JLU 2001 Fanfiction - YOUNG JUSTICE #13

impulse
Yesterday...
Today...
Tomorrow...

They are
The Next Generation of Heroes.....
YOUNG JUSTICE
In Harm's Way: Part Two

Young Justice #13 November, Year Four
by Alex Hayden

Impulse

STRIPES

Speedy

Robin

Star-Spangled Kid

Mya

Gotham City
Gotham Plaza

After discovering that their team leader Courtney Whitmore, the second generation hero known as the Star Spangled Kid was captured by the villain named Harm, the team returned to their temporary base of operations with in Gotham Plaza with their wounded teammate Shyleen Lao, the flame powered young woman known as Fever. After grabbing a bite to eat, most of the team headed back out into the city to try and get a lead on where they could find their missing friend. Staying behind to work on other leads were Richie Foley the master inventor and computer expert Gears, Mike Dugan Jr. the next generation armored hero known as Stripes, and second in command of Young Justice, Bart Allen the young speedster and grandson to Barry Allen codenamed Impulse.

"So tell me you have something Richie," Bart said as he finished off another slice of pizza and guzzled down another soda quickly. "We're down to a little under eighteen hours before Harm’s deadline is up."

"My tech pack was able to record the message while it was playing," Richie said as he moved from working on one laptop to another that was sitting right beside it. "I'm running it through every tech filter I have looking for anything that can lead us to Courtney. It's just going to take some time."

"WE DON'T HAVE TIME!!" Mike Dugan Jr. yelled as he slammed his fist into the nearby wall causing a hole to appear where his fist was currently resting. Richie and Bart could see the muscles in Mike’s arms and upper body tense up. Mike had learned that when wearing the Stripes armor it was better not to wear a lot of clothes because the armor’s sensors couldn't connect well through the clothes. "THAT NUTCASE HAS MY SISTER AND WE HAVE TO FIND HIM BEFORE IT'S TO LATE!!"

"Mikecalmdownnow," Bart said quickly, as he zipped in front of Mike before he could do anything else. After a moment Bart slowed his speech down which for him was a bit of a challenge. "You flying off the handle is not going to help us find your sister any faster. Why don't you suit up and head for a recon, and we'll contact you if we find anything."

"Yeah, whatever," Mike said pushing past Bart and heading towards his room where he kept his Stripes V2.0 armor. Mike had a bit of a temper, and Bart was afraid that before too long that temper was going to get them into trouble.

"I don't know how long we're going to be able to keep him under control," Bart said moving quickly back to Richie’s side. "And I don't know how long I can keep acting like the calm collective leader of this group. I'm supposed to be the impulsive one of the group- that's why they call me Impulse. Times like this I miss having Robin around."

"You're doing a good job so far," Richie said as he continued to move between the two computers working the keyboards rapidly. "I think I may have finally found something to go on. Check this out, “ Richie said as Mike came out of his room dressed in the modified version of the Stripes armor that his dad and John Henry Irons had invented.

"What did you find Richie?" asked Mike walking over towards the computers with his Stripes helmet tucked underneath his arm.

"I ran the message through every filter I had in order to find anything that could lead us to Courtney," Richie began to explain as he showed the contents of the screen to Bart and Mike. "Everything came up empty, until the sound filter found something in the background noise." Hitting a few keys on the keyboard the computer began to play a digitally enhanced audio sound file taken from the message.

"What is that?" asked Mike as he tried to hear it better.

"It's a the horn from a cargo ship," Bart replied as he continued to listen to the sound for another few seconds. "So do you think Harm is holding her at the Gotham Docks?"

"Probably. Either at the docks or some where nearby," Richie said as he turned the file off. Grabbing his helmet from beside the computer, Richie put it on and slid the visor down. "I figure if we all sweep the surrounding area we can search more quickly."

"Good idea," Bart said sliding his mask onto his face. "You guys can search the area around the docks, while I do a run through of the warehouses. Gears, alert the others and have everyone meet at the docks."

"You got it," Gears said just as Impulse zoomed out of the room heading to the docks. Pressing the com-link on the side of his helmet, Gears connected with everyone’s coms. "Everyone report to the Gotham Docks. We may have a lead on Courtney’s whereabouts."

{{This is Empress. Devil, Speedy, and I are on our way now,}} Empress responded over the com. {{We should be there in a f....}}

As Empress stopped talking a small explosion could be heard over the communications link. Before Richie or Mike could ask what was going on they heard another explosion and what sounded like someone in pain before the com went completely dead on the other end.

"The team’s in danger," Gears said as he and Mike ran towards the balcony and took off into the air at full throttle.

Near the docks.
Same time…

Empress jumped backwards, avoiding another sonic blast from the guitar-wielding villain known as Punk Rocket. Moving quickly and sliding across the ground the teen dressed in what looked like a orange prison jump suit and white spiky hair adjusted his aim and hit another sonic blast note that sent shock waves through the ground destroying everything in its path.

"You tossers don't stand a chance against my sonic song," Punk Rocket said ripping another few sonic notes. "I'm gonna play you a death tune that will finish you off for good."

While Punk Rocket was kept busy with Empress, Speedy was able to get into a better position and drew one of her special arrows from her quiver and took aim at her target. Releasing the arrow she watched it sail through the air for a moment before disappearing in thin air. What seemed like a second later a figure in a black cloak that seemed to look like a carbon copy of the Batman reappeared in a swirl of blackness with the arrow in hand. The silent caped teleporter tossed the arrow to the ground a few feet in front of Empress, which knocked her into a pile of garbage bags.

"Thanks Kid Wykkyd," Punk Rocket said. Kid Wykkyd said nothing and simply nodded in response as Punk Rocket turned towards Speedy and unleashed a massive sonic wave that nailed the female archer knocking her from her hiding place. "That's two, so where'd the third git get off too? What's his name?"

Looking around for a moment, neither Punk Rocket nor Kid Wykkyd could see any trace of the third member of Young Justice. Before ether one could say or do anything else the body of a grayish skinned brute was thrown into Kid Wykkyd knocking him out as he slammed into the ground.

"The name's Kid Devil," said a voice that came from the darkness. A second later Edward Bloomberg now in his horned, red skinned demonic form stepped out of the shadows his yellow almost fiery eyes glowing slightly in the dark. "And you should ask yourself, do you really want to piss me off anymore then I already am."

"Do you think I should be afraid of you, demon boy?" Punk Rocket asked turning towards Kid Devil and getting ready to attack.

Before he could hit a cord, a red tail shot forward, wrapped around the guitar, and snapped it in half like it was a twig. "Yes, you should," he replied rushing forward and hitting Punk Rocket in the nose with enough force to break it. Leaving him on the ground to deal with the pain of shattered nose, Kid Devil went over to check on Speedy and Empress. "You guys okay?" he asked as he transformed back into his normal form. In his devil form, his skin would usually burn someone with a simple touch, Eddie has had to learn to transform quickly when needing to check on one of his teammates.

"I'm fine," Speedy said getting up from the ground and putting the hood of her yellow and red costume back over her head. "I think that sonic shot he hit me with knocked loose a couple of fillings, but other then that I'm fine. Empress?"

"I smell like garbage," she said knocking what appeared to be left over pieces of hamburger from her costume. "It's going to take forever to get that nasty smell out of this fabric. Who are these guys?" she asked kicking the knocked out form of Kid Wykkyd. "Because I plan on sending them the dry cleaning bill for this."

"No clue, never heard of any of these guys," Eddie replied. "The gray one called himself Johnny Rancid. Nice name by the way."

"And the tone deaf string plucker there called the other one Kid Wykkyd," Empress stated lifting her mask up some revealing her full lips and cocoa colored skin, so she could get some fresh air. Pressing the com that was located in her ear, she tried to get back in touch with Impulse and the others. "Imp, this Empress. Come in." But all she got was silence on her end.

"What's wrong?" Speedy asked picking her bow up from the dumpster she found it in.

"I think my com got damaged in the fight," she replied checking once again. When she was sure it was damaged she looked towards Kid Devil and Speedy. "One of you guys are going to have to check in."

"I'll do it. You guys can find something to do with these three," said Speedy holding the underside of her wrist close to her mouth. "Anybody read, this is Speedy, checking in."

{{This is Stripes. I'm here with Gears. Go ahead, Speedy,}} replied the voice of Stripes. {{You guys sounded like you were under attack. What happened?}}

"Three newbies trying to make a name for themselves," Speedy replied as she watched Empress and Kid Devil cuff the three guys with flexi cuffs. "We were able to take care of them without much harm. Tell Gears to put a call into the Pin and tell them we need a pick up for three."

{{Already on it,}} Gears replied. {{They should have a clean up crew out there soon. Just leave the signal beacon so they can locate them.}}

"Done," Devil said as he took a small disk the size of a silver dollar from Empress, pressed it in the middle, and laid it on the ground beside Punk Rocket and the others.

{{Good. Impulse wants you three to head to the docks,}} stated Stripes. {{Gears found a clue that may lead us to Courtney. We're headed there now.}}

"Got it," Speedy stated. Walking back over towards where Kid Devil and Empress were standing, Speedy continued. "We'll be there in a minute. Speedy, out. Empress you're on."

"Energize," Kid Devil said with a grin.

"You watch to much Star Trek, you know that right?" Empress said shaking her head.

"I know," replied Eddie. "Now make it so Number One."

"I'm not teaming up with you anymore," Empress said as all three disappeared in a large cloud of smoke.

Once they were gone, someone stepped from the shadows and crushed the beacon beneath a large metal foot. Walking over to three bound villains, he shook Kid Wykkyd awake first. "Come on Wykkyd, get up," he said giving him a nudge.

The silent teleporter of the team shook his head for a moment trying to shake the cobwebs loose before getting back to his feet.

"Get us out of here before those Pin guards get here. I don't know about you, but I don't want to go back there," the large man stated.

With out a word, Kid Wykkyd gave a slight nod, and with one fluid motion of his cape all three men disappeared in a swirl of blackness.

Harm’s hideout
Somewhere in Gotham

From the outside the place currently serving as Harm’s lair, looks like a run down forgotten building. But on the inside he has transformed it into his own evil version of the Batcave. Computers and other electronic equipment lined most of the wall. A large training area where he honed his skills could be found one floor down. While the other floors were simply filled with traps in case anyone actually was dumb enough to enter into his lair. Sitting in front of a large computer screen he continued to watch the bound and gagged form of Courtney Whitmore continue to struggle against the metal shackles that kept her bound to the ground. For a very scary instant a small smile could been seen creeping across his face.

"She is a beautiful creature is she not?" he asked the only other person to ever step foot into his lair and live.

"She is indeed," the orange and black masked man known as Ruin replied as he walked from the shadows and stood by Harm’s side. Once in the glow of the computer screen much of his costume could be seen. The high tech hardware he used for much of his powers and abilities could be seen even with him wearing the long black trench coat. "Interesting that you took her and not the other one. If Star here comes to any harm as it is, it would bring more trouble than even we can deal with. The JSA may be busy at the moment and her father is currently running with the newly reformed Task Force X, but we both know that they all will come crashing down on us if she was ruined tonight."

"I care very little about that at the moment. Right now she is the prize and that's all that matters to me," Harm said running a cloth over his blade for what must have seemed like the hundredth time. "Besides her connections to the other heroes out there matter little to me. As you said they are all to busy at the moment. The only threat we have to deal with is her teammates, and even if Young Justice happens to save her, one of them will die by my blade tonight."

"Be careful not to loose your focus my friend," Ruin said taking a glance at screen once again before looking back at Harm. "This is only the first step in my plans. I want you to shake them up enough that it will draw out the one who would lead me to my true target."

"The Boy Wonder you mean?"

"Yes," Ruin replied. "As I've explained I believe that once Robin has come out of the shadows, he will lead me to my true prize. And that is what I want more then anything at the moment."

"Who would have thought that revenge would be your one weakness," Harm said almost laughing as he turned back to the computer screen.

"I don't see it as a weakness, I see it more as a driving force," Ruin stated. "Even with all my resources, I've never been able to track either one down. So far she's been spared, but soon she will feel my wrath."

Before Harm could say anything in response, an alarm on the computer went off. "Proximity alarms," he said turning them off before checking the surrounding cameras he had hidden around the city. "It appears Young Justice are close by."

"Then I suggest you alert the others and tell them guests will be arriving soon," Ruin said walking back towards the shadows.

"And what about you?"

"I have other matters to attend to. Contact me if all should go well," he continued to say as he disappeared in a glow of red light.

Once he was gone, Harm placed his sword with in its holder on his back and headed for the secret roof access. "Time for the fun to begin."

The Gotham Docks
Five minutes later…

"Didyouguysfindanything?" Impulse asked quickly as he came to a stop in front of the gathered members of Young Justice.

"What did he say?" asked Kid Devil who was still getting used to Bart’s speed talk.

"He asked if we found anything," Speedy replied. "And the answer is nothing so far. We have two buildings left to check."

"I thought it would be a good idea for the team to be together just in case," Gears commented taking a look over at Stripes who was focused on the two buildings left to check. "My scanners aren't picking anything up. So either she's not here, or they have cloak tech masking her presence. Stripes are you getting anything?"

"Yeah, I'm getting tired of waiting around here," he replied moments before taking off toward the building on the right.

"Ishouldhaveknownhewasgoingtodothat," Impulse stated quickly as he took off after Stripes.

"What did he say?" Eddie asked again.

"Never mind just hurry up and change and go that way," Empress said pushing Kid Devil towards the buildings.

"Got it," Eddie said taking off towards the same building Impulse and Stripes went towards. As he ran to the building, he began to concentrate on the transformation. After a few moments his body began to morph into it's demonic form. Once fully transformed Kid Devil unleashed his retractable wings from underneath his arms and took off into the air.

"Let's get going," Speedy said as she and the others followed Kid Devil.

However before they even got to the building, Empress and Speedy could see the form of Stripes sailing backwards through the air and crash landing a few feet in front of them. While Empress checked on Mike inside the armor, Speedy could see two blurs; one white and red and the black and yellow zipping around the area faster then she could make out. Kid Devil could be seen flipping through the air and landing on the ground. Opening his mouth quickly he unleashed the almost six hundred degree flame blasts that was his special attack at someone that looked like a cute blonde girl that seemed to flip and dodge his attacks. Once she landed a safe distance away she to opened her mouth and unleashed her own Meta power. The sonic waves coming from her was enough to shatter the ground between her and Kid Devil.

"Who is that?" Speedy asked as she unleashed a wave of explosive arrows at their enemies. "She looks and sounds like a bite-sized version of Black Canary."

"Actually her name is Canary," a voice said from behind Speedy. Turning around Speedy saw a young woman dressed in a green and black form fitting costume that showed off her flat stomach and much of her upper chest just sitting on the hood of an old junk car. If the costume didn't get your attention then the green eyes, light green skin and dark blonde hair with red streaks in it would have. Small vines seemed to snake around her bare arms like they were alive. "I'm Flora by the way," she continued just as she unleashed the vines around her arms towards Speedy. "I guess you can call us Young Injustice."

"I'd rather call you mulch," Empress said unleashing the blades within her Emperors stick and cutting the vines that attempted to choke Speedy. "I've heard of Canary," Empress commented as she and Speedy dodged Flora’s vines slicing and cutting them when they got near. "Superboy ran into her and some others a while back."

"I have the files Superboy submitted on them now," Gears said as he dodged the attacks from the green skinned Aquahunter who was firing heat blasts at Gears. "This guy trying to barbecue me is Aquahunter," he managed to get out as he did a nose dive and then came up firing blast after blast from the twin cannons produced by his tech pack.

All around the area the fights were continuing on. Empress was dealing with Flora. Kid Devil continued to dodge the sonic screams of Canary and get a few shots off with his fire blasts. Speedy found herself helping both Empress and Kid Devil whenever she could. Stripes, after waiting for his suit’s systems to do some rebooting, was finally back on his feet and heading after the one that attacked him in the first place. Walking out of the building a large armored man with a red A on his chest, popped his knuckles before heading after Stripes.

"No one can beat Adonis," he said throwing a punch, which Stripes dodged.

"You got lucky last time," Stripes said as he sent a power surge to his fists and began pounding way on the armored villain Adonis. "This time I'm more prepared."

"You'll never beat me! This suit makes me unstoppable!" Adonis screamed connecting a punch to Stripes’ helmet, which cracked the visor.

"And that's where you'll always lose, because you rely to much on the suit," Stripes said as he continued to punch and kick Adonis with multiple combinations of martial arts and boxing. After staggering Adonis for a moment, Stripes got ready for the knock out blow. "This is a little something I learned when I was being trained by Wildcat. I call it the Wildcat special!" Stripes exclaimed as he unleashed a powerful knock out punch that shattered Adonis' helmet. Grabbing the front of the armor, Stripes ripped it away revealing a pimply faced nerd underneath the armor. "Now that your armor’s toast, you won't be much of a problem anymore."

On the other side of the battlefield the two blurs, one belonging to Impulse and the other belonging the cloned speedster Kid Zoom continued to trade super fast punches.

"Youcan'tseriouslythinkyoucanbeatme," Kid Zoom said punching Impulse in the face several times. "I'mwaybetterthenyouare."

"MaybebutIhaveonethingyoudon'thave," Impulse said as he caught a glimpse of what he was waiting for.

"What'sthat?"

"Aplan," Impulse replied grabbing Kid Zoom’s arm and throwing him quickly towards Canary who was letting out another sonic scream. Impulse’s plan worked as Kid Zoom was hit with full frontal assault from Canary’s attack knocking him out from the force of the scream.

With Canary distracted by what she had done to Kid Zoom, Speedy took the opening and fired a knock out gas arrow at her. On impact the arrow released the gas knocking Canary out for the rest of the fight.

"Who's left?" asked Impulse as he came to a stop next to Speedy and Kid Devil.

"The Poison Ivy and Martian Manhunter copies that Gears and Empress are dealing with," Speedy replied drawing another arrow from her quiver.

"Okay Devil, we'll help deal with them," Impulse ordered. "Stripes and Speedy go and see if you can find Star."

"We’re on it," Stripes said as he and Speedy took off towards where they hoped Star was being held.

Once they were gone Impulse and Kid Devil formed a plan of sorts before going in opposite directions to help the others. Taking to the air, Kid Devil caught up to Gears and Aquahunter as quickly as he could.

"If you're anything like J'onn then that means you have a fear of fire," Devil said as he nailed Aquahunter in the back with a fire blast. However Kid Devil was surprised to find that the heat blast did not hurt him. Instead it just really pissed him off. "Oh crap," he said as Aquahunter came flying towards him.

While Eddie kept Aquahunter busy, Gears was able to come up with a device that he believed would help take their enemy down for the count. After a few minutes he had a device that he hoped would work. Floating in the air, he signaled Kid Devil to bring the target towards him. Once Aquahunter was close enough, Gears unleashed several round objects at him, that once on impact attached themselves to him with tentacle like devices wrapping around his body and began sending massive currents of electricity through him. After a few minutes Aquahunter’s body fell to the ground with a loud thud.

With only one opponent left, Impulse moved quickly and began tying Flora up with her own vines. Once she was bound, Empress was quick to knock her out with her Emperors stick.

"All right people let's move," Impulse said before taking off in the same direction Stripes and Speedy headed towards earlier.

As he entered the building Impulse and the others where shocked and surprised to find Speedy laying on the ground out cold, with her bow broken near her body. While Impulse checked on her, Gears and the others found Stripes pinned to the wall with two pipes piercing his shoulders. Lucky for him the pipes went through the armor and missed his actual shoulders.

"Who could have done this?" Empress asked as she and the others joined Impulse. Kid Devil and Gears both went to check on Stripes who could be heard moaning inside the suit.

"That would be me," a voice replied from somewhere in the room.

For a moment a small laugh could be heard coming from some where in the room. Everyone seemed to be looking for the source of the laugh at the same time as helping their teammates. It was Empress who saw the shadowy outline of someone standing nearby simply watching her and her friends.

"Over there," she said pointing to the figure.

Before anyone could react, the figure placed his hands together and punched the ground with a massive force that sent a shockwave towards Young Justice knocking everyone off their feet. Moving towards them, Gears could see a red backwards 'S' on the chest of their attacker.

"Superboy?" asked Gears as he tried to get up.

"Wrong," the figure said as a powerful pale white hand wrapped around Gears’ throat and lifted him off the ground. "But you’re close. So what about this one?" he asked turning around to face Harm who had just entered the room.

"No, my friend," Harm replied holding the edge of his blade near Gears’ throat for a moment. "I took his friend, that's pain enough for him."

With a simple nod, the clone known as Match tossed Gears almost twenty feet across the room where he landed with a loud thud sound. Scanning where the others laid, Match picked Empress up by her hair.

"I like this one," Harm said with his trademark evil grin. "Let's see if she has any fight left in her," he said motioning for Match to stand her up.

Putting her on her feet, both men watched as she wobbled for a moment, before gathering enough strength to stand upright.

Picking up her Emperors Stick, Harm tossed it to her and said, "You have one chance to defend yourself. I suggest you make it count."

"You sick freak!" Empress said as she unleashed her blade and began attacking Harm wildly. "You think this is just some game don't you?"

"Yes I do," Harm replied as he dodged her attacks with ease. "And the best part is," he started as he flipped over her and stabbed her in the middle of the back. As Empress tried to let out a scream of pain, Harm moved his mouth closer to her ear and said, "I always win," before removing the blade and watching her body fall to the ground. Bending down he removed her mask, and placed it on his belt as another trophy for his collection.

"NOOO!!!" Gears yelled as he got back to his feet just in time to see the blood pool around Empresses body. "You sick son of a..." Gears couldn't finish what he wanted to say as he launched several of the same devices used against Aquahunter earlier towards Harm.

In what seemed like a split second, Match simply let out a quick breath of air that sent the electrical devices sailing right back at Gears. It happened so fast, Gears didn't have time to protect himself. The coils wrapped around him and sent several thousand volts of electricity through his body. Once the shock treatment had stopped, Gears fell to the ground his body smoking as he landed with a thud.

Harm stood and laughed for a moment as he watched Gears’ body twitch. "Is there anyone else who wants to play hero?" he asked watching as the other members of Young Justice began to stir. Walking towards them, he was suddenly stopped as three crimson Batarangs hit the floor in front of him. Looking upward, Harm saw two figures standing on a platform a few feet above. "Robin!"

"And I didn't come alone either."

To be continued...

Next Issue: In Harm’s Way comes to an end as Robin and a few special guests come to the aid of Young Justice. Will they be able to save the crew before Harm can take another life? Find out next time…

	Yesterday... Today... Tomorrow... They are The Next Generation of Heroes..... In Harm's Way: Part Two
Young Justice #13 November, Year Four	by Alex Hayden