Chapter 14: In the shadows

"talking"

'thinking'

...

San Francisco, April 10, 20:55 UTC, 2015

"Bat, you're coming to die!"

Exclaimed a man over 7 ft tall whose musculature was impressive. The man wore a sleeveless shirt that exposed arms larger than the average man's head, his face was covered by a black mask with green lines, and his nose was covered by a gas mask.

On his back were connected tubes that supplied him through his bloodstream with a drug called venom.

This drug was so potent that it allowed the average person to gain superhuman strength, speed and stamina for a limited time, certainly a drug that anyone would kill for, yet he ended up with one of the world's most dangerous criminals and mercenaries, Bane.

Batman was fighting with Bane, in one of Bane's clandestine bases at San Francisco. While they were fighting, Bane's minions were loading large crates onto a rather large ship that would take him to Europe and Africa.

No one knows Bane's real name, not even Bane himself, since his first memory as a young man was darkness itself, a product of growing up in one of the most dangerous prisons in the world, "El Pozo", a clandestine prison operated by several countries where they left the worst scum of society at their mercy.

Since the arrival of the superheroes and the League, this prison had been closed, many officials were tried and imprisoned for this, some unfortunately went unpunished, derived from some bribes, however, in the eyes of the public did not go unpunished, especially when the story that a young man had been born and raised in those same walls.

The League had searched for this young man, however, by the time they found his whereabouts it was too late, Bane had made a name for himself in the underworld, and, thanks to the help of a mysterious sponsor who provided him with the experimental drug, had become one of today's most dangerous criminals.

"Surrender Bane, and deliver the cargo" expressed Batman, while dodging with a somersault a strong punch that had made a dent to the concrete wall.

Batman threw 3 batarangs that Bane dodged, despite his great strength and size, this did not prevent him from moving with the grace of a cat, and Batman knew it, he had to play his cards right if he did not want to end up like the first time they fought, where Batman was almost crippled by a strong blow to his back.

Batman grabbed his pulley which he threw into a corner and quickly swung and hit Bane with a strong kick in the face, Bane despite his great reflexes could not avoid it leaving him disoriented.

Batman thought the kick had been enough and quickly moved in to land another blow directly on the gas mask. Bane needed this mask because of the condition of his body that adapted to the little oxygen that was in El Pozo, and suffered from spasms when he breathed directly from the more concentrated oxygen that was in the city normally. This same condition allowed him to endure the venom in higher doses than other subjects, being the only person who has not died or become insane derived from this same drug.

However, just as Batman was about to connect the blow, his hand was grabbed by a much larger and stronger hand. Bane, took it and with a strong pull that almost broke the bones in Batman's hand, threw the bat into a wall whose impact caused it to crumble.

Bane slowly approached towards the bat who was in great pain derived from the strong blow he suffered, and with a haughty voice said, "you are still no match for me, bat, you are good, but you alone are not going to stop that shipment from leaving tonight."

"…Who said I'm alone?"

Out of nowhere an explosion echoed from one of the warehouses in Bane's lair, quickly Bane grabbed his intercom and addressed his men

"Report, now."

"Sir, there was an explosion in the west wing, we don't know what caused it...phew phew."

"Hello...somebody, tell me something now...aaaggggggg!!!, Malditos imbéciles!, what did you do Batman?"

"He didn't do anything, I did" a voice was heard as a blur approached at a speed that was not perceptible to the human eye, a person dressed in red with yellow trim and a lightning bolt on his chest came quickly supporting Batman, to get him up.

"Fuck you speedster, but my ship has sailed, you're not going to be able to stop it"

"What ship…oh, are you talking about that ship?" said Flash as he pointed towards a large ship that was speeding away from the harbor, when suddenly another explosion was heard in the distance, the same ship had exploded.

"I thought the League didn't kill" exclaimed Bane surprise

"We don't" replied Batman, as Bane watched his men being tossed out of the sea by a large wave, courtesy of Aquaman himself also coming out of the wáter.

He also watch how the giant crates of cargo were easily carried to the ground courtesy of a man dressed in a red suit with a white lightning bolt on his chest and a white hood, this was Shazam, a superhero who was said to be just as strong as Superman, though in reality under this superhero facade was a child, however, this secret was only known to Batman.

Bane knew he was beaten, so he amplified all his remaining venom, and quickly turned to flee at breakneck speed, however, for a Shazam with the speed of the god Mercury himself, this was like a warm-up jog. He quickly reached Bane's side and with a strong punch quickly knocked him out.

"That was too easy" Shazam said in a playful tone, despite looking like an adult, he was still a kid who was fulfilling the dream of being a superhero, and he clearly got excited about little things like this.

"Take them all away, I want to interrogate them" Batman said in his monotone to the members who had arrived from the League, as with his batarang he cut the tubes in Bane's back, causing Bane himself to start shrinking to a size 6 ft tall, his musculature, while still strong was no longer as impressive as before.

Flash in a few seconds had taken out all the minions, while Shazam carried Bane. Aquaman meanwhile approached Batman who was examining with a machine the contents of each box.

"You took too long" Batman said deadpan.

"Amazo was a tougher opponent than we thought, in the end he was defeated when we subjected him to Wonder Woman's lasso, Cyborg was about to study him when he self-destructed, preventing us from knowing who it was that controlled the robot or how... What did you find out?"

"I'm afraid it's as I suspected, Amazo was just a distraction, they wanted to distract us to prevent us from intercepting this order". Batman grabbed a hook from his belt, and with a strong pull he opened one of the boxes. "over eight tons in weapons produced with Promethium, with this, is the third shipment we've confiscated in these two months. We have to take everything to the Watchtower, we need an emergency meeting."

…...

Watchtower, April 11, 09:45 UTC, 2015

In the hall of the Watchtower were gathered several members of the League derived from the emergency meeting that Batman had requested. In the room were Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern Hal Jordan, Aquaman, Martian Manhunter, Green Arrow, Black Canary, Hawkwoman, Hawkman, Captain Atom, Black Lightning, Zatara, Red Tornado, Vixen and Cyborg.

Green Lantern member John Stewart was on patrol in the other worlds that included Sector 2814, Atom was on leave from his job with the Revenger Group, and Doctor Fate had also requested leave stemming from a magical emergency, leaving only Zatara as the one in charge of all things magical at the moment.

In fact, from what Doctor Fate had said, this emergency would take almost a year to resolve, and they would not be able to reach him if an emergency called. The league just hoped that no such great threat was going to happen while said superhero was absent, as he was one of the most powerful of the group.

Batman stood up and with his ever serious and unchanging expression said.

"Call this emergency session stemming from the recent events that have started this year."

Typing some commands into the computer, the giant projector revealed the image of some giant boxes filled with weapons, guns, lasers, swords, even some bombs were in sight.

"Promethium, Earth's most resilient and flexible metal, its ability to absorb energy to regenerate itself makes it almost impossible to destroy, making it quasi-indestructible, and lately H.I.V.E. has been distributing such weapons, why?, we don't know, but it is worrying how much has been produced and traded in America, Europe and Africa."

"This metal, who produces it?" asked Hawkwoman, her civilian name was Shayera Hol.

She was a beautiful woman with red hair, dressed in green with gold armor with golden wings on her back and her hawk helmet, made of nth metal alloy. Nth metal is a metal coming from thanagar that defies gravity allowing them to fly, among other things. Her body was synonymous of perfection derived from her great training, although, for those of the League she was considered the second most lethal girl after Wonder Woman, she had a fierce temper and was not intimidated by anyone, not even by her husband.

Batman took time to reply as he used the keyboard to produce the image of a country on the border of the Middle East, called Bialya.

"Bialya, a nation in the middle east, is practically the only producer of the metal, it is also considered a fully developed country, a fortress. It is said that everything is well monitored, and that nothing goes in and out without the queen's consent."

The image changed to that of a dark-haired woman with fine, beautiful features and a golden crown on her head.

"Queen Zazzala is the ruler, a woman who continued her mother's dynasty and has led this small country to become one of the richest in the world. Although her power is said to derive from extortion and illegal dealings in other countries, there are even rumors that she runs a large network of sex slaves, but these are only rumors. However, we can say that Bialya is aware of the production and distribution of such weapons, my intelligence says that the H.I.V.E group originated in that country, but we cannot send a group to investigate because the UN has us tied up, as Bialya is not a country that has signed the Justice treaty, plus Bialya is in talks with the United States, for the marketing of such metal to the military."

Typing another command Batman produced another image, now it was a central African country, called Kahndaq.

"Kahndaq, another country out of jurisdiction, my sources tell me that this country is where Intergang has its base of operations. Intergang is the largest producer of illegal weapons in the world, the criminal world evolved derived from these weapons. Many villains we have faced have technology built by these people, however, we cannot enter either because of said treaty, plus this country is said to have a protector, Shazam please continue the conversation."

"Emmm... Yeah, yeah, mm cough cough, sorry" Shazam almost choked when Batman said his name, the truth was he had lost the thread of the conversation and was falling asleep.

Batman squinted at Shazam, making him nervous, but he let it go and repeated.

"Shazam please explain to us about the protector of Kahndaq."

At these words, Shazam's complexion went from playful and sorry to totally serious, even if you looked closely you could see a hatred in his eyes when he mentioned this sentence Batman.

"Teth Adam, was the champion of the gods before me, he practically has the same powers as me, but derived from the Egyptian gods, however, his cruelty, and hatred have represented him, he is a person who will do anything to accomplish his goals. He was believed to be dead, but they resurrected him to help them against the dictatorship of Kahndaq, he practically became their protector."

"but, what's not a good thing?, I mean, he fought for his people" asked Green Arrow.

At this question Batman again typed another command revealing poor quality videos recorded by cell phones while watching scenes of carnage, explosions, death and destruction, all caused by a single person. A person with a caramel complexion, cropped black hair and pointed ears wearing a dark blue suit and a large golden lightning bolt on his chest.

This scene was horrible to watch, even several turned their heads to avoid seeing the carnage of children derived from the falling debris produced by this person.

"You see, he was asked for one thing, and he achieved it, but at the cost of many lives."

"So what are we going to do?" Wonder Woman asked.

"Nothing, we can't currently do anything" replied Batman.

"That's bullshit!" said a beautiful blonde woman dressed in leather suit and a jacket, she was Black Canary, one of the best fighters of the League, plus her powers allowed her to produce a sonic scream so powerful that, according to her, at full power she could destroy a building without problems.

When she said these words everyone turned to look at her.

"It's always the same, the League tries to do everything to bring peace to the world, and we are always prevented by bureaucracy. I say we become independent and work without jurisdiction, so we can go there, and end the production of weapons, and bring such a monster to justice."

"We can't do that, if we leave the agreement we will be branded as criminals, in the eyes of the world, these regulations are the only thing keeping us from going crazy" Batman commented, although his words were harsh, he was right, they were already forgetting that, without the treaty, they were mere vigilantes who in the eyes of the law were no better than average criminals.

"So what shall we do?" asked Captain Atom, he was an ex-soldier who suffered an accident that turned him into a living nuclear bomb, only his body, which was composed of a special alloy, prevented him from releasing all that detonating power that could destroy cities. However, having been a great award-winning general he had a love for authority, he believed that the rules were there to bring order and justice to the world.

"For the time being, watch and confiscate all illegal shipments, you have to be very vigilant on patrols, especially in the San Francisco area, Cyborg."

"I'll put the Teen Titans on patrol in these areas, anything they report back to us."

"How's the group doing, Cyborg? Superman asked, clearly it was a question to lighten the tense atmosphere that had been generated.

"It's going well Superman, the guys have been working well, in fact, a lot of information on said weapons was gathered by them, plus they have also done several successful missions, even winning against several small but dangerous villains, but speaking of this, there are guys who are already going to turn 18, I want to formally request that any member from the age of 18, have a League advisor, just like I had in my beginnings"

"Mmm, that's a good idea, so they will gain more experience, we will consider it and at the next meeting we will take a vote, if there are no more for the moment, I will adjourn the meeting" said Superman, which made everyone stand up and relax from the tense atmosphere that had originated.

...…

"Wonder Woman, may I have a word?" asked Black Canary.

"Sure, here or somewhere else."

"Let's go to the arcade for comfort."

They both headed to the room that the heroes used to rest, have a drink and chat, not everything was patrolling, they also had to have some relaxation time, more, when sometimes the patrols were all day long.

When they arrived, Diana was surprised when Vixen and Hawkwoman were waiting for them, this was a little strange for Diana and she wondered why this situation. When they entered Dinah closed the door and pushed Diana to the couch to sit down.

"Spit it out already, tell us what's eating you."

"I don't underst-"

"Oh stop it, Diana, you're smiling more than usual, I've seen you humming songs, and even when we're in meetings you have an ida look, if you were Flash or Shazam I might expect it, but on you? That's not to be expected, so spill it, who's the boy?"

"Why do you think it's a boy?"

"The signs are there, clearly it's crush" Vixen said resolutely.

"I don't like him!" spat Diana.

"Then he is a boy" said Hawkwoman with a smile

"I, I... ash, I can't hide anything from you guys, his name is Edgar and I don't know, when I'm with him I feel... me. He makes me laugh a lot, even though sometimes he's annoying and just makes me want to punch him and that damn cute smile. I swear every time he smiles, it makes me want to punch him, but all he does is make me smile... oh no, I'm in love"

"Congratulations, the first thing you have to do in a crush is admit it" Vixen said giving a thumbs up.

"and does he like you...forget it that's a stupid question" said Shayera.

"Why is it stupid?" asked Diana with sincere doubt. When she asked this question, they all looked at them with a 'are you serious girl, that you haven't seen yourself in the mirror?' face.

"Diana, it pains me to admit it, but out of all of us, you are the prettiest. There is even a bet to see who was the guy who would win you over" said Black Canary while showing how between them they had bet between Superman and Batman who was going to romance the Amazon princess.

"But what's wrong with you guys, Superman is a nice guy, but he's too nice and Batman... he's Batman. Besides, it's not a stupid question because actually, the guy I like is blind, so technically he doesn't know what I look like."

"Fiuuu, that's good, so we know it's not just based on looks, nowadays it seems like guys are just looking for who has the biggest boobs or butt" said Vixen as she opined how relationships were becoming more and more difficult and superficial

"I'd still beat us Diana" Shayera said with a smile to which made everyone in the room laugh.

"I say ask him out, you lose nothing" said Vixen.

"And when are you going to ask Cyborg out?" asked Dinah to Vixen, this made the chocolate complexioned heroine, dressed in an orange one piece suit, blush slightly.

"Is it too obvious?" asked Mari (Vixen) pitifully.

At this question everyone including Diana looked at her like 'really girl?'

"The looks you give her in meetings are obvious to everyone but Cyborg himself."

"You know what, if Diana asks this Edgar guy out I'll ask Cyborg."

"Deal" they both shook hands as a sign that they had an agreement.

"And you Dinah, is there a special guy?"

"Ha, since I arrived, Green Arrow hasn't stopped asking me out, I told him the day he beat me in a fight that day I'd go out with him. We've fought 51 times... I've won 51"

"HAHAHAHA" this made them all laugh, what can you say, about heroes who didn't have enhanced capabilities in strength and speed, Black Canary was one of the best fighters only second to Batman, Green Arrow was a great fighter, but still he paled in comparison to Dinah.

"But I must admit that his perseverance is kind of cute, if he makes it to 60 bouts maybe I'll give him a chance."

"And you, Shayera, how was your love story?"

"It really doesn't have much of a joke, ever since I saw Carter in college I knew he was the man of my life, weird because we were both from different departments. When we got to know each other further, we were able to remember our past lives and since we did this ritual so that every reincarnation we can meet, it practically makes us soul mates, since his soul is linked to mine, in fact, this is our third life, and we are enjoying it to the fullest, it's the first time we are superheroes"

"But isn't that burdensome, I mean, it hinders your right to choose or meet more people, isn't it?" asked Dinah curiously, all the girls were also looking doubtful and curious.

"Oh no, I love Carter, besides, he knows he has to make me happy, he has to work day by day to satisfy me haha, besides he knows I like little spontaneous details and let alone our anniversary. If he forgets, he will sleep on the couch and maybe with a black eye" said Shayera with a threatening smile that made the other girls laugh, no doubt she was a girl with a fierce and indomitable temper.

This was the beginning of a long and lasting conversation filled with gossip, stories and lots of laughter, no doubt the girls of the League were getting closer every day.

.....

Royal Palace, Bialya, April 14, 19:34 UTC, 2015

In a palace made of marble with gold details, a woman was sitting on a throne. The woman was beautiful, she had a caramel complexion, thin and thin lips adorned with a wine-colored lipstick, her seductive eyes were dark brown. She was Zazzala, queen of Bialya, a small but extremely rich country, producer of the most resistant and moldable metal in the world. However, what only few knew was that she was known in the criminal world as Queen Bee, the leader of the criminal group H.I.V.E. In fact, Batman was right, H.I.V.E. had roots in Bialya but what even he did not expect was that its leader was the ruler herself.

"Another shipment was intercepted by the League" Out of nowhere a voice came from behind his back.

To anyone else this would make them startle or react to the arrival of someone without making a sound, but to Zazzala who was already used to this, it didn't even make her flinch.

The voice was produced by a woman with Asian features, dressed in a red colored qipao. She was a beautiful woman and more, adorned with that red lipstick on her full lips, which only highlighted her delicate features, however, do not be fooled, to the criminal world she was known as Lady Shiva, considered the most lethal assassin in the world. She didn't use guns, her only weapons were her own hands, and she was very good at using them, as she was currently in third place for most men killed, only below the never-failing assassin Deadshot and the world's best mercenary Deathstroke.

However, even Deathstoke or even one of her martial arts masters Ras' al Ghoul, would consider twice to fight her, as she was a person who could produce any move she looked at, and even with little practice could improve it, bringing her martial arts to the perfect point, something very few masters have managed to achieve.

However, even though she has had much training from various renowned masters, her loyalty belonged only to her queen Zazzala, as she had been the one who had taken her off the streets and made her what she is now, without hesitation, she knows that, without her help, she and her sister would have died.

Although her sister was a delicate subject, compared to her who had a perfect body for martial arts, her sister was always very sickly. Her body had a rare disease that prevented her from getting all the nutrients from her food. However, her illness worsened in her teens, and one day, out of nowhere, she fell into a coma without any explanation, the queen had her body monitored, and with the best treatment available and this was what she would continue to repay her for with her service all her life.

"Shiva, it is always a pleasure to see you, even if you bring me not so pleasant news, who was now the cause of such a mistake?"

"Bane, the muscular gorilla."

"Mmm, arrange to have him killed. I don't want him to leak any more information than they were currently able to gather, remember, we are ten steps ahead of them, there is no cutting this short"

"Yes, my queen" with a bow he crept out of the throne room.

When Shiva left, Zazzala stood up and headed towards her room. She entered and headed for a bookshelf that was filled with books on various subjects from philosophy to economics. Moving a small, old, unspectacular-looking book, she was able to activate a secret compartment that led to a hidden subway room.

The room was dimly lit and filled with a microphone and a giant screen. It must be said that said room was not traceable with today's satellites, and the communication was so well encrypted that it was impossible for others to communicate on the same network as the speakers themselves.

"beep, beep, beep" in a few minutes the monitor began to beep, and the image began to clear, showing several figures that were not visible except for their silhouettes. The image showed 14 figures (counting Zazzala it would be 15), and in the center was the leader of that organization, his loud and distorted voice sounded.

"L9, tell us your situation."

Zazzala cleared his throat when they mentioned his code in the group.

"L1, another shipment of weapons was taken by the League, I already arranged the death of said agent, but I don't know how to proceed with this, it seems that the League is closer to discovering what is related to us."

L1 did not flinch at these words, for him, such events did not affect his laid plans, no matter what the League did, he would be the ultimate winner.

"Our plans follow, the first thing we must do is to help L11 become the ruler of Vlatava, the civil war is escalating there, and these weapons will be the trigger for the war to be won. With this, we can implement the plan to take Europe, Africa and Asia by uniting the nations, Markovia, Vlatava and Bialya. Besides, no matter what decisions the League makes, we will know and act on that"

"You have a spy?" said Zazzala, her question sounded more like a clarification, the realization hit Zazzala, she didn't understand where Vandal's (L1) security came from when it came to making his plans, but now she knew, Vandal had a spy in the League, he was always in control of the situation.

Faced with this, L14 commented.

"The best way to beat someone, is to know your opponent thoroughly, the best way to do it is from the inside"

L1 interrupted that conversation and got the information back on track with another question.

"L2, how is the Cadmus project coming along?"

"We have almost everything to start the project except two things, Superman's DNA and the information which are at Starlabs and we need to steal the DNA editing machine created by Revenger Group. That machine will help us facilitate the cloning process. This is a problem, both centers have maximum security, I don't think we will be able to infiltrate without alerting the League"

At this there was a silence while everyone waited for Vandal to speak, he was the leader of the group due to his intelligence, if there was someone who could solve these problems it was him.

"We need to generate a distraction so large that it will make it easier for our men to infiltrate both locations, and someone comes to mind who is perfect for such a job, we just need to provide him with the ways to do it..."

"Who would that person be?"

"Someone who doesn't mind committing crazy things"

L2 didn't have to hear the person's name, as this sentence alone said who it was "I'll contact him and, we'll make the infiltration plan based on that"

"Well, it would be all for this meeting, long live the light!

"Long live The Light!" everyone chanted.

...

In her apartment stood a very nervous Diana, the words of her friends/colleagues in the League were on her mind.

Since Diana had told Edgar her secret, their relationship had grown closer and closer. At first it was a nice friendship, but then Diana started to see Edgar as something more, a confidant for her problems and, inside her, she only counted the days until they would see each other again, even Diana sometimes visited him when he was on patrols, although it was only brief but even then, she always ended up enjoying those little moments.

Edgar would also tell her about all the good things he was working with at the Revenger Group and she was so proud of all the people he was helping with said inventions, now that she thought about it, Diana was starting to fall in love with her friend and that scared her.

Diana may be a brave and experienced warrior, but in matters of love, she was a novice, she had never experienced such a situation before, and her mother did not include any teaching about these matters either, of course, she was not ignorant about the subject of sexuality and love, but she did not expect it to happen to her, it must be said that, despite her considerable age, in Amazonian standards she was considered quite young.

For a moment she even considered asking her mother for advice, but this she quickly dismissed. Knowing her mother's nature, she would try to investigate Edgar and that was something she did not want, as it could fracture the friendship they had.

That was another problem, despite the considerable friendship, and the closeness they both had, she didn't know if she wanted to lose that by becoming something more. There was always the fear of losing everything and becoming nothing and that was something that frightened Diana. No doubt Edgar was a light in our dear Amazon's life, losing that light would perhaps cause her to lose herself.

She didn't know what to do, she had been looking at her phone for a while considering her options, but, her thoughts were interrupted when said phone started ringing startling the amazon, she had almost thrown the phone away, but thanks to her super reflexes she had avoided it.

She was more startled when she could see that on the communicator was Edgar's name 'speak of the devil' she thought, taking a few long breaths to calm her thoughts, she answered.

"Allou" 'how stupid, why did I say that'.

"Diana. is that you?" asked Edgar doubtfully.

"Yeah, it's me, hehe, just trying out a greeting, did it sound weird?"

"It was weird actually, although kind of cute, but that's not what's important, I'd like to invite you somewhere next week."

"Like a date?" asked Diana with a whisper, no doubt she wasn't expecting her problems to be solved by Edgar himself

"mmm, yes, a date, I know it's sudden, but I'd like you to see something, I know you'd like it"

"Sure, I'd love to, I'll be looking forward to it."

Diana couldn't help but sleep with a smile that night.

.....

AN:

Okay, You may have already guessed but the first big villain in the story is The Light. I loved how they developed it in the first season, and I want to work with that.

BUT, this will not be anything like Young Justice, not even close, the group will have 15 members, not all of them from the series, some different, but they will all have a purpose in the group. They are all there for something, and, in a way , they are all formidable opponents for Justice League

Next chapter: Date

Next next: Madness 1

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