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The Man Comes Around – Chapter 3: I'm The Captain Now

…Come back, baby, 'cause I'd like to say

I've been around the world, back from Bombay

Fox hole love, pie in your face

Living in and out of a big fat suitcase…

Miss Martian flew ahead of the team, soaring above the crates to search for the monkey and the three goons. Passing over several rows, she finally spotted the group in an alleyway directly ahead of her, formed by several rows of stacked crates. As she drew closer, she saw that the three gunmen were approaching the cornered monkey in a spread-out formation while it tried to furiously climb the stacked cargo crates to no avail. She reached out to the rest of the team over the link, I found the monkey. He's being pinned by the gunmen on the front starboard side.

She received a quick response from Auqalad: Copy, we see you and are moving in on your position. You are clear to engage. Given the green light, she turned invisible and flew up behind the henchmen. As she approached, the monkey was again trying to escape by climbing the sides of the crates but slipped about halfway up because of the hard metal and came crashing down. Struggling to rise, it turned and hissed at the three henchmen who were slowly approaching it in a fanned-out formation, machine guns raised. The one on the right turned to the henchman in the middle and asked him something in Italian while gesturing to the monkey. The henchman in the middle, presumably the leader, shrugged in response to the prompt and lowered his gun slightly while looking at the monkey as if considering something.

After a second of apparent internal debate, the henchman in the middle racked his machine gun and leveled it at the monkey, the other two following suit. They opened fire, and the monkey ran wildly toward the henchmen, quickly closing the distance while doing its best to dodge the oncoming hail of bullets.

Acting quickly, Miss Martian flew up behind the henchmen, and with the pull of her mind, ripped the guns out of the goon's hands, surprising them as their guns were pried away from them and tossed over the crates.

They had little time to process the situation, however, as now without defense, they were quickly caught by the rest of the group who had followed Miss Martian. The henchmen on the right dropped after being tazed by an electric arrow, while the other two were personally introduced to Auqalad's hammers, both receiving clean blows to the side of the head and knocking them out cold.

As Superboy brought up the rear of the four heroes, Miss Martian watched the monkey skid to a halt in surprise as its aggressors were taken out by a group of colorfully dressed teenagers. However, it quickly overcame its surprise as its complexion shifted to suspicion, taking somewhat of a defensive crouch as it eyed the heroes. It let out a low, unsure grow as its eyes flickered in between the heroes.

Now that Miss Martian was able to get a good look at the monkey, she could tell that there was nothing normal about it. It looked like a howler monkey, identified by the bulbous shape of hair around its head, but that's where the similarities stopped. For one, the color pattern couldn't have been normal – the hair and face of the monkey were black with a white bar of fur wrapping around at eye level, but the rest of the monkey's fur was mostly white with streaks of black that, somehow, vaguely represented a suit and tie. On its left breast, there were two diagonal streaks of red and blue separated by white fur.

Artemis, like the rest of the team, was frozen as the staring contest between them and the monkey. She broke the silence between the team and the monkey, saying, "Yeah, there's no way that's a normal monkey," coming to the same conclusion Miss Martian just arrived at, "Maybe it's an android?"

Auqalad, still not moving an inch, wondered, "There was no intelligence that suggested that the Old Blood was using robots. And even if they were, why would it attack them? And why would they shoot to kill something they were using?" The monkey, not understanding the conversation, was becoming more agitated as its eyes flickered between the speakers.

Superboy noted this. "Well, whatever it's doing here, it has to be the source of the scratch marks we found on the goons." He said loudly while scowling. The couched primate, its bared teeth becoming more and more and more visible, seemed to zero in on Superboy.

Auqalad was busy studying the monkey. While it still projected an air of hostility and uncertainty towards the heroes, the monkey had stopped following the conversation and was solely focused on Superboy. Its eyes seemed to flick up and down him as if it were looking at something that was just out of reach. Suddenly, the monkey's eyes went wide, and it let out a ferocious shriek, its muscles flexing as if it were about to pounce.

Auqalad yelled at the rest of the team, "Get ready!" He said, re-manifesting his war hammers, warning clear in his voice. The rest of the team tensed and prepped for a charging monkey, each preparing their way to intercept it as when it charged.

But the attack never came. Instead of rushing forward to maul Superboy, the monkey just relaxed and started jumping up and down excitedly while pointing at Superboy. Artemis lowered her bow slightly, voicing her confusion. "Uh, is anyone else completely lost here?" As the heroes relaxed slightly, Miss Martian's brow furrowed as she turned to Superboy. "It looks like it recognizes you?"

Superboy threw his hands up, scowling as he looked at the excited monkey. "I have no idea." The monkey, seeming as if it was on a sugar high, scampered over to where the unconscious goons lay in front of the heroes. Seeming to search the bodies of the gangsters, it finally ended up running its hands through the hair of the goons that Auqalad struck down. Artemis made a face when the monkey pulled out its hands, now covered and blood, and turned its back on the team. From the perspective of the team, it looked like the monkey was now pawing at the ground in front of it.

Miss Martian spoke up hesitantly to the rest of the team as they watched with uncertainty, "… I guess we should go see what it's doing?" Auqalad nodded. "Good idea. But be ready." The team walked over and gathered around the monkey as it continued to swipe at the deck with its hands. When they got closer, much to their varying degrees of mortification, they saw that the monkey was drawing something on the ground with the blood of one of the gangsters. It seemed to be some sort of outline, and when the heroes got close enough, the monkey turned around to face them, getting behind the drawing so they could all see it.

The monkey had made a very crude drawing of a capital S within a triangle-like shield. Miss Martian, along with the rest of the team, realized that it had made the same symbol that was on Superboy's shirt. Sneaking a peak at him, she saw that Superboy's mouth was slightly agape as he looked at the drawing the monkey had made, all while the monkey sat on its knuckles, looking at the team expectantly.

"Well, it looks like it did recognize you after all," Artemis said dryly, planting her hands on her hips. Superboy scowled and glanced away, biting out, "No. He recognized Superman's symbol."

Miss Martian put a hand on his shoulder, trying to comfort him. "Maybe he saw you on the news?" She asked. Artemis let out a loud snort, saying "Right. Because it's a well-known fact that monkeys love to watch the news."

Miss Martian shot Artemis a glare, which made Artemis roll her eyes in return. All the while, the monkey continued to watch the team with its black, beady eyes. Auqalad walked forward and crouched down in front of the monkey, getting its attention, "Who are you?" He asked, hoping that it could communicate back. The monkey, however, just watched him with curiosity, tilting his head as Auqalad spoke. The staring contest continued as Auqalad studied the monkey, closely watching its small movements for any clue of origin. Eventually, he stood back up and joined Miss Martian, Superboy, and Artemis

When Auqalad walked back over to the three, he announced his findings to the group. "It is definitely a monkey." He said.

Artemis raised her eyebrows in mock surprise. "No, really?" Auqalad raised his hand to explain. "I mean in the most literal sense. It is no robot, but rather a living, breathing monkey." Miss Martian tilted her head in curiosity, asking, "How could you tell?"

"It's the same situation in Atlantis. While the sea life lacks the self-awareness that the Atlanteans have, they still exhibit small, telltale traits that prove genuine rather than artificial life." Auqalad explained. "And here, the monkey exhibits those same traits; the rising and falling of its chest, the idle twitch of its fingers and ears. These are traits that no engineer would implement in design."

Superboy let out a huh. "So, why is it in a suit and tie?" He wondered.

Auqalad shrugged. "Who knows? Perhaps magic, perhaps genetic manipulation."

Artemis' brow furrowed as she held up a finger. "Wait, but you just said –" Auqalad nodded with a dry smile. "I said that it was living, not that it wasn't made in a lab somewhere." Auqalad turned back toward the monkey with his arms crossed. "We should probably get back to the Old B-"

Auqalad was interrupted by the monkey as it let out a happy squeak, startling the four heroes as they whirled around to face it. Quick as a flash, the monkey ran up and pounced on Superboy's shoulders crawling all around him, causing him to yell as he stumbled awkwardly. As he tried to angrily shoo it off, the monkey balanced on his shoulder blades and messed up his hair. He then scampered off and ran over to Miss Martian, nuzzling her leg like a cat.

"Damn it!" Superboy growled as he took an angry step towards the monkey. Seeing the angry clone of Superman, the monkey let out a yelp and scurried behind and up Miss Martian, wrapping its arms around her neck as it peaked over her shoulder. Miss Martian giggled as she turned her head to look at the monkey and stroked its fur.

Superboy walked up to Miss Martian with a scowl, saying, "Don't tell me you're actually petting that thing. It's feral."

Miss Martian looked at Superboy and laughed. "Oh come on, Superboy! It's just having fun. Plus, It's really cute." Superboy's jaw worked in anger as he glared at the monkey, who stared right back with the most innocent, puppy-dog eyes.

Suddenly, its eyes went back to normal and it shifted around on Miss Martian's shoulder, quickly sniffing the air. It seemed to go rigid and let out an angry shriek, lept off of Miss Martian, and scampered off away from the crate ally they were in towards the control tower.

The team watched it go in silence. "So, are we going to follow it?" Asked Artemis. Auqalad nodded. "Team, let's go." He said, running after the monkey, the others following suit.

The two men, armed with sub-machine guns and budget body armor, stood guarding the entrance to the ship's cargo hold. Deep within the ship, they were positioned in front of the door at the end of the long hallway, under specific orders to not let anyone in or out. Hierarchically, there was nothing special about them that gave them this position – they were just muscle-for-hire bought by the Old Blood. And when the ship Klaxons started blaring the telltale sign of an intruder, they had wanted to go out and earn their pay, but their bosses ordered them to stand guard to the hold. They didn't want to miss out on the fun, but in the Old Blood, either you followed orders or were killed.

However, being voluntold to do something often took the wind out of people's sails, and it was no different for the two men as, trying to cope with their sheer boredom, they failed to notice the batarangs sailing through the air towards them. The man on the left heard a loud Clank! and turning his head saw that several bat-shaped pieces of metal were lodged in a pipe right next to his face. With steam letting out an angry, high-pitched whistle as it spewed out of the cracks, all he could do was mutter "Merda." Before the pipe loudly exploded in his face, throwing the first guard into the second guard into the wall, knocking them out.

"Well, that's one way to announce our presence." Kid Flash said to Robin, the two peaking around the corner at the unconscious guards. Robin looked at his friend and snorted. "Well obviously. On our way here, I saw some service hallways that led to catwalks in the hold. And while the other guards inside the hold come here to investigate the attack on the main entrance, we get an uninterrupted, all-access pass to the hold, which is where, according to that one guard we beat up, the bosses relocated after that monkey found them in the control tower."

Kid Flash grinned and gave two thumbs up. "Dude, genius!"

After some sneaking around, the two young heroes now hid on a high-service catwalk that ran the perimeter of the inside of the hold. Now that all the henchmen were gone, the freighter's hold was eerily quiet, and the hum of the engine and the clanking of machinery only added to the unnerving atmosphere.

The cargo hold wasn't too big, maybe half the size of a football field. While there were a handful of rusted, old crates here and there, most of the hold was empty. As the two heroes crept along the catwalk, they noticed that the center of the hold was occupied by a table with some playing cards and beer bottles on it, a creaky ping-pong table, and a desk where two men stood. Or rather, where one sat in a plastic folding chair reading an Italian newspaper while the other quickly paced back and forth, talking too quietly for the heroes to hear.

Robin silently dropped down off the catwalk into a roll, ending up behind a rusted crate. Kid Flash, followed Robin's lead, using one of the supporting beams for the catwalk as a fireman's pole, sliding down next to Robin. Together, they both edged forward silently towards the two men.

As the two snuck closer, Robin saw that these men were dressed strangely. While most mobsters he's encountered either stuck with the suit and tie routine or dressed in the theme of their boss, like Joker's henchmen, it was like these too were at their own Halloween party. The one pacing back and forth was a tall and lanky man with short, blond hair, but the most notable thing about him was the massive trench coat he wore. On the outside, there was a giant geographical map of the Earth, with continents and all. And every time the man turned around for another lap of pacing, Robin saw the inside of the trench coat was full of pictures of random places; from an office space to the inside of a restaurant to a beautiful beachfront. The list just went on and on.

And the second man was no stranger. He was older and shorter than the first man, with graying brown hair and a nose that had been broken too many times. He wore a normal suit and tie, except the entirety of his outfit was covered in a long, brown layer of fur that looked like it belonged on the coat of a dog or some other animal.

As Robin and Kid Flash watched, the two seemed to be in some sort of argument that went back and forth in Italian. Kid Flash said, "These must be the bosses they were talking about. Hey, are you getting anything?"

Robin nodded in thought. Next to all the physical and mental training Batman had put him through, he was also required to be able to speak several languages to go out as Robin. While he wasn't as proficient in Italian as he was in languages like Mandarin or Spanish, he could still follow a conversation.

"-don't understand how you're so calm about this." The taller man hissed. "When our men reported back, the ones who were still alive, anyway, they said the intruder was a man with a white suit and tie, wearing a blindfold. A blindfold!" An edge of panic edged into his voice. "You sit there, reading your newspaper, while The Destroyer will tear through our men like paper. And then, he will come for us!"

The older man leaned back into his chair, flipping through the paper idily. "I can't believe that you think that the bogeyman is real." He commented in the most bored, sarcastic, and condescending tone Robin had ever heard. "Some assholes with a boat got the jump on us." He paused as he seemed the think of something. "Just like in Captain Phillips." He said, chuckling to himself. "Perhaps it is the Coast Guard. Perhaps, it is some small-time drug-runners looking to make a name for themselves. It could be Santa Claus, for all I care."

He put down the paper, all mirth and humor gone. "But soon, their luck will run out. We will kill them. And then, we will kill their friends, and then their family, and then anyone who ever dares to breathe their name again. Because no one fucks with the Old Blood and thinks they can get away with it."

The taller man took a breath as if to ask a question, and the older man let out an annoyed sigh as he pinched his eyebrows in frustration. "And, if they are a Stand user, then Apeman has already taken care of them. Are you finished worrying?"

The taller man sighed in frustration and stuffed his hands in his coat pockets. Kid Flash leaned into Robin and whispered, "So, what's going on?"

Robin thought for a second, processing all he had heard. "Well, someone attacked the boat. Maybe it was the monkey? Anyway, the dude sitting down is super confident that the attacker is going to die. And he also mentioned a couple of other things," Robin whispered, running his hand through his hair. "My Italian isn't the best …but I think that he said something about someone named Apeman. Who uses clothing stands as a weapon." Robin sighed as Kid Flash raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, I know. But, when referring to the attacker, the taller dude name-dropped Il Distruttore, which is "The Destroyer' in English-"

"-Which is the name one of the goons gave us as the guy who did this." Kid Flash finished with a grin.

"Right," Robin whispered back. "So at least we're starting to get some sort of bearing on the situation."

Kid Flash leaned against the cargo crate they were hiding behind. "So, what now?" He whisper-asked. "Should we wait for the rest of the team to catch up? Because the taller guy is looking super punchable right now."

Robin tried and failed to hold back a snicker. "I think that we could totally take these guys on our-" Without warning, the main door flew open as a bruised and battered goon crawled through it, reaching out to the two mobsters for help.

But before he could call out, the same white and black monkey that the rest of the team had chased after burst through the doorway and landed on top of the head unfortunate goon. The weight of the monkey caused the man's head to slam against the deck, knocking him unconscious.

As the two mobsters turned in surprise to fully face the monkey, the rest of the team entered behind it, all of them spotting the two mobsters and making a rush toward the gangsters.

While the older mobster drew a handgun, the taller one's face fell, and just stood there as the heroes and monkey ran at the two. "It's over!" He wailed, turning to the older mobster, "There are superheroes here!"

Robin and Kid Flash vaulted on top of the crate they were hiding behind, fully in view of the two mobsters. "You guys mind if we crash this party?" Kid Flash quipped, smiling down at them.

The older mobster turned and aimed his gun at Kid Flash, but the taller mobster, in a surprising move, leaped over the desk that separated the two and tackled the older mobster while reaching inside his trench coat, yelling, "Around the World!" When they hit the ground, they disappeared from existence.

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