Dick Grayson/Robin
Backflipping over a series of bullets, Robin let out a small laugh. "Man, I thought Hawaii was going to be relaxing!"
His booted feet pressed against the wall behind him, the Boy Wonder springing off before the next burst of gunfire could hit him, then somersaulting around to pull out his staff in mid-air, the metal shaft smacking a Silicon Dragon gangster in the face.
He landed with grace, grinning confidently as he assessed the situation. Six guys, formerly eight. A small number. If he'd been quiet and stealthy, he might have been able to take them out without anyone noticing.
But Dick Grayson had been in a plane for the last 7 hours, then sitting around waiting after that. When Bruce told him to go out and explore, get a feel for the underworld of Hawaii (who would have thought Hawaii had an underworld?), he'd jumped at the chance.
But he couldn't run around in his costume. Can't have Robin in Hawaii at the same time as Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson without a solid alibi. So instead, he was wearing the most generic suit he could. Thin blue-black Kevlar sweater and pants, with a series of pouches for all his gear and a full mask.
Thank god the stuff was breathable, otherwise, he'd be sweating like crazy in the humidity.
"I gotta say, you guys are more fun than I thought," Robin ducked under a kick, smacked the man in between the legs with his staff, then tossing an iron ball bearing in between the eyes of another person, dazing him long enough for Robin to leap upwards and land on the guys back with booted feet, sending him crashing to the ground. "Like pinatas! Easy to crunch, and fun to watch fall apart."
"Where the hell are you little shits coming from!?" a woman with the Dragons pulled out an Uzi and fired it. "Shouldn't you be in school?"
Robin backflipped into the air, landed on a wall, jumped off that to take cover behind a set of fire escape stairs bolted into the opposite wall. He jumped through the fire escape, twisted around with the grace of a born Olympian as bullets fruitless followed him, and smashed into the woman with his right foot to her chest followed by his staff to her face.
"I already finished my homework," he quipped, chuckling.
Then a dinosaur dropped out of the sky to land on top of a different woman.
"What the fu-!?" Robin said, raising his staff. In his defense, he'd only fought like, three dinosaur-type bad guys in his job. Which wasn't many, but it was weird that this made four.
It took him a second to recognize it from Batman's notes. Tyrunt, one of Kahu Kiaʻi's creatures.
The dinosaur was somehow both tiny and huge. On the one hand, years of pop culture and personal experience made Dick used to dinosaurs shaped like Tyrunt being giant engines of death. Tyrunt was closer in size to an ATV. Tiny, compared to his larger 'cousins'.
But compared to them, he was a big animal with claws, teeth, and super-strength.
The Silicon Dragons froze. Tyrunt roared. Robin tossed his staff like a javelin at a guy who tried to run, knocking him down. Another guy shot at Tyrunt.
The bullets barely sank into his rockhard structure. Tyrunt charged angrily, jaws snapping shut, shattering the gun between his teeth, then spinning around to hit the man with his tail.
Robin hadn't been taught to ignore a sudden advantage when it popped up. He jumped off of Tyrunt and tossed a few ball bearings at two more. Almost in tandem, Tyrunt ran left, while Robin landed and went right. A gloved fist and rock hard head hit them in the stomachs and folded the pair of gangsters easily.
The final Silicon Dragon, a woman, stared nervously at them. Then she raised her hands. "I surrender?"
Robin grinned. "That's a good idea."
He took out a pair of cuffs and walked over to her, pulling her hands behind her. As he did, he looked over at Tyrunt.
Not the weirdest thing he'd seen since he got adopted by the World's Best Detective, but still. The way Tyrunt stared at him was weird. He was smart. He looked at him with intelligent eyes.
He was also chewing on an UZI.
Robin finished handcuffing the woman and moved onto the next while looking around. "What were they even doing here? Why break into this place?"
It was a small store. Not a bank, gun shop, not even a pharmacy. Just a mom-and-pop shop where people could buy candy and small goods. Nothing crazy…
He put the handcuffs on the last person and stared at Tyrunt. The dinosaur stared back.
"Hey… uh," did this thing understand English? "You aren't going to try and eat me, are you?"
Half a joke, half a test. In the footage Robin had seen, Kahu seemed to have a tight control over the creatures. Not like a general, more like a dad in some ways. But Tyrunt looked like an animal. A smart one, but no way to tell how smart without more experience. And any dangerous animal, no matter how 'tame' could become deadly in an instant-
"Tyrunt!" the dinosaur's tail was wagging quickly, his harsh glare becoming a big smile.
"...That's not a no."
"Runt."
Well. Good enough.
"I don't think these guys were breaking into the store for chocolate and chips," Robin said. "No matter how delicious Dorito's are. I'm gonna check it out."
Tyrunt nodded. "Ty, Tyrunt, Ty."
Robin grinned. "I'm gonna take that as a yes."
He walked over and kneeled next to the door. Tyrunt's eyes stayed on his back as Robin picked the lock, quickly opening the four locks on there.
Not at all freaked out by the big predator following him in, Robin walked into the back of the store. He found himself in front of a small door. A door with a very advanced Waynetech lock.
"Huh. Market value for these things is 30,000," Robin mused. He quickly tapped at the keys, inputting the override. The small door clicked open, and Robin swung it outwards.
"...Tyyyyy."
"Those are a LOT of weapons," Robin said slowly, blinking at them.
Lockers were on each side of the small room, with several shelves, boxes, and other containers. Each holding neatly stacked and arranged rifles, pistols, grenade launchers, machine guns, bombs, and enough ammo for everything.
"The hell kind of store is this!?" Robin asked, befuddled. He looked over at Tyrunt, only to blink.
Tyrunt looked back at him, a bunch of 5.56 ammunition falling from his lips. Robin held in a laugh. It was an oddly cute image.
Still. The Silicon Dragons had been trying to steal this? There was enough weaponry here to arm a small Gotham gang just starting out, or a large army. Who were the original owners?
Robin took notice of a laptop in the corner. He went over to it and slipped a USB cable from his glove compartment, sticking it in. A hologram sprung up from his arm, allowing him to tap at the keyboard there.
"I'm not sure how much you understand, so I'm just gonna talk fast," Robin said to Tyrunt, who walked up to watch him work with curiosity. "Whoever owned this place was working for the Silicon Dragons. So why would they try to steal from themselves? Some kind of internal conflict? Maybe this is their version of company softball?" Robin mused. "Or… maybe those guys weren't Silicon Dragons."
He'd thought they were, due to the dragon paraphernalia a few had been wearing as well as tattoos. Or, they had been Dragons, but had decided to branch out on their own. It happened. A couple of gangsters start thinking they might be able to make their own path.
"I'm copying all the data on here," Robin said, watching as his download bar finished up. After pulling out the cable, he took out a USB stick. "I have my own copy. And I'll put another on this drive," he said to Tyrunt. After a moment, he passed it over to Tyrunt, who took it in one of his little arms, moving his big head awkwardly out of the way to facilitate the move.
"I don't know how the whole thing with your… dad? Master? Teacher?"
Tyrunt shrugged.
"All of the above? Well, whatever you call it, I'm guessing Kahu Kiaʻi is going to want to know more about the Dragons. And, it looks like a shipment is coming into a warehouse a few miles away soon. The guys who are supposed to be watching this place are overseeing that."
Robin grinned. "How about it, Dinobro? Wanna go kick some butt at a warehouse?"
Tyrunt had a wide grin on his face and nodded. "Runt, Tyrunt!"
"If I may," Robin jumped in surprise when someone spoke in his brain. A flash of light was followed by an… alien? Some kind of, long-mustached, weasel with brown armor on his chest? "I can aid you in your endeavors. I am Alakazam. A Pokemon under Kahu Kiaʻi's command."
Robin recovered, but it took a sec. The amount of people who could sneak up on him was small. The number of teleporters in the world was smaller. Though it explained a lot about Kahu Kiaʻi's movements about the island.
A teleporting, telepathic, alien guy? Batman needed to know about this.
"You may tell him if you wish," Alakazam said.
Robin scowled at him. "Get out of my head."
"As you wish," Alakazam said in a polite tone, floating alongside Tyrunt. "But as I said. We are willing to help you in assaulting that warehouse. It would give you ample opportunity to analyze us."
Shoot. That was true, but Robin was also kind of disappointed in himself. He'd spent a single night in Hawaii, and was immediately made. Well… it was hard to stop a mind reader from making you.
Robin pictured explaining that to Batman. He'd likely accept it as a good reason. But somehow, he also felt like Bruce would be disappointed anyways.
The thought of that led Robin to his next thought. "Maybe he won't mind so much if I at least come back with more info."
"...Okay. I accept," Robin said with a bit of his earlier cockiness returning."But I need to make a call first."
"Feel free," Alakazam said.
Robin walked out. As he did, Alakazam snarled at Tyrunt.
"Stop eating bullets you prehistoric guppy, you'll get indigestion."
"Runt!"
Cute. But Robin was worried now. A mind reader. For all Robin knew, Kahu now knew the identities of both Batman and Robin. Maybe even more than that.
Batman needed to know. Then Robin would go and takedown that warehouse.
As he reached for his communicator, he felt Alakazam's eyes on his back.
Mahmoud Schahed/Kahu Kiaʻi
This party had gotten interesting real quick. It felt as though with the arrival of Luthor and Bruce, things had risen to a tight tension. All of it coming from Giovanni, Bruce, Luthor, and my direction.
Luthor roamed the yacht like a cobra hunting prey, smiling and chuckling as he wined and dined, drawing in the other rich folk with raw charisma. Mercy stood behind him at all times. I felt her eyes land on me over and over again. She wasn't scared of me or anything, just acknowledging a threat.
Bruce was a lot more interesting. If I didn't know who he was, I would have seen him as a flamboyant and charming playboy. He joked, flirted, teased, and seemed to ignore anything but his own fun. But I noticed he seemed to come away from a lot of his conversations with the various moguls with something. A deal, a promise to speak further, enraged at some perceived insult. Whatever he was doing with those guys, it was working.
Giovanni was similar to them in that. But in his case he reminded me of… well, of a mob boss I guess. If Luthor was a semi evil business man (Jury was out on how evil he was) and Bruce was a playboy with secrets (which was an understatement on like four levels) then Giovanni was a mob boss speaking to potential family members.
It was all in how they spoke. All charismatic, sure. But Luthor would more often than not focus in on business matters immediately, logic and rationality coming to the forefront. Bruce would be more stealthy, guiding the people he spoke to towards a conclusion he was aiming towards, then acting surprised when they would agree. Giovanni would speak to them from the level of authority a father would have, half convincing them to make a deal with him, half-teaching them why it was the best choice.
Between the three of them, they dominated the party.
I walked out onto the deck after a bit though. Off in the distance, Alakazam was giving me a running description of his battle alongside Tyrunt and Robin as they raided a warehouse of guns and goons. Not too intrusive, but I wanted to keep on top of it in case of anything wild popping up.
Some mouser bots and that cheap power armor they'd been employing. Nothing new, but the fact that the Dragons were beginning to use tech like that in larger numbers was worrying.
I was distracted when I heard someone walk up to me. I turned to see Bruce there, swirling a glass of red wine in his hand slowly.
"...Mr. Wayne," I said warily.
"Kahu Kiaʻi," he walked over to join me, confidence in his steps. To mine and Bruce's surprise, Mudkip hopped from my shoulders to his. As the little blue Pokemon curled around him, he didn't miss a beat, joining me with Mudkip resting on him. I didn't get the chance to wonder what the hell Mudkip thought he was doing sitting on the shoulders of the goddamned Batman. "You seem distracted. Not enjoying the party?"
"I prefer hanging out with people I know and like," I said. "Not that you and your dates aren't good company."
Bruce smirked. "Actually, they're more like each others dates. I think I'm a third wheel."
"Poor you," I said.
We stared out at the ocean for a bit.
"Do you feel comfortable? Working for Giovanni?" he asked slowly.
I thought about that. "No and yes. On some level, I think we don't gel well on a few things. But we have the same goals for now. And even if we didn't, I trust Giovanni's greed and intelligence. He wants money. And he's smart about how he gets it. Even if we didn't both want to take down the gangs in Hawaii, I have that."
Bruce chuckled. "Seems like a thin line to depend on."
"Seems that way. But hope also seems like a thin line to depend on. Until you hand it to someone about to fall," I said. It felt like we were both dancing around the topic we wanted to talk about. Well, I was dancing. Bruce was more like a hunter stalking the topic to rip it apart.
Alakazam had told me that Robin made a call before they left. Obviously to Bruce. So Batman now knew that a mind reader had interacted with his ward. Now he wanted to discover if I knew the truth about him. I had no idea how to tell him that.
Well, at least I had Alakazam as an excuse. Better than me telling him his world was a comic book in mine. That would have stupid as hell to admit to Batman.
Fine. I could at least tease the subject. I looked over at Mudkip as he took a nap on Bruce's shoulders. What an odd image. "I worry about him."
"This little guy?" Bruce asked. For a moment, I felt like, under the playboy exterior, something real had risen up. "I thought he was supposed to be super-strong?"
"Superman has bled," Bruce didn't respond in any meaningful way to that. "Same with a dozen other 'super-strong' types. You have a son, right?"
Bruce smiled. "Yes. I do."
"Then you know… no matter how much you teach them. No matter how strong, smart, and skilled they become. They can't be safe forever," ah shit, this was starting to sound like a threat. I continued faster. "I hate that I have to send Mudkip and my other Pokemon into battle. They want to. They asked to help. But it still scares the shit out of me everyday… I guess, in the end, that's why I'm willing to do things like work with someone I don't entirely trust, but also know will do everything he can to help me."
"So you're trying to protect them," he mused.
"Everyone, honestly," I sighed. "I didn't want to be a superhero. But it's keeping people safe, and I think I'm making Hawaii better."
The ocean waves rose and fell, moonlight rippling across the surface as that salty ocean smell entered our lungs.
"Is that important to you?"
"Yeah," oh hey. Said that without thinking about it. "It's hard, and stressful as hell. But saving people has been the best part of all this."
Mudkip stirred from Bruce's shoulders, jumping back to mine. As the familiar weight settled on my shoulder, Bruce looked amused. I don't know how much was real though. World's best detective was also the worlds best liar, actor, and a dozen other things. He may have suspected I knew he was Batman, but he wouldn't be dumb enough to confirm it.
"I think I know a bit about what you're talking about," Bruce turned around. "If you ever visit Gotham, let me know. I'll give you a guided tour."
"I'll remember that, Mr. Wayne."
I watched him leave with a bit of tension in my shoulders.
"Kip?"
"I don't know man… He's not about to attack us for no reason, but there is no way he likes that we know his identity," his real identity. In most universes, Bruce Wayne died in the alley. Batman was born in it. "We'll see how he reacts."
Mudkip frowned thoughtfully at that. I got the sense that he didn't really get it, but was willing to accept it for now.
"Also, why'd you jump onto his shoulders?" I asked, true confusion filling me.
He shrugged. "Kip!"
"Just to see if he'd let you!?"
The audacity of my Pokemon, I swear.
Still, somehow I got the feeling that my meeting with Batman went better than it could have.
At least I didn't get forced to join the Justice League or something...
I walked back to the party, noticing that as soon as I entered, eyes landed on me. A couple of people started walking my way, and I quickly retreated to join Giovanni. He made for a good distraction. When I found him and Lawton speaking to someone, I was almost relieved.
At least, until I saw who he was talking to.
"Fucking really?"
She was short and stout. Overweight, but in the same way a linebacker or a bouncer of a club might be. Her skin was black, hair cut short into a tightly formed afro. She had a sensible purple business dress on, a white shirt underneath, and a pair of blue orb earrings on. Her face was grim. This wasn't a woman who smiled often, not honestly at least.
Giovanni had dismissed his usual charm. Instead I could hear him speaking very professionally, business-like. "Yes, I believe I can accommodate that. I do have to make sure my product won't be simply reverse-engineered by the government of course."
"I assure you, we have no wish to do that," she said with a slight smirk. "Your products will simply be used to provide our people with the medical care they need. Our contract will include that."
Lawton scoffed. She looked over at him.
"Something you want to say, Deadshot?"
He shook his head. "Nope. Just forgot how annoying your voice is, Waller."
By then I'd bitten the bullet and joined the three of them. Waller didn't seem the least bit offended.
"If I wanted or cared about your opinion, Lawton, I would need to think it was worth more than shit under my heel."
"Seems I've come at a bad time," I said with all the sarcasm in my soul.
Three pairs of eyes landed on me, Giovanni smiling. "Not at all. We were in the midst of negotiating a sale."
I barely held in a joke about the Suicide Squad becoming the Heavily Medicated Squad. It likely wasn't a thing yet. "Good to know."
"Amanda Waller, meet Kahu Kiaʻi," Giovanni said grandly. "Hawaii's resident superhero."
Amanda 'The Wall' Waller, one of the most dangerous people alive, on a boat already full of the most dangerous people alive. Yay for me.
"Hn," Amanda held out a hand. When I shook it, she didn't crush my hand, but her grip was a lot more firm than one would have expected. "Superhero, huh?"
"I'm guessing you've met a few?" I asked. Mudkip held out a paw.
Amanda gave him a glance. Mudkip nodded towards his paw, nodding. "Mud, mudkip."
"..." looking out of her depth for the first time, she shook Mudkip's paw. When he gave her a smile full of joy and innocence, she coughed, looking back to me. "I haven't met many, but I've interacted with their other halves almost every day for the last several years. Lawton will tell you that."
"Ms. Waller is the warden of Belle Reve Penitentiary," Giovanni explained grandly. "An esteemed institution built to hold the more dangerous of society's villains."
"And you want Potions for them?" I asked sceptically. "I'm all for treating prisoners humanely, but it seems wasteful to give serial killers and terrorists super-medicine that will help little kids and cancer victims."
"Which is why I will be giving her only Potion, rather than our more revolutionary products," Giovanni chuckled. "In fact, Lawton was the one who suggested that."
I looked over at him, and he shrugged. "Most of those guys are monsters. Potion is too good for some of them."
"And it will likely be used more often on members of my staff," Amanda said grimly. "Belle Reve's reputation is good for the containment of prisoners, but my guards are in constant danger. Giving them Potion would go a long way towards keeping them safe, especially at your prices."
I got the feeling they had more they weren't saying. I raised an eyebrow, then looked at Lawton, who only shook his head.
"Well, Ms. Waller, I'll have my people reach out to finalize our contract," Giovanni held out his hand, taking Waller's and grandly kissing the back of her hand, which she raised an eyebrow at. "I have a feeling this deal will be quite lucrative for the both of us."
"I'd actually like to ask one more thing," she looked over at me. "About you, actually."
"Me."
"Yes. If I wanted to hire you for a job, would I ask Giovanni, or you?" she said with all the emotion of a stone.
Giovanni's lips flashed upwards.
"You'd ask me," I said, a bit annoyed. Giovanni was my partner, not my boss. "And depending on what you ask for, I might say yes."
She smiled at that. Mudkip shivered on my shoulder at the sight of her smile. "Kiiiip."
Yeah, it was pretty damn Salamence like. Not in shape, but the same sort of savage happiness alight in the eyes.
"That's perfectly fine. I'll reach out to you with a business proposition down the road then. Thank you for your time gentlemen, Lawton."
"Go back to your cave, Waller."
"You shoot like a bitch, Lawton."
Giovanni and I shared a confused glance as Waller turned and walked off with a powerful stride, then looked at Lawton.
"You aren't usually so… brisque," Giovanni said.
"Waller and I have a special relationship. We're very close."
Goddamn, I hoped to one day match the levels of dry sarcasm that positively OOZED from Lawton's voice.
"What a formidable woman," Giovanni looked over at Waller, watching as she spoke to Luthor. The two looked familiar with each other, at least somewhat friendly. I remember that one comic where Luthor made out with her and shuddered reflexively. "I think I should invite her to dinner one day."
"Wait, what?" I looked over at Giovanni with wide eyes.
"Just dinner, young man," Giovanni chuckled. "I think we may be able to find some common causes we find interest in. Also, you do know it's possible for adults to simply speak to each other as equals with no romantic interest involved?"
I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Anyways, did you manage to get what you wanted out of this?"
"More than I wanted. While I did have to turn away those who asked for samples of Mudkip's blood-"
"Kip!?"
"I said, turned away. The rest was very above board. I was even able to secure Wayne's dates as models for the new Mimikyu line," he raised a glass towards the two women in question. "All in all, a very profitable evening. And you? I saw Wayne walk over to speak with you."
Of course, he did. "He was just making sure I wasn't a money-grubbing showboat hero," I wonder where Booster Gold is?
"Ah, of course. Many have made the assumption," Giovanni chuckled. "I don't suppose I could convince you to wear a Rocket logo on your back."
"Dude, really?"
"What can I say? I know the power of branding."
"Half your forces got beat up by a ten-year-old…"
"But they looked impeccable as they were. Besides, the Alolan Champion had two legendaries on his team, he was no ordinary ten-year-old."
Fair. The Pokedex-holding kids of Pokemon were insane prodigies by any metric. From Red and Blue, to Elio, Selene, and Hao. Not everyone with a Pokedex ended up boxing with legendaries in six months to a year, followed by becoming the Pokemon champ. But there was a pattern.
Granted, Ash took a bit longer than most on the championship thing, but he was still badass for a ten-year-old.
"Giovanni," Lawton said suddenly, eyeing Mercy across the room. "Next time you have a party, I'm gonna want more guns around me."
"Agreed," Giovanni said immediately. "And I might bring more of my own assets," aka his Pokemon. "What fun! It's been a while since I've worried about danger at one of these parties!"
With that cheerful announcement, he stepped forward. I looked over at Lawton.
"So… Waller."
"If you have any brains, this is the last time you'll ever see her," he said, mustache twitching with every word. "If you have morals, you'll never think of her again."
I sighed. "Lawton… knowing my luck, I'm gonna end up working with her out of necessity."
"You aren't wrong…"
So even Deadshot agreed I had bad luck? Damn…
At least the rest of the night was quiet.
Sam Mokoa
In a new office, Sam Mokoa spoke on a phone. After fighting for it for some time, he finally convinced his higher ups to allow him to take over an old base in Honolulu, a place that he'd once ran a different project out of. Not a large place, but it had room for Sam, Donald, and Ishido to fill it with everything they would need. Weapons, magical gear, jail cells. Finally, they were ready to fight back.
"Thank you for all your help," Sam said, his gruff tones making the words sound more like an insult than real gratitude. Not something he could help. Thankfully the man on the other end knew better.
"Of course, Sam," the voice on the other end took a deep drag of air, likely smoking a cigar. "Got to ask though, are you sure you wanna go so hard on this kid? Vigilante or not, it's a lot."
Sam didn't hesitate. "Yes. But not because of Kahu. He'll be a problem, but if we're going to be following him, then we'll also run into-"
"The Silicon Dragons," the man on the other end sounded uncaring. "Sam. Last time you tangled with them-"
"I know!" Sam spat. He took a deep breath. "...They're already going to increase their firepower. When we run into Kahu, we'll run into them as well. It makes sense to at least try to match them. And once we take down Kahu, I can get back to work taking down the Dragons without worrying about them up-gunning. Hopefully before they kill as many as they did last time."
The man on the other end hummed. Sam hated that. Hated the implication.
Because on some level, he was starting to feel like either the only sane man on Earth, or the last stubborn idiot. And he had no idea which worried him more.
Lady Dragon
In a lab on the outskirts of Pearl City, Hawaii, a group of men and women finished transporting a series of boxes, crates, and heavy equipment through a number of long marble hallways.
The leader of the Silicon Dragons watched with some interest as a set of crates was brought into a laboratory. She looked to her left.
"Will this be enough for your work, Doctor?"
The man she spoke to nodded. He was a short and thin elderly man, with a bald head, a pair of large, insect-like goggles, and a clear facemask across the bottom of his face with a pair of tubes coming out of the right and left side of it. And he was smiling. A wide smile that displayed block-like teeth. They were shaped like pale white tombstones rising out of bright pink soil. That smile didn't widen, but his eyes glittered with glee.
"It will be more than enough, Frau Dragon," he said with an extremely heavy German accent. "I assume my test subjects will be arriving soon?"
"Volunteers," Lady Dragon corrected him immediately. "I've had enough of idiot scientists cutting up innocents with no real goals beyond sadism."
"Ha!" he chuckled. "Not to worry! I am not one to torture uselessly! My procedure has been practiced many times. And with young Balin's research, I've found new ways to apply it. How goes the attempts to capture her by the way?"
"We've left them for now," she said, watching as a pair of cages were shoved into the back of the lab. "Balin is working for one of our more stubborn enemies, and has apparently taken to living with Kahu."
"And she has no family to kidnap to coerce her cooperation?"
"They live in Gotham," nothing more to be said on that.
"Ah. Shame. Well, the record of her work will do for now! I must say, I'm quite excited, Frau Dragon," he walked forward, chuckling. "In our line of work, my research has been sadly wasted! As wonderful as it has been to have your backing there is just something about watching your experiments being put to practical applications! Ah, for the days of the great wars!"
"Great wars," she raised an eyebrow. "Not the Cold War?"
"DO NOT GET ME STARTED ON THAT!" he spun around and slammed a fist onto a table, frustration replacing his grin. "Forty years of blue balls, just watching my research gather dust. Ahhhhhh."
"Dr. Helfern, I did not need that imagery in my head," Lady Dragon said with a bit more green to her than usual.
"Ah, my apologies! Hehehehe!" he shook his head. "I'm simply riled up today! Finally, a chance to apply my knowledge. And once we capture these 'spirits' that follow Kahu, we can further expand our research. Well, capture or kill. I can do as much work with a corpse as I can the living."
Good lord, he really was a lunatic. Lady Dragon sighed. Still, he was at least a good worker. Intelligent, dedicated, and willing to toe the line if need be. Compared to him, the other people she had to work with today-
"Yo, yo, the party is here!"
Were idiots. Not all of them. But the idiots tended to overpower the smart ones by the sheer quality of their stupidity.
A pair of men… a pair of children really, walked into the room. A black and a white man, both dressed like they'd stepped out of an eighties music video. They were grinning like gigantic dolls, their overweight bellies swinging with every step.
"...The volunteers?" Dr. Helfern said with dread in his voice.
"I picked the expendable ones in my army," she explained.
"Yeah, you hear that!?" the white man said to the black one.
"We're expendable! I knew we were awesome!" the black one said proudly.
They smacked hands together with loud grunts of happiness.
"Wait, do you not know what 'expendable' means?" Helfern asked, shocked.
The two men stared at him. Then at each other. Then turned back to Helfern.
"...Yo...I mean, we do, but do you know what it means?" the black man said with all the cunning of a brick.
"Ya, do you?" the white man said.
"...They're perfect," Helfern said with a wide smile. Tombstones flashing within his facemask once more.
Lex Luthor
As men and women across the island began their preparations for the future, one man was just leaving Giovanni's party. Luthor entered a limo, Mercy slipping in to sit next to him. As the limo headed off, Luthor pulled out his phone and quickly made a call. After a brief wait, the person at the other end answered.
"Yes, it's about our Hawaiian plan," Luthor said casually. "We should be good to continue. I'll make the arrangements to reach out to the Dragons about security, they'll want a free shot at Kahu Kiaʻi. Let Ms. Frost know that she may continue as scheduled," Luthor smirked. "It should be interesting to watch…"
All across Hawaii, men and women made preparations. And the Light began preparations of their own.
Author's Note: Next chapter will be July 4th 2010, the events of the first episode of the Young Justice show. Finally we are caught up with the main timeline. For reference, the last couple chapters took place on June 29th.
Anyways, the Killer Frost arc is going to be FUN. See you guys there.