Hi Guys!
Happy Lunar New Year!
Let me start off by apologizing for the late entries, once again I just lost track of time with being busy and all. From now on I'm just gonna post when I can instead of keeping you guys waiting. I promise to update more when I have the time.
That being said Chapter 20 is our season 2 Finale.
This is a light hearted chapter but rest assured it sets up some new storylines we will cover in the future.
Also, there is some surprise artwork from my friend Bia. I know you guys can't see it here but feel free to check out the A03 version of this story so you can see it, you're in for a treat!
I hope you guys enjoy it and I'll see you at the end!
Chapter 20: Fight to the Finish Part 3
The music pounded loudly with its melodious glory entrancing both Virgil and Nia to dance along with it. Both youths were grinning and laughing steadily as the audience gathered around them.
Who knew Dance Dance Revolution was the perfect way to end the night?
After a day of alien invasions, jailbreaks, sinister doctors and battling paragons, the normal pizza and movies combo just wasn't going to cut it.
The needed solution was something bigger, much more extravagant.
That's when Garfield led the group to Jeremiah's tavern in the Tomorrow District. Unlike most upscale bars in New Metropolis this one came stocked fully with it's own video game playground. From Pac-Man, to Dig-Dug to Mortal Kombat, this arcade had been fully equipped to handle every taste that a gamer could possibly have.
Once the duo found the game they were interested in, they began to play to their heart's content. On Virgil's side of the booth he had a nineties R&B classic booming while Nia's side featured some good old Spice Girls tunes. Although dancing to different soundtracks both besties kept there eye on the scoreboard as they effortlessly hit every button that they needed too. Within no time the friends had garnered half of the bar patrons who were more than eager to see them break the games world record.
"Order up!" On the other side of the bar a blonde waitress could be heard as she set a tray of ten drinks in front of Garfield, Ryan & Ryan Choi.
Unlike the energetic Virgil and Nia, the trio had nowhere near much energy. Garfield had his head buried on the table top while Ryan and Ryan Choi were resting their heads atop of one another.
"Hello!" The waitress spoke out before banging on the table. Instantly this action caused the group to awaken from their slumbered state. "Here yall go, nine beers and a glass of motor oil!"
"Ugh dude what time is it?" Garfield questioned before a dramatic yawn suddenly escaped his mouth.
Garfield's inquiry was just as unknown to Ryan as she looked around the bar, unsure of many things. "Forget what time it is, what year is it?"
"Hey wait a minute, where's Lunar?" Ryan Choi wondered as no sight of the Piparoid could be seen.
"In the bag!" She gestured toward her personal belongings which were beside Garfield on his side of the booth.
"Seriously?" Garfield & Ryan Choi found themselves looking toward Ryan's purse for answers. Sure enough as she described the tiger cub was fast asleep using a sweater as a blanket and her tampons as a pillow.
Ryan couldn't help but chuckle slightly as she glanced at Lunar's innocent frame. "Guess he's had a long day!"
"We all did!" Garfield exclaimed before he broke out into a massive smile. "But it wasn't all bad, at least we had help in kicking Darkseid's ass!"
"Which reminds me, I've got something for you Ryan!" She added as she turned her attention to Ryan Choi.
Ryan Choi would never get the chance to ask what she wanted as the woman suddenly planted a quick smooch across his cheeks. The kiss, although quick, was welcoming to him as she left a bright lipstick mark on his face.
Ryan Choi found his face turning bright as a cherry tomato as he adjusted his collar."W-W-W-W- what was that for?"
"For coming to my rescue, without you Gar wouldn't have known I was in trouble!"
"Yeah RC, you really came through for us man!" Garfield said.
"RC?" Both Ryan Choi and Ryan Wilder gave the young adult a perplexed look.
"Just a nickname, I figure it's gonna be difficult having two Ryans on the team!"
And just like that Garfield's one statement caused Ryan Choi's spirit to be uplifted.
"Gar we didn't even ask him yet!" She scolded
"Well now's a good time as any Mama!" Although Ryan wasn't in agreement with Garfield at first, both friends found themselves grabbing their drinks before extending them out toward Ryan Choi. "What do you say man, would you join us in stopping Darkseid?"
Ryan Choi felt like he was going to melt in his seat as the gratitude and gesture overwhelmed him. From behind his boxy glasses the scholar fought back tears of happiness as he looked at the elated expressions of his new friends.
Just this morning the jaws of depression had a firm grip on him.
No Ray, no career, no money and more importantly no purpose in life. With everything hitting him at once, the youth fully believed he was done for. He had it in his mind that he would spend the rest of his life a wandering soul, doomed to never find himself again.
All of that negative thinking was foolish however.
Garfield, Ryan and Lunar had eclipsed the sadness that had tainted his spirit. By working with them he not only had fun, but he also found a new reason to keep going.
Protecting those that could not protect themselves, that was his new goal.
He might not have been a true hero like the Atom, but he could still use his smarts to help Moon Fang the best way he could.
As all of his thoughts came neatly back together, Ryan Choi found himself lifting his own beverage before clanking it with that of his comrades. "I accept!"
"Welcome to the then team, RC!"
While Ryan & Ryan Choi started to drink from their glasses, Garfield surprised the two by suddenly getting to his feet while gathering his belongings.
"Where are you going?" Ryan Choi asked. "I thought this was a celebration!"
"Uhh well it is but I kinda have somewhere else I have to be." Garfield sweatdropped as he looked away sheepishly. "Raven's gonna be out of the hospital soon and yeah know the whole five year thing."
As Garfield tried to avoid making the situation more awkward, Ryan couldn't help but make an all knowing face. "Someone's gonna be romantic tonight!"
"Shut up!" Garfield playfully said as he softly punched his friend on the arm. "I'll see you guys tomorrow!"
"See ya!" Both Ryan's bid him adieu as he left through the doors of the tavern.
Tomorrow he promised or perhaps it would be the next day or possibly a week from now.
If he were being honest with himself, he wasn't sure when he'd meet up with them. He had five years to catch up with Raven, and he planned on savoring every romance filled moment.
As he started walking with his head held up toward the New Metropolis night stars, Garfield thanked the heavens above that he would have all the time in the world with the woman that he loved.
With her once again by his side, they would recover from this. They would defeat Darkside and finally have the future that they wanted with one another so badly.
-Apokolips-
-Dessad's Lab-
"Are you absolutely sure you want to pursue this Granny?"
Normally Dessad was not one to question Granny's orders but this time he found that he could not resist. She burst into his laboratory, with an expression he had never seen on her face before, an expression that members of Apokolips weren't supposed to have.
It was fear.
"Just hurry up and show me this project you've been working on!"
"As you wish!" Compiling with her commands, he started to scan his hand across a variety of buttons on his machinery. "I take it that things on Earth haven't gone according to plan?"
"Those dimwitted Paragons are out of contact, and the master is getting impatient!"
Dessad merely shook his head as he grasped the variety of the situation. With the rampant threats that Apokolips has been receiving from Yuga Khan as of late it was no wonder that Darkseid was getting impatient. Without the Paragons to answer for their failures this also made sense as to why Granny looked so tense.
"Unfortunately Project Nova isn't complete due to our test subject having more willpower then expected." Dessad explained. "However I have a side project I've been working on that's sure to please you!"
As he finished typing the sequence of buttons, Dessad and Granny turned their attention toward the center of the room. Dessad's commands had started to open up the floor while a large cage started to emerge from the underground. As Dessad's invention started to fully emerge into the room, Granny's face turned sour as she saw what was trapped inside.
"Is this some kind of joke, Dessad?" Granny's voice was venom laced as she addressed him. She hoped Dessad's so-called project to be something useful to her cause but much to her annoyance the cage itself was filled with two parademons.
"Looks can be very deceiving Granny." He calmly answered
"My eyes don't deceive me Dessad!" She spat. "This is what you've been wasting countless hours on, more of these useless Parademons?"
"I assure you, my Nitrodemons are anything but useless!"
"Nitrodemons?"
"Yes, allow me to demonstrate!"
With a simple snap of his fingers Dessad commanded the Nitrodemons to go to work. From inside their cage, the beastly creatures let out a savage hiss before the entire bodies began to glow.
Granny Goodness watched with sudden interest as unknown energy had started to form around them. In one swift motion the Nitrodemons opened their jaws, unleashing powerful bolts of lightning that blasted away the cage bars from its hinges. Now free from their confines the parademons began flying about the room at increased speeds that were quicker than anything Granny had ever seen before.
"Stop!" Dessad commanded the Nitrodemons who ceased flying immediately.
"Color me actually impressed!" She said
"As you should be!" Dessad replied arrogantly. "My Nitrodemons are reinforced by the alien shell we dissected from Blue Beetle and powered by the speed force energy were currently siphoning from Kid Flash!"
"How many of these creatures can you make at a time?"
"Enough to cause Moon Fang some massive agony, it'll be even better once I've unlocked the secrets of the Speed Force itself!"
"It's settled then send the Nitrodemons to earth." She bellowed. "If our Paragon warriors can't capture that brat then we'll have to do it ourselves!"
-Janus Cosmetics-
"I really hate that Wilder girl, achoooo!" Enigma's body rocked forward as the germs coursing through her nose forced her to sneeze. Of course she hated Ryan, anybody would after being frozen inside a block of ice by her. Even after escaping her predicament, Enigma knew it was only a matter of time before the fridge temperature caught up with her body.
Burning forehead, coughs, frequent chills and sneezing were all conditions that made Enigma aware that the flu invaded her body the moment it got the chance. Unable to carry out much of her duties, the psychologist excused herself toward the private library that was stationed deep within the basement of Janus Cosmetics.
Sitting comfy in a vintage leather armchair, Enigma kept her feet submerged in a warm bucket of water while a checkerboard quilt was draped over her skinny frame. Treating herself to a dainty cup of tea, the woman now sat in front of a roaring fire as Roman was busy ruffling through her bag.
"Pick your poison, you've got liquid cough and Ibuprofen in here?" Roman addressed as he held both small bottles directly in front of her face.
"For this I'll take both!" She commented before swiping both of the medications.
"I gotta tell ya, you had me worried for a second!" He confessed before parking his rear end in a chair that was next to her. "You get trapped in Brainiac's bottle, get frozen solid by Wilder and yet you get back here in one piece with the trophies and our new members, how'd you do it?"
"I can't take all the credit!" She admitted with a sly smile. "A little firebug named HotStreak unthawed me, after that it was just a matter of gathering my assets and using mirror master's gun to escape!"
"Perfect timing no less, I thought I was gonna have to break you outta Strykers before we head to Gotham!"
Just the mention of the infamous dark city made Enigma choke on her tea. As the psychologist ended up in a fury of violent coughs, she turned her widened eyes to Roman for an explanation. "What the hell do you mean we're going to Gotham?"
Roman slapped his forehead hard upon realizing he let the cat out of the bag. He had meant to break the news to Enigma gradually as she hated Gotham with every fiber of her being.
"Just tell me why?" She whined loudly. "Why on God's green earth are we going to that sorrowful wasteland?"
Fearing he would not be able to talk his way out of this, Roman quickly ejected himself from the library. Enigma watched with curiosity as he departed from her, only to come back a few minutes later carrying a large manila folder. Now back in her presence, Roman tossed the file to her before lighting up a cigar that he had also retrieved.
"What is this?"
"Our Snakebite operation fell through in Gotham." He explained. "Cobblepots coming under fire for it so something got to be done before the cops get to the truth!"
At first glance Enigma found herself uninterested with the files as she began to shift back and forth between them. Several minutes would pass between the duo before things started to change. As Enigma got further and deeper into the paperwork her expression kept morphing gradually. First discomfort, then annoyance and then disbelief. By the time that she had reached the last of the pages her expression was unreadable as she kept staring at Roman, looking for answers.
"Before you ask, no we don't know who they are!" He confessed with an innocent wave of his hands. "Secondly just know we have to deal with this problem personally before it gets out of hand."
"How the hell was Batman able to hide this?"
"Successfully I imagine, from what I heard he was a paranoid kind of guy!"
"So what do we call them, Justice League lite?" Enigma scoffed
"According to my source they call themselves the Outsiders!"
"The Outsiders?"
-Ace O' Clubs-
"We're so screwed man!" Paragon Scorch wept. Pacing about the room in circles, the fiery warrior kept repeating the same statement while trying to grasp his thoughts over the dire situation. While he was doing this Sparrow, Saber, Taurus, Hydro, & Thrust sat in a circle with equally dejected looks plastered upon their faces.
It was hard to believe, but it actually happened.
They had failed Darkseid yet again.
The SkullShip had been destroyed, their hideout was in shambles, Black Siren defected and they lost the single Boom Tube controller granny gave them.
There was no escaping it.
A hellish ending from their masters' powerful omega beams was to await them when they gave their status report.
"We need to run, hide, anything but be here right now!" Was Scorch's next suggestion as he stopped pacing and faced the others.
"Where would we go?" Hydro asked.
"I dunno man anywhere but here, I don't want to be in the same room when Darkseid or Granny figure out how badly we screwed up!"
"Stop your whining Scorch!" Sparrow suddenly barked. "When it comes down to it we'll just blame Taurus!"
"Me?" Taurus angrily questioned as he gave Sparrow a murderous glare. "You can't put this whole thing on me!"
"It was your plan to resurrect the SkullShip fool, you should've known it was gonna bring Brainiac back!"
"I told you I had it under control, nobody asked you to stick your fat nose in my business!"
"No Fight!" Like many times he had done before, Thrust found himself placing his bulky body between the duo to stop their bickering.
"Ya know I'm gonna have to side with Sparrow on this one, it was your plan Taurus!" Hydro stated.
"Yeah you're the reason we're gonna get fried into bacon!" Scorch added.
"Fuck off all of you!" Taurus spat.
"Watch your mouth tin can!"
"Tin can I'll show you whose a tin can!"
The quick temper had once again prevailed over the Paragons as Sparrow & Taurus began to physically tussle in the center of the bar. While Thrust continued to play peacemaker, Scorch kept wallowing in pity next to a very exasperated Hydro.
The entire scene in itself was more than a frustrated Paragon Saber could bear. Not wanting to get swept up in the intense argument, the soldier found himself walking toward the destroyed remains of the bar counter where Paragon Vipress was.
While the boys were busy arguing like children, Vipress remained quiet. It wasn't until Saber got close to her that she decided to let out a loud bored sigh.
"I must say you're taking this rather well." Saber said
"Why shouldn't I,I'm not the one who failed after all!"
The statement in itself caused Saber to raise a curious eyebrow. Because they were one group, they were all judged the same. If one of them failed Darkseid it meant that they all failed him. With the whole room being in a state of constant tension and panic, it surprised him that she could remain eerily calm.
Was that Vipresses usual arrogant demeanor peeking through or was something else going on that she wasn't telling?
"By the way I might need to borrow you later." She admitted.
"For?"
"A little game that I have planned for Moon Fang!" A sickly sweet smile appeared on her face as she turned her sights toward a broken overhead clock that was still displaying the time. "If my calculations are correct, the special guests for the game should be getting picked up right about now!"
Although many questions were going through Paragon Sabers mind, he couldn't help but nodded approvingly at Vipress. Whatever game that she had planned for him, he secretly hoped it would put the Paragon's back on the right side of their master.
-Elsewhere-
-Downtown New Metropolis-
"Cliff, get up Cliff!" Even with a super powered fist wrapped tightly around his throat, Negativeman still tried to shout out to his teammate. Even throughout the darkness covering the New Metropolis streets he could see the limp body of Robotman knocked out on the cold pavement.
He couldn't understand what was happening.
He & Cliff were assigned cleanup duty in order to get the SkullShip fragments off the streets before civilians found them. At first the job was as dull as to be expected, but as the night went on the duo found themselves dodging the unpleasant feelings that they were being watched.
Their worst fears were confirmed as a figure emerged from up the shadows to cover themselves, the figure flew at the two with enhanced speed. After making quick work of Cliff with a few super powered punches, the unknown enemy turned their sights on Negativeman.
The Doom Patrol member would never get the chance to counter attack at all and before he knew it he was in the grasp of the figure. Although he was losing consciousness, Negativeman held strong trying to keep his sights focused.
Who was this enemy?
Where did they come from?
and more importantly why did they attack them now?
Fortunately for Negativeman his willpower shined through even in this impossible situation. As his body started to succumb to the lack of air, he got a quick glimpse of the person that attacked them. The hero gave a frightened gasp as he soon recognized a familiar set of glowing red eyes combined with that of a single 'S' symbol stitched across the enemy's chest.
End of Chapter 20
Well there you go guys! Chapter 19 & 20 and the official ending of Season 2!
Once again I apologize for updating you guys so late, that was not my intention.
Just a few things before we go!
First off Season 3 AKA Chapter 21 will premiere probably toward the end of February. I need time to work on other writing projects plus I need a few weeks of a mental reset as I've been bogged down with a lot of stuff.
In season 3 you'll see.
More BBRAE Romance ( Which is the reason I purposely left romance/interaction out within this chapter, I wanna save the good stuff for later)
Gotham (I've been wanting to explore other regions beyond New Metropolis for quite some time and figured Season 3 is the perfect way to do this)
The Outsiders (Can't wait for you to meet them)
More cute Lunar moments! (Also we will be digging into Lunar's background a bit as Garfield learns more about his role as Moon Fang)
More Evil Baddies!
Season 3 is literally going to shake up the formula of this story. I wanna keep things fresh and interesting while hopefully attracting more readers.
As always I wanna thank Bia for the amazing artwork she did for this chapter. I want to thank you guys for being patient with me and more importantly I want to thank you for reading.
I'm getting a lot of support for this fic and it's just so overwhelmingly awesome, thank you!
If you guys can please leave me a review that would be appreciated. I really enjoy hearing what you guys have to say and I do take requests of things that you want to read. If you can't leave me a review feel free to leave me a bookmark or a kudo. Anything helps!
Until Season 3 starts, I wish you guys a happy Lunar New Year!
Be safe, healthy and share peace and love!
Arigato!
Z