Bruce had never been a fan of aliens. They were an unknown. An unpredictable threat. He saw his friendship with the Kryptonian Kal-El as an exception to these rules, and the only one that he was willing to accept. So, when an alien vessel crashes in...
With all her might, Rahn struggled fruitlessly. She lost control mid-flight, spiralling toward the ground as the Parasite continued leeching.
The Earth trembled as the pair slammed into an apartment building, tearing a hole straight through it. Chunks of brick, glass, and steel were thrown into the air.
Carving a line into the next street over, Rahn and Parasite slid to a halt, finally separated from each other.
As the Emissary tried to stand, her knees buckled.
Parasite, however, emerged without any signs of injury. His eyes were now black...as black as Rahn's. They widened in awe of what he could now see.
The creature chuckled lowly. "Rahn...of Trynkade, Emissary of the Orhysian Empire."
Rahn's brow tensed. It was clear to her now that the Parasite not only drained her physical abilities...but her memories as well. She had been sloppy. Arrogant. If she knew its abilities from the start, the mission would not have been compromised.
His eyes twitched as he sorted through more of Rahn's mind. "They're coming, aren't they?"
Rahn slipped through space and appeared in front of the Parasite. She grabbed the sides of his head and applied enough pressure to crush diamonds. It knew too much. It had to die.
Parasite laughed in Rahn's face. He vanished and reappeared behind Rahn, throwing a punch at the back of her head.
The blow was unexpected and felt as if an adult, highly-trained Trynkaden warrior had dealt it. Rahn's limp body was propelled forward at supersonic speed. She skipped across the pavement, burst through a row of buildings, and slammed into the side of a garbage truck.
"You really don't want anyone to find out. You're doing vital work...assessing the planet's defences," snarled the Parasite.
The words were lifted directly from Rahn's mind. It's what she told herself when she needed reminding. Her work was important. It was for the future of the Empire. And so, the Parasite was the most dangerous entity on the face of the Earth right now. It knew everything.
Parasite stood over Rahn, about to stomp her face. Rahn slipped behind it, grabbed the top of its skull, then sent a lightning fast jab directly at the base of its spine.
A 'crack' that would have ruptured the eardrums of any human if they were close swept away anything that wasn't nailed down. Rahn then prepared to phase her hand through Parasite's face and tear out its brain. However, it could now move just as quickly as she could.
He was gone. Strike after strike buffeted Rahn's head, blurring her vision.
"You're probably the worst of us. You've been lying to everyone! You have the whole League fooled!"
Rahn reached out and grappled the Parasite. Then, she popped out of existence with him...and reappeared on the surface of Earth's sun. There, the temperature hit 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit, or 5,600 degrees Celsius. Even through her suit, Rahn felt the scorching heat boil her skin.
As soon as she could, she released the Parasite and slipped back through space and back to the safety of Gotham City.
Falling onto her knees, her bio-suit smoking and crackling from the impossible heat, Rahn snarled. The road beneath her boiled and melted from the heat she brought back with her. As it dissipated, she tried to gather herself.
The Parasite will not be dead. It clearly possessed her memories, but not everything. It was still not trained in the use of its new Trynkaden abilities. It will take some time, but it will return.
"Emissary, come in," said Bruce calmly.
Rahn shook the disorientation out of her mind. "I acted...brashly. The creature copied my abilities."
"Listen, I've been coordinating with emergency services personnel tending to the wounded. Parasite absorbed a man named Joseph Lang. He has severe asthma."
The Parasite not only transferred the strengths of its victims...but the weaknesses as well.
Rahn nodded. "I understand. I know what to do."
Unlike Kryptonians, Trynkadens still needed to breathe some kind of atmosphere. The kinds of air they were compatible with were wide, but nevertheless, they needed to breathe. Rahn's bio-suit supplied her with suitable air whenever she needed it...but Parasite didn't have a suit. Once it came back from space, it would be out of breath. That was Rahn's chance.
Right on time, Parasite phased into existence in front of her. Its purple hide was charred black and trailed smoke into the air.
It tried to speak, but the smoke that curled off its body choked and silenced it. As the Parasite was dehabilitated, Rahn snatched its throat and teleported.
The duo appeared at the tallest smoke stack on the Gotham horizon; the one belonging to the Sionis Steel Mill. Rahn clenched her teeth and shoved Parasite's face directly into the chimney as it constantly spewed thick black smoke into the sky.
The Parasite flailed instinctively, not possessing enough control over itself to teleport away. It heaved, coughed, and gagged, until it's body went limp.
Rahn released the creature and watched as it plummeted at least 60 storeys down and slammed into the pavement.
She had underestimated the genetic resilience of human beings. Although naturally weak, it seemed that their DNA possessed limitless potential when encouraged by outside forces. This Parasite was human before the freak accident that mutated him into this creature. It almost killed Rahn solely from sapping her powers.
After returning Parasite to the Stryker's Island facility, Rahn returned to Bruce who was assisting in the removal of Parasite's victims. When she appeared, he was lifting a patient onto a medical stretcher. The staff seemed to have mixed feelings on Batman helping them.
Bruce's eyes fell onto Rahn when he was finished. As he approached, Rahn lowered the mask of her bio-suit.
"What you did was reckless. There's a reason we don't send our top-tier Justice League members to take down Parasite. It's practically giving him the power he needs to destroy the planet. Do you understand?"
Rahn loathed to be lectured by a human of all things, but he was right. "My apologies. I believed that I had seen everything there was to see in the universe. I have grown...arrogant. Overconfident."
"Try listening next time," Batman hissed, "I don't care how powerful you think you are, this is my planet and I know how to keep it in one piece."
"Understood," Rahn nodded, "Shall I turn myself over to the appropriate authorities for punishment?"
Bruce paused, glancing over his shoulder at the swarm of emergency workers and officers. In fairness, Bruce probably should have allowed himself to be arrested at least a few hundred times by now...but he knew that he was of more use outside of prison walls. The same could be said for Rahn. At least for the time being.
"No. Let's just get back."
Rahn followed him into the shadows, a small spark of pride arising in her chest at his slow shift into familiarity. A few days ago Bruce wouldn't have even acknowledged her presence, but now he was speaking directly to her. There was still a little work to do, but the walls of paranoia and distrust that enclosed around him were being chipped at one tiny block at a time.
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