Worldheart (A Justice League fanfic)

Chapter 12

The halls were bathed in red light and the constant blare of the siren added to Jaz's anxiety. Green Arrow and Black Canary followed her through the halls as she retraced the steps back to the elevators, thankful she was quick enough on her feet to make herself memorize the way. They'd encounter no Raptors most of the way, but that luck ran out when Jaz peeked down the hall leading to the elevators. There were four guards, two thugs, one Raptor, and another bigger Raptor with a gatling gun mounted on its shoulder. Canary moved to fight them, but Arrow held his arm up to stop her. He smiled and winked at them both before he began to fix his uniform, cleared his throat, and limber up by bouncing in place and mock stretching. Jaz glanced at Canary who just rolled her eyes.

Green Arrow rushed out from behind the wall holding his hands up and yelling, "Don't shoot!" The men looked startled. They aimed their guns at him but didn't attack, instead looking to each other confused. "There's a giant wolf man back there! He completely destroyed the laboratory!" He pointed in the opposite direction. "You have to do something!" Arrow turned around backing up towards them as if he were more scared of what he was just running from than them. It worked. The men nodded to each other before training their guns on the hallway opposite ours waiting for this mystery foe. They stepped forward moving to pass Green Arrow when he twisted, landing a punch to ones throat and an elbow in the others gut before following it up with another punch to his face knocking him out. He was close enough to side step behind the smaller Raptor using it as a shield while the Gatling gun unloaded into it. It shot a torrent of bullets into the chest of the smaller Raptor quickly piercing through its chest armour and tearing through the electronics within. Quick on his feet, Arrow faced the wall running himself up it, vaulting over the heads of both Raptors. He grabbed hold of the shock tail before it could strike him stabbing it between the gatling gun and the big Raptors shoulder. Its entire body became electrified but it could still move. It slammed Arrow into the wall pinning him and transferring some of the shock to him in the process. Jaz moved to help but Canary held her back. "Let him handle this." Arrow reached up ripping the gatling gun off its shoulder by using both of his feet to kick it away. The second his feet hit the ground Arrow dropped low, lunging forward underneath its tail as it tried to whip him to position the gun in the crook of its neck. The bullets easily pierced through the thin, scale-like armour there, destroying its core. Both machines fell to the floor in a smoking heap, the light in their eyes turning off before they'd hit the ground. "Impressive." Black Canary said, stepping over the two unconscious men to join Green Arrow.

"Spar me when we get back on the Watchtower and I can show you a thing or two," Green Arrow joked, kicking the pile of metal Raptors aside just in time for the elevator to show up. Jaz hit the button to Maxmellius's office, as well as the button to the floor just below it.

She explained the layout of the walkway. "There's no way down to Hero's cage from Max's office, so I'm going to stop one floor early and try to find it myself. I think I'd spotted the way from the walkway anyways. You two can meet me there once you find what you need in his office."

"We shouldn't split up." Green Arrow shook his head. "We'll head to the office first, find out where the rest of the heroes are being kept, then we'll get your friend." He placed his hand on Jaz, she could tell he was trying to be reassuring again, but she had no intention of taking no for an answer this time. Another explosion ripped through the facility knocking Jaz off balance into Arrow's chest. The elevators went pitch black and the emergency breaks sent everyone into the ceiling, before crashing back down.

"Damn! The emergency power is out now." Green Arrow spoke as he helped Jaz to her feet. He pried open the doors pulling them halfway open. The Elevator was between floors, the top half of the doors opened to the lower floor where Jaz wanted to go.