Justice League Unlimited The Serpent

Breakout

"Nate?"

Hawk couldn't believe his eyes. Or his ears, for that matter.

But before the older brother could say anything, J'onn mentally warned them about a group of men coming towards Test Lab 7. Question ran over to help the brothers in lifting the woman onto her feet.

"Can you walk?" the faceless detective asked, she nodded absentmindedly, her eyes still lingering on Dove's.

"Don, is it really you?" Dove gawked at her.

"Me? What about you? We thought you were dead, Nate!"

"Explanations later! Right now, we worry about getting out in one piece!" said Question, J'onn looked at him from his place by the door.

"What about the Serpent? You said you wanted to check on it?"

"No time." the detective answered curtly, hurrying towards the door.

"Hawk, Dove, this way!" The brothers both slung an arm over their shoulders and between them, they supported her enough to walk. They had gotten into another hallway when they passed a room labeled "Heat Generator".

"Wait." the woman stopped walking, causing the brothers to stumble slightly.

"What is it, Nate?" asked Hawk, she weakly nodded her head towards the room.

"There's something in there that I need."

"A heat generator?" J'onn asked, looking confused.

"Bring her in, the far wall leads to the compound outside. We can get out through there." Question ordered, the others filed in quickly after he hacked the doors. J'onn wasn't quite up to full strength yet, so he couldn't phase through the thick wall.

He and Question got work cutting through the far wall with tools that were in the room while Hawk and Dove set the woman, Nate, beside the generator.

"Keep her there, the heat from the generators will bring her back to almost full strength. Strength enough that we can get to the WATCHTOWER without much of a problem, anyway." Question informed them, adding the last part as an afterthought. The brothers were confused, but did as they were told.

While the two older Leaguers worked on the wall, Dove sat beside Nate and asked, "How long have you been here?"

She thought hard, but without a proper clock, or even a real day-and-night cycle, she didn't really know.

"What year is it?" she asked him, Hawk looked down. "2025," was his reply, making her look surprised. "You were taken, in 2017." Dove added, pain and sorrow noticeable in his tone. Nate looked at the floor in stunned silence.

"I... I've been in here for eight years."

"We're almost through the wall!" J'onn said, leaving Question to finish and kneeling down beside Nate and Dove.

"Once we get out, we'll take you to the WATCHTOWER, where you can get treatment." The Martian spoke softly, trying to soothe her troubled mind. She looked up at him.

"So, you're my mysterious mental friend?" she asked, the tone that she was trying (and failing, quite badly) to use was meant to be lightly teasing, but it only managed to make her sound faintly ill. J'onn, however, caught her meaning and nodded.

"Thank you. I don't think I would have made it these past three days without your help." Nate said sincerely, but anything else that could have been said was lost when a group of guards rushed inside.

"The Serpent! It's loose!" one of the guards shrieked, trying to race out of the room. Professor Blaze pushed his way to the front of the guards.

"Do not allow harm to come to the Serpent!" he ordered, though his words were lost when Hawk rushed them, his red fists flying. Dove remained kneeling beside his friend for a moment longer.

"Stay here, Nate. Rest." he told her before he joined his brother. Neither of them had given the guards' words any thought, while Question continued work on the wall. He was almost through, but he also couldn't believe their luck.

Two guards then tackled the faceless detective, leaving his work undone. J'onn protected Nate from three guards that tried to come at her with another metal mask, the Martian shifting his body into a much bigger alien.

While the others fought, Nate did as she was told and stayed by the generator, feeling the warmth seeping into her frozen muscles. She couldn't believe that her childhood best friend was now a superhero. She'd heard of the Hawk and Dove, but she only ever heard bits and pieces, mostly from passing guards and chatty doctors. No one had really spoken to her in years.

She looked up when, suddenly, Dove dodged a laser bullet, only for it to hit the generator. The machine burst into flame, and Nate was still too cold to move.

"NATE!" Dove screamed when he lost sight of his friend in the blaze, he shoved the terrified guards out of his way as he fought to get to her. Strong arms circled his waist and pulled him away from the fire.

"No, no, let me go, Hank!" Dove struggled against his brother, but even his heightened strength was nothing compared to his brother's. Hawk was always the strong one.

"No way, Don. There's nothing we can do for her now, bro! Not without dying ourselves!" The blue-clad hero struggled in Hawk's arms.

"No, no, no, no! We just got her back, Hank! I can't lose her again! NATE!" Dove almost screamed his throat raw, shouting for his friend, but they saw nothing move except the flames and the guards, who ran away from the inferno as fast as they could.

When he finally stopped struggling, Dove's violet eyes were alight with fury. When Hawk let him go, he grabbed Professor Blaze by the throat, hoisting him up to eye level.

"How dare you! How dare you take my best friend away from me again!"

"Dove, now is not the time!" Question tried to pull Dove towards the almost-finished hole in the wall, but the blue-clad man pushed him away again. J'onn stayed as far from the flames as he could, but even he tried to finish working on their escape.

Professor Blaze looked down into the furious eyes of the young hero, and shouted, "You don't understand! The fire gives her strength!"

The sound of guns cocking alerted the heroes to the returning guards, who held long shotguns in their hands. Question saw the cans of liquid nitrogen attached to the back of the nozzles, and knew what, or rather who, they were for.

Suddenly, a fiery pipe was thrown from where the generator exploded and it hit several guards, destroying the guns.

"Thanks for the flame bath, I feel better already!"

DUN-DUN-DUHHH (I don't know if I spelled that right)! ANOTHER CLIFFHANGER!