Ultimate Justice

Ch. 19: Escalation

Earth-12041
Queens
June 3, 2011 || 15:36 EDT

"We need to find a way to stop Zola," Robin says as he paces around the living room.

"Agreed," Marine X nods, lounging in a comfy chair. "But we don't even know where this guy is."

"We can figure that out after we eat," KF groans, dashing into the kitchen; beating everyone except Artemis to the meal Aunt May prepared.

The blonde archer was already in the kitchen helping May cook and dish out the food. She hands the always famished speedster a plate and is rewarded with a small peck on the cheek, and she giggles; tosselling his hair as he inhales food.

Peter goes to take a bite from his sandwich, when the familiar tingling sensation fills his skull. He grabs Ava and May and pulls them away from the window right before a flashbang smashes through it.

"GET DOWN!!!" he screams, as the room is engulfed in thunder and blinding flashes of light.

His ears ring with a loud buzzing as his vision clears.

"Let me go!" Someone shouts.

He reopens his eyes to see a heavily armed man in a black mask forcibly dragging Artemis to her feet.

Artemis kicks and claws at the man, and the man responds by punching her in the face. She grunts and kicks him in the groin, getting free of the man's grip. But, it's only short-lived; for another man comes up from behind her as a canister falls and fills the room with some kind of gas.

Peter tries to get up, but is overcome with fatigue.

"Knock out gas," Robin coughs. "D-Don't... b-breathe....."

Peter stumbles as he tries to fight the soldiers, noticing Wally and Joe doing the same. The speedster faring slightly better as his metabolism tries to burn-off the sedative.

Joe falls first, after taking a strong kick to the gut. He manages to pull off the man's mask. His eyes go wide as he recognizes the man.

As a reward for his curiosity, Joe gets his lights knocked out; a swift kick to the head.

Peter soon follows. He manages to dodge a few punches, but the sedative gas takes its toll. His movements slow to a crawl, and he is easily taken down when Ava is used as a human battering ram; taking out Peter, Sam, and Megan.

As an extra measure, the one of the masked men punts Sam's helmet like a college pigskin.

Using his speed, Wally manages to follow them outside.

Screw my secret identity, he growls mentally, using his speed to take out several of these thugs by slamming into them.

Artemis struggles against her captors, whom have vise like grips on her wrists and ankles. She manages to free her right arm and decks one of the grunts across the jaw; breaking free. She gets two feet away before being shot with a tazer.

Wally cries out in anger as he watches her fall. He dashes towards her only to hit a brick wall of a man and get thrown back. Another man walks up behind him and slips a syringe into his neck; making his head spin when he tries to get up.

Raquel bursts through the wall, her force-bubble protecting her from the gas and the weapons of their attackers. She follows Wally, and the two give chase to the three retreating SUVs. One of them contains Artemis.

Wally does his best to keep up; his head still spinning from the sedatives. But, they are taking its toll; he can barely break 60 miles per hour.

They barely get close to the rear vehicle when the rear windscreen opens, and missiles fly out. They impact against Raquel's shield, and Wally dodge them at first only to find that the rocket-propelled explosives are tracking him.