke didn't expect; was the energy couldn't be absorbed as the Rasenshuriken dispersed with Naruto in its place "Substitution!" Naruto had substituted his Rasenshuriken for his Shadow Clone the former was now in the palm of the real Naruto who had a grin on his face.
Sasuke tried to block the clones advance but, failed when it used Sage Chakra to hit the Uchiha even if he missed his blow; Sasuke dodged to the left and missed a fist flying through the air but the Sage Chakra sent him skidding against the water to the left.
Sasuke managed to pull himself up but, by the time he had, the Rasenshuriken was in his face and exploding; the detonation in Sasuke's face was seen by the entire team, Artemis and Barbara were the only two to react in a negative way, the others just covered their eyes from the blinding light.
Artemis stepped forwards slightly, thinking to herself and swearing to kill Naruto if Sasuke was injured.
Barbara put a hand over her mouth, worried but, imagining the crying she'd go through if Sasuke was hurt.
These two factors are what made them so different.
Sasuke appeared suddenly in a flash of light, his feet digging into the sand as he landed, "He suckered me, dobi," he turned around and swung his wet hair to the side, "Oh, I was so focused on the battle I didn't notice you guys approach; is there a mission?"
Barbara approached him, "Nope, we just wanted to ask if you wanted to have a beach day with us; it's so nice out and-"
"I should train, and I'm not into beach days," he turned around as Naruto stepped onto the beach from the water; "What couldn't fight me on your own, you had to use those stupid tricks!"
Barbara sighed and lowered her head a bit, "It'll be lot of fun! We can-" as everyone else headed inside, Artemis scoffed.
"Whatever, you can train all day long, while we soak in the sun and grill up some burgers," she narrowed her eyes at him with a sinister smile, "You can join whenever you like."
Naruto smiled and stepped forwards, "I could use a burger…"
"Hell no, If I'm training so are you, let's go again!"
Sasuke grabbed Naruto by the collar of his haori and dragged him away from them through the sand as a sad Naruto cried tears of hunger.
Feeling bad, M'gaan winked at him and sent a mental message, 'I'll sneak ya one.' She blushed and floated up and back into the entrance to prepare for the beach-day.
"So…" Sasuke said tapping his foot, "I think I've got the Rasenshuriken down pat, you said something about Sage Mode a couple days ago?"
"Sage Mode takes weeks of practice but, having the Sage him self's blessing might speed things up," he smiled, "It all starts with Nature Chakra."
…
Mount Justice; Beach Front; 10:22AM.
M'gaan, Kaldur, Barbara, Superboy, Artemis, and Dick exited the mountain stepping on the hot sand and smiling as the warm sun flowed over them.
"We should come out here every day!" M'gaan shouted as she held her surf-board; her bathing-suit was a cleavage revealing yellow two piece which fit her body perfectly.
Artemis stepped out in a similar two-piece bikini only in emerald and wrapping around her neck and cropping just below her breasts revealing no cleavage but, her slender figure could draw any man in; "But, then it wouldn't be special!" she said sarcastically as they approached the water.
"But first!" Dick announced loudly, "Let's have a moment of silence for our missing comrades," Sasuke sat only a few hundred feet away hearing everything perfectly.
He sat with his legs crossed and his fists connected; he closed his eyes and focused on the Nature Chakra around him trying to allow himself access to the Sage Mode but, after hearing the group enter the beach, his right cheek began to grow toad-warts.
Naruto bashed a wooden stick on his head knocking him back into his normal form, "Stay focused, the more practice you get the easier it gets."
Sasuke gritted his teeth in anger and frustration.
Kaldur laughed, "And let's not forget it so happens today is Kid's first day of class," he smiled as his tattoos lit up approaching the water.
"Poor Wally," M'gaan sympathized.
"My school doesn't start for another 3 weeks," Artemis announced as Barbara narrowed her eyes; she sported a one-piece magenta bathing-suit and a small wave-board tucked under her shoulder.
"So, does ours," Barbara muttered suspiciously.
Artemis looked back in a nervous manor, "Uhm, coincidence I guess, you go to, uh, Star City High?"
"No, I don't," Barbara responded hesitantly, "Guess it is a coincidence then," she narrowed her eyes once again looking at her as Artemins ran towards the water with a surf board of her own.
As the day progressed, they grilled hot-dogs, surfed in the ocean and at one point, Aqualad blasted Superboy into the water with pulse from his hydrokinetic abilities, "Oh, so you wanna play dirty, huh?" Superboy smiled as they tackled each other trying to gain ground amongst the two, the Kryptonian over powered him and swung him into the water. The entire area began glowing neon blue as water began rising up and blasting Dick, Barbara, Artemis, M'gaan, and Superboy who received a pulse strong enough to push him into the sand face first.
Sasuke and Naruto stared at the woman laughing and wiping the water from their faces and chests; both had their Sharingan's activated, both were staring, "Which one are you looking at?" Naruto asked as Sasuke caught himself and shoved him over into the sand.
"Dobi!"
"What it's not like the regular Sharingan can see through clothes! Jeez, lighten up!" Naruto turned towards the group were M'gaan waved at him, "Which one do you like?"
"You assume I like any of them," he paused for a moment and sighed, "In that way, anyways, they're good friends."
"Yea but, which one do you have your Sharingan on?"
Sasuke stared at Artemis for a moment before blatantly responding, "None of them, not yet at least," he closed his eyes and focused once again on absorbing Nature Chakra.
…
Mount Justice; August 8th; 6:38PM
The Zeta-Tubes activated as Kid Flash rushed in wearing a bathing suit, holding a cooler of food and drinks, a beach umbrella, and a beach-ball piled on top, "Alright! The wall-man is her-" he tripped over the beach umbrella and flew through the air hitting the ground right in front of Batman, Red Tornado, Green Arrow, and the entire team in complete uniform including Pain.
"Wall-man, huh? Love the uniform," Artemis cocked as she coyly smiled at him dropping everything and standing up.
"What's everyone doing here? And Green Arrow?" Wally wiped the sunscreen from his nose annoyed at her response and frowning as Batman responded.
"We got a tip from Speedy to meet us here for important infor-"
"Recognized: Speedy B09."
"Extremely important information; and for starters, I go by Red Arrow, now," Roy stepped through the teleporters and approached the team fully in uniform.
"So, she's joining the team and she's replacing Speedy as his protégé?" Wally shouted throwing his hands in the air in annoyance.
Green Arrow stepped up and approached the archer, "Roy, you look-"
"Replaceable," he finished walking by them and approaching the Arrow himself.
"It's not like that, you told me you quit and you were going solo!"
"So, why waste time finding a sub? Can she even use that bow?"
Pain watched as the tension grew in the room, Artemis stepped forwards getting inches from Roy's face preparing to strike on a word, "Yes, she can."
Batman stoically cut the confrontation off, "Enough," he stated, "You came here for a reason?"
"Yea," Roy stepped around her approached the central computer, "A reason named Dr. Stirling Roquette," he pulled up her image, basic information and the reports of her kidnapping.
Barbara smiled, "Nanorobotics genius at Royal University in Star City! What about her?"
Red Arrow scoffed and pointed at the missing reports, "She's been missing for two weeks! Kidnapped by the League of Shadows."
Pain stepped up and noted, "So, you want us to get this scientist back?
"Pff," Red Arrow scoffed loudly at Pain's assumption, "I already rescued her," he pulled out a device and plugged it quickly into the Leagues database, "Only one problem; the League coerced her into building them a weapon, Doc calls it the Fog." The images on screen displayed nano-robotics and technology only thought as hypothetical in the current modern day.
"Comprised of millions of microscopic robots, nanobots capable of disintegrating anything in their path, concrete, steel, flesh, bone," M'gaan gulped at the last example as he continued, "But, it's true purpose isn't pure destruction, its theft; the nanobots can even store and transfer stolen data from any computer system and deliver the stolen intel to the Shadows."
"Providing them access to weapons, strategic defense, cutting-edge science and tech…"
Artemis sighed with a frown on her face, "Perfect for extortion, manipulation, power broking; sounds like the Shadows to me."
Wally cut her off with a sarcastic remark, "Yea, like you know anything about the Shadows?"
She slipped him a coy smile as he became overly frustrated, "Ugh, are you sure you can't join the team Red Arrow?"
Red ignored him completely focusing back on the real problem, "Roquette is working on a virus that will render the Fog inert."
"But, if the Shadows know she can do that?"
"She's a target; I figured that so I stashed her at the local high school's computer lab."
Green Arrow spoke up, "You left here there alone?"
"She's safe enough for now."
Arrow stepped forwards attempting to appealing to Roy's emotional side, "Than let's keep her that way, together!"
Roy scoffed, "Don't you wanna take your new protégé?"
Oliver was about to speak up when Batman put a hand on his shoulder releasing a sigh from the archer, "You brought this mission to the team, that means it's her mission now too."
Roy scoffed once again as he left his device plugged in to the holo-computer and walked towards the teleporters, "Than my job here is done."
"Recognized: Speedy-," Arrow snuffed at the computers voice.
"That's Red Arrow B09, update," the computer acknowledged and teleported him away at the speed of light.
Wally glared at Artemis who only glared back, averting her eyes from him.
Pain sighed deeply and obviously, "I hate drama."
…
Happy Harbor High School; August 8th; 11:59PM.
Atop the school floated the Bio-Ship in its camouflaged mode, keeping it from view as Miss Martian roamed the roof; looking out for any movement.
Pain rounded a corner using his Sharingan to scope out every room down that hall; finding them empty he immediately contacted Miss Martian, "M'gaan, link us up, we don't want the Shadow's intercepting our coms."
M'gaan focused for a moment, briefly looking into the minds of eight other individuals, "Link established."
Artemis leaned up against a filing cabinet in the science lab where Aqualad, Robin, Kid Flash, and Batgirl were all sitting in wait protecting the computer genius Stirling Roquette as she aimed to render her own creation null.
As Pain entered the room, they all turned to him except for Artemis who simply stared at her hand, "This is so weird," she spoke over the psychic link.
"And distracting, coding a distributed algorithm virus on a kiddy computer with less RAM than a wrist watch is hard enough, now I have teen-think in my head?" Roquette was more than slightly annoyed at the entire situation.
Kid Flash munched down on spare energy bars as he mentally spoke up, "Lady, do you always complain when someone tries to help you?"
Artemis motioned her hands in the air as if speaking aloud, "Pot, kettle, have you met?"
"Hey, I don't need attitude from the newbie who drove Speedy off the team."
Artemis slammed her palm down on the filing cabinet denting it, "That is so not on me!"
"Fate of the world at stake here!" Roquette exclaimed.
Artemis crossed her arms and Kid pointed angrily at her, "She started it!"
Pain spoke up in an annoyed growl, "Artemis, go help Batgirl with patrol; Kid, shut up."
Having said the words out loud they intimidated a bit more but, it didn't flinch Artemis, "Fine by me."
"Superboy, are you on the roof?" Pain asked telepathically.
There was a pause before he responded, "I figured if I didn't stay silent I might've ripped their heads off. What's up?" He stared up at the moon projecting ample light for him to see out into the trees.
"I'm going to meet you up there; Kid, Aqualad, and Martian defend Roquette at all costs."
Pain stepped outside as he leapt up to the roof, leaping over buildings and landing in a concrete-cracking crouch which he shook off without effort, walking towards Superboy as they began looking out for anything suspicious.
Artemis watched Pain's landing and turned to face him, looking him up and down she lustfully moaned in her thoughts, "That boy…"
Batgirl blushed intensely under her mask, raging completely, "He can hear you; we can all hear you!"
Artemis narrowed her eyes at Pain who glanced out of curiosity, "Oh, I know," She thought boldly as he raised his brows in surprise underneath his mask.
…
Aqualad approached the doctor from behind placing a comforting hand on her shoulder, "Creating a virus won't be of any use if we cannot locate the weapon; is there any way you could track it somehow?"
Stirling scoffed, "First of all, my utility fog is not a weapon, its science, brilliant science and of course I can track it but, I'd have to go online to do that… might as well rent a billboard with 'assassinate me' written in neon."
Aqualad smiled warmly, "We will protect you."
Roquette hesitated at first but, turned to the computer regardless and in less than a few taps of the keyboard, "tracking FOG now."
The computer displayed a globe pinpointing the FOG's location in seconds leading to an airplane in Philadelphia.
…
Philadelphia Airport; August 9th; 12:07AM.
A man in a highly-advanced mechanical suit smirked in his private jet as he kept his hand over the FOG's container; he was prepared to take off when Roquette's location and single came online and disclosed her exact coordinates.
A man's face appeared on the screen as the armored-villain explained, "Roquette's signal has surfaced in an attempt to track us but, that link is a two-way street."
The man on the screen stroked his beard as he received her location, "Who do we have near… Happy Harbor; Rhode Island?"
…
Pain and Superboy parted ways after the awkward comment from the emerald-archer, he walked until his Sharingan caught a glimpse of a silhouette dashing through the bushes, however; when he turned with a kunai prepared to strike? His Sharingan caught nothing, there were no heat signatures, no heart-beats, and no chakra energies.
He narrowed his eyes and slipped his kunai into his sleeve-holster; Superboy nodded to Pain before leaping across the school and landing on the roof, scanning the area with his infrared vision. He found nothing but, M'gaan prowling around in camouflage-mode.
"Miss Martian," Aqualad spoke telepathically, "Roquette has located the FOG; reconfigure the Bio-Ship so that Robin and Superboy can peruse."
Pain looked back at Artemis and Batgirl as the Bio-Ship landed and appeared from thin-air with an open hatch; He watched as the two piled onto the ship sprinting and taking off immediately.
Pain turned around looking out at the city from the school's roof, "Good thinking Kaldur; Batgirl and Artemis stay on guarding the perimeter, Kid, I need you to patrol the school and update me on anything suspicious; M'gaan stay roof-side, scan the area for unfamiliar thoughts or minds."
"Will do!" she shouted as she floated upwards and over the school scanning the minds of anyone in the vicinity but, coming up short.
"On it!" Kid noted as he sped out of the room leaving Kaldur alone with the professor.
"And what of the doctor?" Kaldur asked as he leaned against a desk in the computer lab.
Pain vanished with blinding speed appearing in the room, sitting on a desk casually, "She's too valuable to the mission right now; we'll be guarding her personally."
…
Batgirl and Artemis looked out into the darkness of the bushes and the trees surrounding the school; Barbara was known to be patient but, she almost couldn't help herself, "You embarrassed Pain!" she shouted telepathically turning around and folding her arms
"Didn't hear him say that," Artemis stated turning around herself, as they argued, a figure did a full back flip over the school's six-foot fence without making a sound, and the two didn't even notice.
"Must you challenge everyone?"
Artemis sighed almost, "Where I come from, that's how you survive."
…
Kid leaned up against a wall nearby some lockers looking around, he yawned out of boredom and it being almost one in the morning but, the boredom ceased as he spotted a suspicious shadow from down the hall just as it turned the corner.
He lowered his goggles and sped off half-cocked as always ending up at the end of the hall he spotted the shadow once again, moving into the pool area this time. Wally smiled, whoever this was, he had them pinned.
He rushed at super-speeds through the doors to the pool area but, instead of spotting his suspicious figure; he ran into hundreds of small marble-like beads on the ground screwing his friction completely crashing and tumbling into the ground at over a hundred miles an hour. Landing on his back, he was given only a few seconds to groan before an armored foot slammed him unconscious.
The figure kicked his body over, knocking him into the water and letting him sink before vanishing again.
…
Aqualad watched Roquette whilst Pain simply sat on a desk next to her, peacefully meditating and slightly practicing his ability to harness Nature Energy; this was interrupted by the door creaking open ever so slightly, causing Sasuke to open up a single Sharingan.
In yet another impressive flash of speed, Pain reached out and grabbed a throwing star mid-air as it had been launched from behind the door, "Doctor, get down!" Aqualad stated as he jumped in front of her taking three throwing stars to the arm.
A masked figure leapt into the room and ducked behind a desk, she could swear she recognized one of the two, the strange helmet seemed familiar, "That had to hurt!" she shouted as Aqualad shrugged them off and knocked them off his arm.
Pain stood by, watching as Aqualad defended himself and Roquette simultaneously, "Atlantean skin is quite dense," he pulled his water-bearers from his armor and formed two turquois water-machetes.
They traded blows as she swung her two sai expertly, but, still clashing with Aqualad's swords, "And my shuriken are quite poisonous…" she back flipped away as Pain stared and watched.
"Kid Flash, Miss Martian, Artemis, Batgirl, we're under attack in the computer lab!" Kaldur stated as he dodged a shuriken but, felt two more pierce his shoulder.
Artemis and Batgirl burst through the front doors to the school on their way as Miss Martian floated down and towards the back door; she stopped half-way through the hall sensing something strange from the pool area.
…
Aqualad lashed out at her, slashing at her with his machete but, being stopped by a sai defending her perfectly; she leapt up with Aqualad still in her grip and wrapped her legs around his neck flipping him onto his back.
She grabbed her spare sai and launched it straight for Roquette who coward in a corner; the sai was intercepted perfectly by a kunai that pinned the weapon to the wall inches from Stirling's face.
Pain didn't spare her a glance, he simply stared at the fight as Aqualad struggled to keep the assassin down; "Almost," the masked-woman noted, "Poison slowing you down?"
Aqualad and the masked-woman collided weapons stalemating as they were face to face, "Jelly-fish toxin, I am highly immune."
She took that opportunity to head-butt him knocking him on his back, "Largely?"
The masked-woman raised her sai above her head prepared to finish Aqualad for good when something caught her wrist; it was unbreakable as she tried to pull her hand away from it with all her strength. Pain held her wrist just as Artemis and Batgirl arrived with a shuriken and arrow pointed directly at her; "I remember you, Jade, was it?" Pain muttered.
The woman suddenly became terrified, "Y-You're…" she backed away as Pain allowed her wrist to be freed, she stumbled into a desk as Artemis widened her eyes.
"You remember, don't you?" Pain asked in his monotone voice.
The woman looked between Pain and Artemis and chuckled slightly, "What a little reunion this turned out to be,"
…
Miss Martian slowly allowed her eyes to glow bright green as she used telekinesis to lift Kid Flash from the pool; having nearly drowned, she floated him down to the ground on his back and approached him to check his vitals.
…
Pain, Aqualad, and Artemis were now all defending Roquette and had the woman surrounded, "This gig just keeps getting more and more interesting," she pulled a collapsible-blade from her belt and stared down Artemis, the archer did not back down though unleashing a barrage of arrows on Jade whom diced through each one expertly. She sent three shuriken simultaneously at the blonde-archer whom need-not worry as they stopped mid-air with Miss Martian and Kid Flash entering the room and backing Artemis and Batgirl up.
"Maybe too interesting," she stated as her hand fidgeted under her sleeve.
Pain noticed that and moved to jump her as the small pellets rained down from her sleeve exploding with a plume of smoke as he rushed through the smoke not managing to grab his enemy; he rolled to a halt before standing and placing his hands on the wall to stop his momentum, little did he know that Artemis ended up in-between his arms, face-to-face, as Pain scoffed pushing himself away.
Artemis blushed, "If you wanted to get up close and personal; all you had to do was ask."
Batgirl grunted in aggravation seeing the coincidence with Sasuke and Artemis, it made her uncomfortable to say the least, "She's…?"
Pain turned at the cloud of dispersing smoke, "Gone," he stated.
Roquette panicked, "She's getting away; you're letting her get away!"
Kid turned and shouted at Artemis, "This is all your fault! You were out on perimeter! How'd that Shadow get in?"
Artemis narrowed her eyes as Batgirl sighed and stepped towards them, "That's not exactly fair; I was out there too."
"Yea, but-"
M'gaan cleared her throat, "I was on the roof looking too; I didn't see anything, these guys are obviously better at the whole 'assassin' thing than we expected."
"More than that," Aqualad stepped forwards, "I was under attack, right in front of you, and you did nothing!" he looked towards Sasuke now.
Pain sighed, "My Sharingan lets me see through her mask; I've met her before; I wasn't going to let her kill you."
"Angry ex?" Artemis chided as Kaldur stepped closer to Pain, narrowing his eyes.
"No, you only allowed her to try; what if you had miscalculated? I could be dead!"
Kid Flash targeted his anger at Pain now, "So, you knew her and you let her almost kill the target and you still let her get away?"
A sudden pressure filled the room, everyone felt it, Kaldur took several steps back as the killing intent dwarfed the entire buildings and spread through everyone at once. A terrifying feeling of impossible power; the room begun to shake as Pain stood in the center of it all, papers flew and desks flipped, "I never miscalculate," he stated stepping closer to Kaldur as the Atlantean moved back, "I could have killed her with a twitch of my eye; I was testing you and your ability to react to unforeseen circumstances."
Pain turned around as his Rinnegan flashed brightly in his left-eye obviously causing the strange-energy, "You two spend too much time arguing to get anything done correctly; I thought splitting you up would remedy that but, maybe I was wrong."
Artemis, Wally, M'gaan, Barbara, Kaldur, and Roquette were all in shock as everything began to calm down, the killing intent faded and Artemis watched Pain's Rinnegan spin back into its Mangekyou before fading into its original onyx-black shade.
Pain pointed at the wall next to where Roquette was standing; a kunai pinned a sai loosely to the dry-wall, "No one here was ever in any real lethal danger; we need to focus now, the Shadow's will be back."
"Robin to Pain we're over Philadelphia," Robin spoke through the normal communications-link, "We've located the Shadow's next target," Robin and Superboy flew over a decrepit building as it turned to ash before their eyes, "And we're too late, its destroyed; totally destroyed, the fog decimated it."
The Bio-Ship flew over the wreckage of the destroyed building and Robin spotted exactly what he feared most; computers, hard-drives, monitors, all torn through by the FOG, "This is really bad, STAR labs is cutting edge science and now their secrets are in the hands of the enemy."
Robin and Superboy paused to stare at one another before speaking up again, "What's our next move?"
Pain turned towards The Team and Roquette, "Rescan for that FOG; we're moving the doctor."
…
Happy Harbor Docks; August 9th; 3:20AM
Roquette worked diligently on her computer, typing away without looking up from the keyboard; Kid Flash and Artemis guarded her with Kid sitting atop a filing cabinet whilst Artemis walked behind her. They looked at one-another, Kid glared while Artemis narrowed her eyes in frustration, "Stop it. Both of you."
Pain's voice echoed through their minds as they both motioned unbelievably, "What!?"
"I can hear you glaring," he stated simply as he sat atop a sturdy tree branch across from an internet-cafe which held the vastly important Doctor.
Aqualad ducked behind the tree in which Sasuke sat upon, "I don't enjoy being tested by my own leader; you could have captured her and ended the mission that moment."
Pain sighed looking up at the stars through the leaves, being this far out from the City lights the sky was dark and the stars were as bright as they were in Konoha; He allowed his Sharingan to spin as he analyzed the café, "I wanted to know how strong you were, how skilled you were; I thought I made it clear I wasn't going to let anyone die."
Aqualad turned to left and ducked behind a bush where he implemented Pain's plan, "Miss Martian! Switch to camouflage mode and make a wide perimeter sweep!" He shouted out loud.
Just as he did, webbing of some sort came down and latched itself to Aqualad's shoulders, he could feel the pressure of being pulled, however; this feeling ended as a kunai flew through the air snapping the webs and allowing Kaldur to land on his feet.
"What is he doing? This was not the plan!"
An unseen battle took place in the darkness of the trees where a man in a slick-burgundy suit flew through the air slamming back-first into a van as Pain leapt from the shadows and landed in front of the injured assassin. Aqualad ran from the forest and prepared two water-hammers as two other Shadow members appeared to assist the spider-themed one still recovering from Pain's attack.
"Those who abandon the mission are scum, however;" Pain slipped into a fighting position, "Those who abandon their comrades are worse than scum!"
Cheshire stepped forwards with Black-Spider and Hook standing behind her; Hook being a large, rough-looking man wearing a long green trench coat and a thick metal hook for a left-arm.
"You two stay and occupy them; I'll complete the mission," She back flipped over the van and headed for the café as Hook leapt forwards sending his hook-arm into Aqualad's stomach pushing him back on his feet, retracting the hook as he moved in for a right-hook but, Kaldur dodged under.
Spider sent his webbing into Sasuke's hands pinning them to one another leaping in for a roundhouse kick which he ducked under; a quick change in chakra nature allowed his Chidori to split open the webbing and forced Spider to back flip away.
…
Cheshire peeked in through the ceiling window of the café; neither Kid nor Artemis noticed her until she dropped to the ground with a crossbow aimed directly between Roquette's eyes.
"No!" Artemis shouted intercepting the assassins poison-tip arrow with one of her own which split the shaft in two, "Don't stop working!" She shouted at Roquette who silently continued typing as Kid attempted to grab Cheshire by her shoulders.
She slipped down and swept the speedsters feet ironically out from under him as he landed square on his face; she turned to catch an arrow inches from her face, "Oh, you aren't playing around!"
Cheshire pulled her retractable blade from her belt and swung only being deflected by Artemis' bow which wouldn't hold up forever. Kid stood to his feet, swinging his arms at super-speeds and creating a vacuum that forced Artemis and Cheshire off their feet and into the tables and chairs several feet behind him.
"Oopsie," Kid spat as Artemis got off of her ass and glared at him.
Cheshire immediately back-flipped to a standing position and launched a shuriken at Roquette whom was suddenly protected by a floating nearby desk.
"The Martian is here; it's now or never time!" she jumped over the floating desk and tackled Roquette in face-down straddle, pulling her sai above her head prepared to finish the job once and for all when suddenly… Stirling's skin turned lime-green and her hair crimson red as her head spun 360-degrees with a wide smile.
"We've been duped!" Cheshire shouted as she ran outside and found both of her comrades on their knees staring into the distance, the area looked battle damaged but, they had Sharingan pupils as if under his control, "I do not like being played," she tapped a miniscule button on her mask and infrared vision appeared as she noticed two sets of footprints moving off towards the east-coast closer to the beach.
…
Robin and Superboy floated in wait as the Bio-Ship approached a large tower, "We've got the Shadow's next target! And it's a Wayne Tech facility, in theory, its software could be used to hack the-" Dick caught himself quickly as Superboy raised a brow in concern.
"Doesn't matter," he looked back at the building and sighed, "What matters is that Wayne Enterprises operates on a 24-hour work force; we'll never evacuate the building in time!"
As he said this, a white van pulled into the Wayne Tech parking lot; inside was the weaponized-man preparing the FOG for launch
…
M'gaan, Kid, and Artemis came rushing out of the café approaching Cheshire, "You'll never find Dr. Roquette!"
"Never is such a long time," Cheshire remarked dropping tear-gas bombs to cover her escape towards the east-coast following the foot-prints; M'gaan and Kid coughed loudly as their eyes watered too much for them to see their opponent.
Artemis saw through this though; She closed her eyes, held her breath, and ran through the smoke after her. Once through the smoke, she aimed her bow and arrow at the escaping assassin and launched one that was deflected by a sai of her own, "I was hoping it'd be you."
Cheshire kept running and Artemis sprinted after her, running through the streets and towards the real Roquette's hide-out; a closed restaurant with a 'free wi-fi' label plastered on the window.
The assassin turned a corner and hoped on a dumpster before back-flipping onto the roof of the buildings that lined the streets, she turned back as an arrow narrowly missed her face and cut into the concrete of a chimney next to her. The arrow spilled pressured purple gas as it completely wafted over the assassin's face, she coughed several times before collapsing.
Artemis leapt up to the roof-top just as she had and aimed an arrow at the unconscious villain, lowering her guard she approached to bound the villain when suddenly she sprung upwards swinging her legs and knocking Artemis' feet right out from under her causing her to land on her back and Cheshire on her feet, "Built in gas-mask," she noted as Artemis looked up raising her foot, the fall caused small trauma to her head and a momentary daze but, that didn't stop her from throwing her kick from the ground up where Cheshire caught it. She used that leverage to get back on her feet using momentum to throw a round-house kick which was deflected and spun around putting Artemis back first and arms bound facing the ally two stories down. The assassin could have killed her just by pushing her head first but, instead knocked her out with a slick elbow to the back of her neck causing Artemis to collapse to her knees and then to the side.
"Better luck next time, kid."
…
Pain and Aqualad sat in the room waiting whilst the one-and-only Stirling Roquette worked diligently on creating and uploading the virus; suddenly they heard a loud thud from the room, which was from Artemis' body collapsing, and Aqualad shouted in response, "We've got company!"
Roquette smiled victoriously, "Uploading now! And by the way, you said you'd protect me!"
A small silver orb rolled into through the darkened hall as Aqualad reached for his water-bearers and manifested two sharpened machetes'.
Pain snarked looking up rather than forwards which Kaldur didn't find funny as he paid close attention to the smoke and what could emerge from it, or rather, who.
Unbeknownst to everyone else a ceiling-tile slipped itself up and out of the way revealing the darkness of the buildings attic; Aqualad noticed this and turned but, not in time to notice three darts aimed straight for his chest.
For the second time, Pain appeared before Aqualad catching all three-darts mid-air in a single hand, "Not too useful against someone faster than a speeding bullet…"
Cheshire grunted as a massive ten-ton metal hook slammed through the glass window and bashed Pain in the chest sending him flying backwards through the drywall and into the brick-wall of the building juxtaposed to the café.
Cheshire round-housed Aqualad across the face dodging his slashes and dicing with ease, "Jellyfish toxin slowing you down?" She dodged a downward slash by leap-frogging above the Atlantean and leaving a dart deep in his skin. Cheshire landed on her feet and turned around, "Let's test that immunity shall-we?"
Aqualad shook his head and slashed at the assassin who effortlessly dodged and kicked him in the face sending him onto his back where the needle dug deeper, "There. Tested."
Hook was now outside holding M'gaan by the cloak in one hand and his other pinned Pain to the wall, "Crap!" He exclaimed, "I got cocky!" he ripped the steel-hook apart and tossed it aside.
In a flash of speed, he vanished and appeared behind Hook, "Rasengan!" he slammed the attack into the would-be assassins back causing his skin to twist and for him to scream in pain dropping M'gaan but, she couldn't hit the ground before Pain caught her unconscious form still looking into the café and lowering her safely, "This crap is over."
"Now Doctor," Cheshire pulled a knife from her belt and approached the scientist slowly, "About my appointment," she stopped and turned at the sound of foot-steps, "Ugh, not you again!"
Sterling backed up, darting her eyes back and forth between the computer monitor and her assassin; the screen read 'Upload Complete'.
"Do I need to end this, Jade?"
She looked between him and the scientist, "You completed the virus, thus, eliminating the reason for your elimination…" She turned to Pain who folded his arms.
"Scram before I take you in," he deadpanned.
"And why let me go?"
"Because…" he smiled and approached her a bit closer, "You're Artemis' sister; Jade Crook."
Cheshire backed away in sudden awe, looking in all directions, she dropped smoke pellets and the explosion covered her escape through the exit or, at least, for everyone aside from Pain.
Pain glanced at Roquette with his Mangekyou spinning as her eyes suddenly became crimson with the same design as his, "You'll forget you heard or saw what just happened."
"I'll forget what I just heard and saw," she shook her head in confusion and looked around, "You let her get away again!"
"She surprised me?"
…
Cheshire stepped out from the café casually when suddenly four explosive arrows landed at her feet knocking her mask to the ground and catching her off guard, "Don't. Move."
Artemis aimed her arrow directly at her, "Wow, I'm completely at your mercy…" she muttered coyly and as he revealed her face to Artemis.
The blonde-archer lowered her bow for a momentary gasp, "You…"
"I guess now you'll have to bring me in, let your new friends interrogate me; well, your boyfriend in there somehow put the pieces together himself but, I wonder if your position is secure enough to survive them learning everything I know," Jade smirked as Artemis lowered her bow completely.
"Didn't think so…" she remarked as she backed into the shadows of the ally, "And like the Cheshire cat; I'll just disappear," some smoke did engulf the ally but, not enough to actually draw attention; regardless, she was gone.
Pain assisted Aqualad who was breathing heavily as they stepped out of the café with Stirling behind them; Aqualad breathed, "Artemis, did you get the assassin?"
M'gaan came to, rubbing the lump on her head she stood slowly, "Did they get away?"
Pain stepped in to explain, "Hook-guy caught me by surprise, Cheshire used a Shadow's trick to get away from Artemis."
Artemis raised a brow, if what her sister said was true, than Pain knew exactly who she was and why she got away; why was he covering for her?
Kid approached with the Spider in tow wrapped in his own webbing, "She got away from you; oh, big surprise! Notice, we got ours," he gestured to the knocked-out Hook and Spider laying on the side-walk and street next to them.
Artemis looked down and away, disappointed that her own secrets made her look bad on her first real mission; Kid smiled brightly as he reached towards the ground, "Cool, souvenir!" he picked up the assassin's mask and looked at it in the moon-light.
Aqualad straightened himself up pulling the dart from his neck, "Her mask? Did you see her face?"
Artemis turned towards the bay, "It was dark! And she used smoke…"
Pain sighed stepping in front of the team and putting a hand on her shoulder, "It's okay; we all make mistakes," she turned to look into his Sharingan but, instead it was just his normal onyx-shaded eye. For some reason, though; she could still see the same pain and darkness in it as before, no difference and for another odd reason, she felt like he could feel her pain too.
Pain turned to the group quickly leaving his hand on her shoulder causing her to turn to them, "Robin and Superboy neutralized the FOG and Doctor Roquette is safe, thanks in no small part to you; welcome to the team," She couldn't see it but, Sasuke actually managed to flash a smile underneath his mask, a genuine smile of gratitude.
Artemis looked at everyone, even Kid, smiling towards her and couldn't help but smile back.
…
Gotham City; August 9th; 4:58AM.
Artemis exited her Zeta-Tube teleporter, which was cleverly disguised as a run-down useless telephone booth, and entered the abandoned allyway. She glanced to the side and within a single second she spun to her knees, pulled an arrow from her quiver, and drew it back on her draw string, "Step into the light! Now!"
A figure lurking not too far from her stepped out of the shadow and into the Moon light revealing himself to be Roy aka Red Arrow standing nonchalantly with his arms crossed.
"Nice move," he spat, "Almost made me believe you're really Green Arrow's niece but, we both know you're not."
Artemis lowered her bow and arrow narrowing her eyes as he approached her, "Still, I'm sure GA and Bats have a reason for lying so, your cover's safe but, I warn you," he got inched from her face to where she could feel his breath on her nose, "Do not hurt my friends."
She didn't flinch but, he was threatening, he was far more skilled and experienced than she was and could wipe her out if he really wanted to but, her secret is what daunted on her the most. How long before he spills it?
…
Infinity Island; August 9th; 3:00AM.
"Report," a voice announced as the same man who hired Cheshire, Hook, and Spider sat in the center of a circle of screens each lit with a darkened silhouette.
"Masters," he addressed them, "Before the FOG was neutralized my operative sent you the STAR labs data you requested, however; the Wayne Tech intel still alludes us."
Another screen spoke up this time in an American accent, "Once again, the young heroes interfere so, it's fortunate we have an operative on the inside."
A French accent spoke up, "And what of this Pain character!? His abilities are like those I've never seen! I would love to study him in-depth."
Another deeper voice, recognized clearly by any ninja who could've heard it, chided nonchalantly, "Leave him alive, I want him all to myself."
"Yes, Master Madara, of course."
…
Dun Dun Duuuun.
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I edited Chapters 2 & 3 just letting you guys know