章 1124: 22
Disclaimer: I do not own DC. Happy Thanksgiving, you gaggle of jerks. And for those of you international folk reading this who don't really celebrate American holidays, what the hell? Grab yourself a whole turkey anyway and imbibe the poultry. You deserve it.
Chapter 22: Hero Of Circumstance
Null was getting stronger, every single day.
It hadn't been obvious to him at first, but after a while, he started to notice that he could do things he couldn't before. He had gone from barely being able to move a pipe with his magnetic powers, to being able to throw himself more than 100 feet in the air and cushion his landing, to being able to move cars, to ripping several light posts from the ground and controlling them all at the same time.
And that was before getting into how he could actually manifest electricity now.
It had eventually hit him that this was the case, but he didn't get a lot of opportunities to see what he could really do, outside of precise control things. When it came to vulgar displays of power, never. He was a thief. If he was in a fight, it meant something went wrong, and running away would always be his first choice, unless he had an ulterior motive for fighting, which was rare. On the chance that he did find himself in a fight... well, he couldn't exactly maul police, security guards, or superheroes and keep his preferred status quo. The thing with Anarky framing him had made that abundantly clear if it hadn't been already.
This entire situation was different. These were villains, at least one of whom was extremely powerful. He would have to let it all hang out just to survive, and if he did just so happen to go a bit too far, well the superheroes would likely look at him in a more negative light, but general law enforcement probably wouldn't.
Speaking of how people were looking at him, the looks on Livewire and Shockwave's faces after he'd ripped several light posts out of the boardwalk with a wave of his hands was just too good. Before they could recover from their surprise, he took the initiative.
Livewire blinked herself out of her stupor when one of Null's light posts smashed into Shockwave like a javelin, sending him flying away from the scene. There was no way she was going down to some kid. It would make her a laughingstock, "Oh yeah? You think you're something special, you little shit?" She extended her hands and let electricity fly.
Null grimaced and lifted a hand to absorb all of it. It was more of an intake than he was used to dealing with in one sitting, but it didn't harm him any, "Not really, seeing as how I'm not the only one throwing around lightning bolts here," With a wave of his hand, he magnetically swung the light post like a bat.
Livewire let out a scream and unleashed an eletromagnetic field to block the swing. At that point, Shockwave jumped up from underneath the boardwalk, smashing through the wood behind Null to grab onto him. Null noticed him before he could find himself captured and backflipped over him, kicking him in the back and propelling him forward through his feet to send him flying him Livewire's direction.
Livewire turned into pure energy and moved herself behind Null as he rebuked Shockwave, "Gotta have eyes everywhere, honey," She said as she blasted him from behind after reforming, "Aww, I thought I couldn't hurt you?" She taunted.
Null's muscles locked up at the electricity coursing through him, keeping him from being able to so much as scream in pain. As he was stuck in place, Shockwave charged back in like a bull and leapt forward, stamping the bottom of his foot on Null's chest.
He went flying and smacked into a carousel, his body bouncing between three of the posts connecting horses to the structure. It hurt, a lot. Before Null could pull himself up, the canopy of the carousel was crushed down, trapping him inside. All he could do was turtle up and scoot closer to the inside wall.
Outside of the ride, Livewire smirked as she watched Shockwave crush the carousel up into a ball, per her directions. If the brat inside wasn't compacted inside of it, he would have an equally unpleasant fate ahead of him.
Once the carousel had been turned into a ball of twisted metal, Livewire held up her hand and gave a thumbs-down, "Go ahead and throw the little shit into the drink. We need to get back to finding Supergirl."
"With pleasure," Shockwave chuckled, lifting the carousel ball over his head and throwing it off of the pier into the ocean. It hit the water with a great splash and sank quickly. They watched it go down before another word passed between them, "Now dat dat's ova' wit', how're we supposed ta' find where Supergirl went?"
"Just give me a minute to think!" Livewire demanded. They had to track Supergirl back down. The bounty on her head was just too sweet to pass up, even if she didn't have a running vendetta against Superman, "...Stupid kid. Should've killed him harder."
As she complained and thought of how to catch back up with Supergirl, a rumbling sound distracted her. From the water, the carousel rose into the air, uncurling itself from the ball it had been crushed into, revealing Null inside at its center, sopping wet with an angry expression on his face.
"Aww, what's the matter, junior? You don't like being all wet?"
Null didn't say anything. He held out both arms and swung them back in to himself, bringing up all of the important metal supports that had held portions of the pier together. The entire thing shook and dropped directly down. Livewire began to panic as water crested over the sides, quickly coming up past her legs within seconds.
"Oh no, no, no!" Livewire said to herself as she felt her powers begin to short circuit. She couldn't even fire a decent blast at Null to try and get a measure of revenge, "Hey! You can't leave me here! You've gotta get me out!"
"No I don't," Null said before turning his attention to Shockwave, " As a matter of fact-," He reached out and magnetically lifted the armored man into the air before suddenly bringing him back down, slamming him through the wooden pier.
By now, Livewire was forced to swim to stay above water. Null tore off a piece of the carousel and used it to levitate above the ocean, meanwhile, he positioned the carousel itself above Livewire.
"You have to be kidding!" She yelled over the salt water that found its way into her mouth, "You can't!"
Oh he could. He definitely could. Literally all he had to do was let go. And the entire carousel was awfully heavy, "I told you I wasn't a hero. People should think about what that means before they go around picking fights."
With that, he let it drop. Livewire screamed and went to dive out of the way as the carnival ride careened down to the surface of the water. Once it was clear that no one else was going to attack him again, for now at least, Null dropped to a knee, holding his torso. Shockwave might have broken something, or knocked something loose when he kicked him.
He had been in three fights since coming to Metropolis. This was just supposed to be a damned field trip, not any kind of job. As he rested, he took a look at the device he had synched with the Gravboard. He had to get to Supergirl. Hopefully he had gotten her out of range of the towers.
XxX
(Meanwhile – Goodsprings, Nevada)
Once it had become apparent what had happened, heroes aware of the situation with the capabilities to do more got in gear and started to get to work. Among them were the Teen Titans.
The Teen Titans moved fast, splitting into two groups to try and deal with the problem at-hand. The more mobile members of the team, Kid Flash, Starfire, and Raven were set to hit as many towers as they could in succession, while Cyborg would take Wonder Girl east to Metropolis to see if there was anything they could do there to help to solve the problem at what was presumably the source.
While the latter two were still traveling, the speedier team would get to work from their end of things. Hopefully, they would manage to get some information to make everything go smoother.
Their first stop was the tower closest to their home base in Nevada. If they could deactivate that one, it would at least make it so that Superboy could come out of the panic room inside of the tower.
Instead of just destroying the tower, the trio of heroes checked it over. This was something from the mind of Lex Luthor. Simply getting rid of the source wasn't simple enough. There had to be a catch, and it didn't take long to find it.
"You've got to be kidding me," Kid Flash muttered aloud. A device given to him by Cyborg was capable of analyzing the makeup and interfaces of machines. What he saw made him pause, "This is not good."
While Starfire flew around the tower, trying to probe it for any defenses, a young woman in a black cloak, revealing bodysuit, and thigh-high boots walked over to learn what the problem was, "What's the matter?"
Kid Flash put the device away, its job now finished. It wasn't going to come up with a solution, "This thing is connected to an EMP device. A big one. It'll destroy all electronics within its radius. That includes entire power grids."
Raven looked up at the tower, a new sense of annoyance welling up inside of her, "T'hat would set wherever it goes off back into the dark ages," For instance, if the one there was activated, the entire west coast would be affected.
Kid Flash nodded, "...And I'm betting all of the towers have something nasty like this connected to them," He observed said. Either way, this wouldn't be a quick fix.
It was Lex Luthor. Of course it would be a chore stopping him.
XxX
(Meanwhile – Metropolis )
Superman seethed behind the lead-lined walls of the panic shelter set up in town by the Justice League. He had been in the crowd in his reporter guise when the towers had been turned on. Luckily, Jefferson Pierce had been as well. After all, someone needed to drag the Krypytonian-in-disguise out of there before he keeled over in public.
"You need to calm down," Jefferson said as he suited up in his Black Lightning persona to head back out.
Superman turned to his friend and snapped, "Someone has to do something, Jefferson!" If it were up to him, He would be 3/4ths of the way up Luther's backside trying to find a fix by now, "Come to think of it, I'll get on this."
Oh no he wasn't, "Goddamn it, it's too dangerous!" Black Lightning bellowed, "We want you out there just as much as you want to get involved, but not until we find a way to get you out there safely."
Superman calmed down, but aggravation was still evident on his face and in his body language, "More than anywhere else, it's my responsibility to keep watch over Metropolis."
Black Lightning put a hand on Superman's shoulder, "It's not just your responsibility. I know you probably could hold up the world by yourself, but you shouldn't have to."
Metropolis was his city too, and not just his. Besides, heroes all over would jump into action once they were able to. This would not pass.
XxX
(Two Hours Later – Miles Off of the Atlantic Coast)
For Kara, everything hurt, and then, just like that, it didn't. She remembered going out cold somewhere over Metropolis, and that was it. When she awoke with a start, she found nothing around her at all. Nothing except for countless miles of ocean.
...And the long metal board underneath her floating in the air above the shiny blue water.
...And the last person she had been around before blacking out, sitting behind her, staring out at the sea.
"Null?" Kara asked blearily, still gathering herself from her moment of vulnerability. As she pushed herself up to sit on the board, she saw him turn to face her. Her headache wasn't helped by an annoying beep constantly going off, "Ugh. What's that noise?"
Null smiled a bit at seeing Kara start to recover. She had been out of it for some time, "I don't know. Something on you's been beeping for a minute or two," It wasn't in-sight on her person, so he didn't want to touch somewhere he shouldn't have in order to find it, "I didn't want to search you to find out what it was in case you woke up and killed me."
Kara started absently feeling around on her person for the communicator gifted to her, the source of the sound, "I wouldn't have-, ugh. Nevermind. How far away from Metropolis are we?"
Null turned back to the direction he had come from, as if he could actually see the shore from where they were, "Pffft... 300 miles. Those towers have some range on 'em."
Supergirl was at a loss for what Null was referring to, "Towers? What are you talking about?"
"Luthor's stupid towers are putting out Kryptonite radiation," Null informed her. That man went through a lot of trouble to try and kill or chase away Superman, "So now what?"
After hearing the situation, Kara didn't think twice about the question, "I have to go back. We have to turn those towers off."
Null gave her a look as though she were a fool, "You can't go back. What exactly are you going to do?"
"Something! If those things are on for too long, people will be in danger!"
"I know that," Null could hear her getting worked up and held up his hands her way to try and calm her down. Not that he thought she would hurt him, but if she just rushed off, it would make all of the work he did to get her somewhere safe worthless, "Those things aren't just up in Metropolis. They're active all over the country. I don't think there's any place in the U.S. you can set foot and be safe."
Supergirl scowled at Null. Hanging around on the sidelines did nothing for her, "So, what? We just sit here and wait?"
Null cocked his head at how venomous she sounded at the idea of passing the buck, "Seeing as how doing anything else will kill you and there are tons of other superheroes, yes, you crazy, alien bird," It wasn't like flying back would change anything. She'd slowly die the way she almost did the first time, "Sit here and do something on your phone to pass the time," He said, holding up his own for emphasis, "...Oh. No connection. Talk about ironic."
That reminded Kara of the infernal beeping from her communicator. Just how long had it been going off for? Reaching for the communicator given to her by Superboy, for just-in-case contact with the group of heroes closest to her age, she answered the call, "Hello?"
On the other end, she heard the relieved voice of Wonder Girl, Cassie Sandsmark, "Oh, thank God! You're alright!"
"Yeah, I'm okay... mostly," Kara said as she thought to herself, 'Conner's girlfriend? Where's Connor then?' Kara wondered, a measure of fear gripping her for a moment, 'No, he's got a team with him. If Null saved me when the towers went off, the Titans probably helped him even faster.' "What's going on with you? What's happening?"
"We're headed to Metropolis," Wonder Girl said, "I'm not sure how we can help the situation there, but it's worth a shot. After all, that's where this whole thing started, isn't it? With Luthor's towers."
"Yeah. Just take out the one around there and I can head back to Metropolis."
Cyborg chimed in from his place inside of the T-Jet, "It's not that easy. The towers are hooked up to EMP devices," He said, "Take one offline, an EMP will go off. Its got the range of the towers themselves."
Null let out a low whistle at how bad that could be. An EMP blast hundreds of miles in range in all directions. That was certainly quite a wrinkle in the whole situation, "Well that's definitely a way to make sure nobody takes them out quick."
The potential for collateral damage if someone was too hasty in reacting was massive.
His voice was heard from the others, and Wonder Girl brought this to Supergirl's attention,"Are you with someone?" She asked.
Null tried to wave his hands as if to tell her not to say anything about him. He was ignored, "Oh. Yeah. Null is here. He helped me get away from Metropolis when the Kryptonite radiation got to me," Null quietly palmed his forehead as Supergirl continued, "He flew me out of there on this… I don't know what it is. Where did you get this?"
Null quickly changed the subject, "So, you guys are going to handle the trouble in Metropolis? Sweet," Now he could just find a safe place out of range of all of the towers to wait for things to blow over.
"Null," Kara rebuked him before turning back to the Titans on the communicator, "So how is this supposed to go? What are you going to do?"
That was the question of the day. One that no one had a good enough answer for, "I don't know yet. But once all of this is settled, we're going to have a lot to look into," Cyborg said, "We've got to find out where the design for these towers came from. Maybe more importantly, we're going to have to find out where the Kryptonite came from."
Kara frowned at that, "Kryptonite is monitored closely, isn't it?"
Cyborg was busy on a computer inside of his jet as it continued to fly, "Yeah, and it wasn't obtained by any legal means. LexCorp and all of its holdings are banned from having any, which means someone stole it for him," His research turned up quick results, "S.T.A.R. Labs in Gotham City recorded a loss of their Kryptonite supply to theft months ago."
Null ears perked up at that. He said nothing, but suddenly started feeling very hot.
Kara listened to her cybernetic-enhanced friend, but realized that there wasn't anything research like that could do to help stop the towers, "That won't do us any good now. Investigating can wait. For now, we have to deal with what's in front of us."
Cyborg nodded, "Agreed. We'll be in Metropolis within the hour. Then we'll figure out what we can do from there."
Wonder Girl chimed in, sounding concerned, "Kara, just stay somewhere safe for the time being. There isn't anything you can do if flying back here will get you killed."
"Alright..." Kara said, sounding dejected. What Null and now her Teen Titan allies were saying was right. For all that she could do, for now, she was powerless.
Cyborg could see that, and tried to cheer her up, "Don't worry. We'll get Luthor. We'll get him and everyone involved."
In his head, Null waged a mental war with himself and his own insecurity over his freedom, 'Screw that! They can't prove I'm connected!' He thought, before quickly changing his tune, 'Argh! Who am I kidding? They can totally prove I'm connected! Then what am I gonna do?'
Get his tail thrown into Blackgate Penitentiary, that was what. Or worse, Stryker's Island. He had gotten a look at that place after the thing with the Kryptonite Man. The place was tailor-made for dealing with metahumans. It was definitely where they would send him, seeing as how he had superpowers, and getting out of there would be way more difficult in comparison.
Yes, right now he was still cleared of all of the crimes he had committed before. But that probably only applied for the things they knew he had a hand in. He had been cleared of the S.T.A.R. Labs theft, true, but what were the chances things would stay that way once they could link his theft to his status as a possible accomplice in a plot to kill Superman?
Well, at least he could try to cover his bases, just to make sure. He definitely didn't trust the hero contingent to not turn around and bite him when he thought he was clear.
"Yeah, we will," Null said in an entirely wooden tone. Kara went wide-eyed and slowly looked over at him. Null took the lull to clear his throat and speak with more confidence and poise, "You heard me. We'll fix this."
Her eyes went big and wide, as if she couldn't believe what she was hearing, "Y-You're going to help?"
He was actually going to offer to help, and admit it? When Kara heard that, she couldn't wait to take it and rub it in some faces later. Null didn't have to do that, and yet he was. He really was much better a person than people thought.
With all the powers Kryptonians had, mind reading was clearly not one of them, otherwise she would have found very different motivations from the young man under the hood.
"Yeah. Why not?" Null said, deciding to double down now that the decision was made. The whole Kryptonite tower thing could either be his problem now in his efforts to stop it, or later when everyone found out he'd indirectly had a hand in making it happen, "Who knows when I might need a solid from you guys sometime down the line? I'll just consider it money in the bank," He put himself in clear view of Kara's communicator to talk to the Titans, "What do you say, Cyborg? We've worked together once before. I don't suck that bad."
'Sucked' was the last term Cyborg would have used to describe Null's performance the last time they teamed up. He'd saved lives that night; both Cyborg's and Nightwing's, "It's not like we're in much of a position to turn down help right now anyway. Get yourself back to Metropolis. We'll link up there."
"Killer," Null said. It wasn't killer though. Not really. But sure, this might as well happen while he was in Metropolis.
The transmission ended there and Null heaved a great sigh. This field trip was supposed to be stress-free. Before he could start kicking himself over his choice, Kara had grabbed his hands.
"You really aren't a bad guy," Kara said excitedly, "I can't believe you're going back."
"Neither can I," Null said, trying to pull his hands free. He couldn't even make her grip loosen, and she wasn't even trying, "I mean-! This is all screwing with me too, right? I don't feel like living in the United States of Radiation."
Kara gave Null a sly half-lidded look with a smirk, "Uh-huh. Totally."
"Grr..." It was enough to make Null give up trying to talk himself down. He was not doing this for the masses. It was purely for him. There was no getting through to her on this. Such a hard-headed girl.
XxX
Null sat around outside of Metropolis underneath the broadband tower that was apparently the source of the Krptonite radiation. He'd thought of a few ways to try and solve the problem while waiting for the Teen Titans to arrive.
Maybe he could put up a lead wall around the entire thing. Boom. Problem temporarily solved right there until someone could find a better solution. But then the question came as to where he was going to get all of that lead. So that was a no-go.
His brainstorming came to an end when he saw a large aircraft slow down near the tower with a red 'T' on the bottom. Hopping up from his seat, he went over to greet Cyborg and the other girl he hadn't met before as they exited the jet.
"Well-well-well. Look who's fashionably late," Null said as he walked up to the pair, pointing between them both, "Aren't there more of you, or did you do a roster shuffle since the last time I dealt with you guys?"
Cyborg answered, "The team split up to try and work different angles. The two of us came straight here," He gestured to the blonde girl, "Null, meet Wonder Girl. Wonder Girl, Null."
Wonder Girl took a moment to size the metahuman thief up. He didn't seem like much at a first glance in-person, "So you're Null."
"Yep," Null said, popping the 'p' sound, "That's the name on my rap sheet."
Wonder Girl raised an eyebrow with a slight smile, "Robin hates your guts, you know."
Null rolled his eyes in return, "Oh, trust me, the feeling is kind of mutual," He said before grumbling, "...Fucking Bat-people."
"Alright, now that everyone is properly introduced..." Cyborg said, walking up to the tower. His systems ran a diagnostics on the structure, but it did him little good in finding a way to stop it, "It's true. This this is connected remotely to something. If that connection is broken, whatever's on the other end will go off."
The EMP, he meant.
Wonder Girl frowned at the tower, "What would Luthor possibly have to gain from that?"
Cyborg let out a snort and pointed a thumb at nearby Metropolis, "Other than getting a chance at killing Superman? Utilities in this city go through LexCorp."
Wonder Girl couldn't believe he would still get business once everything was said and done, "There's no way people would still pay his company after they find out he set everything up."
"It's not up to people, it's up to the city. And the city would absolutely pay LexCorp, because LexCorp is the tops. Plus, if you don't think Luthor's got people to help bail him out of trouble up top..."
Lex Luthor had been exposed as a slimeball time and time again, and yet he continued to make money hand-over-fist. There were reasons for that.
"Wish I had it like that," Null remarked off-handedly, getting a look from Cyborg and Wonder Girl, "What? Do you know how useful a get-out-of-jail-free lifeline would be for me?" He wasn't going to church up who he was at heart just because he was around heroes.
They went along, ignoring Null's remark about how he wished he had a criminal's resources to be a more untouchable criminal.
While the two Teen Titans discussed the situation and what they might be able to do, Null walked up to the tower and placed his hands on it. Maybe there was something he could do?
He could absorb electricity from objects. But a part of that was being able to feel the energy in whatever he was touching to begin with.
Wonder Girl took the time to assess what they could of what was happening. Everything was moving fast, response included, "So, I'm assuming Superman is somewhere safe, because if he wasn't we'd have heard he was dead by now," She said. The Kryptonite radiation would be harmful to regular people as well, but it would take longer depending on how strong it was, "I guess that means the EMP can be our first priority here."
Cyborg nodded, continuing to scan the tower, "The problem is finding it. There's nothing physical connecting the tower to the EMP. If I can get a while, I think I can find a way to deactivate everything safely from here."
"How long is a while?" Null asked, continuing to focus on his own private scan of the tower.
The mechanically-enhanced man didn't like his own answer he was about to give, "Honestly? A day. Maybe two," He could deal with it, probably, but it would take time, "There's no way he thought this would last forever. Luthor probably figured he would have a few hours before people figured out what was happening, then a few days after that to get out of the country where Supes can't hammer him."
Null's previous question got Wonder Girl to actually pay attention to what he had been occupying himself with, "Uh... what are you doing?"
"Trying to feel a connection here," Null explained, trying to keep his words as short as possible so he could focus, "I swear I'm getting something. Do you guys mind?"
Wonder Girl turned to Cyborg and pointed a thumb at their temporary ally, "Is he serious?"
Cyborg shrugged, "I don't know. There isn't really a dedicated log for his powers," Because he was small-time, compared to villains that routinely tried to establish dominion over cities, or the world, less attention was paid at-large to keeping tabs on him, "I've seen him use magnetic powers, but that's it."
"Robin, Superboy, B.B., and Kid Flash never told us he could do anything else."
"That doesn't mean he can't do anything else."
"Shhhhhut up," Null said, shushing the other two while he concentrated. He shut his eyes and kept everything else out of his thoughts other than what he could feel from the tower.
He could feel the broadband signal emanating from the tower. He could feel the source of the tower's power. It actually came from the radiation of the Kryptonite that it was also putting out. But more importantly he could feel something else.
Null's eyes shot open in an instant. He turned with a start to the city of Metropolis proper, "...I know where the EMP device is," He could feel his distance from it in his head.
All went silent for a moment before Cyborg exclaimed happily, "Hell yeah! Hop in the T-Jet and show us the way. Let's get this handled, baby!"
Everyone piled into the aircraft and it took off to fly the short distance necessary upon Null's direction,"But what can we do when we get there? It'll still go off if we try anything on it, won't it?"
"Not if it doesn't have any energy to work," Null said, hopping into one of the passenger seats of the T-Jet, "I can absorb electricity."
"So all we have to do is get him close enough and he can handle the rest," Cyborg said, "Time to go to work!"
XxX
(Some Time Later – Gotham City – Tin Roof Club)
It had been a long day. With the threat of radiation in the air scaring a bunch of folks, Selina still expected customers to show up that night for a drink at her bar. As she went to open up for the evening, she found the door unlocked.
That was not how she had left it. Locking up actually meant locking everything up.
With a sigh, Selina carefully pushed the door open, expecting to find some kind of ambush. What she didn't expect to find, was a silver-haired girl with an eyepatch inspecting her top shelf booze behind the bar.
Rose Wilson.
Selina felt a scowl come over her face, courtesy of seeing the progeny of Slade inside of her establishment, "What are you doing here?" She said, suddenly getting Rose's attention, "I don't let minors into my club. Aside from that, we don't open until later."
Rose turned around and jumped up to sit on the bar to face Selina properly, "Well, seeing as how our mutual friend has done a very good job of keeping your address to himself, I had to find you out on the street."
Selina smiled to herself, thinking that Max was a good boy knowing to keep certain things to himself, especially about her, "So? What do you want with me? You should know by now that I'm not exactly on good terms with your father."
"I'm not him."
"You're close enough. And even if you weren't, you're bad enough on your own."
This had just started and it was getting Rose nowhere. At this rate, Selina was never going to hear her out, "Look, you can be cattish about it all you want, but we've interacted one time. So can you just let me know just what your problem with me is?" Rose said, "You're important to Sparky, so I'm going to try and be nice."
Selina had no interest in being nice. Not to Rose, "I don't like you," She said, sounding quite chipper about the fact, "I think you're bad for him. I think Maxie is going to get himself hurt dealing with you and all of your crazy. I think you're taking advantage of the fact that every third thought he's going to have as a teenager is coming from his second head."
Rose scoffed, stopping Selina in the middle of her listed issues, "He's not that bad. He actually does do a good job of trying to keep from eye-fucking me on a regular basis."
What Rose was selling, Selina wasn't buying. Not that easily, "Oh, please. You're a pretty girl, and you two can put up with each other. I already know you stay with him. I can't even imagine how much you two have already seen of one other," No dispute of any of the points presented came from Rose, even after several seconds. Selina's eyes went wide, "...Oh my God, you didn't even deny it."
And that meant it went further than what was being indicated. No. Just, no. Max should have known better. Physical relationships got complicated enough between regular people. But as the old adage went, don't stick your dick in crazy.
Rose growled to give another purpose to the red hue growing underneath the surface of her skin, "We both know what we're doing there! Besides, we haven't even gone that far."
Selina's brow quirked skeptically, "How far is 'not that far'?"
Rose took a moment to think of the extent to which she and Max had fooled around, "...Third base?" She ventured to estimate, only to wonder why she was giving up any of this information, "What's it to you, anyway? I know what I called you back at his apartment, but seriously, you're not his mother."
"Do I have to be? He's a good kid," Selina ventured to say, getting a look of pure skepticism from Rose, "Okay, he's not a bad kid. A little guidance for someone like that could go a long way. Come to think of it... I should probably do more hands-on mentoring."
It was the best way to ensure nothing went wrong. Otherwise, he could wind up with friends like Rose.
...Well, more friends like Rose. At this point, Selina doubted Max would up and get rid of her because she told him to. He had a more solid sense of loyalty than he cared to admit. That could have been more of a bad thing than a good thing.
Selina shook her head and walked past Rose to head behind the bar, "Anyway, what are you doing here?" She asked, grabbing a bottle from the shelf to pour herself a drink. For who her present company was, there was a chance she would need the buzz, "And don't skimp on the details. I'll know if you're leaving something out, and you definitely don't want to do that."
Rose seemed stunned that she was actually going to get to talk. As annoying as it had been getting that far, she had expected a much tougher time getting the cat burglar to listen, "You're actually going to hear me out?"
Selina set her bottle aside and leaned forward over the bar, "I don't like you, but Maxie does. God help me, I have no idea why," She grumbled, pausing to take a drink, "So go ahead."
Rose took a breath and quieter than Selina had ever heard her, she presented the issue, "My dad is back in Gotham."
Selina stopped moving, cheeks full of alcohol before she finally took the time to swallow it, "Oh," Selina said, markedly surprised, "Well, I guess I have a few hours before I have to open."
XxX
(Meanwhile – With Null - Metropolis)
Null's guidance took the two members of the Teen Titans with him to a tower near the middle of Metropolis. It made sense. A device meant mainly to threaten the most advanced city in the United States had to be somewhere near the middle of it... even if a wider range of area could have been affected by putting it somewhere farther west.
None of them knew what to expect when the time came. There hadn't been any real defenses around the tower itself, but that was because doing anything to it would do more harm than good. Was there a chance they would get lucky twice?
Null tried to focus on preparing himself for the task at hand. But as he did so, he could hear the two Teen Titans also in the aircraft discussing things amongst themselves. He didn't care until the topic seemed to turn to him.
They tried to be quiet, at least Wonder Girl did, "Cyborg. You worked with him before. Can we actually trust him?"
Now there was someone with the right frame of mind. It was just weird having to deal with Supergirl trusting him as much as she did. It wasn't like he would ever double-cross her or anything, but it just made him feel sick when he thought about disappointing her.
Good people deserved to have good things happen to them. Even if he was a thief, he could understand that. It was why he didn't steal from just anyone.
Cyborg, whether he was focusing on flying or truly thinking over the question, took his time in answering, "Well, the last time he stuck it out until the bitter end. But that was more because he had to," He recalled, "There's nothing keeping him here if this gets tough. He could cut and run anytime he wants to... but Kara swears by him, for whatever reason."
Kara was idealistic, yes, but she wasn't naive. If she felt there was a reason to put any kind of faith in Null, there had to be something to it. At least, that was what he figured. That, added onto the fact that his last experience with Null was mostly positive, was enough reason for the technologically advanced hero to accept his help.
"It's around there," Null eventually said, pointing to a specific area below them, "Put this thing down and I can walk us the rest of the way on foot."
The thief took them to what appeared to be a large office skyscraper with walls comprised of glass windows, from the lobby on up. The kind of building that businesses would rent out office space inside of.
While it was probably owned by LexCorp, at least it wasn't a LexCorp building. It would be hard to get away with attacking something like that without drawing Metropolis police down upon them. They really had no evidence to go off of other than what a known criminal was telling them.
"How do you know it's here?" Wonder Girl asked, trying to get Null to support his own reasoning for sending them into the heart of the city, "Are you sure you know what you're doing?"
"I can feel it. Just trust me," Null assured her as they all approached the building from where the T-Jet had landed, "It's like there's a string tied to me that jerks every few seconds."
Wonder Girl didn't like the sound of locating things through that method, "Sounds annoying," She said.
Once she mentioned it, Null could admit that it wasn't particularly fun to have that kind of feeling constantly pulling at the back of his head, "Eh, I can turn it off... probably."
He certainly hoped so at least. If nothing else, it would be alright once he absorbed the electricity out of it and neutralized it. Then there wouldn't be anything else to tug at him.
These thoughts were cut short when he watched Cyborg and Wonder Girl march up to the front, "Uh... what are you guys doing?"
They both stopped to turn around and look at him, just short of going inside, "Going in to look for the device," Cyborg said, "You know that. You're the one that brought us here."
Null reached out and pointed in the direction that the hero pair were heading in, "No, I mean why are you going through the front?"
Cyborg said, sounding all business, "We've got to get this done," He said as he turned back to the door just as it was blown wide open, along with most of the front wall. He and Wonder Girl were sent flying back from the force of the blast.
Null covered himself up, having to brace himself from being rocked by the explosion as well. The two of them were big, tough superheroes. They would be fine, even when Wonder Girl's body smashed through a marble planter and a tree in the courtyard, and Cyborg crushed the side of a truck's trailer with his.
Well, he saw something like that coming anyway, so the attack didn't exactly surprise him.
From the opening that had been blown into the front of the building, a bald brown-skinned woman in some kind of white eastern garb and golden ornaments strode out barefoot over the broken glass and debris.
She took in the destruction she had caused from the scene until her eyes rested on Null who hadn't been damaged, tried to run, or even so much as taken up a defensive stance."...Who are you? A new addition to the team?"
Null quickly sized up his own lack of desire to be involved in this fight, "Which answer keeps you from trying to blow me up?"
Her eyes and hands began to glow blue, "No answer will."
Null just sighed in return, "Thought so," With a flick of his wrists, dozens of warped pieces of jagged metal lifted off of the ground threateningly, "Want to rethink that?" He had to drop his magnetic control when a large LexCorp symbol came flying at him from inside the building behind the woman.
With his attention diverted to the latest threat, Null went to catch the symbol before it could smash into him and crush him, but before he could, Cyborg's sonic cannon blew it apart in the air.
Cyborg and Wonder Girl returned as two more enemies approached; a massive man with shaggy blond hair wearing a black bodysuit with yellow trim, and a smaller woman with shaggy orangish hair, wearing very revealing leather gear and thick lavender eyeliner.
"Well if it ain't the Titans," The leather-wearing woman said in an Australian accent as the giant of a man had her back, "And here I thought this would just be a boring guard job."
"Shimmer, Mammoth, and Jinx," Wonder Girl said, complete abhorrence at the three villains she found herself facing off with, "Then again, with that whole Kryptonian bounty business, it's not really a surprise to see the Fearsome Five here."
Jinx smirked after being backed up by her teammates, "The bounty would be nice, but this is more stable work. Killing you and Cyborg would only be a bonus."
The statement 'Fearsome Five' gave Null cause to pause, "What? So it's five-on-three?" Null exclaimed, getting odd looks from everyone present, "Screw that! I don't want to do that!"
He'd already fought the odds once already today. He didn't want to make a habit out of fighting battles that put him at a clear disadvantage. The hero in Wonder Girl didn't appreciate that kind of outlook.
Wonder Girl scowled at Null, imagining him just leaving her and Cyborg high and dry, "What are you going to do then, run away?"
Null gestured between the Fearsome Five members confronting them, and the building where their objective lay, "...Yes! I don't have to be here! I can find the EMP and just drain the fucking thing! I can't really do that if one of these idiots gets a good shot in and kills me!"
Mammoth stomped forward, taking offense to the young thief's words, "Who you callin' an idiot, idiot?"
Null threw a stray chunk of debris at Mammoth spitefully, feeling a sense of satisfaction when it bounced off of his head, "I'm calling you an idiot, you idiot!" He snapped back, "Maybe you are smarter than you look, but that wouldn't exactly be some kind of feat!"
"That's IT! He's dead!" Mammoth brushed Shimmer out of the way and charged Null with reckless abandon. Null saw the giant man coming and with a bend of his knees and a jump, propelled himself high into the air, yanking himself magnetically to the upper stories of the building, his cackle taunting the foe he left behind on the ground, "Hey! Get back here and fight so I can kill you!"
"Why don't you drag your ass up here, and I'll think about it!?" Null replied before punching a hole through a window and heading inside.
Wonder Girl held the bridge of her nose in exasperation, "He left. For the love of Zeus, he actually left us here to fight by ourselves," She said, unable to fully believe that he'd just cut and run. What a selfish prick, "...I think I get why Robin hates that guy."
"No you don't. You get one of the reasons," Cyborg said, "Anyway, this might work. The faster he finds the EMP device, the faster this whole thing ends. Besides, three-on-two isn't that bad."
Shimmer chuckled and wagged her finger before pointing back at the building, "Two-on-one might be bad for your jackass friend. Rumble and Nano will rip him to shreds."
XxX
Quickly and quietly making his way through the upper levels of the building, Null followed the pull of the EMP device that he could still feel. If he could get rid of it, he doubted that the Fearsome Five would stop fighting the Teen Titans, but it would wrap up whatever business he had with either group. Whatever got him far away from being held accountable for causing all of this to happen in the first place.
"Not quite this floor," Null whispered to himself, looking up to the next level, "Maybe up there."
Probably definitely up there. He could feel it now that he was likely standing right underneath it. Unfortunately, he couldn't just reach through the floor and pull it down to him. Even if he could, it probably wasn't a great idea, lest he accidentally set it off.
Null lifted his hand, thinking of doing just that, only to decide against it at the last moment. He would just go upstairs and get it then.
As he headed for the stair well to make his way to the next floor, a loud, piercing screech sounded out just as something crashed through the ceiling. The thief slowly turned around to find a man in full purple armor with glowing yellow eyes and holes strewn about the body of the outfit.
The armor possessed a wide mouth where the last remnants of the screech were emanating from. No thank you.
Null held up his hands defensively, taking a step back from the latest guard he had come across, "Alright, alright. Before we do this, quick question. What's that suit made of?" He asked, slowly tilting his head to the side in a disturbing manner.
Rumble felt a powerful pressure from the inside of his suit that only got worse and worse as the seconds dragged on. It got bad enough to restrict his movement and breathing. It felt like his entire body was being compressed.
Null didn't know what kind of powers that suit contained, but he wasn't keen on finding out, given that they were going to be used on him.
"Don't come at me in a suit full of metal," Null instructed Rumble before swinging his arm and sending the villain crashing through wall after wall, the sound of glass breaking punctuating the action. Taking a look through the holes he created, he saw a massive break in the glass window leading outside.
XxX
From outside, the fighting between the Titans and the Fearsome Five stopped when the sight of the Fearsome Five's armored comrade hurtling to the ground caught their attention.
Shimmer could only look on and comment, "...Did Rumble just fall out of a 10th story window?"
Cyborg took the distraction and blasted Mammoth with a shot from his sonic cannon, "No. Rumble was thrown out of a 10th story," He remarked, sparing a glance Wonder Girl's way, "Just so you know, that's reason number two why Robin hates that guy."
"Because he fights like an asshole?"
"Because he fights like an asshole."
Wonder Girl could understand that much. There was a more pressing question to be answered at the moment though, "Is Rumble dead?"
A good question. Cyborg switched his optical sensor to a vital sign detector"...No. He's definitely not getting up though."
XxX
Null had expected someone babysitting the EMP device specifically. After all, there were five members of the Fearsome Five, hence the number attached to the name. He was hoping he could have somehow avoided the guy though.
Yet there he stood, in an open office floor, the large crate-sized EMP device being utilized as a chair for a man in a blue bodysuit with glowing circuit lines, covering every inch of his body.
Null breathed in deeply and exhaled calmly, "So you're the last one, huh?" He asked, looking around for any possible traps between him and the device, "Guess you're not gonna just move and let me deactivate that thing, are you? We could all just go home."
The man on the EMP laughed at the thought, "And piss off the guy that hired me? No way."
Null rolled his eyes underneath his hood, "You could just say Lex Luthor, you know. Everybody knows it's him already."
The man in the blue suit got up and slowly started walking toward Null, who slowly approached him as well, "The thing about keeping secrets is, even if they're bad secrets, they're still secrets until everybody knows about them," The two stopped just out of arm's reach of each other, "Man in a suit vs. kid in a suit, eh?"
"Everybody has a suit. Doesn't make the two of us special."
"Talking like a born loser, kid," In the same instant Nano swung at Null, his arm immediately turned into a long blade. Null avoided several strikes "With an attitude like that, you aren't making it out of here alive. You can call me Nano."
Null didn't care what his name was. As of then, he was just someone in the way, "I've beaten up tougher people than you down the block from my house," Unfortunately, there didn't seem to be any metals in his suit, which meant nothing he could exploit with his magnetic powers to make things easy, "I have been in a shit-load of fights today. And I'm just about done with it."
Nano's arm blade extended into a long, sharp tendril that reached past Null and stabbed into the wall, almost impaling him, "So sorry," He said, facetiously, "Hold still, and I'll make this quick."
Null gathered a charge inside of his body, prepared to retaliate, "Funny. I was gonna say the same thing." He grabbed the tendril and unleashed a powerful electric shock, only to let go when spikes stabbed into his hand, "Gah! Fuck!"
"You can't win this fight!" Nano shouted, turning both arms into blades that he swung at Null in a reaper movement, "I don't know what slapdash piece of crap you've got, but this is top of the line. It's my life's work!"
What was it with scientists losing their marbles and going nuts with whatever they'd spent their time coming up with? First Abernathy with the Kryptonite stuff, and now this guy. Again, Null could definitely tell that physical activity wasn't high on his priority list sans supersuit/special abilities, because he fought like a complete amateur.
He relied entirely on his suit, which was fine when you weren't dealing with people who had significant abilities of their own AND knew what they were actually doing in a fight. Metahumans or otherwise extraordinary individuals who learned how to fight before tapping into their real strength were always better for it after the fact.
For as fast and as strong as Nano was, he was a rank amateur in combat. Every move he made was telegraphed. Every punch had to be a knockout punch. Every time he made a weapon, he made the biggest, scariest one he could, and he swung it to kill. Even when he tried to be subtle, he failed at it.
And every time he attacked, Null hit him. He hit him hard and fast, again and again, and it got him next to nowhere.
"Fuck!" Null cursed, turning Nano's head with a clean right hook to the face, then a left, and another right, all aided with the added force of a super-charged taser. Getting frustrated at his lack of progress, Null created a magnetic wall and shoved Nano away – hard, "Like hitting a goddamn statue!"
He couldn't do the man any real damage. Sure, he could rattle him around a bit, maybe stun him with some juice, but none of that was going to keep him down or knock him out. And the longer the fight dragged on, the greater the chance existed that Nano would actually hurt him instead.
There wasn't enough metal on him to pick up and chuck out of a window the way he did to Rumble. He had to find his path to victory the old-fashioned way. The sooner he beat the guy, the sooner he could drain the EMP device and get out of there.
Wait...
Null pulled back for a moment before noticing he had a clear path to the EMP device. He made a break for it, only to be intercepted by Nano nearly taking his head off with a blade arm, "Not so fast, punk!" He missed, with Null tumbling to safety, landing on all fours, "You didn't think it'd be that easy, did you?"
Instead of seeing a sneer on Null's face at his failure to pull a fast one, he saw a victorious grin. Why, Nano had no idea. He wasn't going to so much as touch the EMP. Not with a body between him and it.
Null held up one hand and wiggled his fingers, electricity crackling off of them, "For a second, I didn't," With a widening of his fingers, he pulled electricity fifteen feet across the room from the EMP into his own waiting embrace.
All it had to do was go through Nano first.
Null drained every watt of energy from the EMP. He didn't stop until he felt it go bone dry, which meant Nano felt every bit of it until it did as well. However strong his suit was, it couldn't stand up to that.
The moment the electricity subsided, Nano's muscles ceased locking up, and he hit the floor in a heap, his armor still completely intact. Enough of a charge allowed him to bypass most of its defenses to the squishy, vulnerable man underneath. The eight seconds it took Null to drain the device must have felt like an eternity to Nano... at least for as long as he was conscious.
Null stood over Nano and nudged his body with his foot before walking away, "You remember what I said before? Let me add onto that. You aren't even the toughest person I've fought today."
Why was it that whenever anyone came across him, they just assumed that he wasn't dangerous? Was it because he didn't cut an imposing figure? Was it because his first choice was usually to run rather than fight?
...Those were all fairly good reasons, honestly.
Null turned back to glance at the EMP device. The Titans or whoever else was around could dispose of it. His job was done. Dusting off his hands, he headed for the exit, "And that's the end of that chapter."
XxX
Lex Luthor was intelligent, arrogant, and paranoid. As such, he kept track of the status of all of the broadband towers he had activated hours before.
He had no illusions of his anti-Superman field lasting very long, so he had made plans to leave the country soon after his last appearance and the activation of the towers. As he sat inside of his private plane, awaiting the last of the preparations for departure, he noticed the most important EMP device go inactive – the one in Metropolis.
Which meant it was only a matter of time before it was taken offline.
Luthor silently seethed at the setback. No reports had come in yet that Superman's head had been taken, nor of any other Kryptonian ilk meeting such a fate.
His quiet noise of displeasure attracted his bodyguard Mercy's attention, "We're taking off. Now," He said once she looked his way.
Mercy nodded and went to inform the staff that they were to set out immediately, per Luthor's orders.
As things stood, if the Kryptonite radiation went down in Metropolis, if Superman weren't stuck under the radiation still being produced in another location, he would be free to move around in an hour's time, if that. Before then, Luthor needed to put distance between himself and any reprisal from vengeful heroes. There were more than a few that wouldn't wait for any kind of due process that would likely never come his way.
Luthor had surveillance over his towers and the corresponding EMP devices they were connected to. Curious as to how the EMP had been disabled, he checked on the feed to find a fight between two of the Teen Titans and the Fearsome Five, then a fight between one of the criminals he had outsourced protection of the EMP device to and another person he had never seen before. He watched until the very end when the second individual won and left.
"And that's the end of that chapter," He heard the young person behind foiling his EMP say before walking away.
"Who is that?" Luthor mused aloud. Mercy noticed what he had been watching and stopped, letting out a growl at the sight of the boy. Luthor turned to pick his bodyguard's brain, "What is it? I hadn't been aware of the Teen Titans bringing in a new member."
"His name is Null," Mercy said his name as though it were a curse, "He's not a Titan. He's a thief."
"Just a thief?"
Mercy nodded in confirmation, "Just a thief," A very dead thief, the next time she came across him.
Luthor had been prepared to issue an order to deal with him, but despite her attempts to hide it, it was clear that Mercy had a strong dislike for this Null character. Well, using someone with more of a stake in his eventual punishment would mean more complete retribution, "Very well. I'll leave the repercussions for his actions to you, Mercy. Feel free to make him suffer at your own discretion."
After all, everyone needed a personal project to occupy their free time. He could grant her this much.
"Yes, sir, Mr. Luthor. Thank you."
Luthor could have sworn he actually saw a smile on Mercy's face. And here people thought he was such a bad person to work for.
XxX
(That Night – With Null)
Standing on his newly procured Gravboard, Null let out a yawn. The Titans finished mopping up the rest of the Fearsome Five without his assistance, and Cyborg shut down the Kryptonite radiation from the broadband tower soon thereafter. His task had been completed, so there wasn't any need for him to fight anymore anyway. His job wasn't to bring bad guys to justice. He was a bad guy.
Which was why he found it odd that he was waiting in the sky above Metropolis. He should have been heading back to the hotel with the rest of his class. They would be heading back to Gotham City tomorrow. That was fine. Sure, the place was pure chaos and danger, but at least it was the kind of chaos and danger that he was more accustomed to.
Either way, before he left, he had to make sure that his backside was covered – for the time being, at least.
Joining Null in the air, Supergirl stopped a few feet in front of him. She still wore the same grin that he had left her with earlier that day.
"Stop it," Null demanded, arms crossed as his board kept him aloft, "Stop looking at me like that, Kara. All I did was keep the place where I live from getting a radiation shower. This wasn't hero stuff."
Supergirl didn't lose her expression, despite what Null said, "It was totally hero stuff," She said, only to back off when Null growled, "But alright. Whatever you say. I won't bring it up again."
"And I'm not doing this again," Null specified, holding up his index finger, "You good guys get one EMP save freebie, and that's because I'm based on the east coast. You want me to drain anymore, you've got to pay me."
Kara calmly floated around her friend from the other side of the tracks, "Oh! Well, there's no need for that. Cyborg got his hands on the one you took out in Metropolis and came up with a way to find the rest of them everywhere else and shut them down," She explained, "Now it's just a matter of going to all of them and taking them down."
Null relaxed, knowing that he wouldn't be called on to do anymore. Also, no one had looked his way for how any of this had come about, "That's good," He said with a sigh, "I guess since you're up and back in the air, Supes is good to go too."
"The second the atmosphere cleared, he went after Lex Luthor. But let's just say he's somewhere Kal can't get to him," She said, her expression darkening somewhat, "He'll be back though, as soon as he finds an angle. I just hope no one is hurt long-term because of this."
There was really nothing anyone could do about it. Null didn't know how much harmful radiation was put out, or how much it would take to affect most people, but the towers couldn't be taken down any quicker than they had been/were being. What ifs didn't mean anything when you didn't have control over the circumstances.
Nothing he could say would ease the mind of anyone with enough sense. A simple, 'it'll be alright' was worthless here; just an empty reassurance.
To Kara's surprise, Null drifted forward on his board until he was close enough to put his arms around her. So stunned by his action was she, that she allowed herself to be hugged, "What a day," She heard him say, "See? Things like this are why I could never be a hero."
Kara was confused, but still let herself lean into the hug regardless, "What are you talking about?"
Sometimes, Null had to stop and wonder where his mind was. Arguably the strongest girl under the age of 18 in the world, and he had dared to get this close to her on a whim, "You did the best you could. All of you did, and you're flying around thinking about how it wasn't enough," He told her, "I'm pretty sure I've said this before, but you're better than me. This is just one of the reasons why."
"You could be," Kara whispered, sounding very heartfelt, "Null, you could be a really good hero."
He helped today. A lot. She knew Cyborg was impressed with him. He had been before all of this. And she was too. She really wanted him to be a good guy, so they could actually hang out. So they could really be friends.
At that, Null parted from the blonde alien and drifted backwards on his Gravboard, a small smile on his face, "Maybe if things were different. Right now, I'm more concerned with number one than with doing the right thing. I guess I'll see you around."
Before he could fly off and leave, Supergirl called out to him, "Wait!" Null stopped and turned an about face on his board to face her, "When we first met, you told me not to trust you," She said, floating over to him again, "...I don't think I can do that."
He didn't have a chance to respond. She was fast. So fast. Again, Null realized that if he really pissed her off somehow, he didn't have much of a chance of defending himself. But he didn't think this because of any kind of attack against him. It came about because before he knew it, Kara had moved against him and pressed her lips to his.
Just as quickly as it occurred, it ended, with Kara flying back twenty feet out of his reach. She touched at her own lips, as if she were in disbelief at what she herself had done. Glancing back to Null, who hadn't moved the entire time, she bid him a short wave and took off faster than a speeding bullet.
Null didn't budge until an unconscious ripple of his own electricity rolled through his body, giving his brain a much needed reboot. By then, he was all alone in the skies, standing around like some kind of idiot.
'I am so confused right now,' He shook his head and turned to go his own way on his Gravboard, 'Rose is gonna cut my head off if she ever finds out about this.'
-With a plastic knife. Whatever the deal between the two of them was, it was complicated. But Null was certain that she wouldn't have been cool with some other girl kissing on him. A superhero especially.
Goddamn Supergirl. Goddamn Metropolis. He was going home to Gotham, where things made sense.
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