Percy watched as Crock and Miss Martian iced their wounds.
While Percy and Crock were fighting, Miss Martian had been ambushed and struck unconscious in one blow at the same time Kaldur had been jumped, a coordinated assault. Percy gave her a pill from his belt to manage the pain, but he wasn't too sure how well it would work for a Martian compared to a human.
However, the catch to her wounds came in the fact that she got her brain rattled. She wasn't bleeding anywhere in particular, but the concerning note was she could no longer hold a telepathic mind link between so many people at once. Even holding one link made her grimace when she tried earlier.
It was a hitch to any plan going forward.
"I can still tether to one of you?" she begged, her gaze shifted from Kaldur to Crock. "I can still do it."
"I am sure you can, M'gann." Kaldur dismissed her. His arm rested upon her shoulder. "However, we cannot over-tax your mind after it has already been so severely damaged. The brain is a fickle thing. Pushing these limits could prove damaging in the long run."
"I can do it!" she pleaded. She sounded like a—well, a child because that's what they all were. Children fighting highly trained assassins and mercenaries.
"Honey." Roquette tossed the green alien a glance as she continued to type. "You need to listen to him. Head wounds are always worse than you think. It would probably be healthiest if you sat out from here."
"I can't. We have a job to do." M'gann looked at each of her team members. Desperation threatened to seep from her eyes as she held back tears.
"I know, M'gann, but this is a serious risk we would be undertaking," Kaldur tried once again. "It could prove fatal if your brain suffered an aneurism or worse."
"We don't even know if I am even really hurt."
"We don't even know if you are not hurt," Crock parroted. "Look, I get you. I want to get my lick back at them just as much as you do, but you went out-out. That means you need like a cat scan at least."
"But-but…" her green eyes fell on the blank mask of Orpheus. "Even you?"
Percy's brows furrowed under his mask. He knew she needed to sit out from here on, but how could he tell her without being a dick?
"You can not link more than two minds?" he signed to her.
"I can link with any one of you," she spoke in his head while her eyes scrunched close. Her hand flinched to her head before she stopped herself.
He saw it, though, as did everyone else.
"But only one?" he tried to emphasize.
He could see her willpower to stay in the fight fading from her eyes. She knew just as much as the rest of them did. She was done for the night.
She nodded weakly, a tear falling from her eye, "I still can help."
His heart clenched at her pain. She just wanted to be useful.
"No more risk," he signed. "You need medical help."
M'gann deflated as she melted into her chair, defeated.
"I can still help," she whispered, another tear tracked down her face.
"Of course, you can, M'gann," Kaldur swept in. He knelt beside her as he took her hands in his own. "We just need to find out how."
"How about before we do any planning," Crock cut in, "maybe we can identify who just attacked us first? I mean, we know, sure, they are affiliated with the League of Shadows, but do we have anything else on them?"
M'gann shrugged off Kaldur's comfort, pouting. He took it in stride as he stepped away from her, crossed his arm over his chest, and held his chin with the other as he thought about Crock's question.
None of them spoke as they racked their brains of the assassins they knew of. None of them fit the description of their assailants.
Percy, however, went to his PDA and the Batman database in particular. A few entry codes later, the screen projected before everyone who turned to watch as he scrolled the faces and masks of every affiliate of the Shadows.
"Batman has everyone on file, doesn't he?" Crock stepped closer to look at the screen. "Kind of… unsettling?"
"Batman has been in this business for many years. With his level of competence and skill, I am unsurprised that he has such depth of knowledge. I can only wonder if he has it on his allies as well?" Kaldur turned to Percy for an answer.
He shrugged. Batman totally did. However, Batman would never admit it, and he was an extension of Batman, so Percy could never admit it, either.
Instead, he went back to scrolling through the data to distract their minds with the main mission.
And it worked. Kaldur turned his eyes to the hologram, "The man I dueled had a hook on a retractable chain for a hand. White hair, as well. In his late thirties, maybe. Six foot."
Percy nodded as he applied what Kaldur knew as filters to sort the list. It was simple to click a checkbox under a list of hair colors and watch the faces and masks only show white-haired people. Then, another click and have it filter to only men who are thirty or above.
"That one." Kaldur pointed to a stony-faced man. It was a mugshot of a herculean man with short-cropped hair. "That is him all right."
Percy tapped the picture as a dossier appeared. His eyes drifted over the important bits. The assassin was named Hook. How fitting. Low threat. Force the chain hook to be thrown out and break said chain. Engage favoring the now weaponless left side of the man.
"Uh, what language is this in?" Crock frowned.
Percy and Kaldur frowned as they looked at the words again and then met each other's gaze.
"You can read this as well?" Kaldur's eyes were wide.
Percy nodded.
"That would mean… I understand now." Kaldur gave him a respectful nod—a formal greeting. Percy nodded back.
"Yeah, well, I don't," the huntress complained, still looking at the foreign words. "What does this say?"
Percy tapped a feature on his device. The legible words fell apart and flushed themselves away into a mosh of nonsense as they translated themselves from Ancient Greek to modern English.
"Hook, huh?" She read the words. "Well, that isn't exactly creative."
Kaldur instead read further on, "I can bait and break the hook. What of the one who attacked you two?"
"White and red mask. Maybe the mask is Asian in style? It looked like an animal face, like a feline. Green outfit with a hood. Some black hair was sticking out. Long. It came down over her chest." Crock described as Percy reset and applied new filters.
Only one masked individual showed.
"Cheshire," Kaldur announced. "Lethal. Medium to high threat based on environment. Skilled assassin. Weapons laced in Australian Box Jellyfish poison. Extremely deadly. Highly mobile and elusive. Target limbs and mitigate the area she can operate in."
"Batman has fought her before, hasn't he?" M'gann asked as she looked at Percy.
"She mentioned as much," his hands responded, the data hologram fading out as he did so before it came back once his hands steadied.
Percy turned to Crock to see if she wanted to share anything, but instead, he found her gaze steeled. A frown across her lips, and her eyes locked on one of the topmost lines. The lines that were typically associated with the assailant actual alias and not the code name they hid behind.
He pressed the translation button. The others shot him a glance as his eyes searched to where Crock's last lay.
Jade Crock. A.K.A. Jade Nguyen.
Artemis Crock met his side eye—a bundle of uncertainty and fear in her eyes.
She's afraid I will reject her for who her sister is…
He pulled down his mask.
"Trust." He mouthed to her.
A small smile, barely even there, overtook her fear as she nodded to him.
He turned back to his wrist device and quickly selected the names and relations of Cheshire and blacked them out. He then reverted the text back to English for the others to resume reading. No one commented on the few lines of blacked-out text, and Percy ignored the side-eye he got from Kaldur.
"So, Cheshire…" Kaldur started. "You were beating her, Orpheus?"
Percy shrugged. I wasn't losing.
"He blocked every kunai she threw." Artemis stepped in to explain in Percy's place. "Every hit he landed forced her to retreat. He even broke some of her fingers when she tried to redirect his punch."
Kaldur chewed on the words he had heard. His eyes danced back and forth as he mulled silent thoughts and plans between one ear to the other.
Finally, his gaze met with Orpheus', "If you were to face her one on one, could you beat her? While also protecting Roquette. alone?"
Could I? Percy frowned. I beat Bane, sure. However, he wasn't as fast and elusive as Cheshire. It was like fighting a punching bag. Cheshire? She was clay discs being launched at him that he had to punch through. No matter how many he broke, they would keep coming. Cheshire would be an endurance and skill fight till one of them messed up. Add in protecting someone? It was a disadvantageous fight.
"If you can, then the whole plan will revolve around you," Kaldur added.
She doesn't know I have powers yet… I still have tricks up my sleeve.
He looked to M'gann to translate, "I can. I need a smaller playing field, though."
"I saw an internet cafe this morning while we were biking. It looked to be a single room," M'gann offered. "Would that work for you and the Doctor?"
Percy nodded. It would be better than the open.
"I would have to transfer my work to their computer, and we will have to account for the time when we change locations. However, it should be better than this." She gestured to the monitor before her. "I imagine it would increase my upload speed as well, which will be critical."
"And where is The Fog as of now?" Crock asked.
Roquette opened a window and typed a few commands in.
"Just outside Gotham. They'll be at the Wayne Building in twenty to thirty minutes if they obey traffic laws. However, it also depends on traffic at this hour of the night."
"That isn't enough time, is it?" M'gann asked.
"I will need thirty to forty myself, depending on if we move buildings."
"Then, prep to move to the café. I will contact Robin to have him intercept the van before they can act. Maybe they can stop this all before your virus is needed. Either way, we will buy you the time."
"We can only hope," Roquette muttered.
"Wait, I am going with those two." Crock stepped next to Percy. "Me and Cheshire have unfinished business, too."
Kaldur shook his head, "That is not the plan."
"You don't understand. She's mine, too. We started the fight with her. We will finish it. Isn't that right, Orphie?" She looked to him for support.
Orphie? What did she call me?
He turned to her.
Her brow was set. Her hands clenched her bow as if it was a lifeline or she was going to break it. Her eyes had a fiery spark in them. She was ready for the fight…
However, he also saw a wounded sister wanting to strike back at her sister. A girl with an eye almost swelled shut, and a few arrows left in her quiver. A combatant who had already been bested twice over. A spark in her eye that led to rash actions and mistakes.
"The plan needs you and I together," Kaldur insisted, saving Percy from having to shoot her down. "The assassins will think something is amiss if we are both not present."
"And her?" Crock pointed at M'gann. "Where is she in all this?"
"She is the bait," Kaldur directed.
"Bait?"
"I'm the bait?"
"Yes," he said to both girls. "I assume you can still shapeshift despite your injury? That it will strain your body more than your mind?"
"It's second nature for me." She jumped at the chance to help. Her body contorted till she looked like Crock. "I mean, I can. It is not even a thought to do. See?"
"Then we got our plan. The three of us will be decoys. Our objective is to distract and buy as much time as possible for Dr. Roquette. Orpheus is the last line of defense."
"Won't they know something is up when he isn't here with us?" Artemis asked as she looked back and forth between the two boys. "Cheshire will know for sure."
"He could let himself be attacked and fake being knocked out?" M'gann offered.
"Cheshire wants to fight him," Crock said as she began to pace. "She won't let him just be knocked out. She'll make a game of it."
"How do you know this?" M'gann frowned.
Crock froze, eyes wide—err, as wide as they could be, with one almost swelled shut.
"I-uh. I don't. It is just a hunch," she forced a laugh out. "Yeah, just a hunch. She seemed offended that Orpheus broke her fingers. Plus, she said it was personal now or something. She'll be coming for him. I'm sure of it."
Kaldur nodded at her words, "Then we will act as if Orpheus is here with us. We will have to act as if we are the advanced guard before him and M'gann."
"We would need a single entrance room. No windows. No vents. Only one door," M'gann added.
"An internal hall classroom will be our best bet," Crock offered. "It would only have the door to the hallway."
"That could work. We would be stationed outside of it. M'gann inside posing as the Doctor inside, just viewable through the small glass in the door."
"And Orpheus?" Crock asked, turning to the demigod.
"Away with the real doctor, but they won't know that. They'll assume he is in there as the last line of defense just as he was before."
"I'm ready to move locations," Dr. Roquette announced as she unplugged a device from the computer and shoved it into her pocket.
Percy and company gave her a look and nodded.
"How do we know they aren't outside watching?" Crock asked. "They would see the ploy for what it was if they saw us move her."
Kaldur frowned.
The rest of the team watched as he started to pace.
"I am unsure," Kaldur whispered to himself.
It was a valid worry. The team had to assume they would be watching the exits, so how would they get by? They would have to fool three separate watchers.
They would need to perform a magic trick or a miracle to get out unseen.
Percy closed his eyes as he tried to think. Kaldur didn't have to be the only one to come up with a plan.
How would they create magic?
What did they have to do?
It was a follow-the-ball-in-the-cup moment, but none of the cups could have the ball. They would have to slide the ball into the sleeve when no one was focused. But how do you do that with two people and a single school?
No, it wasn't two people, it was five. And it wasn't a school, but a connection of exits.
Five balls and however many doors in the school, and they only had to make two of the balls disappear.
"I can do it," Percy signaled to M'gann. "I will need a distraction or three."
Kaldur leaned forward, "A distraction? What kind?"
:P LINEBREAK d:
"Ready?" Kaldur's voice buzzed in Percy's ear.
"Ready," M'gann responded over the comms.
"Artemis, you are first."
Percy held out his hand to the Doctor to take.
She took it slowly as she tried to even her breathing.
If they guessed the wrong door to exit on, they could be dead within ten feet of running to whatever weapons the assassins brought. If they were lucky and still wrong, he would have to fend off an attacker as he ushered her back inside as well. Yet, if they were right, they were golden.
One in three odds for success.
"We can do this, right?" Roquette turned to him. "It is just a short sprint into downtown?"
Percy nodded. It was a relatively short sprint. The average human would need to take a break or two. For the average demigod who doubled as a superhero, it would be simple.
"But what if they see us and they blow-dart me full of poison or something?"
Percy shrugged. Won't be your problem to fix anymore, then. It will be mine, Doc.
"Is running through the open really our best bet? Could we not take a car or something? What about the Batmobile? You are Batman's sidekick, right?"
Percy slowly turned to her. Perhaps it was better he wasn't able to speak. Nonetheless, he settled to shake his head, denying her plea for a car. It would be too loud and noticeable anyway. It defeated the whole point of sneaking away.
She sagged against the wall of the hallway. Her frazzled hair was the only thing he could see of her head as she refused to look away from the floor.
"I really wish you could tell me things are going to be okay."
Percy sighed as he reached into his utility belt and pulled out a Batarang he had recollected earlier. The metal had a small knick, but it remained useful. He brought it up for her to see and mimed using it as a knife to attack someone like they did in the Stab movies.
Batman would so not approve…
"I don't think I could stab someone," she whispered, staring at the edge of the Batarang. "I've never done that before. I can't."
That didn't matter, Percy wished he could say as he pushed it into her hand regardless. Your life or someone else's, and we have a lot riding on you.
Yet, Percy could not speak such words to her.
He started to force her hand to close around the Batarang, and her hand did the rest as it slowly closed around the multi-purpose weapon.
"Please don't make me use this." Her eyes pleaded against his mask.
Percy could only nod back. He didn't want her to use it either.
I will try. He told her in his head.
A silent promise he was willing to lay his life on.
Because she was just a professor at the end of the day, she had been kidnapped and forced to create a super weapon. Likely blackmailed and compelled by unsavory means to do so, and now she was free of them. Only to be told to code a stop to it while under another threat to her life. She was scaling a mountain of problems from one edge to the next. Problems she never signed up for in life, as he had when he chose to be the best hero he could be.
Now, here she was, scared and being told to run for her life with only a child to protect her.
Percy couldn't fault the terror in her eyes or the shaking of her hands. She was enduring a walking nightmare for any civilian.
But Percy was just on the job. Sure, assassins and city-eating robots weren't his standard, but it was all the same at the end of the day. Fight until someone drops. Then, deactivate the bomb in the last two seconds while you are at it.
I will keep you safe.
"M'gann, you are a go."
Percy's heart began to pump, adrenaline fueling his mind as he readied himself for a fight.
"All cups are in play. Orpheus, this is your chance," Kaldur directed. "Stay safe."
Ba-bump. Ba-bump.
Percy pulled the lower portion of his mask down. He took a long and deep breath, burying any nerves that wanted to creep up his throat.
He gave the Doctor a nod, then pulled his mask back up to the latch above his lips.
Percy carefully pushed the door open.
Nothing but a concrete path leading to a small paved lot before ending in a fence. There was zero cover and no one in the immediate area. Double checking, his HUD lit up, scanning everything he could see, identifying nothing of relevance. Even for safety, he swapped to thermals to see the absence of another's bodily heat in the immediate area.
He looked forward to where he would need to go next before committing to his line.
Moonlight, absent from his path, left only complete darkness for him to hide in as he escorted the Doctor out. Things were looking up. He would have to thank Lady Artemis for the assistance the next time he offered some grub to the gods.
Percy pulled on the woman's hands as he began to creep out of the building.
The enhanced hearing of the suit could pick up on Crock and Aqualad fake-arguing at a different building exit about nothing. He could hear Miss Martian on the roof speaking to no one as well, carrying on a conversation with herself.
The assassins would watch those three if the plan worked as intended. The three cups… Percy could only hope they were too distracted to see the slip up the sleeve as he led the VIP into the dark of the night.
Eyes on a swivel, the thermal scanning found no one. Not even a soul on the distant treeline.
Where were they? They had to be near…
They had to be on some vantage watching… or did they actually retreat and regroup?
Percy and Roquette vanished from the school's perimeter and came upon a chainlink fence that Percy easily cut through. He stopped it from rattling as the wire caught on the doctor's shirt. He glanced around once more to see no one. Turning back to the Doctor, he held a single to his lips, reiterating the silence they needed. She nodded and crept through the hole.
Percy next led them into the field that surrounded the school. Thankfully, it had yet to be mowed, and they ducked their heads through the tall grass as crickets chirped and buzzed around them. The grass was high enough that it would likely take a tractor to cut it, but that wasn't really here or there. It worked in his favor, and that was what was important.
Percy took a moment to pause, turning to his VIP, who was panting. At least she wasn't wearing heels…
He paused at the first tree he could to allow the Doctor to catch her breath as he scanned the path they came from. Still, zero heat signatures followed in their wake. Zero heat signatures in the surrounding area.
They made it out.
They had made their way out of the school grounds. The ball had been hidden in the sleeve.
He gave a quick beep beep on his comms device by activating his call on and off twice to indicate they were clear of the school grounds. The three of them left behind could return back indoors now. The magic trick was over.
Now, all that was left was getting Roquette to the internet café.
"How much more do we have to go?" she panted as she sat against the tree. "You said this was a short trip."
Percy shrugged. He actually didn't say a word.
Instead, Percy pointed towards the distant lights in the distance. The main town would be over a mile from where they were.
"My legs are going to kill me in the morning," Roquette whined, rubbing her calves.
Percy glanced back to the school. His team had to be back inside by now if they stuck to the plan.
He checked the roof, pressing to the side of his mask to zoom in. Infrared picked up no one as he scanned the perimeter of the school.
Where were the assassins?
"Are we in the clear?"
Percy only just began to nod when he finally saw it.
Three figures emerged from the distant growth.
Three assassins resumed their mission.
AN: Hope you enjoyed it! Leave a review, follow, and favorite.
I know my writing is inconsistent, but life is a challenge for me. However, I am making great efforts to improve the amount and quality of work I write a month. However, that comes at the cost of word count. I don't know how greatly that affects you when you read. However, writing and, more importantly, editing have been greatly easier and healthier for my mental when I've not exceeded the 5k word count a chapter. I have four other chapters for other stories I am currently editing as I go to post this chapter. However, if I kept to my longer-running chapters, I fear I would still be facing the hurdle of editing the mass of words.
I am a solo writer/editor at the end of the day, so I appreciate the patience many of you have for my process. However, as mentioned, I think I have found a way to benefit us all, so I am going to try and move forward with that for now.
(I might also be starting more fics to over-encumber myself with.)
That's about it.
-Manke
