Ancient Technology

The Man:

Watching as one of the Old Gotham's guardians comes to life, it breaks through its glass display before charging toward Cold, Ivy, and me. Making holes in the street as it runs, the guardian pulls back its arm.

About to punch Ivy, I jump in between her and the guardian. Shooting out my hands, I pull my dual swords from thin air. Spinning them in circles, I slice the guardian's arm off before spinning around and slicing the head off.

The three of us all watch as the guardian's head falls right off, the sound of it hitting the street echoing in the old city. It's followed by the sound of the guardian's headless body falling.

"That's strange," I say, looking at the guardian's dead body.

"Strange," Ivy repeats. "That's strange! That's all you can say!"

"No. I cannot say this whole sentence. And the word no."

Ivy's face turns redder than her hair but I don't care. I care more about the robotic guardian. More precisely, how an almost 200 years ago robot came on. Before I drop to my knee to examine it, I spin my sword again before stabbing it through the guardian's chest, at the very least, impaling it.

Once impaled, I rip both the chest and head apart and examine them.

"Keep an eye out," I say, already examining the inside of the guardian's head.

"Don't have to tell me twice," Ivy says, she and Cold standing guard.

"I knew it," I say. Inside both the guardian's head and chest are transmitter chips.

"The first transmitter chips were first invented in 1959," I think, looking them over. "Over 100 years after Old Gotham was already buried. But these chips aren't from 1959. They're almost brand new. Can't be more than one, maybe two years, since released."

Throwing the chips to the ground, I then check the screws.

"These are new. No rust on them whatsoever. Not brown but still silver-colored. That confirmed it."

I stand back up and turn to Cold and Ivy.

"Someone modified this guardian recently. I found transmitter chips and new screws in them."

"Someone modified them," Ivy repeats. "Had to be Black Mask or one of his men."

"No doubt."

Pulling the sword from the guardian's chest, I tap my wrist.

"Attention everyone," I shout, "Be aware! Black Mask knows we're here! He activated the guardian robots! Be careful!"

It takes a few seconds before anyone can answer me. When Beetle does answer me, I can hear something else in the background.

"Yeah," Beetle says, his voice mixed in with the sound of blaster fires and stone breaking. "We know! Supergirl! Cuidado!"

Hearing Beetle tells Kara to watch out, I lower my wrist and look back down the street.

"Come on," I say, running down the street.

"Where are you going," Ivy yells. "We just came from that way!"

"We're going back," I answer.

"Why?"

"I didn't know about Black Mask modified the guardians. Don't you remember what I said about the guardians? About them breaking arms and legs? About them being a danger! We have to regroup with the others and change tactics!"

I try to walk back down the street. I try to regroup with Kara and everyone else. I think it would be better for us to split into bigger groups instead of the small ones we're all in now. I try to do all of this but before I can, I hear the sound of stone breaking. I then see bits of dust raining from above.

Looking up, I see more guardians on the building. They're crawling down toward us.

Jason Todd:

Reaching into one of my jacket pockets, I pull out a small grenade. Pulling out the pin, I throw the grenade at a group of guardian robots. It explodes and the guardians are swallowed by black smoke and fire.

I thought it would be enough, that the guardians would be destroyed, but I'm right. Walking out of the black smoke, each with one missing arm and a few exposed wires, the guardians charge toward Supergirl, Blue Beetle, and me.

The first guardian tackles Blue Beetle, knocking him off his feet. The second guardian follows Supergirl as she flies back. The third guardian pulls back its arm as it runs.

"Son of a bitch," I cry, jumping and ducking underneath a swing. Rolling across the street and landing on my feet, I pull out dual pistols and turn around. "Die already, you damn hunk of ancient junk!"

Despite all the bullets hitting the guardian, it does nothing more than make sparks. The guardian stomps its metal feet as it walks toward me. Sheating one of my pistols, I switch it for my combat knife.

"Wait for it," I tell myself, "Wait for it. Wait for it! Fuck. I'm going to hate this."

The guardian grabs my throat as soon as it can. Lifting me into the air with almost no effect, I look at the exposed wiring on the side of its head. Twirling my knife in my hand, I stab the guardian in its head, my knife entering through the exposed wiring.

The guardian shakes as I twist the knife around. It shakes, sparks come off it, and its eyes turn off and on. A few seconds later, the guardian lets go of me before falling over.

Gasping after the guardian lets me go, I look up to see Supergirl burn through her guardian with her laser vision, the robot melting before splitting in half. Meanwhile, Blue Beetle places one of his hand cannons against the guardian's face. Firing, Blue Beetle is now pushing a guardian with a hole in its head off of him.

"Hijo de un arma," Blue Beetle shouts. "Those freaking robots are tough!"

"Yeah," I say, rubbing my throat. "Sunglasses wasn't kidding when he said those things are dangerous."

"But wait," Supergirl says, slowly flying down toward the Bug Boy and me. "How did they even turn on? And why did they attack us?"

"Black Mask," I answer, sheating my knife and reloading my guns. "Had to be him."

"I thought Black Mask was a crime boss," Blue Beetle says, "Not some sort of genius hacker, programmer, robot guy."

"He's not," I say, dropping an empty clip and replacing it with a loaded one. "But I'm betting he hired a few computer and robot geeks that can."

Pulling back the barrel, I look through the sights on the top before lowering it.

"Where to now," I ask.

Blue Beetle opens his mouth. He looks like he's about to say something but before he can, Supergirl cuts him off.

"Watch out," she yells, getting in between the two of us and pushing us back. As Supergirl pushes us back, I see a rocket heading for us. It's being fired by a group of men, and standing right next to the one holding an empty launcher is Lady Shiva.

Punching the rocket, and flying right through the fireball, Supergirl reaches the group of men. She grabs the one with the launcher and lifts him up. She throws him into the other men, knocking all of them down.

Kara:

"You're going to need more than rockets or bullets to stop me," I say, turning to face Lady Shiva.

"I know," Lady Shiva answers, reaching behind her. Pulling out a golden staff with a purple crystal on it, Lady Shiva aims it at me. As she does, the purple crystal lights up. It glows brightly and before I can do anything, a lightning bolt shoots out.

I scream as the lightning bolt hits me, electrocuting me before throwing me back.

"Ahh," I moan, holding my chest. Fighting through the shock, I raise my hand a little and look down. There, I see the S on my suit. It had a tear right through it, with the end being slightly burnt. A shadow growing over me, I look up to see Lady Shiva standing over me.

"Rockets or bullets don't stop you," Lady Shiva says, the golden staff in her hand and the purple crystal already lit up. "But I know magic does."

Thinking fast, I use my laser vision against Lady Shiva but she shoots out her golden staff again. Another lightning bolt shoots out, overpowering my laser vision and hitting me.

Reverse-Flash:

Vibrating my hand at high speed, turning it into a blur, I stab a guardian robot with it. My hand goes through the robot, the damn thing freezing up. Its eyes turning off and its arms falling to the side, I swing my hand out. As I swing my hand out, the whole left side of the guardian's chest explodes, and the ancient robot falls to the empty street.

Looking at the Flash as he shoulder charges another guardian and knocks it to the street, he then runs over to the guardian before it can get up and stomps on his feet.

"How many is that," he asks, looking at all the guardians we've destroyed.

"Too many," I answer. "The better question is how many more are there."

Flash and I both look up when we hear the sound of someone screaming.

"Is that...Supergirl," Flash asks.

"I don't know."

"Whatever."

Flash bends down. He bends his arms and legs and prepares to run off, but as he pushes off the street and runs, he almost immediately trips afterward.

"Ahh," he screams as he falls a few feet from me. "What the hell? Ahh!"

I jump when I see Flash being dragged back to where he was. It was like something invisible had grabbed his leg. It grabbed his leg and dragged him back to where he took off. Letting go of his legs, I look past him when I see a large black circle appear in the street.

The circle expands, shooting into the air before splitting apart and revealing a golden Raven and others.

"Flash," Raven says, her voice sounding like thunder. "And Reverse-Flash I see."

"Oh shit," Flash says, pushing himself up.

"Oh boy," I say, bringing up my fists.

Black Mask:

Hearing explosions, gunfires, and screaming, all coming from the Northern part of Old Gotham, I turn to my men.

"Hurry," I yell. "Hurry!"

My men move as fast as they can. They finish painting the ground according to the spell book. They place the three artifacts in the center for me. Snapping my fingers, another one of them hands me the potion Lady Shiva prepared. I bite down on the cork and split it out. Drinking the whole potion in one swallow, I walk toward the center.

I don't even get to the center before the symbols on the ground start glowing. I begin chanting while assembling the artifacts, putting them together into a key.