Kapitel 81: Surprise!
Tuesday 22nd July, 21:45.
Caribbean Sea,
Santa Prisca.
Peeking his head through the door that had just opened for them, Robin took a few seconds to carefully survey his surroundings for any sign of movement. "All clear." He whispered when he saw no Kobra cultists patrolling the nearby vicinity, Esau the first and waiting for the remainder of the team to get before following after Robin who took the lead.
Yet, even as they gave chase and rounded the corner, Robin had already disappeared.
Rather than move further in and risk getting caught, instead crouching down behind a few pipes, trying to find any sign of Robin, each displaying signs of annoyance and frustration at his actions.
Bane shared their sentiments. "Has the little fool already been caught?" He questioned, his doubt in the team of sidekicks growing with every second he spent in their presence, they were incredibly dysfunctional and unprofessional. It was getting to a point he was beginning to whether he had made a mistake in relying upon them, or whether he should make a big enough scene to attract the Justice League's attention. At least they would destroy this facility and rob the Kobra Cult of it, meanwhile, Bane could simply rebuild it again and better prepare himself for a possible future assault.
"No." Aqualad sighed, shaking his head. "He...just does that."
"Wait here, I'll gather intel and be back long before the boy wonder." Kid Flash boasted, pulling down his goggles before speeding off, no one able to stop him in time.
Bane shook his head at the sight. "Great chain of command." He directed that towards Esau who remained beside Batgirl and Superboy, eyes studying the movements of the Kobra Cult below.
"Good job, Robin, Kid." Esau praised. "Now, make sure to stick to the plan."
"Yeah, yeah. Don't have to tell us twice." Kid Flash brushed off, continuing to speed quickly around the factory, moving quicker than anyone could react or even see all the while keeping track of everything going on around him. He had already begun to get a good idea of the number of cultists and the weaponry they had on hand to know that the Kobra Cult had, considering its size, probably brought nearly all of their forces to secure this island.
Yet, despite Kid Flash's dismissiveness, Robin was much more agreeable. "On it." Though his earlier immaturity had definitely made things difficult for the team, it seemed that their talk had seemed to have snapped him back to reality. He was now acting much more like how one of Batman's apprentices should be, moving towards the central terminal in order to hack into the database.
His goal was twofold, to find out what the Kobra Cult was planning, and also to gain a deeper understanding of Bane's entire operation.
Meanwhile, Esau and the others moved to a better vantage point, heading towards the metal rafters that had been strangely abandoned. But as they looked upon the operation unfolding before their eyes, it was clear that something big was happening and soon by the fact that it seemed to be an all hands on deck kind of situation.
"That's a massive shipment." Aqualad muttered in awe at the sheer amount of Venom that was being moved around by the cultists, awe-inspiring, but terrifying to imagine the chaos that could be caused by all that being shipped out at once. Yet, what was even unnerving about this sight was the way cultists, despite looking to have not gotten much sleep in days, were still continuing to work hard.
It was a dangerous and daunting level of commitment.
"Yeah, but they're only taking the new product off the line." Superboy noted. "They're not touching any of the old Venom." Here, the others looked towards the large stockpiles of Venom stacked against the far side of the wall, the Kobra Cultists seemingly avoiding it entirely.
"Maybe freshness counts." Miss Martian suggested.
"It's possible." Batgirl agreed. "Everything has a shelf life, even Venom. It will eventually run its and Batman's theorised that the longer someone waits before taking Venom, the less effective it is." More than a few looked to Bane to gauge his reaction to their words, a vain hope to see if they prove any of what they said true, yet he did not give even the slightest hint of having heard them.
Before Esau could say anything, he picked up on the faint sound of something heading this way and he turned to Superboy, seeing that he too had heard. "Helicopter." Superboy answered, having seen the silent question in Esau's eyes, all turning to look out the hanger for the helicopter and what they assumed would be the buyer.
Yet in that same moment, Robin's voice sounded over the link. "Guys, I've found something." By the tone of his voice, the worry and nervousness put them all on edge, something Bane noticed. "It's about the Venom Kobra are producing."
"What it is, Robin?" Batgirl asked.
There was a slight pause as Robin took some time to double-check what he was reading to make sure he was correct. "The creature, the one that Bane described and fought against."
"Fought?" Kid Flash snorted in amusement. "Guy got his ass handed to him, all but admitted it."
"Yes, thank you for that." Robin drawled, everyone able to tell he was rolling his eyes. "Like I was saying, the formulate that was used to turn him into that thing, it isn't just an improved version of Venom. It's a chemical mixture of Venom and Project Blockbuster, turning it into one super drug. It's three times stronger than Venom and permanent."
Silence descended at that moment.
The gravity of what they had been told and what was happening sank in instantly.
"But how did Kobra get their hands on Blockbuster?" Aqualad asked the question on all their minds.
"Right now, it doesn't matter." Esau intervened before things could get off track any further. "All that matters right now is ensuring that none of that stuff gets off this island. Kid Flash, have you managed to find an armoury of some kind?"
"Yeah?"
"What was in it?"
"Guns, ammo, explosives, the usual." Kid Flash listed. "Why?"
"I want you to head back and get the explosives." He ordered and while confused, Kid Flash skidded to a halt, quickly spinning around and rushing back in the direction he came from.
"Esau, what have you got planned?" Batgirl questioned as they all watched as the helicopter began to land.
Esau didn't answer though. "You got them?" He directed this towards Kid Flash.
"Yeah." The speedster responded quickly. "Now what?"
"Find a place to lay low and wait for my signal. Then place them along the entire production line, aim to cause the maximum amount of damage that will cripple the entire process."
"That wasn't our mission!" Robin exclaimed, many sharing the sentiments, one clearly felt through the link that connected all their minds together.
"Aqualad said it best." Esau didn't care though. "A leader has to make tough decisions. This is one of them. You have to understand that no plan is ever perfect and that missions always change when unknown variables appear. This is a big unknown and that means our mission has changed along with it."
This was a lesson Esau had learned the hard way and one that the sidekicks had not yet fully understood, but one they too needed to learn. If they wanted to survive, they needed to be prepared for unknown variables to appear and put a wrench in whatever plan they had, but the needed to be able to adapt to it.
If they couldn't adapt, then they would fail.
If heroes failed, that put them and everyone around them in danger.
But Esau was far from finished. "Bane intends to betray us or force our hand into action and very soon by the way things are unfolding." That much was obvious, even they understood that. "The moment we agreed to get help from Bane was the moment secrecy went out the window. We've already failed our mission for that reason alone. But that doesn't mean we can't fuck with Bane's operation and stop the Kobra Cult's plan once all is said and done."
Kid flash laughed, smiling as he rushed through the corridors to find a good place to wait. "I'm down with that, just give me the signal."
"Good, hold your position when you get there. I'm pretty sure you'll know what the signal is." Esau said. "As for the rest of us, we've got our own tasks."From there, Esau began issuing orders to the rest of the team, each of them voicing their understanding. "Get ready."
Miss Martian then turned invisible, flying up into the air and heading out in the direction of the copter.
"Where's she going?" Bane pressed, a little unsure as to what was going on with the sidekicks, something seemed a little different about them.
"To get a better view." Esau replied shortly.
"Maelstrom, sending you the image now?" Suddenly, in his mind appeared the image of the man stepping out of the helicopter yet he had no idea who the man was.
Another reminder that he still had a lot to learn about the world and the players in it.
"Sportsmaster." Aqualad answered, he too having received the images just like the rest of the team. "He must be the buyer."
"It's time to call it in," Esau said, turning to Batgirl nodded her head, raising one hand to her ear in order to activate the commlink.
"Batgirl to Red Tornado." There was static on the other end. "Red Tornado, do you read?" She questioned only to receive static once more. "I've got nothing, they must be jamming our signal somehow."
"No matter, we just need to get off the island," Esau said urgently, but Bane had ideas of his own recognising this as his moment to act.
With a large shout to purposefully draw attention to himself, Bane jumped over the railing and plummeted to the ground below where two Kobra Cultists were standing guard. Both had heard the shout and seen Bane's shadow, looking up to see what was happening, guns in motion to aim and fire, but it was too late.
Bane had already landed.
One, large hand swung to the side, backhanding one cultist away with a strike to the neck that knocked him unconscious while he slapped the other cultist's gun into the air. The bullets fired out flew harmlessly upwards, but it had the effect of also alerting the entirety of Kobra Cult that they were not alone.
"That's your signal, Kid?" Esau ordered, indicating with his hand for him, Batgirl, Aqualad and Superboy to make move to a different location before they were spotted. "As for the rest, let's wait a little while longer." Coming to a stop a little further away, the four once more crouched down low to watch Bane below who was doing a more than sufficient job of keeping the Kobra Cult distracted.
His natural strength and speed were proving too much for the cultists, coupled with his incredible intellect and skills made Bane a force to be reckoned with. Yet that changed when the Kobra Cult's Champion appeared, bursting through the window and landing on the railing where they had originally been positioned at. It broke underneath the weight of his body, unable to withstand its momentum, as it and the Champion broke and fell to the floor.
The Champion moved with incredible speed, having nary touched the floor for a second before he burst towards Bane, closing the distance between them in an instant. Bane was good, skilled and strong, but he was no match for the Champion's own power, even with Venom Bane had been outmatched and without it; it was a one-sided slaughter.
Yet he stood his ground and fought well, utilising skill and intellect to hold his own for a short while.
Proof that Bane without Venom was by no means easy to beat.
"Done." Kid Flash informed and Esau smirked.
"Good, you know your parts, now just wait for my signal." He had no doubts Bane would tell Kobra about them, it was just who the guy was, an opportunist.
However, Esau was not about to let the guy give away their biggest advantage; the element of surprise.
Nor was he going to allow Bane to continue running rampant and possibly cause problems.
No, he was going to wait just for the right moment when the guy was beaten and before he could reveal their presence.
He didn't have to wait long because lo and behold, there it was.
"Now!"
AUTORENGEDANKEN 
Carrots123
Carrots123 So, another chapter is done and with it, Esau really begins to showcase that while he may not have been in the hero business as long as some of them, he is more experienced than them. This is all down to the fact he had no mentor to guide him and had to learn a lot of lessons the hard way, lessons that unknowingly, their mentors have stopped them from learning. Anyway, hope you all enjoyed and if you have any questions or suggestions, please let me know.
Wöchentlicher Energiestatus
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