23 Chapter 23: Transport gone wrong
[Third Person's Point of View]
[Metropolis. August 3, 07:38 EDT]
The big city is up and buzzing with activity. Adults are off to another day at work and children are getting back to school after a long summer. One particular school bus is driving students across a long bridge spanning the river. Everything seems normal enough... until the bridge gives way.
The steel support beams suddenly shift, squealing as they bend, and the cables can't hold the strain. They snap and fall onto the road, blocking several lanes. The bus driver sees them and swerves, causing the rest of the traffic to screech to a stop, crash into the side of the bridge, or slam into the bus itself.
One sports car does the latter and pushes the school bus past the concrete barrier so that it is now toppling precariously over the edge, the children inside crying out in terror. The scene is visible from the Metropolis branch of Wayne Industries.
Standing in his office near the top is an important-looking man in a business suit, observing the chaos below. Turning quickly, he moves to his desk and tips back the head of an expensive bronze bust to reveal a big red button. The man presses it and a drawer on his desk opens to reveal Batman's suit.
'This looks like a job fo-'
He reaches for it but stops as he hears a sonic boom from outside. He turns back to the window in time to see the arrival of Superman.
'Superman, he got it handled.'
The hero flies under the bridge and lifts the supports of the collapsing structure back into place. His eyes glow red, and suddenly twin laser beams shoot out and hit the stressing steel, welding them back together. Meanwhile, Supergirl can be seen heading towards the bridge.
Once she arrives, she starts pulling the cars away from the edge and helping anyone that's trapped. The man in the office looks through a pair of long-distance binoculars at the super teen, content to observe the outcome for now.
The school bus starts to tip over the side and its passengers scream in terror once again. The super teen rushes over and grabs the back bumper. With ease, she managed to pull the bus back a couple of feet until it was no longer in danger of falling off. Once she is done with that, she turns to see Superman having finished stabilizing the bridge.
Supergirl is about to greet her cousin when a shrill double bleep originates from the comm link in his ear. Superman responds to the alert on his comm, putting a hand to his ear.
"Superman."
He says, walking away a couple of paces.
"Wait, Arrow, slow down, what's attacking? No, I'm definitely available. Coordinates?"
Superman requests.
"Acknowledged. On my way."
He ends the comm, then turns briefly towards the super teen who speaks before he even utters a single word.
"Is something wrong? Green Lan- I mean Green Arrow needs help right? Want me to tag along?"
Seeing her enthusiasm, he shakes his head before speaking
"Sorry, Supergirl but it sounds too dangerous for you."
"But-"
She rebukes but is interrupted by her cousin.
"We'll talk about it later, for now, duty calls."
Superman says and hurriedly departs, soon just a speck on the horizon. Supergirl looks down, then back up at the retreating figure with an angry expression. Her eyes threatened to shoot heat vision. She took a deep breath before flying off.
In the air, Superman's comm link bleeps twice again.
"Already got the alert, Bruce."
He says, touching the comm to respond.
"I know Clark."
The man in the office replies into his cell phone, watching the Man of Steel fly away.
"But we need to talk."
Superman takes his hand off the comm with a sigh. Any time Batman says you need to talk is never good. The day Batman calls him just to have a small chat will be the day Lex Luther grows hair and solves world peace out of pure altruistic reasons.
[Mount Justice, Rhode Island. August 3, 13:06 EDT]
Aqualad swipes his hand across the holographic air hockey table but is too slow as the puck slides into the goal. He looks up with an annoyed expression at his opponent and the winner of the match.
Kid Flash straightens and takes a bite of his banana, a smirk on his face. Miss Martian and Robin are observers, trying to kill time until their next mission.
"Recognized: Supergirl, B-0-4."
The computer announces as the zeta tubes power on. With a flash of light, Kara appears with an obviously angry expression. She stomps right through the holographic hockey table, which fizzles into nothingness.
"Hi, Kara. How was Metropolis?"
Miss Martian asks them. Supergirl keeps moving across the room like she has not heard the young Martian. Someone clears their throat from across the room.
"Ready for training everyone?"
Black Canary asks, Martian Manhunter stepping in next to her. Everyone stops what they are doing to look.
"Black Canary, Uncle J'onn!"
Miss Martian says excitedly. She runs over to him and embraces her uncle in a big hug, then steps back.
"M'gann."
He says while placing a hand on her shoulder.
"I was 'in the neighborhood' so I thought I'd see how you are adjusting."
Not having any prior experience or knowledge of Earth as M'gann did, J'ohn J'onzz had trouble living with humans during his stranded days. Though most would if one day you found yourself on an alien planet due to a teleportation accident. M'gann had watched many television series and thus had a better initial understanding of Earth but that still did not erase his worries for his one-of-a-kind niece.
"A few bumps, but, I'm learning. I was scared fighting my first bad guy but other than that I am starting to get the hang of it."
Miss Martian replies.
"That's all I can ask and do not worry, I believe in you."
Manhunter says in a warm tone. Supergirl seeing this is a little jealous. Her own cousin treats her like a kid and does not allow her to help people even when she is literally nigh-indestructible. She could count on one hand the number of things that could pose a threat to them under a yellow sun. Having had enough and needed to blow some steam, she decided to leave.
Black Canary looks up and sees the super teen stomping off and stops her.
"Stick around. Class is in session."
Supergirl stops and turns back, crossing her arms like she has somewhere else to be. Canary walks to the center of the room and pauses. The floor lights up, moving to the edge of the circle. She turns around to face the majority of those observing, Supergirl watching from behind.
"I consider it to be an honor to be your teacher. I'll throw a lot at you. Everything I've learned from my own mentors..."
She takes off her overjacket and groans as she reveals her bandaged arm.
"... and my own bruises."
"What happened?"
Miss Martian asks in a concerned tone.
"The job."
Canary says shortly, then tosses her jacket to the side.
"Now, combat is about controlling conflict, putting the battle on your terms. You should always be acting, never reacting. I'll need a sparring partner."
"Right here! Yeah!"
Kid Flash says, finishing a bite of his banana. He walks forward and takes another bite, swallowing it quickly.
"After this, swish, I'll show you my moves."
He brags, throwing the remains into a nearby trash can. Black Canary gives him a disarming smile, then strikes without warning. She throws a punch that he barely blocks, then she sweeps his legs out from under him. He falls hard on the training circle, and the four team members standing together look shocked at how quickly he was taken down.
Kid Flash lays on the ground, surrounded by a circle of red lights and a notification tag reading:
'Kid Flash Status: FAIL.'
"Ohh, hurts so good."
'I think I peed a little.'
He groans and thinks.
"Good block, but did anyone see what he did wrong?"
Canary asks, helping the hero stand up. The circle and notification tag disappear as he stands.
"Oo, oo!"
Robin says excitedly before adding on.
"He hit on the teacher and got served?"
"Dude."
Kid Flash hisses at him angrily, holding his sore arm. Canary suddenly gets serious.
"He allowed me to dictate the terms of battle-"
Her sentence is interrupted as the computer beeps, and Batman appears on a holographic screen that pops up.
"Batman to the Cave."
Everyone gathers around the video call.
"Five hours ago, a new menace attacked Green Arrow and Black Canary."
A new video feed appears, displaying a recording of an orange-haired robot with elven ears and red pinpoints for eyes. The video feed shows the robot grabbing Superman's right arm before spinning him around and taking down the two Leaguers, Red Tornado, and The Flash, who rushed to help Superman by using Superman as a weapon.
"The attacker was capable of studying, then duplicating the powers and abilities of its opponents. Arrow called in reinforcements, which nearly proved disastrous, as our foe gained more and more power with each new combatant."
"Whoa."
Wally says before adding on.
"One guy with the powers of the entire League?"
Batman continues.
"In the end, it took eight Leaguers four hours to defeat and dismantle the android."
"An android? Who made it? T.O. Morrow?"
Robin questions before Batman responds.
"Good guess Robin, but Red Tornado doesn't think so."
"The technology bears the signature of Professor Ivo."
Martian Manhunter says, speaking for the first time since before training began.
"Ivo? But Ivo's dead."
Aqualad says.
"So we all thought... Or hoped."
Black Canary says over her shoulder. On-screen, Batman continues clarifying his reason for contacting them.
"To make certain this threat is permanently neutralized, we're sending two trucks carrying the android's parts to two separate STAR Lab facilities in Boston, and New York for immediate evaluation. Every precaution is being taken."
A third screen pops up, displaying the route the two trucks will take.
"We'll have four additional decoy trucks to create confusion in case Ivo, or anyone tries to recover the remains. You will split into undercover teams to safeguard the two real trucks."
The tracker Robin had put on Sportsmaster Helicopter during their last mission had led the Justice League to an inhabited Island. It clearly showed that whoever was behind Sportsmaster covered their tracks remarkably well since there was no sign of where Sportsmaster could have gone when they reached the Island.
"Yes! Road trip."
Kid Flash excitedly says.
Aqualad consults a handheld device.
"Coordinates received. On our way."
Everyone rushes toward the hangar, where M'gann's bioship rests, and biker clothes for an inconspicuous disguise await them inside the cargo hold.
[Litchfield County, Connecticut. August 3, 20:08 EDT]
The Team sits on their bikes, waiting for the hazmat teams to finish loading the android parts into the two trucks. League members stand guard, making sure no one tries to attack the trucks or see which ones have the parts.
Superman glances toward the forest, seeing movement. Using his X-ray vision, he can see the Team behind the foliage. Supergirl looks up, catching his eyes. Superman smiles and tries to wave at her but she quickly turns her head away.
"STAR Boston is a go."
One of the hazmat guards tells them.
"STAR Manhattan is a go."
Green Arrow says, giving a nod. At a signal from Batman, three of the trucks take off in one direction while the three remaining go in the other. M'gann, Wally, and Kaldur follow the Boston trucks while Robin and Supergirl follow the ones heading to New York.
After they leave, the Leaguers take off, back to their own homes and cities. Superman is about to depart when a black-gloved hand is placed on his shoulder.
"I told you. We need to talk."
Batman says.
---
Robin and Supergirl are on the highway following three decoy trucks until two of them branch off and one stays on the main highway. The two teens follow the lone truck as the road goes right through a field, corn stalks growing high on all sides. Robin suddenly speeds up to ride next to Supergirl.
"If dislike is the opposite of like."
The Boy Wonder begins his words heard by the others thanks to the small radio in their helmets for casual conversation.
"Would disaster be the opposite of aster? See, instead of things going wrong they go right."
Supergirl stays silent.
"Uh, clearly you're not feeling the aster. What's wrong?"
Robin asks with a smile.
"Superman."
She replies before adding on.
"I mean he is fine with me fighting the bad guys when I am with him or Triton or the Team but when I am on my own, he suddenly thinks I am as fragile as glass. I can count the number of villains that can match me in strength with my two hands and I would still have fingers left but no... it is too dangerous."
"Taking down stronger guys is part of the gig but you have to remember that the bad guys are not just strong, some are cunning as well, and if you are not careful enough you could fall into their trap."
Robin says in a calm tone.
"Sometimes superheroes learn that the hard way, this actually happens to Batman and your cousin is no exception."
A moment of silence reigns before Supergirl speaks as she sits up straighter.
"Do you hear that?"
"Hear what?"
Robin asks. There is a faint sound in the air, ebbing and flowing with the breeze. It sounds like… laughter. High-pitched, maniacal laughter. Small green and black forms burst from the cornfields near the highway. Tiny jetpacks propel the laughing forms onto the truck, where they cling like spiders.
"Robin! Supergirl! Our truck is under attack!"
Kaldur's voice yells through the comm.
"Kinda figured that was the case..."
Robin responds with one hand on his comm unit.
"... Because ours is too!"
He finishes as he witnesses the truck being attacked. The attackers are now more recognizable, resembling monkeys. They let out another round of cackles.
"Robot monkeys!"
Robin comments with a laugh.
"Totally Ivo's tweak style."
The Boy Wonder presses a button on his bike and it separates into two parts, rebalancing the front half into a single-wheeled vehicle while the back half transforms into a flying battle drone.
"Hey Supergirl, switch your rides to battle mode."
"No point."
Supergirl says as she flies from her bike onto the truck. With no one to drive it, the motorcycle spins out of control, heading straight for Robin.
"Or not."
He says before he leaps from his own bike moments before they collide, and shoots his grappling hook at the back of the truck. The monkey drones notice Supergirl's arrival and laugh before shooting green beams of concentrated energy from their eyes at the truck.
The metal surface starts to melt under the intense heat. She knocks some of the bots aside and stops them temporarily, but they simply activate their jetpacks and return to their work. The two team members are unsure of how to defeat them properly and continue to kick them off the truck, defending the android parts.
Supergirl is now furious and starts ripping them to pieces, and Robin's drone blasts some as well, until the metallic creatures attack and dismantle it. Using a mangled robot, Supergirl smacks its companions out of the air when suddenly its head swivels around and hits her with its green beams.
"Kryptonite? You little piece of-"
She clutches her eyes in pain, and four of the monkey bots grab her and lift off, dropping the super teen on the hard pavement behind the truck.
"Supergirl!"
Robin cries out, and in his inattention, one of the monkeys shoots him with its eye beams. It cuts the protective material on his right arm, grazing the skin, and he hisses in pain before promptly kicking the attacking robot. It laughs at him as the head spins off into the nearby cornfield.
'Kryptonite is a rare element my ass!'
Supergirl thinks as she starts to get up, but her eyes are blurry. Her super hearing is as sharp as ever though, and she hears the calling of the monkeys in her ears. Laughing at her. Mocking her. Angrily, Supergirl super flies into the air and towards the truck.
Robin pulls out his Escrima sticks and starts whacking the monkey bots aside. Supergirl lands on the back end of the truck hard enough to knock the robots off temporarily. It also knocks Robin to his hands and knees. Immediately as he regains his feet, the robots are back and swarming the three partners.
Unknown to the young heroes, two of the monkey robots crawl down the side of the truck and use their eye beams to blow out the tires on one side. The vehicle swerves wildly out of control.
"The driver!"
Robin yells. Supergirl flies down and rips the driver's door open.
"Get out!"
She yells. The driver nods as he unclippled his seatbelt Robin grabs his collar before dragging him into the cornfield. Supergirl continues to fight the robots instead of getting clear. The armored truck, now uncontrolled, flips several times before coming to a stop upside down. After a few seconds of stillness, the back end explodes and the laughing monkey bots fly off with the android parts.
Robin helps the driver out of the cornfield and lays him down on the dirt near the shoulder of the road. The guard groans and then lays still except for the rise and fall of his chest indicating that he is still alive.
"They're getting away!"
Robin says, stumbling along the road. He turns back as he hears Supergirl yell in fury. She flips the armored truck off her and squints in the direction of the monkeys. Robin hears and feels the wind coming off a sonic boom as Supergirl flies off after them.
"Supergirl!"
Robin calls.
A voice comes over the comm link.
"Aqualad to Robin, we've lost our cargo, did you-"
"It's gone."
Robin responds.
"And so is Supergirl."
"Aqualad to Supergirl."
Kaldur says over the comm.
"Radio your position, we'll help you."
"I don't need help."
Supergirl's voice replies angrily.
"Don't want any!"
A sonic boom comes through the tiny earpiece.
"Supergirl?"
Kaldur questions.
"I think she ditched her comm."
Robin concludes.
"Su-per, now we can't even track her."
Wally says in a sarcastic tone.
"She's out of my telepathic range."
M'gann states.
"This Professor Ivo, if he is alive, seems to be two steps ahead of us. Maybe, w-we should contact Red Tornado?"
She asks hesitantly.
"Tornado always tells us to handle things ourselves..."
Kaldur answers.
"... and the mission can still succeed if we recover the parts before they're reassembled."
"Oh, that's a great plan..."
Wally says, voice heavily laced with sarcasm as he continues.
".... except for the part about us not knowing where to look!"
"Maybe we do."
Robin rebukes as he walks over to the deactivated robot nearest to him. He pulls out a USB cable from his glove and plugs it into the monkey.
"We'd have heard by now if the decoy trucks have been attacked, so how'd these monkeys know exactly which trucks to target?"
Robin quickly hacks into the robot's code and pulls it up on his holo-computer glove.
"Ha! The parts have GPS! The monkeys can track the signal, which means I can track 'em with the one I captured. Looks like both sets of parts are converging on… Gotham City?!"
"That far south? M'gann and I won't get there any time soon."
Kaldur says through the comm before adding on.
"I'm sending Kid on ahead to meet you and I will call for some reinforcement, Aqualad out."
As Wally rushes off, M'gann hesitantly asks Aqualad something.
"But I thought you said we shouldn't contact Red Tornado?"
"That was not who I was going to contact."
Kaldur responded with a smile.
Meanwhile, Robin stands up and slings the monkey over his shoulder. He presses a button on his gauntlet and his motorcycle responds, coming upright from the remains before driving up to the young hero.
"Definitely a disaster. Heavy on the dis."
He says.
[AN: Want more? Like Thanos, I want those STONES!!! (READ TILL THE END)
The vote was concluded so here are the results:
Harem: ~31 votes
Nor Harem: ~26 votes
So they will be a harem BUT it won't be like the MC dates one then walks down the street sees a beautiful woman starts rubbernecking then charms her before having sex with her then the girl(s) he is dating find out and are fine with it. The reason why there will be a harem will at the very least have some sense and the girls will have a reason to be okay with it and not just because of the common reason that "I am not enough to handle him." MC has enough discipline to not fall prey to his lust and again I can't go into details since that would be spoiling for future events.
I want to make it realistic and again I can't say it right now but there will be a plot point reason why the MC will have a harem, again it will at the very least be reasonable and he won't go chasing every pair of tits and asses he sees as if they were Pokemon to him and he had to catch them all.
Also for those that stayed to read instead of leaving right away, there will be some actions, a lot of fight scenes before the harem is formed because that is for later on in the story and again it won't change the plot that much since the Harem won't the center of the story.
R18 scene: 14 votes
No R18 scene: 1 vote
So R-18 scene but the sex scenes won't be right now, it will be in the future. As for Violent scenes, if they contain touchy subjects (DC comics are sometimes fucked up) I will try to make a warning before it and also update this fiction's tag when it happens.]
