Becoming Superboy 6
Since he had been back he had been little assignments here and there. Surveillance, pickups and every other loose end no one else had time to take care of. After getting the Zeta-beam installed in an old shed near Smallville he made routine to drop at the tower for something to eat before going back home and continue his training. Kaldur kept to his word and kept him on jobs on his own. Nothing big had come up yet but he wished it had. He was getting bored of the assignments he was getting. He knew they were important but it didn't make them any less boring.
Once he arrived to the Watchtower he spotted another arrival.
"Blue?" he asked before the armored hero turned with a tired look.
"Hey" Jaime said weakly before he remembered what he had seen in the news that morning about what happened in El Paso.
"I heard what happened, are you okay?" he had thought Jaime had not been involved but the light in his eyes was almost gone. Even if he couldn't sense his sadness with his new powers, he could see the way he forced himself to stay focused on the present instead of what he had seen the night before.
"That's what I came to find out," he said as they walked towards the lunchroom which was in the way to Black Canary's office.
They spotted Miss Martian with her new look and Beast Boy who was looking at his meal with distrust. He wasn't sure if there was meat on it. They waved at them and he waved back.
"You have an idea of who did it?" he asked prodding for anything his powers could tell him of the situation or his friend's mental state.
They walked down the hall that led to Black Canary's office.
"We do, but since it involves magic it is going to be very difficult to bring any proof in" Nightwing said walking towards them, "ready?"
Jaime simply nodded before stepping into the office. He didn't even bother to say goodbye which worried Superboy even more. Jaime always tried to be as polite as possible.
"But wasn't Black Canary away in a mission?" Conner asked before sensing who the person inside the office was, "oh…" was all he could say before his friend led him away, "Nightwing, what is the meaning of-"
"He is going through a transition, and Batman wants to help him through it" Nightwing said before they sat in one of the launches.
"Someone slaughtered dozens of people in his hometown and someone shot his father, you can't really believe-" it was too much to ask of anyone.
"But I do," Nightwing said "he is a strong kid"
"No one can remain a kid after something like that," Conner said feeling there was something else his friend wasn't telling him, "what are you hiding?"
"Is personal," Nightwing said crossing his arms, "if Blue wants to tell you, he will"
Conner took a deep breath trying to stay calm.
"Interesting," Nightwing said before he realized some of the furniture around him was starting to float.
"Sorry," he said before he lowered them.
"Don't be," Nightwing said with a grateful smile, "actually I would like to ask you a favor in regards of this, but we have to make sure Blue doesn't know"
"I thought you said you belied he could do it," Conner asked leaning back. If he could help his friend he didn't mind, but he didn't like when Nightwing played with his meanings.
"His part. Which believe me is not easy. I actually need you to help me gather information on the streets and a few other things"
"I don't think that's a good idea" he still preferred not to be around crowds as much.
"Believe me; if things escalate you don't have to worry. These guys are not weak" he said placing a folder on the table between them, "they might be the allies Blue needs"
Conner picked up the folder and read through some of the files.
"A gang?" he asked with a frown as he kept reading "We have seen metahuman gangs before," he was starting to think it should be a good idea to call Virgil for help.
"Not an ordinary one as you can see" Nightwing said pointing at one of the pictures in the file, "they all have criminal records, but pretty much when their powers started to manifest they stopped"
"So you think they are up to something else?" Conner read through some of their abilities. Nothing major on their own, but together he was sure they could put up a good fight.
"Something good, I hope. After all, who is to say the League and the Team are the only ones that can bring good people together" Nightwing said with a confident smile.
Conner looked back at the pictures. They all looked like tugs to him, but then again he knew appearances weren't everything.
"Alright, I will pick up some civies back home and then go search for them"
"And remember to not tell anything to Blue. He needs to get his footing on his own on this one"
"Got it," Conner said before standing.
No more than half an hour later he was stepping out of the Zeta-beam in El Paso, Texas. He hurried to the side of town where the metahuman gang lived, also to remain as far as possible from Jaime's scarab. That thing he understood had quite a range. When he finally made it he wondered if Nightwing had made a mistake. The people about didn't seem to like strangers about. He watched as a few tried to follow him, but he kept to the busy places hoping they wouldn't decide to do something stupid.
Finally he was able to lose them when he went into a store and snuck through the back door.
"Well, aren't you an odd one," he turned to look at a woman leaning on wall in front of him. He recognized her right away from Nightwing's file; straight black hair, dark painted lips and dark glasses, "what is a pretty boy like you doing in the back alleys of the slums?" she asked with a tense smile. She could sense his power surely just as the file said.
"I am looking for Damper," he said stepping forwards.
"Never heard of him," she was fast to answer and turn away.
"You are lying, Probe…" he added her nickname before she stopped in her tracks, "I need to talk to him about something important"
"Are you a cop?" she asked turning around.
"You know I am not," he said leaning against the wall mimicking her, "I am not here to start any trouble; I just think there is something that should be brought up to his attention"
"That sounds like trouble to me," she said gaining some of her courage back.
"It might be depending on what your group decides to do"
"We are a gang pretty boy, no need to hide it" she gave him a big smile feeling at advantage again. He had no idea of the real life workings on the more difficult neighborhoods, just statistics and such. He wondered how she knew, "but I don't see why we should risk one of our own when you can probably fry our brains in less than second"
"It's related to what happened in the warehouses last night," and with those words her smile was gone.
"Wait here," she said before hurrying out of the alley.
And he waited for almost an hour before he saw someone enter the alley. It was not Damper, but someone he hadn't seen in the file. He sensed he was a regular human.
"You the guy who is looking for Damper?" he asked standing almost as tall as him.
"And you are?" he asked with a raised eyebrow, he thought their group was made only of metahumans. He was a Latin American with dark eyes and scruffy beard; a few dark locks escaped the bandana on his head.
"Damper's representative," he said with a smartass smile that bothered him right away, "whatever you want to say to him, you can tell me"
"They send a human to deal with their threats?" he asked starting to think these guys would be of no help whatsoever.
"I volunteered," the man's expression changed immediately to one of hostility; Conner guessed he had insulted him.
"Very brave I suppose," he said before the man narrowed his dark eyes even further. Great, now he probably thought he was mocking him.
"You said it was something related to what happened at the warehouses," he went right to the point and Conner was thankful for that.
"My people and I believe we know who sent the attack,"
"We know too," the man said crossing his arms.
"Good, then you won't oppose on working together towards a common goal"
"I don't think so amigo, you seem to know a lot about my friends and we know nothing about yours. Why should we trust you?"
"You will only be working with one of my colleagues,"
"And who is it?"
"The Blue Beetle,"
"The Blue- you are with the League!" he took a step back.
Conner shrugged.
"Don't act like is not a big deal! You have to know it is!"
"I imagine this makes it clear how bad the situation is"
"If it was so bad then why are you only leaving us with the escarabajo?"
"Because unlike what the rest of the world thinks, we have limitation to our resources" he knew he was giving away too much, but he could sense that this guy was okay even though he dressed like a homie from two decades ago, "also this is an operation that doesn't require just brute strength, but information gathering. We don't have the connections your group has and that could make a great difference into bringing La Dama down"
"Anything to bring that perra in" Conner did his best to disguise his surprise when a man materialized from thin air, "we will contact your guy and we will see"
"Damper! What are you doing man?"
"Shush Paco," Damper said stepping forwards. He was a man of black decent but Conner could pick a Spanish accent in his words. His arms and neck were covered in intricate patterns of tattoos ranging from skulls, to birds, and flowers.
"Hombre, don't tell him my name. He is with the League,"
"What? You scared the big blue is going to come to pick you up himself?" Damper laughed before his friend muttered a few curses under his breath, "so where do we meet with your guy?"
"That is up to you," Conner said trying to get a feeling for the man's abilities. It was very fuzzy which led him to believe they were more magical based.
"Why do I get the feeling he has no idea you are talking to us, and no I am not psychic"
"He doesn't" Conner confirmed, "actually, I would appreciate it if you don't tell him we contacted you"
"And why is that?"
"Because this is the Blue Beetle's town as much as yours and he is doing this against the wishes of the others, for exception of Batman"
"Great, the one that doesn't have powers" Damper said with a sigh.
"Hey, don't overestimate us!" Paco said crossing his arms.
"What if he doesn't want to work with us?" Damper said with a raised eyebrow, "we are not the usual crowd he hangs about"
"Blue is not-" but he stopped. Something didn't feel right. He looked up.
"Probe," Damper called before the woman from before stepped out of thin air.
Conner made a mental note to add that Nightwing's file.
"On the rooftop," she said before they watched a figure jump from the top a building.
At once he knew it was not human. It was something like werewolf and it was not friendly. He sensed it right away. The desire and need to kill. It took him by surprise for a moment but a fraction of a second later he had stopped the beast in mid fall. It snarled and growled trying to free itself from the force keeping it still.
"Stand back," he said through greeted teeth. He had never tried to keep something so big and struggling up on purpose.
"All yours man," Damper said before Conner released the creature and then punched it straight into a wall. It fell limp to the ground.
"This guy can knock them out with one punch?" Paco asked in awe.
"That's the least of our worries" Probe said before pointing up, "Coyotes"
They heard more growls before they spotted several bright eyes watching them from the roofs.
"You better get out of here" he told them hoping Damper's ability would cloak them well enough to get away.
"The Posee doesn't run away," Damper said but Conner wasn't listening anymore. He watched this time as the creatures used their claws to climb down the brick buildings, starting to surround them.
They stopped but for the exception of one which crawled until they were facing each other.
"You are not from around here" the beast spoke in a guttural voice, "you stink wrong, strange… dangerous"
"Then back off," he said reading his firsts. He didn't trust to be able to hold them back with his new powers, but he knew he could always relay on the old ones.
"Not a choice stranger, you are in our territory" it growled before turning to glare at Damper, "and you are becoming a nuisance that we will no longer stand for"
"If you want a fight you will get one perro de la perra" Damper said with a smirk before thick pipes appeared on his and friend's hands.
The beast growled before lifting its deadly claw. The rest of the Coyotes jumped off the buildings covering the view of the sky. Conner prepared before he saw something fly from the side and slam into one of them.
"This is going to be fun!" he heard as he slammed his fist against the first of many.
"Get down!" he heard someone shout and years of training kicked in before he hit the floor. Something exploded before bits and pieces started to rain on everyone.
"Get to Piñata!" Damper shouted before he saw more people run through the shocked Coyotes towards the source of the explosion. He watched them as they created a perimeter around the crater, though it wasn't necessary. Even the Coyotes watched in amazement as bits and pieces pulled themselves together until they started to take the form of a petite woman with wild purple hair.
"The name is Cinetico, not freaking Piñata" the woman said when she finally formed a mouth.
"Whatever chica, justpull yourself together!" a short stocky man shouted before one of the creatures reacted and launched at him, the man jumped towards the beast and slammed into it like a wrecking ball. He watched as the beast fell with a broken neck to the ground as it tried to mutter a curse, "tu perra madre, c'mon bitches!" and then they launched at him.
Conner watched as a horde of them jumped on the man. Before he knew it he was throwing punches left and right trying to get to him.
"That tickles!" then he watched as the small man threw the beasts around in a way no much different than him. They bite and clawed at him but only his clothes were torn. His flesh remained intact.
"Let's move!" and he watched as those of the Posee who didn't have any physical powers appeared and disappeared. They moved like ghost among the creatures before hitting them hard with their pipes. Many broke skulls with one hit, as if they had plenty of practice.
"I am ready to party!" he almost snapped his head turning to look at the newly reformed Piñata as she jumped on the back of another creature.
"Get down!" he heard again and again he threw himself to the ground.
The woman started to shine like a Christmas tree before she exploded in a multitude of colors and pieces of flesh. Piñata was a pretty good name for her.
He didn't know how long it lasted but he just kept hitting until no Coyote remained. The Posee members were experts at fighting them, which told him they were the ones they needed to help Jaime.
"You have to watch this," a blond woman said from the group before they watched the bodies of the Coyotes start to dissolve into dust, "I never get bored of this" she said kicking a bit of the dust, "the sad thing is that she can always make more"
"Don't fret Bonita, we are getting closer. Why else would she send this many?" Damper said before they started to leave.
"Wait, what about-"
"We will look for the escarabajo, and talk to him,and then we will decide" Damper said before he and his group disappeared.
Conner waited a few moments before turning to leave. The moon was up by then so he hurried through the now emptying streets. He was getting the feeling that people knew things were not normal in their neighborhood. He kept listening for anything lurking in the dark but nothing appeared. When he made it to the Zeta-beam and then to the farm he had no strength left to practice. He collapsed in the couch and sighed.
He hoped Jaime knew what he was doing and also that he would ask for help if he really needed it. He didn't like going behind his back getting others to do it.