Chapter Five

Bre-El

Several chairs flipped over as the people near the frozen table attempted to back away.

"Freeze, where you are!" A giggle followed her command. "Unless you want to chill out too!" She laughed harder as she froze a chair. "No, seriously. I'll stop with the ice puns. " Her throat cleared as she got her laughter under control. "I am looking for several doctors. No one will get hurt if you come peacefully with us. And when I mean with us, I mean my friends, who are currently moving around the floor. They're the big guys wearing blue masks."

Bre-El attempted to move out of the way as someone pushed into her. The person groaned and cursed as they wondered aloud, asking if they had hit a pole.

"...yes, I am Dr. Odysseus Royal." Bre-El shifted her attention toward her brother. Her heartbeat quickened. They were very careful when it came to keeping their identities hidden. When Bre and Thom learned about Superman upon returning from Krypton. The earth's population had a hard time accepting the superhero. They became even more divided when Supergirl joined him. Governments searched for their weaknesses. While various powerful organizations wanted to find some way to exploit them. As for the average person, some of them worshipped them as if they were gods. While others demonized them or were afraid of their power.

A voice responded, "Good, you're coming with us."

"Fine, don't hurt anyone," Thom calmly stated.

Bre closed her eyes. Every instinct in her body screamed at her to put a stop to what was happening. But, if she did that, she knew that people would get hurt. And their lives would never be the same. As far as they were concerned, they were currently saving more lives doing their jobs as doctors. Becoming the 'Super Twins' would be overkill.

Fingers gripped her arm and then tugged. Bre opened her eyes to find a man in a blue mask trying to move her. She relaxed her stance and allowed herself to stumble. "Please don't hurt me." Her voice took on a panicked tone to distract the man from what just happened.

"Dr. Penelope Royal? You're coming with us." The people around her stepped to the side as they tried to avoid the masked man's gaze.

"I'm a pediatric surgeon. Unless you have a child that needs to be operated on…" She froze as he raised his fist.

"Shut your trap, or you'll get a shiner, you feel me?" He tugged her forward.

Allowing the brute to manhandle her was one of the hardest things Bre had done in a while. But she had to play along. Halfway across the dance floor, she finally caught sight of the stage. A slim figure dressed in a navy-blue jumpsuit and wearing a light blue mask scanned the crowd. She kept a large water gun-looking weapon fixed on the people in front of her.

Several blue-masked men dragged a handful of individuals toward the stage. "Hurry up!" The woman shouted, and then she froze another table.

"Thirty seconds." A male voice spoke to Bre's kidnapper through an earpiece.

"Move faster." The brute picked up the pace. In the distance, Bre could hear the piercing sound of sirens.

Glass shattered above the dance floor. Bre glanced over her shoulder as Batman repelled down a rope toward the floor. As soon as he landed, he dove out of the way as an ice beam missed him by several inches. Half a dozen blue-masked men burst through the crowd to take him on. Brut continued to pull Bre's arm. They rounded several tables as they moved toward an adjacent hallway.

Bre continued to watch Batman use various judo moves to subdue his opponents. He moved with ease across the dance floor as he got closer and closer to the stage.

"Get out of there, now! Thundersnow!" The voice shouted into Brute's earpiece. Brute pulled a pair of goggles over his eyes as the lights went out. Screams from panicked gala-goers echoed off the ballroom's stone walls. They entered a staff corridor that led to the kitchen and loading dock.

Bruce

"What do you mean you saw me?" He picked up his pace.

"Are you sure you didn't fall asleep?" Alfred asked with a touch of concern in his voice.

"I know what I saw." Damien responded. "He disappeared through the skylight on top of the building. Do you want me to follow him?"

"Reports are coming in that there is some sort of kidnapping situation going on." Barbra's returned to their shared channel. "I'm attempting to hack into the 911 network to find out what is exactly going on."

"What about the security cameras inside the gala?" Alfred asked.

"It's all static." The sound of Barbra clicking the keys on her keyboard at a rapid pace filled Bruce's ears.

"Keep working on it." Bruce removed the cloning device from the laptop. "Robin, keep your distance. I don't want you going in there blind. Gather as much intel as you can before reporting back to me." Sprinting to the ledge of the building, he took out the Bat Grapple.

" Your bike is gassed up and ready to go," Alfred informed him. Taking the Bat Motorcycle made the most sense. Its maneuvering capabilities would allow him to move around traffic. He hoped that he wasn't too late.

Damien

Surveillance duty sucked. It was almost as bad as sitting through his language arts class. Well, if the old man wanted him to keep his distance... Determination took hold of Damien's mindset. He would maintain his distance, but from the rooftop of the gala.

With a quick tap to the side of his mask, Damien turned on the recording feature with one hand. With the other hand, he pulled out the Robin Grapple. Within a few seconds, he swung over to the other building to get a better view. As soon as his feet touched the roof, they flew out from under him, causing him to land on his ass. "What the hell?" Chills snaked up his arms from his hands. The roof was a complete sheet of ice. "When did this happen?"

Carefully, he got back onto his feet. It wasn't like he hadn't been paying attention. His focus was on watching the street-level activities. That's how he saw the frost on the windows. But this was next level. Gliding over to the skylight, he stopped short at the open window. Climbing gear that looked like what they used was tied up to the window's frame. "Amateur…" He focused his camera on the gear. Once he recorded everything in front of him, he peered over the side of the window. Below, a Batman fought several thugs wearing blue masks. "Who is this clown?" Damien zoomed in on the copycat. His fighting style was definitely like his father's; however, it was a little sloppy. "This idiot is going to get himself killed…" He smirked.

Maybe this would be more entertaining than he initially thought. Not wanting to miss anything, he got out a second camera to film the area surrounding the fight. Random frozen pieces of furniture scattered across the floor. Meanwhile, small groups of people huddled together. Moving over a few feet, he caught sight of the orchestra stage. A smaller figure stood with some sort of ice gun that reminded him of something that Mr. Freeze used. Damien narrowed his eyes. He could throw one of his ammunition disks at her feet. Sleeping gas could work. Pretty boring, but effective. A net would also work. She could also hit someone with that freeze gun if he messed up on his timing.

While he decided what to do, the lights in the ballroom went out. The panicked medical personnel screamed. Damien pressed the side of his mask to turn on his night vision. The woman on the stage sprinted toward the exit, followed by most of the masked men. The Batman copycat turned around in a circle. He pulled out night vision goggles from belt. Instead of following the retreating criminals, he turned back toward the hanging rope.

"Shit…" Damien pushed away from the skylight. He skated toward the side of the building where the villains were heading. He slammed into an AC unit, then pulled himself around its side.

Glancing back toward the skylight, the fake Batman landed where Damien had stood. With a flick of his wrist, the climbing equipment retracted, making it easy to collect. Sliding across the roof, Fakeman raced toward Damien's hiding place.

Damien clenched his jaw as he maneuvered his way around the AC unit. He then slid across an open space in the roof to get to the ledge. Climbing over the side, he landed on the windowsill below. Seconds later, Fakeman reached the ledge several yards to Damien's left.

Commotion down in the alley drew his attention. Several men in masks pulled sacks over the heads of men and women wearing formal attire. "Let's get moving, people; the cops will be here any second!" The woman with the Freeze Gun jumped into one of the vans. Tires squealed as the first of ten vehicles took off. The rest of the group forced the sack-wearing individuals into separate vans or SUVs. One by one, they took off. Some turned left while others turned right at the top of the alley. When only one van remained, a couple of thugs staggered out of the building. They supported each other as they limped over to it.

"Hurry up!" The driver shouted. "Get your asses in there or I'm leaving you behind!" The threat caused them to move a little faster, but not by much. Two guys jumped out of the back of the van and ran over to the injured thugs. They practically lifted them up and ran back to the van.

Damien narrowed his eyes as his camera caught sight of the various license plates. Not that getting their numbers would matter. The vehicles were likely stolen, or the plates were fake. Above him on the ledge, the fake Batman used a grapple gun to swing over to the next building. Upon landing, he sprinted across the rooftop as a hang glider formed from his cape. He jumped off that rooftop while his hang glider caught air.

Shooting his own grapple gun, Damien swung over to the same roof top.

"I'm on my way." The sound of his father's voice buzzed in his ears. " Updates?"

"You're too late. They're gone." Damien reported.

"What do you mean they're gone? Are you able to follow them?"

First, he wanted him to watch; now he wants him to follow them. Damien wished he would make up his mind. "Negative. They split up. They have five black SUVs and five vans. The hostages are in the vans. From what I can see from here, each vehicle has its own escape route."

"Robin's right. I'm using the traffic cams to track them. Sending you the plate number of one of the SUVs heading your way."

"Got it."

A horde of siren blaring police cars barreled down the road.

"Robin, return to the hideout."

"Yeah, okay, this part is boring anyway."

"I'll arrive at the pickup location in two minutes." Alfred crisply stated.

Damien gave the scene another quick glance in case he missed something. Not wanting to get held up by the cops, he took off.

Unknown Individual

Hidden on the rooftop that Robin recently vacated, she stepped out of the shadows. Touching her microphone, she announced, "The Brat's on the move."

" Is he following me?" the familiar voice of her big brother asked.

"Nope!" she emphasized the 'p' sound in nope. "Are you still in pursuit?"

"Affirmative." The wind made it a bit difficult for her to understand him. "I should be able to follow them to the base of their operations."

"Great… I'll let the rest of the Paladins know. Capella out." She pulled a cowl over her head, causing her cape to activate. Its stealth technology rendered her invisible.