Chapter 57: The Avatar vs The Justice League

 

(Aden's P.O.V)

The man of steel stared at me evenly without breaking eye contact. The house of El symbol lay prominent on his chest and up close he looked huge. Intimidating too given the situation. I'd just trounced my former team and added Red Arrow to the ass kicking. I doubt they had any favorable outlook on me as I currently was.

"Think carefully about what you want to do next Aden. Don't make this situation worse than it already is."
Black Canary didn't give up trying to make me surrender. And why would she? To anyone reasonable, that was the RIGHT move. The expected one at least. Given that I had been a part of the hero society for a few months, the assumption would be I was an altruistic individual like 90% of the Justice League. That I would always do the RIGHT thing. But here's the thing, the RIGHT thing is not always the CORRECT one. And the League was the best example of this.

I spared a glance at the gathered League members and instantly a feeling of sadness gripped me. This was just a fraction of the League but the power they had…the technology under their disposal as well as their own individual power and connections was tremendous. Yet, people like The Joker and Victor Szasz still walked around killing wantonly. What would it cost Batman to just break The Joker's spine, crippling him for good? That's not killing right?

But no. They can't do it. They can't even ensure that the government comes up with severe measures to keep these mass murdering psychopaths from hurting anyone ever again. The death penalty or a strike rule. Where if you commit more than three acts intentionally endangering civilian lives, you're lobotomized or sedated for life or something. I'm not a doctor but coming from a world where bullshit like this wouldn't stand…it was a bitter pill to swallow.

The sadness gave way to determination. I was going to change that. It might sound cliche and self righteous but the truth of the matter was that these people hadn't been given another option by the League. It was either be good and stay on the right path or be bad and stay on the wrong one. I wonder what the League would do if the government suddenly decided that all supervillains were fair game and put out bounties on all their ends. Batman would probably try to save The Joker from Deadshot or a dozen other mercenaries. That's the kind of hero DC idolized. The Avengers atleast did what needed to be done to save people.

Enough exposition. I had to deal with this debacle first. I loudly sighed and made contact with Batman's eyes.
"Fine."
My hands lowered and I started flying down closer to Superman. The Man of Steel smiled and nodded understandingly. Black Canary couldn't hide the look of relief that crossed her face. Wonder Woman and Flash also eased up somewhat. On the hand, Batman clenched his jaw and I could feel him narrow his eyes through the whites of his mask.
"Wait."
He called out just as Superman placed a hand on my shoulder and said.
"You made the right choice son."

The battarang thrown to my position was taken out of the air by an air string and thrown back towards it's source. Man I love air bending. Superman was just now noticing that something was off. Too bad he kept most of his abilities suppressed. His reaction speed was fast of course but he couldn't do anything whilst he was still underestimating me.
"Yes I did. FUS ROH DAH!"

An astounding amount of shockwaves exploded out of my mouth. My throat instantly felt raw as the sonic shout impacted the man of steel at close range. Superman's face turned into a pained grimace. I shrugged off the the loose grip he had on my shoulder while sensing movement through the vibrations in the air. That was following the explosive impact of Batman's battarang, that I'd delivered back to him. I lazily observed how mentor and protege were so alike, that I knew Batman's opening move just from sparring with Robin.

My plan was close to succeeding. To win this I had to take the most dangerous foe out of the fight. And no it wasn't Supes. A blur raced towards me faster than I could react. But Flash was distracted by The man of Steel's pain. So distracted infact that he didn't notice the invisible wall of air shield that appeared before him. The fastest man alive slammed into the construct in full force and bounced back with a bloody nose. The shield bubble closed around him and I lifted his body up. No traction baby. I continuously rotated the sphere with more thick and thin layers to stop him from vibrating his way out. An improvised tactic. I had no idea if it would work or not.

"Gotcha."

Before his fast healing could kick in place. A rotating sphere of wind covered Barry's head and started sucking out all the air inside his lungs. And the most dangerous one was down. Holy shit I can't believe all that worked! Superman was on his knees with a trail of blood running down his ears. Black Canary was checking if he was okay, Batman was in a stance looking…unsure. Holy fuck. Batma…no Bruce Wayne, was hesitant. He didn't want to hurt me because Batman left his opponents broken more times than not. I could use this and actually succeed. Then everything went wrong.
"Enough!"
Wonder Woman shot forward and I felt my body slam into the metallic framework of the Computer. The chassis cracked under my back and breath left my chest. I couldn't breath. I hacked as whole stars appeared at the corner of my vision.

One attack…one attack had reduced me to this. I instantly realized what was going on. They had been taking it easy on me from the start. Just as Batman was wary to hurt a kid so was Superman, The Flash and Canary. Wonder Woman on the other hand was a warrior first and she knew the dangers of underestimating an opponent in the field. So she decided to get serious.

I lost control of the air bubble holding the Flash afloat in the air and he escaped. Meanwhile I groaned while feeling as of my chest had caved in. A sudden motion and I felt a metallic collar lock itself around my neck.
"Your resourcefulness always pays Batman. What else do you have in that utility belt?"
The Flash wondered while breathing slight heavily.

"Focus Flash."

Batman merely grunted while checking to see if the inhibitor was working correctly.

"I am more concerned about his powers. Are restricted or not? Aden's abilities are…out of the norm even when compared to other super-powered beings."
Black Canary questioned.

Her words struck me and I realized I still had access to all my abilities despite the fact that I had a power dampening collar on my neck. So this type of device doesn't work on me huh? But even if I was to attack them, I couldn't win. Not yet. I wasn't strong enough to take on all of them and come out victorious. But there was someone else who could at least help me escape. I hated doing this. And this time it would be the second time in 48 hours.

My head rose up in difficulty and I smiled at Batman.
"Don't."
He warned me grimly, already understanding what I was about to do. Still I felt like I owed him something. An apology of sorts because of what was going to follow. The cave would be destroyed. No doubt about that.
"I'm sorry."

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I fell into the familiar haze of cloudy thoughtlessness. Sinking deeper and deeper into unconsciousness. My sense of self was instantly gripped before I could withdraw to the furthest recess of my mind. In a jarring move, I found myself facing the Justice League members who were present. 'What..what is going on?' I thought. I could see but I couldn't control any of my actions. This was new. All of them had shock written on their faces.

"By Hera. This power…is overflowing."
Wonder woman commented, one hand unconsciously going for the sword strapped to her back.
"Seeing this up close…is very different. Bats, you got a plan?"
The Flash wondered while moving backwards.

An outburst of heat escaped out of my body in a close range heatwave shroud. A pale bluish mirage. The Power Dampening Collar on my neck melted and flowed off my body without touching my skin. The melted parts of the Inhibitor collar fell to the ground in a slag of red hot viscous liquid. The metal behind my back followed the same fate and before long, I was standing in the middle of a pool of magma.

"Aden this isn't you...you need to stop."

Black Canary left Superman's side and came up to me carefully. I couldn't stop even if I wanted to. She was right, None of this was me. The Avatar State was an untameable beast that once unleashed, would only go back to it's cage when it wanted to.

"Canary stop. Maelstrom is not in his right mind. Once this state takes over even he is not aware of his own actions. Talking accomplishes nothing."

Batman ordered. The blonde woman turned to the Dark Knight and asked harshly.

"Then what do you propose we do? Take down a kid with lethal measures?"

Batman narrowed his gaze.

"We don't have a choice."

Wonder Woman unstrapped her Lasso of Truth.

"Batman is right." She started off, addressing a stubborn Canary.

"But we can also try something else. The Lasso of Truth might force the real Aden to awaken. I believe a fight with this other self would be catastrophic to the cave as well as Happy Harbor itself."

The Flash sighed while watching the young boy with glowing white eyes watching them intently. Studying their every move. The Flash remembered the state Kid Flash and the other members of the Team had been in once they'd arrived. Aden had taken them all down. They couldn't underestimate him anymore. He was a genuine threat.

"I hate to do this but I agree. This is the only way we can ensure more people don't get hurt."

Canary seeing she was overruled tightened her hands. A pat on her shoulders made her look back to see Superman's kind and understanding look. The Man of Steel was back in the fight.

"We'll make sure that Aden gets the help he needs. I promise."

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