Chapter 35: The Lazarus Tournament part 8.

10 advance chapters on P@treon.com/Saintbarbido.

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(General P.O.V)

-JLA Interlude-

-The Watchtower-

In the training room, a fast moving yellow blur was seen speeding on an advanced treadmill.

Streaks of lightning covered the figure- tongues of speedforce energy lashing out into the training room. Only to be captured by a field of energy before they could damage the walls and equipment.

The blur started slowing down until the treadmill came to a stop with a gentle hum.

The blonde haired and blue eyed man that stepped off it, approached the console at the back. One populated by floating pannels displaying various data.

"Nice work Allen."

Mr.Terrific, a dark skinned man with a tatooed T across his face told him, throwing a towel his way.

Terrific though not a member, was a Justice League associate, who had been brought in to assist with the Flash's speed problems.

His genius level intellect and expertise on dimensional science made him fit for the job.

Wiping the sweat off his face, Barry nodded.

"Please call me Barry."

He motioned at the console.

"How fast was I this time?"

Mr. Terrific waved a hand and maximized one of the floating pannels, displaying a number that made Black Canary, who was just walking into the room, comment,

"Mach 100? That's 1/3rd the speed of lightning. I'm impressed Flash, you'll be back to your former speed in no time."

But contrary to what she was expecting, the Flash threw the Towel on the rack next to him in frustration.

"Dammit! That's still not good enough!"

He punched table.

Streaks of red lightning, different from his usual yellow, jumped off his hand, leaving a scorched mark in the shape of a fist, on the metal surface.

Canary frowned.

"Its all 'HIS' fault."

The speedster spat out hatefully, before turning to Mr.Terrific.

"Let's go again."

Watching Barry as he jumped back on the treadmill, Canary approached the console.

"Did I miss something?"

She asked Mr. Terrific.

"His progress has stalled."

The stoic superhero replied, arms crossed on his chest.

"In fact, he's not speeding up anymore. He's beginning to slow down."

He added with a narrowed gaze.

"I think there's something wrong with his powers...or perhaps with him."

Canary didn't reply.

She had come to inform Barry that they were close to pinpointing the location of Infinity Island, but seeing his volatile mood, she decided against it and left.

'Maybe he should sit this mission out...' She thought to herself.

-0-

A few thousand miles down, on the Island of Shadows, the reason for the Speedforce acting up and affecting The Flash, was Angel.

Though the latter had no idea of the impact of his actions.

To him, he was just trying to strengthen the conduit he had with the Speedforce.

Unknowingly, that led to a few unexpected issues for every other speedster on the planet.

(Angel's P.O.V)

There's a lot I don't know about the Speedforce.

Especially my variant of it, which was influenced by my magic.

Whenever I tapped into it, the lightning streaks that manifested were usually blue and red, unlike most speedsters who only had a single color to theirs.

Integrating the Speedforce into my pyrokinesis and cryokinesis had seen some progress, although I was only able to use one side at a time.

But these few days of having the nanites on my body have given me a few ideas.

What if I used the nanomachines to eliminate the latency problem and use both sides of my icy-hot magic simultaneously?

This could be achieved by having the nanites regulate my heat mana (the volatile promethium metal made it possible due to it's energy absorption properties), while I accessed cold mana by myself independently.

Then by using the Speedforce, I could control the speed of the energy's (mana) vibrations.

Heat energy(mana) was after all molecules vibrating at high speeds and cold energy(mana) was the opposite - molecules with reduced vibration.

Increasing the rate of vibration in heat energy could induce an increase in temperature, making my fire burn hotter and brighter.

The reverse is true, though I've never tried to decrease something's speed before.

I knew it was possible to siphon out kinetic energy using the Speedforce so if I applied that to the cold energy, I could make my ice much, much colder.

Maybe even reach temperatures approaching absolute zero.

The main issue was my body. Despite training it to be physically resilient, I was still a human boy.

But with the nanites on me, I could monitor my bodily functions and find out how much stress I could handle.

I wonder what would happen if I managed to combine both pyro and cryo efficiently. Maybe the creation of a new state of matter?

Highly ambitious. But it was a good goal to aspire towards. Recent developments have shown me I need power now more than ever.

The rest of the afternoon was spent training to see what would work and what wouldn't.

I had to discard most of my ambitious ideas, however. Either I was not physically durable enough, lacked enough control over my powers, mainly the Speedforce, or the nanites failed to meet my expectations, showing me that their limitations were not just confined to the liquid of the Lazarus Pit.

It was official. The nanomachines were weak against highly dynamic energy fields.

It wasn't a problem when handling heat energy or cold energy, but adding the Speedforce into the mix led to the whole process collapsing on me.

I lost 10 percent of the nanites that way.

Despite that, the hours weren't wasted and I managed to come up with a new move.

Hehehe, Talia won't know what hit her...

Before long, I heard a knock on my door, signifying the time for meeting.

"Just a minute."

I called out while getting off my bed and stretching.

A few taps on my watch and the nanites which had now fully recharged, flowed down my body, covering me in a black suit with the chest left bare.

It was warm out, I didn't really need a shirt (The truth is I didn't have enough nanites to create one).

Finally, I sheathed Blaze and Frost on my hip, using an holster made from a portion of the nanomachines (more important than a shirt. Obviously).

The weapons would go with me as I wanted to reduce Shade's presence as much as possible.

It would be better if they thought I snuck the weapons in(remember there was a no outside weapons policy), rather than having them suspect I was the one that saved X-23.

There were not a lot of people with shadow abilities after all.

And pulling out a weapon from my shadow when shit EVENTUALLY hits the fan would be highly suspicious, regardless of the situation.

Enough introspection.

"Let's do this."

I breathed out, nodding at my handsome reflection.

-0-

The shadow waiting outside my door was quiet as we left the Fighter's quarters.

I didn't complain, I liked the silence as it allowed me to think.

Sensei had announced that tonight there would be a celebration.

Evidence of it, could be spotted in the paper lanterns hung over the path.

There was also the sounds of drums, flutes and melodic eastern music coming from the direction of the main building.

The sounds became more apparent as we climbed the length of stairs and into the compound.

A compound that was filled with droves of people.

Some of them unfamiliar, leading me to guess they were Shadows who were off duty.

And others were the fighters that had made it onto the Island before the start of the tournament.

They hadn't left, and had been watching the fights after the battle royale from the stands like the rest of us.

Though only the fighters were allowed to sit on the fighter's section.

People made way for us as we moved through the compound, headed for the main building.

I did pause before the Rankings Board, noting the third round's matchups, set to take place the next day.

Like always, I was up first.

It was me vs Ravager. With the winner set to move on to the finals.

The second match was Wally vs Robin.

The third and Final match of the Tournament would take place on the evening of the next day.

And it would be between me(Ravager has no chance of beating me and I she knows it), and whoever won between Robin and Kid Flash.

I really really reeaaallly hope its Kid Flash. Not only because I want to know how his connection to the speed force works, but also because I want to beat the smack out of him.

I don't like him. At all.

Due to extenuating circumstances, Cassandra was out of the tournament on account of her injuries.

I can guess Lady Shiva won't like that when she hears it.

X-23 was really lucky that Shade portaled her away from the Island when he did.

I can't imagine her surviving a furious Lady Shiva, even with adamantium claws and a healing factor.

Someone was about to ran into me.

"Oh sorry. Didn't see you there."

Robin apologized with embarrassment, scratching his head after bumping into me.

Behind him was Speedy, though Wally was nowhere to be seen.

"Where's the third wheel? Off raiding the banquet line?"

I asked with a smirk.

We all knew I was right.

"You're...more perceptive than you look."

Boy Wonder commented.

I shrugged, about to leave,

"A man of many talents I am. Now if you'll excuse-"

"Wait."

Speedy stopped me. I didn't fail to notice the strange look Robin gave him.

My Shadow guide stopped before the steps of the main building and looked back at me, waiting. I think he was getting a bit impatient.

"What do you want? If you haven't noticed, I'm kind of in a hurry Robin Hood. Or is it Red Arrow?"

I mentally slapped myself for the slip up.

"Wait, too early for that."

The two of them stared at me like I was the weird one.

Shaking his head, the archer continued,

"I had a question. Did you really kill Fire and Ice?"

My smile froze. Should have seen that one coming.

An uncomfortable silence fell among us.

Memories that I wished I was cowardly enough to have asked Psimon to delete, rose to the front of my mind.

Tora...Beat...

"Yes."

My voice did not shake, nor was there a tone of doubt in the word. The icyness of it, left no shadow of uncertainty in them.

Unfriendly gazes met my cold one.

Maybe that will wake them up to the fact we stood on two different sides. They were heroes and I was a villain.

"So that's it? No remorse or regret?"

Robin asked in a hard tone.

"None."

My reply was short and consice. And that seemed to set him off.

He stepped forward aggressively but Speedy held him back. I could feel the stares we were getting and decided to leave.

"You're in my way."

I calmly pointed out.

Without a word, both stepped to the side and I passed.

"We will never forgive you."

Speedy threw over his shoulder.

I stopped.

"Forgiveness is for the weak and lost. I am neither."

(General P.O.V)

Robin and Speedy watched Angel as he left, the ghost of his statement hanging in the air.

"Did you do it?"

Speedy asked.

"Yeah. With the tracker on him, we'll know everywhere he goes on the Island. Once the tournament ends, the Justice League will prevent his escape and capture him. We just need to keep him on the Island for that long. Tomorrow, Angel Savage is going down."

Robin replied in a determined tone.

"Do you think they'll find the Island's coordinates in time? You did say it's off the radar. Even our comms stopped working."

Speedy asked in concern.

"Don't worry."

Robin smirked.

"I have a plan. After scouting the Island these past two days, I know where the communication hub is located. We just need to sneak in during the festival and let me work my magic."

(Angel's P.O.V)

I caught up with the guide and soon enough, we were moving through the main building, headed towards the second floor.

My mind went back to the strange confrontation with the sidekicks.

The nanites had alerted me of a tracker that Robin had slipped on the lapel of my jacket, showing the 'accidental bump' was not accidental at all.

He wasn't even subtle.

I could easily remove it but didn't see a need to. Let them think they had me.

And with their actions, there was no longer any doubt in my mind that they were here for me.

Which means the League might be on the way. Or maybe even planning to ambush me the second I left the Island.

That way, they could avoid a direct fight with the League of Shadows. That's what I would do.

A smile was painted across my face as we stopped by a door on the second floor building.

The door was manned by a baldheaded guy beefier than even Bane.

He had a perpetual scowl on his scarred face that reminded me of a bulldog.

The beady eyes directed my way did nothing to improve his facial structure. Guy was just plain ugly.

My shadow guide nodded at him and left. All the while, the big guy's eyes never left my own.

"I'm not into dudes, so quit staring at me and let me through."

I told him with a fake smile.

"The alternative is bursting your face in, so..."

With a snort, he fortunately, grabbed the handle and pushed the door open.

"Thanks big guy. That wasn't hard at all, was it?"

I walked in while studying the room. My nanites had mapped the entirety of the compound. I even knew where the Safe was.

But seeing for myself what lay on the other side of the door was even better. A fitting office/ private space for the Demon's Head.

For starters, the chamber was as wide as the biggest room in my Mansion, which happened to be the dining hall, and held a certain Eastern asthetic.

There was a short staircase framed on the sides with a small garden of herbs, flowers and other uncommon plants I had never seen before.

Below the staircase was an ebony wooden floor and a mat that stretched across the center of the room.

A couch laid off to the left side, facing a door that led to the balcony. On the right was a desk and chair.

And in the middle of the room was a long table, with a dozen seats. And on the head of the table sat the man himself.

Ra's Al Ghul.

And he wasn't alone either. In fact, a few of the seats were occupied. 5 to be exact.

By who you ask?

That's an easy answer.

"Heya Angel!"

Klarion the WitchBoy, excitedly waved at me from where he was seated next to Queenbee.

"Teekl, they didn't lie! He's really here!"

Unexpectedly, the members of the Light were all presented.