Young Justice: Rise of the Black Knight
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Chapter 5: Caged Animal
As Captain Hunter, Aegon and their newest addition, Knockout, entered the bridge, the ship's AI spoke in her smooth calm voice. "Captain Hunter, you've successfully recruited Miss Oak for your endeavour?" she asked.
"Haven't agreed to anything just yet," Knockout said before Rip could reply to Gideon's question. "You said something about other recruits?" she asked looking at the Englishman.
"Indeed, I did, Miss Oak," Rip replied. "Gideon, set course for Bangkok, Thailand!" he then called out.
"Setting course, Captain. ETA, forty-five minutes at cruising speed," Gideon said.
"Forty-five minutes, huh?" Knockout said before fixing Aegon a saucy look that set the young knight on edge. "Where's my cabin gonna be?" she asked. "I wanna break it in!"
"Plenty of time for that later, Miss Oak," Captain Hunter said with a grin. "For now, I'll need to tell you about our next recruit," he added as he sat at the captain's chair and pressed some buttons on the console. Then on the window screen the image of a beautiful young woman with snow white hair and dark brown eyes was shown wearing some urban camouflage pants, a blue sports bra and grappling gloves was shown fighting a man in a cage match.
"Rose Wilson, a wandering itinerant mercenary currently fighting in cage matches for drinking money in scummy dive bars throughout Asia," Rip rattled off the information on the screen. "She's the daughter of a Vietnamese prostitute and one Slade Wilson," he then said.
Aegon looked at Rip and asked, "And I'm supposed to know who that is?"
"Ah, right. I forgot you don't know who that is yet," Rip admonished himself. "Slade Wilson is one of the world's deadliest mercenaries and assassins for hire. He's known by his moniker Deathstroke the Terminator," he explained.
Knockout perked and said, "Ah, him. Heard of the guy, supposed to be pretty good in a fight. Never met him though."
"Slade tends to keep a low profile, but he's working with some very notable figures as a reserve member on their payroll, but we'll get to that later," Rip said before continuing. "Ms Wilson is a little aimless, having no real direction in her life. But her skillset and even the powers she inherited from her daddy are impressive. Hence why I want to recruit her," he added.
"What sort of powers does she have?" Aegon enquired.
"Due to a subconscious psychic connection to her father, Rose passively draws on her father's considerable combat skill and experience including, but not limited to, hand-to-hand combat, marksmanship, demolition engineering, piloting and she even has superhuman strength, stamina and a regenerative healing," Rip said.
"Impressive," Aegon commented. "I can see why you would want her part of this mission," he said.
"Indeed, but like I said, Ms Wilson wanders aimlessly and has no real direction. We're going to convince otherwise," Rip replied. "Now strap in, we'll be arriving in Thailand very shortly," he advised.
And sure enough, Gideon's voice spoke, "We've arrived in Bangkok, Thailand," she said.
"Excellent. Time to get to work," Rip said with a roguish grin before he looked at Knockout and said to her, "Do you have anything else to wear?" he asked. "Don't want to have to explain to the police why an exotic dancer is walking out and about," he explained.
"You brought my stuff on here with you, didn't ya?" the redheaded woman said and the captain nodded.
"Alright. Gimme a few minutes," Knockout said before she left the room. Five minutes later, she returned wearing deep green coloured armour which consisted of a deep metallic green bodice that emphasized her natural curves and pushed her breasts up higher making her appear curvier than normal. A segmented plate kilt coloured a deep emerald colour with dark green almost black boots that a heel to them. Vambraces adorned her forearms and a studded shoulder pauldron sat on her left shoulder. And kind of tiara/helmet framed Knockout's face while leaving her hair open and flowing. Sheathed on her left hip was a sword in the style of a Roman Gladius shortsword but the overall design looked much more advanced than a regular human blade and a round shield in the style of a Greek hoplite hung over her back.
"Haven't worn this since I left Apokalips," the former dancer remarked. "What do you think? Too Wonder Woman?" she asked Aegon and Rip.
Aegon shrugged and said, "Wouldn't know who Wonder Woman is."
"It'll get the job done, but we might see about a wardrobe change for you in future," Rip said easily.
"Does the skirt make my bum look big?" Knockout then asked as she did a little twirl on the spot.
"…Nope. It looks fine," Aegon said non-committally.
"It looks fine?" Knockout raised an eyebrow at this.
"I'm in trouble, aren't it?" Aegon said in a deadpan voice.
"I'll expect an apology later!" Knockout said with a kittenish look on her face.
"In any case, time we get moving!" Captain Hunter said to them before giving the Waverider's AI some orders to stand by for pick-up.
"On me and don't wander off!"
Leaving the ship, the trio found themselves in an alleyway where the smell almost had Aegon gagging.
"Gods! The swamps of Braavos smell better than this!" he exclaimed. "Where are we?" he asked.
"We're in a less than reputable district of Bangkok and close to where we'll find our next recruit," Captain Hunter said looking unbothered by the smell, unlike Aegon. "This way." Captain Hunter then led them out of the alleyway and together they weaved in and out through the crowds of people on the streets, passing street vendors, beggars and numerous others besides.
They soon reached a dilapidated looking building where a small queue of people were lining up. Captain Hunter walked right to the front of the line where a rough looking man with his arms folded over his chest looked at him scathingly.
"Lemmy," Captain Hunter greeted the man cordially.
Lemmy sneered and spoke in a language that was foreign to Aegon's ears, but from the tone of the man's words, it appeared that Captain Hunter was not too welcome.
"Oh, come on, Lemmy, that was a misunderstanding and you know it," Rip said with a disarming grin to the bouncer. "Besides, you hated them just as much as I do," he added casually.
Lemmy grunted in response before speaking again, a little less gruffly but still not too pleased. After he said whatever he had said, Captain Hunter replied with, "I'm looking for Wilson. Is she here or not?" he asked.
Lemmy nodded slowly which Rip smile and say, "Good. I'd like to have a few minutes to chat with her if that isn't too much trouble," he said easily.
Lemmy then said something warningly to which Rip laughed and asked, "Me? Cause trouble? Why I wouldn't even dream of it." Lemmy sighed before nodding and stood aside, Rip then waved Aegon and Knockout over to follow him inside.
Entering the establishment, Aegon saw that the interior was a little more polished than the outside with what looked like a bar where patrons of the local variety. The bartender was a roly poly looking sort wearing a stained shirt and apron, cleaning a glass with a dirty rag. Aegon watched as Rip walked up to the bartender and exchanged words with him. Aegon then looked around the bar, feeling uneasy as roving eyes from the patrons appeared to scrutinise him and Kay. As if sensing his unease, Knockout stood a little closer to the young knight as if to ward off anyone who would approach.
Then Rip came back over and said to them, "We're on. Ms Wilson will be fighting in the next match."
"And where is the arena?" Aegon asked.
"Right here," Rip said gesturing to where some men were clearing some tables and chairs away and making a makeshift ring.
"Who is it that our recruit will be fighting?" Aegon then asked and Rip simply grinned at this. Realising it was he who was going to fight Rose Wilson, the knight gave an exasperated groan. "Are you going to have me fight all the potential recruits on your list?" he complained.
"Not all of them," Rip said vaguely. "Besides, as a Fable, you'll able to take quite a beating," he added.
"But… I don't think I want to… fight a woman," Aegon said lamely.
"Didn't stop you from fighting Miss Oak's former comrades," Rip reminded him.
"That was different," Aegon muttered a little sullenly. "I was put in a life-or-death situation," he rationalised.
"Well, try to look at this as a life-or-death situation then," Rip said reassuringly. "I trust you'll refrain from killing our potential recruit or doing her any serious harm?" he asked.
"What did I ever do to deserve this?" Aegon muttered to himself when Kay suddenly pulled him aside and whispered in his ear.
"Don't worry about it, pup. I've got a few pointers that might help you win this match," she whispered to him. "Now get ready!" she told him as she looked over his head and Aegon turned around to see Rose Wilson approach.
To be honest, this Rose Wilson looked a little dishevelled in Aegon's opinion. Her cheeks looked a little red, the sign of physical exertion or heavy drinking, the latter if the way she stumbled in her gait slightly was anything to go by. But she otherwise looked fit and strong with corded muscle and sinew in her arms and her exposed midriff looked flat and hard as an oaken shield.
"Best get ready, Aegon. This will be a bare-knuckle fight," Rip whispered to Aegon. "You know how to throw a punch, yes?" he asked.
"I know how to, yes," Aegon replied tiredly as he made to unbuckle his sword and handed it over to Rip. Knockout wrapped some boxing tape onto Aegon's hands as he mentally prepared himself for the bout.
Then the referee of the match came forth and began spouting off the rules in Thai language all of which sounded like gibberish to Aegon's ears. He really ought to learn the languages of this world so that he wouldn't be left of the loop if people decided to converse in a language he didn't speak.
Once the referee finished talking, a bell rang and Aegon was shoved forward into the ring by Knockout. His opponent looked at him, her gaze seemingly sharp yet uncaring at the same time; a small smile was on her lips and she said, "So, you think you got what it takes, huh?" An amused chuckle escaped before she added, "If you win this, I might let you buy me a drink."
"Let's get this over with," Aegon stated tiredly as he held his fists up in a boxing stance.
"Yeah… let's." Then in a blur of movement, Rose was suddenly in front of him and jabbed with her left fist.
"Urgh!" Aegon squawked out as he barely avoided the strike in time and blindly swung out a fist which was caught by his opponent and he was then tossed onto the floor. Grunting, Aegon got as quickly as he could and eyed his opponent who was laughing at him.
"Really? That all you got, pretty-boy?" she asked him mockingly as the spectators clapped and jeered at Aegon who sighed as he realised that he couldn't hold back against his foe.
Launching himself at Rose Wilson, Aegon swung his fists out as fast as he could hoping to get some kind of advantage over her. A few strikes landed on his opponent but she seemed to take them as if she didn't care for the damage and she avoided the others with the skill and reflex of a trained fighter. Suddenly, Rose then thrust out her knee into Aegon's midriff knocking the wind from him and stumbled backwards and into Knockout's arms. Rose Wilson laughed and threw her arms up in the air to cheers of the crowd.
"You're not doing too badly, pup," Knockout said to the young knight who looked at her in disbelief.
"I can't even seem to hurt her!" he exclaimed. "How am I going to beat her?" he complained.
"When she pulls back her right arm, punch her liver then follow up with a right hook," Knockout told.
"What?!" Aegon blurted out.
"Just do it."
Stumbling back into the ring, Aegon waited for his foe to attack again. True to Kay's word, Rose began to pull her arm back for a punch. Acting on the advice given to him, Aegon punched into Rose's liver making her gasp out in pain and double over. Aegon then followed up with a right hook to Rose's jaw. A resounding crack was heard as Rose fell to the ground. Aegon shuffled back, panting and he looked back at Knockout who nodded at him in approval.
Looking back at his foe, Aegon allowed her to get back up and this time she looked much more focussed, her defences tighter as she shifted into a martial arts stance before charging towards Aegon who held his arms in time to block a series of wild haymakers that sent vibrations down his arms that made his bones rattle and clench his teeth together in pain.
"Keep your guard up! Tire her out!" Knockout called out over the cheering spectators to Aegon.
"Easier said than done!" Aegon muttered to himself as Rose Wilson tried to pummel his arms that ached with pain as his opponent's superhuman strength came into play. In a fit of desperation, Aegon thrust his palms out shoving Rose back, making her stumble backwards. Capitalising on the opportunity, Aegon delivered an uppercut to Rose's jaw which made her grunt in pain and spit out some blood. She pulled her arm back to punch and Aegon then kicked her in the liver making her cry out in pain and double.
"Go for a headlock!" Knockout shouted to Aegon who quickly grabbed his enemy into a headlock. His left arm wrapped around Rose's throat and his right hand grasping his left wrist, Aegon went for a submission via lack of air. His opponent flailed her arms a little before suddenly grabbing his right ankle and with an almighty tug, Aegon was sent sprawling to the floor. Aegon gave a yelp of surprise as he suddenly lost his grip on Rose who leapt on top of him and began to rain a flurry of punches onto his face. Aegon grunted in pain as the blows rained down on his face and with a twist of his hips, he rolled over now on top of Rose Wilson.
Grabbing her by the hair, Aegon slammed the back of Rose's head into the wooden floorboards a couple of times, before punching her in the jaw. Getting back to his feet and stumbling backwards, Aegon spat out a mouthful of blood and spittle, wiping the residue off his jaw as Rose Wilson gave a groan and slowly rose to her feet.
Rose Wilson looked at Aegon appraisingly and said, "So, you can fight dirty, huh?" A bloodstained grin spread across her face as she added, "Guess I don't have to hold back then!" Then in a flash of movement, Rose suddenly disappeared and reappeared at Aegon's side, a wooden barstool in her grasp.
With a crash of splintering wood, Aegon was knocked over and he looked up to see Rose standing over him, a long broken shard of splintered wood in her hand.
"Guess you won't be buying me a drink after all," she said in regret as she made to stab Aegon in the heart.
Aegon didn't know what possessed him, but he flexed his hips upwards, his legs wrapping around Rose's waist in a scissor grab and with a twist, he sent Rose toppling over. The pair then rolled around on the floor, grappling and trying to get the upper hand. It ended with Rose on top of Aegon, her hands pinning his wrists above his head and her face close to his.
Her breath smelled sour of cheap booze and the smell was rather rank as the young knight looked his opponent in the eyes.
"Pretty eyes for a pretty boy," Rose said almost lecherously. "But I don't lose easily," she declared.
Acting on some strange urge, Aegon suddenly pressed his lips to Rose's eyes. Rose's dark brown eyes went wide with surprise and fell back with a squawk of alarm, her grip slackening. Wrenching his arms free, Aegon spun Rose around onto her front and pinned her in place.
Rose Wilson was so stunned by this that she tapped the floor with her free hand and the referee declared the match forfeit, much to the spectator's roars of disapproval.
Releasing his grip on his opponent, Aegon stumbled back towards Knockout and Rip Hunter. "Nice work!" the Englishman congratulated the young knight. "Didn't know you had it in you," he said.
"You thought I wouldn't win?!" Aegon demanded looking offended.
"Well, if Ms Wilson hadn't been drinking beforehand and took the fight seriously in the beginning, then you certainly wouldn't have survived," Rip replied. "Eyes up. She's coming over to you," he said in warning.
Aegon turned around and saw Rose coming towards him, an unreadable expression on her face. "That was a good fight," she said to him noncommittally as if she didn't care in the slightest. "Been a while since anyone's beaten in a brawl," she added casually.
"Erm, thank you, my lady," Aegon said awkwardly trying to be chivalrous despite having acted very unknightly a moment ago.
"Care to buy a lady a drink?" Rose then asked.
"I, uh," Aegon hemmed and hawed when suddenly Rip Hunter shoved a wad of foreign currency in his hands.
"Enjoy yourself, son," Rip said with a conspiratorial wink.
Aegon looked at Captain Hunter in disbelief before looking at Rose who was now smiling. "You wanted a drink?" he asked her awkwardly.
"Yeah, I believe I do," Rose said with a grin as she looped her arm around Aegon's and led him over to the bar.
TO BE CONTINUED…
A/N: There! Third chapter of this is done and dusted! Sorry I had to cut it off then and there, but next chapter we'll see Aegon hopefully recruit Rose for whatever it is Rip is planning to do, then we'll move onto the next recruit which might be Roxy Rocket or perhaps someone else of the more good variety, like say, Raven or Starfire perhaps? Either way, I do have plans to bring in Raven and Starfire respectively.
In other news, I've got the idea of an Elder Scrolls/Power Girl crossover and I've set up a poll on my profile of what kind of setting it should be and so far, a Fallout setting seems to be the most popular, but then again, I only set up the poll a few hours ago. So, feel free to cast your vote if you want, I shan't force you to, but I would appreciate it if you did.
The next update I'm planning, or trying to, is my Harry Potter/The Mummy crossover, but it's slow going as I'm trying to hash out what I can do to make the story different from the canon of the Mummy movies. Obviously Harry's Parseltongue ability will play a part in it, not to mention his magical ability coming to Imhotep's attention. One idea I had in regard to Harry's Parseltongue gift was to use some elements of Monster Girl anime/manga is the Lamia Nation due to their ties with the Egyptian magical community and the Medjai themselves to take an interest in Harry, but I'm not quite sure about that.
I always figured that in certain cultures around the world that have snake deities, Parselmouths would be revered and Lamia themselves would be a demi-human nation of note in the Magical world and if I ran with the idea, that Voldemort tried to solicit the allegiance of the Lamia Nation thinking that, in his arrogance, him being the Heir of Slytherin gave him dominion over all snake-kind, but the Empress of the Lamia Nation quickly kicked Voldemort out with what she considered a 'slap on the wrist' and sent word to all Lamia, Naga, Medusae and other Snake enclaves to not entertain Voldemort and his followers and furthermore issued a capture or kill on sight order and even the British Magical world their assistance in the first war against Voldemort, but you can guess how that turned out.
And I'm rambling as I often do, so I'll leave this here and see you all in the next one.
Be kind to one another,
Angry lil' elf.