Fate/Heroes - Chapter 21

Eleven figures sat down in a large yet slightly cramped carriage. All of them in the mid to late teens with varying expressions on their faces.

“Robin- I mean Dick, are you sure that Rider escaped to New York City? I mean he hasn’t been spotted in Gotham in a few weeks now. What makes you think that he came here, instead of another city, or country even?”.

Kid Flash, or Wally West as his friends knew him by, looked at the boy wonder as the shorter teen beside him who was fiddling on his holographic computer on his wrist. His gaze firmly planted on the wrist mounted computer and was typing more rapidly with one hand than most people do with two.

Robin glanced at his best friend dressed in his normal, casual attire but didn’t make any outward changes to his demeanor.

“The truck that Rider used to move the cash hadn’t been used for a while after Rider took it away so I ȧssumed it was dumped somewhere. However, just a little under three weeks ago, the same truck was recorded leaving Gotham City traveling towards New York. It might just be a coincidence, but its the best lead we have in tracking down Rider”.

Robin angled his sunglasses up slightly trying to appear cool in the other members of the Teams eyes, however his shoulders slumped slightly when he saw that the female constituent of the Team had their eyes glued to the windows, or more specifically, the buildings outside the window.

Miss Martian had her cheeks pressed up against the window, and pointed at the various shops and buildings they passed with a tone of excitement present in her voice.

“Barbara, look, look! What’s that? And that over there? Can you eat it? Can we go get some?”.

Supergirl and Aquagirl also looked outside the window with an equal amount of vigor and curiosity, however they were far more restrained with their voices when in comparison with M’gann.

The pair had been told of the many things on Earth that they did not have on Atlantis or Krypton, but had been informed by Aqualad and Superman of the things that their country or home world did, or did not have.

Wondergirl, the niece and protégé of Wonder Woman, sighed and gave Artemis a helpless look as the other two new additions to the Team looked out at the city that never sleeps with a wonderous and childlike awe.

In this world, Supergirl was the older cousin of Superman, although this relationship was unknown to many people outside of the Justice League, and arrived on Earth after close to three decades of drifting through the Phantom Zone, having not aged a day since she left Krypton all those years ago. She was sixteen when she left her home planet and was tasked with looking after he younger cousin, Kal-El.

After arriving on Earth, she was found by Superman, and taken in by her older/younger cousin, and became his adopted daughter in the eyes of the public.

“Look Kara! The Empire State Building! Maybe we can have a race from there to the Statue of Liberty!”.

The beautiful ċhėstnut blonde haired, sky colored eyed Kryptonian was nudged by another beautiful platinum blonde haired girl, one with eyes as blue as the ocean and a voice that could calm down a Great White Shark.

In this world, Aquagirl, or Mareena, is the daughter of Aquaman and Mera, the King and Queen of Atlantis. She possesses all the same powers as her mother and father, and if it wasn’t for her wish to be a member of the Team rather than the future heir to the throne of Atlantis, she would be a princess.

“Kara, Mareena! Calm down a little bit! Once we get off the train we’ll split into groups and search the city. If you want, you can use that time to look around. But remember the reason why we are here in the first place”.

A dark haired girl with piercing blue eyes reprimanded her two best friends. She appeared a lot more mȧturė for her age and had a figure that didn’t belong to a sixteen year old.

This was Cassie Sandsmark, or Wondergirl as she was known to the public. She was the granddaughter of Zeus and the niece of Wonder Woman. Although her powers were limited because of her age and experience, she would still grow up to be a powerful hero, maybe at the same level as Wonder Woman.

These were the three new additions to the Team after Rider wiped the floor with them at the airport outside of Gotham City. Their strength was equal to that of Superboy’s and were heavy hitters just like their mentors.

They were also absolutely gorgeous, a similar trend of the female members of the Team.

Artemis’ cool still being refined beauty, Batgirl’s contrasting “hot” look and aloof personality, Miss Martians warm and gentle aura, Zatanna’s mysterious yet approachable smile, Supergirl’s friendly and sunny charisma, Aquagirl’s innocent and charming nature, Wondergirl’s strong, yet soft disposition.

Needless to say, the four male members of the Team were not complaining.

Robin sent a subtle glance to Kid Flash and Aqualad, not needing words to communicate his intent.

Aqualad nodded at Robin’s meaning, and looked at the rest of the group.

“When we arrive in New York, I think we should split up to cover more ground. There’s eleven of us, so four teams of two and one team of three should be good. If we find Rider, trail him and try to find where he is hiding out. Do not engage, we don’t know if he’s laid out traps in his hideout and we should scope out the place before we fight it out”.

All ten other members of the Team nodded, even Superboy who was reading a book much to the surprise of the others, looked up and nodded at Kalur’s words.

“This is a higher populated area so we have to be careful not to damage out surroundings, as well as the inhabitants of New York. The civilians take top priority, even over the capture of Rider”.

The nodded once more.

“In order to make the groups more even, those with good tracking abilities will be placed with heavy hitters in order to give the rest of us enough time to make it to where you are located, just in case of a fight”.

Aqualad looked at Superboy and Miss Martian.

“Conner and M’gann, you two take the Queens. Report back in three hours at Central Park if you’ve found anything”.

He moved his gaze towards Kid Flash and Artemis.

“Wally. You and Artemis will take the Bronx. Just like Conner and M’gann, come to Central Park after three hours with any information you’ve gathered”.

He looked at Robin who was slightly moving his head towards Zatanna and Cassie, but couldn’t tell exactly which one he was talking about.

“Dick, you and Zatanna will take Staten Island. I’m sure that with your investigative skills and Zatanna’s ability to be…. persuasive you’ll find something out”.

The dark-skinned Atalantean felt a little bad as Batman’s protégé slumped forward slightly. It seems he wanted to be with Cassie rather than Zatanna.

“I’ll go with Barbara and investigate Brooklyn. If that’s alright with you Batgirl?”.

The red headed member of the Bat Family nodded before all the ȧssigned teams looked at Supergirl, Aquagirl and Wondergirl who looked at each other in response.

Cassie smiled at the two blondes and gave Aqualad a grateful nod in return.

“We’ll take the Manhattan area. If we find anything, well call you guys immediately”.

The train that took them from Gotham to New York suddenly came to a stop as the entered Grand Central Station. Sounds of trains tooting and conductors blowing their whistles as they exited the train.

Miss Martians telepathic link broke as the five groups grew further and further apart, the group of teens heading to five different places in New York, unbeknownst to them that they would all meet up in just two hours instead of the normal three.

And it wasn’t because they found Rider.