Chapter Three
Superman
Roy and Wally casually made their way to the bar.
They immediately found the bellhop and went to either side of him.
“Hey buddy,” Roy said in a low voice, “How’re things goin?”
“Uh, ok,” the bellhop replied, looking between Roy and Wally, “Do I know you guys?”
“Yeah,” Wally answered in a slightly higher voice, “We see ya at IG meetings. Actually,” he started to whisper, “The big guys wanna see ya outside right now.”
The bellhop visibly gulped.
“They do?” He asked, a little nervous.
“Yup,” Roy answered shortly, leaning against the bar, “And we need to take ya.”
“Now.” Wally finished, grabbing the mans’ right shoulder and pulling him out of his seat.
Roy grabbed onto the other shoulder and they pushed him through the crowd and to the back exit.
Wally opened the door.
“Good luck.” He said just before Roy pushed the man into the dark alley, and closed the door behind him.
The man hit the ground, facedown, and lifted his head a little to shake it. Suddenly about a bucket full of water hit his head.
He looked up, but there was no bucket.
“Awake yet?” A deep voice questioned from somewhere in the alley.
The man jumped to his knees at the sound of the voice.
“He’s definitely awake.” Said a female voice from somewhere in the shadows.
“Might want to make sure though.” Said another female voice that was slightly deeper.
“Hit him again.” Came the males’ voice again. A second later, more water fell onto the man, this time drenching him completely.
After the water stopped, a pair of strong hands grabbed him by his shirt, and slammed him into the wall behind him.
“Do you work for Intergang?” The deep voice from before asked.
The mans jaw started to tremble.
“W-w-who are y-you?” He asked, his voice starting to shake.
The figure stepped out of the shadows.
“I’m Nightwing,” Nightwing answered before moving his right and down to the mans’ right hand and grabbing it, “Now you answer my question. Do. You. Work. For. Intergang?”
He tightened his grip with each word.
The man just nodded his head, fear showing in his eyes.
“Where is their headquarters?” Nightwing asked still holding the mans’ hand tightly.
“I don’t know.” The man whispered in fear. Suddenly a green light started to shine on his left, and Starfires’ face could be seen.
“Where do you usually meet with other members?” She asked her tone matching that of the second girls.
He looked between the two Titans and gulped.
“Warehouse down on 52nd street.” He answered, his fear still evident.
“Thanks.” Nightwing said shortly before nodding to Starfire.
She shot off her star bolt which immediately knocked the man out.
“That was easy.” Aqualad said as he stepped out of the shadows. He had a dark maroon scale top, blue pants and boots, and a belt with an A in the center.
“Hey,” Wally said from down the alley. He put on a burst of speed and was standing in front of the others with Roy in his arms. He dropped Roy as he asked, “You get the info?”
“Yeah.” Wonder Girl said as she stepped out of the shadows and placed the man so he was sitting against the wall, “Nightwing and Starfire got it.”
“It’s 8:15,” Starfire reported, looking at the clock on her communicator, “We have more than enough time to check out the warehouse.”
Nightwing turned to Roy and Wally.
“Get changed.” He told them as he pulled his and Starfires’ backpacks out of the shadows. He handed Starfire hers and put his over his back.
Roy went back into the club through the back entrance as Wally extended his hand.
“Check this out.” He said, grinning at Starfire. He pushed a small button at the side of his gold ring. Suddenly a bright yellow and red costume shot out of it. The moment it did, Wally ran and in a matter of seconds, he had his uniform on.
The top was a bright yellow and had a red lightning bolt across his chest. He had red pants and gloves. His boots were the same yellow as the top of his uniform. His mask covered him from his forehead to the bridge of his nose and white lenses covered his green eyes and connected to the top of his uniform. His red hair hung a little over his mask.
“Pretty cool, huh?” Kid Flash said as he came to a stop in front of Starfire.
Starfire looked very impressed.
“How’d you get the suit in there?” She asked pointing to where his ring was supposed to be.
“That’s the hard part.” He said, giving her a lopsided smile.
“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” Came a voice from above them. The other five young heroes looked up and saw Speedy, “I give you some of my best lines and you go crazy over a ring?”
“If those were your best,” Starfire said as Speedy jumped down between her and Nightwing, “Then you should really just go back to school. I’ve met five year olds with better lines than you.”
The other young heroes laughed as Speedys’ masked eyes turned to slits.
He was wearing a dark red Kevlar vest with a black S in a small gold circle on the right side. He had a square gold quiver on his back and a strong red bow over his shoulder. His belt was a simple gold color and his pants were the same color as his vest. His boots were also a simple gold color and his mask was similar to Nightwing and Starfires.
His quiver showed six holes, most likely holding a different arrow in each hole.
“C’mon,” Nightwing said as he pulled out his grappling hook, “Kid Flash you check out the warehouse when you get there.”
“Got it,” Kid Flash said before running off.
“52nd street isn’t that far,” Wonder Girl said as she grabbed Aqualads’ hand, “We should be there in five minutes.”
The warehouse was empty.
At least, that’s what Kid Flash had told the others.
What none of them knew, as they stepped into the dark building, was that Kid Flash had tripped a few traps when he ran through.
Nightwing pulled out a small smoke pellet from his utility belt and through it into the middle of the large building.
Smoke filled the room for a few seconds before clearing and revealing a grid of red lights.
“We need to get ou-” Nightwing was soon cut off as shots rang down from above their heads.
Wonder Girl raised her special silver bracelets and blocked some of the shots coming down on them. Starfire blasted her star bolts and disintegrated some of the bullets.
“What now?” Speedy asked as he pulled out one of the arrows from the middle of his quiver and setting it up in his bow.
“We fight.” Nightwing answered shortly as he pulled out a Night-a-rang from his utility belt. They both let their weapons go up in the air at the same time and a huge flash of light went off as they hit the ceiling.
From the effects of the flash bang grenades, they saw their attackers up on the highest level of the warehouse. Each of them was holding a machine gun and was blinded by the sudden burst of light.
“Kid Flash,” Nightwing said in a commanding voice.
Once Kid Flash heard his name he ran up to the top level and removed the guns from their hands.
“Aqualad,” Nightwing said next, keeping his gaze on the large room.
Aqualad shook his head for a second before raising his hands and concentrating on the walls around him. Suddenly the pipes around the attackers burst out of the wall and water started spewing at them. The force of the water was so strong it knocked the attackers over the edge.
“Starfire. Wonder Girl.” Nightwing commanded next. Once they heard their names they took off into the air and grabbed the falling gang members.
They set them back up on the walkway, behind the railing. Just as the boys arrived at the top, one of the female members started laughing.
“What’s her problem?” Kid Flash asked as they walked over to the woman.
Nightwing grabbed her head and forced her to look up at him.
“What is it?” He demanded, holding her head tightly.
She smiled.
“We’re all going to die.” She said shortly.
Just as she told them that, Nightwing and Starfire looked up.
“Helicopter.” Starfire said looking to Nightwing.
“It’s only a few feet away,” Nightwing reported, grabbing the woman and slinging her across his shoulder, “ Grab them and let’s get out of here. Now!”
The others started grabbing as many of their attackers as they could until they had them all. Starfire blasted the door closest to them before she and Wonder Girl took off with most of the gang members.
“Go!” Nightwing yelled to the other three boys and pointed to the open door.
Aqualad ran and jumped out of the building just as the helicopter stopped over the building.
Speedy went next as the bomb was getting set.
Kid Flash hesitated.
“You go first!” He shouted to Nightwing as he stood by the door. Nightwing just pushed him out.
The bomb was let go.
Nightwing jumped out of the door just as the bomb hit the warehouse.
He didn’t feel the back blast however, he only felt a tug at the back of his uniform. Instead of falling he was floating.
“I was wondering when you’d show up.” He said under his breath, knowing his savior would be able to hear.
He was set down in front of the others. He let the gang members go and saw that all of them were unconscious from the shock of the whole ordeal.
“Sorry I’m late,” said a deep voice behind them. The six teenagers turned around and saw Superman.
He was about 6’5”, making him three inches taller than Wonder Woman. His long red cape blew in the wind behind him.
“I’m sure you could’ve made it out no problem, Nightwing,” He said with a smile, “But I didn’t want you to get hurt before the big day.”
“Thanks Superman,” Nightwing said looking up at the taller man, “But you could’ve cut in anytime you wanted. This is your city.”
Superman’s smile turned into a full grin.
“How about all of you take a break for tonight,” He said as they started to walk off, “And we head to my place. It’s guaranteed to be bomb free.”
“We’re in.” They all said immediately at the same time before heading into a dark alley.
“I’ll meet you there,” Superman said as he looked out into the night sky, his grin now gone and his eyes squinting a bit as if he was focusing on something far away, “There’s a little trouble I gotta take care of.”
Before the teenagers could respond, Superman took off into the night sky.
