Dick allowed himself a brief moment to study the members of the Injustice League besides DarkBat whom he already unfortunately knew.
Kryptoman's suit was completely black and yellow, his cape was the same shade of red as his Clark Kent's but instead of Superman's S was the symbol of a skull and crossbones. It was unnerving to see a version of his uncle without the smile, replaced instead by an emotionless stone face.
The Amazon stood to the Kryptonian's right and wielded a sword with a long, sharp blade (already covered in blood and flesh) with hard, bloodthirsty blue eyes so different from his aunt's loving, bright, angelic gaze. Her armor was not red and blue as he was used to it but instead it was completely black with some bright gold ornaments. She did not wear the typical tiara but instead a crown made of gold and other precious gems.
Green Dark stood on the other side of Kryptoman and his ring already radiated a dull, ominous green light. His suit was a different green than that worn by his Uncle Hal or the other Green Lanterns of his world: this green was darker, as if the suit had been corrupted in the same way this Hal Jordan had been corrupted by greed for power. In the center of the Green Lanterns' characteristic symbol was an X above red that completely barred it.
To the right of The Amazon was KillerFaster who was already vibrating on the spot (some things never change, Dick thought with bitter amusement). His suit was completely yellow in a way that reminded the acrobat of Reverse Flash: only that this Barry wore in the center of his chest an emblem depicting a red lightning bolt piercing a heart. Dick suppressed a shudder at the scowling, menacing gaze of the supervillain, so different from his uncle Barry.
Martian Hunterman flanked KillerFaster. He looked exactly like his Martian Manhunter only this Martian's cape was not blue but a darker (and more menacing) green than his skin. His red eyes were much more aggressive and angry than the calm and wise ones of his uncle J'onn.
GreenDark was flanked by BlackWater who was deftly and menacingly twirling his trident. He was wearing the same suit of his uncle Arthur, and the only difference Dick could notice was that his protective boots were a dark, menacing blue instead of the usual green.
To finish next to BlackWater were Deadly Arrow and Dark Canary: the first who was a perfect copy of his Green Arrow (the blond goatee was just so distinctive) except that his armor was completely black, while the second was the same as his aunt Dinah with the only difference being that here she was not wearing fishnet stockings and instead wearing dark boots protective leggings.
"Well, shit." cursed Deathstroke flatly, who stiffened in front of the entire Injustice League.
Nightwing tightened his lips somberly, scowling.
It was nine evil superheroes (only two of whom were powerless) against 3 of whom only one was a meta-human.
The odds were not in their favor in the slightest.
Sure, Nightwing was the only sidekick hero to have trained under the entire Justice League so he knows their fighting styles and weaknesses, not to mention the fact that he was also trained and prepared in case he had to face them.
But this was actually the first time Dick would have to face them, and although he was not alone, he was not so arrogant and cocky as to think that he could bring down an evil version of the JLA, alone or otherwise.
Maybe Nightwing was actually able to beat the JLA on his own like his mentor or maybe not.
The fact is that Dick just wasn't dying to find out.
Nightwing slowly took a step back followed by his two allies but of course the Injustice League noticed him and GreenDark snorted derisively turning to DarkBat. "Are you seriously telling me that kid in blue and black kicked your ass?"
DarkBat narrowed his white eyes at the Green Lantern, annoyed. "Don't underestimate him, GreenDark, or he will beat you up like he beat me up. He's stronger than you think."
"Yet he wants to escape." mocked DarkWater.
Before the trio could even blink there was a shift of air and behind them were Kryptoman and KillerFaster smiling predatorily. "You can't run anywhere." chuckled the speedster evilly.
Deathstroke, Nightwing, and Talia ended up back to back as the supervillains slowly encircled them. "They want to fight? Then let's fight!" growled the mercenary angrily, ready to draw whatever weapon he had in his possession.
"I don't want to say anything but the odds are not in our favor." Nightwing pointed out, putting himself in a fighting stance anyway.
"Not only are you underestimating us but you are underestimating yourself, Nightwing. We can win this battle." declared Talia in a firm voice with no hint of doubt.
"She's right, kiddo. We can do it."
Nightwing took a deep breath before smirking, his muscles tense for the coming battle.
"Then let's kick their asses!"
And the next second Hell broke loose.
With lightning-fast reflexes Deathstroke rolled to the side dodging Kryptoman's laser beams and, faster than a human eye could see, drew a gun and shot the Kryptonian. Kal-El did not move an inch in the air, clearly expecting with an arrogant grin that the bullets would bounce off his body. Instead, the next second the supervillain screamed in pain as the bullets lodged in his chest, emanating the green light typical of kryptonite.
Kryptoman fell agonizingly to the ground on his knees with four kryptonite bullets sticking out of his chest. "Rule number one: never underestimate a guy who carries more weapons than the states of America are, even if you're a fucking Kryptonian alien." the mercenary smugly declared, enjoying Kryptoman's shock.
Slade struck him in the temple with the barrel of his gun and the alien fell unconscious to the ground. His enhanced hearing picked up something to his right and he turned sharply, sword in hand, deflecting DarkWater's trident that returned to the Atlantean's hands flanked by GreenDark whose ring shone menacingly.
"Torch Boy and Fish Boy." taunted them, the super soldier twirling his sword with one hand and with the other wielding a pistol (from normal bullets).
"You don't know who you're messing with, you asshole!" growled GreenDark angrily and annoyed.
A defiant smirk appeared on the mercenary's face, covered by his half-black half-orange mask. He cracked his neck menacingly. "Trust me: you're the ones who don't know who you're dealing with."
And faster than the two super-villains could see he attacked them.
Talia grunted when a punch from KillerFaster hit her stomach cracking a few ribs. Fortunately her League of Assassins armor protected her from the blow otherwise it would have caused more serious and significant damage.
Talia raised her sword parrying The Amazon's blade and the daughter of the Demon's Head kicked her in the stomach causing her to back away a few steps. Her green eyes returned to the speedster, fearing she would be hit, but she saw him slip, rise and fall in an endless loop above the ground where meters and meters below him was suddenly ice.
Out of the corner of her eye Talia saw Nightwing smile at her, and she was sure he winked at her behind his mask before he continued his fight with Batman.
Talia smiled and chuckled in spite of herself as she lunged at Allen, violently kicking his head and then continuing to fight Prince in a sword fight.
Never change, Richard.
Nightwing ducked under a punch, jumped over a kick, and the hero brutally slammed one escrima into DarkBat's jaw while simultaneously striking him in the right side of his head with the other.
Noise of broken bones echoed as the Dark Knight fell painfully to the ground spitting blood, his jaw definitely broken. DarkBat touched his jaw in pain and stared at Nightwing and despite his cowl, alternate Bruce Wayne or not, Dick knew him and knew his eyes looked at him with reluctant but annoyed respect.
"You know my method of fighting and you seem to anticipate almost every move I make."
Nightwing stared at him with a smirk but did not dignify him with a response, instead turning on his escrima. "You lose, DarkBat."
Despite the pain he felt DarkBat managed to smile, his teeth crooked and covered in blood. "Am I?"
The Bludhaven vigilante did not have time to understand his words when an arrow lodged in his left shoulder. He hissed in pain and backed away but took a few steps when suddenly Dick fell to his knees covering his ears from the canary cry that lasted a few seconds (but still too many for him).
He faintly looked up to see Deadly Arrow and Dark Canary walking past the wounded DarkBat and coming menacingly toward him.
The archer took an arrow and placed it in his bow then aimed it at the acrobat. "Any last words?"
Nightwing narrowed his eyes, aware that his ears were bleeding because of the warm liquid that covered his hands (God, he fervently hoped that this Dinah had not just ruptured his eardrums), and smirked at the pair. "Never think that I am defeated: that is always the biggest mistake."
With almost superhuman speed Nightwing threw several wing-dings in the moment Deadly Arrow snapped his arrow. The acrobat rolled to the side, the arrow ripping part of the kevlar at his right hip, and he pulled out the arrow stuck to his left shoulder and threw it back to the sender.
Deadly Arrow grunted when the wing-dings hit him in the arms disarming him of his bow and screamed in pain when the arrow lodged in the kneecap of his right knee forcing him to fall painfully with his face to the ground, also breaking his nose on impact with the hard asphalt in the process.
Dark Canary growled angrily when she saw her bleeding fiancé on the ground and opened her mouth for another canary cry but Nightwing had already predicted her move by a few seconds and threw a smoke grenade that went straight into her mouth.
Dinah opened her eyes wide and made many muffled noises, hoping to be able to vomit up the smoke grenade that had filled her lungs with smoke in the meantime. Finally after a few seconds of agony Dark Canary spat out the remainder of the smoke gum that fell to the ground. When she looked up she was greeted by a vicious punch to the face, a kick to the jaw followed finally by a vicious right hook (all within a few hundredths of a second) and Dark Canary fell unconscious to the ground.
Nightwing performed several backflips dodging the arrows shot by Oliver (who had crawled toward his bow) and finally he jumped landing on his right hand and crushing all his fingers. Deadly Arrow cried out in pain but his scream died out completely when the hero kicked him in the temple sending him into unconsciousness.
With slightly labored breathing Dick shifted his gaze, alarmed when he no longer saw DarkBat. Turning sharply, he backed away just in time avoiding being slaughtered with a batarang that instead lightly slashed the skin of his throat, letting a trickle of blood run off.
DarkBat's eyes went wide, surprised that his new archenemy avoided his lethal move but he had little time to think about it when a violent kick to his head sent him far away.
Before he slipped into unconsciousness Bruce Wayne had only one thought.
I will kill you with my own hands, Nightwing. Even if it's the last thing I do.
Deathstroke drew the trident from his bleeding left side, pleased that the armor held up to the point of preventing the trident from going too deep to pierce his lung, and threw it to Jordan who created a protective shield.
The mercenary stepped over DarkWater's unconscious body but was stopped when Martian Hunterman suddenly appeared out of nowhere in front of him.
Deathstroke felt a very deep and sharp pain explode in his brain and he dropped to his knees with a scream of agony, being distractedly aware that it was a matter of seconds before J'onn completely destroyed his mind.
Therefore his mind focused on the strongest and most negative emotions he could think of.
Chosen as guinea pig to be experimented on for super serum...
The death of his son Grant...
Seeing his son Joseph become mute because of him...
The ruin of his marriage with Adeline and her shooting him in the right eye, rendering him blind...
Slade cried out in pain the moment Martian Hunterman did too, and the Martian collapsed unconscious on the ground, overwhelmed by the negative emotions projected by the super soldier.
With shuddering breath, the mercenary stared at GreenDark's shocked gaze. "What the hell are you?"
Deathstroke The Terminator emitted a low, dark laugh as he retrieved his sword.
"Your worst nightmare."
Talia groaned as she was thrown forcefully to the ground, getting up with some difficulty. Her gaze stopped briefly on the unconscious figure of KillerFaster before returning it to The Amazon who was advancing menacingly toward her, sword in hand.
With a fierce snarl Talia charged the Amazon again, and the din of splintered metal echoed through the air.
"You have no hope against me, mortal!" sneered Diana Prince.
Talia gritted her teeth furiously, feeling herself recoil from the superhuman strength of the Queen of Themyscira, but she did not give up. "Says you, hag!"
The daughter of the Demon's Head threw a headbutt at her opponent who recoiled stunned and she swept her legs. Prince fell to the ground and her sword rolled away.
With a murderous warrior's scream Talia ran toward her and leapt into the air, her sword pointed downward at the Amazon's heart.
The Amazon opened her blue eyes wide and crossed her arms. Talia's sword collided violently with Diana's bracelets and the supervillain raised a leg striking in the stomach of Ra's daughter, who was thrown far away.
She got back up with a pained grunt just in time to see Prince flying toward her wielding Talia's own sword.
The latter dodged the sword lunge just in time but she couldn't dodge the left hook that snapped her head to the side causing her to spit blood.
Talia barely held on with one hand on the road and spat more blood. She focused on the figure of The Amazon who was flying at top speed to kill her once and for all.
Before Talia could even get back up (but she already knew her efforts would be in vain) a black and blue blur threw herself between Talia and The Amazon and his escrima blocked the sword that would pierce the heart of Ra's daughter.
Nightwing grunted and used the surprise of Diana not his aunt to his advantage to push her back a few inches.
The Amazon stared with hard, cold eyes at the acrobat. "Already you could not have won against me normally let alone with your wounds, mortal."
Talia stared at the acrobat and her heart leapt with worry when she saw his left shoulder bleeding along with other bruises and cuts on his uniform: but what worried her deeply was that his ears were bleeding.
Nightwing did not respond to the provocation and launched himself at the demigoddess. She dodged him, however, and instead headed toward Talia who opened her eyes wide in surprise.
Within seconds The Amazon held Talia in a death grip, the demigoddess' sword pointed menacingly at Talia's throat. The latter tried with all her might to break out of the grip but Prince sank the sword even further into her neck. Talia finally froze when she felt the blade lightly cut her skin followed by blood slipping from her throat.
Nightwing narrowed his white eyes menacingly. "You don't want to do this." he growled dangerously, anger and concern coloring his tone.
"Put down your weapons and raise your hands in the air." Diana ordered sternly. "I don't think there's any need to tell you what will happen if you don't obey me."
Talia growled when she saw Richard carrying out Prince's orders. "You idiot! Don't listen to her!" she snapped angrily, worried about what the demigoddess would do to him.
Next, The Amazon threw Talia away and flew toward Nightwing. When Talia raised her head she opened her eyes wide in horror and fright when she saw The Amazon hit Richard's stomach with a vicious punch so hard that she could feel the acrobat's ribs crack despite the distance and the Kevlar of his armor.
To make matters worse Nightwing fell to his knees, doubled over and vomited a frightening amount of blood, which made Talia even more worried.
Talia cursed Prince in Arabic. She had nothing to help her ally; the demigoddess had disarmed her of every single knife and gun she possessed.
The Amazon raised her sword, which glowed menacingly in the moonlight, and Talia uttered her loudest scream of fear and terror ever.
"NO!"
She watched in horror as the blade descended lower and lower toward Richard's head. At the last moment a bullet shot echoed loudly in the combat zone and Diana screamed in pain as she held her hand, the sword being flung far away.
Deathstroke The Terminator emitted the most frightening and angry snarl Talia ever heard from him.
"Touch him one more time and I will make your death as slow and painful as possible, I will torture you so long that you will beg me to kill you but I will laugh in your face and continue to cut off every single one of your fingers and toes, then I will move on to break every single bone in your body and torture you in a thousand other possible ways that you will not think of as even imaginable!" roared Deathstroke angrily, pointing two guns at her.
The Amazon growled at the mercenary and she leaned her hands menacingly on the Bludhaven vigilante's head. "Come one step closer and I'll break his neck!" she threatened.
"You will not." came another familiar voice.
Talia turned and found herself staring at a group of people who were looking menacingly in the Amazon's direction.
She did not focus on them and instead returned to regard the acrobat and the demi-goddess who frustratedly clucked her tongue. "You again!"
GreenDark flew battered, bleeding and full of cuts (including a hole in his left hip) stopping next to The Amazon. "We have to run away! Let that boy go and let's run away! We cannot win!"
The Amazon growled in exasperation but abruptly dropped Nightwing to the ground. Hal Jordan surrounded each unconscious body of the Injustice League with a green light and flew away taking them with him, The Amazon flying by his side.
Talia and Deathstroke immediately ran to Nightwing who was lying unconscious on the ground. Slade cursed when he saw his former student's injuries. "His breathing is there but it's weak. I suspect internal bleeding."
Talia inhaled shakily at that news.
It was not good at all.
"We can help."
Talia was already ready to snap toward them but was left speechless when she found herself staring at... herself.
"Who the hell are you?"
The Talia Al Ghul of this world gave a small smile.
"We are the League of the Revolution."
