NOVEL NEXT Chapter 13: Red Alert
(1 month later)
Mark stood up in the middle of Harley's apartment breathing heavily as he started going through another round of shadow boxing, he felt as if he was almost healed and his strength was slowly returning to normal but he still couldn't fly and his strength wasn't even close to what it was before. He had lived nearly his whole life as a regular human and yet now he felt vulnerable, he stopped shadowboxing and looked down at the indentation on his stomach.
Harley had said his internal organs looked as if they'd healed or regenerated and so it was just a matter of the muscle repairing itself. When he asked her how she knew that she just replied that she was a doctor, and when he asked her a doctor she just told him to shut up. Mark breathed out as he dropped out of his stance before grabbing a towel and wiping the sweat off his forehead, as he placed it around his neck the door to the apartment was unlocked, and shortly after it was kicked open as Harley stumbled in with the shopping.
She looked at him standing there without a shirt on for a second "What ya need a wheelchair! Come and help asshole!" She shouted as she walked towards the kitchen, most of her apartment was open plan and designed as quite a large studio so it wasn't a very long trip towards the kitchen. Mark sighed and walked towards her lifting the bags from her right hand and placing them on the counter "Such a bitch" he whispered to himself.
Harley spun her head around "Huh! You say sumthin!" She shouted at him as she put the shopping on the counter.
"Yeah, I called you a bitch!"
"Fucker!"
"Tramp!"
"Cuck!"
"Idiot!"
"Nutjob!"
"You're calling me a Nutjob! That's rich coming from you" Mark shouted back as they were both in each other's faces.
Harley pushed her finger into his chest "Which one of us tried to take on Superman in a fistfight? If that ain't crazy Marky then I don't know what is" She said with a cackle.
"I do... you" He said with a cocky smirk before turning around and looking through the bags of shopping. So he was completely caught off guard when Harley jumped on his back and started bashing him in the head with her own shoe "What the hell are you doing!!!!" He shouted as he stumbled around the room trying to shake her off.
"You take it back!!! I am not crazy!!!" She shouted as she hit him in the head with her heels.
"I am completely and totally normal!!!" She shouted hitting him with each word.
"None of this is normal!" Mark shouted as he tried reaching behind him to get her off. He went over to the bed and turned around, Harley was too busy hitting him in the head to pay attention to what he was doing. She squealed in surprise when Mark jumped into the air landing on her "Oww!!! Marky why are you so heavy, you need to lose some weight" she cried as her legs untangled from around him.
Mark breathed a sigh of relief before rolling off of her "Fuck off Harley..." he said with a slight chuckle "I gotcha that burger you asked for by the way" Harley said as she looked up at the ceiling.
"Thanks, Harls, but I think I might rest here fire a second" Mark replied as he put his arms behind his head and slowly drifted off to sleep.
* Chickity China, the Chinese chicken
You have a drumstick and your brain stops tickin', Watching X-Files with no lights on*
"My bad Marky my phone is not on silent" Harley said as she pulled it out of her pocket and answered it.
"This is Dr Harleen Quinzel to whom am I talking to" she said as she suppressed her normal Brooklyn accent.
"Oh it's just you, watcha want I already told ya to screw off three times already" Harley said switching back to her normal voice, Mark turned and could see she had an annoyed expression on her face and it made him wonder who she was talking to.
"Oh fuck your mother baldy! I don't have time for your crap! Imma landlord ya know! I'm legit now" she said in a pissy voice, Mark had lived with Harley long enough to recognise a little Harley tantrum incoming, so he got out of bed and prepared himself.
"WELL SEND THEM!!! I DON'T CARE" She shouted before throwing her phone across the room and to the wall "You okay Harl?" Mark asked from the kitchen as he took his burger out of one of the paper bags.
Harley stood up stomping towards the kitchen, she took the burger out of Mark's hand as he was about to take a bite and took a big one herself. She moaned at the taste and took another one "Sure help yourself" Mark said rolling his eyes.
Harley flipped him off "You know how I stress eat! It's not my fault" she said as she took another bite from the burger. Mark then grabbed it back and started eating it "What was that call about" he asked as he leaned against the kitchen counter.
Harley muttered curse words as she jumped up and sat on the counter "Just some bald asshole trying to get me to rejoin the legion of boomers or some shit" she said before taking back a Marks burger.
"I'd have thought Luthor would be more interested in your boyfriend," Mark said with a snort.
"He's ngt mg bfyfiend" Harley said with a mouth full of food as she threw the burger wrapper at him "Swallow dumbass," Mark said taking the last bit of burger from her and shoving it in his mouth.
Harley did so before wiping her mouth "I have not been with that jerk for ages and I won't be again, I'm a strong independent ex-villain" she said with a proud smile.
"They only want me 'cause they can't find 'Jerker' he's been off the grid for a while now," Harley said as she pulled a drink out of one of the paper bags.
Harley then got off the counter and started pacing "And it's not even like they want me cause I'm so awesome, they just know that I have something they want to put on the Underground auction!" She shouted as she threw her hands up in the air.
Mark raised an eyebrow before taking Harley's drink and taking a sip "Underground Auction?" He asked wondering what it was, he could guess from the title but he was sure that it was probably different from the trashy one they had in Gotham.
Harley just waved him off "Just a place where rich assholes buy rare shit, basically Baldy's wet dream" she explained.
"And just cause I don't wanna join they're sending the league of asshats after me" she said with an incredulous look on her face.
Mark was nodding along the entire time though her last words snapped him out of his daze "Wait who's after you?" He asked with slight concern.
Harley took her drink back and sipped it "League of Assassins, they're a bunch of pretentious psychos, love the smell of their own shit" She said before snorting at her own joke.
Mark looked around the apartment with a bit more concern now, he hadn't heard of them before but if there were enough assassins to consider it a league then they should be more worried than they currently were "So what are you gonna do?" Mark asked with slight concern.
Harley just shrugged and downed the rest of her drink "They aren't here now so... movie?" She asked with a grin.
*Click*
"I think you might be wrong about that" Mark whispered as he heard the door to the balcony click, and since he'd locked it he could tell it had just been picked. Harley's eyes widened but she didn't say anything she just casually strolled through her apartment like nothing was wrong. Mark turned around and started putting the shopping away, he closed his eyes and imagined his mind stretching out, after fighting Superman he'd realised he had minor telepathic powers and luckily enough it seemed to be one of the few Viltrumite abilities he'd regained despite his injuries so it gave him time to practice.
While it was only useful for reading surface-level thoughts and sending his own it had another function and that was to let him know how many people were in his range 'Three people, two on the balcony and one coming through the front door' he thought to himself.
"Can you believe in the Notebook that Noah had sex with Allie THREE times" Mark shouted to Harley who was behind a partition getting changed.
"I mean poor Allie she had it TWO times backdoors and ONCE in the front, she probably couldn't walk afterwards" He continued shouting as he put the milk away, he then walked over to the front door however he lightened his steps to the point where they made no sound at all, he looked through the eyehole and saw what looked to be a woman in a black outfit with a hood covering her face and mouth.
He stood back slightly from the door and looked over to Harley who had changed into red and black hot pants with fishnet stockings, she also wore a red and black vest and in her hands was a large gun, she silently walked over to the balcony door which was around the corner in her apartment. Mark turned back to the front door and held his hand up waiting for Harley to go apeshit.
*BANG*
*BANG*
*BANG*
*BANG*
Mark used his powers and pushed the door out of the frame launching the person behind it into the wall. He kept the assassin trapped behind the door as he kept applying pressure, he heard their ribcage crack and decided they'd had enough and let them fall to the ground. As he walked outside to inspect them he saw a glint in the corner of his eye, he ducked immediately and was barely able to avoid the sword that almost decapitated him. He jumped backwards and looked down the hallway, he cursed as he saw more than ten people dressed in the same clothes waiting for him.
———————————————————-
Lex Luthor sat in his office looking over the city of metropolis, this was more than his office to him, it was his throne room and it was where he ruled. But like any ruler he faced his share of problems with his subjects however he could live with that, but what he could not live with was the populous worshipping a man who wasn't even from this planet, no... he would not forgive such an insult and so he would kill Superman.
But mortal men such as himself do not have the means to do such a thing or at least so he thought, he walked back to his seat and sat down looking at a picture that was on his desk 'Damn you Joker... things would've already started if you'd stuck to the plan' he thought to himself.
"Mr Luthor" a female voice called out as she walked into his office.
"Yes, Mercy?" He asked while looking up from the photo.
"The league have engaged Harley and should be securing the package soon" She stated.
"Excellent, let me know when the package is in transit," he told her before dismissing her. He went back to looking at the photo on his desk, it was a photo of a rock that glowed a silverish colour 'Platinum Kryptonite, with you I'll take my rightful place in this world'
———————————————————
Mark was kicked in the chest sending him backwards onto the Bed, he grunted in pain as the kick was close enough to the wound to send a jolt of pain throughout his body. He was glad that he had his powers at the moment as all of these assassins fought nearly as well as Batman did and he was having a difficult time keeping up.
*BANG*
*BANG*
Harley shot at one of the league members who was able to avoid both of her shots "How can all you fuckers dodge bullets!! It's such bullshit!!" She shouted as she flipped backwards avoiding a slice from a katana. They were slowly being herded in by the league as they had to constantly back off as they had the disadvantage in close combat.
"Hey, Marky wanna blow these fuckers away!" Harley shouted as she shot at them again only for them to jump and dive out of the way.
"I was holding off since I didn't want to make a big commotion and catch a hero's attention, but seems we are a bit fucked if I don't," Mark said as he threw a kick at one of the assassin's chests sending them back a bit, he turned around and ran towards Harley, she yelped as he picked her up and threw her over his shoulder, as he ran towards the balcony Harley shot at them from on top of his shoulder as she cackled loudly.
Holding his hand up he burst through the brick wall and jumped out. He still wasn't sure how he could make other people weightless as his power was like discovering he had another arm with different aspects of it being his fingers. However, he was able to push them both over to the next building "Hahahaah that was fun! Do it again!" Harley shouted as she wiggled on his shoulders.
Mark put her down and started to concentrate, holding his palm up he focused his power to repel into a single point. The wind started to blow fiercely and the air crackled with a red static, eventually, a red orb formed in his palm, Mark was sweating as he had never overexerted his power like this before. Then the wind stopped blowing and Mark held his hand up to Harley's apartment building, with a flick of his finger the orb rocketed towards the building and the whole top of the apartment was ripped off the building and sent crumbling down into the ocean.
Mark then leaned over and put his hands on his knee "Marky..." he heard Harley say, he looked up at her and saw she had an unamused expression on her face, he gave her a thumbs up "We win... yay" he said quietly.
"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO MY APARTMENT WHERE AM I GOING TO LIVE NOW, I WILL WRECK YOUR SHIT YOU DUMB APE FUCKER-"
———————————————————-
J'onn Jonz was alone on the Watchtower, apart from the few heroes that had chosen to live up here. Most of the original seven were off on various missions that seemed to have popped up out of nowhere, he was happy to stay here but he can't say he liked being here while Batman, Supergirl and Starfire were present. She had still not forgiven J'onn for his role in Mark's death and J'onn could understand that, he had not even forgiven himself yet and he doubted he ever would.
His biggest disappointment was in Batman himself, he had trusted the man implicitly and so to find out that he had dosed Superman made him wonder if all of the team were so trustworthy, of course he knew they were but he had doubts that would sometimes spring to mind. The greatest burden a telepath had to bear was to not let your doubts make you do something unethical, Martians were not like humans, humans liked their privacy and as an alien J'onn had to respect such things.
*Red Alert: Breakout in Cell 001*
J'onn's eyes widened as he heard the announcement, one that he wished he would never hear. He quickly phased through the ground and straight to the prison wing, when he arrived he saw that the glass to Nolan's cell was broken and he was not there.
*Squelch*
J'onn looked down and saw that a fist had been impaled through his chest "Nolan, you should know better than anyone that such tactics would not work against me" he stated as he turned his head around only to be met with the body of Red Arrow who's arm had been forced into J'onn, his neck was floppy we it seemed his spine had been snapped.
"Believe me I've learned from my past mistakes" Nolan said from above him as he stuck several of Roy's Arrows into J'onn. They started beeping before they exploded and J'onn screamed in pain as the internal explosion caused him to lose control of his form and kneel to the ground "You really are disgusting, hardly any better than the monkeys that infest this planet" Nolan said as he pulled out another arrow from Roy's quiver.
"They are resourceful though, something that will serve the empire well" he said as he looked at the arrow before it clicked open, he then pointed it towards J'onn and it spewed out a small but steady stream of fire at him making him scream louder. When it ran out J'onn was on the ground whimpering in pain. He tried to send a mental shutdown towards Nolan but like before with his limited telepathy, he was able to construct barriers that were capable of blocking him.
Nolan grabbed J'onn by the neck and flew through the walls and straight into the command centre, he then tossed the weakened J'onn to the ground "It isn't very satisfying knowing my fists don't hurt you the same way they hurt the others, but it won't stop me from doing it" he said before mounting him and punching him hard enough to shake the station.
"Call them!" He said dragging J'onn over to the console, but the Martian made no effort to and instead phased through his hand and down through the floor. Nolan cursed before inspecting the console, they'd figure it out soon enough but maybe this would help, he pressed a large red button and the Watchtower started to sound an alarm once more only this time shutters started to descend and the orbital station went into full lockdown mode.
Nolan cracked his arms and back before turning around, while he waited for the rest of them to show he supposed he could enjoy a quick hunt.
(AN: So Nolan is free, and the Justice league aren't there. So how will Kara, Batman, Martian Manhunter and Starfire do against him, and what will happen to Harley now that her apartment has been destroyed, and when will Raven show up and who will be part of the harem.... No clue so don't ask me. Hope you enjoyed the chapter)
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