"So…who else is a member of the Light that we should know about, my lord?" Sensei asked curiously, also trying to get rid of the awkward silence.
"The Brain, Master of Science and Technology, and leader of The Brotherhood of Evil. His acolytes are, for lack of a better term, a talking ape known as Monsieur Mallah, who is also his right hand man and confidant, and another talking ape known as The Ulta Humanite, who used to be human but was a genius with a body ailment and decided to transplant his brain into an albino gorilla. There is also Laura De Mille aka Madame Rogue, a skilled meta human assassin who is so good she would fit right in with the League of Shadows." Ra's explained, taking a momentary pause to allow the others to digest the information before carrying on from where he left off.
"The other members are Garguax the Decimater, a green alien with advanced weapons technology, Emile Lasalle aka Warp, a meta human with teleportation abilities, and finally, Angela Hawkins aka Phobia, a telepathic super villain loyal to the Brotherhood of Evil." Ra's ended a very long explanation with another press of the remote controller, revealing images with pictures and names of all the aforementioned members of the Brain's organization, the present league members committing all the names and faces to memory just as Ra's instructed.
"Next is The Brotherhood of Magic, with their leader being Klarion The Lord of Chaos, aka Witch Boy. He is literally a Lord of Chaos, the opposite of Doctor Fate, who is a Lord of Order. His brotherhood consists of Abbra Kadabra, Wotan, Destiny, Felix Faust, The Hat, The Wizard, and Blackbriar Thorn, and all of them are extremely powerful magicians. Even Kadabra, who uses futuristic technology that mimics magic, is still a powerful foe in his own right." Ra's explained as he once again pressed a button on his remote controller, revealing on screen images of the aforementioned magicians.
"We also have a master of the business world, Lex Luthor, who owns a multitude of multi billion dollar businesses. His funds and business facilities have served the Light well and so has his research facilities and even his political influence. His noteworthy subordinates are Mercy Graves, a cybernetically enhanced assassin worthy of the League of Shadows, Eve Teschmacher, another cybernetically enhanced assassin and scientist who would fit right in with us, Pamela Ferrer aka Managerie, who is a human woman bonded to and in control of a powerful alien parasite that lives within her, and Dr Mark Desmond aka Blockbuster, a former Cadmus scientist who mutated himself through genetic splicing experimentation with alien dna." Ra's concluded his explanation as he once again showed images of the people he was referring to.
"I was under the impression that Lex Luthor hated aliens or their influence over the human population?" Damian asked confusedly.
"Lex Luthor is a complicated man, but Vandal and I have been able to open his eyes to the grey area. He is still a work in progress but suffice to say, he has learned not to see things in only black and white only. He is adopting a more flexible approach for the greater good of humanity. Besides, Dr Desmond and Pamela Ferrera are in fact human, they just happen to have alien sources of power, no different to Lex Luthor reverse engineering alien technology for his own means. They just happen to have reverse engineered alien genetics instead of alien technology." Ra's replied sagely.
"I guess that makes sense. So, who's next?" Damian asked, getting the sense that there was even more to this Light organization than was already mentioned.
"Next up is Count Werner Vertigo of Vlatava, also known simply as Count Vertigo. He is master of meta humans, and consequently, commands an organization of such meta humans, namely, a meta human who controls electro magnetic fields known as Neal Emerson aka Doctor Polaris, a photokinetic meta human known as Arthur Light aka Doctor Light, Atomic Skull the human nuclear reactor, a British meta human with telepathic and telekinetic powers known as Manchester Black, Hunter Zolomon aka Zoom, who, like The Flash, is a speedster connected to the speed force, and Mark Mardon aka The Weather Wizard, a metahuman with the power to control the weather." Ra's said, taking a moment to let it all sink in before continuing with his explanation of Count Vertigo's organization.
"Last but not least is Sam Scudder, otherwise known as Mirror Master, and the name of Count Vertigo's organization is 'The High Evolutionary'." Ra's completed his explanation with another image show for his subordinates to memorize.
"Ocean Master aka Prince Orm of Atlantis is also, as master of the sea, a member of the Light. His army of Rogue Atlantians is known as The Rift and plans are in motion to dethrone Aquaman and place the Ocean Master on the Atlantian Throne. To that end, he has formed a shaky partnership with Black Manta and his Manta Core. Should Orm betray us or fail us, we are considering having Black Manta replace him as Master of the Ocean." Ra's said for the sake of his generals, wanting them to fully understand the dynamics of the organization so that they can not only follow orders effectively, but also without hesitation.
"Just how big is this organization? How many more members do we have to commit to memory?" Damian asked impatiently.
"Just one more, master of politics and supreme ruler of Bialya, Queen Bee. She has the military might of an entire country and her meta human power is that of pheromone control. She can enthrall any man and even women to become her slaves and do her bidding. The name of her organization is Onslaught, and it consists of Mammoth, Shimmer, Icycle Junior, Psimon, Devastation, Holocaust, Tommy Terror, and Tuppence Terror. As you all should know already, these are all powerful metahumans in their own right." Ra's concluded his explanation, also showing his subordinates images of the aforementioned Light Operatives.
"I feel so much smaller and less important now that I know that the League is just cog in a bigger wheel. But perhaps that is a good thing, it gives me a good idea of just how much I still need to grow and improve, and how much I still need to gain and achieve in this world." Damian said contemplatively.
"With such a wise and mature introspective, and the amount of raw talent that you have, you are well on your way to achieving all that you desire, my beloved son." Talia said with a proud smile.
"Indeed he will. You and I will make sure of it, and so will…"Ra's trailed off as the giant screen fizzled before revealing the face of Jeffrey Burr aka Kobra, who is commonly known in his organization as Lord Naga.
Kobra is very tall, towering over many people. His eyes are red, with black rings around them. He has high cheek bones. Coupled with his muscular build, he is an intimidating figure. His skin is very pale, almost grayish. His head is also completely bald, though it is only revealed when he takes off his red cape, which features a snake-like hood, with two fangs and sharp, orange eyes. He has black pants with a yellow belt that features a snake symbol on the buckle. He is also wearing long red greaves.
He has padded red gloves that cover most of his forearm. The gloves are primarily red, but has a yellow streak encircling each end. On the back of his hand, the gloves have small yellow eyes and yellow fangs at the ends of each ggloe, very much like the fangs of his hood.
"Kobra, has there been any developments?" Ra's asked eagerly.
"We are under attack by a meta human hit squad. There is one who isn't a meta human though, but might as well be given her skill and combat prowess, I believe you know her as Sandra Wu San, who also goes by name Lady Shiva. Based on body language and dialogue, it appears that she is the sub commander of this unit of metas." Kobra explained in detail.
"Only the sub commander? Lady Shiva? Who is the commander then?" Ra's asked warily.
"Joseph Wilson, Slade Wilson's son. He has adopted the name Jericho as his alias as that is what his subordinates have been calling him. He is a very powerful meta human, the most powerful psychic I have laid eyes on, possibly even more powerful than Manchester Black." Kobra explained with a very serious tone.
"And you are sure he is in charge of this unit? Any idea who they are?" Ra's asked hastily.
"My men have taken to calling them the Royal Flush Unit, their members, apart from Jericho himself and Shiva, are wearing gold and black uniforms that resemble a pack of cards. Ace is a girl who also has psychic powers similar but lesser to Jericho, Ten has super human durability and super strength, Jack has elasticity and shape shifting, Queen has what appears to be control over metals, and King controls fire and plasma energy. They are decimating my men, even with their genetic mutations." Kobra said gravely.
"Do you know what organization they belong to?" Ra's pressed.
"There was an organization one of my spies got a lead on, if I'm not mistaken, it was known as Hive. He had reported to me about its potential existence, but got eliminated soon after along with all traces of the organization. We haven't been able to get a lead since then. I think Jericho belongs to that organization, and by the looks of things, and based on a hunch I have, I think he is a high ranking official. He is also well trained. His father must have taught him well." Kobra replied.
"I see…." Ra's trailed off thoughtfully.
"Tell me, Kobra, is there another boy there? He would be about 20 years old about now, wearing a demonic looking mask, like a demon fox?" Ra's asked curiously.
"No, no such person has arrived here." Kobra replied.
"Slade said that guy was his illegitimate child, which means Adeline isn't his mother. If we want him to show, we'll need to kidnap his mother, who of course is allegedly dead, so that makes things difficult." Damian said analytically, and in doing so revealing that he too didn't believe Deathstroke's claim that his first born was dead.
"My grandson makes a valid point. However, you have done well, Kobra. This Jericho sounds most impressive himself. It is vital information. Slade said he had a recent encounter with his son and almost died, which means that Slade knows about Hive and his son's position in this organization. He knows about a rival organization and didn't say anything about it. He has broken his oath to me, and all bets are now off." Ra's said with barely contained anger.
"They are almost upon me. I must go before I too am caught in the crossfires. The video of the invasion of my secret base has been recorded and sent to you. Watch it at your own leisure. Kobra out!" Kobra said as he turned off his communicator, took out a mother box, and boom tubed out of there.
"What now?" Damian asked warily.
"Now we watch. Take your seats and be silent until we are done watching." Ra's instructed.
"I'll get the popcorn." Damian said cheekily, Ra's however completely ignoring his grandson's childish retort as he focused solely on the task at hand, obtaining critical information about Deathstroke's children.
45 minutes earlier: Kerguelan Islands
"Wake up! Meet me at the training center, now!" Joseph ordered, using his psychic powers to project his thoughts to every single member of both the Ultimen and the Royal Flush Unit, including of course sub commander Lady Shiva and Hive Queen Rose Wilson.
Despite the fact that all of the aforementioned people were already asleep in their pajamas, it took less than five minutes for them all to assemble at the training center, fully geared and ready for action, as they could all feel the urgency in Joseph's psychic communication and also because they were trained to respond like that.
"Lord Jericho, what seems to be the matter? Tell me, so that I may soothe your anxiety as quickly and efficiently as possible." Lady Shiva asked worriedly.
Lady Shiva is a tall yet slender women who appears to be rather young. She has short raven colored hair, black lipstick and brown eyes. She also has a notable large bust and a pale complexion. She is wearing a skin-tight bodysuit with long sleeves, shoulder pads, a Mandarin collar and a diamond-shaped hole on her sternum.
The bodysuit is Gold in colour with black stripes looped around her shoulders and forearms and matching patches on her elbow pits. This pattern is also seen on the hems of her collar and the diamond-shaped hole, whose lower corner hem runs down to the waist, meeting her belt which is adjoined by a golden ring with a sash hanging from it. Her black skin-tight pants are adorned with dark gray knee pads and stripes coiled around her thighs and shins. She is also carrying a dao broadsword, normally sheathed on her belt.
"Soothing his anxiety is my job, not yours. Do not forget your place, Shiva." Rose spat venomously.
Rose is a beautiful young woman in her late teens of Cambodian-Caucasian descent with tan skin, brown eyes, arched black eyebrows, and pale white hair tied back in a ponytail with two thick strands framing either side of her face.
She has a petite yet athletically fit build. Her wardrobe as the H.I.V.E. Queen consists of a tactical gold and black bodysuit with armour around her chest and pelvis, heeled boots, and a black hood that retracts into a cloak. Her bodysuit also has the H.I.V.E insignia on either bicep.
"We are all on the same side here. I am loyal to Lord Jericho, I am loyal to the Hive." Lady Shiva retorted calmly.
"Loyal my foot..."
"Enough!" Joseph exclaimed psychically, instantly ending the quarrel between the two powerful women.
"….."
"Thank you. I'm going to get straight to the point. My mother has been kidnapped. I, Lady Shiva, and the Royal Flush Unit will be leaving immediately in order to rescue her. HIVE Queen, sister, you and the Ultimen must stand guard of the facility and monitor all of our other outposts to ensure that this is not some sort of scheme to distract us from an imminent attack." Joseph said uncompromisingly.
"You can't go without me. I'm coming with you!" Rose retorted anxiously.
"No you're not. You must make sure our organization, and therefore our interests, are protected. The most effective way for us to look out for each other is for us to handle different tasks at the same time. You know this, Rose." Joseph stressed, a lot more comfortable talking out loud now that he didn't have artificial vocal cords but was actually using his own vocal cords after Naruto regenerated them for him.
"….."
"Don't be like that. You know what Nathaniel said to be true. So that we can become stronger together, we must first learn how to be strong on our own. Distance is meaningless, so long as our hearts and our minds are one." Joseph tried to persuade and soothe his sister at the same time.
"I know. It just, isn't easy that's all. It feels like a part of me is being ripped out every time I am separated from you." Rose said sadly.
"The feeling is mutual, but in case we are one day forcefully separated for one reason or another, we must learn to overcome that feeling." Joseph retorted.
"Okay, I get it. Just…just go already. Go get your mother back. The more you stay here the more she suffers." Rose said as she walked over to her brother and gave him a strong and warm hug.
"Thank you, sister. I love you." Joseph said as he returned the hug.
"I love you too…"
One Hour Later:
"Is it me or did that guy just turn into a freaking humanoid puff adder?" Ten asked incredulously, as he watched a kobra soldier turn into a literal snake-human hybrid, the guy growing to three times his original size, growing snake scales all over his body, and elongated poisonous teeth. He also seemed to have grown a long tail on his back that was whipping around and smashing walls to smithereens.
Ten is a big, muscular guy himself of African American lineage, spotting a sleeveless black and gold hive combat uniform with a number ten play card insignia. He does not appear to have any form of weaponry on him, even though, as a Hive official, he was being trained and groomed in all forms of combat, including but not limited to weapons combat.
He was also of course being trained in the use of hand to hand combat, which was his greatest strength and asset as someone with invulnerability and super strength for super powers.
"It's not just you. I see it too. But I believe we got this covered." Queen replied.
She is a beautiful Caucasian late teen with silver white hair, spotting a fit and voluptuous figure and beautiful facial features. She too was wearing a gold and silver Hive uniform but hers was long sleeved and had the insignia for the queen of a pack of play cards.
Unlike Ten, she actually was carrying her own weapons in the form of compressed spheres of metal that were floating around her, some spheres made of platinum, some of gold, others silver, tungsten, carbon steel, stainless steel, and titanium. She even had her own body completely covered in platinum in order to enhance both her durability and her impact strength.
Needless to say, the Kobra soldiers stood no chance as all of them were taken out in seconds by the two Hive agents, Ten using his durability to simply tank the bullets and knives thrown his way and his super strength to instantly kill all of his opponents whilst Queen used her platinum armor as a shield against throwing knives and bullets, and used her compressed metal spheres as her own deathly projectiles, the fact that she could make her projectiles change direction mid air making it impossible for the Kobra agents to evade her attacks.
"Do you now?" The humanoid adder asked as the steel door behind him opened up to reveal another group of mutated soldiers, all varying types of snakes from poisonous snakes to constrictors.
"Okay, one snake man is a coincidence, two is an anomaly, but ten? Nah, this Kobra Organization has definitely been up to some illegal human experimentation, and I hate illegal human experimentation." Ten said darkly.
"Me too." Queen agreed, understanding perfectly the sentiment of her comrade as they both had been subject to illegal experimentation since childhood.
"Let's get em!" Ten exclaimed as he began charging at the adder, who, as far as Ten could tell, appeared to be the squad leader of this mutated unit.
One of the soldiers, a green mamba hybrid, tried to get between Ten and her squad leader, elongating her neck to ridiculous portions and trying to take a bite on Ten's neck, but Ten didn't even pay her any attention at all as he continued charging forward, a gold sphere from Queen hitting the female serpent dead center of the forehead and flying right through to the other side, leaving a rather large hole at center of the green mamba hybrid's head.
"Fiona!" The squad leader exclaimed, shock and concern permeable on his snake-like features as he mourned his beloved comrade.
"You're next, Black Adder!" Ten said as he reached his target, no one else getting in the way of the two warriors as the other eight serpents were trying their best to stay alive as Queen's spheres came flying rapidly at them.
Thanks to their snake-like senses, agility, and speed, the serpents were all able to avoid the spheres, although just barely, relying on their ability to twist, coil, and stretch their bodies at awkward angles and lengths in order to throw off Queen's aim.
Still, the strain and pressure of Queen's relentless attack was enough to put them at such a constant and massive disadvantage that they couldn't do much else except try to survive, unable to mount any attack or counter attacks, especially given the distance that Queen was keeping from them.
Meanwhile, Ten was utterly dominating his opponent as he had already dislocated his opponent's jaw, shoulder, hip, and knee. The problem however was that the guy was able to easily relocate his dislocated joints and continue to fight as if nothing had happened at all.
Ten had even tried to grab and literally squeeze the life out of the Black Adder, but the guy had simply stretched his body all around Ten's body and ended up squeezing the life out of Ten, although that hadn't exactly worked as Ten proved to be too strong and too durable to be killed like that, at least not by someone of Adder's super human strength.
Ten had managed to eventually remove Black Adder from his body and attempted to swing him by the tail and smash him on the ground head first, but Black Adder had managed to grab onto a metal pillar as he elongated himself enough to not only reach it but to coil his upper body around it, the shock of the unexpected maneuver enough to cause Ten to loosen his grip slightly, which was enough for Black Adder to take advantage as he slipped out of Ten's hands.
"Okay, okay, I see you got some slick moves you slippery bastard, so why don't we try something a little different. Queen, now!" Ten ordered, Queen, without wasting any time, transforming her silver sphere into an extremely sharp sword and hurling it at the big guy.
Ten grabbed the sword by the hilt and once again charged at Black Adder, but this time at a much, much greater speed, so much so that Black Adder was unable to completely evade the attack despite his speed and reflexes as Ten bisected him from the waist, Adder's upper body flying a different direction as his lower body went the other way.
"I-impossible? How did you move that fast? I thought you only had super strength. Y-you have super speed too?" Black Adder managed to say despite the excruciating pain he was going through.
"Super speed? Super strength? Ha! As if! My power isn't super strength or super speed, my power is super athleticism. Speed and strength just happen to be components of athleticism." Ten said, Black Adder's eyes widening in both shock and fear, shock at Ten's words, and fear at the fact that Ten was about to kill him, which is exactly what Ten did as he quickly stabbed Black Adder through the heart and then proceeded to remove the head just to make certain.
"So that's how you kill them? Speed, invulnerability, strength, and an extremely sharp object? I can do that." Queen said as she morphed the metal around her arms into long and sharp blades, preparing herself to finally enter close quarters combat, although she had no intention of abandoning the long range approach as her spheres were still even now attacking the serpents and keeping them on their toes.
"Yeah that's what I'm talking about! Let's do this yaw!" Ten exclaimed as he moved at incredible speeds again, Queen surprisingly doing the same as she also moved at a ridiculous speed and began bisecting and stabbing the distracted and overwhelmed serpents, killing a total of five of the remaining eight whilst Ten killed the other three, their teamwork and co-ordination far superior than anything the serpents had ever encountered, not to mention their incredible abilities.
For Queen, the source of her super speed and super strength was entirely different. In fact, she didn't have any such physical abilities beyond her peak human physical conditioning. However, because her entire body was coated in platinum, she had a high degree of durability as she was practically invulnerable. She could move extremely fast because she wasn't physically moving her body parts but was controlling the metal that was tightly attached to every part of her body in order to mimic human movements, in fact she could even fly if she wanted by simply moving the metal that she had attached to her skin with her mind.
As for the super strength, well, if power is equal to mass multiplied by velocity, then given her weight when she was coated in metal, and the speed with which she could move, then it was easy to tell why she could generate that much power. Plus the hardness of the metal also helped in increasing the impact of her punches and kicks, although this time she had strictly been using slicing attacks.
"Phew! We're done, at last. That took longer than expected, but once we figured them out, it was easy as pie." Queen said contently.
"Girl I feel you. You are one badass woman, and we make a mean team. Remind me never to get on your bad side." Ten said with both pride in his teammate and love interest and also a little bit of wariness.
"Don't worry my love, I won't hurt you….so long as you behave." Queen said with a playful tone, running her index finger on her boyfriend's chest as she sauntered around him and headed for the inner base, leaving Ten slightly behind as he tried to put his thoughts together, trying to avoid getting an erection in the middle of a military base invasion.
"God damn you woman! Wait for me!" Ten said as he ran after his partner.
West Gate:
"You all are about to die now, and I won't even have to lift a finger." Jack said after he and Ace confidently revealed themselves to the enemy, although some might say foolishly.
Jack is a tall and slightly lanky blonde haired nineteen year old with a goat beard and hazel eyes. He is wearing a form fitting outfit that is gold and black and has the insignia for the jack of spades on his outfit. He has a lean and muscled figure and his outfit is specifically designed to compliment his elasticity powers.
Ace on the other hand is a sixteen year old teen with black hair and black eyes, sporting a slim figure and is on the short side in terms if height. She is also wearing a gold and black combat outfit, except hers was ace themed as opposed to Jack's outfit, which of course, was jack themed.
"Intruders! Kill them! Kill them now!" The leader of the Kobra squad guarding the west gate ordered, his men firing rapid rounds of fire at the two interlopers.
However, much to all of their surprise, the bullets never reached the targets, Ace holding up her right hand as she activated her telekinesis, stopping all two hundred rounds in mid air, disbelief and fear the only possible reaction of the guards as they realized that they were royally fucked, no pun intended.
The only person who didn't have a look of fear on his face was the leader of the squad, who discreetly ordered his hidden sniper to fire on the telekinetic girl's blind spot, but to no avail as even that bullet was stopped in mid air long before it reached its target, only to rapidly reverse its trajectory until it hit the hidden sniper right between the eyes.
"She doesn't just have telekinesis you idiots, she has telepathy too. You cannot surprise us, or rather, you cannot surprise her." Jack said jovially, sending the guards into an even darker pit of despair.
"What do you think I should do, Jack? Kill them slowly and painfully, or end it fast?" Ace asked with a sinister undertone.
"Fast and efficient. Lord Jericho's mom is our target, we cannot afford to mess around, unfortunately." Jack retorted.
"Quick and painless it is then." Ace said as she hurled the bullets back at the guards, all two hundred of them, but only managing to kill eighty percent of the guards as the others managed to find cover, including the leader of the squad.
"Wow, these guys are good. I can't believe some of them actually survived. I guess its my turn now." Jack said as he started walking forward in a slow and deliberate pace, hearing his voice and foot steps, two of the guards deciding that now was the chance to take out the easier target as they came out and opened fire, one targeting Ace in order to keep her distracted while the other targeted Jack.
However, the easier target turned out to not be so easy after all as Jack activated his elasticity just as the guards began opening fire, the bullets failing to penetrate his body as he instead used his elasticity to catch the bullets with his belly, and then send the bullets rattling back at the guards at velocities that exceeded the fire power of the guns that were originally used to fire them, killing both the guards almost instantly as their bodies were torn asunder by the rapid fire.
"Eight down, and one more to go." Jack said with a bored tone.
"Just do us all a favor and stop wasting our time. You're going to die here, there is nothing you can do about it." Jack said as a matter of fact.
"We'll see about that!" The squad leader said as he transformed into a large serpent creature, however, before he could even do anything, he was already dead as a volley of bullets came down at him, directly on his head, from above, Jack looking up to see that Ace had discreetly sent all the guns of the deceased into the air and had them pointing down at the squad leader without him even realizing the eminent danger.
"I didn't even get the chance to be surprised by his transformation and you already killed him. You're no fun." Jack whined petulantly.
"I seem to recall you being the one who said we shouldn't play around when the mission involved Lord Jericho's mom." Ace retorted.
"Whatever! Lets just go and get Lord Jericho's mom and then get out of here." Jack said dismissively, Ace responding only with a shrug of the shoulders as she followed her partner into the west gate.
North Gate:
Watching King and Lady Shiva do their thing was something Joseph didn't think he could ever get enough of. They were like a perfectly synchronized orchestra, moving in perfect alignment to one another despite the fact that they hadn't ever been on a mission together before.
Lady Shiva was most impressive, as despite not having any super powers, she might as well have had them considering how fast, agile, precise, mobile, and efficient she was, to the point that she was even blocking and dodging bullets.
Of course, she wasn't actually faster than bullets, but what she was doing was analyzing the trajectory and aim of the bullets and moving accordingly just before the shots were fired, and the fact that she was doing this against multiple people all firing at her just went to show that her talent and training almost equated her to a meta human.
Her sword was a special design from Hive, hard enough and sharp enough to cut through even bullets. She was also able to close the distance between herself and her enemies at an extremely rapid speed, enabling her to cut them down in spades.
King was also impressive. He was actually a high level meta human as he could literally turn himself into a human torch. The only reason he hadn't liked using that form in battle before was because it always destroyed his clothes and left him naked.
It was why he had decided to develop his hand to hand combat skills and weapons combat skills to the extent that, like Shiva, his skills and training almost made you doubt that he wasn't in fact using some type of super power.
He had adopted to using his metal cane as a conduit to transfer and shoot his fire and plasma energy, while also using the cane as a close combat weapon. The cane was also fitted with retractable swords and knives that he could use to stab and slice his opponents.
Right now, King did not have to worry about destroying his clothes as Hive, similar to what they did for Jack, had developed a special suit that served as a conductor of his powers. However, he seemed to still prefer to fight this way and Jericho allowed him to do so as long as he knew to never let his pride and ego interfere with a mission. In other words, as long as he used his full power without hesitation if it became necessary.
'At this rate I won't even have to lift a finger to save my mom.' Jericho thought.
He was still wary of course, as he was sure that multiple alarms had already been rang in the Kobra Secret Base. This meant that the Kobra leader already knew that he was here and could in fact just kill his mom before they got to her if he wanted to.
However, on the other hand, why kidnap her in the first place if they were just going to kill her? Obviously whoever kidnapped her wanted to use her as leverage. Leverage for what, and against whom? Joseph could honestly say he did not know yet, despite spending this whole infiltration turned invasion scanning all the minds of the Kobra soldiers that they encountered.
Whoever the leader was had to be keeping his cards close to the chest. Joseph doubted that he or she was after him, it was more likely that they were after his dad, or at the very least, his dad had something to do with his mom getting kidnapped. However, it didn't matter right now because all Joseph wanted to do was to ensure his mother's safety, and if that couldn't be achieved for one reason or another, then he would settle for brutally killing every single soldier in this base.
"It is done, my Lord. Now we can proceed beyond the North Gate." King said obediently, having just now vaporized the liver, heart, and lung area of the last remaining Kobra operative.
King is a tall young man with a golden helmet on his head. He seems to have black hair under his helmet, that is if the hair on his head matches the color of his short, trimmed beard. He is wearing a gold and black hive uniform with the insignia for the King of Spades, and carries a golden metal staff which he uses to supplement his meta human powers and as a versatile melee combat weapon.
"It is not quite done yet my friend." Jericho said as he sensed someone behind the gate, and just as he finished saying that, the North Gate was vicious blown away by a powerful force as the gigantic gate came flying rapidly towards the three of them, all 30 tons of it.
However, Jericho was not leader of the Royal Flush Unit only because of his brilliant tactical mind, but also because of his raw power, as he was able to stop the thirty ton gate, flying at them at over 150 miles per hour, in an instant, using his telekinetic powers as his eyes began glowing a bright blue color.
Not wanting to remain blind sided to the enemy, Jericho quickly moved the metal door upwards so that he could see exactly what he was dealing with, slightly surprised when he saw a gigantic humanoid serpent that looked like a cobra if Jericho had to guess.
"I think that is a little out of my league unfortunately." Lady Shiva said calmly but factually, realizing that being the most skilled female martial artist in the world meant nothing against a creature of this size and strength, after all, her sword would likely be nothing more threatening than a toothpick against something the likes of this creature.
"I'll handle it!" King said as his staff retracted into a much smaller size, turning into a small baton before he put it away into his utility belt.
"Flame on!" King exclaimed theatrically as his entire body was illuminated by a burning inferno, so much so that even his skin and clothing turned completely red, as if he himself was a being composed entirely of heat energy.
"This will be over in a second, master." King said as he jetted off in the gigantic serpent's direction, moving at a ridiculous speed that was well above mach 3 as he shot himself right though the serpent's chest, to be more specific, right through the serpent's heart, coming out the other side as his plasma energy burned right through the beast's flesh.
"I-impossible!" The creature exclaimed as it looked down on it's chest in disbelief, surprising both King and Lady Shiva by it's ability to talk as they had killed all the other agents so quickly that none of them even got the chance to transform into their serpent forms.
Joseph was the only one who wasn't surprised as he already knew that the creature was sentient because he had sensed its mind before it revealed itself. Still, actually hearing it talk out loud was somewhat shocking even if he knew the creature had sentient intellect.
"I'll kill you all!" The creature snapped angrily as it prepared to bring its giant fists down on Joseph and Lady Shiva, however, much to its surprise, finding itself unable to move as Joseph used his telepathy to take away the creature's control over its body, its eyes glowing blue as Joseph's power took hold over its mind.
"You're overmatched." Joseph said while also reading the creature's mind to find out exactly how it came to be.
"The cobra mutagen responsible for creating you is not a failure. You are no doubt stronger than you ever were as a normal human. You are an outstanding biological weapon, but we of Hive are much too superior to be defeated by the likes of you. Hive is the future, and as a result, Cobra has only two choices, to be assimilated, or to become eliminated. Your superiors will have to pick their poison." Joseph said with menace, dropping the 30 ton gate he had levitated at the beginning of the battle on the humanoid cobra's head, effectively killing the creature, who really was about to bleed out and die anyway.
"King, get rid of the body." Joseph ordered as the creature's body hit the ground hard, causing the earth to shake due to the sheer size of the creature, because after all, the bigger they are, the harder they fall.
"With pleasure." King said as he fired a large wave of fire at the creature, burning it into ash in a matter of seconds, such was the sheer level of heat energy that he was able to generate.
King didn't wait for his master to give the order this time as he flew around the battle area and incinerated the rest of the corpses, after all, one of his main roles in the Hive was the role of the organization's cleaner as he was responsible for making sure that no evidence was left behind after a mission.
"How many more of those creatures do you think we will encounter?" Lady Shiva asked warily, not liking the feeling of uselessness she felt when faced with a situation that she could do practically nothing about.
"I do not know that, although I do know what troubles you." Joseph said, referring to how useless Lady Shiva felt because she couldn't be of use at all against a monster of that size, strength, and durability.
"Do not worry, I have asked Nathaniel to design a weapons upgrade for you. You won't have to feel like this again, I promise." Joseph said with a kind smile, Lady Shiva, the very symbol of emotional control, unable to help herself as she found herself returning the warm smile from her master with an even warmer one.
"Thank you, Lord Jericho. Your kindness is a beacon of light that pierces right through the darkness of the world. I shall use whatever power that you and Lord Nathaniel impart to me strictly for your protection and the fulfillment of your ambitions." Lady Shiva said with a small bow of the head.
"I know. That is why I chose you as my confidant and second in command." Joseph retorted.
"I am done, Lord Jericho. Shall we proceed to the inner base?" King asked eagerly.
"We shall." Joseph replied simply, floating towards the inner parts of the Kobra base along with King, who was flying too, and Lady Shiva, who was walking just below the two of them.
Back at Nanda Parbat:
"I'm going to go on a Limb and assume that Kobra sent a copy of the footage to you, and that you have also watched it along with your closest confidants?" Ra's asked the man on the big screen in his hidden communications center.
"You assume correctly." The man on the screen replied.
He is a tall and muscular man, appearing to be at the absolute peak of human physical condition, in fact, quite significantly beyond peak human condition, who has black hair that reaches up to the neckline, three scares across his face that make it look like he was clawed across the face by some wild animal, and an equally black trimmed beard.
He is wearing a blue thigh length jacket that is held by a black utility belt at the waistline, and has on black pants and black combat boots. Next to him are his two daughters, who are also his closest confidants, Cassandra Savage and Scandal Savage.
"I owe you a debt for exposing the treachery of one of my own, someone I took into my home and into my circle and adopted as my very own son. He has betrayed me, and so must pay. You have my gratitude." Ra's replied.
"As do you. Had you not asked this favor of me, The Light would not know of the existence of this Hive, nor especially the existence of Nathaniel Wilson. The only question I have is what it is you intend to do exactly about Deathstoke? I ask not with the intention to interfere with the operations of your organization, but only because of the larger ramifications of alienating or killing such a man, especially in light of recent revelations." Vandal said articulately.
"You are worried that it might cause Hive to come after the Shadows?" Ra's asked curiously.
"Not just the shadows, but the Light itself. Why go to war when you can make peace? Why burn bridges when you can build them?" Savage asked cryptically.
"You intend to offer membership of the Light to Hive? To Nathaniel Wilson?" Ra's asked, shocked.
"Why not? I know you intended for him to be your successor, and I do not mean to step on your toes, but as you saw for yourself, he already has a very powerful organization of his own, what are the chances that he would leave the organization he built himself to join yours? Could you….could we not mentor him as an equal member of the Light, dedicated to the same goal of pushing humanity towards its full potential?" Savage asked rhetorically.
"That presupposes that he actually is the leader and founder of Hive. There is still the possibility that Deathstoke himself is the one leading this organization, and thus, has infiltrated the League in order to take us down from within." Ra's argued.
"To what end? Why would he go that far to get rid of the shadows? Isn't it more likely that he wanted to take over the shadows in order to assimilate the shadows and its resources into Hive?" Savage asked sagely.
"…"
"I guess there really is only one course of action to take. I have to excommunicate him. The actions that he takes after he is excommunicated will lead us to the truth." Ra's replied strategically.
"It seems like the best course of action I agree. As for Nathaniel Wilson, the good thing is that we now know that he is alive and is associated to Hive. To reveal his identity, we must focus our attentions on Hive itself, and there are two ways to do that, to plant a mole in their midst, or to follow closely their activities and the money trail. Keeping an eye on his father as you already suggested might also yield positive results to that end." Savage retorted.
"We have our work cut out for us then." Ra's retorted.
"Indeed. May your shadows conceal your movements, and may our light shine through to the truth. L1 out." Savage said as he switched off the communicator from his side.
"L2 out." Ra's replied as he too switched off his communicator.
"Are you serious father? You're just going to excommunicate him? That's like a slap on the wrist, less than that even." Talia asked incredulously.
"In the past I would have agreed with you and would have already eliminated Slade Wilson for his insolence and treachery. However, my new found wisdom as a founding member of the Light has made me see things differently." Ra's said sagely.
"I demand an explanation." Talia said tensely.
"You have the authority to demand absolutely nothing of me, but you shall get one nonetheless." Ra's said with a threatening under tone, subtly reminding Talia not to forget her place, and it worked as she quickly collected herself and remembered to only speak when she is spoken to, and within the confines of her authority.
"You see, as I explained earlier, our goal is to put earth at the very top of the universe, as is its rightful place as the center of the universe. To that end, it is essential that people with the skill and talent of Slade Wilson survive long enough to defend earth from its enemies when it becomes necessary. We cannot allow that gene pool to be eliminated. He has already bred two exceptional young boys, you just saw one of them only a few minutes ago. Why would we want earth to lose such a precious resource?" Ra's asked rhetorically.
"There has already been multiple attacks from alien beings on our planet. As The Light moves closer to its goal of earth supremacy in the universe, more and more threats will become revealed, and we will need people like Slade Wilson, and his children, to fight on our side. Even if they inevitably start acting against us, they will have no choice but to join us when it comes to the protection of the planet that we all share. Ego and pride clouds Deathstroke's mind right now, and his small mindedness is acting as a hindrance to his acceptance of us, but we believe that there will come a time when he will see things our way." Ra's completed his explanation.
"What if he becomes too much of a nuisance? What if he ends up threatening the very existence and secrecy of the League of Shadows?" Bane asked warily.
"You need not worry, for if such a time ever comes, then I will personally deal with him." Ra's said with confidence.
"Say we do find Nathaniel and we try to bring the Hive into the Light, what if they refuse us? What do we do then?" Damian asked curiously.
"That is a matter The Light has yet to fully discuss, but our way is the belief that there is nothing and no one on earth that cannot be used for the purposes of the Light. The Light has even used the Justice League to serve its own ends on multiple occasions." Ra's replied much to everyone's surprise, The Demon Head going on to order that everyone go and get some rest, and to allow their minds to process everything that transpired today, reminding everyone of the importance of a rested and calm mind.