Superman grasped his hands together, hearing them crack as he watched Windrider toss the helpless Hybrid here and there until finally they stopped to exchange a few words. "Uh-huh." Hybrid said in a blunt, arrogant tone. It did nothing to affect the Boy Scout's already up-tight mood but when the Cadmas worker began to say his next few words, Clark couldn't help but feel badgered by the lies and untruthfullness he was feeding into Rai's head. "They're studying you even more than Cadmus ever did. To them, you're like a sneak peak into what Cadmus has been up to all these years. You're not stupid Raiziel, so why is it you're staying with them?"

The Kryptonian gritted his teeth, forcing himself to calm down. Batman had always called him ill-tempered. Impatient. Arrogant and one of those kinds of heroes who wouldn't think before they actualluy jumped into things. But most of what Hyrbrid was talking about were all lies. Sure, they studied Windrider but for good causes such as trying to reverse the effects of Rai condition in any ways possible just so to save him. He, as well as all others who knew and had top experiences in the latest technology and medical expertise, would spend countless nights without sleep sometimes just t find out a cure. And yes, they did once try to actually connect Rai with Cadmus one time just to find out what the society was currently up to, but after multiple failed attempts they had dropped it several weeks after Rai joined the League.

The Justice League were done trying to use Rai's existence to get at Cadmus long ago, and like Batman and J'onn--both of whom never even did try to trust people at all sometimes, Superman felt that he too could give his trust to Windrider all the way through now except half heartedly. And Lord knows, if they get through this, he could try to truly earn Rai's trust as well, with or without Hybrid's apriori at the moment.

Suddenly a bone rattling cry shattered the air and Superman flew further below the cloud covering just in time to see Rai hurl Daeron into a lampost. The metal bent awkwardly, but it didn't stop Hybrid from getting to his feet and blasting poor Windrider across the earth, walking over and clamping some indestructable looking metal cuffs on the young hero's hands.

Feeling his face muscles set his jaw tight and his eyebrows to almost come together, Superman quickly landed right behind Hybrid, his shadow almost enveloping over the man if not for Hybrid's height. No. He wasn't going to even let Hybrid think he had gained victory. Rai still had at least five to four minutes left, but Superman wasn't worried. Without stopping to think it through anymore, the Man of Steel grabbed the villain by the shoulder saying a simple, "Excuse me." before drawing back his right fist and suddenly snapped it forward.

*8*8*8*

Images shot through his mind like speeding bullets, but it didn't matter. BlackJack's knowledge grew slightly by Fate's voodoo mind meld, (or so he called it) and began to feel that the chances of Raiziel not attacking the good guys at the moment was quite reassuring. But not too much as BlackJack cradled Soul Stealer in his arms before standing to his feet and looking around. The others needed him, he wasn't a babysitter waiting for Soul to wake up however Fate not only made him promise not to tell Rai's secret to the whole Justice League, but also to watch over the heroine until she woke up.

"Come on, come on..." BlackJack turned his back towards an explosion, shielding Kite from much of the damage and hoping that there was some place he could hide with her until she could wake up. All the alleys were either up in flames or crumbled to the point of no return. Several places had grounds completely covered all over with shattered glass sharp enough to even cut through the hero's super sub-armor if it could. Finally though, Devlon gave up and resorted to leaning Kite against the wall nearby where she was out of sight from Spirit and danger itself...for the moment. Something fell suddenly on Dev's shoulder. Curiously the hero looked up just in time to see some loose rocks break from the ledges of the walls. Coincidentally though, did they come to fall right above them. "Look out!" he said to the unconscious Kite, leaning over her in order to protect her from the falling rocks. They hit him full on, one rock scratching one side of BlackJack's temple while some others battered him in the back which caused his elbows to quiver and bend until his face was almost about an inch or closer away from Kite's.

(So uh... what's Spirit doing?)

((Sorry, sorry, my bad Leya Gecko! ^-^; I'll post up right away, is that alright? Sorry to make you wait do long.))

Several small clusters of dirt and tiny rocks fell on her head, tickling her nose as they fell. Kite breathed in deeply, accidentally taking in some of the dust that soon caused her to convulse into a fit of coughing and sneezing. Finally she opened her eyes. Everything was blank white for a moment, then colors began to swirl into focus. There was a huge dark shadow on top of her and she thought groggily that Fate must have put her under some kind of protection spell, or just hid her where she was safe from view or harm. Well whatever the reason, Kite stared at the shadow, thinking vaguely on what kind of spell it was that Fate had cast upon her while she was out. But then, it wasn't long did she suddenly realize that it wasn't a spell that was on top of her but a living, breathing body!

Kite's teal blue eyes widened in panic and utter shock as she stared up at the out-of-focus shadow above her. It immediately clicked on in her mind that whomever was on top of her could be a dangerous enemy and from pure reaction, Kite's hand shot out from her side and caught the person with a strong palm heel strike to the face.

---

Spirit staggered back slightly from the attack but kept his ground, spinning on one foot while using the force of Aztec's blow to his advantage. His kicking leg flew up into a 180 degree angle, making sure that he felt Aztec's skull against his boots. Then, twisting his body again, Spirit brought his first foot down, spun and leaned forwards until his second foot was parallel to the ground before he swung it right into Aztek's rib cage. A malicious grin exposed his lust for blood as he knew the blow would send the League member flying by the force of the combo.

"Your foolish bungling plays are no match, hero." Spirit straightened and stepped coolly after Aztek. The flames surrounding the entire stage began to grow, shading Spirit's face and brightening his eyes until he looked almost demonic. Crazed. "I am beyond your level of expertise. You spoke that you had trained to destroy a god," Spirit gave a low chuckle. Of course, he was immortal but he prefered to play god himself sometimes rather than a magician playing with stolen immortality. "You claimed that you were not outmatched and yet there is no one here to help you," Spirit circled around the hero like a lion playing with its prey before the final blow. The flames around the two opponents grew hot until they could have scorched through metal in one wave. Spirit stepped closer to Aztek, the flames crawling from their earthly abodes until they began to swirl around the sorceror's hands like mini tornadoes. Raising both arms and directing them right at the hero, Spirit waited a moment or two as though building up the tension until finally his lips parted, "Let's give a round of applause, ladies and gentleman," he said the words in dark, mocking triumph. "for the demise of one foolish hero..."

"SPIRIT!!" Several blasts struck the areas around his feet and Spirit moved frantically to avoid getting hit. The flames he had conjured were released, flying towards Aztek but missing by several feet and turning a heap of broken glass, metal and rock into one hot pool of steaming red lava. The dark sorceror watched the small pool harden into solid liquid before he turned his gaze in search for the one responsible for disrupting his homicidal killing spree.

"No...it can't be...!" he breathed suddenly, his eyes almost bulging at the sight of Dr. Fate's approach. He looked from Aztek to Fate, realizing now on why the hero meant that he was not outmatched. Fate was still alive! "But you're supposed to be dead!!"

Fate landed with the top hat hidden from view, and hoped that the glare he shot the sorceror from behind his helmet would reach him. "Then I am sorry to inform you, Spirit, that I am very much alive..." The dark sorceror shook his head once, stared at Dr. Fate for a minute more before he attempted to regain his composure. "And what about Kite?" he asked slowly, looking past the magician as though he expected Kite to show up any minute. Unfortunately there was no such luck. "Did he survive to or..."

"Soul Stealer's condition is not of your concern," Fate interrupted, suddenly bringing out the top hat. Spirit's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets at the sight of it, and the helmeted magician couldn't help but grin. Spirit was really buying the bait. "but I'm sure this hold all your worries and doubts, doesn't it...?" he finished.

Face down on the pavement, Rai couldn't see what was happening. He felt the hot sticky trickle of blood ooze from the scores of cuts and gashes that now covered one side of his body, thanks to Hybrid's explosion. The world was almost muted around him, his ears still ringing, and every time he tried to move his arms, he met with unmoving resistance. A thought manifested somewhere in the back of his mind that there was too much blood pooling around him, as it hissed as it melted the tar and asphalt next to him. Someone was standing next to him, Superman, but his head was swimming so badly he couldn’t think of how he’d gotten there.

He tried moving again, this time managing to pull one leg underneath himself, and staggered to his feet. A clatter rattled next to him, as Hybrid's knife fell out of his back, or at least what was left of it. Only a half melted handle was left, while he could still feel the blade buried between his shoulders. Seeing the melted weapon gave Rai an idea, and he held the metal cuffs against a particularly nasty gash on his side. He felt the cuffs get hot, as they were stained with crimson, but they had obviously been made with such a possibility of escape in mind.

"Superman..." Rai groaned, recognizing the protective pattern of red and blue that hovered over him, "Get these off of me will ya?"

“You think it’s going to be that easy?”

Hybrid pulled himself out of the hole in the wall where Superman’s punch had sent him, wiping the trail of blood that dribbled from his hairline out of his eyes. One arm was wrapped around his side, clutching a group of broken ribs, and the synthetic material that made up his suit was ripped in several places from its abrasive treatment. Unfortunately, the same cannon that had been terrorizing the League all night, was now aimed at Black Jack and Soul Stealer.

“You interrupted me before I could finish off your little golden boy over there,” Hybrid sneered, spitting the blood out of his mouth, “So I’ve still got one cartridge left. Personally, I think it would be put to better use ending those two’s miserable lives. What do you think?”

Rai seethed, but didn’t dare make a move so long as Hybrid held Dev and Kite’s lives in the balance.

“Good boy,” Hybrid smirked, “I guess you can be tamed. I already told you and your little super pals, I’m here for you. So why don’t you flap over here and come quietly? I’m sure you don’t need any more deaths on your conscious?”

Rai’s eyes went wide for a moment at Hybrid’s low-blow, before his face fell. Rai took a shaky step towards Hybrid, when the sky suddenly came alive as three helicopters turned their lights on the feud below.

“I’m sorry Superman,” Rai said hardly above a whisper.

“That’s what I thought. Now why don’t you come over here and end all this?” Hybrid said beckoning to Rai, “By the way Superman, you and that Aztek fellow are the only ones in any shape to be doing fighting. So unless you feel like taking on a private army, I suggest you stand your ground.”

((Hey Guardian, I got that message you sent me last week. Sorry I didn't answer until a few days ago since I barely check my email sometimes. But yeah, I sent back my reply and I'm waiting on you. What happens next? ^-^))

((Sorry, I guess I didn't get your PM. Right now there's a couple of other people who've submitted profiles, so I'm just trying to get us to a good place where everyone can jump in. BTW new people, right now we're only working with two-three villians. If you wanted to show off your dark side....ya know, that'd be cool.......))

[[Hey, I am confused! Could you fill me in on what's happening so far?]]

((Ah, alrighty then. Taven Nukimor, here's a recap of what happed so far: Daeron and Spirit cause havoc in Los Angeles and the heroes Superman, Windrider, Dr. Fate, Aztek, Soul Stealer and Black Jack go down to stop them. Daeron's primary objective is to take Windrider, also known as Raiziel, back into Cadmus. After several monster fights, literally, Aztek makes a diversion to protect Fate and Soul and is fighting Spirit. Rai and Hrbyid go at it, Hybrid though getting a good beating, but in the end he threatens the lives of Black Jack and Soul until Rai gives up. And that's what happened to far. I think I missed lots but if you have time to, read the pages over. ^-^))

(If Taven wants to learn whats going on, she should just read the pages herself. There's only two pages for crying out loud)

((There's also POV switches pretty frequently too though. It's not hard to get lost, and to be honest, I appreciate someone asking what's happened so they don't start off on some tangent that was never a part of the story to begin with. On a side note, I've started an OOC thread, so any more comments that don't accompany a post I would like to be done there! It just will make this thread way too cluttered if this keeps up.))

Taven Nukimor isn't a girl! He is a GUY!!! But he just created a girl character, because the personality fit a girl better than a guy!!!!!!!!!!

[[Easy, Taven. Maybe Seth didn't know. And if you two want to still talk about it, there's a new OOC post Crest made for you guys to talk it out. You wanna talk, go into that forum, alright?]]

BlackJack moved back quickly, barely dodging Soul's attack. "Woah! Hey, careful!!" In spite of himself, Dev didn't want Kite to hurt herself any further. He had noticed her hands earlier and winced at the memory of seeing them burnt and injured as they already were. "Calm down, Soul. Its me, BlackJack."

Holding his hands up in his own defense and surrender, Devlon slowly moved away from the heroine and fixed her with a look of concern. "Are you alright? Can you stand?"

*.*.*.*

Superman clenched his fists until they were almost white, enraged himself at the heartless move Hybrid was pulling. But when you're the bad guy, things aren't always as easy as it seemed. Now that the two heroes were in trouble, Superman eyed the canon preparing for his heat rays to burn the weapon when suddenly Rai's voice made him stop.

"I'm sorry, Superman..." Charging down his vision, Superman shifted his gaze to lock on Windrider with his jaw almost dropping in shock at how quickly the young hero had given up. Of course, it was a good reason since two of their teammates were unknowingly being targeted by a maniac with a rocket launching canon.

"Rai...don't-" he was about to try an talk the young man out of it when suddenly the wind picked up and Superman shieldd himself as three helicptors came out from no where. Superman growled. Cadmus was everywhere now, flying about in their little copters. And after hearing Hybrid's threat over all the noise the chopters made, it took all of the Kryptonian's will power to not launch himself into the air and taking down those coptors himself. But one question ran through his mind as Superman found Rai's gaunt, battle worn form again. Was Windrider really willing to go through with this...?

[[Is anyone online?]]

((I am. I'm going to start postin now.))

Seth was riding shot gun inside one of the helicoptors. He stared down at the insanity below. His mind found Hhbrid's and without a second thought, the Zalthurian opened the door to his side of the flying machine and dropped out like a stone. The second before the ground came up, Seth used his powers to fly and he slowed his fall. Hybrid wasn't too far away but as he landed Seth made sure to stand next to the man. "Hyrbid." he said in a monotoned speech. The wind brushed the white hairs from Seth's unblemished pale skin and revealed hollowed pink eyes. "You are behind schedule today."

Rai's neck had become a thick wall of muscle to prevent him from looking back at a no doubt bewildered Man of Steel. He could almost feel his eyes following his every move, as every step brought him further into Cadmus' closing perimeter. Still, it was their best option at the moment. Rai knew they had come prepared for an all-out war, kyrptonite stashed somewhere on every copter ready for use in cse their biggest threat decided to retaliate. As much as the League liked to belive they had Cadmus figured out, it never cesed to amuse him how far off even Batman could be when it came to the organization. Of course, just because they had him cuffed didn't mean he was entirely helpless. He just needed to get in closer quarters, with the guns aimed at him, and the mental timer in the back of his mind ticking off every second...

----

Daeron could hardly contin himself as Rai entered the perimeter. After a year of chasing the damn kid, he was finally back in Cadmus custody. He had to admit though, a part of him was disapointed it had ended so quickly. He'd halfway expected some sort of trick or clever deception rather than the complacient behavior he was getting. This runaway had kept him busy every day for the last year, and now he wasn't sure what to do with his time. Then again, he was sure he could come up with a few creative ways to spend the fat bonus check that would be waiting for him back at Headquarters when they got back.

Daeron was already thinking about a few "upgrades" as he shoved Rai in the direction of the nearest chopper, when an unwelcome presence brushed across his conciousness. His head snapped up just in time to see Elturi jump from the open bay door of one of the heicopters and fall several stories, before his powers brought him to a gentle landing beside them.

"Hybrid." The telepath said, the downdrafts whipping his white hair about his face, "You are behind schedule today."

"Like you're one to talk," Daeron snapped, "Because you decided to take your sweet time getting here, Waller's going to have me in a recovery tank for the next three days!"

"You're lucky it won't be longer," Rai smirked, Looking back over his shoulder, "Honestly though, I'm surprised she sent you two. I though Cadmus had some policy against sending incompetant opperatives to aprehend a high-priority target?"

Rai didn't have time to duck, before Daeron struck him across the face with the cannon still attatched to his arm. He felt his lip split wide open, and a new coppery taste filled his mouth. The force knocked him to his knees, and he shook his head, trying to clear the growing patches of darkness forming at the edges of his vision. His captor's rough hands jerked him back to his feet, as the first chopper touched down behind them.

"You have any other smart comments to make?" Daeron growled.

"Only one."

Rai whipped his head around to face the helicopter, and sent a well-aimed glob of blood-stained saliva straight at the still spinning rotor. Daeron had only a second to give Rai an enraged glare, before the screech of shearing metal forced him to run for cover.

It was like watching in slow motion, as the metal of the gears melted and gave out, sending the blades into the body of the copter. The pilots bailed from the cockpit a split-second before they sliced through the thin metal and shattered into a hundred pieces of deadly shrapnel. The remaining helicopters all swerved and tried to pull away from the disaster, but ended up being caught in the aftermath themselves. Men dove out of the dying birds, left and right, onto buildings and anything else that would help to slow their fall while their craft added to the pile of twisted metal and flames.

Rai scrabbled to his feet, which was made all the more difficult by the fact his hands were still clamped behind his back, and ran as fast as he could back to where Superman had been standing. He could feel his body either shutting down, or not listening to him anymore. Whether that was due to the confusion of the explosions, or Elturi's close proximity, he wasn't sure, but he could feel whatever wall J'onn had put up starting to crumble away.

"SUPERMAN!" He yelled over the roar of the flames, "It's time to go! Now!"

"I'm fine," Kite told Black Jack with an almost rueful smile. She was definitely in pain, but everything seemed worth it since te sounds of battle no longer reached her sensitive ears. She attempted to stand but found that she was still too weak to move, and a deep sigh escaped from her. "I'm sorry, I don't think I can..."

The heroine stopped talking when a sudden ominous shadow stood over the two and Kite followed it all the way up until she met eyes with Spirit. Immediately she froze over, eyes wide at the sight of the sorceror who gazed back without the slightest hint of emotion on his face. Somehow, Spirit managed a deep serious frown as his dark red eyes trailed up and down Soul's body like an intense observer. His hat, as Kite had seen missing earlier, was back on the sorceror's head, giving him the gentleman/psychotic murderer look as usual again.

"Black Jack..." she whispered, her tone obviously shaking from fear. She wanted the hero to turn and look but for some reason he seemed more concerned with her than the danger standing behind them. Suddenly, Spirit raised one white gloved hand and reached past Black Jack's shoulder as though he wanted to grab hold Kite. The heroine flinched back quickly and almost thought about lashing out with whatever power she had left.

---

Spirit stared down at his sworn enemy as she finally felt his approaching prescence. The poor hero was seriously in poor shape, and quite unable to fight as Spirit realized when he reached for the boy. Kite shrank back from his touch but Soul couldn't possibly get far enough from him in that pitiful state he was in now. His eyes narrowed.

"Don't move." he growled out, his voice hinted with hypnotic magic as he spoke. The effect was close to quick as he noticed both heroes almost stop what they were doing. Especially Soul now that Spirit was able to touch her without much resistence. The dark sorceror placed his hand on Kite's head, temporarily running his hand through the silvery grey threads before tightening his hold on them. "Relax." Spirit muttered again when he saw Kite's eyes fill up with pain and fear once more. His grip on her hair loosened slightly before he sent a sudden rush of magic into the heroine's body...

---

Several minutes ago...

"Give it back, Fate, or holding that hat will be the last thing you ever do." Spirit said venomously as he and Fate had a magician to magician stare down. The top hat was still in Fate's hands as he tossed it back and forth tauntingly in front of the dark sorceror.

"Promise me that you will do as I say first." the League member stopped tossing the hat and using one hand to hold it, Fate used his other hand to summon up a ball of fire into his hand. An inhuman growl rose from Spirit's throat, but never did he dare try to attack the magician. "...ne..." he snorted reluctantly under his breath. Fate tilted his head to one side, unable to hear the villain's reply. "What...?" he said. Spirit shot him the most odious glare he could make, eyes flashing dangerously. "Fine!" he bellowed, hands spread out in mock welcoming. "I promise, okay?! I promise I'll do whatever you say! Now give me the hat or I swear to the gods almighty that I'll kill you and your little friend over there!!"

Spirit pointed his hand at Aztec to show how serious he was. But as long as Dr. Fate had his hat in custody, Spirit could barely muster up the courage to fire a single blast. A hushed silence fell between the two and they returned to glaring each other down until finally Spirit calmed down. "I'll do whatever you say, magician." He said in a heavy, deafeated sigh. Fate raised one doubtful brow behind his mask.

"You'll put out the fires?"

"All of them."

"Fix all the damages you've caused to the city?"

Spirit was silent for a moment, pondering his choices. "Until every nook and cranny is without ruin..." he said at last.

Fate wasn't sure if Spirit was liying or not, but nevertheless the dark sorceror looked convincingly sincere. The magician then glanced towards the place where Rai was fighting over his decision between returning to Cadmus or risking the lives of his friends. The transformation was starting to increase tenfold as Fate watched more people from Cadmus begin to arrive. Spirit followed the magician's gaze over to Windrider, his mind already seeing what Fate was about to ask next.

"I cannot help him." He told Dr. Fate, almost cursing himself for being so truthful. "Even with my powers, I have no ability that can help him end his monstrous form." The elder magician shared a long look with Spirit before replying with utmost confidence.

"But I know someone who does..."

---

A bright light carried Spirit away from his flashback and he looked to see Kite climbing to her feet again. Spirit secretly admired the heroine's ability to stand, for even though he was giving her half of his own magic, it was only magic he was giving her. There was no healing power, nor was there any energy he could give Kite, only magic.

"Feeling better?" he asked her almost genially. Kite staggered for a little bit before raising her head towards him with her eyes still suspicious of him. "Why?" she asked of him, subconsciously holding onto Black Jack for support. She glared at him with mustered anger. "Where is Dr. Fate and Aztek?"

Sighing, Spirit managed to shrug off his young charge's angry stare. "They're over there, safe and sound." he told her, leaning forwards until his face was close to Kite's. "Your friend Dr. Fate stole my hat, and now I have to help you, of all people. Sad, isn't it?" He grinned devilishly. Kite recoiled back slightly as Spirit came close. "...But...But why did you give me your magic?" she asked, still uncertain if she should believe him or not. Spirit met her teal blue eyes with red ones of his own. In the background several new explosions resounded and great amount of fire poured out of a plce nearby.

"Because now...you have a soul to steal..."

((Ta-dah. I don't exactly know whose soul to steal, but yeah. ^-^;))

"Steal a soul?" Devlon stood up, escaping Spirit's hypnotic hold with all the will power he could bring up. Although he didn't want to admit it even if Spirit really was on their side now, Devlon had gotten the living crap scared out of him when Spirit showed up from out of nowhere. And the magic he used to get into his head...Devlon almost shivered on how easily he listened to Spirit a minute ago. But that was all in the past now as he took hold of Kite's shoulders to support her. Concerned, he had noticed how wobbly on her feet she was. "Soul, what does the crazy magician mean?"

*.*.*.*.*

Superman watched the chaos unfold with wide eyes and a slightly gaping jaw. He remained standing where he was until Rai finally called out to him. With an elated breath, the man of steel smiled before he suddenly swooped into the swarm. He found Rai quickly and grabbed the hero under the arms, hoisting them both into the air and out of danger range.

"You know, for a minute there you had me worried." he joked to the younger Leaguer as he flew them over to where BlackJack and the others were grouped together. As soon as he had landed, gently seting Windrider down of course, Superman looked from one face to the other. Clearly he was suprised to see Spirit among them, but never the less he said to them, "I think that its time for all of us to leave..."

Apparently Soul Stealer steals souls. That explains the name.

Superman landed near them, and said, "I think that it's time for all of us to leave..."

"Um," Aztek spoke up. He did not want to sound disrespectful or anything, but... "There might still be people who need help. Some of those buildings collapsed, and the fires... Maybe some of us should stay behind and help?"

Rai managed a weak grin as Superman pulled him into the air and away from the chaos. The Man of Steel hauled him up with enough force, it broke the manacles secured around his wrists and they fell uselessly to the ground below as he heaved an exhausted sigh in his grip.

"You know, for a minute there you had me worried." Superman joked.

"Yeah?" Rai managed with a faint chuckle, "Me too...."

Rai shook his head again, the world around him continuously fading to black before regaining focus. Unconciously, he kept clenching his fists in an unheard rythym. More than once he had to force down the growl that continually kept rising in his throat.

The sound of familiar voices was the first thing to penatrate the heavy fog that had settled around his mind. Solid ground seemed to liquify beneath his feet, when Superman came to land next to the gathered heroes. He stumbled to the remains of a crumbling wall, and sagged heavily against it, panting for breath that shouldn't have been so hard to get.

The group was disscussing something, but their voices all ran together in a muddled garble of noise. He stared at the group, his brain trying to piece together some kind of story from the broken fragments he was getting. Something suddenly clicked when he realized there were too many amongst the heroes. It set off a chain reaction he no longer had the strength to stop. He pushed away from the wall, swaying dangerously, but remaining upright, as a low menacing growl rumbled in his chest. They were no longer heroes, they were no longer people, just obstacles standing between him and getting as far away from the men with the guns as possible.

One last coherrant thought ran through his mind before the sane part of himself surrendered to the darkness:"Pain, burn...J'onn..Run. Fly. Help..please...."

"Apparently, my dear sun-topped hero..." Spirit flicked on of the points on Aztek's helmet. "Everyone ran off soon after I started setting fire to the city. But if you'd like to know if anyone's around, be my guest to go and search. They're probably ash by now though..."

"Enough, Spirit." Fate interfered, knowing full well that the dark sorceror was trying to mess with their heads. He had done a quick search throughout the few regions occupied by burnt brick and brimstone. He gave Aztek a respectable nod. "Aztek is right to think of the safety of the people...therefore I will stay to search the city before I return with you."

As he spoke plans and opinions with Superman and the others, Fate noticed Kite carefully approaching Windrider. Or, at least, what was becoming of him. "Soul..." he called, uneasily.

Kite was in reaching range of Rai when she heard her hero name being called. Her head swiveled slightly to the left to catch the elder magician's gaze, but she was to troubled to listen to him. Something was different about Rai, yes, but something more within him made Kite feel beyond concerned. Turning back towards Windrider, she placed her hands gently on his shoulders. "...Rai?" she asked worriedly.

The others were too busy talking to notice the girl slowly making her way towards him. Stupid. She should stay back, stay away. He wouldn't go back to a cage, he'd kill them all before he'd go back to that. He'd already be gone, but his wing hurt, his arm hurt, he couldn't move them, but he could still fight. Another warning rumbled in his throat.

She wasn't getting the hint. She kept coming forward, even as he stepped back. Go away. She looked concerned, why should she care? She was reaching towards him, her hands were empty, burned, broken. Was she a threat? No, everyone was a threat. A gentle touch brushed against hard scales.

"...Rai?"

Soul? It was like hearing a wisper from a thousand miles away. Not quite enough to shake him back to the real world, but enough to stir memories.

She was almost looking for something, but it wasn't there, she wouldn't find it. But she wasn't a threat either, she was only worried. But there are others. Not all of them looked at him with concern, he could feel the fear that came off of them in waves. They would strike if they thought it best. She wasn't dangerous; they were...

Windrider, took one more step back away from Kite, using his good hand to swat her away as he charged the rest of the group, his mind blank and programed with only a single intent to remove anyone that stood between him and the open skies.

------

Hybrid coughed violently, and he shoved a sheet of broken metal off of the top of him. The choppers were a mess, and he could see several dead soldiers that had been caught in the aftermath. Seth was nowhere in sight, but he would have been stupid to count the telepath amongst the dead so quickly. He moved to get back on his feet, and winced as a sharp pain shot through his leg. A twisted scrap of debris had sunk itself at least an inch into his muscle, making the surrounding fabric of his suit slick with blood. With a frustrated growl, he wrapped one hand around it and gave a quick tug and pulled it from his leg, before activating his com-unit.

"This is Hybrid, all able units report in."

"Captain Weston sir, my unit is intact."

"Captain Koldac sir, my unit is intact."

"Good," Hybrid said, forcing himself to his feet and ignoring the pain that had taken a hold of his leg, "Rendezvous at my location imeadiatly, we still have orders to capture Project Windrider."

"Sir."

Hybrid climbed on top of the mangle body of one of the choppers to get a better view of his surroundings. He'd only been out for a few seconds, so he couldn't have gotten far. It took only another moment for him to spot the grouped League not too far off. He squinted his eyes to make out a little more detail, when he saw Windrider attack one of them, then lunge at the rest of the League.

"Weston, Koldac, Change of plans. Acknowlege deep comand, Alpha Gabriel. Project Windrider is no longer stable, terminate and transport remains back to Cadmus. Make no attempt to secure him alive. Understood?"

"Understood sir."

"Kite!" Dr. Fate yelled again just as Rai lashed out, striking the small magician out of his way before charging out toward them next. Had Windrider finally lost his mind?

Fate could almost feel himself shivering, but with all his might he threw the dark thoughts away from his mind and quickly began to chant fluently in an old, ancient language. An array of crosses appeared from the air and surrounded the raging beast, several of which sent out thick rays of light that followed after Rai like heat sensors. In moments they whipped around the scaly arms and legs, restraining Windrider from its attack. However, Fate couldn't keep up the restraints for to long now. Already the bonds were beginning to break against the intense struggle of willpower and thoughts that raced between Fate's mind and Rai's.

Torture. Pain. Desprate wanting and confusion. Those and more were the only things Fate could sense racing through the reptillian Rai. Over and over did he hear the desperate thoughts, the agonizing please of help and the poisonously addicting need for freedom. All this would have ripped out the magician's heart out from pity and empathy if not for the fact that now Rai was set out to only kill them now. As he held his magic firmly on keeping the raging beast from coming any closer to them, Fate balanced over his own decisions of either putting the reputation of the Justice League first, or saving Rai from...himself. Well, whichever seemed easier neither looked so in Fate's eyes.

Windrider was important, and not only to the Justice League. Fate glanced to the side where Kite had landed. Spirit had gone after her when Rai struck her aside, turning into a giant black bird and quickly catching her in order to cushion her fall. There she lay amongst the dark feathers, doubled over in pain from the sudden attack. Gently, Fate extended some of his powers to merge his mind with hers.

"Soul, are you alright?"

Kite opened her eyes, gazing amongst the black feathers. "I'm...I'm fine." Her voice cracked slightly as though she had had her feelings hurt. "Good, because I need you to pull yourself together," Fate almost staggered at the ammount of brute force he had to put up against Rai's own. "I can only hold him for so long. Seize this chance to steal Windrider's soul, else it will be the end of us all."

The heroine looked at Rai, watching him rage about before a long ebony beak distracted her. Spirit's eyes were gleaming as though he could understand her every emotion. "Hesitating will only make the deed harder to do, magician." His voice rumbled in her mind as well. Kite stared at him, somehow wishing that Spirit could change his ways and become a good friend.

"...You'll protect my body while I'm gone?" she asked him. The shapeshifter just smiled before shifting back into his human figure with Kite back on her feet. Momentarily did Spirit's gaze rest on Hybrid not too far off. Oh, he knew perfectly what the human was up to now...

"Hurry, Kite." he warned in a hushed dark tone. "Or your friend is going to die." But Soul Stealer was already locked in a trance, her lips moving in a quiet voice that spoke barely above a whisper. Her eyes gazed unblinkingly at Rai, marking him as her target before the teal color diappeared only to be replaced by a ghostly white shade. Spirit watched her closely, noting how her body began to faintly glow with white aura. Oddly, the sorceror could have sworn he heard low voices coming from Soul Stealer's cloak; but he couldn't think any further before suddenly the sound of a single escaping breath sounded from Kite and she began to drop.

The dark sorceror caught the young heroine in his arms before looking up at a strange astral white form that shot immediately towards Rai. Dr. Fate's magic had already disappeared moments during Kite's minute long meditation, but nevertheless, the astral form found its target and plunged straight into Rai's body.

((It's gonna be long...sorry.))

It was a beautiful day. The sun had finally relented it's scorching heat to a pleasant warmth that rode in on a gentle breeze. The sea rolled on to the landing beachwith the precision of a metronome, bringing with it the welcome smell only such a vast body of water could carry. Several squad units were all out running drills, but for the most part, the entire compound was out in force to enjoy the reprive from the south pacific heat. Even Rai found himself streaching out on a patch of grass, contentedly soaking up the day and relishing the break from the nonstop training simulations.

Lazily, he scratched a spot on his shoulder, when a dark shadow crossed in front of his little slice of paradise. Groaning, he opened one eye to find a sillouetted figure standing above him, with an impacient hand on its hip. The sillouette was obviously female, if the irritated way she cleared her throat was anything to go by.

"Awww..." Rai moaned, "Come on Ronnie! It's such a nice day! Can't we just skirt the Sergant for just one day?"

"Fat chance Rai," The girl said flopping down with an air of grace , "You know he'd schedule and extra session just to get us back for the one we lost."

Rai rolled over on to his side to better face his new companion. Strawberry blonde hair spilled elegantly over her shoulders, and pale green eyes closed as a puff of wind blew across the courtyard. Sunlight highlighted a well toned body, shaped by endless days of endurance training. A devilish smirk crossed his face as he watched her leaning on one elbow. Suddenly aware she was being studied, her sharp eyes snapped to Rai as he continued to stare shamelessly.

"What are you looking at?" She asked, a light blush creeping on her cheeks.

"The only piece of heaven on this barren rock."

"Oh shut up Rai." Ronnie scoffed getting back to her feet, "You know, when they brought your scrawny hide to this facility in a cage, I always knew it was because they'd found some sort of ape."

"What?!" Rai said with mock surprise, following after her, "Waller's not exactly the most fun thing to look at ya know..."

"Hardly appropriate conversation for training prep."

Rai and Ronnie spun on the spot, imeadiatly snapping to attention out of sheer habit and trained impulse. Piercing ice ble eyes stared at them from behind a celtic tatoo that wove in around and up to a jet black hairline.

"Sorry Comander Hawking," Ronnie said jabbing Rai in the ribs, "I was just looking for his sorry hide."

"Oh please," Rai said rolling his eyes, "Like you weren't all set to go AWOL with me."

"Alright you two knock it off," Daeron said with a chuckle, holding up two red files, "You're about to be promoted."

---

Windrider could almost feel his hand closing around someone's throat, when a strong magical force wrapped itself around his body, halting his progress. While he couldn't move, the restraints only served to infuriate him even more. Taxing a battered body to its limits, he forced even harder against his bonds. He locked eyes with the magician keeping him trapped for a moment, he could almost feel something brush against his mind but didn't care.

A bright light suddenly flashed behind him, and a cooling wave washed over him, robbing the strength from his limbs. Windrider gasped silently once, before falling to his knees, topaz eyes staring blankly into space while the real scene played itself out inside his head.

Rai could hear the monster's furious roar as the two were forced away from the waking world. Rai was slumped on the ground, evey bit the monster that now paced angrily in front of him, but he was sane and himself, if not living a distant memory. Windrider's hackles went up as the intruder materialized within his mental plane, but he didn't attack right away. Instead, he couched almost protectivly infront of his human half, as Rai looked at the silvery form with half glazed eyes.

"Kite?"

[[Dang, you guys type alot. Lulz]]

"Holy shit!!" BlackJack retreated several steps back as Windrider came at them in a perfect fury. And ammounting more to his horror, Devlon realized that couldn't move. Whether it was by fear, or by the foolish courage he felt wrapping itself around his heart, Dev was unable to move his legs fast enough to take him to safety. His eyes were fixed only on the black ebony scales, the reptilian claws....and those eyes. Devlon was trasfixed by them, but for whatever reason he knew he couldn't recal it after all this was over. Rai was out of it. Gone. He could see it in those insane slitted eyes. Now there was only them, and nothing else standing in his way. Then, because of his zoning out, it was almost too late to notice the sudden black mound that crashed into him. Devlon gave a chocked scream having been knocked out of his thoughts. Something wrapped themselves around his neck, cutting off the air he needed to breath. "Urk...!"

"Move! Scatter!" Superman was shouting at the top of his lungs. Everything sounded far off, but Devlon was able to at least speak a few words through broken breaths. "Help...Help..." It was like he called for only a second when air came rushing back to him and he gulped the air as much as he could. Finding enough to calm down, BlackJack looked up to see something hit Windrider in the back before the monster went limp. Then, Superman was beside him, hoisting the younger hero to his feet. "You okay?" the Kryptonian asked him, and Devlon nodded. "I'm fine," Dev replied, looking again at Rai. "What the heck just happened?"

[[ (7O3O)7 Dance dance!! }}

Behind Hybrid, metal screeched before it was thrown several yards off. Seth stood up from the chaos with not even a single scratch on him, however quick depleting patience was coming off him in waves. Glaring to the side he found Hybrid on his feet, battered up as bad as those other vassals lying dead all around him. He wa;led coolly up to Hybrid, his presence barely nocticable until he spoke. "He got away?" His voice was bitter, almost annoyed but still stoic and full of blunt, lacking emotion. Seth narrowed his eyes, tracing the stupid Justice League jokes until he found them. The project and subject Windrider was no longer stabalized mind or body, and so he was useless now. A cold smile creeped and formed slowly onto Seth's face while Hybrid gave the order to kill their quarry. Without waiting for anyone else to move, Seth raised his hand. He was determined to wipe out all of those heroes in one lone strike and as he thought so, a pulse ran from his body and launched itself right towards the group of heroes. Like a spinning tornado, much was dragged pulled after the psionic blast and all flew straight towards the League members in a combination of roaring wind and rock fall. They were not leaving here alive.

As Aztek wastrying to figure out what on Earth was going on, he was distracted by a sudden noise. It was a boom, followed by... a hurricane? He whirled around, and was barely able to form a sheild out of fourth-dimensional energy before whatever it was slammed into them. Aztek gritted his teeth against the force of the blast, concentrating hard to keep up the hurriedly made and weak shield. "Get them out," he said, talking about Kite and Rai.

((Eheh..sorry, I think this is going to be kinda long too...))

A strong wind lashed from behind the barrier, causing spinning gusts of wind so strong it forced Fate's cape to pull back the magician ever so slightly while Spirit had to hold onto both Soul Stealer and his hat at the same time. Howling wind soon began to fade and Spirit looked up to see why. Aztek had summed up a barrier, sheilding them from the worst brunt of the power that attacked them so. The sorceror stared at the form of the barrier, impressed upon the heroe's strength of containing the mysterious anomally with such perfect expertise. Of course, it wasn't excactly "A" grade, but whatever Aztek put up to protect them, it was good enough. However, as Spirit noted almost irately, the hero was probably not going to be able to hold up his sheild for very long. And as always, Spirit did hate it when his guesses were often precise.

"Get them out." Aztek was saying through what seemed to sound like gritted teeth. He sounded quite strained, troubled at the most; but with his barrier looking as though it could give any moment Spirit did not even want to give out any wittingly thoughtful ideas right now.

"I've got Kite!" He said almost too cheerfully, knowing that no one could argue with him since he already had her in his arms. Spirit lifted the unconsciously meditating Soul Stealer into his arms. But he stopped suddenly, the triumphant grin on his face frozen halfway; and then in a second, the smile was gone and slowly the dark sorceror's red eyes lowered themselves to look over the soulless body of his life long enemy. As though completely forgeting that the group was still in mortal danger, a strange look came over Spirit's face that seemed to be something between utter realization and embarrassment. For what seemed like eternity, Spirit kept staring at Kite's chest; that is, until Fate's poisonous glare pierced him in the back. Lifting his gaze, the sorceror found Fate standing next to him with a threatening look that said "I know what you're thinking and you better not try," from behind that golden mask. Somehow intimidated by the stare, Spirit reformed his resolve and gave the elder magician and mischievoues but promising grin. But that only made Fate feel even more suspicious of the sorceror. Inside he was debating whether he should trust the immortal with Soul Stealer at all. Unfortunately he had no choice in the matter whatsoever, since he himself had only enough strength to cast a couple of selectively small spells.

"Don't you try anything with her, understand?" he warned Spirit, and the shapeshifter only nodded before he began to rise up quickly into the air with his cape fluttering loudly behind him. Fate looked towards the others and began to speak in an urgently firm tone. "Hurry, we must do what Aztek says, and retreat back toward safer grounds."

Carefully he stepped up to Windriders side and took hold of the limp body; then, with all of his might-and the last reserves of his magic-Fate managed to levitate the creature several centimeters off the ground. Then, raising on hand to his helmeted forhead the magician almost shouted in his mind, "J'onn!"

((I figured since it was too long, I'de double post. Ahaha...))

She was a small white form not, nothing but a bare figure with nothing but white aural flame to cover her. Her teal blue eyes shone as she dove within the mind of her companion and friend, Windrider. Past all the memories, all the voices and images that plagued the mind she entered into, Kite could almost feel her spirit lulling itself to sleep by the growing quietness; but she didn't want to sleep. She needed to find something...no...to find someone. And to do that, she had to reach out into the deepest corners of the mind, searching within the abbysall holes of countless thoughts, countless images and sounds that Kite could barely make out. She had to remind herself over and over with each passing second that this was not her mind, but Waindrider's. Rai's. All those things she saw all around her floated with such strange air, resounded sounds that sent shivers down her spine. Here, everything was unknown to her. The thoughts, the feelings, the memories. She saw them all flash multiple times within her mind, but with all her might, Kite shook them away from her.

"Rai...please." she said softly, her voice a bare whisper amongst all the other things. "Where have you kept your soul...?" Although she was a floating astral form now; a spirit, Kite could almost feel a violent beating in her chest where her heart was supposed to be. She didn't understand why she was doing this again. It was for the better, she could have thought, but it didn't seem right to know that she was stealing Rai's soul just because he lashed out at her. Lashed out. Kite stopped her search for a moment, reminded of the stinging pain she felt not physically but emotionally when Rai had struck her aside just moments earlier. He wasn't alright that time, she tried to tell herself. Somehow though, it didn't seem to fit her reasons.

Putting her thoughts aside, Kite began to move forward again, determined to find out where Rai's soul would have been hidden when suddenly the sounds and voices, pictures and fragments of memories all came to an abrupt. Everything stopped. Time froze. And then, only the faint sound of a far off chime was all that could have been heard. Kite looked around the nulled white void she was floating within. Nothing was in sight as far as Kite saw, but as a low growling sound came from behind her the young heroine took in a slow, calming breath.

"Kite?" came Rai's voice. Kite faltered slightly, forgetting her breathing technique and turned sharply to see Rai kneeling on what seemed to be the ground. He looked dazed but still a little more like himself; however, Kite didn't care. She was just relieved to see that her friend was alright.

"Rai!" she choked out, tears dropping delicately from her teal colored eyes. She flew down to him but stopped at the sight of the large scaled beast that smothered itself on top of it's young charge. Kite slowly landed a few feet away, looking from Rai to the Windrider monster. Neither gave her fear, for she already knew that this beast was part of her friend's soul;but that didn't mean she had to be careful.

"Rai...listen to me," she spoke gently, taking a step closer. "You must come with me..." Her gaze met the eyes of the monster, feeling the skin prickling fear ebbing away at her courage. "I don't know how to explain it, but you'll die if you're in the state that you're in now. If I can just take your soul away from your body just for a moment, I can-" A low minous rumble suddenly resounded from far away, and Kite looked around for the reason of it before realizing that it must be trouble from outside. She turned back towards Rai, wanting so much to run to him if now for her quivering legs keeping her from it. "Rai, please." she pleaded, extending her hand towards him. "I want to save you."

Rai collapsed to the floor, pure horror on his newly altered face. Both hands were covered in rapidly drying blood, as he stared at them incomprehensibly. His whole body shuddered violently as sobs racked his body, before he began to frantically try and claw the stains from his skin. But no matter what he did, he couldn't seem to get the redness off. He hadn't meant to. They were friends.... He couldn't even remember how it had happened, just the feeling of bone crunching under his hand, a strangled cry, and her broken body laying at his feet.

It was supposed to be a test. They said they just wanted to observe how well the proceedure had taken. They said it would be simple. They knew it was a lie all along. They had their weapon, and he'd lost her.

--------

Rai lifted his head to see Kite standing before him, looking even more fragile than he remembered in such an insubatancial form. Tears fell from trembling teal blue eyes. She managed to choke his name once, but he couldn't bring himself to look at her.

"Rai...listen to me, you must come with me..." She pleaded, "I don't know how to explain it, but you'll die if you're in the state that you're in now. If I can just take your soul away from your body just for a moment, I can-"

She didn't sound scared or worried, it went deeper than that, but he couldn't put his finger on what. She looked longing almost. She was shaking, but absolute in her mission. A part of him, one Rai thought he had burried a long time ago, wanted to go to her, but he couldn't make himself. Rai sighed and shook his head sadly, ignoring Windrider who still paced between the two. He looked up at her, broken and tired.

"I made peace with dying a long time ago," He said in a voice hardly above a hoarse whisper, "That's why I joined up with the League, I thought I could make something of myself, something more than what Cadmus made me to be. I just wanted there to be a reason for someone to remember me when I was gone..."

"Rai, please." she pleaded, extending her hand towards him. "I want to save you."

Rai looked up at her with her, confusion all over his face. He got to his feet, Windrider glanced at him once, then moved respectfully aside. He looked at her outstreached hand, unsure of what to make of the gesture. For a second, he extended his own. Btu he could almost feel the blood-stains across his palms, even though they'd faded a long time ago. His hand stopped, and he pulled it back and let it drop back at his side.

"I'm sorry," He said backing up slightly, "I'm a danger to everyone around me, and I don't want to hurt you Kite."

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