Work Text
Insurgency:
-Bruce Wayne/Batman-Tim Drake/Stray, formerly known as Catlad.-Selina Kyle/Catwoman-Barbara Gordon/Oracle, formerly known as Batgirl.-Kate Kane/Batwoman-Wally West/Impulse II, formerly known as Kid Flash.-Jason Todd "Peter"/Red Hood, formerly known as Robin II.-Zatanna Zatarra-Harleen Quinzel/Harley Quinn-Renee Montoya-Dick Grayson/Deadman II, formerly known as Nightwing and Robin I.-Alfred Pennyworth-Baby Wildebeest-M'gann M'orzz/Megan Morse/Miss Martian
Regime:
-Clark Kent/Superman-Diana Prince/Wonder Woman-Hal Jordan/Yellow Lantern, formerly known as Green Lantern-Barry Allen/The Flash-Lex Luthor-Billy Batson/Shazam-Damian Wayne/Robin III-Victor Stone/Cyborg-Sinestro-Ares-Shiera Hall/Hawkgirl-Rachel Roth/Raven
No Alliance:
-Arthur Curry/Aquaman-Queen Mera-Garth/Tempest, formerly known as Aqualad.-Pamela Isley/Poison Ivy-Ra's al Ghul-Talia al Ghul-Rosabelle Mendez/Pantha-Dr. Leslie Thompkins-Toni Monetti/Argent-John Constantine-Donna Troy/Troia-Etrigan-Artemis of Bana-Mighdall
Deceased (In Order of Death):
-Jimmy Olsen, shot by the Joker.-Lois Lane, died in space after Superman-with fear induced gas in his system-mistook her for Doomsday and attacked.-Bart Allen/Kid Flash II, formerly known as Impulse I, killed in the nuclear explosion in Metropolis.-Jesse Chambers/Jesse Quick, killed in the nuclear explosion in Metropolis.-Joker, murdered by Superman after blowing up Metropolis.-Stephanie Brown/Spoiler, killed by a Parademon during Kailbak's invasion.-Tula/Aquagirl, died during Kalibak's invasion.-J'onn J'onzz/John Jones/Martian Manhunter, burned alive by Superman's heat vision.-Nathaniel Adam/Captain Adam, self destructed in the hopes to kill Superman.-Oliver Queen/Green Arrow, beaten to death by Superman.-Kyle Rayner/Green Lantern, killed by Yellow Lanterns.-James Gordon, sacrificed himself to destroy the Watchtower.-John Stewart/Green Lantern, killed by Sinestro.-Guy Gardner/Green Lantern, killed by Hal Jordan.-Thomas Blake/Catman, killed by Superman.-Jinx, killed by an unknown source.-Helena Bertinelli/Huntress, neck snapped by Wonder Woman.-Harvey Bullock, killed in the blast radius caused by The Spectre.-Jason Blood, killed in the blast radius caused by The Spectre.-Klarion the Witch Boy, killed by Sinestro.-Detective Chimp, killed by The Spectre, resurrected, then vanished after Klarion's death.-Beatriz da Costa/Fire, shot by Red Hood.-Boston Brand/Deadman, destroyed by The Spectre
Believed To Be Deceased:
-Jason Todd/Red Hood, formerly known as Robin II, murdered by The Joker but was resurrected by Ra's al Ghul in secret.-Dinah Lance/Black Canary, nearly bled to death from Superman's attack but was saved by Doctor Fate and taken to another timeline.-The Teen Titans, consisting of Koriand'r/Starfire, Cassie Sandsmark/Wonder Girl, Conner Kent/Kon-El/Superboy, and Roy Harper/Red Arrow, formerly known as Speedy and Arsenal. Thought to have either abandoned Earth after confronting Superman or to have been killed by him. In truth, they've been trapped inside the Phantom Zone after Superman critically wounded Superboy.-Kent Nelson/Doctor Fate, thought to have died defeating Trigon and a fifth dimensional imp.-Alec Holland/Swamp Thing, thought to have burned in hellfire.
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Tim tries to bite his lip to keep from moaning so loud, but when that fails Jason has to cover his mouth with his hand as he keeps snapping his hips forward into the cat thief. Wally stops vibrating around both of them to run to the closed door of their bedroom, listening against it for any signs of commotion from the room across from them. Jason and Tim protest from the lack of Wally's incredible touch, but don't stop clinging to each other as Jason finally reaches his climax.They start to make out as they come down from their high, Jason pulling away to peck Tim's nose. "You're usually way better at keeping quiet."Tim smirks. "Guess I've been too pent up," He tells him, glancing at Wally. "Coast clear?"Wally shakes his head. "He's definitely up," He says, frowning. "When did that kid become such an early bird?"Jason rolls off Tim and sits at the edge of the bed to throw on a pair of sweats. "I'll get breakfast started," He says, leaning over to kiss Tim one more time before he walks over to kiss Wally. "You two can finish up and join us after."Wally hums. "Can you make scrambled eggs again?""All depends if Zatanna grabbed some more eggs on her last trip," Jason says. "But her and Dick have been busy trying to find Constantine.""It's a lost cause," Tim says, rolling over onto his stomach. "Constantine is gone and we're honestly better off without him."It's been months and Bruce still can't get over the fact that Constantine fooled everyone into helping him make the perfect getaway with his daughter, Rose. Even though the Insurgency suffered heavily, Superman and the Regime did lose Mister Mxyzptlk, their magical bodyguard. Without the annoying imp Superman is a little more vulnerable now, but with their limited resources, they haven't been able to set a plan of attack.Instead, they've all been hiding in the lead mines to avoid Superman's detection, all the while Bruce stays in his control room, isolated from everyone except Alfred. Selina's been royally pissed off because of it and Tim worries she might try to leave the group like Harley, who was last seen with Poison Ivy.They hear little feet moving around outside their door and Jason motions for Wally to get under the covers with Tim. He opens the door just in time to scoop Baby Wildebeest into his arms. "Hungry, little man?" he asks. Baby nods his head and Jason laughs as he carries him to the kitchen, closing the door behind him.Tim barely opens his mouth before he feels vibrations taking over his entire body, and then Wally's sliding his hard member inside him. The speedster pulls Tim on all fours as he starts to thrust, trying to quickly find his fourth orgasm that morning.After Wally comes, he sucks Tim off until he finishes in the speedsters mouth. They quickly hop in the shower together before joining Jason and Baby in the kitchen.If anything good came out of this last year, its Tim's new relationship with Jason and Wally. Unfortunately only Tim, Wally, and Dick know about Jason's resurrection so when they're around the others they still have to call him Peter. They start eating their meal when a very stressed looking Kate walks in."Morning," she grumbles, smiling weakly at Tim and the others before fixing herself a cup of coffee.Tim glances at Wally and Jason before walking up to her. "How's she doing?"He's talking about Renee Montoya, Kate's wife. During the battle with the Regime months ago, Wonder Woman killed Huntress, who meant something to everyone in the Insurgency. However, she meant the most to Renee. Helena was Renee's roommate and was the one who introduced her to Kate. At their wedding, Helena was Renee's maid of honor while Barbara was Kate's. After her death, Renee's been mourning with a different bottle of whiskey almost every night."She's not talking to me," Kate says. For a moment she lets the façade of Batwoman fade. In one sigh, her entire body slumps and her hand goes up to pinch the bridge of her nose. During these months in hiding, Tim continued his training with Batwoman and he's never seen her like this. As fast as it comes, it goes, and Kate has returned to the one who cares about the mission and the mission only. "But it's fine. We need to figure out what we're going to do next.""Kate," Wally worries. "You don't have to keep anything from us."Kate ignores him. "The meeting is about to start.""I'll put Baby away," Wally says, picking up Baby and zooming away. Before Helena died, she was the guardian of Baby Wildebeest, who saw her as his mother. Wally's always cared for the little guy, so Tim and Jason have agreed to help take care of him. During the battle, when Baby discovered Helena died, his powers were activated in his rage. He grew into a giant adult Wildebeest and was able to go toe to toe with Superman without the aid of a super pill. Now, even in his worse tantrums, the giant beast hasn't returned, and they don't know why.They follow Kate into a small living space where the meeting is supposed to take place. The only other person there is Renee and she's passed out on the couch with a bottle in her hand."Uh, is this it?" Wally asks awkwardly."Zatanna and Nightwing are still searching magical dimensions for Constantine," Batwoman explains."Is that really the move we wanna make?" Jason asks. "Raven's not too happy after losing her father and being trapped in magical prison for almost a year.""Zatanna can handle Raven," Kate says. "If not, Dick believes he can reach her.""Even he has to know his charm has limits," Tim says. "Besides, searching for Constantine is pointless. There's no way he'll be found.""Either way they're both preoccupied," Kate tells them."And I'm guessing that goes the same for Bruce," Jason grunts, not even bothering to hide his annoyance. Tim can't tell if Jason is happy or upset that Bruce hasn't paid too much attention to him. It's almost like he was upset that Tim didn't recognize him, but also glad because his cover wasn't blown."You're all wasting your time." Tim and the others turn to see Catwoman, the closest thing he's had to a mother, walk into view with a bag around her shoulders. "Thought I'd tell you all goodbye before I hit the road.""Helena," Renee murmurs.Kate looks at her wife. "Renee?" She calls. "Are you listening to this?""She's not listening to anything," Selina answers for her, rolling her eyes. "She's drunk. Again.""She's got the right idea," Jason mumbles, earning a slap to his chest from Tim."Are you seriously leaving, Selina?" Kate asks. Tim almost wants to answer 'No, she always does this when she feels cooped up,' but he knows better than that. She did this exact same thing two years ago when they were hiding out in Hawaii. It was just after Superman killed Green Arrow and Batman instructed all of them to hide until he had a new plan. They stayed in a secret cave that belonged to Tim and Kon for a couple months and Selina almost went crazy."Damn right," she snaps. "We are so past outnumbered and outgunned and Batman isn't doing anything about it. We are wasting our time hiding out here. The Insurgency's over.""It will be over if we give up," Wally muses. Next to Bruce and Kate, Wally cares the most about keeping the Insurgency alive. Tim thinks it either has to do with Bart dying, or the fact that Barry is still with the Regime. Or both."Don't give me that rah-rah nonsense," She dismisses. "I'd understand if Bruce were doing something to advance the cause but how long has it been? All he does is sit in that room and stare at those screens.""He's...a coward," Renee grumbles, just before she spits up all over her shirt. Wally groans and zips away, he has a sensitive stomach.Selina rolls her eyes again. "On that note," she says, heading for the door."Selina!" Kate calls after her, right behind her trail. Tim and Jason move to follow them as Renee gets up from the couch."He's afraid," She grunts, barely able to keep herself from falling. "Afraid to do what he has to do. I'm not."There's a hint of menace in her voice that causes Tim to glance at Jason. Out of everyone, the two of them can recognize that feeling. Not only are they the only ones on the team that have killed, but they've also had the most struggles not committing it again."We'll unpack that later," Jason promises, ushering him out the door. They catch up to Kate and Selina having a blown out argument."We owe this to Helena!" Kate yells."I owe nothing to anyone but myself!" Selina says."You know that's not true," Jason interrupts.Selina glares at him. "What do you know about it, new guy?""Peter," Jason tells her. "And I know that you care a lot for Bruce and for Tim. Even Alfred has a place in that big heart of yours. They're still trying to make things right, are you really going to bail on them when they need you most?"Tim arches his eyebrow, impressed. Jason doesn't really say much in the meetings, he mostly just agrees with whatever Wally and Tim say. Selina and Kate both stare at him as if for the first time, as if he's more than just a piece of furniture in the meetings.Finally, Selina sighs and lets her bag drop. "I'm not a house cat," she defends. "I need to get out and get some fresh air.""We'll contact Barbara," Kate offers. "You can't go to Gotham, but I'm sure there are other cities that will be safe enough for an outing."For the third, and hopefully final, time Selina rolls her eyes. "Fine!" she groans. As she walks past Tim she points to Jason. "Watch it for this one, Kitten. He's one with words.""He wishes he could get the last word with me," Tim teases. Selina flashes him a smile reserved only for him as she caresses his cheek."That's my boy," she gloats, turning to Jason. "Well now that I'm staying I think it's time me, you, and Wally have a little chat about my Tim.""Looking forward to it," Jason replies."As am I," she says, narrowing her eyes. "Peter."Tim can see Jason tense up and knows they're both thinking the same thing. Does Selina know something? But then Selina smirks and winks and Tm mentally exhales all the stress and anxiety away."I'll go check on Renee," Kate says, dismissing herself.As she leaves, Jason slips his hand into Tim's. "Let's go check on Wally," He offers....The next day, Wally cannot stand still. Tim can tell something is on his mind the way he's pacing around their room, but he knows Wally will come out and say it when he's ready. Finally, just before Tim and Jason get ready to head to the training room for some sparring, he rushes up to them."I want you guys to meet Iris!" He blurts out.Tim and Jason look at each other, but say nothing. They know Wally's not done."It's just you guys are so important to me and Iris is really the only family I have left and I know she's been so lonely since her and Barry broke up and I haven't made a lot of time to visit her so she must worry about me especially with all that's happening although I'm sure she doesn't even know the half of it but still she'd love you guys and she'll cook spaghetti and-""Wally, shut the hell up already, we'll go!" Jason interrupts.Wally beams at that. "Really?"Tim laughs as he moves to kiss him on the cheek. "We'll head over tonight, ok?""Ok!"...Kate wasn't exactly thrilled at the thought of having Tim, Jason, and Wally leave. With everyone else gone, she had to teleport to Iceland to help Oracle follow a lead on more proper equipment and to help supply more of Wally's super pills, which meant Renee would be alone."She's an adult, Kate," Tim told her. "As much as I feel for her, we can't just babysit her all day."Navigating around Central City was just as tricky as it is in Gotham now that Superman's Regime soldiers have gone global. Luckily for them, Wally is a speedster and unless it's someone like Superman or Wonder Woman, he'll be too fast for the others to tell the difference between him and Barry.In quick fashion they make it to Iris's new apartment. Wally takes out the key he gave her the last time he saw her and welcomes them into an empty apartment."Is she covering a story?" Tim asks.Wally shakes his head, zipping through the entire apartment to look for her. "She stopped working for the station a couple of years ago," He explains. Tim can tell he's starting to get worried and looks around himself.The apartment looks like it hasn't been empty long. Nothing in the fridge is expired and her two plants are in good condition. When he looks at the papers scattered across the table he spots a list of contacts, a list for supplies, and a map."Guys, look at this," He says, picking up the map. It's a layout of Central City, with one specific path in the sewers highlighted with a marker leading to a way out of the city with an X on the spot. Ten o'clock is scribbled on the top corner, which is only twenty minutes from now. "This tunnel is made with lead. Superman wouldn't be able to see in it."Jason takes the map from Tim and studies it. "We should suit up and check it out," he says, turning to Wally. "Your aunt could need us."Ten minutes until the designated time and Tim is suited up in his cat suit, right next to Wally and Jason in their own suits. They carefully make their way into the sewer tunnel, Tim with his whip out and Jason with his hand on his pistol. They didn't know what, or who, to expect and Tim knew it was driving Wally crazy wondering how Iris fit into all of this."I hear something," Jason whispers. He tilts his head to the side to listen when suddenly he arches up and screams, dropping his gun as his hands shoot up to his head. Tim makes a move to him when a sharp pain seems to stab his head too, causing him to yell out as well. When he hears Wally's screams mix with theirs, he knows they've must've fallen into a trap.A gust of wind slams the three of them into the sewer walls and soon there's a winged man wrapping his hands around Wally's throat. Tim groans as he tries to aim his claw at him to shoot his detachable blade-"Stay down," A voice orders, the sharp pain in Tim's head increasing. Tim realizes that the voice was also in Tim's head, meaning they must be dealing with some kind of telepath."Stop!" A woman cries. "Let them go! They're not part of the Regime!""How can you be sure!" The winged man choking Wally growls."Because that's my nephew!" She yells. "Now release him or you'll regret it."The pain in Tim's head is gone as fast as it came and he feels a pair of hands helping him up to his feet. He looks up expecting to see Jason and is surprised to see Pantha's masked face looking back at him. "Good to see you again, Gato," she says.There's a history with Pantha. She was created by the same people who created Baby, but escaped with the help of Huntress. After they rescued Baby, Oracle found out Pantha was being used as a mind slave for a meta man named Maxwell Lord in Mexico. The Insurgency managed to rescue her and had her go into hiding with Black Lightning, or so they thought.Wally seems to be just as shocked to see his aunt standing in front of him, not at all worried about the two metas behind her, the ones that attacked them. "Auntie Iris, what is all this?" Wally asks.Iris looks conflicted on what to do, but eventually she lets out a sigh and shows a symbol on her jacket. "We're part of the Central City branch of the Insurgency.""What?" Wally exclaims. "There are branches?"Iris nods. "Ever since the war with the Green Lanterns," she explains. "A lot of us had a feeling Superman's intentions weren't for the greater good and were confirmed when we saw the video Black Canary was able to broadcast before her death.""So what, you've been fighting with Superman for the past year?" Jason asks, his helmet's voice filter always making him sound more intimidating than he tries to be."We know we're not strong enough for that," She confesses. "But after Superman declared all metas must be registered with the League, we've been helping smuggle the ones they would for sure put in their prisons."Pantha nods her head. "I'm a lab experiment," she explains. "I don't even know if I was originally a girl or a beast. I'm the type of uncertainty that frightens the Regime. They've already tried searching for me in my home back in Maine.""We're taking her to a safe source," Iris continues. "But we have to get moving, our window of opportunity is closing.""Who are they?" Jason asks, nodding towards to the two metas."I am Black Condor," The darker skinned one announces, before motioning to the paler male. "And this is Brainwave. Apologies for the attack, it's hard to tell who to trust these days.""Right," Jason grunts.Despite everything, Iris smiles as she caresses Wally's face. "It's so good to see you," she says, warmly. "I've been so worried.""I know, I'm sorry," Wally quickly says. "We're just trying to do the right thing."Iris kisses his forehead. "I couldn't ask for anything else."The other male, Brainwave, snaps his head up in alarm. "They've found us!" He declares."How is that possible?!" Black Condor shouts."I don't know, but they're coming!" Brainwave replies. "Shazam, Hawkgirl, and a shit ton of soldiers."Iris gasps and looks at the three of them. "I'm so sorry, you shouldn't have come here," she says."I'm not leaving you!" Wally declares. Tim glances at Jason. If this was going to turn into a fight, how fast can the others arrive? And what happens if Superman shows up? They barely escaped him last time."You won't have to!" Black Condor yells. "Brainwave and I will engage them. The rest of you need to get out of here.""You know what they'll do to you!" Iris pleads.Black Condor shakes his head. "You have the information of every meta we've helped so far," He explains. "If they catch you, it's all over.""We need to get going," Jason states.Tim turns to Wally. "Take your aunt and Pantha first."Wally nods, grabbing Pantha and Iris before disappearing in a flash. Just then Shazam flies through the tunnel walls, knocking into Brainwave. Black Condor cries out and flies forward, meeting an aggressive Hawkgirl head on. As they spiral in the air, Hawkgirl spot Tim. "Stray!"He can't help it, even as he takes cover from Jason and the super soldiers exchanging fire, he blows her a kiss. It angers her long enough for Black Condor to grab her arm and snap it, slamming her to the ground right after. He flies forward to help a struggling Brainwave with Shazam when Wally returns. "Go!" Black Condor shouts, just as Shazam grabs his wings and pulls him down. "GO!!!"Tim and Jason grab onto Wally and he zooms off to the teleporter, forever leaving the fate of Black Condor and Brainwave a mystery.When they teleport back to base, they find Baby curled up in Pantha's lap and Iris chatting with Alfred, who looks at them once they arrive."Would anyone care for a cup of tea?"
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Then...
Tim landed on the rooftop heavier than he expected to, but he's still able to tuck, roll, and continue running as fast as he can. He takes a sharp turn, barely avoiding a spray of bullets as he does. He leaps over to the next roof, latching his whip to the next one to help steer him. He lands and looks up to check his surroundings.There. Only a block away he spots the red zone, the area he was told would be safe for all who make it. Not wanting to waste any more time, he takes off. Bullets are starting to hit the ground where his feet had just touched, lightning a fire under his ass to run faster. He takes out his pistol and fires at the assailants, not bothering to see if he hit them as he cartwheels off the roof and onto the fire escape. As soon as he lands he throws up two pieces of Ivy's sleeping powder and smirks when he sees it hit his pursuers right in their face. From there it's smooth sailing to the red zone, where a gold cloaked man waits with his several guards."Congratulations, Catlad," He says. "You are the first to complete your task."Usually Tim would have a witty comment as a response, but not this time. Instead he just nods and takes his place behind the old man and the guards. Soon the footsteps of another can be heard and Tim tenses up until Roy Harper flips his way into the red zone.The man in gold smiles. "Congratulations, Arsenal," He says. "You have completed your task."Roy gives a thumbs up and walks to stand next to Tim, although the two don't dare acknowledge each other. The rest of the night goes on like this. One by one more and more assassins arrive to the red zone, seeking the man in gold's approval. Among them are Jinx, Mammoth, Merlin, Gizmo, and Cheshire. After twelve assassins finally make it to the red zone, the man in gold's smile turns into a frown. When the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth assassin arrive, he raises his hand, signaling for his guards to shoot them dead."I hate tardiness," He mumbles, before signaling the guards to hunt down anyone else who hadn't arrived. He smiles brightly at Tim and the others. "Welcome to the H.I.V.E. Academy," He says warmly. "You've all made Brother Blood very, very proud."Tim spares a glance at Roy. This is it. This was their mission.They were going to bring down the H.I.V.E....
Now...
"Tim," He hears Wally whisper in a sleepy way. "It's happening again."Tim opens his eyes and looks over to see Jason squirming in their shared bed. Tim sighs and gets up, nodding to answer Wally's unasked question. The other understands and runs out of the room before zipping back in with a warm, wet rag. After he took the rag Tim slowly and carefully straddled Jason and waited for the inevitable to happen."SHUT UP!!!!" Jason shouts, his eyes shooting up to show the bright green filling them. Immediately Tim wraps his arms around him in a tight hug as the other starts to thrash out. "STOP LAUGHING! STOP FUCKING LAUGHING!!!"The Joker. Tim can't stand the fact that even in death Joker still has a stronghold Jason, still has a stronghold on Superman. "Jason, listen to me," Tim whispers. "You need to wake up. Wake up and come back to us.""BRUCE!!!" Jason cries out. "BRUCE I NEED YOU! SAVE ME!!!"Tim cups his face and finally Jason's green eyes focus on him. "Tim?" He breathes. Tim sighs and nods, slowly watching the color of the Lazarus Pit leave the others eyes. Jason touches his face, then slowly brings his lips to his. He seems to do this every time he snaps out of it, Wally thinks it's his way of grounding himself. Wally joins them and lets a soft vibration leave his body to try to sooth them both, peppering Jason with kisses as the other holds onto Tim. After they have sex, they clean up Tim and the boys head to the training room so Jason can blow off some more steam.As they walk down the empty halls, Wally sighs. "It's still so weird not having him around," He says. He's talking about Baby. After they rescued Iris and Pantha from the Regime, Iris still went ahead with relocating Pantha. It was Jason who brought up the idea of Baby going with her."He needs to be with someone like him," He said. "Someone who understands what it means to be animal and human."Wally threw a fit at first but eventually he came along. It still didn't mean saying goodbye was easy. Baby came into their lives because of Huntress and watching him leave with Pantha was just another reminder that she was gone.As they approached the training room, they spot Batwoman already working out some combos. Her continued training with Tim and now Jason have helped them work out their more homicidal feelings, truly learning to try other methods before ever considering killing as a resort."Stray," Batwoman says. "Oracle is on the line. Says she wants to speak with you."Tim doesn't like to leave Jason after he's had an episode but with Cyborg up and running again it's rare to get a message from Barbara. If she wants to speak with him, it's because it's important."Go," Jason says, kissing his hand before he lets go. "I'll be fine."Tim nods before kissing him and Wally goodbye and heads to the communications room. Once there he logs onto the computer and waits for Oracle to pick up. For most of last year, Tim and the rest of the Insurgency had little to no contact with Barbara. It was mainly because she didn't attend Constantine's meeting at Jason Blood's house. Had she gone, she would've been forced to hide in the Tower of Fate like the rest of them.Suddenly a camera turns on and Tim's surprised to see Barbara looking back at him, instead of her Oracle logo. "Is this safe?" He blurts out.She grins. "Good to see you too, Tim," she replies. "And yes, we're safe. Lex Luthor helped me secure a channel. It should be ok for a couple of weeks before Cyborg finds it. But until then, he's blind."Tim nods his head. He still isn't used to the idea of Lex Luthor, Superman's best friend, being the one who has been supplying the Insurgency with info against the Regime. If it wasn't for him they wouldn't have been able to duplicate the pills. Still, its hard to trust him. "How's Harley?""She's not in Gotham anymore," Oracle reveals. "Last I saw her she was leaving Poison Ivy's new hideout.""Well that can't be good," He mumbles, but decides Harley's whereabouts can be left for another day. "What did you want to talk about?"Barbara frowns. "Its Lian."...
Then...
Tim's grunt quickly turns into a struggled shout as he feels the heavy weight of Mammoth flip over his back and slam into the ground. He loses his balance and falls back on his ass, completely exhausted. He hears the other man grumble before knocking out completely. Tim lets out a sigh and and removes the goggles and hood of his Catlad outfit."You're technique is lacking severely, Catlad," A voice says. Tim turns to glare at the woman standing not too far from him."You don't see him getting up do you?" Tim snaps back. Cheshire was easily the best fighter in their group. By the time Tim finally managed to bring Mammoth down she already took down Jinx and Gizmo."You lack discipline," She says."And you lack personality."The cat rivalry between Tim and Jade has been going on since they officially joined the H.I.V.E. and it won't be losing momentum anytime soon. As much as Tim digs her aesthetic, there's only room for one talented cat persona here. They stop their bickering to watch Arsenal and Merlin battle it out on the only other mat. Although Merlin might show Roy some competition when it comes to the bow and arrows, he doesn't hold a candle to Roy when it comes to close combat. Roy has the other male on the ground and breathing hard in no time.As he walks over to them, he never breaks eye contact with Jade, who's practically purring before she heads to the women's showers. Tim stops himself from gagging.Roy gives him a look. "What?"Tim glances at the other unconscious bodies before shaking his head. They have to be real careful not to blow their cover here, it could cost them their lives. Instead he walks over to the men's showers, where he knows no one will listen. Like any other time, they both strip naked and turn on all the showers, standing in the center where the water doesn't touch them and where they have a clear vantage point of the room's entrance."Cheshire was on our files of people to look out for," Tim explains. "She could have ties to the League of Assassins.""So?" Roy asks."So staring at her ass all the time is going to be an issue," Tim snaps. "You do realize that if we fuck up, we're dead right.""Calm down," Roy tells him, rolling his eyes. "No one's gonna figure us out and we're gonna complete the mission."Tim crosses his arms over his chest. "And Cheshire?"Roy groans. "Jesus fuck, I promise I won't do anything with Jade. How does Kon put up with you?"Now it's Tim that grins as he motions down to his body. "You telling me you don't see it?"Roy laughs and makes a show of looking at Tim's ass. "I mean I wasn't going to say anything but if I ever question my sexuality-""Save it for a homo that cares," Tim says, knowing the other is just being a dick. "Just stay away from Cheshire.""Yeah, yeah, yeah," Roy shrugs, grabbing a bar a soap to begin washing his body. "I'm not even into her like that."...Lian Harper, Roy's and Jade's baby girl, is proof of how much Roy was not into Jade. He wasn't into her so much that during their mission so many years ago, he would sneak out to see her almost every night. Even after they brought down the H.I.V.E. they continued to have an on and off relationship. The two of them just couldn't seem to give each other up. Then Joker destroyed Metropolis, killing Bart and Garfield, two Titans that joined after Roy had took over as captain. It hurt him, not being able to take care of his team, and he sought comfort in Jade, resulting in Lian.Unfortunately, not soon after Roy joined Starfire, Wonder Girl, and Superboy in trying to take down Superman and no one has seen them ever since. Lian never met her father, and it's been almost a year since Jade left with Catman's Sinister Six to also try to take down Superman. Jason was also apart of that team, and he's the only one who made it out alive. Since then Tim looked after Lian, then Barbara."She's just been so sad lately," Barbara explains. "I can't figure out what's wrong."Tim made a face, then checked the calendar. "Well," he says. "Today's actually Roy's birthday, but she wouldn't know about that.""No, she wouldn't," a voice behind him agrees. He turns around to see Alfred carrying a tray with a sandwich. "But she would be upset over her own birthday."Tim and Barbara shared a glance. "Do you think today is also Lian's birthday?" she asks.Tim starts doing the numbers in his head. "It could be," he says. "Give or take a month or two.""It would explain her sudden mood," Alfred reasons. "The poor child thinks she's spending the day with neither of
her parents nor with anyone who actually knows it's her birthday.""Yeah, I'd probably be upset too," Barbara agrees. Seems everyone in this room knows something about losing parents."Alright," Tim says. "I'm coming to see her.""Wait, what?" Barbara exclaims."I'm not letting her spend her birthday alone," Tim explains. "I'm coming over, we're baking a cake.""How?" she asks. "The teleporter is being used for Batwoman's mission.""He can take the Batwing," Alfred suggests. "He'll get to Gotham in no time.""Perfect," Tim says. "I'll just-" Suddenly the door to the hallway slams shut, causing both him and Alfred to turn around. No one is standing by it, which could mean someone left?"Odd," Alfred muses. "I could've sworn I closed the door.""Doesn't matter," Tim dismisses. "How fast can we get the jet running?"While Alfred goes to prep the plane, Tim hurries to explain the situation to Wally and Jason. Wally offers to take him himself, but Tim reminds him he's on standby for Batwoman's mission. Jason offers to come as well, reminding him of how much he bonded with Lian in the short time they were together."It's bad enough I'm taking a risk," Tim says. "Let's not push Bruce's limits by both going, huh?"Jason rolls his eyes. "Old man would need to leave his room to even know what was going on."Tim doesn't respond. Instead he kisses them both goodbye and heads to the loading area where the jet is waiting for him. "So," he speaks into his earpiece. "All I have to do is tell it where I want to go?""Yes, Master Timothy," Alfred confirms. "The ship is set to voice command. All you need to do is tell it where to go.""And it will recognize my voice?" Tim asks, getting more skeptical as he stares at all the controls. "I don't sound like Bruce.""That is why Master Bruce has authorized the voices of all of the members of the resistance," Alfred explains."Ok, then, here goes," He says, taking a deep breath. "Take me to Gotham."Tim laughs in relief as the jet comes alive and takes off, flying straight out of the Alaskan waters and into the air. It's stealth mode will make it undetectable by Cyborg and its lead lining will make it invisible to Superman's vision. Unless he randomly runs into Shazam or Wonder Woman, he should be fine."Take care of yourself, Master Timothy," Alfred says."I always do," He replies signing off. He sits back and watches the clouds pass him as the jet flies by. The last time he was in a jet, Sinestro blew it up and he hit the ground after falling hundreds of feet from the air. Luckily for him he had taken a super pill and the fall didn't kill him, but it did leave him wounded for weeks while Jason and a meta girl named Toni helped heal him.
The inside of a jet darkens as a shadow starts to loom over him. Tim looks behind him and arches his eyebrow."Renee?" He asks, not doing anything as the former cop blindsides him and knocks him out."Take me to D.C." Montoya's voice is the last thing he hears before he completely blacks out....The destruction of H.I.V.E'S headquarters was a sight Tim thought he wasn't going to see. Things had gone so wrong so fast while him and Roy were undercover...the things they had to do to stay safe. Tim's a natural at burying his feelings but Roy? He found comfort in two things; Jade and drugs. Too bad the former couldn't stop him from giving up the latter. Tim knew they had to take their mission into high gear and when Brother Blood finally revealed himself as the mastermind behind H.I.V.E, Tim whispered one word."Kon."Superboy flew through the roof of the headquarters, with Wonder Girl not too far behind him. In moments, Starfire and Bumblebee had teleported to their location and they weren't alone. The original Titans-Raven, Cyborg, and Nightwing-were with them."Titans, go!" Dick shouts, going after Brother Blood himself with Starfire by his side. Bumblebee and Wonder Girl took on Blood's guards while Raven, Cyborg, and Superboy fought Jinx, Gizmo, and Mammoth. Just as he thinks to help his teammates, a sai nearly slices his neck. He flips away and turns to see Cheshire, who is no doubt glaring at him behind her mask."Traitor," she hisses, and Tim can practically feel the hatred in her voice. If there was anyone he grew close to here, it was Jade. After Roy and her became a thing, the two bonded. It was a mistake on both his and Roy's part. They got too close, they cared too much.Tim takes out his blade to block Jade's next attack, using the new techniques she taught him. Still, he was no match for her fury and he quickly found himself overwhelmed. Eventually she has him pinned to a wall, her sai pointed at his throat."Killing you will be bring me so much joy," She taunts."Jade."Cheshire freezes for moment, her arm gripping her weapon beginning to shake. Finally she rips off her mask to face Roy, tears falling down her face. "You betrayed me!" she cries."This isn't right, Jade," Roy tells her. "Please, stop this."Jade laughs harshly. "And why would I give this up?""So we can be together," He says."You are a broken man, Roy Harper," she tells him. "Only an outer shell of what you could've been."Roy closes his eyes, her words visibly stinging him. "Then do it."Jade's eyes widen. "What?""Kill me," he tells her.Jade's arm begins to shake again. "You think I won't?" she screams."No," He replies. "I don't."Jade roars and lunges after him, her blade aimed for his heart, but just as she's about to land her blow, she hesitates. And that hesitation is all Superboy needs to fly through and tackle her away. She's knocked down to the ground in seconds, Kon appearing before Tim instantly after that."Hey, Tim," He greets, with that farm town smile Tim's grown to love. "Miss me?"Tim sighs. "You have no idea," He says, melting in Superboy's arms before kissing him with so much need Kon doesn't know what to do with himself. Tim pulls away, however, and goes to check on his friend."We did it," Roy says, although there's no enthusiasm as he watches Cyborg cuff Jade.Tim takes his hand and squeezes it. "I'm here for you, Roy," he tells him. "I'll always have your back."Roy takes a deep sigh before turning to look at Tim. "I know."...Tim wakes up with a slight headache, still in the jet which has been landed perfectly in front of the Lincoln Memorial. The last thing he remembers before he blacked out was Renee attacking him and taking over the jet's voice command. He hears a sound similar to the crack of lightning before watching Renee's body suddenly fly over him and crash into the Washington Monument. Superman shows up, flying after her, and Tim realizes that the pair are fighting. Is that why Renee came here? To take on Superman once and for all? His answer is Renee lifting the monument off the ground and slamming Superman with it."Shit," He hisses. Even on a super pill, she shouldn't be that strong. And the way her muscles pulse like Bane when he's on Venom let's Tim know she's taken an unhealthy amount of super pills. Wally warned the group that taking too many pills can be deadly, but that doesn't seem to bother Renee. Tim turns on his intercom. "Bruce, we have an emergency!""I know!" Bruce responds, but in his Bruce voice, not his Batman voice. "It's all over the news. Renee took down Robin and Cyborg and is trying to kill Superman. The rest of the League is on it's way!""What about you?" Tim asks."I'm on the Wayne Corporation's helicopter," He says. "I should be there soon. Get Wally!""Right," Tim says, switching intercom channels. "Wally, I need you!""What is it?!" Wally says, already in front of Tim."Renee!" he says, pointing at Superman tackling her to the ground. Wally needs no more explanation as he picks him up and zooms them to the spot. Tim notices Wonder Woman also flying towards the pair."Wait," Wally calls out to Tim and Diana. "Look."They do as he says and notice that Superman isn't fighting Renee anymore, he's trying to restrain her. "Listen to me, Montoya," Superman cautions. "I can hear your heart rate. Those pills in your system-you're overworking your heart! You need to stop."Renee roars in anger, breaking free of Superman's hold before slamming her elbow against his chin. She prepares to deliver a heavy punch when she suddenly coughs out, green ooze spilling out of her mouth and nostrils. She clutches her chest as her eyes widen, before suddenly collapsing."No!" Tim cries out, rushing over to her. Superman catches her body and lowers her down gently. Tim knows it's too late as he reaches her. She's gone."Renee!" Bruce's voice calls out. He's running out of the helicopter and towards the rest of them. He takes Renee from Superman. "Her death is on you. They're all on you.""No," Wonder Woman interrupts, Yellow Lantern and the Flash appearing behind her. "This is on you and the pills you stole.""You don't get to talk!" Tim hisses, stepping forward before being held back by Wally. "She did this because she blamed Superman for Helena's death. Out of everyone here, you're the most responsible! She should've went after you!""Take her and go," Superman says suddenly, rising to his feet."Clark!" Wonder Woman protests. "You've been scouring the earth for months! Now's your chance to take Batman down.""He's not Batman," Superman tells her, and for the first time since Metropolis was destroyed nearly three years ago, Tim feels like he's watching Clark Kent answer. The one that made Kon proud to be Superboy. "He's Bruce Wayne, and he's just here to take his friend home."He walks up to Bruce and places his hand on his shoulder. "This war has already cost too much," He says. "It's over. Say it."Bruce looks up at Superman, angry eyes full of tears. "It's over.""Good," Superman says, letting Wally help Bruce take Renee's body over to Tim and Alfred. "If I ever see you in that cowl again, Bruce...it'll be the last time."...The next day, after finally burying Renee's body, Bruce has called a meeting back at Insurgency's headquarters. Only Tim, Catwoman, Impulse, Red Hood, Batwoman, Batgirl, and Alfred show up. Zatanna and Nightwing are still preoccupied finding Constantine and no one's seen Harley Quinn since she left Gotham. Tim glances at all of them. They all look so tired."So this is it?" Selina asks. "It's just us?"Wally sighs. "I appreciate what you are trying to do, Batman," He starts. "But look at us and look at them. We don't stand a chance."Jason sighs as well, wrapping his arm around Wally as Tim squeezes the speedster's hand. Wally's been the Insurgency's biggest support, him saying this is like a kid admitting Santa Claus isn't real.Batwoman rises up from where she was sitting. When she saw Bruce carry in her wife yesterday, she didn't move. She didn't fall to her knees, she didn't scream, she didn't cry except for one single tear that fell as she walked over and kissed the top of Renee's head. Afterwards she went into her room, where Tim knows she stripped out of her Batwoman costume and mourned Renee as Kate Kane. She lost her wife so soon after losing her best friend and yet she didn't fall apart, Tim doesn't know anyone with that kind of strength."Bruce," she says, walking up to the man. "I'll stand beside you until the bitter end, just tell me you have a plan. Tell me that Renee didn't die for nothing."Bruce stares at the cowl in his hands, Superman's warning most likely echoing in the back of his head. Then, slowly, he slips the cowl back on, facing them as Batman once more."It's not over."
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
In a way, Wonder Woman was right about blaming them for Montoya's death. Sure, her actions were her own, but if any of them had simply tried harder to reach out to her while she was mourning Helena, she might still be here. They couldn't risk the chance of Superman being generous again so they left Renee's body with the GCPD, where she had the proper funeral arrangements of a fallen police officer. Tim didn't want to go, swearing off funerals since Dick and Steph's death, so Jason and Wally went with him to see Lian.She was excited to celebrate her birthday, even if it was a couple of days late. Alfred baked her a delicious triple chocolate cake that she managed to get a slice from after Wally and Jason had to practically hold Tim down from eating it all. Them visiting Lian wasn't just for her birthday though, it was also serving as a favor to Barbara."I'll be back tomorrow," she tells them, wheeling herself to the teleporter."You want to tell us where you're going?" He asks. In truth he didn't care but Jason wanted to know, worried for his former teammate. However, he didn't want to give away that he was Jason, hence why Tim was asking."Just handling some things for Bruce," she says. When Tim doesn't seem satisfied, she taps her wheelchair. "Can't do too many dangerous missions on this thing, Tim.""Good point," he says. "Alright, see you later."Tim was sitting with Lian and Jason as they read to each other when Wally comes in with a bunch of photos. "Who knew Barbs liked to document her life," He says. Tim knew this, scrap booking was a hobby of hers, but he didn't say anything. They flipped through some old photos of her, Commissioner Gordon, and even young Dick."Do you remember when we first met Renee?" Jason asks, pointing to picture of her posing with Barbara's father.Tim smirked, he remembered like it was yesterday. "She had just transferred to Gotham."..."Tell me why I gotta help you again?" Tim asks, adjusting the hood of his Catlad outfit as he followed Robin down an alley. He was perfectly fine minding his own business when the other showed up out of nowhere demanding he follow him. They've only just recently stopped attacking each other so Tim wouldn't necessarily call them friends yet.Robin rolls his eyes. "Because Batman is on official League business and
you owe me," He says, turning to look at him. "If it wasn't for me you'd be in juvie for the shit you pulled last week.""You're more naïve than I thought if you actually believe I'd still be locked up," Catlad scoffs at him.The incident the other is referring to is when Tim nearly got busted by the Black Mask's men for stealing a bag full of rubies at their headquarters. Tim did everything he could, but their guard dogs caught him by surprise. He was in deep trouble when Robin showed up and saved the day (not that Tim would ever admit that). Even more surprising was Robin letting him go before Batman and the GCPD showed up. "Remember this, Street Cat.""No one forced you to help me," Tim points out. "I'm under no obligation to-""Jesus-I'll have Alfred bake you a batch of chocolate chip cookies," He offers.Tim pauses. "Two batches.""Deal."Tim smiles and starts skipping next to the grumpy Boy Wonder. "So what's the mission?""Penguin," Robin tells him. "He's smuggling weapons through the harbor again and I'm going to take him down.""You mean we're going to take him down," Tim says, satisfied when the other groans. "And why couldn't you ask for Nightwing's help? Isn't he the better Robin?""I don't need his help!" Jason shouts. "Besides I've broken most of his training records.""Sure you have," Tim says. "How's that quadruple somersault?"Jason yells in frustration. "I should just make you bait! Something to draw Penguin's fire.""Isn't that what Robin was created for?" Tim counters "Just a big, colorful distraction while Batman bags the bad guys? I mean why else would you wear that ridiculous outfit?""At least mine had some thought put into it! Yours is literally just a hoodie and a pair of goggles.""Yet you still can't take me down."They're like this for the rest of the night, even when they finally find Penguin and his thugs. Tim's never particularly liked Penguin so beating up his henchmen dressed in feathers didn't bother him so much. Like always, the joking stops once Jason starts hitting one of the goons a little too hard. In the small time Tim's gotten to know Jason, he's learned that there's a darkness inside of him, one that comes out when the other can't control his anger. Usually Batman's around to scold him but now it's just the two of them.Tim comes up with a different solution."Ow, what the fuck?!?" Jason yells when he feels the sting of Tim's whip against his backside."Just because Batman's gone doesn't mean you have to fill his role as 'Gotham's Most Angsty Hero.'" He says, coiling up his whip.Jason huffs. "I don't know what you're talking about." But it somehow works and the other calms down. Penguin managed to escape but at least they were able to get the others nice and tied up for the GCPD. Usually Officer Gordon and Bullock show up to take care of things but when the police car pulls up, Gordon is no where in sight. Instead, a young woman is walking up to them with Bullock. Tim can tell by her tense posture that she's new to the force.It's Bullock that addresses them first. "Thought Batman didn't want you rolling with this one, kid." He's talking about Tim. Batman may or may not have banned Jason from hanging out with him ever since Tim stole his thin mints."He's not the boss of me," Jason argues, puffing out his chest. "Besides, he helped me take down Penguin's men."Bullock and the woman observed the scene. Bullock was used to sights like this, but Tim could tell the woman was bothered. "Sir," she starts. "It's way passed curfew. Shouldn't these kids-""They don't have a curfew," He interrupts. "Trust me. Gordon will explain everything later.""Who's the fresh meat?" Tim asks, walking up casually to the officers."This is Montoya," Bullock introduces. "She's a transfer."Jason makes a face. "Who would want to transfer here?"Montoya looked up at him then, and Tim knew that she was an officer that couldn't be bought like some of these other crooked policemen. "Someone hoping to help make a change," she answered.Call it a hunch on a first impression, but Tim believed her...."She was a good cop," Jason says, putting away Lian's toys after she fell asleep."She was," Tim agreed. Jim Gordon, Harvey Bullock, and Renee Montoya were the best GCPD had to offer, and they were all gone. Each of them lost in the war of Superman, a list that gets bigger every day. Tim glances at Jason and Wally, two people he's grown to care about a lot over the years, and he can't help but wonder if they might be on the list too."Something's wrong," Wally says, suddenly getting up from his spot on the floor. Tim glanced at Hood for a split second before nodding his head to Wally. In a blink of an eye Wally not only suited up into his suit, but also helped Jason and Tim change into theirs. As Tim uncoiled his whip, he checked the security scans Barbara had built."Oracle's scans aren't picking anything up," He observes, just before the security footage flashes red for a brief moment. "That was weird.""What happened?" Jason asks."They just picked something up and then they didn't," He explains, the confusion evident in his voice."It's a speedster," Wally tells them.Tim can't believe their luck. He knew trusting Superman to show an ounce of sympathy was foolish, but they were just as foolish not to have a plan set in motion. "How did Barry track us?"Wally shakes his head. "It's not Barry," He says. "No offense to Oracle, but if it was Barry, no technology on the planet would be able to sense him coming. Whoever this is, they're slower.""Could be a rogue," Jason offers. "Cheetah?"Again, Wally shakes his head. "No, I felt the Speed Force earlier," He explains. "They're a speedster like me, but not as experienced.""It could be Jesse Quick?" He suggests. Him and Wally tried looking for her before the Lantern War, but couldn't find her. The idea of her joining us now could potentially lift the spirits of the Insurgency, especially after losing Renee."Could be," Wally agrees, watching the screen as it blinks red again."We can't take that chance," Jason says, touching the screen. "She hasn't pin pointed our location. Oracle's headquarters needs to stay hidden more than anything. I say we branch out to the docks with our mystery guest on our tail.""And leave Lian?" Wally asks."Alfred can watch her if we leave him a super pill," Jason assures him. "If this is some kind of trap, it'll take all three of us to stop them."Tim looks between his two boyfriends, briefly wondering if this will forever be their life. But he can't get too caught up now. The priority is dealing with this speedster as far away from Lian and Barbara's headquarters as possible."Let's head out then," Tim decides.Wally grabbed hold of both of them and sprinted off. It only felt like seconds of Wally running before he yelled out in pain as something crossed him in a blur, punching him across the face. He loosened his grip on Tim and Jason as they all tumbled to the ground. Despite feeling like seconds have passed, Tim noticed they were halfway across Gotham as he looked around. A sound rushes past him and soon a woman in a red speedster outfit similar to Flash's appears. Tim can tell this isn't Jesse Quick, she's a bit older and looks much more sinister than the girl they had on file."Wally West," she purrs. "I was created to kill you.""Created?" Wally asks. "Like in a lab."She grins. "My employers were successful in mimicking the lightning blast that granted you and Barry Allen your gifts, as well as your connection to the Speed Force.""Who hired you?" Jason demands, aiming his gun at her."You will all find out soon enough," she says, before rushing at Wally with a knife. Tim is able to watch Wally dodge it in a blur, grabbing the girl's arm and whirling her around into the nearest building. A couple of years ago Tim wouldn't have seen any of it, but Wally thinks because he's spent so much time with Wally running in the Speed Force, his eyes are beginning to adjust to the speeds."I'm gonna shake her off!" Wally tells them, before he's gone. The lady is quick on his tail and soon it's just him and Jason. Without saying anything, the pair start to sprint across Gotham's rooftops, easily familiar with the city's landscape."We got company," Jason says, leaping over a chimney. "Recognize the formation?" Tim glances at his scanners and curses under his breath. Now it all makes sense. They were fools to think they were done dealing with them. The last time Jason and Tim dealt with them was when Tim freed Poison Ivy from their prison with the help of Catwoman and Harley Quinn. Jason and him were technically enemies then, how times have changed.
"The League of Assassins," Tim announces. They have plenty of reasons for why they want to kill Tim and Jason, but now they've come up with a plan to go after Wally too. Wonder why that is? Do they know about the trio's relationship? Probably."Shit," Jason hisses. "We can't outrun them."Tim looks around, noticing they're not too far from Gotham Park. "Good thing we have the home field advantage," He says, running in the direction of the park, Jason following right behind him. There's a large area in the park with no trees or any other obstacles. They'd be able to see anyone coming from every direction, no surprises. It's not long before they reach the center of the field that a group of ninja start heading towards them."I count fifteen," Jason mumbles, loading his gun."Yeah, well, you were never the greatest at math," Tim says, pointing to the other dozen coming in behind them. To no one's surprise, Talia al Ghul is leading the pack, a deadly expression on her face."My father would like to express his disappointment in the two of you," she says, glancing at both of them. "He had high hopes for you both with the League.""Something tells me you don't feel the same as your father," Tim guesses.Talia ignores him, turning to Jason. "We gave you everything," she reminds him. "And you repay us with betrayal?""I didn't ask to be brought back to this shit excuse for a world," he tells her. "But I sure as hell wasn't going to be in it as someone's lap dog.""No," she says. "You'd rather be the street cat's scratching post.""Don't hate," Tim interrupts. "He can't help it if he's into someone who doesn't calculate their orgasms.""Did someone say orgasms?" Wally suddenly appears next to Tim and Jason with a few cuts on his arms, but other than that, he's fine.Jason groans, and Tim bets he'd slap his palm to his forehead if it wasn't for his helmet. "Did you take care of the speedster?""Yeah," He says, his face lowering. "She wasn't ready to use that much of the Speed Force, it ripped her open from the inside out. She just...collapsed.""It's not your fault," Tim tells him."No," he agrees, turning to Talia. "It's yours. You filled her head with lies and made us her enemy for your own personal vendetta.""The speedster has failed," Talia alerts the other ninja, looking more spooked than Tim's ever seen her. He doesn't blame her. Tim hasn't seen Wally this upset since Bart died.
"Fall back!""I don't fucking think so!" Jason shouts, aiming his two guns before firing them at the ninja starting to flee. As their bodies hit the ground, Wally takes off to tie them up. Jason, like Tim, promised Batman and Batwoman that they'd lay off on the killing, which is exactly what he's doing. He's managing to hit non-threatening areas of the body so Wally can easily round them up.As they work together, Tim goes after Talia. The daughter of the Dragon's Head takes out her sword and meets Tim halfway with his whip. She's a deadly fighter, no doubt about that, as she avoids the thorns of Tim's whip plus the swipe of his claws. Finally before she can even think of getting the upper hand, Wally comes by in a blur and knocks her out clean.He stops right in front of Tim with a big grin on his face. "Hey.""Hey." Before Wally can say anything else, Tim pulls him into a hug. The other quickly relaxes his body and buries his head into Tim's neck, breathing in deeply. He glances at Jason, who gives him a thumbs up before turning away to deal with the other assassins.Neither Jason or Wally are paying attention when Tim sees it. A blur, running towards them. Before Tim can process it the lady speedster appears, her face frantic as blood dribbles down her face. She reaches out to them as if desperately trying to ask for help when suddenly another speedster appears behind her. This one is in an entirely black uniform, and just the sight of him gives Tim the chills. It grabs the girl and before she can make a noise in protest, they're both gone.Tim realizes what felt like several agonizing moments were actually only a few seconds, his eyes adjusting to the time breaking phenomenon that is the Speed Force for those brief moments. "Did you see that?" He asked, pulling away from Wally, who looks at him with a confused expression.
Jason stopped what he was doing to also turn to him. "The girl, the speedster! She was running from something. It took her!"Wally looked towards where Tim was staring before coming up to him. "Babe, I didn't sense the Speed Force being used."Tim looked at him. "I know what I saw." Something took her and while it wore a uniform similar to Barry and Wally, it didn't feel exactly human."Doesn't matter," Jason says, holding up his scanner to show that they've alerted the Regime. "We gotta get out of here before real trouble shows up."Wally nods his head. "Let's go," He says, shaking out his funk from earlier to grab Jason and Tim and take off back to the Insurgency headquarters, leaving Gotham once again....Tim and the others didn't get to rest much after they returned. Oracle notified them that Batman wanted them to suit up, that his plan against the Regime was finally ready."Are we sure we wanna keep doing this?" Jason asked as they made their way to the meeting. "I still think Bruce has lost it.""Let's hear him out," Tim says squeezing his hand. "We owe that to Renee."Tim knows Jason's silence means he won't protest anymore but that doesn't mean he likes what's happening. As he turns the corner with Jason and Wally, he's surprised to see Harley Quinn sitting behind Catwoman and Batwoman. Tim can feel Jason tense up but he's relieved when Wally takes the initiative to take his hand instead. Tim has always felt torn between Jason and his pseudo-aunt, since Jason was killed by The Joker, but in the end he felt he couldn't blame Harley for something she was never even apart of. "And just where the hell have you been?""I was catching up with an old friend," she says. "Didn't wanna miss the party though so I came back as soon as I could!""Not much of a guest list anymore," Catwoman mumbles. She was right. What used to be a good number of people ready to take down Superman was now a small depleted outer shell of what used to be."Thank you for responding so quickly," Batman says, appearing out of the shadows. Tim isn't even surprised that the other showed up without making a sound, it's almost expected now. "I wish I could say more were coming but Zatanna and Nightwing are unavailable and, well, there is no one else. With that being said-""Got room for one more?"They all turned to the source of the voice and Tim almost lost his shit. Standing above them- let's say this again, STANDING above them -
was Batgirl, in all her glory. Tim couldn't believe his eyes, was the spirit of Batgirl showing up to help even though Barbara is still alive? That's when Tim noticed the suit was new and improved, and made to fit the adult Barbara, not the teenager it once had."Barbara?" Tim asks."No," she answers, hands on her hips. "Batgril.""I don't understand," Batwoman muses out loud."Me neither!" Harley adds. "I thought she had no legs?!""Always had my legs, Harley, just couldn't use them," she says, her voice confirming that she is, indeed, Batgirl. Tim can't believe it, he had only known Barbara as Batgirl for a short amount of time before her incident. If he felt like he was losing his mind, he couldn't imagine what Jason was feeling, him and Barbara actually trained together when he became the new Robin.Batman steps up to her. "Listen, I don't know how, or what, it cost but I'm not ok with this," He says, touching her shoulder. "I promised your father-""It's not his choice," she interrupts, "Look, you know as well as I do that the Insurgency is on life support. Your team is so depleted that you need all the help you can get."She makes a great point, but Tim knows Bruce won't back down from this. Joker attacking Barbara so close after Jason really messed Bruce up. If there's anyone he's protective over, it's Barbara."You've been a great help as Oracle.""I can do more as Batgril. Trust me.""I'm sorry," he whispers, closing his eyes. "But no."Batgirl studies him before brushing his hand off and walking up to Tim and the others. "It's not your choice either," she says, crossing her arms as she grins at the rest of them."Batgirl has returned."
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
The revelation of Batgirl's return came so far left that everyone almost forgot why they were summoned. After Batman finally allowed Barbara to fight, he was very vague on the mission details. He just told them they must be ready to move by tomorrow."The last thing Constantine told me was to think outside of the box," He said to them all. "To think of all the possibilities.""Yeah and I said not to listen to his lying ass," Tim interrupted."But he's right," Batman told him. "We've been going about this the wrong way. Tomorrow that all changes."Jason was angry, Tim could feel it standing next to him. "Don't you think you owe us a little more than that?"Batman glared at him. "You're all dismissed."Everyone else, used to Batman's unwillingness to share plans, break away to gawk at Batgirl. Jason, however, takes off in a hurry, heading towards the shooting range."Well that can't be good," Wally muses. Tim lets out a sigh. He knows how frustrated Jason's been with Bruce's behavior lately. He wants to confront him, but since he's still going by Peter, he can't exactly do that."I'll talk to him, but first I want to check something out," Tim says. Before leaving the group to head to the main computer room.His mind was still bothered by what he saw after they defeated Talia. Whatever that thing was, it was fast and it took Lady Flash with an ease he's never seen anyone have when it comes to fighting a speedster. What's more intriguing is that Wally swore he saw Lady Flash die, so how was she up and running from this creepy speedster anyways? There was more to it, and he would bet it has something to do with the Speed Force, which connects all the speedsters to it.See, Tim's read Barry Allen's file and his predecessor, Jay Garrick. They've both had strange encounters with death, but never actually died. In the file, Bruce suspects that speedsters connected to the Speed Force could possibly have their own rules of death involving said Force. This is why Tim's currently pulling up old footage from Metropolis traffic cameras the day the Joker nuked the city. On that day two speedsters lost their lives: Bart Allen, who died with Beast Boy despite Kon's efforts to save them, and Jesse Quick, who was hired to save Lex Luthor but died after trying to save more people.Finding footage of Jesse would be trickier but he has a general idea of where to find Bart thanks to a phone call from Kon the morning of the explosion. The three of them were heading Gino's, a popular sub spot in Metropolis that Tim and Kon would frequent when they were dating. He found all possible footage of the streets leading to the restaurant and downloaded them while searching for footage around Lex's business buildings. Unfortunately, he couldn't be online for long without risking Cyborg finding their broadcast signal, so he would have to just download everything to view later. Once he collected everything he hoped he needed, he erased all traces of his interference before shutting down the computer.He downloaded the content onto his hard drive and slipped it into his pocket. For now, he would keep this to himself. If he found anything worth sharing, he would reach out to the others but for now it's best if everyone just focuses on the plan Bruce refuses to talk to them about.He stepped in his room hoping to find Jason so he could check on him, but it seemed Wally beat him to it. Tim doesn't know if they had any exchange of words, but Wally's therapy of being naked and on his knees as he blows Jason seemed to be doing just fine for the other male as well.Wally pops up and grins at him. "It's about time!" He whines, zooming over to Tim to start stripping him of his clothes. Now that Tim can keep up with his speed with his eyes, Wally likes to tease him more with touches here and there, things he wouldn't have noticed a year ago when he couldn't keep up with the speedster.Fully naked, and fully turned on, Tim allowed Wally to take him to the bed, joining an also naked Jason. Tim lowered himself down to kiss the other male. "Are you ok?""Better now," He grunts, his hands slipping to grip Tim's ass. "We can talk about it later. I'm hungry."Tim and Wally both knew what Jason meant by that, and laid flat on their stomachs. Tim felt Jason's lips trail down his back before feeling his tongue slowly lick his hole, his intensity getting more and more as he buried his face in Tim's ass and then later Wally's.Wally, however, couldn't lay still and would zoom between sucking Jason off and having Tim suck him off when he wasn't getting rimmed by Jason. Eventually, Tim let his boyfriends take turns pounding him into the mattress, their moans and grunts filling up the entire room as they touched and kissed every part of each other. Finally, Jason finished his load in Wally's mouth as the speedster came inside Tim, continuing to thrust in him until Tim spilled between his stomach and his sheets.
Jason and Tim were worn out, but continued to let Wally ride their faces as he jerked off another load, quickly recovering from his first. It was surprising he only needed to get off only once after, usually he can go for multiple rounds, exhausting both Tim and Jason, but for now he seemed satisfied."What do you think is going to happen tomorrow?" Wally asked snuggled up to Jason and Tim."More bullshit," Jason grunts. "I still think this war is pointless."Tim hits him with a pillow. "We're not going to let the others fend for themselves," He argues. "Whatever happens, we handle it together."Jason stays quiet for a long time before finally sighing and nodding his head in agreement."I love you guys," Wally says. "Truly.""I love you, too, Wally," Tim says. "And I love you, Jason."Jason stares at both of them. "I love you both so much. Always know that."Tim didn't know what was in store for them tomorrow, but whatever it was, they would face it together....The next day, Tim boards the jet with the rest of the Insurgency. He spots Barbara at controls and still can't believe she's got her legs back. It's not like Batgirl was more capable than Oracle. In fact, Tim thinks that Barbara really discovered herself once she became Oracle, which is why this is so important. It's Batgirl, with the experience of Oracle. When he's certain no one is paying attention he leans closer to her."Is this that special ally?" he asks. She nods slightly before returning her attention to the controls. Last year Tim found out that the mole in Superman's Regime was none other than Lex Luthor, Clark's own best friend. It's a secret they've both decided to keep from Batman and the others, the less who know the better.Jason boards the jet last and takes a seat by Tim and Wally before Batman takes over from Batgirl and steers off."Any clue where we're heading?" Catwoman asks.Batgirl looks out and then quickly shoots a worried glance at Batman. "We're heading to the Hall of Justice."Tim's eyes widened as he felt Wally catch his breath and Jason tense next to him. Catwoman scoffs as Batwoman remains silent."Oh goodie!" Harley Quinn squeals."You mind telling us exactly why we're heading straight to Superman?" Jason demands. "Last time we faced these guys head on it didn't exactly go well for us.""We're not going to be doing the fighting," Batman responds, flying over the Hall of Justice. "They are."Tim looks out to see a mass of soldiers lined up in front of the steps of the Hall of Justice. But they're not just any soldiers; they're the Amazons of Themyscira. Thousands upon thousands of the all-female race stand fully armored, with multiple weapons in their hands. Leading them is Artemis, a general and an ally of Jason who Tim met last year."Care to explain?" Batgirl asks."The Amazons sought the help of the Greek Gods in order to wake Wonder Woman up from her coma," Batman finally reveals. "They were in debt to the goddess Hera, and she's collecting her debt now.""Why does she want to go after Superman?" Impulse asks."Doesn't matter," Batman answers. "What matters is that we show up and make sure they have all the help they need to pull this off. Wonder Woman won't like this and Superman won't go down easily.""Sounds like a rematch I've been waiting for," Batwoman grunts, grabbing a super pill and slipping it into her pocket."We have a transmission coming in," Batgirl alerts, letting the signal pass."Troia to Batman," A voice reads. "You've come just in time. Superman is bringing in his forces.""Troia?" Impulse gasps. Troia was a friend of Wally who was giving information to the Insurgency before she was imprisoned for her actions thanks to Ares. Artemis swore no harm would come to her and Tim can see Wally is relieved to know that she was true.When Tim glances out the jet's window again, he sees that Troia is right. Hundreds of Superman's super soldiers have appeared, lead by Robin, Cyborg, and Flash."This is bad," Jason mutters, low enough only for Tim and Wally to hear.Tim looks at him. "Will Robin blow your cover?" Jason was around when Damian grew up with Ra's al ghul and Talia, which meant the little punk knew Jason was alive the whole time.Jason shakes his head. "I didn't come up with Red Hood until he left to live with Batman. But he could recognize my fighting style if this turns into a brawl.""Then we'll just keep you back," Tim says. Jason needs to reveal who he is to Bruce when the time is right, so Bruce finding out the truth in the middle of a potential war isn't exactly the best timing.The jet lands as the Insurgency begin to make their way to the two opposing armies. Tim tells the others Jason is staying back since he doesn't use super pills. As they approach, Tim can see that not only have they caught them by surprise, but that Superman and Wonder Woman are pissed.Troia breaks away from the crowd of Amazons. "Good to have you here," she says. Impulse zooms up and hugs her, which she returns. She then turns and hugs Tim as well. When Tim looks at Artemis, the other doesn't smile but nods in greeting. He doesn't take it personal, she's currently strong holding Wonder Woman with the Greek god, Hermes.
"Bruce is behind this?" Wonder Woman gasps."Of course he is," Superman answers. "He obviously doesn't remember what I told him the last time we spoke.""I remember, Clark," Batman responds. "But you were wrong. This isn't over."Hermes steps forward. "Stand aside, Princess Diana," He orders. "The Amazons are under orders from Hippolyta herself, on behalf of the all-father, Zeus.""This can't be," Wonder Woman breathes.Artemis puffs out her chest. "It is.""Superman, you are ordered to abandon to Hall of Justice and stand down!" Hermes repeats, yet Superman shows no signs of obligating.Wonder Woman glares at Batman. "I don't know how you managed to pull the gods into your treachery," she hisses. "But you will pay for involving my people.""I didn't pull them into this," Batman tells her. "Your mother did, when she begged for Hera's help saving you and Clark. That said, I will gladly benefit from her foolishness and welcome your people to the right side.""Diana," Superman calls. "Join me."Like a good little lap dog, Wonder Woman returns to her master, who huddles together with the rest of his goons to discuss their next move. Wonder Woman has some damn nerve acting outraged for involving her people. If she wanted to rule over the mortal world so badly with Superman, then her people will face the consequences as well."He's not going to give up," Wally mumbles."Then we fight," Troia answers, both of them staring at the backs of their own mentors. Tim couldn't imagine being on the opposite sides of battle against Catwoman, he didn't know if he had it in him to go as far they were willing to."Hermes, messenger of the gods, we do not submit to your decree," Wonder Woman announces, separating from the group. "Instead, we demand this matter be settled with judgement by combat! One champion from each side...to the death!""Really?" Catwoman whispers. "Can they do that?""I guess so," Batwoman replies."The gods accept your terms," Hermes answers. Wonder Woman nods and steps forward but is stopped by Superman."I will be my own champion," He announces. "Now choose yours.""I VOLUNTEER!!!!" Harley Quinn screams. "I volunteer as tribute! I-""Auntie Harley, shut up!" Tim yells grabbing her by the arm and pulling her back. There's no way in hell he'd ever let the fate of the world rest on her shoulders, they might as well all die."On behalf of the gods," Batman says, stepping forward. "We choose Wonder Woman!"Even Tim gasps in shock as everyone from both sides look surprised. No one expected Batman to have been planning this all along, but they should've. He would never want a war, so why not have the only person who could take down Superman do it?"NO!!!" Wonder Woman roars, sheer anger flooding through her face. "I'll kill you first!" In the blink of an eye Wonder Woman lunges towards Batman, slamming him into the stone steps. Luckily for him they all took their super pills, or else she really would've killed him. She raises her hand to punch him, but Hermes catches it."You are out of line," He tells her, before hurling her just as hard away from Batman. "I will not allow this."A protective wall of yellow light forms around Wonder Woman as Superman shoves Hermes away. "Get your hands off her!""At long last," Artemis breathes, waiting for the other side to touch one of her gods. She raises her sword. "Amazons attack!"Hundreds of female battle cries erupt the air as the army begins to rush forward, Tim and others doing the same. He notices Troia and Impulse heading for their mentors as Superman and Hermes almost collide, until a bright light forms between them. Then, a giant lightning bolt strikes the ground between the two forces, sending those closest flying away."ENOUGH!!!" A loud, authoritative voice belts. When the smoke clears, an intimidating man in white and gold drapes stands before them all. It is Zeus, the ruler of the gods. "I will not have this divine challenge ignored, by my daughter or anyone else!""Father," Wonder Woman pleads. "Please, help me understand. This can't really be happening.""It is, Diana.""How? Mother would never agree to such a thing.""Hippolyta owes a debt to Hera. She made a pact and must honor it," he says. "Now you must fight on the side of Hera.""And if I refuse?" Wonder Woman asks."Hippolyta pays with her life," A woman answers, appearing through her own portal. Based on her similar clothing to Zeus, Tim assumes she is Hera, his wife.Defeated, Wonder Woman glances at Superman. "I'm sorry, Clark."Superman looks just as distraught. "Diana-""Fight to the death!" Hera demands.As the two meta humans circle each other, Hermes steps forward. "Any intervention will nullify the pact and result in grave consequences." The crowd around them grows quiet. This is a battle Tim never thought he'd see. Despite being his ally, Wonder Woman has the heart of a warrior. She will not just lay down and surrender to Superman, she will give it her all.She rushes him with her sword, with shatters against him before he lands a hard punch across her face. Wonder Woman doesn't even flinch as she delivers her own kick to the side of his head, but Superman is quick to respond with a punch to the gut, followed by another punch across the face. Wonder Woman tries to swing back, but Superman catches her fist and slams his head against hers, blood spurting out as her nose breaks."You can't win," He tells her. "Yield, Diana!""I am a warrior born and this is a fight to the death," she grunts. "I will not bend the knee, but you will!"She takes out one if his legs with a sharp elbow, before reaching for his face and digging her thumbs into his eyes. Superman screams and tries to punch her, but she catches his arm and flips him around. In one swift movement, she jerks his arm into an unnatural bent, the bones snapping loud enough for everyone to hear right before Superman roars in agony. Tim can feel the adrenaline rush through his body as Wonder Woman stands over Superman."You can't beat me with one arm, Clark," Wonder Woman tells him. "Believe me, this is the last outcome I wanted. But your only way out of this is to surrender. I'm sorry.""No," Superman states. The blinding red light of his x-ray vision hits Diana full force, who cries out in pain before blocking the most of its heat with her shield. Tim watches as they continue to land hits on each other, neither one willing to give up."Please yield," Wonder Woman begs. "I don't want to kill you.""Want has nothing to do with it," Superman grunts, running at her again. Wonder Woman uppercuts him, and grabs his cape to slam him back down into the ground. Before he can recover, she starts punching his face into the ground, the stone floors shattering deeper and deeper with each hit. Finally, Superman doesn't seem to get back up. This is it. The final blow Batman has managed to force Wonder Woman to deliver.She picks him up from the ground. "I'm so sorry I failed you, Clark," she says.Out of nowhere a blast of yellow light hits Wonder Woman directly in the back, sending her to the ground as the heat still stung on her skin. Tim whips around to see a familiar face flying down towards them."Superman," Sinestro calls. "Did you learn nothing from your time as a Yellow Lantern? Fear is your friend."
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Tim couldn't believe their fucking luck.They had him. Wonder Woman had him.Yet somehow Superman managed to weasel himself out of defeat once again. He was beginning to think the alien had a super power of self preservation as he watched the Regime clutter around Superman, all staring up at a smirking Sinestro."This is fucked," Wally mutters beside him, and Tim couldn't agree with him more. Zeus is furious his divine trial of combat was interrupted, but not as angry as Hal, who's in Sinestro's face now."What the hell did you do?" He demanded."Well somebody had to do something while you were all standing around watching your leader getting pummeled by that Amazon traitor," He explains, matter of factly.
"It was judgment by combat, you pink-faced idiot-""I always saw myself as more magenta," Sinestro interrupts."Magenta," Tim huffs, rolling his eyes. "He's so pretentious. It's fucking pink.""That's not the point!" Hal argues. "You disappear for months and then show up just in time to screw things up!""Why didn't we know this?" Batman mumbles to Batgirl. He asked a valid question. Knowing Superman was down one of his rampaging, murdering, yellow lanterns would have been good information to know. Especially when said yellow lantern has just ruined their entire plan to have Diana kill Clark. Or, at least, he thinks that was Bruce's plan. Guess he doesn't mind breaking the 'no-kill' rule as long as it's someone else doing it."I returned only to check in but it seems Superman can't keep order for long. It's always something with you, isn't Kal?" He asks, directing his question to Superman. The other groans softly as he tries to get up."That's enough from you!" He says, suddenly backhanding Sinestro so hard he sends the other flying. Tim can't say he's mad to witness it.He honestly wasn't mad to see any of it. Part of the reason that he felt the members of the Insurgency were stressed was because the Regime seemed to be so unified under Superman, always ready for anything they threw at them. Now he sees that isn't the case. He knew Wonder Woman and Sinestro didn't get along from their battle at the Tower of Fate, but also seeing Hal and Barry argue with him, and Superman straight up hurting him, proves that they're just as tired as the rest of us after all these years of fighting."Superman!" Hermes calls. "This judgement by combat has been nullified by interference.""I know," He says, still clutching the arm Diana broke. "But I didn't authorize-""I've seen enough!" Zeus declares, Hera by his side. "There will be no more negotiation! Let us go, my wife. Hermes, you know the task set before you.""Understood, All-father," His son replies. Zeus and Hera are then completely surrounded by light and lightning and soon vanish just as quickly as they came. A look of determination crosses Hermes's face as he glances at the Amazons. "Army of Zeus," He orders, pointing to the Regime. "ATTACK!!!"Tim watched as thousands of Amazons, led by Artemis, charged full force at the Regime. They were met by Superman's super soldier's but if they were easily beaten by the GCDP then they were no match for the warriors of Themyscira. It was when the Regime started to engage that all heads of the Insurgency turned to Bruce. With a nod of his head, the group had the all clear and joined the Amazons in their attack."I CALL DIBS ON BROKEN WING SUPERMAN!" Harley shouts, already running towards the man hovered over Diana's body."Worry about the others first, then Clark!" Bruce orders, but the clown princess of crime isn't paying any attention to him. She takes one big leap in the air before she connects her fist to the back of Clark's head. What should have been a knockout punch is now Harley screaming out in pain as she clutches her damaged fist."Forgot to take your pill?" Flash asks, suddenly appearing."Oh yeah-" Harley's cut off when Barry zooms past and punches her several feet away from Superman.Wally quickly sped through to engage with Barry, who wasn't as hesitant to fight him as he used to be. This probably has to do with the fact that him and Iris aren't together anymore, so he didn't need to look out for her nephew any longer. One would think he'd still harbor some kind of tenderness towards the one who used to train under him, but the way he slams Wally into the wall before they become a blur again shows that isn't the case.Tim rushes over to Harley, who's moaning on the ground. "Harley please take your freaking pill," He tells her, practically shoving the thing into her hands."Oh, Timmy-Cat, you worry too much," she says. "You and your twin brother.""Twin brother?" He parrots, before realizing she's probably seeing double. "Jesus, alright, come on." He helps her and leads her to a corner away from all the fighting. Luckily Kate and Selina are covering him as he does so. Bruce is squaring off against Cyborg when Damian shows up behind him."I've been waiting for this a long time, father," He hisses."Then you won't mind waiting a little longer," Barbara interrupts, popping out of nowhere to deliver a very strong kick to the chin of Robin. Flying above them Hal makes his way straight for the army general, Artemis, who has managed incapacitate three soldiers before readying herself to face him.
"Artemis, right" Hal asks. "Have we ever met?"He charges at her then, but Artemis is prepared. With no fear in her heart, she is easily able to use her great shield to knock Hal away, a blow that sends him flying into the next building. "I wouldn't have remembered," she tells him, already moving on to the next opponent.The Amazons as a unit seem to be pressing forward at an alarming rate. It was like having an army of Diana's, reducing the super soldiers back to the wannabes they once were. Tim is still admiring them when Wally is suddenly thrown to the ground. Barry shows no signs of stopping as he turns his attention to the advancing army. He speeds through them and starts taking down several of the warriors, including Troia. Tim begins to worry no one can stop him when suddenly Hermes appears, much faster that Barry and Wally combined and slams into him. Barry falls near Superman and Wonder Woman, giving the Kryptonian the view of Hermes raising his spear and aiming it at Barry's heart."No!" he cries out, suddenly blowing a strong gust of ice wind to knock Hermes and the approaching Amazons away from his allies. "Enough!"Artemis ignores him, banging her sword against her shield as she rises up, joined by her sisters and the Insurgency. "Amazons, proceed!""This has gone too far," Superman declares. Tim almost wants to gag. Of course he thinks it's gone too far when his allies are getting their asses handed to them. He didn't think it was too far when he joined up with the Yellow Lanterns or when he beat Oliver to death and slaughtered Dinah. No, it hadn't gone to far then. "I won't allow it to continue.""What you allow or don't allow doesn't concern us, alien!" Artemis shouts. A unanimous grunt from the Amazons behind her confirm this."Superman!" A new voice calls out. Everyone turns to face the five new bodies now joined with Hermes. The one speaking is a man, clad in armor golden like the sun. To his right is very muscular, shirtless man and to his left, a grey-eyed woman in silver armor, carrying a spear and shield with the face of a gorgon imprinted on it. Behind them is a giant titan with long black hair and a youthful male with giant wings and a bow in his hands. These were the gods of Olympus."You have incurred the wrath of the gods!" The god speaks. "Surrender or die!"Artemis kept her warriors at bay with the arrival of the gods she served. Troia had recovered and helped Wally over to where Tim and Harley were watching things unfold. "Who are these gods, Donna?" Wally asks."Apollo, god of the sun. Hercules, god of strength. Atlas, the strongest titan. Athena, goddess of wisdom. Eros, god of love," She lists. "There are some missing, of course. Zeus must not see the Regime as much of a threat.""I needa have a talk with ol' cupid," Harley complains. "I haven't been too fond of the guys he's matched me with. I mean, I have but I haven't!""We'll send him a complaint later, Harls," Tim tells her.Superman's eyes wonder to each god. "That's not much of a choice, is it? That's an ultimatum.""Call it what you wish.""I don't do ultimatums." Superman stands tall, still gripping his broken arm. Hal is whispering something to Cyborg as he helps the other up. Robin is also struggling to stay on his feet while Barry is still on the ground."Clark?" Diana is slowly getting up from the blast she took from Sinestro. She looks up at Superman with determination in her eyes. "Don't ever give in." She manages to get up on her own, though Tim knows she wouldn't have accepted help if it was given. "I'm sorry about your arm.""We're all sorry for something, Diana. It doesn't matter," He assures her.
"What does matter is that you have been given an order by the all-father," Hermes reminds them, interrupting whatever kind of moment they seemed to be having. "You have one turn of the sun to abdicate your false throne and leave the Hall of Justice.""Artemis," Apollo calls. "Pull back and make camp."There's defiance in Artemis's eyes, she knows as well as Tim and the others that this is a mistake, but she crosses her fist over her chest and bows anyway. Batman isn't as easy as she is to obey. "No!" He yells. "We have them on their heels! We can't give them time to regroup and fortify his position-""There is no 'we' mortal," Hercules interrupts. "There is only the will of my father. Tell your caped friends to stand down or I will."Bruce stares at the god long and hard. There's a fraction of an instant where Tim thinks he's going to punch him and wonders how in the hell they were gonna engage in battle with literal gods when Bruce grunts. "We'll do it Zeus's way.""I don't have a cape, does this mean I can still fight?!" Harley asks."Did you take your pill?" Tim counters her."Not yet.""Then no.""This doesn't look promising," Kate mutters to the group. Tim knows what she means. Again they had the Regime at the brink of the defeat and again they've managed to last another day. Worse, the Olympians don't even seem to care."The alliance or the twenty-four hours?" Selina asks, for clarification."Both," Bruce grunts.Artemis begins to pull away with her Amazons. Troia turns to Wally and Tim. "Your group are more than welcomed to settle camp with us," she tells them. "There's an Amazon I'd like you all to meet when you arrive so find me as quickly as you can.""We will," Wally assures her. She nods and turns to join her sisters. Wally throws his arm around Tim's shoulders to pull him closer. "We should let Jason know.""Right," He says, momentarily forgetting his other boyfriend was waiting on the jet. He reaches for his ear piece. "Hood? How are you doing?""I had to watch on the sidelines as the Flash tossed around Wally so, not great," He admitted. "This all feels like a waste of time. Bruce clearly didn't think this entirely through.""I know it feels that way but we gotta trust him," Tim says, shocked that he's the one saying it. "He said he's trying something new. We just gotta hope it's worth it.""Ok. Well if Damian is pulling back as well, I can be at the camp with you guys.""We'd very much like that," Tim responds, watching as the Regime start slowly returning to the Hall of Justice."Princess Diana," Hermes calls out, causing everyone to stop and pay attention. "Leave the Kryptonian and take your rightful place beside us.""What?!" Diana calls out, clearly shocked. Tim doesn't know why when they literally had her fighting Superman just moments ago. It's very clear they're making sure she's on their side of the war."You are with Zeus now," Hermes tells her. Seeing her sisters march to battle against her friends, finding out her mother is captive and her father forcing her to face the man she clearly loves, must have been the final straw to Wonder Woman's sanity. Tim sees it her eyes just before she cries out in frustration. Looks like camp is gonna have to wait.Wonder Woman has attacked.
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"I fought as an Amazon in a trial by combat and now you dare ask me to stand with the Insurgency in the name of Zeus?" Diana demands. "I will not!!!"Tim looks from her to the Olympic Gods. They seem unfazed by her outburst, particularly Hermes, who lets out a sigh. "There is no deception here," He says. "I am his messenger. My words are his words-"Whatever rehearsed line he was about to say, it's cut short by Wonder Woman's fist punching into his face. No one else moves from either side. "Let him come back and tell me himself!""Diana stop!" Clark yells, but she is not listening. She continues to pummel the messenger god and Tim can't help but feel a little bad for him. Maybe it's because he has a thing for speedsters, but the guy is literally just the messenger."So," Barbara mumbles. "Does this mean the twenty-four hours is over?" In the middle of their fight, Zeus declared a ceasefire and gave Superman twenty-four hours to surrender before Wonder Woman decided to ignore it all and attack one of her half brothers."I don't know," Bruce replies. "Stand by-""Stand down," Atlas orders. They all have to crane their necks up to look at the titan's face. "This is our fight now.""This is bullshit," Jason hisses into Tim's earpiece, hearing everything that's going on. "If they have everything handled why did we even come here?"Before Tim can answer his question, he watches Hercules suddenly strike Wonder Woman down. Again, he can't say he's mad to witness as her entire world turns upside down. Yesterday she probably thought she was an untouchable queen by Superman's side and now she's getting her ass kicked by her brother after being forced to nearly kill the man she loves.Hercules stepping in has finally awoken something in the Regime. Those still good to fight rush the Olympian Gods just as Cyborg repairs Superman's arm. Flash is quick to knock out Apollo with one punch, avoiding Atlas's slow hands before running up to tackle Eros out of the air. Athena masterfully takes out six or seven of the super soldiers working under Superman before raising her shield to block a kick from Damian. Her eyes look amused as the son of Bruce tries and fails to land a blow on her. It almost looks like she's letting him practice on her, her taunting smile apparent as she avoids all his attacks."Are we really going to stand here and watch?" Batgirl asks."There's no one left to fight," Bruce tells her. That, and they could potentially end up hurting themselves if they tried to intervene with the gods. It was literally just them with front row seats to witness the Olympian Ass Whopping the Regime was receiving.It doesn't get more front row than Hercules tossing Hal Jordan into the wall directly besides them. He's fashioned himself some kind of mech suit that doesn't seem to be helping him much, but it has caught Harley's attention. "A mech suit! I want one! Make me one!""Why would I do that?" He sneers, still trying to get up from Hercules's blow. "We're not on the same team."They end their chat when Hercules rushes him again, proving Hal to be little trouble as he breaks the suit of yellow light and tosses him back to the ground. "I do not fear you," Hercules tells him. "It ends now, fearmonger."His final blow is interrupted by Superman and Wonder Woman, who both tag team him a series of attacks while Hal tries to crawl away. Now that he's done healing Superman, Cyborg has turned his attention on Athena, working with Robin to try and throw her off balance but the goddess of wisdom does not relent.In a rage Hercules manages to uppercut Superman, sending him flying into the sky. Diana calls out to him but Hercules seizes her throat, squeezing it tightly. "Don't concern yourself with him, sister," He tells her, applying more pressure. "You have much greater things to worry about.""This isn't a fight," Catwoman observes. "It's a massacre." Tim wants to roll his eyes. He knows that's his mom but she's never been the one to enjoy violence, it's why even with a super pill she's had trouble facing off with the Regime."It's what we all wanted," Batgirl tells her, although her eyes do not agree with her words. "Isn't it?""Damn right." They all turn to Kate, who is watching with a smirk on her lips as Hercules chokes the life out of Wonder Woman. Tim believes without a doubt that the only way she'd feel more satisfied is if she were the one choking her instead of Hercules."Catwoman's right," Wally says, a frown on his face. "This is wrong.""Exactly," Jason hisses through the comm. "You guys need to stop this.""When did you get a conscience?" Tim asks. It doesn't surprise him that Wally isn't ok with this, he's similar to Selina in that way, but Jason? The one who killed five people within the twenty four hours he met Tim after being dead for several years? Just last night he wanted to put a bullet in Bruce and now he's suddenly Mother Teresa?"Maybe Wally has rubbed off on me," He replies and now Tim is rolling his eyes because Wally's ego was already inflated enough without needing to hear that. He ignores the smug look on the speedster's face as Batman walks over to intervene between Hercules and Wonder Woman."Hercules-""Stay out of this," Hercules cuts off, not even sparring a glance at Bruce. "Unless you seek my wrath too."Suddenly Tim feels a rush of wind pass him, and he looks beside him to see if Wally is still there. When the speedster is still where he stands he looks to see that something has tackled Hercules out of the way. A strong bolt of lightning manages to surprise Athena as the two fly past her, striking her in the back. With the goddess of war out for the count, the super soldiers are rushing them all again. Tim lashing his whip out to slap one away as the rest of the Insurgency engage with the soldiers. Wally uses his speed to wipe away with the soldiers nearby, giving Tim the chance to see who was the late arrival and curses under his breath."It's Shazam," He mutters, watching the superhero stand over Hercules."Why don't you pick on someone your own size?" Shazam tells the god."It would be my pleasure," Hercules grunts, and then he's punching Shazam in the face. Shazam doesn't falter like the other's have though, quickly returning the blow at pace that's much quicker that the tired god."You may be a god, Hercules," Shazam says, throwing a gut punch that sends the other off his feet. "But I have the power of six gods!"Batman is about to rush to aid Shazam when Hermes and Artemis appear. "Batman," Hermes warns. "Do not attempt to interfere with the will of Zeus!""If his will includes killing Wonder Woman then we're going to have a problem," He tells him. Tim bites back his tongue. The anger he feels from Bruce's words powers the next punch he delivers to some super solider. So many people have died on their side. So many of Tim's friends that he will never see again, yet Bruce hesitates? This is just like the war with the lanterns. Dinah had Superman beaten but because Bruce wanted to spare him, she was killed. When will he learn that as long as they live, this war will never stop?As Artemis separates the two, Tim notices Batwoman approaching a very tired Wonder Woman. The amazon notices her and attempts to rise before Kate laughs. "Don't get up on my account," she says, before kicking Diana in the back so hard she falls back to the ground. "We have unfinished business."Then, and Tim can't believe this, Kate picks up Diana's golden lasso, the very same one that took her friend's life not too long ago. "What you did to Helena," she growls, before perfectly wrapping it around Diana's throat. "How does it feel?!""Kate, what are you doing?!" Barbara demands."Giving her what she deserves," Tim answers, watching as Kate pulls the rope tighter. Barbara shakes her head and moves towards them but Tim is faster."You can't do this-""Stay out of it." He grabs her and holds her there. She struggles to break free but Tim is more resistant. When he looks back at Kate all he can see is the pain in her eyes. The pain of losing two of her best friends and the pain of losing her wife."I want this so bad," She hisses through her teeth. Tim can see the final breath leave Diana as her eyes start to roll back. And then she breathes in a fresh gulp of air as Kate releases the rope. "But you're not worth it."Tim lets go of Batgirl then, letting her console her friend."You should've stopped her, Tim," Jason says in his ear."If anyone had the right to take her out, it was Kate," Tim responds. He will not explain himself further. The fight between Hercules and Shazam has turned in favor of the latter. Hercules is putting up a good fight, but he's no match for Shazam as he delivers a very strong headbutt and thunderous fist hammer to the back. Hercules collapses to his knees."It's over," Shazam declares."Very well," Hercules coughs. "Finish it."Shazam looks away from him then. "No," he says. "I'm no killer."It surprises Tim. Anyone else in the Regime would have done it, they would have killed without hesitation. If they weren't on the same side Tim himself would have done it. Hercules barely has time to process what he says when a bright red object starts falling down to Earth. It reminds Tim of a meteor, except falling meteors can't control where they go like this one can. In the blink of an eye it changes course and slams into an unsuspecting Hercules, causing everyone to look away to shield their eyes from all the debirs. When the dust clears, it's Superman who is standing over Hercules's dead body.Superman has killed a god."You have killed the lion!" Hermes yells. "Son of Zeus!!!""Holy shit," Tim breathes."Fucking ditto," Jason mumbles in his ear."So you can kill a god?" Barbara asks."Hercules is a demi-god," Artemis explains. "On earth he inhabits a mortal body.""I...I beat him Superman," Shazam stutters. "Why'd you have to-""Because you wouldn't." Superman cuts off, standing proudly over a body he did not beat himself.
A soft whistle and then Clark cries out in pain, an arrow piercing right through his shoulder."Taste the magic of the gods, Superman!" Apollo cries, his voice full. "A plague on you!""Is that a thing?" Wally asks.Troia nods her head. "Apollo is also the god of disease and can bring illness to those he chooses.""Superman!" Shazam rushes to his side to rip out the arrow, but already Superman's veins are sickly and green with plague. "That's it! You wanna know what a god's magic feels like, then come and get it!"With a rage rivaling Superman's, Shazam charges at the remaining Olympic Gods, narrowly missing Athena before engaging with Atlas."What do we do?" Catwoman asks, looking to Bruce."Use the gods as an advantage while we can," He orders. "We have to stop the Regime-"A metal stick hits Bruce upside his head, but his helmet takes most of the blow. Tim doesn't even have to turn to know who was behind the attack. It was apparently the same way Damian had killed Dick all those years ago. God he really hated that little shit."I'm gonna enjoy kicking your ass," Damian says, walking over to Bruce. "Dad.""Don't count on it, son," Bruce replies, and Tim leaves as they start fighting because he feels he might vomit if he has to listen to them fight and argue about their feelings."This is awful," Batgirl sighs. If anyone was more strict about sticking to the plan than Bruce, it was Barbara. Tim couldn't imagine how much she hated all of the chaos happening now. They start to split up to take on the Regime. Batwoman interrupts Cyborg as he tries to heal Superman once more, while Tim uses his whip to strike the Kryptonian."Stray," Superman grunts, gripping the shoulder Apollo had struck with his poisoned arrow. "I should've killed you when I had the chance.""And when was that exactly?" Tim mocks. Despite their many conflicts, Tim's barely had the opportunity to face Superman one on one. He hardly knew why he'd be on the other's radar, but considering who he's already killed, he can't say he's surprised."Don't antagonize him, Tim!" Jason warns. "Get out of there!""Who's that in your ear?" Superman asks, with a look on his face that makes Tim irrationally angry. He nearly killed Jason before, Tim wouldn't let him get the opportunity again. He jumps and slams his knee into Clark's head, sending him reeling back. He recovers quickly, anger in his eyes just before they're flashing red. Before his heat vision can make contact Tim feels the familiar grip of Wally's hands pulling him away."Stray, do not engage with Superman!" Batman orders, standing over a passed out Robin. "He's too dangerous.""I'm too dangerous," He shoots back, before glancing down at Damian. "Guess the father-son reunion didn't go so well, huh?"Their talk is interrupted by Atlas's large body zooming passed them, slamming into a wall. Tim looks up just in time to see Shazam rip apart one of Eros's wings, causing the young god to fall hopelessly to the ground. Shazam looks mighty proud of himself when he's suddenly attacked by a giant lightning bolt. When the smoke clears, standing where Shazam once was is Billy Batson, the fourteen year old kid. Standing strong before him is the all-father, Zeus, and he does not look pleased."Uh oh- SHAZAM!" Billy yells, but looks just as confused as everyone else when nothing happens. "How?""I am the all father," Zeus declares. "You only have your powers because I allow it. No more. I will not have you use them to hurt my children." He reaches down and seizes Billy by the collar of his shirt, lifting him up into the air with ease. The kid tries to protest but there's nothing he can do to stop it. "Supermam," the god calls out, turning to Clark. "You must abdicate your false throne immediately or I will punish you all, beginning with this boy.""Billy!" Harley cries, rushing to aid the boy in Zeus's arms. Tim's look of annoyance quickly turns into one of horror and Zeus strikes her down with his lightning, completely evaporating her body."HARLEY!!" He cries out, only realizing that Kate and Wally had shouted as well. Tears filled his eyes as he watched the smoke clear from where Harley was struck, her body no where in sight. Tim had always thought that, out of everyone, Harley would always be the one to survive. She always did. She can't go out like this."I'm on my way!" Jason hisses."No, stay!" Tim pleas. It's clear the gods do not see the Insurgency as allies, they were in as much danger as the Regime. Wally could get out if he has to so he had to make sure Jason didn't put himself in harm's way."Enough with these trifles!" Zeus booms. "I still need your answer, Superman!""Father," Diana pleads, appearing at her father's side. "Please, there has to be another way. I don't know who is responsible for this treachery-""Silence, daughter!" He roars. "Take your place beside the gods and your fallen brother. Don't make me bury two children this day."Diana takes the time to glance once more at Clark before joining her father's side, right next to Artemis and Bruce. Superman looks conflicted before he finally turns to the rest of the League. Tim can't hear what they're saying but Damian doesn't look too happy about it. Then, they disperse. Barry limps off in one direction while Victor and Damian head off together. Superman takes one more look at the Hall of Justice before he nods to Zeus and leaves as well.Still holding Billy, Zeus turns to Athena. "Take my son's body," he says. "It is over."Then a lightning
bolt strikes Billy down, earning him the same fate as Harley.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Despite fighting on the same side as the Olympian Gods, Tim couldn't help but feel as though the Insurgency were now their prisoners. After Superman and the Regime dispersed, and Zeus killed Billy, the Insurgency were told that they must return with the Amazons to the island of Themyscira. So here they were. The Amazons had set up tents for them all to rest in on a deserted beach located on the far side of the island, away from the island's main population.
This would be the third time Tim has been to the island. The first was sometime last year when he and the rest of the Insurgency were hiding out in the Tower of Fate. Detective Chimp had sent him and Wally here to contact Donna Troy, though their meeting was cut short when they had to fight Ares, the god of war. Now it wasn't just him and Wally, Jason had joined them as well.Unfortunately, they're still in their clothes, something Tim's been wanting to change ever since they got the tent all to themselves, but soon after Jason is quickly asked to meet with Artemis."What do you think that's about?" Wally asks, watching their boyfriend leave the tent.Tim shrugs his shoulder. "I don't know, maybe they're catching up."Wally had a look on his face. "If she knows he's Jason, do you think she might slip up and tell Bruce?" He asks."I don't really see how they would bring him up in conversation," Tim tells him. "But I'll mention it to Jason when he comes back.""How long do you think we'll be here?" Wally asks, staring at Tim with a look of hunger. "All I want right now is to get in bed naked with you and Jason.""You'll have no complaints from me," He sighs, throwing his arms around the other and pulling him into a hug. "But something tells me we are not allowed to leave this place willingly." Wally groans and buries his head into Tim's chest. Tim rolls his eyes but doesn't say anything. They stay like that for several moments until a familiar poof! pops in their tent."Zatanna?" Wally calls out, after the two of them break apart.The magic user is all bright smiles as she looks at each other them. "Tim, Wally! It's so good to see you!" She looks around the tent, obvious confusion on her face. "What's going on?"Tim and Wally exchange looks. Where to even begin? The last time they saw Zatanna was about two months ago, and so much has happened since then. "We're at Themyscira," Tim explains. "Bruce somehow got the Olympian gods to go against Superman, but its sort of spiraled out of his control. Harley and Shazam are dead."Zatanna's eyes widen, shock apparent in her face. "Is everyone else ok? Selina? Renee?" Tim winced at the sound of Renee's name, something Zatanna noticed. "No...""She was in a rough place," Wally tells her, his eyes looking down. "She took way too many super
pills and tried to go after Superman by herself. Her heart-" He couldn't finish it. Tim knew he still feels somewhat responsible for what happened to Renee, since she overdosed on the pills he created. He shakes his head, no doubt trying not to cry. "Where's Dick?"Zatanna makes no attempt to hide the tears. "We found Raven," She says. "She's pretty banged up about her father so Dick elected to stay with her. He sensed something was wrong and said you all might need my help so I came back as fast as I could."Tim had to roll his eyes at that. "She's upset about her demon father's death? The one she only ran into anytime he wanted to destroy Earth?""I thought the same thing," Zatanna tells him. "But you know Dick. He thinks he can reach everyone." She starts to shift between her feet. "I should probably have a word with Bruce. Let him know there's been no sign of Constantine.""We'll take you to him," Wally says, taking Tim's hand before they all left the tent and headed to the large hall where food was being served to the Amazon soldiers. There was no sign of Bruce when they walked in, but they spot Selina and Kate
at a secluded table and make their way over. Both him and Wally have smiles on their face at all the food the Amazons have set across the table and start making a plate for themselves as Zatanna and the girls reunite.
"It's so good to see you, Zatanna," Kate says, breathing into their hug.When Zatanna pulls away she cups the others face in her hands. "I am so sorry about Renee. I wish I could've been there for you.""It's ok," Kate says. "I'm ok."Zatanna nods and after a brief moment, smiles again. "I was hoping to find Bruce.""Give it a minute," Selina tells her. "He's been arguing with Wonder Woman for about an hour now.""Should we be worried?" she asks, clearly remembering how much of a homicidal maniac Diana has become.Selina shakes her head. "She's as much of a prisoner as we are.""This is unacceptable," a voice booms from across the hall. Tim turns, along with the others, to see that it belonged to the goddess, Athena. "Most of our mortal allies don't have the decency to attend a tribute dinner in honor of the dead.""Who's missing?" Wally whispers."Just Bruce, Barbara, and Peter," Selina answers. "Unless they forgot that their boss killed Harley."Apollo looks just as displeased as his sister, only he is glaring straight at Kate. "And Diana is not here to honor her fallen brother, yet the wench who almost killed her is allowed to dine in this hall.""Wench?" Tim repeats, taken aback.Kate doesn't seemed fazed by the comment though, simply wiping her mouth with her sleeve. "If it bothers you all so much," she says, returning the glare back to Apollo. "Why don't you come over here and do something about it?" There is only a moment for the shock to flash in front of their faces before Apollo rises from his chair, just as Tim reaches for his whip.Suddenly the entire hall begins to rumble, with food even falling off the tables. Then, Barbara burst through the doors of the hall, panic in her eyes. "Come outside, quickly!" she yells. Tim and the other's don't need to be told twice. Everyone in the hall, from mortals to gods to Amazons, rush out to see what is causing the earthquake. They don't need to travel far.Half of the entire island has been cast in shadow by a giant tidal wave of ocean water heading straight for them. Tim gasps and he feels Wally grab him but before the other could speed away, he pulls his hand free. The speedster looks at him with confusion until Tim points at the massive wall of water. "It's not moving.""Tim's right," Kate says, observing the water. "It should've hit us by now.""Zatanna," Barbara whispers. "Can you-""There's no way I can stop that thing. And my magic can't transport everyone.""Then we leave," Catwoman declares."We can't let all these people die," Barbara protests."Tim!" Tim turns at the sound of Jason's voice, who's running to them with Donna, Artemis, and a tall, dark skinned woman. Tim and Wally meet him half way. "We gotta go!""Jason we can't leave-""This isn't about the water," He interrupts. He gestures to the Amazons beside him. "We have a plan to save Harley. To bring her back.""What?" He asks, shaking his head. "How? And why?! You hate Harley!""We are running out of time," the dark skinned woman says. Tim swears she has a striking resemblance to someone, but he can't put his finger on it. She then turns to Jason. "Where's the magic wielder?""You mean Zatanna?" Tim asks, and then it clicks. He looks at Jason. "You're the one who told Dick we were in trouble.""We linked up a psychic connection between our minds for emergencies," Jason explained. "After Harley died, I went to Artemis with a plan.""More like a suicide mission," Artemis quips, however there was a sense of pride in her eyes. "Though it is crazy enough that it might work.""Hey, Peter!" Zatanna calls out, waving towards the ocean wall. "I don't know why you and Dick thought I can help with this but-""We didn't need you for whatever this is," Jason says. "We need a ride from you. A magic one."Zatanna nods her head. "Where to?""The Underworld.""Peter, have you been taking drugs?" Tim asks, concern for his boyfriend.Jason looks at him and Tim's sure that if they weren't madly in
love with each other, he would have shot him. "Anyone killed by Zeus gets sent to the Underworld, to a prison in Tartarus. If we find Harley, we can bring her back."Tim turns to Artemis. "And why do you wanna help? There's no way you care about what happened to Harley.""Our queen, Hippolyta, was taken to the prison as well. If there is a chance to save her, we
must act on it."Wally raises his hands. "Don't you think we have bigger problems right now?""I will stay behind to do what I can against these waters," Artemis explains, glancing at Wally. "As will you, Impulse. I could use your talents to help escort the injured to safety."
"We have a problem," Zatanna says. "My powers won't work once we end up in the Underworld.""That is where I come in," the dark skinned woman answers.Donna smiles. "Guys, this is the Amazon I mentioned earlier," she says. "Her name is Nubia and before she reunited with the Amazons, she was actually tasked with guarding the entrance from Earth to the Underworld.""Why not just go through the entrance in the first place?" Tim asks. If there is one then Zatanna could stay here and help out with the evacuation."The entrance cannot be accessed from Earth's side," Nubia replies. "Besides, I was not the only one guarding it.""I don't know guys," Tim says. "If there really are burning hot
flames Harley might not want to come back. It's her kink."Jason sighs and Wally snickers. "Let's just bring the crazy bitch back," Jason groans. "Our window could be closing.""Right," He says. Who was he kidding? If there was a way to bring back Harley, he'd jump at the opportunity. He turns to hug Wally, Jason joining in soon after.Wally kisses both of them separately before he pulls away. "Look after each other.
Don't die."Tim nods his head. "Look after the others."Jason smirks. "And don't die.""Alright! One trip to the Underworld coming right up!" Zatanna says, taking Nubia's hand in her left and Tim's in the right. Quickly the others joined hands so that they were all connected to Zatanna. "Ekat
su
ot eht
dlrowrednu!"Tim's last vision before everything went blank
was Wally and Artemis running towards the wave to help rescue some of the citizens. When his vision came back, he was surrounded by a world of death.They were zapped into the Underworld...."This place smells like shit!" Jason whines. "I'm glad I didn't end up here when I died."Tim glanced at Jason, though he couldn't see his face since the other was wearing his helmet. He's joked about his death before, but he's never mentioned what happened to him while he was dead. Was there even an afterlife for him?"I agree," Donna mumbles. "Let's hurry up and find the others so we can get out of here."Not only was the Underworld smelly, it was also really hot and really large, though Tim should've expected that it'd be that way. Nubia was quick to lead the way, walking through the stone floors of the Underworld like she was raised there her whole life. She took them passed a forest with skeletons strung up on the trees, their bones hanging lifelessly from the branches. "Tartarus will be at the end of this forest.""Yeah, how exactly are we supposed to find the others?" Tim asks, just as they come through a clearing. "Isn't Tartarus a never ending dungeon with the worst kind of creatures imaginable? They'd probably try to keep a low profile-""WHO RUNS TAR-TAR TOWN?!?" Harley's unmistakable voice shouts. "I RUN TAR-TAR TOWN!!!"Tim lets out a sigh as he starts heading in her direction. Why he ever thought Harley and low profile would go together is
beyond him. The group picks up their pace and breaks into a run when they spot several figures fighting in one of the bigger cells. It isn't hard to make out Harley, she's the only one in clown make up. Fighting right beside her is Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons and Diana's mother, as well as...Billy Batson? He wasn't doing much, probably because he's only useful in his magic form, Shazam. Some three-legged creature is about to swat the kid when Jason slams the butt of his gun into it's jaw, before shooting it on the ground.Nubia and Donna are quick to join their queen's side, while Tim and Zatanna team up to help Harley. He's pretty impressed with Zatanna, as he's never seen her fight before. It's very clear she's had training despite never needing to implement them.As the last goon falls, Harley starts jumping for joy. "Alright! High five!" She holds up her hand to Hippolyta, who simply just stares at her hand. It doesn't faze her, as she only claps her offered hand with her free hand and turns to Tim. "Timmy-cat! You're not dead are you?""If only I was so lucky," He mumbles. He nods to the others. "We're getting you out of here.""We should get going then," Zatanna warns them, though she probably just wants to be able to access her powers again."We'll take a path through the fire gardens," Nubia tells the group, bowing her head to Hippolyta. "Follow me, my queen." There's a look on Hippolyta's face that's more intimate than the look she gave Donna, but it's not a look one would reserve for lovers either. Tim decides to worry about that later as the group starts running forward with Nubia as lead and Jason pulling up the rear. They're not sure if they've been noticed by other guards, but they all pick up their pace anyway as they quickly cross the gardens.A huge shadow lands in between them and their path, the force of it's landing sending the group flying in different directions. Tim hits the ground hard and he lets out several groans as he slowly pulls himself up. Zatanna is also up, helping an injured Billy to his feet while the Amazons attend to their queen. Jason is closest to him so he hobbles over to help him up before turning to see who it was that was confronting them."Ares," He hisses. The god of war, and an enemy to Wonder Woman. They've faced him before, but in this realm of constant fighting, he is much more powerful."Impressive jailbreak," He taunts."Don't worry," Harley speaks out. "He's on Batman's side.""No, he's not," Billy tells her. "He's with the Regime.""He's been manipulating both sides from the very beginning," Hippolyta declares, and Tim hates that she's right. Bruce was so caught up in the words of 'advice' from Constantine that he couldn't see that Ares was playing him. Or maybe he did and he thought that he would have a plan to best him before the god could betray him. Either way, Ares got what he wanted."Haven't you caused enough discord, war god?" Donna hisses, wielding her sword in a defensive stance."The short answer is no," He replies. "But the wheels are in motion and soon my plans will come to fruition. Until then, I can't have you free to disrupt things.""My magic is not bound by Zeus," Zatanna whispers to Tim. "But the gods are. He could not have made it here on his own.""Father!" Nubia shouts, pointing her spear at the god of war. "Let us pass!" Everyone but Hippolyta seems shocked by this revelation. How was an Amazon the daughter of Ares?"I cannot allow that, daughter," He says. "Now, get back in the pit-""You get back in the pit!" Harley yells, leaping towards him. She gives a nice high kick that knocks the god's head back before swinging with a nice right hook. Ares anticipates this, grabbing her arm and throwing her towards Zatanna and Billy. Zatanna pushes Billy out of the way before Harley falls onto her.Donna attempts to attack next, swiping air as Ares dodges her sword. He goes to swing at her but Tim wraps his whip around his arm and tightens his grip, stopping the blow. Jason fires off his gun but the bullets bounce off his armor effortlessly."Foolish mortals." Ares tugs on the whip and connects his fist with Tim's forehead. Tim slams into the ground before his hands shoot up to his head, which is now throbbing in pain. He hears Donna yell out and opens his eyes to see her also on the ground before his vision of her is blocked by Ares body slamming Jason.Nubia engages him and it's now starting to look more like a fair fight. She knows how the other is going to move, starting a sort of dance with the god
as she dodges his attacks while also delivering her own. Her spear manages to pierce through his armor and with a loud grunt, she flips over to the ground. Something flies out of the man's armor and slides towards Billy, who's being supported by Hippolyta and Harley."The mother box!" He roars."He keeps his mother in a box?" Harley asks."No," Billy says. "It's our get out of jail free card." He makes eye contact with Tim and Tim can see the distrust. It made sense. For the last four years they've been fighting on opposite sides of a war. Tim watches as Billy presses the mother box, opening a large red portal. He isn't surprised one bit when he grabs only Harley and Hippolyta and disappears as the portal closes."NO!!!!" Ares roars. He doesn't pay Tim or the others a second glance before rushing out of the gardens with speeds nearly as fast as Wally.Tim still has a hand to his head as he looks for the others. Donna and Jason are still knocked out but Nubia is approaching him with Zatanna at her side."What the fuck just happened?" He groaned.Nubia looks out to where the portal was moments ago. "It appears the ones we've came for have managed to save themselves.""And left us here in this hell hole," Zatanna adds, the three of them looking out as sounds of the underworld's most hellish creatures continue to fill the air.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
"I'm getting real tired of this place," Jason grunts, emptying his gun on some hellhound, one the latest monsters that has tried to attack them. "How much longer?!"Nubia cried out, plunging her sword into a shrieking harpy. "The entrance is close," she answers. "We just need to finish these off."Tim stayed quiet as he lashed another harpy out of the air. Usually he'd have some snarky comment to add, but his mind was sort of focused on other things. Ares has power in realms like the Underworld and back on Earth, traveling to and from the two places shouldn't have been a problem - but his eyes didn't deceive him. The war god had a mother box and Billy managed to use it to escape with Harley and Queen Hippolyta. That could only mean one thing, there were far more dangerous players than Superman involved in this game."I think that was the last of them," Donna declared, wiping the black blood of a giant spider off her sword. Zatanna was behind her, her powers no good while she was in the Underworld."There is the entrance," Nubia announces. Tim follows to where she points with her sword and sees a giant whirlpool swirling at the roof of the cave. "Follow my lead.""Wait," Tim says, looking at the Nubia. "Back there with Ares, you called him your father, but it's more than that, right? Back on Themyscira, when I first saw you, I couldn't help but feel like I recognized you and that's because I do. Your features, they're very similar to Diana."Nubia's eyes widen before she closes them. When they open there's a look of amusement in her
eyes as she watches Tim. "Very good, young man," she says. "You are correct. The truth is Diana wasn't the only Amazon Hippolyta
shaped out of clay and had asked Zeus to breathe life into. She did so for me
as well, at the same time.""So that would make Diana and Nubia...sisters?" Zatanna asked."In a way," She says, before a sad smile crossed her face. "I
was given to Ares, to be raised as a guardian of Underworld. It
wasn't until we
were both well into our
adulthood that Diana and I
finally met.""So what do you think about this new Diana, Nubia?" Tim asks. "Do you approve of her working with Superman and his Regime?"He could tell that she wasn't expecting that question. Donna hinted last year that some of the Amazons did not agree with Superman, but were they as powerful as Nubia? She meets his eye. "Amazons do not interfere with the world of man." Now it was Tim who was caught off guard. He was almost positive that she was going to say something else, since she was around nothing but people who were also against Superman, but perhaps he misread the situation."Is that our way out?" Donna asks pointing at what looked like an upside down whirlpool.Nubia nods her head. "It will bring us back to the surface of Themyscira. Just do as I do," she says, before she leaps up directly into the whirlpool, disappearing in the swirls of the water.Donna watched the other Amazon disappear before turning to look at Jason and Tim. She shrugs, then jumps into the whirlpool herself.Zatanna sighs before turning to Tim. "I'll probably teleport back to Dick once I get my powers back. I'll tell him you both said hi," she says, then jumps into the whirlpool."Welp, I've seen weirder shit," Jason sighs."Oh this isn't even in my top fifteen," Tim adds.Jason takes off his helmet and when he does, he's smiling. He pulls Tim in and gives him a kiss. "You go. I'll be right behind you.""Using this as an excuse to stare at my ass?" Tim taunts. Jason answers by giving said ass a nice slap before stepping away to put on his helmet. Tim takes a deep breath as he steps under the whirlpool. Before he can psych himself out, he leaps up into it, holding his breath as he's quickly overwhelmed the by whirlpool's strong current. He can't seem to keep his body from twisting and turning in every direction, the temperature from the water going from really hot to more cold. Just when he thinks his lungs are going to burst, he breaks through the surface of the water. He gasps for air and not a moment sooner Jason also pops up, just as out of breath."Over here!" Donna calls, waving at them from the grassy plains by the lake they've suddenly appeared in. Donna and Nubia help them out of them water before they all get to their feet. Zatanna is nowhere in sight so Tim assumes she teleported back to whatever magical dimension her and Dick are looking for Constantine."That tidal wave hasn't moved," Nubia declares."Oh shit," Tim hisses. He had completely forgotten the giant body of water that was looking to crush and drawn all of the island's people. "Let's find the others. They're going to need our help."They all break into a sprint, Nubia taking the lead followed by Donna and then him and Jason. As they entered the tents set up for the Amazon army, Tim notices they're all empty. In fact, it's practically a ghost town. "Over there!" Donna calls out. When Tim follows her point, he sees several civilian women running up to the mountain pass. He can make out the bright red hair of both Kate and Artemis, directing them to the other side.Kate looks relieved for about
a second, before her eyes briefly flash with panic and then return to her usual professional gaze. Her hand reaches up into her comm. "The wave just hit," she announces. "And we're talking seconds, not minutes."Tim whirls around and sees that she's right. The giant wall of ocean that wasn't moving before is now crashing into the island, heading it's way towards them. Some of the civilians start to scream and run in a panic, Donna and Nubia quickly turning to help them. Tim hears the jet before he sees it making it's way to them. "We have to blow the pass," Bruce tells them. "Now! Clear the detonation zone!""We can't!" Kate yells back. "We still got a hundred people on the wrong side of the detonation zone.""Yeah
and I'm one of them!" Tim adds. There's no way he just fought his way out of the Underworld only to be swept away by a giant tidal wave."We got to run for it!" Jason tell them, grabbing Tim's hand as everyone tries to make it passed the detonation zone. The last of the civilians make it before the mountainside suddenly explodes, giant boulders falling and destroying their only path to safety. Tim looks to see that him, Jason, Kate, Nubia, Donna, Artemis, and a handful of soldiers are still on the wrong side. Worse, the waves are coming towards them at full speed."I'm lowering the hoist!"
Bruce yells. "Get ready to grab on!"Tim watches the jet get closer, knowing there's only time for one person to jump for it before the water crushes them. He reaches for Jason, but the former Robin is already grabbing him. He feels another pair of hands and looks to see Nubia who winks at him before she helps Jason toss him up into the air. Tim grabs onto the hoist and turns around just in time to see the waves crash into the mountain, but not before seeing two bright red streaks zoom by."Wally," he breathes."We got them!" Wally announces on the comm. "We got all of them. It was close, though. Really close." Tim looks out onto a nearby cliff and sees him waving up at the jet with all the others, Jason included."THIS FOOLISHNESS IS OVER," The familiar booming voice of Zeus shouts, loud enough to be heard throughout the entire island. "POSEIDON, MASTER OF THE SEAS, WITHDRAW THE OCEAN AWAY FROM THIS LAND, IMMEDIATELY."Just as sudden as the tidal wave consumed the island does it quickly retreat back into the ocean. When the lands are clear, the god known as Poseidon is the only one standing. Passed out all around him were the Olympian gods, Superman, and Wonder Woman. Aquaman was also there, supporting his wife, Mera with his body. Tim hasn't seen them since he went down to Atlantis to ask for their aid in the Lantern War. Their city was attacked by a creature known as Dead Water, leaving them incapable of helping. Though he learned they had managed to recover from Black Manta, it was still nice to see they were ok."Tim." He turns to Batman, who's about to land the ship. "Were you successful in finding Harley.""Yeah, but we got bigger problems," He says, before explaining quickly what happened in Tartarus. Bruce looks at him, and Tim knows he just gave him a piece of vital information. "Hurry up and land this thing so we can end this."Bruce manages to land the jet and when they touch ground, Zeus is walking over to Superman, who is now back on his feet. "My patience is at an end," Zeus tells him. "Look what your insolence has wrought. You've lost you're right to inhabit this planet.""Are you absolutely sure?" Bruce asks him.Tim nods his head, staring straight ahead as Clark stand defiantly in front of Zeus, who does not seem to care. "Leave this world or die, Kryptonian," Zeus demands. Clark answers in typical fashion by trying to punch the god of gods, but his fist goes right through him - as if he were a ghost, like Dick.
Zeus shakes his head. "You're arrogance is astounding. My omnipotence is celestial - it might as well be magic to you," He informs him, before striking him to the ground with ease. Clark grunts but manages to get up on one knee. "Be gone or many will die," Zeus threatens."You can't hurt him, Clark," Diana tells him, still soaked and weak from Poseidon's wave. Batman steps forward with Tim right behind him. It was now or never."We've all been played," He announces."Of course you have!" Zeus yells. "The god of war has swayed you fools from the beginning, but all he has done is compel my involvement. Take solace in the knowledge that I will deal with him after I settle earthly affairs.""No, Zeus," Batman responds. "We've all been manipulated
- you included! By the one pulling Ares's strings-""ENOUGH!" Zeus booms. A surge of lightning strikes Tim, Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman. They all collapse on the ground, exhausted, as Zeus stands over them. "Leave this world now, Kryptonian!"Tim struggles to catch his breath but when he opens his eyes, he catches Superman staring right at him. "What do you know?" Superman whispers."More than
what I'm about to say," Tim tells him, because Superman is still the enemy, even if they're both currently facing an even greater one. Still, if they wanted to stop Zeus, they needed Superman. "Harley has a motherbox."Superman's eyes widen and then he's flying up into the sky, breaking the speed of sound as he leaves Earth's atmosphere. Tim looks back at Bruce, who nods at him. Diana gets up too, not knowing what just happened."Be gone," Zeus calls after him."It's over," Diana mumbles defeated....Shortly after Zeus and the rest of the Olympians returned to Mount Olympus, Batman gathered the Insurgency back to their tent on Themyscira. Tim was barely back in the arms of Wally and Jason before Bruce was already pulling him away into his private room. Tim gave them each a sympathetic smile, ignoring the way Jason's hand went for his gun, and followed the dark knight."I should've listened to you," Batman starts, causing Tim to freeze in his tracks."I'm sorry?" He blurts out, not believing what he just heard. It almost sounded like Batman was admitting Tim was right about something. "Can you repeat that?""I never should have listened to Constantine," He admits. "I tried to think outside the box and it cost us greatly."Tim can't help but scoff and, based on Bruce's reaction, can tell the other wasn't expecting that. "No offense, but if planning to take down Superman with the help of Ares was your way of thinking outside the box, then it's no wonder you failed so horribly."Bruce stands in silence for what seems like forever. "What do you suggest we do?" He asks.Now Tim feels like he needs to sit down from the sudden wooziness he feels. Did Batman just ask for his advice? "When Constantine came up with a plan, he didn't let anyone else in on it, he just involved them without them knowing and they wouldn't find out until it was too late to back out.""I'm listening.""Ares involving Darkseid means we gotta involve
some big players now," He explains. "Players who have no stakes in Earth or it's people.""That can be tricky," Batman says, figuring out who he must be referring to. "There's no guarantee they'll listen to us.""There's never a guarantee," Tim counters. "But, honestly, a little begging can go a long way.""I've never known you to beg."Tim smiles. "I wasn't talking about me."Batman's computer interrupts their conversation with it's alarm. Batman checks it out then turns back to Tim. "Harley's back on Earth. Go grab Diana and Artemis."...After saying goodbye to Nubia and Donna, Tim boarded the jet with the rest of the Insurgency, plus Artemis and Wonder Woman to fly to the Himalayas - where Harley's signal was getting picked up. Exhaustion seemed to catch up with Tim during the flight, falling asleep resting his head on Jason's shoulder, Wally mirroring him on Jason's other side. They only woke up when the jet began it's descent. Tim looks over the window to see Harley, Billy, and Hippolyta standing on the snowy mountains, shivering but unharmed.As soon as the landing strip opened, Diana flew out, followed by Artemis. Everyone else stayed put except for Bruce and Barbara, who were making their way down. Bruce stops halfway, however, and turns to look at Tim."Go," Wally mumbles sleepily. "The sooner you leave, the sooner you come back and we can finally go home."Tim smiles and kissing his red headed boyfriend, before to look at Jason. "You've been awfully quiet.""I'm with Wally," He says, taking his hand to kiss it. "Hurry up so we can get the hell out of here."Tim catches up with Batman and Batgirl and heads down the ramp, his feet stepping onto the soft snow."Mother!" Diana calls out, wrapping her arms around Hippolyta. "Where were you?""Zeus banished us to Tartarus," Hippolyta explained, before glancing at Tim. "We were rescued by this man and by your sister, Nubia.""We were totally kicking ass!" Harley declares. "Until Ares tried to jump us.""We took his mother box and escaped to Apokolips, where a being called Darkseid intended to do us harm," Hippolyta reveals. "Superman showed up to fight him.""Clark is on Apokolips?" Diana gasps."Yes, fighting for his very life."Diana turns to Bruce and Tim, glaring at them. "You sent him on a suicide mission!""Did you forget the part where I saved your fucking mom?!" Tim yells back. "What were you doing? Drowning in the middle of an ocean?""If you truly think Superman will lose, Diana, then you underestimate how vicious he's truly become," Batman tells her, giving Tim a knowing look before turning to Harley. "Give me the mother box.""What're ya gonna do with it?" Harley asks, all smiles as she hands the device over.Batman looks to her, then to Tim and Barbara. "Get some help."A boom tube opens up and he steps in before it closes and leaves them all watching as he disappears. Now, all they could do is wait.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
It's been a few days since both Superman and Batman have been gone. With Superman no longer forcing the world to follow his rule, Tim and the others were able to go back to the Batcave in Gotham. It's not like he had any particular fond feelings of Batman's hideout, but it was nice to be back in Gotham again - even if it wasn't the Gotham he was used to before the Regime came into the picture.Though Superman was out, Zeus and the other Olympian Gods were quick to take his place - announcing their new world order, where the only religion was the one that worshipped them. In typical fashion the world governments tried to fight but they were quickly defeated by Zeus and his gods.Gaining access to the computers in the Batcave was easy work for Barbara with Kate assisting her any way she could. Selina couldn't care to help with anything having to do with technology so she mostly spent her time with Alfred in the Manor, while also looking after Lian. Tim always suspected Alfred was secretly a fan of Selina but seeing them gossip over tea and biscuits definitely solidified it.Zatanna showed up again but only to tell them that Dick and her were closing in on a lead on Constantine and most likely wouldn't be in contact for a few weeks as they entered some new magical dimension.That only left Tim, Wally, and Jason. With no sense of direction or clear plan on how to stop the gods until Batman came back, they did what any sane throuple would do after two of them battled their way out of the underworld only to have the other save an entire army from a giant tidal wave summoned by a vengeful god.They fucked.A lot.Jason was nervous, at first, about being in the manor. Not only was it some what traumatizing to be back in the place he lived before he was killed but he was also worried that Alfred might recognize him, which was something they did not need to unpack just yet. So Wally came up with a brilliant idea. They made sure Jason was never around Alfred alone, most of the time they were only around each other when they all had dinner together (Alfred insisted they all shared at least one meal as a whole), and when asked why he's always holed up in one of the guest rooms? Simple, he's fucking Tim's brains out. Or getting a blowjob from Wally in the shower. Or he's passing Tim around with their red headed speedster. Obviously Tim and Wally don't mind. These last few weeks have been extra stressful, which meant they needed to be just as extra in their stress relief."Grab my ass," Jason growls, throwing Tim's legs over his shoulders as he continues to drive his dick deeper into him. Tim does as he's told, reaching around to grip his muscle booty as the other continues to fuck him. Jason silences the moans coming out of Tim with a hard kiss, his tongue sliding over Tim's as he starts to pick up the pace. Tim holds him tight as he starts to feel the other unload in him, lowering his legs back to the bed as Jason catches his breath."This really helps," He breaths, staring at Tim with those piercing blue eyes."It's what I'm here for."Jason laughs and shakes his head. "I mean it. Being back here was fucking me up at first. Alfred never changed my room."Tim stares back at him, running his hand through the other's damp hair. "He missed you. Still misses you.""I know." Jason rolls off of him and settles right next to him. "Still not gonna tell me what you and Bruce planned?""Nope." Tim decided not to tell any of the Insurgency about his talk with Bruce and where the other went. Batgirl was close to figuring it out, seeing as Bruce left with a mother box after all, but they all pretty much moved on to try and deal with Zeus. "If all goes well, then we should find out soon enough."The door to their room opens and in walks Wally, already with a mischievous grin as he takes in the two of them. "I knew I'd find you here," He says, closing and locking the door behind him before stripping out of his clothes. Tim can't help but notice how hard he already is as he tosses his underwear away.Jason rolls his eyes and gets off the bed. "I thought you were with Lian.""I was," he says, kissing the other male. He almost pulls away until Jason starts stroking his member, earning him a smile from the speedster. "Ah, but Alfred took her on a run to the store.""Perfect," Jason says, giving Wally one more peck before finally pulling away. It doesn't deter the other, he simply just jumps onto the bed and starts making out with Tim. "I'm gonna find a spot to read for a bit.""Ok," Tim says, as Wally starts shifting their bodies. Before he knows it Wally already has him on all fours and is sticking his dick in him. They both groan and Tim starts rocking his ass back against his other boyfriend. "We'll find you when we're done.""Though that may take awhile," Wally laughs, slapping Tim's ass just as he starts to vibrate. Tim is becoming a complete mess, falling against the bed as Wally piques up his hips and starts fucking him like only a speedster knows how....Between Wally
and Tim's third and fourth session the gods decided to finalize their war on the other religions. Zeus's plans would go into effect in exactly twenty-four hours if the world's leaders wouldn't surrender their faiths. When Tim and Wally come out of their room they head down to the Batcave where they find Jason with Barbara, Kate, and Selina. They're all looking at the computer screens. Most of them are showing a live broadcast from a news channel of the Olympian gods sitting atop of Mount Olympus, Zeus noticeably missing. One of the bigger screens had Artemis's face on it as she spoke to Barbara."Diana and the Regime plan on making a final stand against the gods," Artemis informs them. "Hippolyta means to join her daughter and, as I am duty bound to protect her, so will I. In case we do not succeed I
would like to say it has been on honor to fight by the side of the Insurgency.""Thank you, Artemis," Barbara says. "You are a great leader to your people. It truly has been a privilege."Her screen cuts out and Barbara turns to the rest of them. "Now what?""Honestly, I don't know," Selina answers. Wally shrugged his shoulders, while Tim and Kate
say
nothing."I'm all for fighting the good fight," Jason says. "But this is above our pay grade. No offense."Barbara sighs. "We can't just sit on our hands and do nothing.""Sure we can," Selina tells her. "I appreciate your optimism, Barb, but Batman is gone. Superman is gone. This isn't our fight. Maybe it never was.""Of course it was, Miss Kyle," Alfred interrupts. He enters the cave with Lian sound asleep in one of his arms, the other holds the bag of groceries he went out to get. He takes a moment to look all of them in the eye. "The Insurgency has survived for over four years on the strength of all of you. Defying the strength of the Regime's awe-inspiring powers against incalculable odds, you have been remarkable in your resolve. It would be a shame to abandon that now."Has it really been four years? It felt much longer. It felt like it's been decades since he's seen Steph smile, or seen Kon frown with worry. How has it only been four years and so many of his friends are dead? From the Titans, to Dick - though he's back now - to Helena and Renee. All of this to finally get rid of Superman only to have a bunch of homicidal greek gods show up and try to take over. Hell he might hate Superman and the Regime, but at least he wasn't over here demanding an entire planet get on their knees and worship him."Alfred's right," He says. "We can't just give up. That's not who we are."Wally grins, looking like he wants to drag Tim away for another session. "I'm in.""It's not everyday you get a chance to whoop some Olympian ass," Kate chimes in. "Let's do this."Barbara smiles. "I've always preferred the gods of Norse mythology anyway."Jason says nothing, his arms crossed over his chest and facial expression unreadable under his helmet. After an agonizing few seconds, his head finally nods. Then everyone turns to Selina, who lets out a long sigh. "Fine! I'll fight you're stupid battle, but only because it was my Kitten who suggested it!"Tim laughs before turning to Barbara. "How fast can you get the jet ready.""Do you know who I am, Tim?" She asks, rolling her eyes. "Of course I have it ready.""DON'T FORGET ABOUT ME!!!" Harley screams, running down the stairs from the manor. "LET'S GO KICK SOME MYTHOLOGICAL ASS!!!!!!"...Though Batman and Superman were gone, Tim was still confident they had a chance to win this. Zeus was still a no show and the only gods currently on Mount Olympus were the ones that faced the Regime: Apollo, Athena, Eros, Atlas, and Hermes. All of which were defeated in some way by the Regime already. Hera was also with them and though she was powerful, her thirst for vengeance was something they could exploit.Adjusting the claws on his gloves, Tim thought about Batman's mission. If there was any time Tim needed him to pull through at the last minute, it was now. Even if they were to defeat them, it would only be a matter of time before Zeus returned, and not even Superman could touch him. His plan had to work, but in order for it to do so, Batman needed to accomplish his mission."Mount Olympus is in sight," Batgirl says. "Looks like the party's already started." Tim looks out the jet's window and sees the battle taking place below them. Only Wonder Woman, Cyborg, Robin, Yellow Lantern, and the Flash showed up from the Regime. With them is Queen Hippolyta and Artemis.Diana is taking on Atlas, the giant. She avoids the swing of his giant fists with ease before tackling him to the ground. The Flash and Hermes are in a blur of red and gold, even Tim can't seem to tell who's winning that fight. Cyborg seems to get the upper hand on Apollo until the god shoots him directly in his robot eye
with one of his plague arrows. Robin struggles with Eros in the air while Artemis manages to take down Athena."We're landing!" Batgirl announces, just as Robin falls and hits the ground hard. It wasn't too high of a fall to kill him, but he's is definitely dazed. Yellow Lantern and Hippolyta are successfully tag teaming against Hera until Apollo appears behind Hal and stabs him with another plague arrow."We gotta hurry!" Wally says, already speeding forward to tackle Hermes away from his former mentor."ENOUGH," Hera roars, her entire body shining with the powers of a god. She turns her sights on Hippolyta, who tries to pull herself away. "I've denied myself the pleasure of killing you for too long, adultress! No more!"
A beam of bright light shoots out of her and towards Hippolyta but just before it hits her, Artemis jumps in front of it. The light hits her and disintegrates her body instantly. "Artemis!" Hippolyta cries before glaring at Hera. "Murderer!""So be it," Hera grins."No!!!" Jason roars, firing several shots at the goddess, none of them land their mark but it's just the distraction Kate needs to land her flying high kick directly at Hera's head. Tim slides on his knees to the other side of her to wrap his whip around her right wrist just as Selina does the same with the other. Batwoman and Harley Quinn continue to throw punches at the wife of Zeus as Jason pulls Hippolyta to safety. Tim knows he's avoiding to look at the scorched ground Artemis once stood, not ready to register the death of his friend.Eros and Apollo approach them with their arrows drawn but Wonder Woman, who has already dealt with Atlas, punches Apollo straight in the jaw. Barbara throws a batarang that hits Eros in the temple, knocking the winged god out. Tim and Selina are still holding down Hera until Kate finally drives her knee into the back of the goddess's head."Oh no," Cyborg mumbles, looking out towards the horizon as the red core in his chest starts blinking in high alert. "Nuclear launch!""Nuclear?" Diana repeats."The world leaders...launched an attack," Cyborg breathes out, still struggling from the plague arrow. "I don't have....enough time to hack them..."Flash appears, along with Wally who's holding a struggling Hermes. "Hal?"Hal shakes his head, the plague arrow affecting him too. "I can't."Harley runs up to a passed out Apollo. "You freaking idiot! He was the only one of us who could stop the warheads!""No," Diana firmly states. "He's not the only one."Before anyone could stop her, Wonder Woman zooms towards the incoming missiles, flying faster than Tim's ever seen her do. "Five seconds," Cyborg warns, to no one in particular, just as Wonder Woman uses her lasso to group around the two missiles and fly them out of Earth's surface. Last time she was hit by a nuclear explosion, she nearly died - and this time she's in much closer range.Out in the distance of space, the nuclear warheads detonate, appearing as a large mushroom cloud in the sky. Just as Tim starts to think that Diana is gone a blur of red and blue speeds through the sky.Superman."Hera," Clark says, gently placing an unconscious Diana on the ground. "Tell your husband, Zeus, to renounce his claim to Earth."Hera wipes her mouth of blood and grins. "Tell him yourself."A bolt of lightning strikes the earth and suddenly Zeus stands before all of them, full of rage. "You dare invoke my name?!" He shouts, his staff glowing with electricity. In the skies above, clouds start to form as a thunderstorm takes over. "My patience is at an end, Kryptonian. There will be no more ultimatums. I, Zeus, all-father of Olympus, condemn this false god to die!!!"A great ball of electric energy begins to form between Zeus and Superman. Just as it's about to be released, a figure suddenly appears. Standing between Superman and Zeus is Izaya, the Highfather of the New Gods. Relief flushes through Tim's entire body. His plan worked."No," The Highfather states. "You've meddled in the affairs of man for long enough, Zeus. I cannot permit you to continue this folly.""You dare talk to me about permission?! I am the all-father of Olympus," Zeus roars. "I DO NOT SEEK PERMISSION!!!""Does anyone know if this new guy can take Zeus?" Harley
whispers. Tim honestly isn't sure. He does know that their battle would do irreversible damage to Earth if it were to take place though. And with Zeus's temper, it just might."I WILL LAY WASTE TO THIS ENTIRE ISLAND IF I CHOOSE!" Zeus continues."Not while I'm here to stop you!" Superman challenges, getting ready for another fight, but it isn't necessary. The rage that seems to consume Zeus's entire being seems to have disappeared in a second. Now the Olympian is calm, if not still slightly bothered."Let us go, wife," He announces. "I have forsaken this place. The gods of Olympus are never to return." As his words speak, the bodies of the other Olympian gods begin to vanish, returning to the realm they came from."Why?" Hera demands, clearly just as confused as the rest of them."Silence!" He spats. "You have tried my patience enough!""Not yet. There is still something to be done," Izaya states.
Suddenly a boom tube opens up and Metron, known as the greatest mind of New Genesis, flies through with Billy Batson. "This child's gifts were not yours to take.""Agreed," Zeus mumbles, before walking over to stand right in front of Billy, towering over the kid. "Say the word, boy.""Shazam?"A bolt of lightning strikes Billy and once again Shazam has taken his place. No one seems as thrilled as Harley who tries to run to him but Tim stops her. Harley is weird in a lot of ways but crushing on a super hero who's technically a teenaged boy is something he's just not going to tolerate from her. Besides, there was another reason Tim told Batman to go find the Highfather.As soon as Zeus and Hera disappear, Superman turns to Izaya. "It was Batman. He sent you, didn't he?""We talked.""Where is he?" Clark demands."There has been enough fighting, Kal-El," Izaya tells him. Tim motions for the rest of the Insurgency to gather around him. None of them hesitate, most likely realizing the same thing Tim did when he helped Batman with the plan. The Highfather was the only one that could get them away from Superman safely. Clark looks like he wants to protest but before he can say anything, a boom tube opens up and the Insurgency disappears, leaving the Regime all alone on the island....It was Wally who told them that Zeus and Izaya were able to talk in the one second it took Superman to finish his warning. The powerful gods were so fast that even he had trouble keeping up with them, not able to pick up anything that they said.Izaya took them all back to the underground lead mines and made it very clear that this would be the last time he stepped in to help mankind. Afterwards, Batman appeared and gave them all their new missions.Barbara, Kate, and Selina were to head back to Gotham and grab whatever resources they could from Oracle's headquarters, while Jason and Wally were to travel to Atlantis and see if Arthur would again be persuaded to join them. Tim knew it was a lost cause, remembering his last conversation with Garth, but Jason's never been to Atlantis and he wanted the other to see it. He was supposed to go with him until Batman changed his mind last minute and told Tim
to stay.Turns out Superman wanted to call a truce and have a conversation with Batman
one on one. Bruce almost believed him until Lex Luthor called to tell him it was a trap. Tim couldn't help but roll his eyes. "Typical," He mutters. "We just went through all of this and it hasn't changed his mind one fucking bit.""The stakes have been raised, Lex," Bruce reports. "I can't afford to make any more mistakes.""And you can't continue to rely on a skeleton crew and a few green pills," Lex adds, ignoring the glare Tim gives him at the mention of 'skeleton crew'. "You're outnumbered and outgunned.""I need to recruit talent. People who have a stake in Earth.""No more gods," Tim adds."No more gods," Bruce repeats. Suddenly an alarm starts ringing on Lex's screen, something from his lab. Lex's eyes widen and he doesn't even bother saying goodbye before ending the chat, his screen going blank."I still don't trust that man," Tim says. He doesn't know if it's because he's bald, rich, or both, but there's just somethin sneaky about him. It might also have to do with the fact that he created Kon and then was hardly ever in the boy's life. He hasn't even asked Tim what happened to him, unless he knows what Superman did and that's why he's helping them."You and Lex Luthor are the two people I trust most," Batman reveals, taking off his cowl."Come again?" Tim asks, not fully believing he heard the other man right. He trusts Tim the most? Over Barbara? Over Kate?"You've been figuring out the pieces to Superman's plan quicker than I have. Had I listened
to you earlier on, who knows where we would've been."Tim sighs. "Probably in the same place, with only different casualties." Nothing they did seemed to work. They've had the entire Green Lantern Corps. try to arrest him, demons from hell try to trap him, and now gods from other realms try and banish him and nothing. Nothing but more dead friends.Before their call with Lex, Tim made a call to Nubia and Donna, expressing his condolences for Artemis's death. Donna would be taking over commander of the Amazon army and Nubia would become Hippolyta's new bodyguard. Artemis's death, however, seemed to spark something new in them. They assured Tim that they are fully allied with the Insurgency and won't stop until Superman is brought to justice."We'll get them, Tim. That I promise," Bruce says, starting at the computer screen. He glances at the former jewel thief and smirks. "You know, Alfred always thought you'd make a great Robin. I'm starting to think he was right."Tim doesn't bother hiding the roll of his eyes. "I'm sure in another dimension I would've loved hearing those words from you, but right now all I wanna do is vomit. Those colors are so awful-" He complains, trailing off as his computer screen turns on with breaking news from a news station."What is it?" Bruce demands, already slipping back on his cowl."It looks like Plastic Man broke into Superman's prison, releasing all of the prisoners," Tim says."But that prison holds everyone. That means-""They're all loose," Tim finishes. "Bane, Cheetah, Giganta, Man Bat, Two Face, Killer Frost - they're all running loose and there's plenty more.""Gather up the team," Batman orders. "We're going in."Tim lets out a long sigh. Why would he expect their fifth year into this would be any easier? If anything, he should believe that this next year will be the worst yet.Because that's how injustice works.