A Hollow in DC

Chapter 10



After a mentally exhaustive debrief where Batman more for my own benefit as being new to the whole hero business went over several hundred satellite-gathered images of the island, we were going to raid we were finally taken off our chains as it were with Batman telling Robin he was likely going to be busy dealing with some kind of Vampire clan that's been pushing into Gotham over the last couple nights for the next couple days.

"Uhm Batman, I got a question. I know all too well the league's zero-tolerance stance on killing but what are your people's stance on beings that only treat humanity like cattle like Vampires or even alien invaders." I asked curiously and Batman stilled with Robin grimacing at my question.

"Lorde... No Jake, that is a question all of us on the League struggle with, but in the end, when it comes to vampires in particular and other magical beings, their lifestyle is that of predator and prey in the magical side of the world. No prison can realistically hold them and to keep them bound and sealed to an area magically is a fate worse than death. So, the League has come to the conclusion that should such beings be found in the process of harming humans they must be dealt with permanently lest they destroy a whole town or city by spreading their affliction." Even as Kid Flash muttered about Vampires not being real, Batman stoically went back to ironing out the final details of our mission.

"Now for any criminals you apprehended on the island, they are to be bound and left for the Costa Rican forces that will be made aware of the need to pick them up once your mission is complete." Batman finally told us before he left the briefing room through the teleporter.

"Alright, so Miss Martian you are going to be taking us there via your Bio-Ship, correct?" I asked as we left Mount Justice through a small tunnel.

"Yes, Jake! Uhm, I parked her outside the Mountain in the nearby forest so she could sunbathe and photosynthesize in peace." She explained and even as we approached the large somewhat circular alien ship, I couldn't help but ruminate of the thought of a big green Boeing aircraft that could absorb the sun's energy and be far cheaper to fly.

Maybe then the prices of flying wouldn't be so prohibitively expensive.

"How fast can she fly," Superboy asked as he admired the ship and Megan's enthusiasm hit the roof as she excitedly to her crush how bio ship could travel faster than the speed of light simply by using the basically infinite energies it could absorb from starlight to eventually go slighter faster than the speed of light.

"But here in the Earth's atmosphere, she hates going more than a couple of your Earth Machs level of speed as the friction hurts her skin," Megan explained wryly and as we boarded the ship with the seat, I took warping underneath me to perfectly support my back.

"Damn... I could fall asleep in this. Thank you." I said to the ship which freaked out Robin and Kid Flash as the ship shuddered in response to my gratitude as though saying you're welcome.

"So, Jake I didn't mean to pry but why can't I sense your mind?" Megan asked as she finished putting in the coordinates to the island we were heading to and her chair whirled around as she focused on me.

"Heh, Jake doesn't have a mind." Wally joked earning an elbow from Robin as Miss Martian briefly freaked out about me somehow not having a mind to which she could interface with. Which for a Martian that lived with their minds touching their neighbors regularly must have been something anathema to her.

After explaining how I was basically literally a dead person still walking around she nodded in understanding. "I see... Back on Mars, only the greatest of telepathic shamans could connect to the passed remnants of our ancestors so maybe one day I will be connected to your mind as well!" She said brightly making me want to facepalm.

'Honestly having no telepath being able to enter or even feel my mind is a load off my back as I certainly have plenty of secrets, especially about this universe that I don't want others to hear...' I thought before I shuddered at the thought of some of the psychos of this universe getting free range to my thoughts and learning the speed force formula or likewise the Life and Anti-Life equation that were firmly rooted in my head.

Neither was I willing to speak such things aloud as becoming a speedster although certainly an extremely powerful boost to my abilities would frankly acquire the attention of cosmic beings that I certainly had no fucking chance against who would smite me for stepping in other future speedsters' shoes.

But who is to say I couldn't help another deeply fated person acquire such powers? Honestly, I was always curious as to how Robin or Batman would approach having such high-tier powers... No matter how much a universe may make Batman and the other heroes suffer, I doubt they will stay dead for more than a year in the end.

"So, who is going to be the leader of our mission? I of course nominate myself!" Kid Flash said as our cloaked ship approached Santa Priscilla Island before landing.

"Hey, I would make a good leader!" Robin said throwing his name into the hat and then Miss Martian nominated Superboy making the two younger boys fume as the clone just stared through the windshield of the ship into the jungle ahead of us seemingly ignoring the voices of the teenagers.

"Kaldur should be our leader. His time as Aquaboy was also spent doing military operations under his king so he has experience in coordinating multiple people whereas we all are either solo acts or working with our teachers." I said making the ship go silent.

Honestly, I wasn't interested in being the leader of our team as frankly with Kid Flash loving to run off faster than the speed of sound and Robin being a ninja and loving to sneak off it was a thankless task to hope to keep those two in line along with dealing with Superboy's surly demeanor along with Miss Martian already simping her him.

He could have the dubious honor of leading our team's version of feral cats and I will be a good little wrecking ball and just break a couple of limbs as I was being paid very well for being a hero in an account Batman had setup for me as I certainly couldn't get a job.

"Alright, my friends," Kaldur said making everyone relax as his easy-going demeanor set everyone at ease. "I shall take up the leadership role of this mission, now Miss Martian please set up a mental link between us all so we can telepathically communicate should we get separated."

Superboy loudly coughed and shook his head. "If Lorde doesn't need a mental connection then I don't want one either... Let me be clear I don't want you touching my head." Superboy said looking deeply uncomfortable at the thought of being mentally touched as his mind was during his time in Cadmus.

It took a lot of cajoling but eventually Megan managed to 'sweetly' bully Superboy into allowing her to make a very weak connection that he would need to shout his thoughts to Megan before he would consent to being added to the mental connection between them all.

So, a couple minutes into walking into the jungles I realized very quickly that I was the heaviest third wheel there was as the group was obviously speaking to one another mentally as I covered the right side of our little procession into the jungle.

Thankfully the awkward silence for me was broken as a series of gunfire broke out in the distance and Kid Flash spoke out confidently. "Ha, I will scout on ahead!" And dashed forward but even as Aquaboy cried out for him to stay with the group I couldn't help noticing how Robin had at some point also disappeared.

"Might as well go loud if gun fights are already happening," Superboy grunted as he stomped on the ground causing a small earthquake as he sprinted forward through the undergrowth with Miss Martian flying behind the clone leaving me and Kaldur awkwardly meeting each other's eyes.

"You relied on teenagers to follow logic?" I scoffed before I chuckled and grabbed Kaldur by his shoulder before he could run to catch up. "Let me take us there," I said before the air was rent with the scream of my heavier Sonido rang out as me and Kaldur all but teleported into the side of the gunfight that was taking place.

For a moment even as my eyes tracked the slow bullets being fired between the thugs and what I recognized to be Kobra Cultists fighting a gunfight in the jungle I couldn't help but consider just blowing this whole chunk of the jungle to ashes with a cero.

I swiftly shook my head and pushed down my Hollow instincts in just killing the human insects around me as I matched Kid Flash's in going around with super speed breaking the guns they were wielding and leaving them subdued on the ground.

Whereas Kid Flash would rain a flurry of super speed punches on the grunts he captured I instead just flicked them on their foreheads and the force knocked them out cleanly enough as their heads would snap back before their helmets absorbed the rest of the blow.

But surprisingly as we finished capturing the grunts Robin and Kaldur came out of the jungle with the heavily bound form of Bane who Superboy had met while he was running over, and the trio of boys beat him up and captured the villain.

"Wow, Bane. Not only is your island being taken over by a bunch of shitty cultists, but you also got your ass kicked by a trio of teenagers... You should remove your mask and become a farmer as you have lost these matches." I taunted as this Bane was wearing a Mexican wrestling mask and I knew how much honor they put on those masks.

"Hmph I only lost as this Chica got the drop on me by smashing me with a tree... So why don't you guys undo these bindings, and I can help you all capture Kobra Heh?" Bane asked with his Spanish accent having no sign of distress at his predicament.

For a moment I wanted to taunt him about how we were going to blow up the island's facilities, but I knew this island had a lot of bolt holes and hidden tunnels what with it being a drug runner's hideout.

Even as the team discussed our options, we knew all too well that Bane with his super strength would break out of his bindings should we leave him alone, and even when Miss Martian attempted to break into his mind to get the information, we wanted on his Venom Plants along with where Kobra was, He apparently began reciting baseball information in Spanish...

Megan didn't even know Spanish to begin with, so she wasn't able to get anything useful.

"Very well let's free him so we can take down Kobra as he is the bigger issue," Kaldur said solemnly with Superboy standing right beside Robin as he began taking off Bane's bindings to make sure the villain didn't sucker punch Robin.

In the end, our mission wasn't to capture Bane it was to gather intel on the enhancement drugs going through here and destroy the facility but if we could capture Bane then that would be for the best but if not then we can always get him another day. "Alright, hombres follow me. I will show the way to that cabrón Kobra." Bane said.

Within a couple of minutes, I was proven correct about this place being a mess to investigate as Bane nonchalantly moved a moss-covered rock displaying a large tunnel that he explained lead to the main fabrication plant that Kobra had taken over during their skirmishes

"So how do you kids plan on fighting that Kobra? He is invulnerable to physical damage after all?" Bane asked curiously and as Aquaboy spoke out on Kobra's powers and his obvious weakness that we could use to counteract it I noticed how every few dozen meters we traveled through the large tunnel that Robin who was in the back was literally slapping small C4 tablets to the walls.

Seeing me focusing on him Robin put his fingers to his lips and I nodded in understanding.

As for dealing with Kobra despite his longevity nonsense and his physical invulnerability well I could easily just fly off with his ass as he didn't have overly enhanced strength that could break a hold, I had on him and at that point I could simply drown or suffocate him via the ocean surrounding the island we were at or similar just go super high into the air with him.

Finally, as we entered the heart of the factory it seemed the Bane was tired of leading us as he 'tripped' forward and smashed into a large pipe sending burning hot steam over him and towards us before he managed to bear rush through the steam and with a war cry, he smashed into the Kobra cultists that came to investigate all the noises.

"Viva Revolution! Come on little sidekicks you won't allow a villain to save the day, will you?" He taunted through the steam cover before he ran off as Aquaboy used his hydro magic to shut off the water and let us pass through the steam.

"We should have just broken his legs and left him on the beach," I muttered as I absently slapped a cultist through a metal door leading deeper into the facility low and behold was a massive chemical factory with harsh fumes being inefficiently pumped into the sky above the facility.

"Not a very heroic thought but sometimes I cannot deny that would be by far the easier option." Robin agreed as he likewise began beating up the cultists that shot at me and Superboy who acted as bullet sponges and gathered their attention with our very attention-grabbing superhuman feats.

"Let's split up," Kaldur called out as he too finished some cultists and some of Banes thugs that were seemingly trying to take back this factory. "Me, Miss Martian, and Superboy will push through the facility while Lorde you, and Kid Flash go directly for Bane and Kobra while we clear out the facility. Robin, you are in charge of evidence gathering as we deal with the thugs."

I nodded to his plan and with a blur of motion me and Wally burst into action as I stopped being so considerate in nonlethally taking down the thugs and instead just tossed them into walls as I sped through rooms until finally I smashed through the back of the factory and came face to face with a fully roided up Bane duking it out with Kobra and who I believed to be Sports Master as he was the only dumbass I knew that would stick a blade on a hockey stick and call it a weapon.

But then again Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is canonically in DC so for all I knew Casey Jones was also running around.

 

 

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