Chapter 50.3 – Interlude 8
At the other side of the military base, Kid Flash rushed through the building, taking full advantage of his speed and invisibility to sneak through the soldiers, lightly touching each one and leaving a single small device where they couldn’t see.
Disconnecting his wrist computer, Robin did the same. The ability to go invisible made things almost too easy for him, so he made a mental note to get in a little more training with Batman later.
They found Psimon passed out in a bedroom, his mouth open as he drooled on the clean floor, a crack on the see-through dome that protected his brain.
“Crap, think that’s bad for his health?” Kid Flash asked, poking his body with a foot.
Robin crouched over the unconscious psychic, making sure to snap a psychic blocker around his neck before checking his vitals. “Naaa, he’s fine. It only cracked the outer glass, there’s several layers.”
Kid Flash released a sigh of relief.
Putting one of the maniac’s devices on the body, he watched the villain disappear from his normal view, only the filter on his visor allowing him to know there was something there. Pulling the man by an arm, he threw the psychic over his shoulders… or at least he attempted to.
“This is embarrassing,” Robin commented, looking at his friend struggling with the weight of the adult man.
“Shut up, he’s heavier than he looks,” Kid Flash growled. “Let’s see you try.”
“Pass,” Robin shrugged, watching as Kid Flash finally managed to get the villain into a firefighter's carry. Standing beside the door, he pulled it open with a bow. “Age before beauty.”
“Humph, pearls befo- ACK!”
Using all his speed, Kid Flash jumped back, letting a wave of bullets pass right by where he had been. Widening his eyes, Robin slammed the door closed on reflex, causing the wood to splinter as several bullets hit it, tearing a large hole through the door frame.
Jumping out of the way, Robin himself barely survived as a hail of bullets broke through the wall where he had been standing.
“Hmm, as much as I dislike the creep, maybe don’t kill our client?” said a sultry female voice from out in the hallway. “It would be bad for business.”
“Fine,” said a second, slightly younger female voice.
Scrambling on the floor, the two heroes traded a glance before Robin hurriedly touched the computer on his wrist, activating the devices they put on all the soldiers and causing them to explode into clouds of knockout gas, making every soldier pass out in seconds.
“Huh, neat. Maybe this will be fun after all,” the second girl said.
“Hmm, it’s not them. They used electricity at Infinity Island.”
“Have you watched the Salem videos? Cuz I saw the armored guy shooting at the beast,” the younger girl asked with a mocking voice. “I wouldn’t be engaging if I thought it was them. Not without better equipment.”
With a metallic sound, a cylinder flew through the opening at the door, hitting the floor and bouncing up.
Eyes wide, both Robin and Kid Flash threw themselves away and over the bed frame, a second later, the grenade exploded in a wave of light and noise that shook them to their core.
Blinded, deaf and shaken, Robin used all his training to recover, his head killing him. Thankfully, he had been exposed to such things with Batman and even Kid Flash had some experience with the Titans.
Throwing a batarang at a wall, Robin grabbed Kid Flash’s arm and ran towards it. With a ‘beeping’ noise, the bat shaped device exploded, the entire charge aimed towards the wall and creating a hole that they used to escape.
Throwing a batarang back towards the door, Robin vacated the hole, pushing Kid Flash ahead of him and towards the door at the other side of the room.
“Robin, do you have any…”
He heard Starfire starting to talk in his mind, but two medieval swords burst out of the wall a few feet away from him, immediately cutting through the thin drywall and making a beeline for him.
“ACK! Busy now!” he shouted back and felt Miss Martian isolating him from the mind link so he wouldn’t be distracted by their chatting. “Thanks!”
There was blessed silence in his mind, allowing him to fully concentrate on his fight. His enemy burst through the wall with a lunge, forcing him to flip over a sword slash, then his eyes widened when the blow was followed by an upwards strike he couldn’t dodge.
With desperation, Robin managed to parry with one of his batarangs, but the blow had so much strength he went flying through the room. Flipping midair, he fell on his feet, his eyes already looking for an escape before every single soldier converged at his location.
From outside the building, he heard the emergency sirens starting to blast, the noise warning everyone of what was happening.
For a single second, Robin’s heart skipped a beat as he took in his opponent from the corner of his eye.
Tall, wearing a mixture of black costume and body armor that showed all of his well defined muscles, with several details in orange, his mask was also orange, with a black half that obscured his eyes.
FUCK! He needed help, he needed help right now!
And then he blinked, doing a double take as he noticed his opponent had HER mouth uncovered and some very shapely hips.
“There you are,” the girl wearing Deathstroke theme armor said with an amused voice, a sword held carelessly over her shoulder and the other pointing straight at where Robin stood, invisible. “Nice trick.”
“Oh, thank god, it’s just discount Deathstroke,” Robin couldn’t help taunting her.
“It’s Ravager,” The girl growled, her voice completely under control, but Robin saw her single eye narrowing in barely contained anger.
Every muscle tensing. Robin prepared himself. He wasn’t confident on dealing with the Terminator, but a copycat he could handle, the key was doing it fast enough to get away before the rest of the base joined them.
.
.
.
Kid Flash ran, Psimon’s weight heavy at his back, slamming the door open, he jumped over the body of another unconscious soldier and dashed towards the exit, trusting his invisibility to keep him safe from the soldiers gathering outside long enough for him to gain speed.
A sting at his right foot preceded a feeling of weightlessness hitting him. Mind accelerated, he watched in slow motion as Psimon went flying out of his shoulders, rolling down the hallway while his own body went tumbling to the floor.
Behind him, both sides of the hallway were damaged as his foot had dragged the nearly invisible metal wire out of the walls.
Rolling to his feet, he glanced at his aching foot, noticing the line that had cut through his costume and hit the metal protectors hidden under it, the only thing that had kept him from losing a limb to the trap.
Still thinking at super-speed, he managed to roll out of the way as three shuriken hit the ground, “Damn, I hate ninjas!” he couldn’t help yelling before getting to his feet and glancing at the approaching supervillain.
He recognized her immediately, his lessons with the Titans having taught him to recognize important members of the League of Assassins.
Thick black hair hidden behind a white cat mask, a green kimono tied at the waist, a slender but fit build, Cheshire strutted towards him in a confident gait.
“Almost,” she commented with a sultry voice as she looked at him. “Invisible superheroes, how amusing. I thought that was our gimmick.”
Kid Flash didn’t say anything, slowly moving away from the supervillain and keeping his mouth from giving away his position. It didn’t work.
With a dash forward, the assassin almost took off his head with her sai, the only thing saving him was the fact she didn’t know exactly where he was, just his general location.
Dodging the attack, he grabbed her arm and tried to throw her, but she jumped up, wrapped her legs around his neck and twisted, bringing him to the ground. Holding him in place, she stabbed down.
In desperation, he managed to block with one arm, changing the direction of the strike just enough it only cut deeply into his cheek instead of ending his life.
“Crap, crap! A little help here people!” Kid Flash shouted over the mental link.
“I’ve the pheromone samples!” Miss Martian answered. “Hold on, I’m coming!”
“Ten seconds,” Superboy growled, “Just finished the air defenses.”
Moving as fast as he could, he kicked up at super-speed, managing to knee her in the back, the blow strong enough to push the assassin away with a grunt.
Cheshire rolled through the hallway, another shuriken flying towards him before she even got to her feet.
“Watch it you maniac!” he shouted in his mind, doing his best to hold in the sting from his cut.
Cheshire turned back towards him, the maniacal grin on her mask unnerving him as she turned her head sideways, then laughed, a low, menacing sound. With a slow movement, she scratched at her own cheek.
For less than a second, fear gripped him, but he realized she was playing with him. There was no way Supergirl’s tech wouldn’t take bleeding into account; his wound would not reveal his location.
More than that, if she knew exactly where he was, Cheshire wouldn’t reveal it until it was too late.
“Oh, you didn’t fall for it, pity,” she said, her gray eyes glancing over his shoulder at where Robin should be coming from. “No matter, it’s not like I need to see you.”
Kid Flash glanced at where Psimon was still unconscious on the ground, then turned around and ran back, he needed to regroup and wait for help.
He didn’t get very far. Less than a second later, Robin flew through the door, his body flipping through the air, back hitting against the wall before he fell to the ground and scrambled away, mask cracked and blood obstructing his vision.
The second he vacated the spot, the second girl appeared, a sword cutting straight through the wall in a single upwards swing as if it wasn’t there. Recovering fast, she followed up with a diagonal, dowards strike with all of her power behind it.
Robin managed to block with a batarang again, but he was too weak to stand his ground, being sent stumbling back several steps. Still, for a moment, he had a smug smirk on his face.
Then she smiled, tossing her sword at him like a javelin and his smirk disappeared. “Crap.”
Robin dodged down but, before he could do anything else, the explosive he had sneakily struck to the blade exploded, the impact hitting him like a hammer and driving all the air out of his lungs.
“You realize you just ruined my sword, right?” the girl asked, her voice hard. “I liked that sword.”
Running towards his friend, Kid Flash offered him a supporting hand as they both looked at the enemies and gulped.
An artillery piece flew through the house, opening a huge hole through several walls and sliding to a stop between them and Cheshire, completely blocking her for a few moments, two handprints deep in its barrel.
For a second, their hearts skipped a beat, but the throw had been well aimed, not hitting any of the unconscious soldiers in the buildings.
“Stop them!” Cheshire yelled, her voice rising for the first time in their encounter as she saw her path blocked and ran through the wall.
“Right away… boss,” the second girl growled, not a small amount of annoyance at the order in her voice.
The heroes didn’t wait; Cheshire would only take a few seconds to get to them. As one, they rushed the girl together with Superboy, hoping to overwhelm her.
It worked, kind of. Despite the Kryptonian clone joining in, the supervillain waved between their blows as if she knew where they came from, predicting every one of their moves and using the tip of her sword to try and take out Superboy’s eye any time she could.
Superboy couldn’t just ignore that, the threat working to keep him from just rushing the girl. Still, Robin managed to get a kick on her face, snapping her head back.
Then Cheshire came back, cutting her way through the wall and engaging them. The fight moved through the holes made by Superboy until the team was pushed outside.
Kid Flash expected soldiers to start shooting at them, but a large metal sphere burst out of the central house, drawing everyone’s attention, Starfire following closely behind, dragging a Cobra Venom enhanced by the ankle and throwing him at some soldiers.
“Do not worry, I will deal with the soldiers,” Starfire sent them. “Bewilder the villains for a few seconds!”
“Helicopters incoming!” Aqualad shouted in their minds, the Bioship slamming into the closest one before it could start shooting. “Hurry!”
They restarted the fight. Lifting his leg, Superboy gathered his strength and stomped on the floor, causing the ground to shake, but both supervillains had reacted too fast, jumping up to avoid losing their footing.
Taking his chance, Kid Flash rushed Cheshire, using his speed to dodge a strike of her sai and punching her as hard as he could on the side. Before she could recover a batarang flew at her mask, exploding in a flash of light that was blocked by Kid Flash’s lenses.
The second girl almost cut off his head for that, but Superboy blocked with an arm, the strike leaving a red line on his skin.
The three of them worked together far better than before, coordinating seamlessly to repel both girls, managing to force the second villain to the defensive until Superboy actually managed to hit Cheshire, his punch leaving her left arm hanging loosely at her side.
“I’ve got Psimon!” Miss Martian yelled into their minds, her body appearing above the damaged house with the psychic under one arm.
Immediately, Robin threw a few more flash bombs, causing both girls to dodge back and earn a few seconds of reprieve.
Not really needing time to recover, the second girl still glanced around and sheathed her sword, a thin smile on her face as she turned to her companion. “Well, well, well. Seems like you’ve got another failure in your hands.”
“What?” Cheshire barked.
“We’re not beating them with your arm like that and they’ve got Psimon,” the girl shrugged. “Why are you so surprised? I thought you’d have gotten used to losing, just like your father.”
The three heroes traded a quick glance, but they wouldn’t complain about villains not getting along. Instead, they took the chance to dash away, Superboy grabbing both of their waists and jumping on top of the tallest building they could find.
A second later, Aqualad managed to use the Bioship to disable a second helicopter and made it hover over them, Miss Martian lifting them up with her telekinesis before Starfire herself entered the ship, their rescue target held high over her head.
Exhausted, wounded, dirty, they all looked at each other and laughed. They had won. Completely and without help from the League, they’d won! Dropping bonelessly on their seats, they laughed as the Bioship flew straight up, moving beyond Bialya’s ability to attack them.