CHAPTER ONEKeystone CityIt was dark out, clouds skittering across the cold partial moon as it gazed down on the scene below. The street was old and tired, rows of industrial buildings sagging against each other as they clung protectively to their cracked, littered street.
It was down this gray, dilapidated block that the three youths walked briskly. Their bodies twitched with nerves and excitement as they approached their destination. The squat, wide two-story building sat back from the street, behind its empty lot and beneath the golden star logo and the name S.T.A.R. Labs emblazoned across its tattered brow. It looked well-worn and heavily used, but there was more care to its facade then in the many other surrounding buildings.
The three teens crossed the open lot that led to the main doors of the offices and labs of the Scientific and Technological Advanced Research Laboratories. They hunkered into their jackets as the tallest of the three slipped out several small metal tools. At just over six feet tall, the dark-skinned youth was powerfully built, with short black curly hair and dark eyes. Victor Stone bent down before the doors and took careful stock of the locks.
His two partners turned back to stare at the way they had arrived, keeping close watch as their friend did his part. The classic Hispanic features marked their descent, and the nearly identical faces marked them as twins, and not just brother and sister. They were wiry, but athletic looking, just short of six feet by a handful of inches, and both were bundles of nervous energy. The sister opened and closed repeatedly the pocket knife in her hand, while her brother toyed with the zipper of his jacket.
“C’mon, Stone!” hissed the sister. “What’s keepin’ ya?”
“Chill, girl,” Victor shot back as he continued to methodically work at the lock. “Unless you think you can do better?”
“Leave him be, Carla,” the brother said as he put his arm on her forearm.
“I just don’t want this screwed up, Juan,” Carla replied. She jammed her hands into the pockets of her jacket and started to pace the area.
“Almost there,” Victor mumbled as he licked his lips.
At that, Juan hefted up the backpack at his side, hearing the rattle of the spray cans and supplies they needed.
“Hey, you hear something?” Carla muttered as she pulled out her knife. Juan looked around and shrugged.
“There!” Victor said in triumph as the door swung open. He stood up and added, “Let’s get goin’ okay? We tag the lobby, get home, and then we’re in!”
“I hear…a skateboard?” Carla looked curiously towards the entrance to the lot as she started to step away from the front door.
“Hey, I think I hear it too,” Juan agreed as he gripped the satchel tightly.
And they were right, for around the corner, passing the empty, boarded security shack rolled a skateboard bearing a young lady in a scarlet costume. A golden arrow symbol adorned her shapely chest, and a golden hood and mantle draped over her shoulders, tugged by the breeze her movement generated. She gazed out from behind the shadowy, domino mask and grinned as she trained her bow on the three youths, an arrow nocked in position. She pressed down on the rear of the board and stopped short.
“Well, well, well,” she said in a voice huskier than her apparent age would indicate. “The Redondo twins and Vic Stone. I heard something about you wanting into the Demon E Gang. Want some advice? Don’t.”
“Hey, ain’t that that Speedy chica that’s been hittin’ E Street?” Carla said as she grinned. “Man, would we be set if we put a hurtin’ on her.”
“Carla!” Juan was shocked to hear her, as he glanced over the lovely heroine.
“Man, this is so not happenin’!” Vic swore as he took an unintentional step backwards into the lobby.
“Come on, you three. Just go home,” Speedy tried to convince them. “You’re not putting a hurt on me, and I’m not letting you vandalize the building. So either way…you’re not getting into the E. Count your blessings and go home!”
Carla started to run towards Speedy as Juan chased after his sister. Speedy shook her head sadly and opened her mouth to speak again, only to have a thunderous roar cry out instead.
The entire brick wall to the right of the lot started to shake and rattle, and then give way as the warehouse shuddered hard and debris began to fall hard to the ground. There were no flames, and few flashes as the building seem to shatter like glass, cries of distressed mortar and steel shrieking over the landscape.
Without a thought, Speedy had tucked away from the destruction, into a roll behind the unused guard shack. The Redondos were not as fortunate as the wall cascaded to the lot, a rippling wave of air rolling over the area and flooding over the twins. Juan had pushed Carla to the ground to cover her, but the ferocious, unnatural rippling plowed into both siblings, leaving them unmoving in the aftermath.
Victor watched as the monstrous phenomenon flowed by and over the building he took refuge in. Slowly the lobby started to tear apart, glass exploding in ferocious showers of shards as he tried to hurl himself further into the building. The lobby was torn away and smashed into pieces as the rippling battered into the concrete structure on the far side of the lot. It broke apart against the new obstruction, though all the glass there was also now raining over the darkened lot.
Victor Stone scrabbled towards the rear of the STAR Labs building as the terrifying wall of destruction rolled over the parking lot. He watched as glass and steel framework was torn from their moorings in the lobby, as he battered desperately at the security door to the rear of the building. Somehow, maybe from the explosion, maybe from adrenaline, he crashed through and stumbled deeper to look for refuge from the blast. The building was shaking, the ground beneath him trembling and he found himself hurled through a glass enclosure. Thousands of shards of glass tore through his body, neatly slicing muscle and tendons, lacerations all over his body opening up and spilling blood over the sterile room he found himself in. He tried to get to his feet, vision blurry, head dizzy from blood loss. That’s when the aftershock from the other side of the lot made the room tilt the other way, and overloaded circuits caused a secure vault-like box to blow open. Silvery fluid cascaded over the room, splashing onto Victor, among other things. Weakened already, it didn’t take much to knock the big, burly jock over and he crashed to the ground and lay still, as the silvery fluid leaked into his open wounds, his gaping mouth and his very pores.
After a breathless eternity, all was still again as smoke drifted up from the ruined warehouse and sparks from shredded cables lit up the torn S.T.A.R. building. Speedy stood and looked over the devastation with stunned silence, before finally croaking out, “Holy…crap.”
Five figures now stood in the cavity of the half-collapsed warehouse. They were all rattled as well, disheveled and stunned by the wreckage, all save the largest of the group. A truly huge man, he stood just over seven feet in height and almost four feet across at the shoulders, and he looked completely unaffected by the destruction.
“Whooo-eeee!” the behemoth cried out in delight. “That was frickin’ awesome!”
“Glad you enjoyed it, Baran,” mumbled a slim, red-haired girl in tight black leather. She was wet as water pooled around her, brick and mortar colored water. “Dammit!” she cursed as she looked at the carnage. “Gizmo! Is it a total loss?”
A metallic dome folded in on itself as a dwarf in a green jumpsuit stood up. He adjusted his goggles and nodded. “It’s gone, Shimmer.”
Two other women stepped forward, one in swathed entirely in a charcoal gray bodysuit, her face obscured by a hood in the same colors. The other was an Indian woman adorned in loose white cloth that bared as much as it hid. Golden bracers and slippers clung to her limbs, and a ruby was set in on her brow by a platinum circlet that sat on her bald head.
“Double damn!” Shimmer swore as the woman in white moved to the huge man and stroked an arm. In response, the leather-clad redhead glared at her.
“You seem well, Mammoth,” she asked in clipped, stilted English.
“That was a blast, Jinx,” he smiled back at her. “Though it’s upset Selinda, so I guess it wasn’t a good thing.”
“No. Not a good thing at all,” Shimmer confirmed icily.
“Gizmo, how could this have happened?” Jinx asked.
“The vibro-cage was fifty frickin’ years old!” he snapped. “I’m betting your portal did something to upset its balance, Jinx!”
“Who cares? Our boss is gonna kill us unless we find something of value in this rubble, so everyone fan out and look!” Shimmer ordered her group.
Speedy listened to the group and her eyes bugged out as she heard the names and saw the faces. “Damn!” she cursed softly as she started to creep away. “The Fearsome Five! They’d squash me and not even notice! I need to get some help! I wonder if there’s a
Flash around?”
As the quintet split up, the woman in gray focused her silent attention on movement in the lot. She remained in the center of the exploring quintet, and took a fighting stance, ready to launch an attack while she watched the twins start to stir. Then Shimmer heard them groaning, and her lip curled into a sneer.
“Like we need witnesses,” she muttered angrily. She waved dismissively towards the twins and said, “Someone go enjoy themselves, okay?”
Mammoth grinned wickedly and smacked a thick, meaty fist into the palm of his hand as he marched towards his impending victims. The silent woman stared from behind her mask as Speedy felt a lump stick in her throat.
Carla gave a short cry of fear as she saw the red-headed powerhouse bearing down on them, then she pushed Juan behind her.
The silent, fifth member reached out and clutched Shimmer’s bicep, her eyes looking up as her other hand made some desperate gestures. Wide and concerned, the fifth partner seemed to mutely plead for the twins.
“Let me go, Kasumi! Baran needs his fun, and you’re
supposed to be an assassin. So shut up and work,” Shimmer retorted.
“They might not be able to do anything, but I sure can see to crimping your plans!” Speedy cried out as she ran fast and felt her heart pounding in her chest. She released an arrow before anyone could register she was present, and the shaft sunk deep into Mammoth’s huge chest. It stayed there, poking grotesquely out of him.
“Who the hell are you?” Shimmer asked with a sneer as the five criminals glared at her.
Speedy drew another arrow as she continued to pound across the lot, her brow sweating in fear. The shaft ended in a heavily duct-taped Nerf ball, and she released it in a single draw and fire arc. The shaft flew unsteady but the aim was true as it punched Mammoth’s left eye. He stopped suddenly, and rubbed his eye.
“Who cares who she is, whack her already!” Gizmo called out as his jetpack lifted him into the air while he drew a slim, futuristic looking firearm. He fired a beam of light toward the archer, who continued to run and saw the beam arc over her shoulder.
Speedy fired several more arrows a she raced a half-circle towards the ruined lobby, but a fierce wind erupted out of nowhere and scattered the shafts.
”Five to one,” Jinx chuckled as she held up her glowing hands. “You are so going to hurt before you die, little red riding hood.”
Suddenly, the mounds of brick rumbled and flowed away sharply in a large wave, scattering the three criminals still inside. At the epicenter of the sudden assault, amid the ruined and twisted panels of fifty year old metal, cables and transistors stood a young man. His lean chest was bare, his brown hair askew and his blue pants were torn, but he held his hands out and stood firm and determined in his red boots.
“Five to two, amigos,” the newcomer declared.
Shimmer glowered at the new arrival and snapped, “Are we crapping out metas now? Fine you, five to two! Kill ‘em all!”
Juan and Carla looked at Mammoth as the brute turned to check on the sudden action behind him, and they nodded to each other. Grasping each other’s hands tightly, they charged at the powerhouse, aiming low to take out his knees. Before they took another breath, sparkling bolts of electricity coursed within their grip and they found themselves crashing over the rubble of the warehouse, debris and dust churned up in their wake. Though they were no longer touching, silvery, sparkling lightning continued to cast occasional arcs between their outstretched arms. Arms that were seriously throbbing, but the speed, surprise and unstable ground combined to do the job and Mammoth was on his back.
“Five to four!” the twins said breathlessly as they grinned at each other.
“We know our powers, each other and no one here can touch Mammoth, so screw you all!” Shimmer swore as Mammoth picked himself up and grabbed a large steel beam. “You want to make a final stand, then fine!”
“I know my powers too,” came a soft, almost ethereal voice. A teen in shimmering white, with a broad red sash around his waist, peered over his rounded crimson sunglasses. He leaned against the security shack, his leather jacket abyssal black over the nearly celestial white underneath.
“You little slip of a pussy-boy,” Mammoth growled as he turned and prepared to bat the cocky youth like a baseball. “I’ll crush you to powder!”
“And I’m betting you could if I let you,” he replied without moving. “But I have two words for you and your buddies that say otherwise.”
“What’s that?” Gizmo shot back as he zipped through the air over the lot, trying to get a bead on the female archer, who was trying to return the favor with her bow.
“My name,” the newcomer answered with a sly grin. “Kid…
ETERNITY!” Suddenly, a wisp of smoke rushed from behind the teen and whirled into the shape of the legendary Hercules, standing between his summoner and Mammoth with a cocky smile.
“Hot damn!” the twins said at the same time, watching the cavalry appear, and the glimmer of a chance in their eyes at last.
CHAPTER TWOThere was fog everywhere, creeping around their legs, flowing over the buildings, sliding across the ground, casting the world in a dull, gray light. For Dinah it felt as if the world didn’t exist outside the small circle surrounding her and her friends.
“There she is,” called out Dick Grayson, pointing off into the distant dimness. Dinah could barely make out the shadowy form of their target. The man who called himself Nightwing dashed forward into the fog, followed close behind by Flamebird, aka Bette Kane. Dinah, in her guise as the Black Canary looked over at the last member of their little group, Barbara Gordon, Batwoman.
“We’d better go after then,” Dinah said with a grin.
“Yeah, you know how much trouble they tend to get into,” Barbara laughed in return, the two women rushing off after the others.
They called themselves the Birds of Prey, and for nearly two years now they, along with the Batman, have been helping to keep Gotham, and the surrounding cities, safe. Not an easy task given the amount of corruption that still infested this dark city.
As they raced after their quarry, the fog seemed to close in on them, making the surrounding buildings look strange, and menacing. Up ahead, Dinah spotted Nightwing already fighting the woman, her attacks seeming almost lazy, bored even as she easily tossed Dick aside, knocking him into a nearby wall. Dread overcame Dinah as Flamebird quickly moved to attack the woman. Time seemed to slow as Dinah moved forward, the fog seeming to hold her back, trip her up, while she saw the woman playing with Bette, like a cat plays with a mouse, before doubling her over with a single kick.
Now Dinah had reached her. Finally getting a clear view at the dark haired woman, she let go with her famous “Canary Cry”, but the woman jumped out of the way of the sonic attack. Before Dinah could react, she’d landed beside her and Dinah felt the bones in her left leg shatter as the woman gave it a swift, powerful kick just below the knee. As she dropped to the ground, clutching it in pain, Barbara moved in.
It seems like minutes had passed, yet that single woman had defeated all three of them in a matter of seconds, as she turned her attention to Batwoman. Out of the corner of her eye Dinah saw Dick struggling to get back to his feet, his head still groggy. Unable to help, Dinah watched as the woman easily dodged Barbara’s attacks before striking, a powerful blow right to the center of Batwoman’s back. Dinah could hear Barbara’s howl of pain as time slowed even more. She seemed to fall in slow motion, Dick moving to catch her limp body as the dark-haired woman laughed a laugh that would haunt Dinah for the rest of her life.
With a jolt Dinah woke from her bed, her long-healed leg aching just a bit from her sudden movement. It was that dream again. She sighed as she looked over at her clock. 6:17. The blonde woman sighed again as she slowly got out of bed. She wouldn’t be sleeping again tonight.
* * * * * * * *
Dinah yawned as she worked in her store, a small flower shop located in one of Gotham’s nicer and quieter neighborhoods. She was busy pecking at that dang computer of hers when Stephanie Brown entered the store.
“Evening, Dinah,” Stephanie said as she headed to the back to drop of her jacket, and lunch bag.
“Hey, Steph,” Dinah replied. “It’s been pretty quiet today, so you know the drill.”
Stephanie nodded, going to work. The shop was a fairly peaceful place, and the staff almost a family. Dinah employed less then two dozen workers, including delivery people, and there were rarely more then two or three in the shop at the time. Glancing over, Stephanie noticed Dinah’s growing frustration with the computer, a rather common sight.
“Can I help?” Stephanie asked as she walked over to the other blonde.
“Yeah,” Dinah nodded. “See if you can figure this out… I’ll be in the back.”
As Dinah walked off, Stephanie started to fiddle with the computer. The young woman was very proficient with mechanical, and computerized equipment, and soon enough she had it ‘fixed’. Stephanie was about to call Dinah when she noticed something on the screen. It was set to Dinah’s e-mail page, and one message in particular caught her eye.
‘Re: Finding Canaries’
Curiosity got the better of Stephanie, as she opened the message, glancing around first to make sure no one was there. Stephanie’s eyes grew wide as she read the message: it was asking for the Black Canary’s aid. The young woman of course knew that Dinah was formerly the Black Canary, most of Gotham did, indeed that was the main reason she wanted to work here so badly. Steph had idolized the Birds, her room containing various newspaper articles on them, along with a nice blown-up picture of Nightwing, taken from the only known photo snapped of him.
The message contained an address, and time: tomorrow night. The young woman quickly wrote it down on a piece of paper, and returned to the previous screen, a few clicks, and there was no evidence that she’s read the message. “It’s fixed,” Stephanie called out, Dinah returning from the back a moment later. “Thanks,” the older blonde said with a smile.
“No problem,” Stephanie replied. “No problem at all.”
* * * * * * * *
Stephanie had spent most of the next day thinking about the e-mail, distracting her from her schoolwork and friends.
“So what are you up to tonight?” her father, Arthur Brown, asked while the two cleaned up their dinner plates.
“Hmm… Oh. I’m going to go out. If that’s okay, dad?” she replied.
“Of course,” Arthur nodded. “You know the rules.”
Stephanie smiled. “Yeah. I’ll see you later,” she told him, giving him a kiss on the cheek before heading up to her room. The young woman opened her closet, pulling out a small box. Inside was a purple costume she’d worn for a Halloween party a couple years back. She’d had tried it on again last night, while it was a little tighter around her hips and chest it still fix, and even with the tight fit was far less risqué then your average super-heroine costume. She carried the box downstairs, told her father good-bye and hopped onto her motorcycle, heading to the location on the e-mail.
* * * * * * * *
Dinah entered the warehouse where the meeting was going to be talking place, having spent most of the day deciding if she was going to go or not. The blonde moved slowly, looking around, wary of traps. As she slipped into the building she noticed Dick and Bette, both in costume, standing there chatting away. Dinah relaxed almost immediately. Just like old times… almost.
“Glad you could make it,” Dick said, smiling at the two greeted Dinah.
“Yeah,” Dinah replied. “Wasn’t sure if I’d be coming myself. What do you know about this?”
“Probably no more then either of you,” Dick replied. “But I do know this Oracle. We can trust her.”
Dinah nodded. If Dick trusted someone that was good enough for her.
“Yeah, the Birds back together!” Bette commented. “Just like old times! If only Babs could be here.”
It was at that moment when a large screen on the wall behind them flickered on, a green, wire frame face appearing on it. “Evening,” came a voice. “My name is Oracle and I’ve called you all here because I need your help.”
* * * * * * * *
The three heroes talked about old times as they entered a nearby warehouse that had been transformed into a hanger. Inside sat a black stealth plane, about the size of a private jet.
“Looks like this mission’s got some nice perks already,” Dinah joked as they got boarded the plane. The three climbed aboard, and moved into the main cabin where a green-skinned women greeted them.
“I’m Jade,” the woman said, shaking their hands as the others introduced themselves.
Dick nodded, his handshake taking a second longer then the others. “Oracle told us about you.”
“Right,” Jade said with a smile motioning towards an envelope. “I’ve got the rest of our mission briefing in here,” she explained. “We’re to read them over during the trip.”
As they took their seats, the stairs into the plane began to close, a dark shape managing to slip inside at the last moment. Stephanie Brown pulled the mask off of her head as she took a few deep breaths, partly out of her running, and partly due to the thrill of going on a mission with her idols.
* * * * * * * *
Outside Gakona, Alaska[/I]
Ed stood just inside the main entrance of the HAARP facility up in Alaska, taking a puff on his cigarette as he waited for Jack and Brad to return from their usual, boring patrol. Soon enough the door opened, Jack entering, his body hidden beneath the heavy winter gear he wore. “Hope you’re wearing your booties 'cause it’s
cold out there,” Jack said.
“It’s
cold out there everyday,” Ed chuckled in response as Jack knocked the snow from his boots.
“Those things will kill you,” Jack commented, nodding towards Ed’s cigarette.
“Well, you’ve got to die from something,” Ed replied, pausing for a second. “Hey Jack? Where’s Brad?”
Jack responded by turning to Ed, a knife flashing in the light as it slashed across Ed’s neck. “You’re right,” Jack said, looking down at the man bleeding to death. “You’ve got to die from something.”
As the life left Ed’s body, Jack turned back to the door, opening it up for three other men, all dressed in black. “Good work, Cain,” one of them said, as ‘Jack’ removed his protective goggles, and headwear.
“Would you expect anything less?” David Cain replied as he knelt down, grabbing Ed’s body. “Help me hide this. We need to move quickly, and get the security down before anyone finds out we’re here.”
* * * * * * * *
“And if you look to the right you’ll see the lovely lights of Gakona, Alaska,” the voice of the jet’s female pilot came over the intercom as Dick, Dinah, and the others made their final preparations. “We’ll be landing in a few moments, so place your seats back in an upright position, and I hope y’all have enjoyed your flight on Oracle Air.”
The plane, equipped with vertical takeoff, came to a gentle stop about a mile from the HAARP facility, a hatch on the back of the plane lowering to let out a snowcat.
“Shotgun,” Flamebird called as she hopped into the vehicle.
“I just hope we’re not too late,” Black Canary commented as she and Dick walked towards the snowcat, Jade close behind.
“Or that we’re not on a wild goose chase,” Nightwing agreed.
Dinah nodded as they got into the vehicle, Dick moving into the driver’s seat. He turned the key, and rolled the vehicle down ramp, and started across the snowfield. They’d gotten about halfway there when before them they noticed the small, distant flash of an explosion. “Guess that answers both our questions,” Dinah said, as Dick sped up.
The snowcat rumbled towards the far off facility, those inside unaware of the young, and very cold, passenger stowed away deep in the back.
* * * * * * * *
“What part of subtle, do you not understand?” Cain hissed as a handful of small particles fell from the roof, the building silent again after the blast.
“Our leader said to complete the mission at all costs,” replied the man who had set off the explosion. “Besides, we are far from help, and now there is no radio contact.”
“Well there’s something else your 'leader' should have told you,” Cain told him.
“And what is th…” The man’s voice cut off as he slumped to the floor, blood oozing from the small hole in his chest.
“I don’t work with amateurs,” Cain said coldly, as he placed his pistol back in its holster. “Either of you have a problem with that?” he asked the other two, a man, and a woman.
“Only that the leader might be upset he didn’t get to execute him for his foolishness,” the woman replied with a dark chuckle.
“Then let’s get what we came for, and call in our ride out of here, in case that little light show did draw attention to us. And keep an eye out for any staff we might have missed.”
The two nodded towards Cain, before heading off on their assignments.
* * * * * * * *
Nightwing pulled the vehicle up to the outside of the HAARP facility, hidden partly from view of the main building. “Okay,” he said as the four prepared to disembark. “We don’t know what’s happening in there so everyone keep your eyes open.” The others nodded as they slipped out of the vehicle, using the cover of darkness and headed quickly toward the main building, a small fire from the earlier explosion still burning where the communication tower had been.
As they entered the doorway Dick stopped, kneeling down to check the now cold body of Ed, the former guard. As he stood back up, the quartet heard a jet flying past, stopping to hover over the building. “Looks like we’ve got some company,” Dinah commented, before leading them deeper into the facility. Far behind them followed a caped figure shivering in dark purple.
They made their way to the control center, according to the map Jade had shown them, passing more dead bodies as they went. In the lead, Flamebird had just turned a corner to the final hall when loud crash shook the building. “Now what?” she muttered as she ran to the door, kicking it open.
Inside what remained of the room, Flamebird saw about a dozen men and women, dressed in black outfits, who along with Cain, all turned towards her. A cold gust blew in from a large hole in the roof, the jet they’d seen earlier hovering above it, wires stretching down from the plane. She also noticed the gun in Cain’s hand.
Flamebird leapt back, and to the right, diving behind the wall as two bullets zipped past where she’d stood. Nightwing, and Black Canary dove for cover as well, while the remainder of Cain’s shots, bounced off of a glowing green energy wall that had appeared before Jade.
“Great! David Cain!” Nightwing mutter.
“Who?” Canary asked, a few more shots hitting the wall they hid behind.
“He’s an assassin, a mercenary,” Nightwing explained. “One of the most dangerous alive.”
“Lovely,” Canary sighed. “So much for any chance of this being easy.” She waited for a pause in the barrage of bullets. “Cover your ears!” she told the others, then stood and opened her mouth. What emerged was a sonic cry, louder than an explosion. Those inside the room grabbed their ears in pain from the noise. Before her cry had ended, Canary shot forward. “Jade, you take care of Cain! The rest of us will deal with the others!”
The four heroes leaped into the room, fists, and feet flying. Jade kept her distance from Cain, using her green plasma to try and tie him up, while Cain managed to avoid the emerald ropes and nets. Canary and the others meanwhile took on the thugs. While none of those in black were pushovers the three heroes had things well in hand. The few thugs that were not being attacked where busy tying lines to various pieces of equipment, while the few that remained in the jet began hoisting them up.
Jade was having more trouble. Cain had dropped a small smoke bomb before moving towards her. He’d quickly knocked the green-skinned woman onto her back, and aimed his pistol at her face. Before he could pull the trigger however, a purple blur knocked the gun from his hand.
“What the…?” Cain growled as he looked at the newcomer.
“The name’s Spoiler,” came a woman’s voice from behind the dark mask. “And I’m here to spoil your plans.”
“'Spoil your plans'?” Jade said, rolling her eyes as Flamebird helped her up.
Flamebird chuckled, “Sounds like someone needs to work on their witty banter.”
Spoiler meanwhile had charged towards Cain, managing to punch him while he was still off balance. The attack did nothing however, and Cain easily blocked a kick from her before tossing her into Flamebird and Jade, the three women crashing to the ground.
Looking around, Cain realized most of those with him had been incapacitated. “Let’s go!” he shouted to those still standing, dashing towards one of the ropes and grabbing one.
“What about the rest of the stuff?” one of the men with him yelled back.
“Forget it,” Cain replied as he was pulled up into the jet. “We’ve got most of what we need.”
One of the men and two of the women grabbed on to ropes, climbing into the plane as Canary knocked out another of the fleeing men. Nightwing dashed towards one of the ropes, but narrowly missed it, the jet lifting up into the air and taking off.
“Well that could have went better,” Flamebird said, as she untangled herself from the other two. “At least we have some captives to…” She paused as she noticed the remaining black-clothed villains clenching on their teeth and then collapsing. “Never mind then.”
“Dead,” Jade said with a repressed shiver as she checked one of the men.
“Well I say we head back to the plane, while we figure out what to do with our new ‘friend’ here,” Canary said.
* * * * * * * *
Jade drove the snowcat into the plane, making sure it was properly locked down before they took off. Black Canary and Nightwing meanwhile, were giving a lecture to Spoiler, Dinah having yanked her hood off to reveal the face of Stephanie Brown, about the dangerous nature of their work.
“Ah, go easy on the kid,” Flamebird said. “I was the same way when I started out. And look at me now. Give her a chance to help out.”
“That’s not the point, Flamebird,” Black Canary replied.
“Well what is then?” Flamebird shot back.
“Let’s not worry about this now,” Nightwing said, trying to calm the others. “Right now we need to find out where Cain’s going with what he stole.”
“I…” Stephanie started, cut off by the others.
“Well, we could ask Oracle,” Jade said, entering the jet’s passenger cabin.
“We can…” Stephanie was cut off again.
“Yeah, she might know,” Nightwing agreed.
“But I…” Stephanie started, once more cut off.
“Perhaps see about tracking them on radar or something,” Flamebird added.
“HEY!” Stephanie finally shouted, the others looking towards her. She blushed at their stares before speaking again. “I put a tracking device on that Cain guy when I hit him. We could just follow that.”
Flamebird smiled smugly at the news, folding her arms, victorious in her argument. “Told you she could be useful,” she said in a superior tone.
CHAPTER THREEIn Keystone City, in a dilapidated parking lot nudged between a bombed out warehouse and the STAR Labs research facility that operated it, a war raged in the dead of night. Mammoth and the legendary Hercules pounded away on each other like the myths of old, thundering blows from ham-sized fists slamming into muscled chests. “Damn! This is great!” Mammoth cried out as he sent a thundering right hand across Hercules face, only to receive a brutal uppercut into his midsection. “I can really let loose, Selinda!” he cried out to his sister.
The leader of the Fearsome Five, Shimmer, merely rolled her eyes up in her head, and turned the ground between her and the twins, Carla and Juan, into tar. The siblings stumbled hard in the sticky material, their speed neutralized by the criminal’s transmutation powers. “I’m glad he’s enjoying himself,” she sneered as she looked for Gizmo. “Giz, we need to be going. Our target’s gone, and there’s no time to pick for leftovers!”
“Right you are, Shimmer!” he called back as he maneuvered his jetpack and headed towards the ruined warehouse. He watched as the sorceress in white, Jinx, smashed apart the wall of rubble that was being hurled at her by the weird guy who appeared in the wake of the vibratory cage’s destruction. “Hey, Jinxie! It’s teleport time, let’s get a move on!” he shouted at the witch as he tossed a rounded metal sphere over his shoulder into the parking lot. When it struck the center, several smaller spheres bounced out and leaped towards Speedy, the twins and Kid Eternity.
The scarlet archer felt the sphere connect with her stomach and the world started to spin around her, and the twins soon discovered the same difficulty, high-pitched screeching disrupting their balance and making them sink to their knees. The last sphere merely floated through Kid Eternity, however. He snapped his fingers with a shout of
“ETERNITY!” and an imperious looking man with red hair dressed in regal Roman robes stood next to him.
“You summoned, oh lad of the centuries?” asked the newcomer with a snide, tired voice.
“Yeah, Caesar, we need to get back on track,” Kid Eternity said as he watched Mammoth and Hercules continue to pound on each other. “Herc’s not going to last much longer, I need to get into this fight for real, and we’re seriously outmatched. Put that military mind of yours to work!”
“A mob of barbarians pounds at random until nothing is moving,” Caesar explained in a superior tone. “A disciplined army uses that, and works together. Look at what you have: fine warriors with a fierce determination to survive and win, against a force that’s looking to retreat, but failing to work together for that aim. And,” his gaze fell on the Kasumi, “a weak link waiting to be exploited. Their female warrior. She doesn’t belong to them. Now, get to it, master of yesteryear!”
Hercules began to vanish from sight, as Mammoth turned back to Kid Eternity with a great big smile. “Okay, it’s nerd-stomping time!” he growled as he started to charge towards the shimmering teen. Kid Eternity merely charged towards Mammoth as well, and at the last second, his body seemed to grow hazy and he leaped through the charging brute. He could hear Mammoth cry out as he crashed into something large and metal, probably a car outside the lot.
Speedy struggled with the sphere that was clinging to her stomach, as she slowly curled to her side on the ground. Shimmer raised her hand, and the ground beneath Speedy began to slowly heat and melt. Kid Eternity ran up to Speedy and tore the metal sphere from her body, then pulled her free from the pit of bubbling ground that was turning to lava, and turned her towards the group in the warehouse. “Jinx, the one in white, fire, now as many as you can!” He said to her while he snapped his fingers and called
“ETERNITY!”. A parrot appeared circling his head, and Eternity pointed towards the bare-chested man who was now diving for cover from the bolts of force being unleashed by the Indian spell caster.
Speedy recovered her bow and started to release arrows as Kid Eternity ran towards Shimmer, who gave him her attention, turning the air around him into various elements: first steel, then noxious gasses, then harsh acid, but he grew hazy and indistinct and ran through it all as he pointed up to the flying Gizmo.
The unnamed, shirtless teen peeked out from his cover to see the parrot circling his head and distracting him. Only when the parrot arced into a straight line and then sailed at Jinx did he see what was up. The sorceress had also been distracted by the approaching bird and saw the arrows only at the last moment, turning to blow them away with her wind wall again.
“Haven’t you learned, little bowgirl, that you can’t hurt me with your toys?” she said in a snide voice.
“Pieces of eight! Pieces of eight!” squawked the parrot as it zipped past her head and she turned to see the wall of rubble crash into her.
In a now cleared section of the warehouse, the teen dusted his hands and waved to Speedy as he said, “No, but she sure can keep you from paying attention.”
Shimmer turned to see Jinx get buried in the crashing debris and snarled. She ran over, converting the material into air as Kid Eternity ran past her to Kasumi.
“Okay, kid,” he said to her. “Listen, I know you sure as hell don’t want to be involved in any killing. We can hold our own, but if you help us, we can actually win this. And then you won’t be in any trouble, and no one has to die. Okay?”
Gizmo swooped down to fire on Kid Eternity, but was taken by surprise and thrown off-course when the twins raced past him, one on either side, the wake causing him to crash into the ground. “How the hell did you two break out of the vertigo spheres?” he growled, and cursed as he pulled himself up to his knees and grabbed a different metal orb from his belt. “Doesn’t matter to me, try this on for size!”
Mammoth had now walked back to the opening of the lot and looked around. He saw his team in trouble and grabbed a nearby car. He threw it at Speedy and called out, “You go splat now!”
The scarlet archer looked up at the car hurtling towards her and swallowed hard. She knew there was no way she could dive far enough fast enough. Instead, the shadow grew larger and more ominous, and she could feel each beat of her heart in slow motion.
But the car never hit her. Instead, it seemed to pause in mid-air and then crash to the ground in mid-arc. A metallic flash had passed over her head moments earlier, and pulling himself from the heap of metal was Victor Stone. Now though, he had a metallic sheen over his skin, and some of his flesh even seemed silvery.
“Okay! Enough’s enough! You want to bully little girls?” Victor Stone glared at Mammoth, one eye more like a red LED, but it flared and cast a red tracer on Mammoth’s chest. “No more!” With that, Victor Stone pumped powerful legs and charged into the black-clad powerhouse, sending him reeling. He battered Mammoth’s face with blow after blow as he straddled the huge chest. “No! More!” he shouted, almost beyond reason. Speedy merely watched the display in shock.
“You, boy, are going to die now!” Shimmer yelled as she cradled Jinx’s head in her lap. She wiped away a spot of blood from Jinx’s lip and then lifted her hands towards the stranger.
“The name’s Vibe!” he said as he lifted his own arms at Shimmer, and energies from both people crossed paths in the air.
Shimmer felt herself being struck by what felt like hammer blows as vibrations rattled her body, and she would have been shoved back hard if she weren’t already kneeling. Vibe saw no immediate effect of Shimmer’s attack until he was buried under a sudden wave of blood from the wall behind him. It suffocated him, as he accidentally swallowed the copper-tasting liquid, and he dropped to his knees, choking and gagging.
“It’s mud now, you bastard! Blood for blood!” Shimmer cried back as she picked up Jinx and turned to her friend. “’Jinx, wake up and port us out of here now!” she slapped Jinx’s face to rouse her, then turned to Kasumi, who was staring at the brutal battle. “And you, deadly assassin chick, kill him already!” she demanded as she stared at Kid Eternity.
“Don’t worry, I got you like I got the twins,” said a small voice from a tiny green gerbil as it skittered towards Vibe, who lay face down in the thick pool of blood. The animal shifted its shape, becoming for a brief moment a teen boy with emerald skin before that was replaced by a huge green gorilla that scooped up the choking hero. Then the gorilla kept loping across the ruins of the warehouse to get Vibe to safety.
“Decision time, Kas,” Kid Eternity said softly as he stood next to her, hands crossed behind his back. “Throw your lot in with them, or stick with us.”
Gizmo turned to Kid Eternity and added a small, square device to the side of his pistol. “This should take care of that phasing thing of his,” He muttered with a wicked grin as he leveled the pistol. He never got to fire, though, as a Nerf arrow crashed into his temple and sent him sprawling.
Speedy was nocking another arrow and racing towards the warehouse herself now, as Gizmo tried to recover. She was out of her boffer arrows, and instead fired the broadhead at his gear. She struck the harness of his pack, and the circuitry began to spark and overload, forcing the dwarf to hastily detach it from his body.
“Damn you, bitch! You goddam whore! I’m going to kick your head in!” he screamed as he struggled to his feet.
Suddenly, Vic Stone came crashing down from the sky, landing on his back with a hard-sounding thump and a rush of air from his lungs. He looked up at Speedy and smiled, an ugly purple bruise swelling under one eyes, and a cut lip bleeding an oily looking liquid.
Sirens were now sounding in the distance, and Shimmer stared hard at Kasumi. “You’ve been useless this entire fight, you stupid bitch! At least do something right!”
Kasumi pulled out a small, well-balanced club from her belt and threw it with swift precision, smashing Shimmer’s nose and knocking her onto her back. Jinx landed hard on Shimmer’s chest, knocking the air from her as well. Kid Eternity smiled with pride as he stood behind Kasumi while the flashing blue lights grew closer. Mammoth was standing, and wiping blood from his own nose as he looked at the scene around him. He turned and started to run down the street, smashing through a police car as it screeched to a halt in front of him.
Gizmo had reached Speedy, fists out, and threw a wicked punch at her midsection. She stepped back and smoothly landed a spin kick into the side of his head that put the crude, genius midget on his back.
Slowly, the various teen heroes moved towards each other, feeling the effects of the combat, shaking the cobwebs from their heads or rubbing damaged joints and limbs.
The police stormed into the parking lot and circled the fight scene, weapons drawn. Speedy looked scared, unhappy with the exposure. She’d managed to avoid police attention, and she tried to step behind Vic Stone. The twins had moved to their friend as well, while Kid Eternity stepped forward, arm still on Kasumi. He smiled, and snapped his fingers with a call of
“ETERNITY!” A wisp of smoke brought forth a man in an elegant Napoleonic era military uniform, black hair and thick beard and mustache.
“We need to look and sound good, Flashy,” Kid Eternity whispered to the newcomer over his shoulder. “That’s your bailiwick.”
Harry Paget Flashman smiled and nodded and started to whisper in Kid Eternity’s ear as the teens were largely grouped together now, and the police moved into the warehouse.
“What’s going on here?” demanded the ranking officer, staring at the group. Flashman drifted back into a wisp of smoke and Kid Eternity put his hand out to shake.
“Kid Eternity here, sir,” he said with a disarming smile. “From Fawcett City? The Marvel Family?”
The shirtless teen calling himself Vibe stood unsteadily on his feet, still wiping blood and coughing, and leaning on the green-skinned teen who was in nothing but black spandex shorts. Both were confused but okay as they stepped into the group as well. An older cop stared at him and looked stunned.
“Hey, ain’t that that Beast Boy kid?” the junior officer pointed at the green-skinned teen, making many in the group also turn. Only Kid Eternity kept from doing so, needing to look in control of the situation.
“I’m familiar with the Marvels, yes,” the ranking officer said. “Sergeant Burke. What’s happened here?”
”The Fearsome Five attacked, but a tip by this little lady, Speedy,” Eternity answered with as mile as he held his hand behind Speedy’s back, “and excellent inside undercover work by Kasumi here,” he pointed to the other young lady now, “enabled me to put together some heroes and put them down. I suspect they were working for Dr. Sivana, and had come to steal some kind of device being stored here.”
Sergeant Burke looked incredulously at Kid Eternity, and then gazed at all the assembled teens, while his men carefully brought out Jinx, Shimmer and Gizmo from the ruined warehouse.
“It’s definitely the Five,” one cop shouted out. “Well, three of ‘em, anyway!”
“Sarge,” said the stunned cop as he nudged his superior and pointed towards Vibe. “Ain’t that…I mean, doesn’t that look like…the Flash?”
“I think you need to lay off the donuts, Billings,” Burke replied. “Who knows what the Flash looks like under that mask?”
”No, I mean the old one, sir,” Billings pushed. “The really old one, that is. The JSA Flash. Garrick.”
Burke looked over now, and started to nod. “I think you’re right. Good God, he hasn’t aged a day, though. Isn’t Garrick an old man?”
“Indeed,” Kid Eternity said quickly, listening to the advice given by the master of the grift, Harry Flashman. “That’s the next job for my partners, to get to the bottom of the mystery of Jay Garrick. For now, though, we’re calling him Vibe, since he doesn’t seem to have his speed powers anymore. We need to rest up now, actually, Sergeant. Is it possible for me to take these guys back to base, and I’ll contact you in the morning with details, and for questions?”
Before the cops could respond at all, a large flare-up of light from the squad cars drew everyone’s attentions as Jinx wove her spell and opened a portal.
“Quick!” Shimmer ordered as the three villains stepped through, the rip in space sealing behind them before any of the assembled groups could respond.
Kid Eternity peered over his glasses as Kasumi ground her teeth and clutched her hands tightly. “You know where they went?” he asked the silent warrior, who nodded in return as she stared at the now-normal space.
“We need to go after them, officer,” Kid Eternity said. “We haven’t any time to lose, I hope you understand?”
“We got a lot of questions, but this seems out of our field for now,” Burke replied as he shook the kid’s hand. He looked over the rag-tag group of youths and shook his head uncertainly. The police began to secure the crime scene as Burke added, “Get going. I’ve got this covered, I guess.” He turned to his men.
Kid Eternity hustled the group out of the lot, and explained, “I’m not kidding. I think Sivana’s tied up in this, and behind the Fearsome Five. Kasumi can help us track them down, and I think I can arrange for some transport, but no one has to come with us. This is potentially big. And the Five, they’re going to be aching to hurt you guys bad.”
“Hey, I’ve been at this hero game as long as you, Kid,” Beast Boy said with a smirk. “Throwing myself into certain death is just what I need to shake off the rust of being...well, missing for...however long now. I'm in Keystone, you say?”
“Well, I’ve got not other options, so sure, what the hey?” Vibe said with a sheepish grin. “Um, I don’t suppose you could spot me for a shirt, too, huh?”
Vic Stone just looked at himself, the sheen of his body, and stared at Kid Eternity. “Somethin’ happened in that lab, and you’re a super-hero, so you can figure it out. I’ll stick with you for now, but you gotta be helpin’ me to understand this.”
The twins repeated what Vic had said, holding each other’s hands. “Yeah, pretty much what he said,” Carla said. “This is just too freaky.”
“Cool, though,” Juan added. “I mean, we got super-speed. That’s super-sweet! How can we not use it to help?” Carla gave her brother a sour look, but just stood at his side.
Speedy seemed uncomfortable, very uncomfortable, but nodded her head slowly. “I really shouldn’t, but I hate to leave things undone. Heck, at this point, I almost got a car dropped on me, and dropping into a pool of lava. I ain’t getting left out now.” She laughed nervously.
Kid Eternity gave a look of admiration at the group of teens and nodded his head. “Okay then. Let’s see this through to the end.”
