Burning Red Eyes

The Man:

"Easy," I say, patting Kara's back as she steadies herself. "Easy there. One step at a time."

"You," Jason moans as he stomps toward me. Pulling back his arms, he tries to shove me but I step out of the way while sticking out my foot. Tripping and falling to the ground, Professor Stein and Jaime rush to help him.

"Jason," Professor Stein says, "Are you okay?"

"No," Jason answers. "No! No! No! I am not okay! I'm on the Watchtower! We're on the Watchtower!"

"Yes, we are," I say, still focusing on Kara as she shakily walks. "We're in enemy territory, so please be quiet. You know, before someone hears you."

"Hey," Jaime says, pointing at the batmobile. "Is that the batmobile? Why is it here?"

"I teleported it here along with us," I answer, giving Kara one last pat on the back. "I stored some bombs in the batmobile but didn't have time to get them before bringing the five of us here. Now, here's the plan. The five of us are in a storage room. I think if Professor Stein and you fuse-."

"Hell no," Jason says, getting up. "I am not listening to you. I don't know if you know this or not, but you just kidnapped me and two of my friends, you son of a bit--."

Before Jason can finish, I flick the left side of his head. I then flick the right side.

"Don't swear," I say, steams shooting out of Jason's now bright-red, glowing head. "Also, what? Kara isn't your friend? Oh, shame on you, Jason. Shame, shame, shame on you."

I lower and shake my head before walking to the batmobile to grab the bombs.

"Fuck this," Jason says, hitting Professor Stein and Jaime on their arms. "Let's get out of here before Mr. Sunglasses over there gets the three of us killed."

"Agree," Professor Stein says, rubbing his arm. "We are in the Watchtower. Superman's Watchtower. I can't even imagine how many guards and regimes are in here. We are greatly outnumbered here. Even with a Kryptonian on our side."

The three of them turn their heads and look at me but I can't look back at them. I watch as the three of them walk away and I walk over to the man. As soon as I can, I slap him on the arm.

"Yes," he says, turning to face me. "Also, the next time you want my attention, a quick hey or hello will do. You don't have to hit me."

"Why did you do that," I ask, "Why did you teleport us all the way up here without more time to rest? I remember what you said about having to destroy the Watchtower before Kal-El can use it, but still. Jason is right. You kidnapped us and took us to the worst place possible."

"No," the man says, "In my personal opinion, the worst place possible would be the Hall of, quote on quote, Justice, in New Metropolis."

"New Metropolis," I repeat. "What?"

"You never heard of New Metropolis? It's Superman's attempt at trying to rebuild the original Metropolis that was lost in Brainiac's ship. He, Cyborg, and even Batman worked tirelessly to try and bring it back but everything they try failed. Hence, New Metropolis. It's right where Metropolis was and is the center of his entire One Earth government."

The man in glasses turns to me and gives me four, white clay bricks before turning back to the batmobile.

"They're right you know," I say. "They have no reason to trust you. I barely have a reason to trust you myself. Despite what you did, breaking me out of Stryker's and saving Barry's life, I still don't know who you are, or even why is it you're helping me."

The man stops suddenly. He stands still for a while before finally turning to face me. I didn't know what to expect but I stand my ground.

"I am really sorry that I can't tell you anything about me," he starts, "I know that you, Barry, and the rest of the Insurgency have no reason whatsoever to trust me but knows there are reasons why I can't let people know anything about me. Believe me when I said this. The less you know about me, the easier you'll sleep at night."

The man's voice is low. I almost have to use my super hearing just to hear him. Honestly, I don't think he's lying.

"Again, I am sorry, and I know it's asking for a lot, but I need you to bear with me for a little longer. At least until we can take down Superman. If it helps in any way, there is at least one thing I can tell you."

"What's that?"

The man takes a deep breath before he offers me his hand.

"It's that I am here to help."

Lost in thoughts, my mind is trying to wrap around everything the man said. As I try to understand everything, I see his open hand. Slowly, very slowly, I grab his hand and shake it.

"Oh, and by the way, thank you for not trying to look through my sunglasses. For the record, these lenses are coated with lead so you can't even if you tried, but still. Thank you."

Smiling a little, someone screaming grabs our focus. Turning, we see someone sliding across the ground.

"Was that Blue Beetle," I ask.

"Depends," the man replies," Do you remember if Professor Stein or Jason were wearing blue?"

Jason Rusch:

While staying glued to the wall, I peek around the corner.

"Do you see anything," Jaime asks, his mask off but his arm cannons ready.

"No," I whisper, slowly moving along the wall. "Thank god. No soldiers or regimes. Come on."

"What's the plan," the Professor asks, following Jaime. "Where are we going? What are we going to do?"

"Not really," I reply. "I'm kind of making this up as I go. Jaime, is there any way you can hack the teleportation pads with your scarab?"

"I can try," Jaime says, "But I mostly use my scarab for fighting, not hacking. Maybe we can try and find a hangar. Hijack a ship. I mean, there had to be one, right?"

"Maybe, but can any of us fly a-."

I stop when I bump into someone. Looking up, I see a grey and drooling undead face.

"Grundy sees bad people," a purple-glowing Solomon Grundy says. "Grundy hits!"

Grundy pulls back his arm and sent it flying toward me.

"Watch out," Jaime screams, shoving me aside. Jaime takes the full hit and is sent sliding across the floor.

"Professor," I scream, bringing up my hand. Nodding his head, Professor Stein claps his hand against mine and we fuse. Everything turns red and orange and we become Firestorm.

"Grundy hits Fireman," Grundy says, stomping his hands and shaking the Watchtower.

"It's Firestorm," we yell, setting our hands ablaze.

Grundy charges toward us and tries to punch us but we blast the floor and launch back. Landing, we form a fireball in our hands and throw it at Grundy. The fireball explodes and sets Grundy on fire.

Screaming and putting out the fires on his arm, we take the opportunity to grab Grundy by his shoulder and pull him down. We then put our hands together and swing up, knocking Grundy back.

"Ha," we say, watching Grundy stumbles. Recovering fast, however, he grabs us, pinning our arms to the sides. He then throws us to the floor and while trying to get back up, Grundy stomps on us and grabs our leg. He swings us into a wall, and then into a window, and then back into a wall. Rising us into the air, he slams us onto the floor. Grundy grabs our head and starts to squeeze it.

"Grundy makes Fireman's head go boom," Grundy says, smiling.

"Fireman makes Grundy scream," we say, slapping our burning hands onto Grundy's giant hands and heating them up. Screaming and letting us go, we rush ahead and form fireballs in our hands. Throwing them right at Grundy, he wobbles left and right. Dizzy, we jump back and unleash a wave of fire right at Grundy!

"Grundy hot," Grundy yells, covering his eyes as he turns away.

"What," we say, pulling back. "Too hot to handle! Can't stand the heat!"

The fires on Grundy die out and he closes his hands before charging toward us. We unleash a second wave of fire but Grundy charges through it and hits us in the chest.

Falling to the floor, moaning and holding our chest, we push ourselves up and look at Grundy. Despite the fire on him, he is still standing.

"What do we do," we ask. "Wait Professor, are you sure? Do you really think we can do it? No, but it's all we got. Okay."

Looking at Grundy, Grundy himself being on all four, he charges toward us. Looking like a rabid dog, drool falling from his mouth, we bring our hands together to form a nuclear fireball. A fireball with bright-red rings around it, the nuclear fireball grows to double its size in only a few seconds. Throwing the fireball at Grundy, the tower shakes as a bright flash blinds us.

Rubbing our eyes, we see Grundy smoking and laying down, only a foot away from us. Dropping to our knees, we look at Jaime. To our surprise, Supergirl and the guy with sunglasses are helping Jaime up.

"Hey Bug," the man says, "You okay? Follow my finger."

The man moves his finger around and Jaime follows it.

"Yeah, you're okay. You're dumb, but you're okay."

"What," Jaime asks. "What do you mean by I'm dumb?"

"I mean you haven't realized that if you want off and out of the Watchtower, I am quite literally our only ticket."