Justice League Unlimited The Serpent

Snaked

I'm surprised that you've made it this far, I thought you'd been scared off. Now we see a bit of Nate in action!

Once Nate had calmed enough, Batman had asked for a safe demonstration of the powers she exhibited during her escape from Cadmus. J'onn had briefed them on the unusual powers she'd used, and Batman wanted to see just how much power she had.

Nate had agreed, albeit hesitantly, but Hawk and Dove had encouraged her, so she wandered into the center of the Combat Room.

Using the Command Console, Batman ordered a combat droid to step out, and set up the simulation for hand-to-hand. Once he gave the go-ahead, Nate struck quickly.

The droid kept up with the blows, and for a minute, it almost seemed as though the droid would knock her onto the floor. But it didn't, because as it brought down a metal arm onto her head, Nate gripped the robotic limb with surprising strength before twisting it and throwing across the room.

With that droid nearly totaled, Batman called up two more. They came at her, but Nate was proving to be very strong, as she then broke off the arm of one and used it to take the head off of the other.

Another two totaled, so Batman called up three. Now she was beginning to show more of that power she used at Cadmus. When the droids dogpiled her, her legs became a tail and she threw them off, slamming two into the wall before curling around the third at lightning speed. The muscles in Nate's tail constricted tightly until the robot was nothing more than a crushed piece of scrap.

Superman whistled in amazement. "She's almost as strong as me."

"Not quite, but yes, she is close. That tail had more muscles than anything else in her body." Batman informed them, watching as she then took out the next three droids.

Nate was now getting tired, but the light of battle in her now slitted, orange, viper-like eyes showed that she was having fun after two weeks of inactivity.

Eventually, one droid managed to get the drop on her, and it held her wrists behind her back. Once calm and collected, Nate now panicked. Her eyes went wide, and she struggled, her tail lashing around and taking out the other two droids that were closing in.

After a moment, when Hawk and Dove raced inside to shut down the droids, Nate tugged the droid around and bared her fangs, showing all who were watching just how long they were.

She struck like a cobra, sinking her fangs into the robot's arm. The fangs pierced the metal, and when she withdrew, poised to strike again, there were two deep puncture marks in the droid's limb.

A thin, watery, lightly-glowing orangish liquid dripped from the holes, but it wasn't from the droid, which Batman had shut down.

When the Founders entered the Combat Room, Inza went to Nate's side, while Dr. Fate observed and J'onn held the brothers back.

Nate hissed when Inza approached her, but she calmed when the older woman began to hum gently. Inza hummed a song that soothed the younger's nerves while Batman held up a vial to the dripping hole in the droid's arm, collecting the liquid. When the vial was nearly full, he capped it and put it in his belt, before turning back to Nate, who had shifted back into her more human form.

"What happened?" she asked, looking dazed as she held onto the arm that Dove had offered her like a lifeline. Wonder Woman set a gentle hand on Nate's shoulder and said, "I think that's enough for now."

Her tone left no room for argument, not that the others felt like arguing. Besides, no one wanted to see that again.

Nodding, Hawk and Dove helped Nate back to her room, their friend walking on shaky legs. Diana, Clark and Bruce all shared a look as the Dark Knight made his way to the labs.

Green Lantern and Hawkgirl stayed back with J'onn and Dr. Fate, staring at the sheer amount of damage Nate had caused from an exercise, not to mention, she'd bitten straight through triple-reinforced titanium-steel alloy plating. A thin string of the glowing orange liquid still dripped from the droid's arm.

"I'm guessing that's what she meant when she said we didn't want to know." John pointed out as he used his ring to gather up the excess fluids from the robot, holding it in a glowing green beaker. Before he could move it, however, the liquid trickled out of the bottom before splashing out and onto the floor again.

"Uhhh, J'onn? I think we have a problem." GL stared stupidly at the lightly-glowing puddle of orange venom, while Fate examined the green beaker.

"Hmm, it appears that Nathara's venom is partially acidic, so it will melt through some surfaces, but only after it has been exposed to air for a while. Interesting."

"You say interesting, I say dangerous. Should she even be allowed to wander around the WATCHTOWER without a guard?" Hawkgirl pondered, J'onn spoke up from his spot near the door Hawk and Dove had left through with Nate.

"She will only strike if she feels threatened. I know this because I've been listening to her thoughts ever since she met with us this morning, and I felt her mind turn feral when Fate and Inza arrived. She has felt much pain at the hands of strangers, and so her trust will be hard to earn. But if we take care of how we act and what we say and do in her presence, I have no doubt that she'll be a powerful ally, should she choose to stay with us."

The next chapter will be much softer, promise!