The New Generation: Earth-53

As they all arrived Neal made sure to listen carefully as Martian Manhunter delivered their briefing to them. It was Neal's first mission with the rest of the team and he wanted to make sure that he at least didn't hold them back. So the least that he could do was here the information and make sure that he retained it. As the details went further though, Neal couldn't help but wonder what exactly they were dealing with? Thirty-seven fatalities? That was a large amount of kills for one animal to make, no wonder they thought that it might be something else.

Neal's train of thought became interrupted as Rose suddenly burst in to the room. Neal was wondering why it had taken her so long, he figured that she would have been the first one here after all. She wanted to fight more than anyone. Neal didn't bother answering her clearly rhetorical question anyway. "Once we get there I can use a tracking spell to try and find the thing. Assuming that it doesn't have any sort of enchantment to block me I should be able to locate it"

Martian Manhunter gave Neal an affirmative nod. "That would be an effective way of locating the subject. Now, all of you make haste. There is no time to lose, or else more people could get hurt."

"Wait, so what's going on?" Rose asked, looking around at the others. She had made it here late, after all. She had no idea what was going on.

"I'll explain on the way," Argent said, giving her friend a small laugh. For someone so tough as Rose, it was quite humorous seeing her bewildered.

And with that, the team began to head out of the briefing room towards the teleporters.

Once J'onn gave Neal the approval to use his spell to track the animal, it seemed like they were completely set to head off in order to find the creature. It had already killed so many, they had to make sure that it was stopped before anything else happened. Hopefully the team would just be able to rise up to the challenge, clearly too many innocents had been harmed already.

---

A short while later, the team teleported in to the city, the one that the fatalities had taken place in. They had also placed themselves close to where the last incident had occurred at. As they arrived, Neal couldn't help but look around for a moment. They were out in public, and yet no one probably had any idea who he or Rose was. They were the new faces, ones that the media was probably going to eat up in the weeks to come. Today was their first day to make an impression, to show that they too were heroes.

Neal quickly forced himself to snap out of it. "Right, focus Neal," he said to himself before repeating the spell in his mind as he remembered his lesson with Zatanna on how to track a target. "Dah Ine Me Farentum" Neal said in a low voice as he concentrated on the creature that was the source of the death and pain of the most recent victims. "I think I feel something, although I still can't tell what this thing is," Neal admitted. "It's north and moving fast though" Neal said as he turned in the direction that he sensed the creature.

"North, huh? Got it," Kid Flash said, cracking his knuckles. "I'll have this case wrapped up in a jiff."

"Hey, wait!" Robin called, as Kid Flash disappeared.

Tilting her head to the side, Speedy leaned against her bow and looked off at where Kid Flash had disappeared to. "And here I thought we were supposed to do this together."

"We are," Robin said, with a small groan. He was supposed to be the leader of this team, yet Kid Flash didn't really like to listen sometimes.

"Well screw him if he thinks he's going to do this without me," Rose muttered, taking off in her own run. "I did not put this costume on just to stand here and watch!"

"Wait for me, girl!" Argent called, holding her hands forward and blasting out silver plasma to form a smooth ramp. Jumping into it, she began to slide forward, continuously extending the ramp in front of her so she kept sliding, an effective mode of travel.

Miss Martian floated there for a minute, then glanced down at the others. "I think we should follow them."

"Huh, perhaps in retrospect I shouldn't have told him which way it was," Neal said as he looked off in the direction that Kid Flash had run off to. He was completely out of sight now, but perhaps he'd be able to come back and tell them what they were dealing with at least. They could at least figure out what kind of animal or thing they were dealing with.

As Argent and Rose followed, Neal had to agree with what M'gann said next. "This thing has already killed thirty some people, it obviously isn't going to be that easy to deal with," Neal said before starting to take off at his own run. They might be heroes but they were still a team and they needed to make sure that they acted like one. Whatever this thing was it was obviously strong enough for J'onn to think that they should get involved. Neal felt like they shouldn't take any chances.

While they were running it definitely reminded Neal that he needed to make sure he got in to better shape. He wasn't fat or anything, but he certainly wasn't quite as physically fit as Robin or Rose.

"Okay then... in that case, split up and try to find the others," Robin said. "Stick to pairs, nobody goes off alone. Miss Martian, can you link us up so we can all stay in touch?"

"Already done," Miss Martian informs, her voice echoing in their heads.

Rose's thought voice is the first one that responds. "What the hell? Stay out of my head, you green bitch. This is a stupid invasion of my privacy! My god, do you enjoy pissing me off or something? Because you do a fantastic job at it!"

Miss Martian's expression instantly slackens, though she doesn't respond.

"That's enough, Rose," Robin said, his mental voice raising. "We're supposed to be a team, so start acting like it."

"Whatever," she responded. "I'll let you know when Argent and I stop catch the fur ball."

"Sounds like a good idea, I'll stick with M'gann," Neal said. Just because she was using her power to make sure everyone stayed in touch didn't mean that she was going to be by herself. Speedy and Robin could be the other pair to team up, unless for some reason they refused. As far as Neal knew there were no problems between them after all.

"Calm down before you get yourself hurt Rose. We have no idea what we're dealing with yet. If this thing has really hurt that many people I'm guessing it might be able to do a fair bit of damage to that armor of yours," Neal warned. "If you're able to find the thing and Kid Flash you should let us know your position so that we can all meet up"

"Sorry, can't hear you," Rose said. "I'm breaking up. Ccccck! Ccccck! Going through a tunnel. Cccck!"

"There's no static on a psychic link!" Robin declared, starting to get annoyed, as he and Speedy headed off in one direction. "Just be careful."

"Here's a question," Speed said. "Why hasn't Kid Flash said anything yet?"

"I don't know, but for some reason I'm not detecting him on the mental link," Miss Martian said, as she flew off down one side street with Neal. "Either something's blocking his mind, or he's unable to answer for some reason."

"Keep your eyes open," Miss Martian added aloud, giving Neal a careful glance.

Neal just rolled his eyes but didn't voice anything else to Rose. She could play kid all she wanted, it wasn't like he cared very much if she got herself hurt. If she wanted to prove that she was a liability than she could go right ahead and do it if she wanted.

As Kid Flash was brought up, Neal began to get a bit worried. The thought hadn't even crossed his mind before Speedy brought it up. Now that he was thinking about it, Neal had no idea why Kid Flash wouldn't be answering. Neal just gave a deep breath. "I'm sure that he's fine, we'll just have to make sure to watch out for him when we do find him"

Neal glanced over at M'gann as she told him to keep his eyes open. "Yeah, thanks...I don't know but none of this feels right," Neal said as they continued down the side street. "Just something feels really off about all of this. Course this is my first missions, maybe it's just nerves"

"It's only natural to be nervous your first time," Miss Martian said, as she scanned the surrounding area. They still weren't finding anything, though. "Just remember your training and stay alert, and you'll do fine." Glancing back at him, she smiled softly, then turned away again and floated up a little higher.

A long time goes by until anyone makes contact with the team again. For the most part, they've just been going about their own searches without much luck. After a while, however, the mental link suddenly explodes with activity.

"We have it in sight!" Argent shouted. "Old warehouse on thirty-seventh!"

"I'm going after it!" Rose announced.

"Hey, wait up!" Argent again.

"Just hold on," Robin ordered. "Stay back until the whole team gets there! We still don't know what we're up against!"

Silence.

"Damn it," Robbin muttered.

And then...

"No! Oh god, oh shit," Argent said in panicked voice.

"Argent! What is it?" Robin this time.

"It's Rose, she's down!" she replied.

"What the hell happened?!"

"I- I don't know, I didn't see it, I just- Rose ran ahead and when I caught up she was down!" A small pause goes by, followed by Argent's frantic voice again. "Oh my g- there's so much blood, I d- I don't know if she's still alive. Somebody get here already!"

"I guess that's true. I mean, training is training but this is the real thing ya know?" Neal asked as he glanced over at M'gann. "I just worry that now that I'm on a mission that anything can happen. I just don't want to freak out and let Zatanna down. She's been a lot more than just a mentor to me these past six months. She's just plain been a really good friend," Neal admitted before he looked towards her and returned her smile with one of his own. "Thanks though, for listening, understanding, and believing in me too," Neal stated honestly.

As Argent and Rose announced that they found the creature, Neal quickly turned to M'gann and gave a quick nod. "Sounds like we need to get there fast," he said before quickly picking up his own pace. As Argent went on to reveal what happened to Rose Neal really began to pick up the pace.

"Argent! Do whatever you can to stop the bleeding! I might be able to save her if I get there soon but only if she's still alive. I'll try to get there as soon as I can!" Neal said to try to comfort her. He remembered his training with Zatanna. She wanted him to know how to fight and defend himself, but also how to help his team. Magic could be used to hurt and to heal. He hadn't mastered the technique yet, but if nothing important was destroyed then Neal believed that he could save her.

Neal moved as quickly as he could.

"I- okay, I think I can do that," Argent said. She was still in half a panic, but at least she sounded a little calmer now. "Okay, I have a plasma construct wrapped around her wound. Just please hurry."

"Neal, you and Megan are closer than we are. When you get there, find Rose and Argent, and stay with them, do you understand?" Robin said.

"Copy," Miss Martian replied, as the warehouse came into view. Reaching down to grab onto Neal, she suddenly lifted him up and flew like a rocket straight at the wall. She extended her intangibility to him, as well, and they both went completely through the wall without harm. When she made them both solid again, she dropped him off and looked around.

"There," she said, pointing a a blood trail. Without wasting time, she followed after it, eventually finding her way into a small back room. In the center of the floor was Rose, lying motionless and bleeding heavily. from four large slash wounds across her midsection. Argent, on the other hand, was nowhere to be found. "Oh no... I can't sense Argent on the link, either. Neal, take care of Rose. I'll go find her."

"Understood boss. Rose might be a bit arrogant but she's tough, whatever this thing is obviously must be strong. We're not gonna run off to fight it just yet. We'll wait for you to arrive and join us," Neal promised as he listened to Robin's instructions that were delivered to him.

Neal wasn't quite prepared for what M'gann did next. Instead of flying over the nearest wall, she made them pass through it completely. He knew that she had quite the array of powers, but he had no idea that she could extend that one to other people. "Okay, that felt really strange," Neal said as she placed him down on the ground again. "Did not realize you could do that"

As they found the blood trail they quickly followed it in order to find Rose in the backroom of a warehouse. "Good god, what the hell did this to her," Neal asked as he saw the flash wounds had gone completely through her armor. He quickly knelt down next to her and placed a hand over the wound. "Mufar a nos" he said before magic began to move from his hand and in to the wound. Hopefully the wound would close and mend itself at this point.

"I'm not sure if you should do that," Neal said as he continued healing Rose. He turned his face to look at M'gann though. "Robin told us to stay with them, by splitting up more you might get hurt.......just look at what it did to Rose"

"And if I stay here, Argent could die," Miss Martian insisted. "Robin told us to wait with both of them. Only one of them is here. I'm going to find Argent." With that, she flew through the nearest wall. Given her array of powers, she'd probably be quite fine. Then again, nothing was certain.

As Neal remained there with the barely alive Rose, a shadow was moving above him in the rafters. It watched him closely, studying him, waiting to make a move. Eventually, the shadow moves around behind him, leaping from rafter to rafter and then descending on the ground. Light footed, the figure stalks its prey, eyes fierce and stern. They keep coming after her. Why do they keep coming after her?

Neal wanted to give another kind of retort, but he knew that she was right. They had a friend in trouble. After all, why would Argent leave Rose like this unless something happened? "Just please be careful M'gann. I don't want to see anyone else like this today," Neal said before watching her leave through the nearest wall. His eyes stayed on the spot for another minute before turning back and fully concentrating on Rose's healing.

As Neal continued to heal Rose, the silence overtook them. As that took place though, Neal suddenly began to get another feeling. His tracking spell was still in place, he just hadn't been concentrating on it when he learned that Rose needed help. Now that he felt it again, what he sensed wasn't very good. It could only mean that the creature was coming up right behind him!

Without hesitating Neal quickly stood up and turned around, trying to catch whatever was behind him. Once he saw what this thing was, perhaps he could start coming up with a way to fight against it. Right now though Neal was hoping to just see it before the thing tore his throat out. The moment that the thing came in to view Neal acted on instinct. "Calli mardo!" Neal shouted. It was a very basic spell, basically a large amount of force to launch anyone in front of you backwards. Neal hoped that it would smash up against the wall or at least create some distance.

The invisible force struck the shadow full, er, force. Immediately, she flew backwards through the air, only to twist her body and land on her feet, sliding across the floor. An angry hiss escaped her throat, as she dug her claws into the floor. "No!" the figure shouted. "You're not going to take me back! Not again!" Apparently, this killer animal could talk. "You won't put me in another cage!" A second later, she disappeared back into the shadows, though didn't leave the area. Instead, she moved back up to the rafters, this time stalking directly above him and going to lunge in from above.

Once Neal got a full look at the thing, he couldn't help but stare at it. What the hell was that...and it could talk!? "My God, what on earth are you?" Neal asked more to himself than to the creature. He really doubted that thing thing wanted to have a friendly conversation about how it needed to stop killing people. The only thing that was going to help was to put this thing down than figure out what to do with it.

The creature was moving back in to the shadows, and Neal was having an impossible time seeing it. Thankfully his tracking spell at least allowed him to gain a small idea of where it was. Neal wanted to run, but then that would leave Rose alone in the same room with this thing. It might finish the job that it started. He had to stand his ground and just hope that he could stop this thing or that someone else showed up to help him. As the creature came from above Neal quickly shot his hand forward. "Grocunus ali mol" he said. It was a variation of his last spell, but this one was cast with the intent of not only throwing the creature away from him but also hopefully pinning it to the wall with some of Neal's magic.

This time, when the attacker flew backwards, she didn't go anywhere. That was, of course, because she couldn't. Some kind of invisible force was pinning her against the wall. Instantly, she started to panic, struggling, growling, and hissing in anger. "Let me go! LET ME GO!" she shrieked. " I don't want to go back in a cage!" Struggle all she wanted, though, the cat wasn't breaking free. Well, actually, she wasn't so much a cat as she was a cat-woman of sorts. She looked human, except for the tail, spotted skin, claws, wild hair, cat-eyes, and sharpened teeth, almost like some sort of woman/cheetah hybrid. Oh, and she was naked. Yeah, completely naked.

Neal took several heavy breaths as his attacker seemed to be unable to move. "Thank God that worked," Neal said to himself as he took a step closer. The woman/cat thing was screaming loudly and demanding its release. Yeah, Neal wasn't going to do that anytime soon. "I'm not going to let you go, you've killed thirty people already! You're dangerous," Neal said. The thing was female (that became obvious as he got a better look) and yet it clearly wasn't all human or all cat. "What are you? What are you running from? Why are you hurting so many?" Neal asked. He wanted some answers. They had no idea what they were dealing with, and as far as Neal was concerned they still didn't.

He wasn't quite sure what protocol was for capturing a strange mutant person and pinning them to a wall. He was kinda improvising as he went.

"I wouldn't be dangerous if they didn't force me to be!" she countered, growling in anger as she continued to struggle against the invisible hold. Her tails was twitching wildly, muscles tensing and hands curling into fists so tight that her claws were beginning to dig into her palms and draw blood. "I don't know what I am, don't you understand? I was just a normal girl! They made me this way! And then I got away and... and now they keep coming after me. You all keep coming after me! I just want to go home!"

The more that this woman spoke, the more that Neal became confused at what was going on. She claimed to be just a normal girl, and yet she was saying that someone did something to her? "You need to slow down. I'm not your enemy, I just want to stop whatever is going on," Neal said. Of course he didn't loosen the bond, but hopefully they could talk this out or something. "You can call me Fade, what's your name?" Neal asked in the hopes of easing the conversation. "And tell me, what did they do to you? And who is after you?"

She stopped struggling for the time being, not only because it was pretty much useless, but also because he seemed different than the others. He wasn't attacking her. He just... wanted to talk? She blinked a couple of times, then shut her eyes and clenched her jaw. "My name... it's Barbara. Barbara Minerva." After swallowing back a lump in her throat, she started to shake her head. "I don't know who's after me. The people who took me! They... they kidnapped me, then locked me up in some place and started doing... tests on me. And then they made me into this." When she opened her eyes again, she slowly glanced down at her self and cringed. "And... can I have a jacket or something? ... please."

"Barbara, nice name," Neal said. He wasn't really sure what the right response was supposed to be after all. This was a strange situation and he just wanted to make things right. If she was telling the truth than perhaps they could work something out. They were supposed to help people right? Perhaps there was no need for violence, maybe this girl was just scared and needed help?

"Listen Barbara, I wanna help you but I need you to trust me okay?" Neal asked. "I'm going to let you down and give you some clothes. I need you to promise that you're not gonna attack or run away though okay?" he asked.

Barbara slowly nodded, rather eager to not be stuck naked to a wall like some kind of sexual plaything. It was seriously freaking her out. "I promise," she said, nodding firmly. Her tail twitched a couple of times in embarrassment, eyes shifting away. :And I'm sorry about your friend, but I was... I was just defending myself. She tried to attack me and then... I- I don't know, it was like an instinct. I didn't mean to hurt her."

"Yeah I'll believe that, she was a bit overeager to come out today," Neal said before muttering a small chant in order to release his hold upon Barbara. After she dropped to the ground Neal thought about an appropriate spell. "Maefel a nos" Neal said as he concentrated on some clothing. Barbara would soon find herself wearing some jeans, a baggy shirt and jacket to cover her body. He hoped that it would be good enough for the time being.

"Barbara, before we talk about you I need to ask you something. There was a silver skinned girl with this one. Where is she? Did you hurt her too? If you did I need to know because I might need to heal her," Neal explained. "Please, if you've seen her tell me"