Young Amazons

by Wanderer D

Chapter 34: Unity

 
It was a fairly calm night in Gotham, though the warehouse district was a bit more active as shipping containers and cargo trucks were loading and off loading their wares. One area was completely silent though. Due to age, fires, and other sorts of damages, these buildings were abandoned, just waiting to be torn down and replaced. They made the perfect place for a meet-up.
 
The sound of fire being propelled at a rapid rate could be heard for a few blocks around when Firefly flew towards one of the buildings on his jetpack. A recent escape and jerry-rigged equipment allowed him to don the skies once more before he came to a stop.
 
He walked up to one of the rear entrances and quietly walked through the unlocked door into the dark warehouse. The only light in the building was a large hole in the roof that allowed the moon to shine through. And at the center of the light was a small, round table, where Penguin was sitting.
 
“Alright, Penguin, what exactly did you want to talk about?” Firefly asked as he walked in.
 
“We would like to ask you the same question, Señor Lynns.” 

Firefly came to a stop as soon as he heard the heavy Latino accent.
 
Out of the shadows came a tall figure cloaked in black leather from head to toe. There was no discernible face as the leather completely hid the figure’s identity. The grey skin of his arms was covered by various bits of leather, and his hands were wrapped in fingerless leather gloves. A series of tubes ran from his shoulders down to his hands. There was also one on his chest. Firefly recognized him. It was the infamous criminal powered by the chemical Venom: Bane.
 
“Bane? What the heck are you doing here?”
 
“You invited me…or so I was led to believe,” the figure replied from behind his leather mask.
 
“And I was led to believe that Bane here wanted a meet-up when I found out he didn’t invite me, so I then assumed it was you.” Penguin said.
 
“Well, I thought Penguin wanted to talk, so…” Firefly trailed off as the three of them looked at each other before slightly backing off. They slowly pieced things together.
 
“I believe we have been led astray, mis amigos.”
 
“I agree, Bane. Might I suggest that we leave this birdcage before anyone says anything else that might get us back in the joint?” Penguin asked.
 
“Gentlemen, please, there’s no need to worry,” a new voice said as the three villains jumped into battle stances––Firefly had a flamethrower at the ready, Penguin held up one of his umbrellas and Bane’s hand was just about ready to activate his Venom injectors.

The new man came out of the shadows. He didn’t look fairly interesting, a dark-haired man with slick backed hair and a sharp grey suit. The three villains noticed a jagged scar running from under his right eye down under the collar of his shirt. His evil sneer made them feel uneasy. He walked up to the table and took a seat.
 
“Please, gentleman, have a seat,” he said. “I think you’ll all be interested in what I have to say.”
 
The three villains looked at each other before relenting and sitting down.
 
“I’m guessing you’re the one who got us to come here?” Penguin asked.
 
The man nodded.
 
“Indeed. I apologize for the confusion and the deceit, but I doubted you would’ve come if I personally invited you.”
 
“Alright, would you hurry this up? I’ve got things I need to do.” Firefly groaned as he leaned back in his chair.
 
“Very well. Gentlemen, I think I can speak for all of us when I say we have a problem…” he held up four fingers on his right hand, “or rather, four problems.”
 
It didn’t take long for them to know what he meant.
 
“The Batman, and Ángeles de Gotham,” Bane said. “The girls.”
 
“It was bad enough having Bat Brain around, but then these girls start popping out of nowhere.” Penguin huffed in disgust. “If you thought doing crime in Gotham was hard before, it’s impossible now.”
 
“Exactly. Though I think those girls call themselves Amazons, not angels, Mr. Bane,” the man said. “But, the point remains, with four heroes now guarding the city, you supervillains are in a tight spot.”
 
“I think I know what you’re suggesting, señor,” Bane said with a chuckle. “You invited us so you could have us join together and destroy Gotham’s guardians, am I right?”
 
The man smiled. “I couldn’t have put it better myself. With them gone, Gotham would be yours for the taking. Plain and simple.”
 
“Hold on a second. There’s something that I don’t understand,” Firefly replied. “Yeah, we’d all like them gone, but what about you? Why do you want them out of the way so bad you set us all up here? I want to point out that I’m not planning on working with these two.”
 
“Same here. I can take all four of them on myself if I have to,” Penguin growled.
 
“I sincerely doubt that,” Bane snidely remarked, which caused tensions to flare up at the table.
 
“Gentleman, eight figures,” the mysterious man said, causing everyone to suddenly stop. The mention of money was all they needed to hear. “Fifteen million per person. I can give you each eight million in advance in order to work together, and an extra seven when the job is done.”
 
“The job being the death of all four of Gotham’s heroes?” Firefly asked.
 
“No, the job is just for the death of one of them, though the others dying is an added bonus for you three. No, I want you three to help me end Alicorn once and for all.”
 

 
“Here you are, Miss Lucciola,” Alfred said to Sunset as he handed her a cup of tea. She and Bruce were sitting in one of the many livingrooms of Wayne Manor.
 
“Thank you, Alfred,” she said with a nod as he headed back to the kitchen, leaving her and Bruce alone.
 
“By the way, how’s your head been? Still not fully over the fear gas?” Bruce asked.
 
“I’ve been okay,” she replied, “but the past week has had a few nightmares for me. I hope those will go away soon enough.”
 
“Might be an aftereffect of Scarecrow’s gas. If things get worse, come let me know.”
 
“I will. But I think we should get back to the main reason why I’m here. As I was saying, I think maybe we should let Barbara and Pamela in on all this.”
 
“Sunset, when I confided my secret to you was a different scenario,” Bruce countered.
 
“Okay, so we don’t tell them you’re Batman. At least give them some communicators. What happened with me was sheer luck in that you were able to find me so soon, considering Pamela called and asked if I was over here.”
 
“You make a valid point, and they have been doing this much longer than you had when you got the communicator.”
 
“Exactly, it makes everything easier in the long run,” Sunset said.
 
“It’s as if every police precinct in a city was in the dark about what all the other ones were doing, if one would could describe it,” Alfred said as he walked back in, which caused Bruce to chuckle.
 
“Alright, quit twisting my arm, you two.” He paused as he gave them some snide looks. “You didn’t plan all of this ahead, did you?”
 
“Well, maybe I did have a few words with Alfred before today,” Sunset joked.
 
“I’ll go pack my things, sir,” Alfred said, joining in the act.
 
“No, Alfred, you’re fine,” Bruce said before he stood up. “Well, I guess I better head downstairs and get those communicators then.” He soon left the room, more than likely heading to the Batcave while Sunset and Alfred remained in the living room.
 
“Well, that went easier than expected,” she sighed.
 
“I think it was because you forced him into a corner there, at least with the communicator idea,” Alfred guessed.
 
“Well, I think Barbara and Pamela deserve it. They’ve proven themselves to be quite capable these past few months. If you could see what we did in Italy…”
 
“Oh, that was you girls I heard about on the telly?” Alfred chuckled. “I thought that was Miss Zatanna that dealt with that art thief in Rome.”
 
“No, that was all me,” Sunset said with a smirk. “Of course, the girls each had their moment of glory as well.”
 
There was a sudden loud knock on the door, which caused Alfred to stand up.
 
“Expecting company?” Sunset asked.
 
“Not sure.Whoever it is should’ve been picked up at the gate first before being able to knock.”
 
Sunset waited as Alfred walked to the door, only for the sound of the door being smashed in to ring through the halls of the manor.
 
“Ah, Alfie, how nice to see you again.”
 
Sunset instantly recognized Cobblepot’s voice and took cover. She knew it was better to hide at the moment since she wasn’t Alicorn, but while she was still fairly sure Cobblepot didn’t know her secret identity, he probably still remembered her for what she did to him during Zatanna’s show her first week in this universe.
 
“Unhand me, you cretin!” Alfred shouted.
 
“Where’s Brucie, old boy?”
 
“Master Bruce is out right now,” Alfred lied as Sunset heard him struggle.
 
“Ah, typical. Never around to say ‘hi’ to an old friend. Okay then, where are the cash and jewels? Something you’d keep in a hidden safe in this old place?”
 
‘Sounds like Penguin is out for a quick score,’ Sunset thought before she saw Bruce running out from the kitchen and dashing towards the main hall.
 
“Let him go, Cobblepot!” Bruce demanded.
 
“Out right now, huh?” Penguin chuckled. “Okay, Brucie, you can show me where you keep the goods. You’re insured after all, right?”
 
There was the sound of something shattering on the floor, Sunset had to guess it was one of the vases in the main hall.
 
“The police are on their way. You may just want to leave before they get here,” Bruce told him.
 
“If that’s the case, then you might want to hurry up on getting me what I want. Unless you want the Pennyworth line to end this afternoon.”
 
Sunset quickly peaked out from her hiding spot and saw that Penguin had his umbrella’s blade at Alfred’s neck.
 
“Okay, okay,” Bruce relented. “Just don’t hurt him.”
 
Sunset knew that he could easily take him, but then that would probably reveal he was Batman and giving Penguin what he wanted was a small price in exchange to keeping secrets as well as saving Alfred’s life.
 
“It’s in the study, I’ll show you.”
 
Things went quiet as it sounded like the three of them left the main hall. It was only a minute later before Penguin was running with a bunch of jewels and wads of cash.
 
“Pleasure doing business with you, fellas!” he said with a cackle. The villain laughed as he ran out of the manor and took off with one of his flying umbrellas. Sunset stood up and ran over to Bruce and Alfred, who walked back into the main hall.
 
“You two okay?” she asked, to which they both nodded.
 
“Yeah, just my pride and honor. Sorry, sir,” Alfred apologized.
 
“Don’t. It’s alright, Alfred. That stuff is worth nothing compared to your life,” Bruce assured him.
 
Sunset looked back to the smashed door. “So, Penguin wanted some cash today?” she asked.
 
“Yeah, and I get the feeling he wasn’t the only one,” Bruce said.
 
A couple of minutes later, the three of them were in the Batcave and he proved to be right as Sunset looked at the screen.
 
“GothCorp is reporting a break in and theft of some familiar technology.”
 
Bruce typed on the keyboard before a picture of Garfield Lynns came up.
 
“Firefly,” Sunset said, crossing her arms.
 
“And at the same time, the Gotham Bank was hit hard and robbed of almost everything it had by this guy.”
 
The image now showed a hulking mass of red skin with huge arms that could rival the biggest bodybuilders in the world. A yellow substance surged through the tubes in its arms, chest and back. It wore a leather outfit that looked ready to jump off of its body. Sunset almost recoiled in fright.
 
“Who is that?” she asked breathlessly. “Looks like that guy has a bowl of steroids for breakfast every morning.”
 
“That would be Bane,” Bruce explained. “And he’s the last villain I would want you to run into.”
 
“That bad, huh?”
 
“Let me put it this way, he nearly killed me the last time we met. Certainly broke a bunch of my bones. He thankfully has an Achilles heel: His strength comes from a chemical called Venom that he has pumped through his body. Sever the cables pumping it into him, and he’s finished.”
 
“Guessing that’s easier said than done, right?”
 
Bruce nodded.
 
“Something’s not right though. These attacks were all at the same time, so it can’t be coincidence.”
 
“Think they’re working together?”
 
“Possibly, but they would rather work alone than with each other.”
 
A thought then came to Sunset. “Unless they have a reason to work together,” she said.
 
Bruce rubbed his finger along his chin. “Penguin is focused on regaining his family’s fortune, Firefly is a mercenary for hire, and Bane also works for money.”
 
“So somebody is paying all three of them to go on a crime spree?”
 
“Or maybe there’s another reason. Either way, we’ll probably have to deal with them at the same time.” Bruce grabbed two communicators and handed them to Sunset. “I’m going to go talk to Gordon about all this. In the meantime, you give these to Barbara and Pamela.” He then looked to his butler. “Alfred.”
 
“Yes, sir?”
 
“How’s the Batbot?”
 
Alfred looked nervous being asked that.
 
“Well, it’s all repaired, but I’m afraid most of the issues that came from your last fight with Bane still haven’t been solved,” he replied.
 
“How long would it take?”

“Several weeks, if that’s all we were focused on.”
 
“Then it’ll have to do for now. Get it prepped up,” Bruce said before he got out the Batsuit and slid down the pole to the lower level of the Batcave.
 
“Must you always make me worry, sir?” Sunset heard Alfred mutter under his breath.
 

 
“Here you two go,” Sunset said as she handed the communicators to Pamela and Barbara when the three of them met up at Sunset’s apartment a few hours later.
 
“Wow. He really trusts us now?” Barbara asked as she looked at hers. Meanwhile Pamela seemed more like she wanted to take a more detailed look of it.
 
“Well, I may have had to do a bit of arm twisting, but yeah. This is pretty much his way of showing his approval,” Sunset admitted.
 
“I wonder what makes this work. Must be some high-end technology, judging by the looks of it,” Pamela said.
 
“Yeah. Taking it apart probably isn’t going to make the Bat too happy with you, Pam,” Barbara remarked with a snide grin, which made Pamela chuckle.
 
“Of course. I just can’t help but be a bit curious.”
 
“Expect to have those things be put to use soon,” Sunset set. “We’re probably going to have quite a fight on our hands.”
 
“Right. Dad came home early today and mentioned that Penguin, Bane and Firefly were on the loose,” Barbara informed them both.
 
“Exactly. Batman is pretty sure that they’re all working together, but that someone is paying them to do that,” Sunset explained.
 
“So the three of them, along with their employer, against us,” Pamela said, analyzing the situation. She then sighed. “I’m not feeling as comfortable about those odds.”
 
“I feel fine. We’ve been getting better at this these past few months. If this were happening during that whole first week of us crimefighting, then I would agree with you, Pam. But now?” Barbara gave a small chuckle. “They don’t stand a chance.”
 
“Careful, Barb, being overconfident is a good chance to get hurt or worse in this life,”. Sunset reminded them,“the bad part about this is that this isn’t like when Batman had to go against Penguin, Joker and Riddler all at once. As I recall, he told me they all were at each other’s throats and sabotaging each other in a race to defeat him.”
 
“Unlike now, those three probably are tolerating each other just long enough to get rid of us. Why else would someone unite them?” Pamela said.
 
“Either way, we’re going to have to fight them sooner or later, so I guess we should be ready,” Barbara concluded.
 
As if on cue, all three communicators began to ring before Sunset answered hers.
 
“Go ahead, Batman,” she said. “We’re all here.”
 
“Good. I’ve tracked down Firefly through his jetpack’s propulsion trail to the warehouse district. All three criminals are there with their employer, someone by the name of Toth from what I overheard.”
 
“All right, we’ll meet you over there.”
 
“Be careful. I just overheard much of their conversation with a long range listening device, and it appears that while killing all of us is something they want, Toth seems very intent on making sure you die at least.”
 
The signal went out, leaving the three girls alone to look at each other.
 
“Me? Just me?”
 
“Perhaps one of the Lords of Chaos?” Barbara suggested.
 
The other girls nodded.
 
“It has to be,” said Pamela. “Who else would want you out of the way?”
 
“You girls are probably right,” Sunset said. “If that’s the case, then we’re all walking into a trap.”
 
“At least it’s a trap we know that exists,” Barbara pointed out. “Better we spring that one rather than walk into one that we aren’t as prepared for.”
 
Both girls nodded once again. She was right, it was better than any sort of alternative.
 
“Come on, you two. We’ve got a showdown to meet,” Sunset said with determination.
 

 
“Well, this is the spot, but where’s Batman?” Ivy asked as the three of them arrived at the meet-up near the warehouses about an hour later. Night had already fallen on Gotham with the only lights being the few light poles in the area as well as the waning moon.
 
“You know him––he always likes to get the drop on us,” Batgirl chuckled before a loud mechanized sound came from behind them out of the dark alleyway.
 
A large mechanical suit, about six and a half feet tall, stood before them. The legs, arms, and body were a navy blue with the head shaped in Batman’s cowl. His insignia rested on the suit’s left arm. The arms were tipped with sharp claw-like mechanical fingers. There was a jetpack on its back as well. The girls were impressed by it. It was clear to all of them that this was Batman in a mechanized suit.
 
“Now that I see it, how exactly is Bane able to beat that?” Alicorn asked as Batman walked up to them.
 
“Bane is one of the last people you should underestimate,” he said, his voice sounding more electronic due to the suit.

“Listen, before we go in there, you should know that we think this Toth character might be a member of the Lords of Chaos.”
 
“The group that Zatanna opposes? That makes sense, considering he’s really targeting you. When I overheard their meet-up, he was planning to give them each seven million dollars.”
 
“That much?” Batgirl said with surprise. “This guy really wants you dead, Sunny.”
 
“Well, that’s not going to happen. We’re going to beat them all, right?” Ivy asked. The two fellow heroines shook their heads in approval.
 
“We’re walking into a trap,” Batman said. “I hope you three know that.”
 
“We know, but the good thing is that they are probably unaware of that,” Alicorn told him.
 
“Our best chance of succeeding is forcing them to get involved in one-on-one fights with us. Leave Bane to me, I trust you girls can handle the other three?”
 
The girls all nodded in agreement with his wish to fight Bane, as well as their ability to fight the others.
 
“If I’m the target, then it’s best we spring this trap with a distraction,” Alicorn said.
“And I think I have the perfect plan to do that.”
 
After quickly explaining the plan, the four of them moved into position. Sunset climbed on top of the warehouse and quietly moved towards the hole in the roof before glancing down. She could see all four villains waiting around and talking with each other.
 
“How much longer are we going to wait? We should go back out there and hit the city again, get those heroes to come to us.” Penguin groaned as he clearly was out of patience.
 
“It won’t be long, Mr. Cobblepot. In fact, they should be here any moment now,” the normal-looking man, whom Alicorn assumed to be Toth, replied in a calm tone.
 
Firefly scoffed. “Why? We haven’t really made a statement announcing where we are.”
 
“Actually, Mr. Lynns, you delivered our message when you flew here. More than likely Batman will track your propulsion pack here.” Both Bane, who looked smaller than the image she saw of him earlier, and Penguin turned to give him looks. “It’s part of the plan, you three. Isn’t that right, Dark Knight?”
 
Alicorn looked as Batman walked in, causing all four villains to turn their attention towards him.
 
“Coming alone, Batman? In that suit? It’s almost as if you’re making it easier for us,” Bane chuckled before he turned something on his wrist and a yellowish liquid pumped through the tubes connected to him. He then grew in size and turned into the hulking monster Alicorn expected.
 
“Who said I was here alone?” As on cue, Ivy and Batgirl showed up at different locations of the warehouse.
 
“You four should make it easy on yourselves and give up,” Ivy said. “You aren’t going to get away with what you’ve done today.” She quickly ran for one of the exits she snuck into.
 
“Oh, yeah? You won’t say that after I do a bit of landscaping!” Firefly took off and chased right after her. Batman soon turned and ran away himself with Bane in hot pursuit of him.
 
“I broke you before, Batman. This time I will shatter you once and for all!” he cried as he chased after the Dark Knight.
 
Bane ran right through the wall of the building. Batgirl hesitated for a moment due to the sheer shock of Bane’s strength. She then made a quick somersault to dodge the shot Penguin fired at her from his umbrella while she was distracted.
 
“So I’m left with the Bat-Brat, huh?” he growled. “Fine. I can get your friends later!”
 
Penguin charged after her, leaving Toth alone in the warehouse.
 
“Very clever move on your part, my dear,” Toth said before he looked up at the hole in the roof. “Luring all three of them away to even the odds.”
 
Alicorn didn’t bother to keep herself hidden as she jumped down and landed on the ground before she stood back up.
 
“Well, since you’ve done all this to kill me, I thought you would’ve preferred if you personally got the chance to do it rather than sharing it with those three,” she shot back.
 
“Quite right,” he said, adjusting his suit’s cuffs.
 
“So, what’s the deal, Toth? I thought the Lords wanted a fight.” Alicorn asked as the two of them circled each other.
 
“Of course, but you see the problem is that the Lords know the Order is expecting a confrontation to take place here in Gotham. And they would much rather prefer for the fight to take place where the Order doesn’t expect.”
 
Alicorn scoffed at his answer. “You Lords of Chaos are all the same. Nothing but cowards afraid of a fair fight where you might end up losing.” Her words obviously struck a cord as Toth’s eye twitched. “Oh, was I right?”
 
“I’m going to enjoy ending your life, Alicorn.” He snarled but still had a chilling calm form. 

His hands glowed blue before he held them up. Alicorn saw a large crate shoot quickly towards her. She ducked under it and channeled her own magic to take control of the crate and toss it back to Toth. He easily moved aside from the flying crate, which smashed into pieces behind him. Toth grabbed another crate, but the result was the same as he dodged yet again.
 
“If all you’re going to do is throw the warehouse at me, then I think we’re in a bit of a stalemate,” she said.
 
“Indeed. I wonder if the Order has taught you well in terms of fighting.”

“We’ll just have to see about that.” 

Alicorn’s hands glowed green as she muttered a spell under her breath. Various objects hovered in the air behind her––crates, machinery, even some girders. Her chanting became faster as she finished the incantation. The objects shot at Toth again, but she did not anticipate them doing any damage. 

With him distracted, Alicorn chanted a different spell and shot her hands forward. A red beam jetted out from her joined palms and blasted Toth in the chest. The man flew back into large crates piled on top of each other. Upon impact, a few fell from their perches on the top and hit the ground with a loud crash! 

Alicorn smirked victoriously as she surveyed her work. Broken shards of wood from the crates littered the floor in front of her. That wasn’t so tough after all. Maybe it would be much easier to fight him than she had believed previously. If this guy had to use some of Gotham’s supercriminals to do his dirty work, that probably meant he was weak himself. 

A flash of bright blue light then rose up from beneath the pile of broken crates and blasted them away. The energy was so powerful that Alicorn too skidded back a few feet from where she had stood a moment ago. From beneath the pile stood Toth, seemingly unhurt by the spell she had cast and the crates falling on him. His breath came out in ragged gasps, blending in with the sound of the air conditioning units above them. 

“Is that the best you’ve got?” he snickered through his heavy breathing. “A little stun spell?” 

Alicorn reared her arms back into her fighting stance, returning his sneer with one of her own. 

“You want to see everything?” she said. “Well, then be my guest. I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.” 

“Deal.” 

Toth then chanted something under his breath, his hands glowing the same blue color as before. Alicorn returned the favor as she thought of a counterspell. When they both reached their peak, the two magicians fired their attacks at one another. The two blobs of blue and green collided before dispersing in a flash of light. Alicorn shielded her eyes from the sheer brightness of it, even with her magical mask. 

As she turned back to gaze at Toth, a beam of turquoise light hit her straight in the chest. Alicorn felt as if she had taken an attack from Mr. Freeze because her whole body suddenly became cold. To her surprise and horror, ice grew on the chest of her uniform before engulfing her entire body except for her head. The ice became too heavy as she fell flat on her back.

Alicorn quickly chanted a few words before her whole body was almost engulfed in a torrent of flame that vanished almost as quickly as it appeared. The flame shield did it’s job of freeing her from the ice before she got right back onto her feet.

“Okay, he’s clearly much better with spells than I thought. I wonder how he is in an up close fight.” She thought. 
 
She charged ahead, moving fast to avoid any incoming spells until she was throwing several punches as soon as she got in close. However, Toth quickly moved to avoid them. She continued the barrage, hoping one of them would land, but Toth proved to be quite the fighter as he continued to block or dodge the punches and kicks she was throwing. 

She then unsheathed her sword once more and tried to get him with a few precision strikes with magical force tied into break his fighting ability. However, the same result happened as with the punches: despite being unarmed, Toth dodged and avoided every strike with such speed it took her completely by surprise. After several more dodges, Alicorn tried a roundhouse kick that he caught and held before smiling.
 
“My turn.”
 
He threw her right to the ground. As soon as she got back up, he went on the attack. Alicorn tried to block and dodge, but she quickly learned how fast he was and found herself being the one taking the blows. A quick flurry of punches before a charged magical one sent Alicorn flying into a group of abandoned boxes and crates.
 
Alicorn felt serious pain on many parts of her body as she heard Toth chuckling.
 
“They’ve indeed taught you well, Alicorn,” he hissed, “but I’m afraid it hasn’t been enough. My whole life has been spent training with the Lords of Chaos. I imagine you can’t say the same.”
 
Alicorn knew she was in trouble. Toth was more difficult than she originally thought and trying to take him head on was not working. She fled into the shadows of the warehouse, hoping for an opening she could use to take him down.
 

 
Ivy kept herself as quiet as she could as she grasped her shoulder. Surprisingly, she managed to find a little green park area amongst the concrete jungle of Gotham City. She now took refuge behind a large tree amongst this small area of a few trees and some plants.
 
Firefly certainly was fast, as she expected, but she was more surprised with herself on how she was able to dodge him and hide. Though one of his energy beams came close to hitting her, the sheer heat from it was enough to leave quite a burn mark even if it didn’t make direct contact with her shoulder.
 
“Come on, Mother Nature’s little helper,” Firefly chuckled as he slowly walked through the park. “‘Fraid to fight me?”
 
The trees helped keep an eye out for her and whispered when she should move telling her where to hide. Right now, she was waiting until hopefully the right moment for her and nature to strike.
 
“Quit hiding! Come out and let me trim your branches!” Firefly fired off a few rays of energy that burned everything in their path.
 
Ivy closed her eyes tight as she heard the sounds of the grass and plants crying out in pain before being silenced. If Firefly knew how much pain he was causing her by doing that, he would’ve glassed the entire area.
 
Instead, by not pushing his destruction of nature, it was only making the life around him mad, and Ivy was sharing the feeling. Firefly was now only a few feet away from her when she made her move.
 
She jumped out from behind the tree and charged forward as Firefly took aim.
 
“Got you!”
 
“Think again!” she smirked as an energy blast never came. The attention that she caused for even a second was enough for a tree root to shoot out and sever the tubes that were attached from his back to the energy beams on his wrist.
 
Ivy leapt forward and delivered a double kick that sent Firefly stumbling back before he bumped up against a tree that had quite a lot of anger building up inside it.
 
The sound of metal tearing and being smashed could be heard. The sound meant that Firefly’s propulsion pack had just been smashed leaving him grounded, and unable to escape when a bunch of roots wrapped around him and enclosed him in a tight prison from the neck down.
 
Ivy took a deep breath in relief as Firefly tried to escape to no avail. She soon walked up to him before removing his helmet and then throwing a hard left hook against his face. He yelled out in pain as Ivy smirked.
 
“Little message from Mother Nature there.”
 

 
“Great. Dead end,” Batgirl sighed as she reached the end of an alleyway, only to find that there was no other way out.
 
“You’re right about that.” Batgirl turned to see Penguin at the other end with a sick smile on his face. “You’ve got nowhere to go now, sweet cheeks.”
 
She quickly looked around for either someway to escape or something that could help her as he slowly walked towards her. Escape proved to be not much of an option as there was nothing for her to scale the walls. As for anything to help, there were only a few metal trash cans as Penguin deployed a blade from the tip of his umbrella and charged ahead.

Batgirl only had a few seconds to react when she kicked the trash can, causing the lid to fly up a few feet for her to grab and use as a shield. Penguin reached her and stabbed his blade through it, only inches away from stabbing her. He tried to pull back only to find the blade was wedged into the lid and not pulling out.
 
“Hey! Let go! This is mine!” he argued as he tried to free his umbrella. Batgirl pulled it away from him and sent his umbrella and the lid away from the two of them. She then used the opening she had to send a hard kick right into his face before a loud crack was heard.
 
“My nose!” he cried out as blood ran down. With Penguin now fully distracted with his injury, she threw another kick that knocked him over.
 
Right into the trashcan itself.
 
Penguin fell over with the trashcan now firmly stuck on top of him as Batgirl dusted off her gloves.
 
“See, now that’s where you belong, Penguin. In the trash.” She laughed before giving the can another kick, then ran back towards the warehouses.
 

 
“Where are you!? You can’t hide forever, Alicorn!” Toth shouted as he knocked down several more boxes while scouring the warehouse for her.
 
Alicorn held her breath as she hid behind another group of boxes. She knew she had to keep still and quiet if her plan was to work. If taking Toth head on wouldn’t work, then indirect fighting would be the answer.
 
She slowly glanced out of her hiding spot and saw Toth beneath her, but unaware of her location. There was only one chance. She quietly conjured up a spell that if it worked, could stop Toth right then and there. If not, then she would’ve revealed herself and would be on the receiving end of another wave of attacks.
 
Toth came to a stop as soon as he realized something was wrong. He glanced down to see an aura of magic around his feet that kept him pinned to the floor. He chuckled as he easily counteracted the spell before hearing a sound above him. 

He turned his head to find many boxes and crates coming down on him. Unable to have enough time to stop them or jump out of the way, he roared out in anger before being buried under it all.
 
Alicorn sighed as she sat down. The holding spell had distracted Toth long enough for her to drop half the warehouse on him.
 
“Hey, you okay?”
 
Alicorn looked up to see Ivy walking towards her.
 
“Just fine,” she replied. “Toth was harder than I expected but he’s taken care of.” She pointed to the mess behind her.
 
“Firefly wasn’t easy at first––he almost got me a few times, but I managed to get some help from a few trees and now he’s all tied up in their roots until the police come.” Ivy could easily tell something was up with Alicorn. “Something else wrong?”

“Yeah, I got put through a serious challenge and got a real bad wake up call. I not only underestimated Toth, but just realized, I’ve been fighting all wrong as of late.”

“What do you mean, fighting wrong?”

“I’ve barely been using much of my magic in a fight, Ivy. I’ve been thinking more of fighting like Batman rather than Zatanna.” Alicorn sighed. “Maybe it’s because magic still is so different from here than it was in Equestria.”

“Or maybe it’s because you used magic for much of your life then went some time without using it once you left.” Ivy suggested which caused Alicorn to nod in agreement.

“Perhaps you’re right. All I know is that I have got to focus more on improving my magical abilities, especially in fighting. I might not be as lucky next time if we encounter someone like Toth.”
 
“And Penguin’s in a garbage can with a broken nose.” The two of them saw Batgirl swung in from the hole in the roof. “What’s with those looks? What did I miss?”

“We’ll explain later.” Alicorn said.
 
“Well, that’s three down and one to go,” Ivy said with a smile.
 
“Make that four down.”
 
The three girls turned to see Batman walking in looking pretty worn while dragging an unconscious Bane, who was reduced back to his pre-Venom size.
 
“You look like you’ve had it rough,” Alicorn chuckled.
 
“Bane didn’t make it easy. Good to see you girls in better shape.”
 
“No match for the Young Amazons.” Batgirl proudly boasted as Ivy and Alicorn rolled their eyes.
 
“Come on, you two. Let’s get Toth out from under this stuff,” Alicorn said.
 
The three of them helped move a few boxes away, only to find that Toth had vanished and all that was in his place was a small note.
 
“You win this round, Alicorn, so I would recommend you savor it while you can. Soon, the full weight of the Lords of Chaos will come down on you, and there will be no escape for you and your friends.”
 
Alicorn growled as she finished reading the note before crumpling it in her hands. A part of her was upset that he escaped––capturing him would’ve been a slight tip in the Lords of Order’s favor––but she quickly calmed down and took a deep breath.
 
Toth had been stopped, and the other three criminals would be going back to jail. That was good enough for her.