It was muffled by several walls, but the screams were coming from all over. The largest source was of course the nearby ballroom, which was also starting to make other noises. Mostly bangs, crackles, and inhuman syllables.
Fuck. Needless to say, I grabbed the Psycho Pirate by the chest and shocked him unconscious, cutting off his laughter. Should have done that from the start, but no, I just had to figure out what he knew first. Of course, I had assumed anything he could have done would have been limited to line of sight, but that hadn't been true, had it? "Robin, Miss Martian, respond."
I didn't get a response from them, instead Starfire cut in. "Machina, what's happening? We felt something wrong before Miss Martian cut off the link."
I dragged the unconscious body with me out of the store room and into the hall. "I ran into someone calling themselves the Psycho Pirate. Not exactly sure, but I think he has some kind of mind magic. I also think he let out some kind of burst before I knocked him unconscious." A short distance away I spied an ornate light fixture sticking out of the wall, and I proceeded to drag him over and tie the criminal to it with some zip ties. "I'm hearing screams, but I don't know what's causing them."
I formed a small pocket around my waist and slipped the Psycho Pirate's phone in. I was about to walk away before I stopped, realizing it would be stuipd not to take the cause of all this trouble. Pulling the golden mask off his face, I was a little surprised to see the face of a nondescript hispanic man behind it. I didn't really know anything about the Psycho Pirate, but this seemed off to me. I placed the mask at my hip and formed hooks to hold it in place.
At the T-section at the end of the hall, I saw a man run screaming past towards the front lobby, chased by a small gout of flame. A few seconds later I heard a piercing crack followed by glass shattering and I winced. "I think all magic users are getting trigger happy. Civilians are going to get hurt if they move on from each other."
Starfire didn't hesitate when she heard that. "Team, get in there and subdue any hostile persons you can find!" Starfire ordered. "Try not to be seen if possible, but do not hesitate to save innocents if you need to."
"Wait," Aqualad cut in. "We still have our mission. Someone needs to secure the artifacts."
A moment's pause before she replied. "Kid Flash, bring the crate with the artifacts back to Moya. Then regroup."
Everyone else confirmed, and I sprinted to the T-section I had seen the man run past. The hallway to my left opened up towards the main lobby, and while I didn't see anyone I saw that the glass facade had been broken. Looking the other way I saw one of the European women I had seen in the ballroom stumbling about, looking frantically around her. She didn't even seem to notice me as she reached into the bag at her waist and tossed out handfuls of small bottles, which exploded in plums of multi-color flames.
Oh good, fear based hallucinations, I thought sourly, hitting her with an electric bolt at range before closing in and knocking her out up close. I don't think Scarecrow protocols quite work when the victims are all slinging magic around.
I made my way back to the ballroom, disabling another two men I came across. Both of them were panicking to various degrees, one stabbing at the open air with a vicious looking knife, and the ripping apart the wallpaper for some reason. Focused as they were, it was easy enough to sneak up on them, though they both seemed to notice me more than the woman. Perhaps the hallucinations at least were short lived? I didn't have much time to dwell on it as I reached the (smashed out) doors to the ballroom.
The room was a mess, to say the least. Many of the tables were broken or flipped over turned over, and one was on fire. There were a number of scorch marks, stains, and a pile of snakes in one corner. There wasn't, however, anyone running around like I expected. I saw a few people sprawled out on the ground, and while some were injured, I could tell that none of them were dead.
I moved to the nearest one and knelt down to check him over. I recognized him as the auctioneer I had seen earlier, and while he was a little banged up I couldn't see much physical trauma. Which didn't explain why his heartbeat was so erratic, or why his eyes were wide open, staring blankly up at the ceiling. Near as I could tell, he was in shock.
Motion my right made me look at a flipped over table in time to see one of the men in suits pop and and fire his pistol at me. The bullets flattened against my chest and I calmly stood back up and walked over to him. He tried to run, but one quick grapple line later I was dragging him to me.
The man struggled in my grasp, his eyes wide and fearful. "Get away! Have to- can't stay! In the shadows! It's in the shadows! It-!"
I tased him unconscious and let him slump to the ground. Something told me that whatever he was talking about would be important in my immediate future, but I just learned my lesson a few minutes ago. Besides, in his crazed state it would have taken far too long to get anything useful out of him. "Guy's I've lost sight of most of the people who came for the auction," I commed. "There's a few here unconscious, but I think they've all bolted."
"I've taken up position in the main lobby along with Troia," Aqualad said, no doubt his current partner helping him take the express way down from the roof. "There are a few mages here causing trouble. We'll hold here to keep them off the street."
Kid Flash chimed in "I also passed a few in the stairwells on my way down. Ugh, wish they could just bunch up and make our lives easier."
Starfire kept focused. "Artemis, Superboy, sweep down through the upper floors. Machina, sweep upward. I'm going to look for Robin and Miss Martian. Kid Flash, join me as soon as you can."
I broke into a hustle and got to work. The next few minutes were… messy to say the least. Not difficult or dangerous to me, but panicking mages can do a lot of weird stuff. Aside from the various bits of energy that got flung my way, there were twisting illusion, little summoned creatures, and even a hallway where gravity had been flip. It didn't help that the people also seemed to be shaking of the hallucinations, if only because they could target their terrified aggression on me.
Still none of them were as strong or skilled as the Witch Boy (or Abra for that matter), so I was able to take down the handful I came across, all while keeping the Team's Tac-Net map of the hotel updated. More concerning though were the people I found who were already down, in the same state of shock as the auctioneer. I had been ready to think it was just an extreme reaction to the Psycho Pirate's fear effect, but I was finding these people up on the third floor. They were either brought here… or something else was targeting them.
As things started to get a little less hectic, I slipped into an empty hallway and listened, trying to see if there was anything left on this floor. I almost left before I heard it, an angry and frantic voice. I couldn't make out what it was saying, but it got clearer as I moved down the hall to the room it was coming from. At first I thought it might just be a normal person trying to hide from all the nonsense going on, but as the words became clear I was proven wrong.
"But-but I released you!" The male voice said. "You protect me! Obey my-" The voice was cut off and turned into a sort of choking sound. I burst through the door and… it took me a second to understand what I was looking at. There was a hazy dark shape directly in front of me, and just past that was one of the monks, standing stock straight but his arms dangling at his sides. It looked like the dark shape was partly wrapped around his head.
Only a second or so after I opened the door the darkness flowed back away from me, releasing its grip on the monk. He fell to his knees, his face in an identical rictus of shock before he tumbled to the ground.
The darkness behind him quickly coalesced, forming into a roughly humanoid shape. It was around nine feet tall, with long arms and hunched over body. The smoke finished forming into ebony skin, and the creature's head had a maw full of tusks framed by a white mane. It had three eyes, but the one that sat in the middle of it's forehead was shut.
The other two red eyes narrowed at me as it crouched, long claws scraping across the floor before it lunged at me.
In a burst of kinetic energy, my leg shot up high before coming back down again, smashing into the creature head with an axe kick and driving it straight into the floor. The moment before impact though, it's third eye flashed open. Rather than make a crater, when the creature touched the floor it flattened into shadow, and said shadow darted off to the side.
I extended my hand towards it, and it shifted to a solar particle beam cannon. Not as efficient as a simple laser, but had more of a physical kick to it. Besides, while it might not be natural light, I figured a creature like that might be weakened by the sun. The beams lanced through the floor where the shadow was, and I saw few dark motes break off from the main mass. It was hard to tell but I think there was a faint whine as well.
Unfortunately it didn't slow it down, and it slipped past me out the door. I turned to follow, but I barely caught sight of it slipping into an air vent and vanishing completely. "Team, be advised, there's some kind of shadow demon thing in the one of the buyers summoned it. Last I saw it was in the air ducts on the third floor."
A few seconds later Kid Flash responded, but it wasn't what I was expecting. "Guys, I found Robin! He locked himself in a closet to ride out the mind wammy."
A moment later, the boy himself chimed in, sounding worse for wear "Ugh, guess I know what fear toxin feels like now. I think I'm-" There was a pause, and the sound of some heavy breathing before he continued. "Well, I'm mostly sorted out. What happened?"
"Don't strain yourself." I said. "I ran into the Psycho Pirate, and he set off some kind of mass fear wave. The Team's working to keep everything contained in the hotel."
"Psycho Pirate?" Robin sounded confused. "But, from the League's files on him he's only ever used his abilities in line of sight."
"He may have been holding back," Starfire remarked before she ordered "Robin, get back to the roof and onto the bioship. Wait… have you seen Miss Martian? We lost contact with her as well."
"Not sure. She was a few floors up when I told her to get down here. If she went straight down she should have ended up about… here." Robin sent a data packet from his wrist computer, and the Tac-Net map updated with a marker. As luck would have it, it placed her on the third floor with me.
"I'm on it." I said as I moved down the hall, but a sudden thought occurred to me. The people I had found in shock had all been mages, people who had been hit by the fear wave. And I now knew that demon was causing it. And if it's targets were people still feeling fear...
I saw a familiar shadow glide out of an air vent at the end of the hall in front of me, disappearing around the corner before I could react. It was heading the same way I was. "Shit! The demon's heading right for Miss Martian!"
"What?!" I ignored Superboy and burst forward, rounding the corner and seeing the shadow slip underneath a door. I thought there might be some smoke coming out from under it, but I didn't stop until I plowed straight though.
The room was on fire, what remained of the furniture smashed into the walls crumbling into cinders. In the center of the room on her knees was Miss Martian, looking straight ahead with a terrified look on her face. And rising out of the floor in front of her was the demon, it's hands outstretched to grasp the sides of her head.
"Miss Martian!"
I started to move-
The sound of the sonic boom hit me at the same time I realized I was tumbling back through the air, and I roughly slammed into the wall next to the door. It took me a full second to parse the now completely changed scene in front of me.
Most of the fires had been blown out, with only a few sputtering flames left around the edges of the room. And where the oni had been, there was now a very angry looking Superboy with his fist extended. To the upper right side of the room there was a hole that showed he had taken the direct route here. And on the left side there was a much larger hole, showing where the demon had been made to leave with extreme prejudice.
I pulled myself out of the cratered wall and stepped forward, looking between the pair and the 'exit' hole that had been made. When I was in front of it, I could see that there were in fact half a dozen holes lined up, terminating in the outside of the building. I could see where the demon had embedded itself in the outside wall of the building across the street.
"M'gann!" Superboy turned and knelt, scooping his teammate up in his arms. "It's alright, everything's alright."
Miss Martian latched on to him, and started shaking a little less, but was muttering. "Burning… burning..."
I frowned, but I didn't have time to address that, and flew out through the destruction. "Superboy just 'removed' the demon from the building."
"That is not the term I would have used!" Artemis shouted back. "I was looking outside and I still barely caught that!"
It was morning, so the street wasn't exactly clear. Luckily due to the height, no one was hit in the demon's impromptu exit of the building. The creature itself seemed only slowed, however, and was crawling out of the indent it made in the opposite building. It locked onto the closest pedestrian and let out a keening howl. Most of those present had the sense to run, though the one it had screamed at remained frozen in shock.
The creature lunged, but I intercepted it in mid air, slamming it back into the building. It's eye opened and it tried to melt into a shadow like before, but my fingers dug into it's torso and kept it from slipping away. I did not want this thing getting loose in the city. "CLEAR THE AREA!" I managed to yell to the open street before it abandoned trying to run away in favor of clawing at me. The thing was strong, and it's claws left scratches in my armor. Normally I could take hardened steel without a mark, but I guess magic could cheat.
There was a sort of snap as I removed the creature from the wall, and we tumbled back and towards the ground. Just before we hit I felt one of its claws try to dig into the thinner spots around my waist, and it froze. As we hit the street, the apertures on my palms opened up to fire some particle beams point blank. The thing screeched and broke away, and we both rolled to our feet a short distance from each other.
I frowned as I regarded the thing. It certainly didn't like beams, but it's dark body didn't look damaged at all. I had no idea how to actually hurt this thing. This seemed like the sort of creature you needed to banish or something. But aside from looking like a sort of oni, I had no idea how to do that. And why did it freeze up when it touched-
I stopped, and looked down at the golden masked still attached to my waist. I knew I was imagining it… but I swore it's grin was pointed at me.
The demon pointed one long arm at the mask, and uttered something in a guttural language I didn't understand. The meaning was clear enough: give it to me.
My response, of course, was to blast the thing again. It's third eye flashed open again and it 'flowed' to the side, not fully becoming shadow but becoming smoke-like. It reformed and lunged at me, aiming for the mask at my waist. I spun away and let the demon pass, my arm shifting to a freeze cannon before firing at its back. The beam hit, but its body went to shadow again before it slipped out of the ice.
The next minute or so was a back and forth between me and the creature. I cycled through everything I could think of, lasers, sonic, electricity, but nothing seemed to take. I could maybe blast a few chunks out, but it would always reform a moment later. On its end, it kept trying to maneuver around and overpower me, but I was too fast and tough for that to work. And any damage it did to me was likewise regenerated.
We broke apart and paused, considering our options. It was good that it was focusing on me and not running away, but it looked like I would just have to hit the thing until it's regen ran out. And considering how slippery it was, I'd have to keep it close. My body shifted into burst mode and I took a fighting stance. "This is going to take all day..."
That's when I heard a new sound: the engine of a motorcycle getting closer. I looked back and saw an advanced looking motorcycle barreling towards me. The figure on it kept flush against the machine until they suddenly launched themselves a good 20 feet into the air, propelling themselves past me. The bike skid to a stop next to me, but all of my attention was on the person flipping through the air. The demon looked up in time to see a figure framed by the sun, leg extended.
"JUSTICE KICK!"
Thrusters fired on the person's armor and they rocketed forward, foot slamming into the creature's face and driving it back into the ground. Strangely it didn't fade into shadow like the previous times, instead flailing for a moment before the figure gracefully back flipped off and landed near me.
The person wore what I would consider light power armor, solid plates connected by mesh at the points of articulation. Most of the armor was a light blue with a yellow circuit pattern on the underlay, fitted to a female form. The helmet was a deep red, and the yellow eyes were large and, dare I say, bug-like.
Justice Rider gave me a two finger salute. "Hello, Machina! A little far from home, aren't you?"
I really need to get used to people recognizing me on sight. One good turn deserved another, so I responded "I was on vacation, and I happened to run into a bit of an incident. I hope you don't mind."
She turned her head towards the hotel for a moment before looking back at me. "Considering the apparent cause, not at all." Before she could continue, the demon started to get up, but she turned and flicked her wrist out. Four small disks launched from her palm, and landed around the creature before electricity formed between them, creating a sort of net that ensnared the thing.
That is not how electricity is supposed to work, I wondered curiously, but I said "That won't hold it for long." Even as the creature shrieked, I could see it slowly lose form and slip through the gaps in the lightning.
Justice Rider grunted "I know, I've fought a Shadow Oni before, though it hadn't fed nearly as much as this one... If we had a priest we could reseal it, but without one we'll have to destroy its third eye. Which, given how strong this one had become, takes a lot more punishment than you'd think."
I got commed by Artemsis. "Big Grey, I've got eyes on you. What's going on down there? Who's the new guy?"
I subvocalized "Local superhero, here to assist. According to her, this thing's going to take a lot of work."
"Well, you've got some more assistance incoming."
Said assistance made itself known when a barrage of starbolts kept the oni hemmed in the lightning trap, and Justice Rider and I looked up to see Starfire drift down towards us. "A pleasure to meet you, though I wish it could be under better circumstances." she said as she settled next to me.
The Japanese superhero nodded to her. "And the same to you Starfire, but we need to focus on the task at hand. We need sufficient firepower to destroy it's head, specifically its third eye."
She couldn't hear the conversation, but Artemis chimed in "I think she had cooler entrance than you, Starfire. You may need to up your game a little."
Starfire and I froze, looking at each other in the same instant. I made a small motion with my head, and a smirk crossed her face. I looked back at Justice Rider "Can you get it's eye to open and get out of the way very fast?"
I couldn't see her face behind her helmet, but I got the impression she was arching an eyebrow at me. "Yes… do you have a plan?'
"We do."
We didn't have any more time to discuss it, as at that moment the Shadow Oni broke free of the trap with a distorted howl, its body reforming. Justice Rider moved to intercept, "Whatever it is, be ready on my signal!" She deployed a collapsible staff and swung it into the creature's side just as it was getting its balance.
I took a step back, my internals reconfiguring for maximum kinetic force, and my right arm shifting into its piston weapon form. The striking head was flatter and wider than usual though. Meanwhile Starfire stepped in front of me with her back to me, though I could see the increasing green glow as she focused her starbolt energy into her fist.
Meanwhile Justice rider flowed around the demon, using the small jets on her body in a similar manner to my burst mode. Each swing of it's claw she dodged and countered with a strike from her staff, the ends sparking in electricity on contact. Each hit frustrated it, and it came to a head when she comboed a knee strike into a mid-section strike, bringing the staff up high to strike down on the now lowered head. The third eye flashed open-
But Justice Rider was ready. She instantly dropped her weapon and fired the jets on her armor to reverse her motion. Her leg shot up in a rocket powered flip kick that hit with such force it sent the oni flying up into the air. "Now!"
Starfire flipped back towards me, her feet landing flat against the head of the piston.
For a brief moment, neither of us moved, tension building in our muscles/actuators. And then as one we screamed.
"Grand Sun Lance!"
I launched Starfire towards the creature at full force, the pavement beneath me cracking as she pushed off of me at the last moment. The woman was a burning blur as she shot through the air with her charged fist extended and flaming hair trailing after her, and it only took a split second for her to reach the airborne creature. There was a thunderous boom that accompanied the green explosion of energy, and all the windows on the street shuttered from the force of impact. Starfire herself burst out the other side of the explosion, slowing herself to a stop thirty meters past with a burst of flame.
When the light faded, I saw the headless remains of the oni briefly fall back to earth before it disintegrated into dark motes on hitting the ground.
Things were silent for several long seconds before Artemis, in a flat tone, commed "...Grand Sun Lance?"
"If you're not using your together-time to workshop sick team attacks, are you even in a relationship?"
Her groan of exasperation was music to my ears, but I stayed focused on Justice Rider as she picked herself up off the ground and gave me a thumbs up. "Yosh! I should have expected such a performance from you two! I suppose I am just used to you western heroes having a more 'practical' approach."
Starfire apparently heard this as she came back towards us, as when she landed she said "There's no reason something practical can not also be spectacular."
"Quite." Justice Rider looked between the two of us. "So, both of you are here on vacation?"
I nodded. "Yep, just a little break to get away from work. Seems like we ran into some more 'work' here though."
The other woman hummed. "Interesting… because I have never had to go on vacation with an invisible aircraft." She tilted her head up to the top of the hotel, over which Moya was currently cloaked. "I also never felt the need to send and receive encrypted radio signals on vacation either, but perhaps that is also a western habit."
Crap. Moya was mostly invisible when cloaked, but she did have a telltale infrared shimmer if you knew what to look for. And considering Justice Rider would have had to do a wide band search to notice our communications, she was definitely being more perceptive than her first impression let on.
Starfire and I looked at each other for a moment, before our team leader came to a decision. "We would appreciate a level of discretion." Starfire said, turning back to her.
Justice Rider folded her arms. "I'm willing to hear you out. But you need to tell me the truth."
"Very well."
"Good." She turned to look down the road, and I could see emergency service vehicles and police cars headed our way. "You'll have to hope the police don't ask too many questions, though."
I sighed as I immediately started going over our fallback cover story in my head, but I didn't have long before Aqualad contacted us. "Starfire, Machina, we have a problem."
Starfire turned away and asked under her breath. "What's wrong? Are there still civilians in danger? Is the Team safe?"
"We have all regrouped on the bioship. And the building has been secured, along with the crate containing the artifacts. The problem is that Robin has the list he took from the auction… and one of them is missing."