13. First Wave

Kara and the rest of the heroes watched in both horror and amazement when Toji spat out a weird looking meatball. Then the meatball unfurled itself, or rather, it slowly unswallowed itself until it was almost the size of Kara's whole leg. The creepy looking thing crawled all over the mercenary's body and rested its head on the man's shoulders. 

Kara saw Artemis try to hold in her vomit, but fail miserably. 

Looking closely, Kara found the thing pretty cute, in a weird ugly way. 

'What the hell is that thing?!' Roy spat while glaring at Toji and his pet. 

'It's a cursed spirit', answered Toji, like that would explain everything they just saw. Kara just shrugged while the rest of them continued to stare. 

---

Toji puts his hand inside the spirit's mouth and pulls out his sword. The mercenary then steps forward waiting for the intruders to make their first move. An arrow flies to his head but the man easily catches it. A few dozen others follow after which Toji easily parries with his sword. 'Can we just get this over with' he yells.

Then, a whole group of people start stepping out of the shadows, surrounding the cabin. 

'You just had to say it', says Grayson. 

'Who the hell cares', says Red Arrow. 'Robin, NOW!'

With that signal, the cabin's roof opens up and flood lights rise. They turn on, lighting up all of the surroundings. Toji sees the intruders being blinded by the sudden light. The enemies, clad in dark shinobi outfit, raise their hands to their face as they block out the light. He grins and runs up to them punching the closest one and making him fly and crash to a nearby tree. Then chaos ensues. Toji watches Kara fly around punching everything that got in her way. Grayson and the Gordon girl fight back to back, striking at everyone who got close to them. The two archers are on the roof supporting everyone with their bows and arrows. He notices that the youngest kid is missing but seeing how there are now turrets firing taser bolt all around them, he's guessing the kid must be managing fine on his own.

Toji finds it strange how he's suddenly working with a group. All his life, he's worked alone. The few times he's worked with other people, he was always on guard, knowing that at any moment, he could get stabbed in the back. 

Toji feels someone behind him. Before he can turn to attack, Kara swoops in and grabs the enemy, throwing him at at another enemy. She then winks at him before flying off. Toji smiles before going back to the fight. He blocks an incoming sword then kicks another assassin before knocking out the first one. The man grins as he launches himself in the middle of multiple intruders. In just a few moment, he manages to disarm them. He then laughs as he strikes each of them one at a time, kicking those who are about to fall, forcing them back up only so he can strike them down again. The mercenary then raises his sword and swings it down towards someone's neck. 

In the next moment, he sees Nightwing in front of him, blocking the man's sword. The hero almost crumpled after getting in Toji's way. 'We don't kill', he says through gritted teeth. 

Toji looks at him nonchalantly before kicking the downed assassin towards another one, making the hero glare at him. 'No killing', says the mercenary with a grin before breaking another downed assassin's knee.

Before the hero could refute, Toji leaps to the next enemy, pummeling him with the butt of his sword before moving on to the next one. He grabs another one ands starts hammering the poor man's head on the ground. The mercenary didn't care that the heroes stare at him in shock. He doesn't need to kill anyone to get some joy out of this conflict. The chaos continues as the night's atmosphere is filled with bone's cracking, roars and the occasional turret fire.

Suddenly, one of the men he just broke grabs him by the leg. Toji punches the man in the head but he doesn't let go. Annoyed, the mercenary grabs the man's arm and twists it, the bone cracking so loud that it manages to attract everyone's attention. 

'STOP!', Nightwing yells at him but the mercenary doesn't care.

Something was wrong with the assassins. Toji takes off the assassin's mask and realizes the truth behind them. The assassin tries to attack him again but Toji immediately stabs him in the chest.

'WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!' Nightwing kicks him in the chest, pushing him back. The hero then runs to the dead assassin and and tries to feel his pulse. He then looks closer and his eyes grow wide. 

'Finally realized it', says Toji with a smile. The picks up one of the downed assassin and takes of his mask. The assassin stares at them with dead empty eyes, it's mouth sewn shut while its jaw tries to open. 'They're jianxhi, cursed undead. All of them', he tells the heroes. 

Kara then goes next to Nightwing. She stops moving and concentrates before talking. 'None of them have any heartbeat', she says in realization. Toji observes the battle ground with the assassin's still surrounding them. Some of them standing with crooked arms and twisted knees. Others had arrows sticking on them. Still they moved unbothered, continuing to pounce on the heroes with unending tenacity.

Having returned to the fight, Toji no longer restrains himself. Attacking each assassin with full force. He punches an attacker and his fist pierces through the dead man's torso. The mercenary pulls his hand back and laughs at the carnage he is causing. Looking around, he sees that Kara now fighting unrestrained as well. Although, not as messy as the mercenary, Toji watches as the blonde grabs one assassin's head and plants it deep in the dirt. The rest of the heroes watch the two with disgust, still opposed to the idea of using lethal force. 

Then, Toji turns as she hears a scream. An undead assassin managed to sneak up on Batgirl, and stab her in the shoulder. Nightwing punches the assassin, knocking it out before kneeling beside the girl. 

Toji leaps next to Batgirl and cuts up any incoming assassin. 'Take her back to the cabin', he orders Nightwing. Batgirl wanted to protest but the mercenary cuts her off. 'My contract is to protect you. The games ends now'. Nightwing nods and carries Batgirl inside. 

'Focus on protecting the cabin', the mercenary yells at the archers. 

'Just you and me then', says Kara flying next to him. 

'No. You focus on defending the cabin too'.

'But-'

'No buts'. Toji then looks at the girl and gives her a grin. 'It's time for me to earn my pay. After all, I don't want Bruce Wayne giving part of my $10 million to you guys'.

Kara giggles. 'Yeah, I almost forgot you're only in it for the money'. The blonde looks at him one more time before moving next to the cabin, only attacking any stragglers that got too close to the door. 

Toji stands in the middle of the battlefield alone. The assassins watch in silence as he puts back the sword. Then, he pulls something else. Last time I used you, it didn't end so well for me, he thinks as he looks at the Inverted Spear of Heaven. He connects it to the Chain of a Thousand Miles and grins. Let's see if we can do better this time.