Dear Babs
Remember those nightmares I used to tell you about? The ones about the night my parents died? It seems they’re getting worse. The closer I get to Jump City, the more prominent they are and I just can’t seem to explain why.
I had that exact same nightmare, the morning we were expected in the city and after that, the strangest thing happened.
…
The nightmare started as usual…
They were flying. John and Mary Grayson were flying. They moved through the swinging poles like birds caught up in an elaborate dance. Dick looked at them and remembered his dad saying “You can fly like us, too.” It was his dream, ever since he was 7 watching his mum and dad fly in the air like that, Dick wanted to fly like that too and his dad always told him Circuses were where dreams came true.
And finally, finally, he was 12 and he was ready. After all the training, all the sweat and bruises, he’d be able to fly with them too. But seeing how high they flew, seeing how high up they were. Dick was scared. And all those people cheering, there was no way Dick could move like his parents did. What if he disappointed them? What if when he flew with them the crowd below erupted in a negative wave of boos? What if in the 0.000000001% of jumping into his mum’s arms he’d fall? What if…
“You can do it my little Robin,” he heard his mum say. The crowd below them was silent, Mary Grayson swung towards her son. They practiced this thousands of times. He’d grab her arms, she’d swing to build momentum and he’d fly right above them, fly right over them, their mouths hung open in surprise and before he fell, his dad would grab him.
But it was so damn high. What was the point? Their mouths were like ants from up her. He wouldn’t be able to even hear their applause.
“Don’t be scared, Robin,” said his mum.
Dick swallowed his fear. He turned back, took a running start and then…
Flew.
Dick Grayson flew.
He swung with his mum.
“You ready to let go,” said his mum, barely even straining under the tension of the wire.
“I am,” Dick said, the adrenaline pumping through his body making him basically scream out those words but when he looked up he didn’t see his mother. All he saw was weathered skin and a rotting face, when he turned to his dad he saw the same thing.
There was a snap, a snap that sent a cold pit in his stomach. And Dick knew, the Dick that was awake knew, this was when the falling started.
And he’d fall and fall, the words Robin bouncing through his head. Fall endlessly into the dark.
But it wasn’t Robin being whispered in his ears.
It was Raven this time around. Raven
Raven
Raven.
And it wasn’t darkness he was falling into this time. It was fire and cackling laughter, it was pure power that threatened to destroy his mind.
He looked everywhere, anywhere for an escape but all he saw was fire, all he heard was laughter and when he finally looked up, he saw black robes and a dark hand reach out to him. He tried grabbing those dark fingers, he tried but they slipped and Dick fell into the fire. It ate him up, burned everything all he could do was scream. Scream, scream until…
“Jesus Christ dude, are you okay?”
Dick turned to see a heavyset man in a red Gotham University Sweater. Dick could barely make out his face, the hoodie he wore covering most of it.
“I’m… I’m fine,” Dick said. “Just bad dreams.”
The man scoffed. “You’ve been having bad dreams the whole drive to Jump.” Judging by his accent he was an African-American and judging by the tone of his voice he was just barely older than Dick, by two years at least. Though his build said otherwise. This kid was built like a truck. “Been hearing you mumbling in your sleep. Figured that was normal. But now that we’re almost hear, you woke up screaming. Scared me and the bus driver.”
The bus driver gave him a grim nod before returning to his driving.
“I woke up screaming?” Dick said, grabbing his head. “God that’s embarrassing.”
“Not embarrassing when we’re the only two people in the bus,” the big guy said. “If you’re having nightmares now, just wait till you get to Jump.”
“Can’t be nearly as bad as Gotham, right?”
Big guy chuckled, taking a seat next to him. Dick swore he heard something clunk as he moved his bag to let the guy take a seat and just assumed it was the bus. “Word. You from Gotham?”
“Something like that,” Dick said. “You?”
“Nah, I’m actually from here,” Big guy said. “Was supposed to study there but…”
There was something in the Big Guy’s voice that told Dick that he didn’t want to talk about it.
“Jump City isn’t any better than Gotham if you’re looking to get out of there,” Big Guy said.
“I got the memo,” Dick said. “But I figure I just need a distraction to, you know. Find myself.” And Dick didn’t want to tell him about the Raven girl in his dreams. “Heard the parties here are killer.”
Big Man chuckled. “You one of those rich kids tryna find themselves. We get a lot of those kids here, specially from Gotham.” He grinned. “I knew I saw your face somewhere.”
Dick laughed. “Yeah, guess you could say that.”
“But there’s something about you,” Big Guy said. “You look like you know the streets well.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean you’re not going to get mugged straight after you step out of the bus.”
Dick laughed. The bus halted to a stop at the bus station. They were barely any busses in the incoming section, most of the buses were those that were leaving the city.
Big Guy stretched out his hand. Dick noticed that he was wearing gloves. “The name’s Victor. You can call me Vic. You?”
Dick gripped his hands. They were cold. “Richard. You can call me Dick.”
Underneath the hoodie, Vic grinned. “That’s all I’m going to call you.” He got up, again that clunking sound. He tucked his hands into his hoodie pockets as he left. “See you around, Penis.”
“Hey,” Dick called out. “I resent that.”
Vic just made a slight wave of his arm as he left the bus. When he left, Dick noticed the clunking stopped.
…
6/04/19-
Starts out like that, then the explosion happens and I’m burning and burning. But then this girl named Raven reaches out to help me, but I can’t reach her in time. And I’m burning and I hear this god-awful laughing.
And then I wake up in a cold sweat. Dreams like that do it to you. When I try and get this data all I get is
But I can’t escape this feeling, you know? That maybe this Raven chick wants me to be here.
Freaky, isn’t it?
S.T.A.R labs, the factory that hires freaks and made freaks.
The only reason Vic liked it was because it was the only place he could take down his hoodie and people wouldn’t look at him like he was a freak but with a sort of morbid curiosity. Didn’t soften the blow but it made it a little better.
This time around the shiny offices were busy. People in lab coats and suits were walking around in animated discussion and much to Vic’s surprise, people in military uniform walked around. The atmosphere was tense and nobody paid any attention to the giant hunk of metal any attention, not that Vic was complaining. Vic Stone walked up to the receptionist, a blonde that stared at him with casual indifference.
“Is Silas Stone in?”
“He’s busy,” said the receptionist.
“Make a call right now,” Vic said. “Tell him his son is here to see him.”
“Like I said, he’s…”
At that moment, Silas appeared. “I can spare a few minutes for Victor here,” Silas said, placing a hand on Vic’s back that caused to shift. “The shipments can wait.”
“Okay, Mr. Stone,” Beck said. “I’ll patch him through.”
Vic tucked his hands in his hoodie pockets as he followed Silas to the elevator.
“That’s surprising,” Vic said. “Today, everybody else has a stick up their asses like you, Silas.”
He emphasized his father’s name, almost hissing it out. After this whole mess, his father lost any right for him to call him Dad. He lost that right a long time ago but this was the final nail in the coffin.
His father was silent. His face was like his name, Stone. Hard features, dark brown eyes and greying hair. Silas never let his emotions seep through the rocky exterior he put up. Vic was glad he never inherited any features from him. At the mention of his name, Silas let only the tiniest flicker of irritation seep across his face before he continued ignoring him.
“What’s going on?” Vic said, as he stepped inside the elevator. “What’s up with all the security?”
“We’re expecting a large shipment of refined Prometheum today,” Silas said, crossing his arms in front of him as the elevator rolled up.
Prometheum, the thing Vic was made off. “Making yourself another son already?”
“A business deal with Dayton Industries,” Silas said. “Though I don’t expect your primitive brain to understand.”
The elevator dinged at the 52nd floor. They walked through a row of clean-cut offices until they reached his father’s. Silas Stone, Head of Research, a position he got thanks to what he did to Vic.
Vic hated the office. He hated the large pane windows that had a view of the dying city below, he hated his expensive desk and the picture of his mum and Vic at 7 years old on the desk. A picture he took. More importantly, he hated the fact that he couldn’t fully bring himself to hate the person that sat on the desk.
“So, what do you want?” Silas said. What do you want? Like Vic was just a nuisance to him.
“These implants removed,” Vic said.
“Vic if you’re just going to come here and feel sorry about yourself…”
“Call me Victor,” Vic said. “I’ve been having dreams.”
Silas almost frowned. “Dreams but I thought…”
“Yeah,” Vic said, pointing at his right ‘eye’. A red dot amidst a hunk of glowing blue metal. “This thing scrambles them up but now…”
“Shouldn’t call it a dream,” Vic said, hands back in his pockets. “More like a nightmare. It was the night mum died.”
His father shifted in his seat.
“Yeah, the explosion,” Vic said. Mum was an unspoken topic between them and whenever she was mentioned the stone mask of Silas slipped away a small bit. “But that’s not it, there’s this girl, Raven…”
Vic’s attention was taken away by the raven that pecked at Silas’s window.
“Go on.”
“She tries to save me,” Vic said. “From the fire. But before she does…”
He burns.
“What about this Raven girl?” Silas asked. “Do you know of any…?”
“No, that’s the weird thing,” Vic said. “I’ve read up on dreams. On those ‘Cyborg’ reports of yours.” Vic hated that name. In those reports that were sent to the computer in his head periodically, he was just referred to as the ‘Subject.’ “You say the faces you see in dreams are faces of people you see every day, thing is I’d remember a face like hers. Her skin was the colour of like ash, she wore this black hoodie and there was a jewel in the middle of her forehead.”
“Interesting,” Silas said, resting his hands on the table and crossing his fingers. “Are they any data banks on her?”
“Hold on,” Cyborg said, a red interface popped up and the world was reduced to a mess of letters and interfaces. If he looked at any of the books sitting on his father’s desk or on the shelf, the computer would scan the title and gather information from amongst its wide database. If he looked at his father’s face he’d be able to gather any social media accounts or research papers he had. He could also scan and read any documents lying around faster than the speed of… well light. The computer in his brain registered the laptop sitting on his father’s desk and Vic started searching through his brain for the database when…
“Fucking thing,” Vic said, slapping his eye.
Silas raised an eyebrow. “What’s wrong?”
“The data,” Vic said. “It’s not there.”
“Victor,” Silas said. “Today is a very important day and I swear if you’re wasting my…”
“They were this morning,” Vic snapped. “Just let me…”
He scrambled through the dates and found absolutely nothing. Anything he had on Raven, wiped clean.
“Today is a very important day,” Silas said. “If you’re going to waste my time.”
No matter how much he looked, Vic couldn’t find the corrupted data. “Dammit,” Vic cursed, slamming his fists against his father’s table, and causing a crack to split the surface. Silas stared at it coolly.
“I won’t have you throwing tantrums like a child,” Silas said.
“Whatever,” Vic grumbled. Before leaving he stared out through the window and in the middle was a black speck.
“Get out of my office,” Silas said.
“Shut up,” Vic said. “I see something.”
Vic zoomed in with his right eye and underneath a black hood, he saw the woman he was looking for.
Raven turned her around to meet his ‘eye’ and disappeared.
“I have to go,” Vic said.
“Where to?” Silas asked. Vic swore he almost heard concern in his voice.
“None of your business,” Vic said.
“Don’t get in the way,” Silas said. “We’re dealing with a very volatile substance.”
Not concern, just annoyance. As Vic left the office, he couldn’t hide the disappointment that he felt on his face.
…
Born of clay.
Abandoned to flames.
You are not one of us.
That was the last thing Donna Troy heard from the Oracle before she left the island of Themyscira. Not one of them. But didn’t she fight, train and grow alongside her fellow sisters, wasn’t she as powerful as her sister Diana, who left them ages ago into the land of Mortals, never to return?
Then the dreams started. Of a crying baby, an abandoned home. The smell of ashes and a girl named Raven.
All of it, all of these vague dreams and vaguer prophecies lead to Jump City. A murky mortal city in the island they called America.
There was fighting. Argument raged amidst the council of Themyscira on whether she should leave the island and abandon them like sister Diana before her. Finally, they settled. She was to leave. Summons from masters of the Arcane arts like this Raven never reached the peoples of Themyscira so Donna was to go and investigate, provided she returned as soon as the summer began.
She would do that and do more because, unlike Sister Diana she was born to be great. Unlike Sister Diana, she wouldn’t abandon her people.
High above the mountains overlooking Jump City below, she leaped to the rugged metropolis below, golden lasso trailing behind her.
…
It was like he never left Gotham.
Jump still had the same chipped streets, the same murky atmosphere and run down buildings. Only this time some of the buildings had quirky shapes. The pamphlet wasn’t joking about that pizza slice shaped pizzeria.
First things first though, Dick had to settle down. He needed a base of operations. An apartment to stay at while he began his manhunt for this ‘Raven’ girl. Dick wasn’t unfamiliar with the mystical, he’d been through Bruce’s computer. Ras as Ghul’s Lazarus Pit and Solomon Grundy. Not too long ago there was Doctor Fate fighting alongside the Justice Society and just recently a Doctor Strange was making waves. But this Raven girl freaked him out. It was like she knew everything there was to know about him and as much as he hated it, he’d learned a thing or two about paranoia from Bruce. Namely that, before you find out all the facts, a neutral shouldn’t know more about you than you knew of them.
Up above him, ravens cawed. The irony wasn’t lost on Dick.
As he navigated the streets, Dick wondered just what the hell he was doing here. He was supposed to be on some hipster journey finding himself. He was supposed to be in Vegas or New York, not here. Yet here he was, in a city just like Gotham, tracking down some mysterious girl he didn’t even know.
Dick adjusted his duffle bag. He needed to make sure his rangs were ready in case shit hit the fan. It was a headache getting all of his equipment through customs.
And then he saw her, amidst a crowd of people entering a building. She almost shimmered into existence. Raven, the girl from his dreams. The same black hoodie, the same gem on her forehead and the same soot-like skin. She stayed still as the crowd around her walked past, as if she didn’t exist. Dick noticed he was in the city centre, he rushed towards where Raven was and when he got there, she disappeared. A car rushed past him.
“Watch where you’re going, clown!” yelled the driver.
Raven appeared by a dark looking alleyway in the corner of the city square. Dick followed her into it and found himself by a large dumpster being raided by…
“Funny,” Dick muttered. Ravens and raccoons were plucking at garbage and food scraps. Amidst the unkindness of ravens was one bright green one sitting, pecking away with them.
Dick shrugged. Probably just an ACE Chemicals reject. He looked around for Raven (with a capital R). She wasn’t there but… wait… a green raven.
Dick stared at the green raven pecking away with the rest of the Ravens.
Dick slowly approached it. “Raven?”
“What, pretty boy,” said the Raven. “Never seen a green raven before?”
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Dick paused. “Huh?”
The Raven disappeared and standing in front of him appeared a boy with green skin and green hair wearing a tuxedo.
“Hello,” said the boy. He couldn’t have been more than fifteen years old. “Judging by the look on your face you’re new to these parts. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be surprised seeing green Ravens.”
“You were just…” Dick said, staring at the space the green raven was.
“Oh,” suddenly a small green elephant appeared in front of Dick. “Let’s talk about the elephant in the room.”
The elephant disappeared replaced by the boy. “I’m Garfield Logan.” A green tabby cat appeared. “And I don’t like lasagne.” Human again. “I don’t think they’re good for cats anyway. I’m a mutant and former member of the Doom Patrol before the ‘incident.’ Now I’m acting as CEO for my stepdad’s company while he broods about the past. You may know me as Beast Boy. Everybody in town calls me that.”
A mutant that could transform into animals. And here Dick thought he saw it all with Bruce.
“Were you looking for Raven too?” Beast Boy asked. “She’s a babe but I don’t like the dreams I have about her.”
“No,” Dick lied. “I’m a bird watcher, I saw a green raven and followed it here.”
Dick hated lying. It was something Bruce did, but he figured he didn’t want this random kid knowing he was Robin. It was necessary.
“Oh, a bird watcher,” Garfield said, clearly bored at the fact. “What brings you to Jump City. All we have are ravens, crows and pigeons?”
“Green birds,” Dick chuckled.
“Geez,” Garfield said. “And here I thought I was a low tier celebrity.”
Just then a large shadow was cast, and two men in suits ran in the alleyway.
“Mr. Logan,” said the men. “Your meeting with S.T.A.R is in five minutes. We can’t have you…”
The other men sized up Dick. “What’s Bruce Wayne’s ward doing here?”
Great, he was identified. Bruce would have a field day with this.
“Bruce Wayne’s ward!” Garfield exclaimed. “And I thought I was the only celebrity here. As if the Human Torch wasn’t enough.”
The Human Torch, what exactly was the Human Torch doing here?
“What are you meeting with S.T.A.R labs for?” Dick asked.
“It’s confidential…” started one of the butlers.
“They’re going to dissect my brain to cure diseases,” Garfield paused for dramatic effect, his face feigning melancholy.
“Really?”
Garfield laughed. “No. Just some boring contract stuff…”
“Mr. Logan…” said the voice, clearly used to Garfield’s shit by now.
“On some top-secret resource,” Garfield said. “See I can keep a secret.”
The suits were clearly too stupid to know Garfield was doing this on purpose. Dick wanted to chuckle. He wished he could pull off shit like this on Bruce.
“See you around Dick,” Garfield said. He turned into an elephant. “Hop on boys! Gimme a call if you want me to show you around town someday.”
“Mr. Logan,” said one of his butlers. “You can’t expect us…”
“Just hop on,” Garfield said. “We have to get to S.T.A.R.”
The men begrudgingly got on Garfield’s back as he stomped off to S.T.A.R.
Garfield Logan, huh. He reminded Dick of a younger version of himself. He figured he’d continue his search for Raven, hoping that his day wouldn’t get anymore weirder.
He returned to the city square and sure enough, a pretty girl walked through the streets oblivious of her surroundings as cars screeched and honked past her. Dick saw a truck bursting through the road, headed straight for her. He ran to try and rescue her but it was too late, there was a loud crash and…
Dick’s day got weirder.
…
DRAFT MESSAGE, TO R.R- Hey, so about Miracle Man’s hypnotism. Does it have a residual effect or…?- DRAFT DELETED.
DRAFT MESSAGE, TO R.R- look I know about our falling out but you’re the whiz and I’m wondering.- DRAFT DELETED.
DRAFT MESSAGE, TO R.R- QJCQWEJBCUQ1EBVCYKBZEVBUBQVY- DRAFT DELETED.
To say that Johhny Storm was in a slump would be an understatement. Back against the alleyway, staring at the circular beacon with the four in the middle, Johnny didn’t even want to think about his ‘family’. After his falling out with Reed, Freaky boy and Sue after the whole shtick with Miracle Man, Johnny made a quick break away from them. After all with the powers he had, the whole world was an Oyster. He made his way around America, the main attraction of every city he went to before finally making his way to Jump City. The funny thing was that he didn’t feel as if it was his own choice.
Just a few clicks from Jump he started having these nightmares about this Raven girl. It started with all of them going up to space in that ragged rocket and when they finally reached the stars, when the Fantastic Four had finally conquered the universe well…
Johnny didn’t want to think about it. He didn’t want to think about the nightmares, didn’t want to think about the spaceship and the rays, sure as hell didn’t want to think about Reed and the rest of those clowns. But those Raven dreams were freaky. Barring the fact that this chick seemed like she existed, how in the world did she know about the whole rocket thing?
That was why he wanted to message Reed. If there was anything you didn’t have an answer to, you could bet the rubber-man had it. It would make things a whole lot easier, but Johhny’s pride prevented him from making the call. What was the point of going back after he made a big deal about leaving the whole thing behind.
Johnny let out a defeated sigh and placed the beacon in his pocket when Raven appeared in front of him.
“Go to S.T.A.R labs,” she said. “You’ll see me there.”
“First things first,” Johnny said. “How about an explanation before you pull your whole disappearing…”
Raven disappeared.
Johnny cursed. As he left the alleyway, he was surrounded by a group of three blonde girls that Johnny could barely distinguish.
“Are you the Human Torch?” said one of them.
“We’re big fans!” exclaimed the other.
“Could we get your autograph?” asked the third.
“YOU ARE SO HOT!” said all three of them.
Johnny gave them his best grin. “Hey, hey cuties. One at a time and…”
Johnny took out the beacon from his pocket and placed it on his chest. “I can give you something much cooler than an autograph.”
Johnny tapped the four in the centre and a fancy piece of spandex appeared, wrapping itself around Johnny with the big 4 in the centre. The outfit was made of a special material (courtesy of Reed) that wouldn’t burn when he…
“FLAME ON!” Johnny shouted.
The girls screamed in excitement and Johnny blazed off to S.T.A.R labs, leaving a black singe where he once was.
As he zoomed above the cityscape, Johnny grinned. Who knew fire could make girls so we…
…
Dick didn’t have time to comprehend the weirdness of a girl turning the hood of a 40-ton truck into a crumpled mess before Raven appeared in front of him.
“Look, Raven,” Dick said. “There’s a girl who just…”
“Come to S.T.A.R labs,” Raven said. “That is where you and the rest of the Titans must gather. Come, before it’s too late.”
Titans? What did she mean by…
He didn’t have time to react as the girl just leapt up in the air like gravity was just an afterthought. Everybody in the street looked up in amazement except for the truck driver who just cursed at her as steam seeped out from the hood of the truck.
Did she also get a memo from Raven?
There was no time to find out. S.T.A.R Labs meant the public and there were three too many people who knew that Bruce Wayne’s ward was in Jump City.
As he went into the alleyway and unzipped it, Dick was glad that the guards at the bus stop didn’t check his bags.
…
Here was J. Bowser, driving a truck. But not just any truck, no. This truck had one of the most volatile substances on the planet. Cylinders of it, all rolled up and ready to be shipped to S.T.A.R labs in Jump City. One of the most crime-ridden cities in America right next to Gotham. No pressure.
Bowser was tense, why wouldn’t he be? If anything happened to him or the truck then blamo, no more Jump City, hell maybe no America either. Every single turn he took in this godforsaken city felt like climbing Mount Everest, he was on edge and his co-pilot wasn’t making things any easier.
Anthony was about as talkative as a corpse. Whenever Bowser needed to take a piss or eat or sleep during the journey to Jump, he just grunted. The freak didn’t eat or sleep and just drove the truck silently. No matter how funny Bowser tried to be or how badly he tried to make conversation, Anthony just kept his mouth shut. He was on edge and Bowser wanted nothing more than to strangle this partner for being such a quiet piece of shit on a journey as top secret and highly protected as this one.
Bowser wanted nothing more than this asshole to talk. The last words he would ever hear were the words spoken from this freak’s mouth.
“Sorry, Joe,” Anthony said, adjusting something beneath his feet. “It’s nothing personal. I really liked the joke about the horse.”
Joe let out a nervous laugh. “Finally he speaks. And what do you mean…”
A bullet was fired from a silenced muzzle and the truck swerved to a violent halt.
…
Questor, Gar’s second in command when handling finances and first in command when doing all the boring legal stuff was the one calling the shots over this new Prometheum deal which was good enough for Gar because what could be more interesting than hearing scientists go on about the atomic mass of a metal Gar knew zero to nothing about?
ANYTHING.
ABSOLUTELY ANYTHING!
Gar just stood there, mumbling along while Questor took the lead. All Gar had to do was sign some contracts as representative of Dayton Industries. He hated that his ‘dad’ made him do this stupid job, he was just thirteen when he got the news that he was presumed dead. Well good for him, he thought. Busy looking for a proof that a bunch of corpses were ‘alive’, looking for revenge on the bastard that killed the Doom Patrol. It served Gar just fine. Finally, he’d get his freedom. But then what’s this? Gar Logan is acting CEO of Dayton Industries because that bastard had to just curl up and go missing? How wonderful. Now here he was, signing contracts and attending meetings no fifteen-year-old should just because his dad couldn’t let go of the past.
“Mr. Logan,” called someone. It was the head of the research department in S.T.A.R Labs, Mr. Stone. This Giancarlo Esposito looking guy extended a hand. Garfield shook it. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“Yes, Mr. Fring,” Gar said. “Ready to cook some meth?”
Mr. Stone’s eyebrows furrowed. Questor stepped in with a nervous laugh.
“Don’t worry, Mr. Stone,” Questor said. “Mr. Logan here likes cracking jokes.”
Questor gave him a hard stare before he began chatting with Stone about the proposal with a hand on his back.
Suited Gar just fine. Gar saw a cute blonde in an office uniform and was about to talk to when Questor beckoned him into the meeting room.
Gar rolled his eyes and followed Questor into the office. When he got in he was definitely struck by the fact that it was a Head of Research’s office, very comfortable in its corporate nature. Garfield sat on one of the two chairs across Gustavo, his eyes taken by the view of the city.
“Mr. Stone,” Questor said. “I’ve had the pleasure of reading the reports you published on the nature of Prometheum thanks to the…”
“Let’s skip that,” Mr. Stone said. “I believe this material your people discovered has a lot of potential. If we’re able to find a way to mass produce it, it could revolutionise technology as we know it.” Mr. Stone’s crossed his fingers. “Hence the shipment.”
“If your research says what I think it says,” Questor said. “We’re looking at a complete revolution of various industries. Motor vehicles, human implants, weapon…”
Mr. Stone raised a hand. “Let’s no go there yet. First, we need to go over the goals of Project Prometheum, what exactly S.T.A.R Labs Research Division intends to achieve…”
Gar leaned back on his chair, staring at the rooftops, his eyes glazed over. They went on about the project, about motor vehicles and computers and mines in Uganda until finally…
“What about security?” Questor asked. “It’s a shame about the leaks but…”
“I assure you, S.T.A.R’s Security Division is adequately equipped to deal with the shipment,” Mr. Stone said. His phone rang. Mr. Stone smiled. “They’re patching a call through right now.” Mr. Stone, picked up, still smiling. “Update.” The smile on his face was washed right off. “Compromised, what do you mean compromised?” Gar got up excited.
“No,” Questor hissed. “No super-heroing.”
“By who?”
There was indistinct chatter on the other end.
Mr. Stone’s eyes widened. “HYDRA?”
…
First it was the cops, they were easily dispatched off. These men were trained to fight superheroes, police were nothing to them. S.T.A.R security was hijacked by his men so when a bunch of armoured trucks with huge guns appeared, Masters knew he was safe.
Step zero of his little project went swimmingly. Train a bunch of radicalised men and women to fight superheroes. Escaping would be easy. The hard part was when the Green Dinosaur came in.
Jump was home to two superheroes. One mutant who could reportedly turn into dinosaurs and then part-timer Human Torch. Masters didn’t know what exactly he was doing here but he had to scramble to find footage to teach his men. They just had to hope he wouldn’t come.
He heard a bike rev and standing next to him, the Lieutenant of his Task Force appeared, awaiting his order. Masters clenched his fist and his ten men on motorcycles dispersed accompanied by half a dozen soldiers for back up, carrying the Prometheum at the back of their bikes. An additional task force of about a dozen of his most talented men stayed behind, to guard the Prometheum and to handle any threats that may show themselves. The bullets in his guns were specially tailored to pierce any armour plates, including dinosaurs.
They were prepared for any hurdle.
And it didn’t take long for the first one to show.
“Serr Masters,” said one of his men on the bikes. “The Human Torch is on our tail. Screaming and then static.
And then the second hurdle showed up.
A crushed bike was hurled from underneath the highway. One of their own. A voice echoed beneath.
Masters put on his mask and orange hood. He flicked his left hand and an Adamantium shield appeared, he flicked his right and out came a Vibranium sword.
His men turned in unison, guns pointed at the threat.
What appeared underneath wasn’t a T-Rex or a gorilla but a golden lasso.
The neurons in Masters’ brains started to fire. Golden lasso? Wonder Woman? But she hasn’t been seen since World War Two.
What appeared was a girl dressed in a red jumpsuit, wearing those same golden bracers but looking much, much younger.
“RAVEN!” she growled. “WHERE IS RAVEN?!”
She was definitely a Wonder Woman with none of the tact.
…
Robin tuned the radio in his earpiece to the news. A valuable shipment was hijacked and motorcycles containing the shipment were splitting off in separate locations. Robin hated that he didn’t have access to the Batcomputer on his gauntlet, a map of Jump would’ve been helpful right now. Instead, he had to rely on second-hand information. Grabbing a tourist map and with a little help from Google he noted that the shipment was headed to S.T.A.R labs and from there, the bikers would want to take secure routes with less interference from cops and any undesirables. Of course, that all depended on the drop off point for the shipment. Despite that Dick had a feeling there’d go through the warehouse district, using his grappling hook he made his way there.
The warehouse district was silent at this hour. Rows of quirky buildings lined the street. A lightbulb warehouse with a glowing lightbulb on top, a technology warehouse with a jagged motherboard design and amidst it all, a boring Wayne Enterprises warehouse, black with a sleek W atop the plaque. Pass the rows of warehouses, the murky sea spread to the rest of the world.
Sure enough, Robin’s theory was right. He heard bikes revving through the empty warehouse districts. Jump City didn’t have any of the safehouses for a refill, so he hoped it was whoever was revving their bikes along the road weren’t some random group of bikers.
Sure enough, half a dozen bikers revved their way through the streets and judging by their masks, they weren’t any gang that Robin knew off.
They drove quick. Robin made sure the car up front with the shipment went out first (he didn’t know if it would be volatile or not) and set off the gel. The bikes scattered, the men were well trained. They were only dazed for a couple of seconds before jumping right back into action, running back to their bikes.
“Hope you guys don’t mind if I catch a ride,” Robin quipped. The biker with the shipment went on ahead without looking back. Robin had to be fast. He threw Robin-rangs before the soldiers could grab their guns. One biker tried to punch him, Robin ducked and kicked him in the belly before punching him in the face. Robin grabbed one of the bikes, firing off three shots of his electric gun to disable the others before driving to the leader.
He revved on ahead, followed by gunfire but he got out of range only to be greeted by even more gunfire. The second driver started shooting at him but Robin had a gun of his own. He launched the Batclaw, it impaled itself in the driver’s shoulder. Robin pulled and the man hit the pavement, his bike veered out of control straight towards Robin’s.
“Shit,” Robin spat. He leapt up, grappling as the bikes crashed into each other and using the momentum of his swing and his bright yellow cape he landed on the shipment’s bike. The driver elbowed him but Robin dodged. He wrapped his arms around the driver’s waist and attempted to throw him off but was elbowed in the face. Dick finally attached what he wanted on the driver.
The web mine’s sensor found a nearby street pole and the driver was launched away from the bike.
“Thanks Pete,” Robin whispered to himself, he swerved the bike around and headed back to the overpass to S.T.A.R labs, where the rest of his job was.
…
The mask had sensors on the lenses that captured his opponents movements and registered them on his own personal computer for further study. There was a reason they called him Taskmaster. He told his men to be on hold, he’d handle this Wonder Girl himself. Wonder Girl circled Masters, whip in hand. Masters mirrored her movements, sword and shield ready to go.
“Herr Masters,” reported a voice on his speaker. “The Batman’s bird sidekick is here. I think he’s called Woodpecker. He’s making his way to the site, Team 38 has been compromised.”
The little bird huh. Taskmaster grinned. That was going to be interesting. But first the girl.
“Judging by your demeanour,” Wonder Girl said. “It seems you are the General of this little army of yours.”
“Something like that,” Taskmaster shrugged.
“Are you Raven?” Wonder Girl asked. “Do you know who Raven is?”
“I could,” Taskmaster said. “What’s it to you?”
“She has answers,” Wonder Girl growled. “Show me where she is.”
“Help a guy out and maybe we’ll talk,” Taskmaster said.
Donna considered the offer. Maybe she’d finally get her answers to that prophecy the Oracle whispered in her ears. That she wasn’t Themysciran, she wasn’t an Amazon. That her sisters weren’t her own.
However, the door of the large metal chariot swung open and the body of a man lulled over. Before leaving, Donna was introduced to the weapon of man, the gun and the effect it had on object and on flesh. The hole in the head of the man who fell from the chariot matched what she saw.
In Themyscira she was taught that all life was valuable, even the life of men, especially the life of men and the people who violated that gift deserved to be punished.
Taskmaster couldn’t get a read on Wonder Girl’s emotions. “So what do you say?”
Before he could even react, Taskmaster felt a punch reverberate through his shield. Any second later and he would be saying goodbye to his ribs. Taskmaster did a backflip he learned from footage of Spider-Man and threw his shield.
“What kind of warrior throws away their shield?” Wonder Girl scoffed.
Donna charged at him but Taskmaster slid between her legs like Spider-Man, Wonder Girl turned but the shield hit her in the head. Hard.
“Captain America, that’s who,” Taskmaster slashed across her waist, a burst of blood sprayed out. Before she could even comprehend, Taskmaster stepped on the shield, uppercutting Wonder Girl in the chin. The shield returned to his arm.
Wonder Girl grinned. “I thought you men were fragile. I’m glad to have found a worthy opponent like you.”
She prepared to charge but Taskmaster clenched his fist and a burst of fire erupted from their guns.
Taskmaster leapt to cover as Wonder Girl deflected the bullets with her gauntlet. All he needed was an opening and Wonder Girl would finally be caput. But during that moment he forgot one crucial fact about Wonder Woman.
Her gauntlets started to glow a bright red. Wait, why was that happening? Glowing bracers, glowing bracers, kinetic energy…
“GET DOWN!”
A burst of red energy released from the gauntlets, knocking his men aside. The armoured trucks and motorcycles flew off the bridge.
Wonder Girl turned, her face twisted in rage. “How dare you bring other men in a one-on-one fight? Mother was right. You men have no honour, by Zeus!”
She threw her lasso. Taskmaster tried to dodge but it snaked its way around his left leg. He took out his shield as he was dragged like a ragdoll by a girl with the strength of gods and tossed it towards her. Wonder Girl swatted it aside and was about to mash his face in like a pinata when Taskmaster crossed his arms.
Wonder Girl recognised the gesture. “That’s…”
She swung her fist, but Taskmaster dodged. HYDRA had managed to replicate the effect with a little help from Vibranium. Wonder Girl punched, launching Taskmaster back and burning the gauntlet red. Taskmaster grounded himself with the sword as it scraped across the surface, drawing a jagged line across the road. Wonder Girl leapt at him but Taskmaster released the energy in the gauntlet. Wonder Girl was launched back, crashing into an armoured truck.
Taskmaster prayed this would be the end.
It wasn’t.
Behind them a bright green elephant whined and crashed into his unprepared men. “Don’t you know it’s rude to pick a fight with a girl? Didn’t your parents teach you manners?”
Taskmaster rushed to the truck. If he could claim the Prometheum then maybe…
A bright red burst of flame prevented him from moving any further.
“I don’t know what’s going on,” said the Human Torch. “But I know I shouldn’t let the man in the scary skeleton mask anywhere near that truck.”
Taskmaster didn’t have time to raise his shield as a flash of white noise launched him back. He turned to see a half-man, half-robot launching where what looked like a weapon transformed back into a hand.
“Huh, so that’s what that does,” Cyborg said.
Lying on the floor, Taskmaster patched a call to the Lieutenant. At that moment, Wonder Girl recovered.
Taskmaster groaned as he got up and dusted himself off. He let out a sigh as claws appeared from his gloves.
It was supposed to be an easy job.
…
“Sound cannon,” Cyborg said. “What the hell is a…”
Taskmaster leapt at him like a wolf pouncing on his prey. There were claws on his gloves that weren’t there before.
“Fire, I guess!” Cyborg yelled. He launched a burst of white sound just as Human Torch leapt in.
And sputtered out as a burst of sound knocked him back.
“You’re really killing my mojo you asshole!” Human Torch yelled.
Cyborg barely dodged just as Taskmaster started to swipe at him with those claws.
“Computer,” Cyborg yelled. “Do something, get me out of here!”
“Propulsion what…”
Flames shot out from the bottom of his feet as Cyborg was launched in the air just in time for Wonder Girl to leap at him.
“Get down you Hephaestus spawn!” she yelled as Cyborg was tackled across the air in a spinning dance he did not consent to.
“Turn it off!” Cyborg yelled. “Turn it off!”
Cyborg plummeted to the floor suddenly. He landed with a crash.
Taskmaster turned his attention to Human Torch. He leapt at him. The Green boy shouted something, turning into a gorilla to tackle Taskmaster, aside but Human Torch launched a ball of fire that hit the gorilla.
“FLAME ON!” Human Torch yelled, shooting himself away from Taskmaster.
Wonder Girl recovered, ready for a rematch with Taskmaster. Taskmaster turned to face her but before he could a green python himself around Taskmaster but Wonder Girl couldn’t have cared any less.
“DON’T TOUCH THE GOODS!” hissed the snake. “DON’T TOUCH THE…”
The snake unwrapped itself around Taskmaster just as Wonder Girl dived in for a tackle. But she didn’t tackle Taskmaster, no she tackled a bike.
The person in the bike tumbled and fell. There was a flurry of fists and punches as Wonder Girl fought whoever was on the bike. Soon the biker got a grip and tossed Wonder Girl over his shoulder.
“Took you long enough,” Taskmaster said.
The HYDRA lieutenant’s helmet was dented. His jacket was torn. He ripped out his helmet revealing a long tangle of hair that covered his ears and a face mask. Donna was on the defensive now. There was no way a normal human could’ve survived the punches she had just thrown, but this was no normal human.
He ripped out his jacket, revealing a bullet vest and a prosthetic left arm that gleamed silver, the HYDRA symbol a red dot on his shoulder.
This wasn’t the only guest they had. Another bike revved up the side, it flew up in the air but there was a bright flash of red and yellow and Robin glided in the centre of the fight as the bike crashed into a nearby building.
Robin took a quick glance around. “Now what exactly did I step into?”
Taskmaster grinned beneath his mask. “Now things just got interesting.”
…
To say my first day in Jump City was eventful would be an understatement. I wasn’t tiptoeing on a minefield, Babs, but an entire warzone.
I’d later find out I wasn’t fighting against some random mercenaries but HYDRA. Freaking HYDRA, surprised that a neo-nazi group from the 40’s was still around. And Taskmaster was working for them. You read that right: TASKMASTER! The guy that gave Bruce some trouble back in the early days.
I was horrifyingly unprepared and that was barely scratching the surface of what was to come next.
“Lieutenant,” Taskmaster said. “Be very careful around this one, he may not look like it but unlike the rest of these buffoons he knows what he’s doing.”
The Lieutenant pulled out a knife and lunged at Dick. Dick was surprised at his speed, he took a step back. The swipes of his knives were rapid and the pressure he put on him barely gave him time to breathe.
“Is that…?” Gar asked.
“What the hell is Batman’s kid doing here?” Cyborg spat out.
Taskmaster started to make a run for it. If the plan with the bikes failed, he’d just grab the supply and head back to his boss.
Wonder Girl ignored them and headed straight for Taskmaster. “Men!” Taskmaster yelled.
A wave of bullets appeared. Human Torch launched a burst of fire and the HYDRA soldiers scattered. Wonder Girl continued her pursuit of Taskmaster like an angry bloodhound.
“Lieutenant!” Taskmaster called as he threw his shield at Wonder Girl who just tossed it back. Taskmaster backflipped over it as Wonder Girl closed the distance and punted him into a truck.
The Lieutenant tossed his knife at Robin who replied with a Robin-rang and ran towards the truck-destroying girl and he ran fast.
“What the hell!” Robin ran after him and launched his Robin-Claw. The Lieutenant grabbed the rope and pulled but unlike Bruce, Robin was an acrobat and flipped over to him, legs around his neck and tossed him over.
Robin grinned. “I still have more moves than the old man.”
The Lieutenant sprawled across the floor, glaring at him. Robin knew he was enhanced like Deathstroke. If he decided to lunge, Robin would break a few ribs.
The Lieutenant lunged into… a cloud of smoke.
“Hey Iron Giant,” Gar said to Cyborg.
“The hell you say, vegetable?” Cyborg said.
Gar grinned. “Just wondering if we should help em out. Unless you wanna sit here and do the robot.”
HYDRA soldiers started to march in, away from the trails of fire on that snaked through the roads courtesy of the Human Torch. One of them had a bazooka.
“Judging by those guys over there,” Cyborg said. “I’m thinking we should help.”
Logan transformed into a cheetah. “You’re speaking my language,” he meowed.
…
Human Torch launched balls of fire at the soldiers, doing his best to make sure they didn’t get any closer to providing backup to the dude with the skeleton mask.
He didn’t know anything about the baddy in the red jumpsuit with the whip or what the hell Batman’s sidekick was doing here, all he knew was that he wasn’t supposed to let Skeleton Mask get to the truck.
And sure enough, launching burst of flames stopped him. But at that moment the girl hit Skeleton-Mask to the truck. This was exactly what he wanted. Skeleton-Mask groaned and ran towards the door of the truck just as men started to fire at the superpowered girl. It was up to the Torch.
He zoomed towards Skeleton-Mask as he started the truck, the truck sputtered to life and…
…
Robin was dealing with an animal. He was getting exhausted keeping up with the Lieutenant’s moves and worst of all he didn’t know where he got the other knife. In the corner of his eyes, he saw the Human Torch fly off.
Why was he…
The Lieutenant stabbed at him with his metal arm. But he was saved by a golden lasso.
“Go get him!” Wonder Girl yelled. “I’ll deal with him.”
Robin made a run for it as the Lieutenant grabbed the golden lasso with one hand and pulled it. Robin didn’t know how he did it but he pulled the tank of the girl with him.
Robin set his grappling hook to the velocity option, two clicks of the trigger and he zipped in the air, the wind catching his cape, following after the Human Torch.
…
He was to be ruthless in his efficiency of disposing of his targets.
He grabbed the lasso and pulled. The girl still held on. He punched her with the metal arm, there was an echo. Her teeth were grit as she closed the distance and headbutt him. His mask fell off.
“Are all you warriors young?”
He grabbed the lasso with his other hand and…
Burnt.
It burnt.
He wasn’t… not efficient…
Gunshot. A scream. Falling, falling. Coldness. An explosion. Cold. Cold and then black.
The scream.
Bucky.
Bucky.
Who’s Bucky?
He didn’t have time to think as he was tackled across the ground.
Who’s Bucky?
“Pay attention.”
He shoved the girl off.
He was to be ruthless in his efficiency of disposing of his targets.
…
All he had to do was launch a fireball. The truck was right in range.
“Don’t do it!” yelled a voice behind him. “We don’t know what’s inside!”
Human Torch turned and saw Robin gliding across the air, his words being caught by the wind.
“I fly solo,” Human Torch yelled back. “I don’t take orders from anybody!”
“No!” Robin yelled. “Don’t!”
Human Torch launched a fireball into the truck. It was a fuse that set off dynamite.
The truck erupted in a burst of fire. The glass in the buildings shattered. The last thing Human Torch saw before he was consumed by the ball of fire was the road collapsing in and rubble cascading downwards.
To be continued…