miss maggie (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
bossymarmalade) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
thejusticelounge2012-08-04 06:43 pm
bossymarmalade) wrote in thejusticelounge2012-08-04 06:43 pm
warriors round up
Flying as fast as he safely could with the bubble in tow containing the Eden Corps leader, Red Hood, and the wounded Black Canary, Guy Gardner flew a bee-line for the rooftop of Warriors Bar and Grill. Picking Dinah gently up in his arms, he turned to Jason. “Keep that one up here. Holler if she gets outta hand, but better still, just tranq her again if she acts up,” he glared a warning at her. Giving Jason a rewarding smile and another “Good work, kid,” he floated below and entered his apartment through the balcony doors.
“Kate,” he nodded to her seeing her slumped on the couch. Her alarmed look at Dinah reminded him to reassure her. “She’s okay…stable. Took a through-and-through to the shoulder and a concussion, medics patched her up. I’ll put her in my room, and Hal an’ I can…” his voice trailed off, “Where’s Hal, wasn’t he with you?”
She glanced towards the close door of Kyle’s bedroom and rubbed her eyes tiredly. “He’s…well, he’s with Kyle. Ocupado.” She left it at that, not wanting to get involved in whatever bro-politics were set up between Corpsmembers.
He followed her glance to the bedroom door, interpreting her hesitation and inflection accurately; Guy was no idiot. “Ya gotta be kiddin’ me…” he growled. To his credit, he managed to not reveal through his poker face all of how that confirmation of his suspicions about Hal and Kyle made him feel. This, he really didn’t need right now. Guy looked down at the sleeping woman in his arms; Hal and Kyle’s dalliance could have waited for a less critical time.
“Tell ‘em when they’ve finished ‘polishin’ each other’s Lantern Batteries’ that I could use their help healin’ Dinah,” he snapped, adding over his shoulder, “Jason’s on the roof guarding the leader of Eden Corps. J’onn will wanna question her.” With that, he disappeared into his room to tend to Dinah’s injuries. Alone.
“Knock knock,” Kyle said quietly, tapping on Guy’s door. He’d just gotten Kate’s text, and coming out from his room with Hal, the living room was empty. Everyone else - including Kate - was probably downstairs. Kyle could see a green glow coming from Guy’s room, and split off to check in.
He entered tentatively, staring at Dinah’s prone body on the bed. Kyle winced. She looked terribly beaten up, even in the shade-dark room. ”Oh my god…I’m so glad you got there in time, Guy. To save her. And Jason’s safe, si?” Kyle took a few steps towards Dinah, and stroked some strands of her blond hair. Dinah murmured a bit, but her eyes stayed closed.
Kyle eventually ripped his stare from Dinah and looked up at Guy. “What do you need me to do? Is this going to be like last time, with Roy?”
Guy hadn’t made much progress with healing her; little time had passed since his arrival, for one thing, and for another he was having a hard time focussing his mind. Coming home (crisis notwithstanding) to Hal and Kyle making out in Kyle’s room had outright rattled him, and he didn’t have the time to properly process that, to figure out why. It wasn’t as though any of Kyle’s, or even Hal’s relationships, bothered Guy in the least…
What angered him now was the timing. People’s lives might depend on his ability to heal them, and from the text he and the other Lanterns just got, more injured were on the way. Get your shit together, Gardner, he commanded himself, Priorities. Focus. ”Jason’s on the roof, guarding the leader of the Eden Corps,” he said tersely, all the while forcing himself to calm down. Ease up, this wasn’t Kyle’s fault. It wasn’t anyone’s fault but the woman Jason was guarding, and, he was avoiding admitting to himself, Dinah’s.
He finally looked up from his work, and watched Kyle stroke the hair from her face. A wave of relief and gratitude combined passed over him, washing away much of his anger and jealousy; he’d needed his partner to be there for him, and now here he was. That’s all that mattered. The sudden major shift in his emotions from one extreme to the other, and his own fatigue and stress made him swallow a lump forming in his throat.
“Yeah,” he said huskily, nodding back once at the woman who’d come close to being killed only an hour earlier. Damn, don’t break! he silently commanded his own voice, “L-like with Roy. You take her shoulder, I’ll try to ease the concussion some. You up for this?” He realized after he said it, he was asking himself that question as much as he was asking his less-experienced partner. It wasn’t just his voice; Guy felt like he might break any moment, with Dinah like this.
“Hey…” Kyle leaned over Dinah, reaching out and squeezing the back of Guy’s hand lightly. He can see all the pain crossing over Guy’s blunt, exhausted features and Kyle looked down at Dinah again and then back up at Guy. Of course this wasn’t ‘like Roy’, he realized, feeling silly for saying it. Guy cared about Roy about as much as he cared about any superhero life; but Dinah…Dinah was a different matter all together. Kyle recognized the look as the same sort of expressions that twinned Hal’s and Kate’s faces, when Kyle had asked them about Ollie’s status.
“It’s gonna be okay, she’ll be fine, okay?” Kyle jiggled Guy’s hand and then let go, because now wasn’t the time to actually get into that. His ring did a quick scan of Dinah and then he nodded at Guy.
“I’m totally up for this, amigo.” Kyle said with determination. After healing Roy, after Lian, after easing the pain from Dick’s fibula…Kyle was feeling very confident by now in doing the medic thing. He didn’t ask if Guy was, because that would be insulting. If Guy thought he was, then he was. Besides, they didn’t exactly have time to discuss things, what with the priority at hand.
They started the process, the rings estimating in unison that it would take a few minutes to complete. Kyle was glad his ring was at 100%, because it meant he didn’t have to concentrate as much. He just pushed his will through it, letting it do its thing and not trying to be fancy about it. Instead, his eyes slid up to look at his partner, study him and make sure Guy wasn’t on the verge of any sort of breakdown. He looked…beaten down.
Not wanting to break Guy’s concentration while they worked, but wanting to keep him from getting overwhelmed, Kyle gently asked, “How’s Jason?”
“Not a scratch. In fact, he took down the leader and disarmed a bomb-vest she was wearing. I couldn’t have taken her down without his assist,” he answered with no small amount of pride in his voice, glad to have something positive to share.
Dinah’s head injury wasn’t as severe as it could have been, but anything involving the head was delicate work. As he slowly relaxed it became easier to focus, easier to direct his will, but he had to work for the results; Dinah was worth it. His battery was only feet away, but out of reach, and he didn’t want to stop now that they’d begun. Definitely, he’d have to recharge before he tried this again. If need be, the ring could keep him going physically without sleep as well, as long as it was charged.
“How about…” Damn, what was the kid’s name? Riley? Rusty? Reagan? Fatigue and stress were affecting Guy’s mental acuity, as well, and he couldn’t lean on his ring right now for a script cue. ”Kate’s son? He okay?”
“Oh! Well, that’s good, good, bueno,” Kyle said glad for a little luck to come their way. They all sorely needed it right now. “Ramsey is fine, but…Ollie’s been captured,” Kyle informed Guy quietly, hoping Dinah was too unconscious to hear them. “Captured or taken down or…..anyway. It seems to be, like…demonic.” Kyle’s eyes flashed green momentarily as a small spike of chill ran down his spine. Demons. It just wasn’t right. “None of it makes sense to me of course, but…man I’m hoping someone will be able to figure this one out, because it’s bigger’n just Eden Corp. The one you captured, is she League of Assassins? We had Targa contained at the prison break, ourselves. He was LoA, according to Steph. Said we were ‘too late’ and kept pointing up at the sky.” Kyle shook his head from all the thinking. “I mean, this is just wide-scale loco-coco.”
The healing was finally over, and Dinah’s breathing got less ragged and more even as her body welcomed a restful sleep. Kyle sighed in relief and then smiled up at Guy. ”We should open our own ER, ese.”
Guy was reeling too much from what Kyle had told him about Ollie’s capture and demonic involvement and finally, the LoA. Suddenly Aisinn’s capture seemed almost meaningless, and they’d just scratched the surface of the threat to the Justice League members and their families. He was losing hope.
“No, she was too sloppy to be League of Assassins, too into makin’ speeches,” he went from kneeling on one knee by his own bed to leaning back against his dresser, folding his arms over raised knees and tiredly resting his head upon them. ”Fuck…I thought we were close to finishing this. And now Ollie…”
He barely registered what Kyle had said about opening up an ER - there was something else the young Lantern had said that Guy’s mind picked up on, grabbed, and turned over a few times. “He said we were ‘too late’ and kept pointing up at the sky”… He was about to making the connection to the other threats received by the children and Jason’s invitation to switch sides, when his ring silently shattered his concentration like a hungry baby wailing for its mother’s breast. — [WARNING. RING POWER LEVELS APPROACHING LESS THAN 3.4%] — Yes. I figured…thanks, Ring. Guy sighed. The thought was gone.
He rose to his feet, looking at Dinah’s sleeping form, and snatched his lantern battery off his dresser. Enough playing around. If the fuckers want a war, they’ve GOT one. He held his right fist to his lantern and recited the oath like a man who knew poetry wasn’t simply made of cadence or rhyme, but of meaning.
Bai skidded into the bar, face flushed with excitement and exertion, only to find it … more or less empty. “Hello?” she called. The tracer was almost burning a hold in her construct pocket, wanting to be given to somebody who would have better use of it.
She spotted a couple of blonde heads passed out on a table in the corner, and went over to them, circling a few times. “Cassie? Steph? Is that you? Wake up, guys, I knoweverybody’ssuper tired and all but we don’t have timefornaps!”
The zeta tube roared to life as Kon was transported from Smallville to Warriors bar. He stepped out and stretched, and headed down from the roof to the main bar of the place. The teen blinked his blue eyes in surprise when he saw a certain speedster hovering over some certain blondes.
“Imp!” He exclaimed, hurrying over to them. “What’s going on? Why are you here, and what’s with them?”
“I’m here cause here’s wherethemessage said to come, spluh, and they’reasleep because I guess they were wornoutexhausted and I dunno where anybodyelse is tho and I gotta givethis tracer to. Somebody and I can’t find anybody togiveit to and DON’T call me Imp!!!”
Bai hugged Kon, though, because Kon was all broad and solid and sun-warm even when there was no sun, and even if he insisted on still calling her by her baby-hero name he was still *Kon*. And she needed that familiarity right now, when she was feeling like she was gonna fly off into a million pieces from unused speed and mounting frustration and impatience.
After Guy had shown up, Kate had taken a minute to change back from Kyle’s loaner loungewear into Manhunter formal. She didn’t look particularly better rested, mind, though she felt marginally less so. If only she felt less shitty generally speaking; oddly, hearing from Ollie just made the pain more acute. Mostly now she was just very, very afraid.
“I messaged them both,” she said against Guy’s door, and found she couldn’t think about Dinah without wincing at the injury. Fuck. “If they know what’s good for them, they’ll be out in a minute—I’m sorry, Guy, I know bandaids for scrapes and that’s about it, or I’d help.”
Feeling more than slightly useless, she trailed down the stairs, only to hear a group of people conversing in not-that-quiet tones. Opening the door, she saw the dozing girls, then Kon getting squashed in a hug by Bai Allen, who was as utterly wired as she usually could be. J’onn wasn’t there yet, which was a pity, because while she trusted Jason to keep the fucker on the roof contained, she did want confirmation that she and Hal weren’t about to send half the League off to the middle of nowhere, Wyoming, just on some guesswork.
“Hey, apologies for not being down here, I thought I had more time than I did,” she said, wandering over to speedster and super and trying not to inappropriately laugh because the situation wasn’t funny. “Sorry, Bai, did you say you had something?”
Kate! Manhunter Kate Spencer!!
Bai zipped over to her, giving Kate a big hug too because things were looking kinda dire and yeesh, you never could tell what was gonna happen when big things were on the horizon and her friend Kate Spencer looked like she needed a hug as much as Bai wanted to give her one.
“Sorry about GA being offline,” she said. “But the thingis Wally and me — that’s my cousin WallytheFlash but. You probly know that already. Anyhow Wallyandme used the cosmic treadmill and shot ourselves back intothepast and we thought it would be a goodidea to plant a tracer! On Green Arrow! Green Arrow the senior thatis, Idon’tthink Connor was even back yet atthatpoint so. Yeah, that’s what we did, and here’sthe tracer, and Wally was so smart and implanted it in GA’sbutt so he wouldn’t notice it!”
Bai took Kate’s hand, uncurling it (Kate Spencer unconsciously had her hands curled into fists, which boded SOOOOOOOO not good for how tense she probly was on a regular bases, Bai tutted in her head) and gently placing the beacon tracker in Kate’s palm. “So there you go,” she said, and all the pent-up energy and speed left her in a rush, leaving behind trembliness and satisfaction of a duty rendered. “And now I need some food, in a serious way.”
Kate had not-quite-forgotten but still not really understood what it was like to have full on speedster attention on you. Still, the hug was really nice, actually, and she hugged Bai back, because it was a real spontaneous hug, and she needed that kind of thing, needed to feel something like that.
It took a lot of focus to hear what Bai was saying, mind, because she was going even faster than average, but the gist came across. Cosmic treadmill, whatever that was, back in time, put a tracker in Oll…
She burst out laughing, putting one hand on Bai’s shoulder. “You put a tracer. In his ass,” she murmured. But at the same time, Bai was uncurling her other hand, putting something in it, and Kate was so grateful she thought, for a second, of crying. “Thank you,” she said, “both you and Wally. This will make it so much easier to get to him. We know sort of where he is, but they have him, and we really don’t know what we’re walking into…”
Kate cleared her throat, pulling back and looking Bai over. “Right, let me get back to the kitchen and they’ll totally make you something. On me. Any preferences?”
“I’ll have the cookies!”
The Martian Manhunter entered Warriors looking weary like the rest of them. “I’ve been listening to you all on my way in and you’re all right - things are troubling right now. But they may be even more complicated than that” the Martian Manhunter said as he entered Warriors. “I have just returned from the Watchtower and I have some terrible news.”
J’onn sat, happy for the respite, and relayed to the others his most recent encounter with the League of Assassins.
“I will go to Gotham immediately to try and stop the Fang controlling the detonator.” J’onn had a look of determination to him. “I have fought him before and I can succeed this time.” But
J’onn was a realist and always prepared. “In case I fail, we need a team to go to the moon and try to disarm the twelve bombs there. I fear they may be linked to explode if one or more is tampered with so it will not only take Leaguers who are able to survive on the surface of the moon with no atmosphere, but ones who can handle multiple bombs quickly.”
“But more troubling is this demonic aspect of which many of you have spoken. Are they in league with these assassins?”
“No.” Jason Blood entered Warriors but stood at a distance. “And there was no ‘they’, just a ‘him’. Some magic pretender from New Orleans attacked me with a few of his friends. They took Etrigan from me. They used him to cause mischief. I understand the Demon even visited some of you personally.”
Jason lowered his gaze. “For any trouble he caused you, I am truly sorry. Etrigan is my responsibility and has been for centuries. I will not allow him to be controlled by outside forces again.” He raised his head. “As for the threat from New Orleans, it has been… neutralized. Etrigan has been returned to me and I am ready to exact a bit of vengeance.”
Jason Blood walked closer to the group of heroes as he spoke. “I apologize for this intrusion. A simple locator spell informed me of this gathering. I came here to offer my services to the League. If there is a team going to aid Green Arrow, I request to join it. It seems I have… something of Oliver’s that he may be looking for. I wish to return it.”
The immortal knight’s smile was full of kept knowledge.
So much for going to Wyoming. Kate, who’d managed to get Bai settled with a burger and some sweet potato fries, gaped at J’onn for a moment in dismay. This was so damned big. So very, very big. As for this guy and his tameish demon, that was something else to consider. Kate trusted him about as far as she could throw him—the man smiled like a defense lawyer about to call a key witness.
“Right,” she said, “the moon’s definitely another critical objective. I just don’t want us to be divided into too small of groups, or we’re right back where we started. Some people will need to support J’onn’s initiative, some should go after Ollie, and the rest will preemptively strike at Devil’s Tower.
“Unless anyone else has any critical data points they haven’t mentioned, or thinks I’m full of shit, and I suggest you speak up if either of those things are true.”
“No. I will go to Gotham myself” J’onn said with determination. ”I do not want anyone else facing this assassin. It is too dangerous.”
He went on despite the death glares he got from Kate. ”The moon is priority number one. Oliver can be assisted by a smaller force as well. I know splitting up the League at such a critical time is dangerous, but we have multiple threats and we have to deal with them all.”
“Kate,” he nodded to her seeing her slumped on the couch. Her alarmed look at Dinah reminded him to reassure her. “She’s okay…stable. Took a through-and-through to the shoulder and a concussion, medics patched her up. I’ll put her in my room, and Hal an’ I can…” his voice trailed off, “Where’s Hal, wasn’t he with you?”
She glanced towards the close door of Kyle’s bedroom and rubbed her eyes tiredly. “He’s…well, he’s with Kyle. Ocupado.” She left it at that, not wanting to get involved in whatever bro-politics were set up between Corpsmembers.
He followed her glance to the bedroom door, interpreting her hesitation and inflection accurately; Guy was no idiot. “Ya gotta be kiddin’ me…” he growled. To his credit, he managed to not reveal through his poker face all of how that confirmation of his suspicions about Hal and Kyle made him feel. This, he really didn’t need right now. Guy looked down at the sleeping woman in his arms; Hal and Kyle’s dalliance could have waited for a less critical time.
“Tell ‘em when they’ve finished ‘polishin’ each other’s Lantern Batteries’ that I could use their help healin’ Dinah,” he snapped, adding over his shoulder, “Jason’s on the roof guarding the leader of Eden Corps. J’onn will wanna question her.” With that, he disappeared into his room to tend to Dinah’s injuries. Alone.
“Knock knock,” Kyle said quietly, tapping on Guy’s door. He’d just gotten Kate’s text, and coming out from his room with Hal, the living room was empty. Everyone else - including Kate - was probably downstairs. Kyle could see a green glow coming from Guy’s room, and split off to check in.
He entered tentatively, staring at Dinah’s prone body on the bed. Kyle winced. She looked terribly beaten up, even in the shade-dark room. ”Oh my god…I’m so glad you got there in time, Guy. To save her. And Jason’s safe, si?” Kyle took a few steps towards Dinah, and stroked some strands of her blond hair. Dinah murmured a bit, but her eyes stayed closed.
Kyle eventually ripped his stare from Dinah and looked up at Guy. “What do you need me to do? Is this going to be like last time, with Roy?”
Guy hadn’t made much progress with healing her; little time had passed since his arrival, for one thing, and for another he was having a hard time focussing his mind. Coming home (crisis notwithstanding) to Hal and Kyle making out in Kyle’s room had outright rattled him, and he didn’t have the time to properly process that, to figure out why. It wasn’t as though any of Kyle’s, or even Hal’s relationships, bothered Guy in the least…
What angered him now was the timing. People’s lives might depend on his ability to heal them, and from the text he and the other Lanterns just got, more injured were on the way. Get your shit together, Gardner, he commanded himself, Priorities. Focus. ”Jason’s on the roof, guarding the leader of the Eden Corps,” he said tersely, all the while forcing himself to calm down. Ease up, this wasn’t Kyle’s fault. It wasn’t anyone’s fault but the woman Jason was guarding, and, he was avoiding admitting to himself, Dinah’s.
He finally looked up from his work, and watched Kyle stroke the hair from her face. A wave of relief and gratitude combined passed over him, washing away much of his anger and jealousy; he’d needed his partner to be there for him, and now here he was. That’s all that mattered. The sudden major shift in his emotions from one extreme to the other, and his own fatigue and stress made him swallow a lump forming in his throat.
“Yeah,” he said huskily, nodding back once at the woman who’d come close to being killed only an hour earlier. Damn, don’t break! he silently commanded his own voice, “L-like with Roy. You take her shoulder, I’ll try to ease the concussion some. You up for this?” He realized after he said it, he was asking himself that question as much as he was asking his less-experienced partner. It wasn’t just his voice; Guy felt like he might break any moment, with Dinah like this.
“Hey…” Kyle leaned over Dinah, reaching out and squeezing the back of Guy’s hand lightly. He can see all the pain crossing over Guy’s blunt, exhausted features and Kyle looked down at Dinah again and then back up at Guy. Of course this wasn’t ‘like Roy’, he realized, feeling silly for saying it. Guy cared about Roy about as much as he cared about any superhero life; but Dinah…Dinah was a different matter all together. Kyle recognized the look as the same sort of expressions that twinned Hal’s and Kate’s faces, when Kyle had asked them about Ollie’s status.
“It’s gonna be okay, she’ll be fine, okay?” Kyle jiggled Guy’s hand and then let go, because now wasn’t the time to actually get into that. His ring did a quick scan of Dinah and then he nodded at Guy.
“I’m totally up for this, amigo.” Kyle said with determination. After healing Roy, after Lian, after easing the pain from Dick’s fibula…Kyle was feeling very confident by now in doing the medic thing. He didn’t ask if Guy was, because that would be insulting. If Guy thought he was, then he was. Besides, they didn’t exactly have time to discuss things, what with the priority at hand.
They started the process, the rings estimating in unison that it would take a few minutes to complete. Kyle was glad his ring was at 100%, because it meant he didn’t have to concentrate as much. He just pushed his will through it, letting it do its thing and not trying to be fancy about it. Instead, his eyes slid up to look at his partner, study him and make sure Guy wasn’t on the verge of any sort of breakdown. He looked…beaten down.
Not wanting to break Guy’s concentration while they worked, but wanting to keep him from getting overwhelmed, Kyle gently asked, “How’s Jason?”
“Not a scratch. In fact, he took down the leader and disarmed a bomb-vest she was wearing. I couldn’t have taken her down without his assist,” he answered with no small amount of pride in his voice, glad to have something positive to share.
Dinah’s head injury wasn’t as severe as it could have been, but anything involving the head was delicate work. As he slowly relaxed it became easier to focus, easier to direct his will, but he had to work for the results; Dinah was worth it. His battery was only feet away, but out of reach, and he didn’t want to stop now that they’d begun. Definitely, he’d have to recharge before he tried this again. If need be, the ring could keep him going physically without sleep as well, as long as it was charged.
“How about…” Damn, what was the kid’s name? Riley? Rusty? Reagan? Fatigue and stress were affecting Guy’s mental acuity, as well, and he couldn’t lean on his ring right now for a script cue. ”Kate’s son? He okay?”
“Oh! Well, that’s good, good, bueno,” Kyle said glad for a little luck to come their way. They all sorely needed it right now. “Ramsey is fine, but…Ollie’s been captured,” Kyle informed Guy quietly, hoping Dinah was too unconscious to hear them. “Captured or taken down or…..anyway. It seems to be, like…demonic.” Kyle’s eyes flashed green momentarily as a small spike of chill ran down his spine. Demons. It just wasn’t right. “None of it makes sense to me of course, but…man I’m hoping someone will be able to figure this one out, because it’s bigger’n just Eden Corp. The one you captured, is she League of Assassins? We had Targa contained at the prison break, ourselves. He was LoA, according to Steph. Said we were ‘too late’ and kept pointing up at the sky.” Kyle shook his head from all the thinking. “I mean, this is just wide-scale loco-coco.”
The healing was finally over, and Dinah’s breathing got less ragged and more even as her body welcomed a restful sleep. Kyle sighed in relief and then smiled up at Guy. ”We should open our own ER, ese.”
Guy was reeling too much from what Kyle had told him about Ollie’s capture and demonic involvement and finally, the LoA. Suddenly Aisinn’s capture seemed almost meaningless, and they’d just scratched the surface of the threat to the Justice League members and their families. He was losing hope.
“No, she was too sloppy to be League of Assassins, too into makin’ speeches,” he went from kneeling on one knee by his own bed to leaning back against his dresser, folding his arms over raised knees and tiredly resting his head upon them. ”Fuck…I thought we were close to finishing this. And now Ollie…”
He barely registered what Kyle had said about opening up an ER - there was something else the young Lantern had said that Guy’s mind picked up on, grabbed, and turned over a few times. “He said we were ‘too late’ and kept pointing up at the sky”… He was about to making the connection to the other threats received by the children and Jason’s invitation to switch sides, when his ring silently shattered his concentration like a hungry baby wailing for its mother’s breast. — [WARNING. RING POWER LEVELS APPROACHING LESS THAN 3.4%] — Yes. I figured…thanks, Ring. Guy sighed. The thought was gone.
He rose to his feet, looking at Dinah’s sleeping form, and snatched his lantern battery off his dresser. Enough playing around. If the fuckers want a war, they’ve GOT one. He held his right fist to his lantern and recited the oath like a man who knew poetry wasn’t simply made of cadence or rhyme, but of meaning.
Bai skidded into the bar, face flushed with excitement and exertion, only to find it … more or less empty. “Hello?” she called. The tracer was almost burning a hold in her construct pocket, wanting to be given to somebody who would have better use of it.
She spotted a couple of blonde heads passed out on a table in the corner, and went over to them, circling a few times. “Cassie? Steph? Is that you? Wake up, guys, I knoweverybody’ssuper tired and all but we don’t have timefornaps!”
The zeta tube roared to life as Kon was transported from Smallville to Warriors bar. He stepped out and stretched, and headed down from the roof to the main bar of the place. The teen blinked his blue eyes in surprise when he saw a certain speedster hovering over some certain blondes.
“Imp!” He exclaimed, hurrying over to them. “What’s going on? Why are you here, and what’s with them?”
“I’m here cause here’s wherethemessage said to come, spluh, and they’reasleep because I guess they were wornoutexhausted and I dunno where anybodyelse is tho and I gotta givethis tracer to. Somebody and I can’t find anybody togiveit to and DON’T call me Imp!!!”
Bai hugged Kon, though, because Kon was all broad and solid and sun-warm even when there was no sun, and even if he insisted on still calling her by her baby-hero name he was still *Kon*. And she needed that familiarity right now, when she was feeling like she was gonna fly off into a million pieces from unused speed and mounting frustration and impatience.
After Guy had shown up, Kate had taken a minute to change back from Kyle’s loaner loungewear into Manhunter formal. She didn’t look particularly better rested, mind, though she felt marginally less so. If only she felt less shitty generally speaking; oddly, hearing from Ollie just made the pain more acute. Mostly now she was just very, very afraid.
“I messaged them both,” she said against Guy’s door, and found she couldn’t think about Dinah without wincing at the injury. Fuck. “If they know what’s good for them, they’ll be out in a minute—I’m sorry, Guy, I know bandaids for scrapes and that’s about it, or I’d help.”
Feeling more than slightly useless, she trailed down the stairs, only to hear a group of people conversing in not-that-quiet tones. Opening the door, she saw the dozing girls, then Kon getting squashed in a hug by Bai Allen, who was as utterly wired as she usually could be. J’onn wasn’t there yet, which was a pity, because while she trusted Jason to keep the fucker on the roof contained, she did want confirmation that she and Hal weren’t about to send half the League off to the middle of nowhere, Wyoming, just on some guesswork.
“Hey, apologies for not being down here, I thought I had more time than I did,” she said, wandering over to speedster and super and trying not to inappropriately laugh because the situation wasn’t funny. “Sorry, Bai, did you say you had something?”
Kate! Manhunter Kate Spencer!!
Bai zipped over to her, giving Kate a big hug too because things were looking kinda dire and yeesh, you never could tell what was gonna happen when big things were on the horizon and her friend Kate Spencer looked like she needed a hug as much as Bai wanted to give her one.
“Sorry about GA being offline,” she said. “But the thingis Wally and me — that’s my cousin WallytheFlash but. You probly know that already. Anyhow Wallyandme used the cosmic treadmill and shot ourselves back intothepast and we thought it would be a goodidea to plant a tracer! On Green Arrow! Green Arrow the senior thatis, Idon’tthink Connor was even back yet atthatpoint so. Yeah, that’s what we did, and here’sthe tracer, and Wally was so smart and implanted it in GA’sbutt so he wouldn’t notice it!”
Bai took Kate’s hand, uncurling it (Kate Spencer unconsciously had her hands curled into fists, which boded SOOOOOOOO not good for how tense she probly was on a regular bases, Bai tutted in her head) and gently placing the beacon tracker in Kate’s palm. “So there you go,” she said, and all the pent-up energy and speed left her in a rush, leaving behind trembliness and satisfaction of a duty rendered. “And now I need some food, in a serious way.”
Kate had not-quite-forgotten but still not really understood what it was like to have full on speedster attention on you. Still, the hug was really nice, actually, and she hugged Bai back, because it was a real spontaneous hug, and she needed that kind of thing, needed to feel something like that.
It took a lot of focus to hear what Bai was saying, mind, because she was going even faster than average, but the gist came across. Cosmic treadmill, whatever that was, back in time, put a tracker in Oll…
She burst out laughing, putting one hand on Bai’s shoulder. “You put a tracer. In his ass,” she murmured. But at the same time, Bai was uncurling her other hand, putting something in it, and Kate was so grateful she thought, for a second, of crying. “Thank you,” she said, “both you and Wally. This will make it so much easier to get to him. We know sort of where he is, but they have him, and we really don’t know what we’re walking into…”
Kate cleared her throat, pulling back and looking Bai over. “Right, let me get back to the kitchen and they’ll totally make you something. On me. Any preferences?”
“I’ll have the cookies!”
The Martian Manhunter entered Warriors looking weary like the rest of them. “I’ve been listening to you all on my way in and you’re all right - things are troubling right now. But they may be even more complicated than that” the Martian Manhunter said as he entered Warriors. “I have just returned from the Watchtower and I have some terrible news.”
J’onn sat, happy for the respite, and relayed to the others his most recent encounter with the League of Assassins.
“I will go to Gotham immediately to try and stop the Fang controlling the detonator.” J’onn had a look of determination to him. “I have fought him before and I can succeed this time.” But
J’onn was a realist and always prepared. “In case I fail, we need a team to go to the moon and try to disarm the twelve bombs there. I fear they may be linked to explode if one or more is tampered with so it will not only take Leaguers who are able to survive on the surface of the moon with no atmosphere, but ones who can handle multiple bombs quickly.”
“But more troubling is this demonic aspect of which many of you have spoken. Are they in league with these assassins?”
“No.” Jason Blood entered Warriors but stood at a distance. “And there was no ‘they’, just a ‘him’. Some magic pretender from New Orleans attacked me with a few of his friends. They took Etrigan from me. They used him to cause mischief. I understand the Demon even visited some of you personally.”
Jason lowered his gaze. “For any trouble he caused you, I am truly sorry. Etrigan is my responsibility and has been for centuries. I will not allow him to be controlled by outside forces again.” He raised his head. “As for the threat from New Orleans, it has been… neutralized. Etrigan has been returned to me and I am ready to exact a bit of vengeance.”
Jason Blood walked closer to the group of heroes as he spoke. “I apologize for this intrusion. A simple locator spell informed me of this gathering. I came here to offer my services to the League. If there is a team going to aid Green Arrow, I request to join it. It seems I have… something of Oliver’s that he may be looking for. I wish to return it.”
The immortal knight’s smile was full of kept knowledge.
So much for going to Wyoming. Kate, who’d managed to get Bai settled with a burger and some sweet potato fries, gaped at J’onn for a moment in dismay. This was so damned big. So very, very big. As for this guy and his tameish demon, that was something else to consider. Kate trusted him about as far as she could throw him—the man smiled like a defense lawyer about to call a key witness.
“Right,” she said, “the moon’s definitely another critical objective. I just don’t want us to be divided into too small of groups, or we’re right back where we started. Some people will need to support J’onn’s initiative, some should go after Ollie, and the rest will preemptively strike at Devil’s Tower.
“Unless anyone else has any critical data points they haven’t mentioned, or thinks I’m full of shit, and I suggest you speak up if either of those things are true.”
“No. I will go to Gotham myself” J’onn said with determination. ”I do not want anyone else facing this assassin. It is too dangerous.”
He went on despite the death glares he got from Kate. ”The moon is priority number one. Oliver can be assisted by a smaller force as well. I know splitting up the League at such a critical time is dangerous, but we have multiple threats and we have to deal with them all.”