25 Starting with a Bang

(AN: I feel kinda bad that nothing much happened last chapter and since I'm a few chapters ahead now I can post another without falling behind. Hope you enjoy 😁)

Mark sat in one of the seats in the Bioship as he leaned his head into his hands, Megan was the last to enter before the hole in the ship closed, she then walked forward to the front of the ship and sat down before spinning in her chair and flashing a bright smile to everyone "I'm so happy we are going on missions again together." She said to everyone getting a smile from Dick and Donna though Connor didn't even look at her which was something that made her smile falter a bit.

However she recovered quickly and turned her gaze to Mark "I am glad to see you are joining the team Mark, it is always nice to make new friends." She said with a smile.

Mark chuckled "I'm not joining the team, Miss Martian, I'm just a temporary addition, once I complete the job I'll be back to living my life." He said though he wasn't prepared for her to look at him like a puppy that had just been kicked.

Dick snickered at this "Like you have a life, you were a criminal before your powers awoke." He said with amusement making Donna giggle slightly.

Mark just rolled his eyes and turned to face the window though before he did his gaze drifted over to Connor who was palming a small metal case in his hand, he then quickly placed it in his pocket and followed Mark's example of trying to exclude himself from the group chatter.

Though Mark wondered why he did that, for Mark it was understandable as he didn't know them very well and they were talking about things he simply had no clue about such as flying monkeys and Sportsmaster. But for Connor who had been present for the same missions it didn't make sense for him to not want to talk 'He could just be anti-social.' He thought to himself.

Mark sighed as he realised that he was looking too deeply into things that he didn't particularly care about "Batman told me that once we enter Bialya we must cloak and go to the specified coordinates where we will wear our disguises and slip into the auction." Dick explained to everyone.

Mark snickered "It'll be that easy will it?" He asked.

"Probably not but nothing wrong with hoping a little, if we get separated the mission doesn't change, make your way to the auction," Dick said before throwing Mark a watch.

"The GPS coordinates are logged into the watch, we all have one so there should be no issues with us meeting up." He continued.

"Unless one of us dies." Connor chimed in a bit morosely. 

Dick shook his head before continuing to brief them on the details of the mission "Once we reach the auction we will be splitting up into two teams." He stated.

"Me and Megan will be on recon, once we enter the auction we will disappear from the crowd and find where they're storing everything. Mark, Connor and Donna, you're our heavy hitters, when the time comes we'll need you to cause a distraction or keep people off us, there are going to be thousands of criminals at this event so be careful." Dick said with seriousness in his voice.

"What are you going to do once you find the product?" Connor asked.

Dick picked up a large duffle bag before opening it, inside were four large poles with a yellow pulsing light "Courtesy of Cyborg, these will open up a boom tube directly programmed to a vault on the Watchtower, once we get an inventory we will start moving the most dangerous stuff out that way if there are any problems... there is always Plan B." He said opening a second back full of explosives.

"What will we do about the people..." Mark asked as it seemed everyone had forgotten, the whole reason he was there was for Harley so if they weren't even going to bother helping her then he'd have to do it himself.

Dick sighed "As much as I disagree...Batman has instructed us to prioritise the weapons and dangerous equipment..."

Mark wasn't the only one not pleased by this development, both Megan and Connor seemed disturbed that they would be leaving people to a fate possibly worse than death "I don't like it either... but he's right we can't think about the people here when the weapons being sold have the potential to kill millions," Dick said regrettably but tried to remain steadfast, but it was hard as he wasn't like Bruce he couldn't see human life as statistically as he could.

"Nightwing we can't just leave them!" Miss Martian said reluctantly.

"Superman wouldn't do it..." Connor said in agreement.

"I agree with Nightwing... it's not what I'd prefer to do but could you imagine the damage that could be caused with the weapons from this auction... sometimes some sacrifices have to be made." Donna said as she clenched her fists.

Mark couldn't help but snicker as he looked at Wonder Girl and Nightwing, they were supposed to be heroes. He bet now that there were at least over a hundred different people waiting for a hero to come and save them and yet they were going to be left behind.

"We aren't leaving them behind, you can do whatever Batman wants, I'll be looking for the captives," Connor stated leaving no room for argument.

"I can help-"

"No, I'll do it alone," Connor quickly replied.

Nightwing breathed out heavily, he knew there was no point arguing so he didn't even try "Give me and Miss Martian sometime before you go off mission, maybe we can do both if we are careful." He said, though he only got a nod from Connor in return.

"Good now Miss Martian sync us up." He asked her.

"Not me," Connor said almost immediately.

"Superboy we-" Nightwing tried to say.

"Stay out of my head" Connor warned before turning his head away once again. Mark who was watching the conversation unfold looked over to Miss Martian who had a sad look on her face, however, mixed in was a clear look of guilt.

'Can everyone hear me,' Miss Martian said to everyone on the ship apart from Superboy.

'Check,' Nightwing replied

'I do,' Wonder Girl replied.

'Yes,' Mark replied.

'We are crossing into Bialya right now so we should be approaching the coordinates soon,' Miss Martian informed everyone.

'Alright guys remember the mission and stay safe-'

*BOOM*

The whole ship shook nearly throwing everyone out of their chairs 'What's happening!' Nightwing asked Miss Martian.

'We are being shot at!' She said in a panic as she took control of the ship trying to manoeuvre out of the gunfire.

'We are cloaked are we not!' Wonder Girl asked as she held onto her seat the shaking getting even more intense.

'We are! I don't know how they bypassed it!' She replied as she became more and more desperate, as she was connected with the ship she felt more and more pain as the ship was hit.

'We can't continue like this we need to land!' Nightwing said.

'We won't make it down we are too high up!' Miss Martian replied.

'Then drop us!' He shouted back.

'But you and Connor can't-'

'Just do it,'

Miss Martian still looked unsure but she followed Nightwing's command and the chairs all disappeared into the ship.

Connor who was holding onto his seat found himself on the floor "What's going on!" He asked.

Mark laughed "Have fun." He said to him just before circular openings formed below their feat and they all fell out of the ship.

'Let yourself fall, if you fly they'll target you instead of the ship.' Nightwing said as they looked out across the plains, the fire seemed to be coming from several towers that were located in a large compound that they all recognised as the presidential palace, this was also where the Auction would be taking place.

Nightwing couldn't help but feel concerned that they had the technology to see through the Bio-ship cloaking device. The Bio-ship turned away and tried to lead the gunfire away from the team however it abruptly stopped when it got far enough away.

It then started firing again this time at the team as they fell, Nightwing assumed that the anti-air artillery being used was automated but it seemed he'd made a mistake 'Shit!' He thought as the fire got closer to them.

"SHAZAM!"

A lightning bolt pierced through the sky and struck Mark causing a plume of smoke to erupt from him. As the smoke cleared Mark could be seen floating as lightning danced over his body, he decided to run decoy for the team so he made himself look as visible as possible. Lightning washed over his body after which a white skin-tight costume formed over his body with a small white domino mask.

'Get to the ground I'll meet you at the destination,' Mark told them before shooting off towards the anti-air artillery.

Channelling lightning through his arms he shot a stream down at the towers, and after doing so the firing intensified 'That got their attention,' he thought to himself with slight amusement.

Mark manoeuvred through the air and shot lightning down at the towers 'Mark we are on the ground but be careful you are heading out of my telepathic range,' Miss Martian warned.

'Alright I'm heading to you now,' he replied only straight after one of the anti-air artillery managed to hit him.

Mark was blasted out of the sky as he was sent careening to the ground 'What the hell kind of artillery is that,' he thought to himself as he held his ribs that hurt now, he managed to slow his descent a bit but still ended up slamming into the ground.

Mark grounded as he stood up in the crater he made before climbing out of it and seeing a large group of Soldiers surrounding him "Really?" He said to them out loud before reaching his hand out and pulling the guns right out of their hand. He then blitzed right in front of one of the men, the shockwave from his movement sent the squad to the ground "Get lost..." he said as he floated over them.

Mark looked around and saw he was in a very beautiful garden with a pond large enough to be a small lake inside, he looked into the distance and saw that the presidential palace was in the distance 'This whole place belongs to the leader of the country?' He thought to himself as he whistled in appreciation.

"I guess being a dictator isn't such a bad gig." He said with a chuckle before slamming his foot on the ground and launching the soldiers that were hiding behind one of the edges into the sky.

"I was just shooting lightning down at you from the sky and you send regular soldiers to fight me?" He said with a smirk on his face as he flicked a soldier in the forehead sending him rolling across the ground. Mark then turned as he saw the sound of treads and the roar of an engine, a group of tanks with another couple dozen soldiers seemed to be coming to reinforce the current men.

Mark zoomed towards the Tank charging his hand with electricity and touching the tank overloading its systems and stopping it dead. He then backhanded the other tank sending it flying away, bullets were continuously being fired at him however they fell against his skin not even bruising him.

A tank managed to shoot a round at him however Mark caught it in his hand before throwing it right back destroying the barrel "I don't want to sound like my Dad... but this is fun." He said with a laugh as he clapped his hands sending a shockwave towards the soldiers making them grasp their ears in pain.

"I don't even know why Batman was worried!" Mark shouted wildly as he decimated the Bialyan soldiers.

"Give me a challenge!" He shouted as he started to laugh manically.

"You took the words right out of my mouth." A deep rumbling voice said behind him, though when he went to turn he was hit by something hard and metal. Mark was sent skidding across the ground before crashing into a building by the lake.

Mark's whole face hurt, as he reached up and touched his face he realised his nose was broken and he was bleeding 'What the hell did he hit me with!' He thought to himself as he shot out of the building to look for the culprit.

As he looked down from the sky he saw the only one who could've done it. Standing at least 7 feet tall was someone who looked like a humanoid lion with white fur, he had a golden mace in his hands and was flashing his fangs as he smiled viciously at Mark.

"Who are you?" Mark asked as he snapped his nose back into place before floating down to the ground in front of the humanoid lion.

"Who cares, will you fight me?" The beast said as his paws clenched around his mace.

Mark laughed as he stepped up towards him "You think you can take me?" He asked as lightning danced around his body and flashed out of his eyes.

The beast smiled once more "That's something I should be asking you."

———————————————————-

Nolan was standing in a guest room that he'd been 'given' by one of the other attendees of the auction where he was indulging himself in the selection of food and drink that were available upon request. Next to him was Oliver who sat on the bed watching TV "Papa, how long until we get what we need." He asked as he was getting seriously bored just waiting here.

Nolan who had just finished eating a large steak cracked open a bottle of wine "Not yet, we just need to wait for the right opportunity." He replied.

"We won't be the only ones looking to take something, once someone causes a bit of chaos we will slip in and get what we need." He explained.

Oliver sighed "I thought I'd be fighting some people," he said with a disappointed expression.

Nolan laughed "You'll get a real challenge soon enough, most of the people at this auction could barely bruise you." He said before putting the bottle down and reaching over and patting him on the back.

However they were both drawn out of their moment by the door knocking, Nolan frowned as he hadn't ordered any more food so there was no reason for someone to knock. He then looked at the dead body of the man who used to occupy this room "Oliver get rid of the body." Nolan ordered and Oliver floated off the bed before flying to the body and kicking him under the bed.

Nolan opened the door and had to restrain himself from instantly killing the man in front of him and putting his plan into action. The man in front of him laughed "I recognise that look Omni-Man, but have no worry I did not come here to fight or to get revenge for the man your son is shoving under the bed with his foot." He explained.

This however did little to alleviate his suspicion and he still looked at him with a frown "Then what is it you want Mr Mannheim?" He asked bluntly.

"May I come in?" Bruno asked, Nolan stepped out of the way and allowed Bruno to come in, Bruno signalled Deathstroke and Ravager to follow him inside, in Deathstroke's hand was a large metal briefcase.

"What do you want?" Nolan said shortly as he eyed up Deathstroke and Ravager.

Bruno walked towards the window and looked outside of it "I know you're not one to mince words so I'll cut to the chase, it seems there are going to be more double makers here than I originally calculated for," he stated before turning around and facing Nolan and Oliver.

"The guards I've hired are good at their job but it's never bad to be too careful, so I would like you to provide security services for the remainder of the Auction," Bruno explained.

Nolan laughed "And why would I do that?" He said as he got ready to kill everyone in the room.

Bruno smirked before nodding his head to Deathstroke who cleared the table Nolan ate off and placed the briefcase on top, he then opened it and inside was a large metal arm.

"Promethium prosthetic arm, nigh indestructible and already fitted to your exact proportions," Bruno stated.

Nolan immediately reached for it though as he did his hands went right through it 'A hologram.' He thought to himself as a look of displeasure made its way onto his face.

Bruno laughed at this "Did you think me foolish enough to bring the prosthetic now?" He asked rhetorically.

"No I am well aware you could kill everyone in this room before I could even blink, so I made sure to remove this product and place it in a secure place, one which you'll be given the location to after your cooperation," Bruno explained.

"So do we have a deal?" Bruno asked as he held his hand out.

Nolan found his blood boiling at the audacity of the man before him, but he wasn't a child and so he quickly cooled down before thinking rationally. He couldn't do much better than a promethium prosthetic and once the Viltrum reinforcements arrived on earth he'd get his revenge on the man before him, but for now, he'll play his game.

"Very well you have a deal," Nolan replied as he shook Bruno's hand.

(AN: So they've arrived mostly in one piece, and now Mark has to fight one of the auction guards who I'm sure you can guess the identity of. And now Nolan will be on the enemy team, things aren't looking so good for the team. Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Also Viltrumites can't heal lost limbs if they were previously infected with the scourge virus, Mark and any ones born after can as they'll have immunity to that strain as well as its effects. Also Thragg because of reasons.)

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