Multiple Fronts

Monday 9th August 2010, 22:40.

New Jersey,

Gotham City,

Gotham Heights.

Tapping his foot anxiously, Esau kept his gaze firmly upon the back entrance, only able to hear silence from the other end as the fight between Kaldur and the unknown assailant took a short break. From what he had managed to glimpse through Kaldur's eyes, he was currently facing a young woman, but he was by no means about to overlook her for that reason.

"What's going on out there?" Wally asked, looking to Batgirl who didn't respond, far too focused on the task at hand, surveilling their surroundings for any more assailants.

Esau looked to Robin who shook his head, telling Esau that he too didn't know what was happening. 'That's great, it means we're completely blind.' It seemed that the security cameras once monitoring the back alleyway had all been taken out, though that was not his only means of finding out what was happening. "Miss Martian, what's going on?"

"Aqualad! H-his mind isn't connecting!" M'gann exclaimed.

One thing to be aware of about the mental link they all shared is that despite all the advantages it provides, it also had a number of weaknesses. Most of these were due to M'gann's current level of skill in telepathy, but even then, it still had a number of weaknesses, one of which being that M'gann was the only one aware of who was and wasn't connected.

As a result, while they could communicate in a way that couldn't be hacked by technological means, it meant that none of them would know when a member of their team had been taken out, except for M'gann. But once again, due to her current skill in telepathy, even she needed to consciously focus on the link to see who was connected at any one point in time and due to her inexperience, she hadn't been focusing on that connection.

'Shit! So how long has he been out then?' Esau questioned internally. "Alright, one of you two check to see what's happened. Everyone else, prepare yourselves." With those orders given, Esau reached around and pulled out his extendable staff, pressing the button on one side, extending it to its entire length as he moved to stand in between Roquette and the rear entrance.

There was a few moments of silence before he finally received a report. "Aqualad's down, no sign of th-"

Yet, before Artemis could even finish, the connection suddenly cut out.

'Artemis?! Miss Martian?!' Esau called out mentally, only to receive nothing. 'Damnit! We're not connected anymore!'

"What's going on?" Roquette asked from where she sat, pausing in her typing, having noticed both Superboy and Esau move to stand protectively in front of her.

Ignoring her for the time being, Maelstrom instead turned to the others. "Robin?" A shake of the head told Esau that all the security cameras overlooking the building had been taken out. "Right, KF, Batgirl, Robin. Head to the roof and take out anyone you find. Superboy and I will remain here."

"You gotcha." Pulling down his goggles, Kid Flash pushed open the front door and rushed out. Batgirl and then Robin followed soon after.

Watching them go, both Superboy and Maelstrom strained their hearing and while at first there was nothing but silence, the sound of fighting soon broke out. He couldn't tell how many, his enhanced hearing wasn't that great, but it didn't need to be, especially not with the explosion he just heard, that alone told him enough.

They were in for a long night.

"How many?"

Superboy took a few moments, his superhuman hearing far greater than his own. "Two, possibly three. I'm not sure." Both of them took this in different ways, Superboy who had changed drastically in terms of mentality since the Amazo incident had thrust himself into training with gusto. A desire and drive to get stronger, rivalling that of Esau's own, one that had pushed him to make leaps and bounds in his progress. However, for him to be unsure like this due to his powers not being 'good enough' was galling, but it told him there were more ways to develop and that opened new possibilities for him.

For Esau though, this uncertainty didn't bother him in the slightest.

His senses were not as strong as Superboy's, it was why he relied more on the clone for things like this, but he knew firsthand how chaotic fighting sounded from a distance. To then accurately decipher what was going on from sound alone had taken even longer and was something Esau could only vaguely do himself, having not yet mastered it.

So, while not accurate, the rough estimate was more than enough for him.

"No need to worry then for now. They should be able to handle themselves for long enough." Esau replied though he would admit to being wary about what the other two assailants were capable of. Either alone or as a combined effort, they had managed to take out Aqualad and that told him just how dangerous the League of Shadows were.

"Long enough for what?" Superboy asked.

Whipping out a number of throwing knives from behind his back, Esau launched them into the shadows, watching impassively as the hidden figure parried them. "Long enough for me to deal with our uninvited guest."

Out from the shadows stepped Cheshire who despite wearing a mask, the three remaining people could tell that she was smiling. "My, my, seems I was caught and here I thought I would be able to kill her before you noticed." Twirling her Sai's, Cheshire stood before them with one hip cocked to the side. "May I ask, what gave me away?"

"Your scent." Esau answered shortly, a frown on his face beneath his own mask as he kept his gaze on the assassin. While he had been able to notice her scent, even now, standing before him he couldn't hear anything, not her heart rate nor her breathing. He hadn't even heard her move to tell him that she was extremely well-trained and versed in the art of stealth to a degree she could almost completely erase her presence.

"Are you trying to say I smell?" Despite her words, Cheshire was far from insulted and instead took a few slow, deliberate steps to the left in order to gain a better view of Roquette. The doctor in question nervously raised her computer just a little bit higher as if hoping that would protect her, she was very aware of why Cheshire had come here.

Instead of answering, Esau instead moved to stand directly across from Cheshire, keeping Roquette out of her sights. "Superboy, do not leave Roquette's side. I'll deal with her myself."

"Why?" Superboy grunted out, irritatedly taking a step forward only for Maelstrom to tap one end of his staff against the clone's chest, halting his movements.

"Because if we both go for her, Roquette will be exposed. She's going to be looking for that one opportunity to kill her and if we both go against her, that opportunity is more likely to present itself. No matter what, you are not to leave Roquette's side. If you do, she's dead." Esau ordered firmly, never once taking his gaze off Cheshire, it gave nothing away despite his hopes.

She truly was well-trained, in some ways better than him.

But that didn't mean she was better than him in everything.

Superboy himself looked from Maelstrom to Cheshire, to Roquette and then back to Cheshire, the glare and scowl on his face deepening further at being delegated to being a simple bodyguard once more. "Fine." He grunted out angrily, moving back to stand in front of Roquette and his arms crossed over his chest, glaring at Cheshire, almost daring her to come for him.

"Thank you." Esau replied gratefully as he crouched down low, Cheshire herself responded in kind, recognising that Esau intended to charge at her. "Now, shall we?"

"By all means." Then the two burst forwards simultaneously.

-X-

Monday 9th August 2010, 22:35.

New Jersey,

Gotham City,

Gotham Heights.

Up on the roof, Artemis carefully notched an arrow onto her bow and cautiously moved towards the back end of the building, gaze momentarily turning to survey the buildings across, before focusing entirely upon the ledge. After reaching the edge, she pulled back her bowstring to its limit and took a deep breath before exhaling to calm her mind, ensuring no thought would distract her from making the perfect shot.

Moving quickly, she looked over the edge, her bow tracing along the edge of the alleyway as she studied it carefully. "Aqualad's down, no sign of th-"

Before she could finish, Artemis let out a cry of pain as electricity coursed through her body, unconsciousness claiming her soon after as she collapsed onto the roof in a heap. From behind her, Black Spider rose to his feet with a taser in one hand that he calmly pocked as he turned to see Hook walking toward the front of the roof, an unconscious Miss Martian lying on the floor, blood dribbling from the wound on her head.

The two shared a quick nod, not out of respect but more as a signal between the two of them that they were ready for the next stage of their plan. The plan that Cheshire had come up with was extremely simple, a large group, in their case, only two people, would attack from the front and direct the defender's attention towards them. All the while, the main attack force would sneak in from behind and catch them in a pincer manoeuvre. It was a simple plan, yet one that had proven time and time again throughout the course of history as being the most effective way to gain victory.

Yet, before they could even move towards the front a black blur came up the side of the building and slammed into the side of Hook, launching the man across the roof where he eventually came to a halt by Black Spiders' feet. While shocked, Eric didn't hesitate and fired a bunch of webs from his wrist-mounted device, aiming not for where the blur was, but where it was going.

Thankfully, its trajectory was linear making it easy to predict.

"Woah!" Kid Flash exclaimed in shock as the webs wrapped around him like a straight jacket, by reflex he tried to move backwards only for his legs, which had also been wrapped up in the webs, to trip over and he collapsed to the ground in a heap. "What the hell?"

He tried to break himself free, wriggling about only for it to be a fruitless endeavour.

Looking down at Hook who was shaking his head to get rid of his temporary dizziness, Black Spider then turned back to Kid Flash and fired another, smaller amount of webbing that stuck to the speedster's mouth, silencing him. "Get up." He ordered to Hook who glared up at him in turn.

With a shake of his head, Eric made his way towards the front, only to see a shadow descend towards him from the side. He looked up, only just seeing a foot coming towards him before he raised both arms up to cover his face. Even then, the force of the kick aided by the momentum gained by falling from a nearby roof put more behind the strike than Eric was capable of resisting.

As a result, he was flung backwards, going with the momentum to mitigate the damage.

Still, he was not a masterful fighter and parkour expert for nothing as he rolled backwards across the ground and back onto his feet. Yet, his enemy or enemies in this case did not give him any breathing room as he watched Batgirl appear at his side with a number of fast punches and kicks. Each flowed seamlessly into the next, but despite that, Eric weathered the assault with difficulty for a moment.

His hands parried all the punches while dodging the kicks with fanciful footwork, occasionally a few sneaking through though he managed to recover quickly. It was with a well-timed knee block that left Batgirl open, the pain of her shin striking his knee leaving her vulnerable for just a moment, but that was all he needed.

Unfortunately for him, before he could capitalise on this opening he was forced to jump in the air and avoid a low sweep from Robin who came in quickly. While in mid-air, he only caught a glimpse as a number of Batarangs thrown by the boy wonder struck the ground directly in front of where he would land, each of them beeping ominously.

Realising that if he landed would result in serious injury, Black Spider fired a line of webbing at the nearby wall and tugged on it. The line of webbing went taut and so it pulled Black Spider out of harm's way just slightly so that when the Batarangs exploded, he was able to escape unscathed.

Rolling along the ground with a grunt, Eric spun on his knees to face his opponents only to see them crouched protectively in front of Kid Flash. Or Robin was, Batgirl was standing behind him, no doubt handing him something that would enable him to free himself from the webbing, meaning that soon, there would be three sidekicks to fight, not just two.

-X-

Monday 9th August 2010, 22:40.

New Jersey,

Gotham City,

Gotham Heights.

Knocking one of Cheshire's strikes to one side, Esau noticed her gaze for a fraction of a second stray towards Roquette's position. However, this momentary lapse of attention, gave Esau all he needed to come around with a low swipe with his staff, intent on taking out her legs from underneath her.

Yet, Cheshire was able to react in time and jump into the air.

This as it turned out, was exactly what Esau had expected and wanted as he went with the momentum of his swing to come round once more with a spinning hook kick to the airborne Cheshire. Unable to properly move in midair, Cheshire was effectively hopeless as most fighters usually were in this situation, just not Cheshire it seemed, she instead turned his strike into something that aided her.

Raising one foot, she moved it directly in line with Esau's strike so that when he struck hers, it instead propelled her safely away, where she landed gracefully in a crouch.

The fight had continued evenly like this ever since its beginning.

Together, the two of them were nearly evenly matched, Esau perhaps edging out a slight advantage but due to the context of their fight, it was negated. However, one clear way in which he was able to outmatch here was due to his physicality, the enhancements of his body proving to give him a serious advantage. As a result, the fight had consisted mostly of Esau going on the offensive while Cheshire was stuck defending and avoiding while occasionally counterattacking.

However, she always made sure to keep Roquette in her sights.

She had hoped to draw Superboy into joining the fight, but no matter how close she got, he never once moved from his spot.

Despite his displeasure at the task he was given, Superboy stuck to his orders firmly.

Which was not a good thing for Cheshire.

As Esau had explained to Superboy, she wanted them to both come at her, because even though she would never be able to win, it would leave Roquette exposed. All it would take then was a simple moment, a single opening that she could use to strike out at the doctor, it didn't even need to be a kill shot, with the jellyfish toxin coating her throwing weapons every shot was a kill shot.

Unfortunately, Superboy had denied her this and so she was stuck trying to figure out a way to salvage this current situation.

But no matter how hard she wracked her brain for an answer, none came. 'I'm well and truly stuck.' Dodging under a swipe of Maelstrom's staff, Cheshire came up with a slash that he stepped back to barely avoid. 'Seems Deathstroke trained you well. Too well in my opinion.'

Knowing that she couldn't win with her current plan, Cheshire instead of continuing to attack in the momentary opening presented to her, she instead jumped backwards and decided to cut her losses for now. "Till next time, little Jacobson." Throwing the smock bombs onto the floor, Cheshire quickly made a dash for the back entrance and escaped into the night.

Esau himself burst through the smoke soon after and out the backdoor only to find that Cheshire was gone.

Clicking his teeth in annoyance, Esau turned to Kaldur before once again looking out onto the main street the back alley led to. 'She was good.' He thought having not expected to meet someone like her, especially not after his training with Slade. 'Then again, she is a member of the League of Shadows and even Slade seemed to respect them for their skill.'

Crouching down, Esau checked Kaldur's pulse and released a sigh of relief when he felt pulse. "Thank god, had me worried for a minute there." Reaching down, he released a grunt as he pulled the unconscious Kaldur to his feet, putting one of his arm over his shoulder while he himself wrapped one arm around Aqualads waist.

Making his way inside, Esau moved towards one of the seats and placed Kaldur gently in it before looking to Roquette. She was fine from what he could see, terrified for sure, but was physically fine. Superboy who was stood in front of her still seemed irritated, but he at least seemed mollified after having seen their fight.

If there was one thing Superboy had learned, it was that just because some didn't have the strength to match him, didn't mean they couldn't beat him. His continuous losing streak against Black Canary was proof of that and it had led to him having a healthy deal of respect for such fighters. He at least seemed to have realised that he would of being out skilled in such a fight and more of a liability in this case.

"She knew who you was." Superboy pointed out, the frown of concern on his face matching Esau's own.