Blackhawk raised his shield just as the mutated human brought down a hammer fist meant to crush him. He grunted when he felt the weight of the mutate's fist upon him. Superboy came running in behind him and sent a straight punch into the mutate's face. The large and tall humanoid stumbled back before being sent off their feet once more by a strike from Blackhawk's mace. "Superboy, Slamdunk!" The Thanagarian ordered, and watched as the clone rushed over to the mutate. With some effort, Superboy lifted the still conscious mutated human up. Then hurled them up into the air where Blackhawk could be seen waiting. The Thanagarian waited for the mutated him to get a little closer. Then with a cocked back mace, he swung it sideways and slapped it into the mutate's chest.
Falling back down, Superboy jumped up and tackled the mutated human up into the air once again. Thrashing about, the mutate looked forward to find Blackhawk spinning in the air before sending a more forceful blow from his energized mace into their face. This time, the mutate's head jerked back, reeling in pain. Then they were subsequently knocked out cold by the blunt force from the Thanagarian. Superboy released the mutated human not long after, then was caught by his forearm by Blackhawk. Spinning in the air, the Thanagarian hurled the clone down at the falling form of the mutated human. Raising both of his hands up, Superboy interlocked his fingers together and brought his fists down into the mutated human's back. This sent the foe into the floor and caused a crater upon impacting it. "Well done, now go help the ones who aren't." The Thanagarian ordered while still in the air as Superboy landed on his feet.
"I thought you said that you weren't going to be team leader." Superboy pointed out.
"Doesn't mean that I don't get to tell you what to do."
Superboy grunted then rushed off towards the entrance of the warehouse just as Kid Flash rushed by knocking out two more Cobra cult members. Blackhawk looked to find Aqualad using water to hose down a few of the cult members, then electrifying it to put them out of commission. Nodding his head, understanding that they had it under control for now, the young Thanagarian turned and soared up to the control center. With the aid of his helmet's visors, he found the feline vigilante inside typing away at a computer. He dove in and used his shield to break through the window, intending to tackle Lynx. She ducked out of the way, then turned to find the rolling form of Blackhawk turning to her. "Hey Hawk, fancy meeting you here", Lynx greeted, "Mind telling me what you're doing here? After all you're normally in Manhattan, this seems like something outside of your pay grade."
"I could be asking you the same thing Lynx, especially with what you're doing with that flashdrive." Blackhawk retorted, and found the feline woman's lips curl into a smug grin. She moved a hand back and took the flashdrive out of the computer just as the screen went black.
"Well, that's for me to know.." She uttered, then suddenly hurled three shurikens at him. Instinctively, Blackhawk raised his shield and heard the bladed projectiles fall to the floor after impacting his shield. When lowering his shield, the young Thanagarian saw that Lynx had disappeared again.
"Oh no you don't!" The Thanagarian shouted. then switched to infrared once more and gazed up through the rafters. He found the feline vigilante making a run for it, so quickly he flapped his wings to fly out of the opening that he made at the window. Moving quickly, he caught up to Lynx who glanced back to see him steadily catching up to her.
"Alright, I'll play with you Hawk." She said playfully, then jumped off the rafters and landed on one of the nearby crates. Blackhawk dove down chasing after her. He raised his mace intending to incapacitate her, but right as he brought the weapon down, Lynx flipped backwards and over the Thanagarian with excellent acrobatic skills. One would think that she was one of the deceased Flying Graysons, her acrobatic skills were better than Robin's as he was now. Blackhawk's Nth Metal mace collided with the crate that Lynx had once been on. The weapon broke through and shattered the crate into pieces. "Wait, were you actually trying to kill me?" She asked with curiosity.
"Believe me when I say this Lynx", The Thanagarian assured as he turned her while in the air, "That was me holding back..."
"....Good to know."
Lynx had landed on the ground floor and had already unsheathed one of her katanas. She watched as the young Thanagarian came down at her once more. The feline vigilante knew not to try and block Blackhawk's attack. She was aware that neither of her katanas nor anything in her arsenal were capable of standing up to the Thanagarian's weapon. So when he came down swinging at her from the air, she flipped back to get away. The mace collided with the floor, leaving a small crater where she stood. Then she rushed at the Thanagarian, lunging at him to stab him. Blackhawk raised his shield intending to block and most likely break her katana. Instead he saw a kunai pass by below his waist, embedding itself in his thigh. He winced, then spun around intending to shield bash her but Lynx ducked then came at the Thanagarian with an upward swing with her sword.
Luckily, Blackhawk was able to block with his mace, then went to punch her with his shield. This time Lynx spun, moving to get behind him as she slashed at his hip. Quickly flapping his wings, Blackhawk jumped up to dodge her blade. The feline vigilante gazed up at him, then hurled a few more of her shuriken that were blocked by the Thanagarian's shield. Blackhawk came back down at her once again, and watched her flip back to dodge him. This time however, the young Thanagarian instead tackled her just before she could stop flipping. The two thrashed about as Blackhawk flew them out of the factory. In his peripheral vision, he could see Miss Martian being held hostage by Sportsmaster while Superboy was being shot continuously by the B-Lister villain. To his left, Robin was battling against Cobra himself and promptly being humbled in quite a few ways.
That said, his attention remained firmly on Lynx who sent a palm fist into his chest. Blackhawk took the hit, but found himself let out a cry of pain when she eventually shoved a kunai into his side. At that moment was when he decided to treat her equally, and headbutted her. Lynx's head reeled back from the hit, allowing the two to separate from one another and roll away from each other. Blackhawk removed the kunai that Lynx stabbed him with, and Lynx let out a few pants as her mask appeared to be cracked. She had blood dripping from below her mask, showing that the Thanagarian had nearly broken her nose. "I thought that you were a gentleman.." She uttered dryly.
"Who told you that shit?" He replied, causing her to smirk before grabbing something behind her back.
"Hawk I'll be honest, this has been fun but I've got places to be and you've got friends who needs your help."
As soon as she said that, the young Thanagarian looked back to find Miss Martian being thrown Superboy as Sportsmaster made his escape. To the other side of the factory, Robin was being bested by Cobra. The Thanagarian frowned, knowing that the feline vigilante had a point. When he turned his head, he found the back of Lynx facing him as she quickly began running away while making her escape. Blackhawk watched her for a moment, weighing his options, then began to smirk as he turned to help his friends. Flying towards Robin first, knowing that he was biting off more than he could chew with Cobra, he came in with a shield bash aimed for the cult leader's head. When Cobra ducked to dodge, he found the Thanagarian's wing nearly slapping against his face as he spun around. "So you must be the famed Blackhawk..." Cobra addressed monotonely.
"You know me?" Blackhawk asked as Robin got back up and got into a fighting stance.
"I do, your skill as a warrior is thought to be without skill...show me."
At that moment the young Thanagarian tensed up, mostly because apparently the cult leader had heard of him. As well as had a faint idea of how he fought. He hated doing it, but he would have to switch up how he fought primarily because of people like Cobra. With a shrug, he had his shield retract then held his mace up with his free hand balled up into a fist. "I had him!" Robin spouted.
"He had you." Blackhawk denied, causing the Boy Wonder to shut his mouth, knowing that to be true. Then the Thanagarian rushed at Cobra, swinging his mace more fiercely than he did with Lynx. The reason for this was because he was sure that she could be crippled had he actually swung the weapon like he meant it. She was human, especially if him headbutting her made her bleed so easily. Cobra on the other hand could be considered at least close to superhuman. Allowing the young Thanagarian full autonomy on beating the brakes out of the cult leader.
Cobra jumped back, moving out of reach before rushing in and sending a knife hand at Blackhawk. The Thanagarian reacted quickly, moving his free hand to catch Cobra's attack. Then he raised his mace up and brought it down intending to bash Cobra's face in. The cult leader moved his free hand to catch the hilt of the mace just before it could reach his head. The two stared into one another's eyes, looking as if they were equals when it came to strength. Unfortunately for Cobra however, Blackhawk was stronger than him. Slowly the mace began to inch closer to the cult leader's pale bald head. Cobra gritted his teeth as he struggled to keep the young Thanagarian at bay. Realizing that he could strength test the young man, Cobra jumped back and did a back flip to gain distance from the Thanagarian. Blackhawk chased after the cult leader, swinging his mace sideways. Cobra ducked under the swing, then found Blackhawk's wings coming in and slapping him across the face. The Thanagarian moved his body with the swing, and used his wings to disorient the cult leader.
Stumbling back, Cobra recovered quickly and struck at Blackhawk. He sent a fist right into the Thanagarian's chest, causing Blackhawk to stumble back. He was fortunate to have had on the suit, otherwise that punch would have broken a few bones. Cobra was capable of such a feat despite how he appeared.
Noticing that the Thanagarian still stood, the two stood at an impasse. Both glaring into the other's eyes as the helicopter that Sportsmaster was piloting suddenly exploded. The vessel came crashing down right into Bane's factory, blowing the building to smithereens. Cobra sent a glance to the factory, and for the first time showed an emotion on his face. Said emotion was one that made Blackhawk smile, disgust. "Children disrupting our plans, how displeasing." Cobra commented to aloud. Then he noticed Robin, Kid Flash, Aqualad, Miss Martian, and Superboy come in behind Blackhawk. Each looking ready to fight him as they watched the cult leader intensely. Narrowing his eyes and slowly backing away to the forest behind him, Cobra spoke warily now. "Another time perhaps..."
Blackhawk however thought otherwise, his wings flapping and allowed him momentum to give chase for Cobra. He came in swinging down in order to stop the man from escaping. Just as he got to where Cobra had just about faded into the forest's shadow, the cult leader was gone. Blackhawk used his infrared vision to search for the man, but found no trace from him. He grunted and turned to his friends who all stared at him for a moment. "What?" The Thanagarian questioned.
"Dude, who was that chick you were fighting?" Kid Flash asked, folding his arms over his chest.
"Yeah, I saw a woman there." Superboy added.
"Was she one of the buyers?" Aqualad questioned.
"No, she's someone whose starting to get on my nerves now", The Thanagarian answered, "Honestly I'm more surprised that she's here. She was suppose to be in Manhattan-"
"Whoa whoa whoa, so you had a hot babe stashed away in your city?" Kid questioned with a hint of curiosity.
"...Robin, remind me to bash Kid's face in when we get back."
"Noted." The Boy Wonder agreed.
Aqualad now turned to the burning factory, so did the rest of the team with Robin standing beside his Atlantean friend. "I knew that we were right to pick you to lead...especially since you get to explain this all to Batman!" Robin shouted with sarcasm and relief.
The Atlantean nearly froze after hearing, watching as Robin walked away snickering to himself. Then Aqualad turned to Blackhawk who avoided eye contact with him. "You knew this was going to happen, didn't you?" Aqualad asked with venom laced in his tone.
"I have no idea what you're talking about." The young Thanagarian quickly said, then flapped his wings to fly up and away. Leaving his Atlantean friend trying to figure out how he was going to explain this to the Dark Knight...
[Two Hours Later, Mount Justice]
"This was suppose to be a recon mission, not a drug bust!", Batman harshly scolded, "You all will write a report and have reports written by me personal for every mistake that you made. Despite all of that...good job."
The team looked at the Dark Knight surprised at his compliment. "Changing circumstances comes with the job, what matters if you are able to adapt and overcome the problems that the circumstances bring. You are all dismissed, get some rest."
When Batman finished speaking, he turned heading for the Zetatubes. Blackhawk watched the Caped Crusader with a raised brow just as he felt someone slap his shoulder. He turned his gaze to find Superboy smirking at him. "Wanna train?", the clone questioned, "Wanna try a few more of those moves like Slamdunk."
The young Thanagarian return the smirk to Superboy before shaking his head. "Not tonight, gotta head home my mother decides that I've been out for too long." Blackhawk rejects the boy's request.
"Wait, you actually have curfew?" Robin questions.
"No, my mother just doesn't to see me banged up like back at Cadmus."
Turning, Blackhawk began walking over towards the Zetatubes. As he did, he heard someone running over to his back. He looked back to find M'gann running over with a nervous smile on her lips.
"Hey Hector would you be interested in um, going shopping with me and Superboy?" M'gann asked, and watched the Thanagarian nodding his head.
"Great!", she exclaimed in excitement, "I mean, great and we'll meet up here tomorrow."
Hector gave the girl a warm smile that made her cheeks redden, then with a turn he continued to the Zetatubes to head back to Manhattan.
[Manhattan, New York City]
Hector stepped out of the Zetatube, having arrived back at his home city. Just as he took a step forward, he felt a ping go off on him. He narrowed his eyes and nodded his head, calling his helmet to form over his head. He saw from his visor that the pinging was coming from a tracker that he had placed onto Lynx. Somehow she had returned back to Manhattan and was remaining situated somewhere. Without waiting, he flapped his wings and flew upwards into the air. He had arrived in an abandoned alleyway with the Zetatube, now he was leaving it and heading straight for Brooklyn. Apparently she was there, implying that she may have a safe house there. As the young Thanagarian soared through the air, he thought back on their small skirmish on Santa Prisca.
Lynx was a skilled woman, one that he had to watch himself around. He didn't want to kill her, but he did want to break a few things considering that she got away from him twice. It was now getting personal with him, after all, he hadn't had someone be this slippery be his enemy. Then again he wasn't even sure if she was his enemy considering that the first thing that they did was fight the Triads together. Pushing that thought to the side, Blackhawk watched as the ping get faster. He was now entering Brooklyn and nearing the feline vigilante's location.
The young Thanagarian had just dived down to come in and land atop a rooftop. As soon as his boots touched the ground, he watched as the tracker that he planted on Lynx being flung his way. The little device smacked against his helmet, causing him to turn and find the woman leaning against an entrance to the roof smirking. She stood there looking rather relaxed while Blackhawk immediately took his mace out and prepared for battle. "Hold on big boy, not looking for a fight", She reassured, "Just wanna have a little chat, especially after feeling your head hit me. You've got a mean swing."
"So I've been told..." Blackhawk dryly replied.
"So we've gotten off onto the wrong foot, but that's your fault for trying to grab a lady before asking her out to dinner first."
"You showed up in my city, beat up Triads members, and then say it's my fault that you stabbed me with a kunai?"
"Semantics?"
The two remained silent for a moment, simply staring at one another before the Thanagarian let out a sigh. He withdrew his mace, and stood up straight while watching Lynx intently. The feline vigilante smiled beneath her mask, her red velvet lips able to be seen under the cracked thing. "Great, now gets serious", she stated, "You've got an admirer, and by admirer I mean you've got someone watching you. Like pictures of you fighting and even recordings of where you've been."
The moment that he heard that, Blackhawk began to glare at Lynx. He wasn't sure why she wad telling him this, though it didn't deter the fact that he had someone spying on him. He'd have believed it if she said that it was Batman, the man does it to everyone eventually. "Cute, I have a stalker", Blackhawk quipped, "This admirer got a name?"
"They call themselves Jackal, and whatever they are watching you for, it has something to do with a list."
"What list?"
"Well, when you had found me on Santa Prisca I was following up on that list", she began to explain, "Said list had several names in there, most of them dime a dozen crooks. But the one that I was looking was Cobra's, he was on the list. And guess what I found when I eventually did find him?"
"Him running away?"
"Wrong, his head."
That caused the Thanagarian to go silent, beginning to process her words. His silence was allowed Lynx to continue as her tone got serious now. "Cobra's head was all that I found, and his body burning back on Santa Prisca....guess whose name is next on the list?"
Blackhawk wanted to gulp, but he kept himself from doing it as he answered her question. "Me..."