Hi everyone! I told you I was updating sooner! So, here's part 2!
Deadshot rolled away from Superboy's fist, the Kryptonian's strike demolishing the ground where he once was. On instinct, Deadshot unleashed the bullets from his wrist-mounted guns. Though Superboy stumbled, he remained standing and grabbed Deadshot by the chest. "Shi- "
Superboy then tossed Deadshot into a tree across the other side of the field. Confident in his victory, Superboy leaped towards him. Deadshot, however, was ready; reaching behind him, he threw a small contraption at him. Like a spider, the device sprouted legs that ensnared Superboy and ran an electric current through him. "AHHH!" Superboy fell to the ground in pain. While he was invulnerable to blunt-force trauma, he was still a living being who could be electrocuted.
"Not my style, but I didn't have any Kryptonite on me; so, this will have to do. Have fun!" Deadshot waved as he ran down the hill, making his way towards a motorcycle he rented. Superboy gritted his teeth as he reached for the device. The voltage was probably enough to kill a normal person ten times over. Through sheer will-power, Superboy managed to pull it off. Superboy breathed deep as he looked down the hill, forcing himself to stand up. It looked like Deadshot was going to reach the palace before he did. Sighing, Superboy made haste towards the palace as well, making his great strides.
The team hurried down the hall. "In here!" Aqualad ordered them, as they hid out in what seemed to be a guest room.
"Who the heck was that guy!?" Naruto shouted.
Sakura quickly inspected his stomach, as her eyes widened in surprise. "You're...fine." While his body was stained, Sakura could not find any visible lacerations.
"His name is Ben Turner." Robin answered. "However, he goes by another name: Bronze Tiger. He's an assassin."
"Yeah, I think that was pretty obvious." Sakura nodded as Naruto tucked his shirt in.
"It's my understanding that Bronze Tiger confronts his targets directly with his martial arts skills." Aqualad said. "So, someone else is bringing the roof down on us and trying to shoot the Queen." He concluded. "He's not alone; either he is working together with others…or competing with them."
"Merlyn and Deadshot." Miss Martian spoke into their minds, still hooked up to them. "I confronted Merlyn himself, but he gave me the slip. And Superboy confirmed he's after Deadshot."
"Well, that's just perfect." Aqualad sighed.
"Who are you talking to?" Perdita asked, clearly perturbed by his behavior.
"Psychic conversation." Zatanna explained. "Trust me, I understand. It takes a while to get used to when you're not included."
"Just what kind of assassins are Merlyn and Deadshot?" Sasuke asked.
"Merlyn is an archer, like Green Arrow and Artemis." Robin explained. "He probably made trick arrows of his own for this mission." Robin said. "Deadshot, on the other hand, is a firearm expert. He is CRAZY accurate with his guns. He doesn't miss unless something gets in his way." Looking to Naruto, he nodded "Good job on that one."
Naruto chuckled nervously. He briefly felt from the clone the shockwave from the bullet going through it. "Truth be told…that felt terrifying…"
"Vertigo." Perdita hissed. "It must be."
"Probably." Artemis agreed. "Unfortunately, we don't have any hard evidence against him. Right now, our priority is to keep you safe. And somehow take these guys down."
"Where is Kid Flash?" she suddenly asked. "I thought you were all friends." She began to get nervous, even upset maybe. "Did he-?"
"KF WANTED to come." Robin assured her. He figured she would look up to the speedster after saving her life; maybe even develop something of a crush on him. "Something came up, and he simply couldn't come with us on the mission. But I promise, we will protect you. He would never forgive us if we let anything happen to you."
She looked around, seeing the strangers around her. "Okay." She sighed. "If Kid Flash would trust you with my life, then I shall trust you with mine."
"Believe it, we're not going to let anything happen to you!" Naruto pumped his fist towards her.
Perdita only gave him a puzzled look. "Uh…thank you?"
"We can't stay here." Aqualad interrupted. "We have three assassins hot on our tail, and it's only a matter of time before they find us."
"So what now?" Zatanna asked.
"First priority is to get Perdita out of here." Aqualad said. "Afterwards, we will take out the assassins if necessary." They nodded. "Miss Martian, we're at the North Hall!" Aqualad called telepathically.
"Merlyn's on your way, Bronze Tiger coming up from behind! I'll join you in a minute."
"Let's move!" Aqualad commanded, kicking the door down. The team ran behind him, and soon indeed, Miss Martian crashed through a window.
"Incoming!" Miss Martian held out her hand towards the window, as Aqualad brought his water up as a shield. Deadshot was already upon them, shooting with his gauntlets. Thankfully, Miss Martian's psychic field and Aqualad's water was able to block most of them. Even so, Sakura pushed Perdita down as a stray bullet burst through the wall and blew clear into the other wall.
Naruto gulped; he was given something of a crash course in firearms during his stay, but it still left him unprepared for their terrifying power. A ninja on his world would have to use a specialized jutsu to obtain that kind of velocity and destruction; something he wasn't sure even existed.
"Enough!" Sasuke suddenly shouted. He broke a window open, and quickly made his signs. "Goukakyu no Jutsu!" He shot his fireball, and forced Deashot to bank hard left. However, he still got a shot in, and blood suddenly squirted from Sasuke's temple.
"SASUKE-KUN!" Sakura screamed as she ran to him, catching him.
Seeing a comrade down, Zatanna looked toward the window, and stuck her arm out. "Maj sih snug!"
Deadshot fired another round…or tried, when casings on both jammed the hammers. "Bullshit!" he hissed as he quickly ejected the casings; he designed these things so jamming WOULDN'T happen. It only took a moment for him to remedy the problem, but that was all the team needed. By the time he took aim again, they were gone and out of sight.
Quickly, the Team got Sasuke into another room away from the windows. "Ohh…" Sasuke moaned as he brushed his temple.
"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura cried. "Thank goodness!" Sasuke sat up, noticing the blood on his hand.
"You're lucky." Robin noted as he inspected his wound. "His bullet only grazed you; you're going to be fine." Quickly tearing a bed sheet, he wrapped it around Sasuke's head. "A little closer to the right and your brains would have been splattered on the wall."
"Looks like that side of the palace is out." Artemis noted.
"Something's wrong." Robin brought to their attention. "Deadshot may be an assassin, but he does have a code. He refuses to shoot women and children."
"Could have fooled me." Perdita huffed, trembling from the encounter.
"We can find out the reason for his unusual behavior later." Aqualad said. "Right now, we have to keep-"
Suddenly, Bronze Tiger's fist came through the wall. Tearing himself a hole, the hand-to-hand assassin stepped through. "Now, that's rude. Leaving me all alone." He clenched his fingers. Aqualad prepared to fight, bearing his water swords. However, Superboy came crashing through the roof, landing in front of Bronze Tiger. The assassin attacked; though he made the Boy of Steel stumble, he hurt himself more in the process. Superboy growled as he lifted him by the body, and threw him well onto the other side.
"Perfect timing, SB!" Robin smiled, giving him a thumbs up.
"Come on! We're not out of the woods yet!" Superboy warned them. The team got moving again…
The man known as Slade Wilson waited in another part of the palace; it seemed Deadshot and Merlyn were making a mess of things as usual. Still, even factoring in the aliens, it was amazing the team of junior heroes managed to keep the Queen safe for this long. He then sensed some people behind him, despite having only one eye. Still, he did not feel alarmed. In fact, he was told to expect them. "Are you the ones I were told would be here?" he asked, not bothering to turn around.
"We are." The girl answered. Slade nodded.
"Very well. You know your mission; if you want, you may kill any of those sidekicks as you please. Don't kill the Queen; Lawton and the others will be very upset if you collect the reward instead of either of them. Also, the ninjas from your world: don't kill them. I need them alive…for now."
"Very well." The girl bowed. "Orochimaru-sama forbade us from killing Uchiha anyhow." She and her teammates disappeared via the body flicker technique.
"Now it begins." Slade said as he reached behind him for his sword hilt…
The team traveled through the palace halls. Sakura and Naruto slinging Sasuke over their shoulders; he was recovering, but Robin insisted to keep him off his feet until they had no other choice. "Where are the guards!?" Zatanna asked. As they ran further down, they saw several guards lying at the walls, dead. "Never mind." Zatanna grimaced.
Robin cautiously approached one of them, noticing an arrow in his heart. Another arrow suddenly whizzed past his arm, grazing him. "Nnh!"
Merlyn stood in front of them, his bow at the ready. Superboy and Aqualad stepped in front of the Queen. Sasuke, seeing a fight was about to ensue, let go of his friends and got on his feet. "I've no doubt my arrows are useless against you." Merlyn said to the two powerhouses of the team. "But, are you fast enough? When I release this arrow, it will travel faster than either of you. Can you accurately predict its exact trajectory? I already see at least five different angles to hit my target, all in vital areas." Artemis stepped forward, drawing back an arrow of her own. "Ah, yes. I heard of Green Arrow's new plucky side-kick. But I wonder, are you as good as him?" Artemis snarled; she heard that Merlyn enjoyed playing mind games with his opponents. Of course, that wasn't the worst part. Rumor had it he was better than Green Arrow. That she heard from the emerald archer himself. Needless to say, she wasn't feeling very confident right now.
Suddenly, everyone heard a high-pitched sound. It brought most everyone to their knees; it completely paralyzed Superboy. Despite the pain, Naruto glanced upstairs, seeing the ninja girl known as Tayuya. "She was with them on the beach!" Naruto thought. Quickly, Naruto withdrew a birdarang, now their permanent substitution for shuriken, and threw it at her. Tauya dodged without missing a beat. However, not being familiar with the boy wonder's tools, she didn't see it beeping. Suddenly, it exploded, knocking Tauya off balance and forcing her to release her flute from her lips. Naruto and the others immediately began to feel better.
They weren't the only ones. At roughly that same time, Merlyn recovered and released his arrow. In the blink of an eye, it hit Perdita square in the heart. Or at least, it seemed to. She immediately exploded in a puff of smoke, her body replaced with a chair. "What!?" Merlyn looked around, seeing that both the Queen and the blonde were nowhere to be found.
"Good job, Naruto!" Artemis said as she shot a punch arrow. Merlyn dodged, but it still clipped his shoulder.
Tauya frowned. Superboy was now free as he lunged for her. She jumped away, Superboy destroying the wall behind her. "A little help here!" Jirobo suddenly appeared out of nowhere, tackling Superboy. Though he pinned him hard enough to crack the floor, Superboy easily kicked him off.
While the fight ensued, Robin took a moment to address the two ninjas. "You two, we have trackers installed in your hiates!" Robin shouted. "Naruto has one too! We need to find him!" Sasuke nodded. Robin opened his computer gauntlet, and lead the way out of the hall.
"Not so fast!" Merlyn readied another arrow. Sasuke twisted back and fired a fireball at him. Merlyn plastered himself against the wall as the flames passed him.
Tauya observed the fight. Superboy was quickly gaining the upper hand on Jirobo, the later dodging all of his blows. It seemed they needed to activate their curse marks again. Still, they hadn't fully recovered from the last time; they would have to settle for stage one activation. "I better take it easy." Tauya activated her curse mark, the triangles covering her skin. Quickly, she bit her thumb and placed it on the balcony. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" Out of nowhere, what seemed to be three faceless Oni appeared. Without hesitation, they attacked Superboy as Tauya took cover. He easily punched away one, but another managed to club him into the wall. He may have been stronger than all of them combined, but they were still much larger than him, and they outnumbered him. Miss Martian assisted him via throwing various chairs at the Oni, managing to distract them.
Suddenly, gold boomerangs headed right for her, Kidomaru hanging from the ceiling. Artemis intercepted Kidomaru's boomerangs with arrows of her own. "What are these guys doing here!?" Artemis yelled.
"It seems they're working together with the assassins." Aqualad said.
"Together? Not quite!" A hand reached out right from the floor and grabbed Aqualad by the ankle. "Orochimaru-sama simply told us to keep you busy!" Sakon said as his head popped out.
Aqualad charged up his electricity, forcing him to let go. "Everyone! Find the Queen! They're just distractions!"
"You guys go!" Miss Martian said as she lifted an Oni via her mind and threw it through a wall. "We'll keep them back!" While the two battled with Tauya and Jirobo, the Team ran as fast as they could down the hall. Despite Miss Martian's best efforts, Kidomaru and the twins were hot on their heels.
And that will be all for now! Happy Holidays everyone!