LOOTING DC #26. Crimson Moon Rising
(Somewhere beneath Nanda Parbat. Three years ago. Crimson Moon rising.)
The girl was wheezing.
They said she was lucky - her lungs hadn't collapsed.
Lucky.
She lay on the stone slab, legs strapped in iron, arms pale and trembling, belly tight with pregnancy she hadn't planned. Her eyes were open, but the light behind them was fading.
The man above her didn't flinch.
He moved with precision - robes red, hands bare. Ra's al Ghul didn't wear gloves for this. He never did during rituals. He believed the hand should remember what it creates.
And what it destroys.
He held a small vial between two fingers. It glowed. Not brightly - just enough to stain the shadows around it. Inside, the green fluid churned like it was alive. Maybe it was.
Behind him, two acolytes whispered prayers. Their words weren't ancient. They were exact. Rehearsed. They spoke of bloodlines. Renewal. The Way of The Black Dragon.
And silence.
Silence was part of the rite.
The Lazarus concentrate was not meant to be injected. Not into a fetus. But the Crimson Moon would not wait. The alignment was now, and Damien was gone. Stolen by his father.
So the blade had turned.
From heir to vessel.
From prophecy to contingency.
The vial hissed as the seal broke. The girl, still barely eighteen, jerked in place. The straps groaned. Her voice cracked. One hand reached out toward nothing.
Ra's ignored it.
He inserted the needle with a quiet focus that betrayed no emotion. The plunger sank. The light vanished into her bloodstream.
And something else woke up.
The first scream was hers.
The second wasn't.
Outside, in the upper courtyard, Talia stood beneath the moon. She didn't watch. She didn't pray. She only breathed - slow, hollow, resigned.
She'd lost her son. She knew it. Her father would never forgive it.
But this was the price of legacy.
And the Ra's didn't care who paid it.
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(Two years ago. S.T.A.R. Labs, Site 9. Underground. Classified. Authorization Level: Trinity.)
The containment hall echoed with the sterile hum of machines designed to cradle planets and dissect gods.
In the center of the chamber, the capsule waited.
Reinforced steel. Lead-lined. Cryo-stabilized. No windows. Just a single biometric panel pulsing amber on the side.
Inside: a baby. Sleeping. Glowing. Breathing in the silence.
Her name?
Her label - Subject One-Double-Zero.
Above, on the Observation Deck, the Justice League stood behind the glass - Wonder Woman, Batman, Superman - shoulders squared, expressions locked behind layers of protocol.
Artemis stood with them, hands clenched, jaw tight.
Across the room, the doors hissed open.
Jade stormed in. No mask. No weapons. Just her. And the sound of boots slamming against steel.
"You said she'd be safe," She snapped, eyes darting past the glass. "You said she'd be with me."
"She is safe," Batman said. "You gave custody. This is custody."
"This is a coffin," She hissed. "Don't talk to me like I didn't carry her, bleed for her, damn near die for her."
Wonder Woman stepped forward. "She's unstable. Radioactive. Her presence alone is causing decay in a thirty-foot radius. You didn't know what was done to her-"
"I know now!" She screamed. "And I would've taken her into the Pit itself before letting you strap her in a damn box like some weapon."
"She is a weapon," Batman said.
"No!" Artemis barked, stepping between them. "She's a baby. You can't just-!"
"Her name is Lian," she added softly, eyes darting to Subject One-Double-Zero.
"She cracked the earth with a cry," Superman said quietly. "If she sneezes the wrong way, we lose a city block."
Jade surged forward. Artemis caught her by the arms.
"Let go of me!"
"Jade - Jade, please-" Artemis begged. "Don't make this worse. Please."
"I trusted you," Jade snarled, eyes locked on her sister. "You knew. And you still brought her here."
"I thought they would help her!" Artemis shouted back. "I thought this was help!"
Behind the glass, the capsule hissed. The amber light turned red.
"She's stirring," Batman said flatly. "Activating secondary dampers."
"You're sedating her?!" Artemis turned, aghast. "She's just scared - she's a baby!"
"She's a hazard," Batman repeated. "Containment. Stabilization. Prevention."
"Motherhood," Jade growled, "is not a breach of protocol."
She pulled free of Artemis's grip.
"I should've kept her hidden. I should've run. I should've known you people only know how to control what you fear."
"She'll be cared for," Diana said, voice strained but firm. "But the world comes first."
Jade took a step toward the glass.
"Let me hold her," she whispered.
Silence.
"No."
That came from Superman. Quiet and absolute.
"I wasn't asking," Jade growled.
She moved, blade drawn, eyes locked on the capsule behind the glass.
Superman reacted.
In a blur, he pinned her to the floor, blade clattering across the tile.
"Let me hold her!" she screamed, thrashing. "You promised!"
"She's reacting to you," Batman said. "We can't risk another spike."
"She's scared!" Jade shouted. "She's a baby, not a bomb!"
"Then stop acting like one," Wonder Woman snapped, stepping in. "You're a threat to her right now."
Jade's eyes flicked to Artemis.
"You told me they'd help."
"I thought they would," Artemis said, her voice cracking.
"You brought us here," Jade whispered. "You put her in that box."
"I didn't know-"
"You've become one of them," Jade said, shaking her head. "You're a monster."
Gas hissed as she was put down by Batman.
Jade slumped in Superman's grip, but her glare didn't fade.
"I'll never forget this," she breathed.
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(Oolong Island. Present Day. Wonder Meets the Spider Unhinged.)
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W-O-L Combat Profile:
Name: Diana Prince
Alias: Wonder Woman
Skills: Hand-to-Hand
Weapons & Equipment: Lasso of Truth, indestructible bracers, sword, shield
Special Abilities: ???
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Jake stepped between Artemis and the towering Amazon like he didn't just commit social and tactical suicide.
"You look even better in person," he said casually, eyes drifting to the golden lasso at her hip. "And might I say, I'm a huge fan of your Golden Perfect."
Wonder Woman narrowed her eyes. "Stay out of this. You have no idea what you're interfering with."
He shrugged, voice rich with arrogance and something darker beneath. "You can call me The Spider," Jake said, glancing briefly at Artemis. "And if this involves her... then consider me emotionally compromised."
He turned back to Diana, shadows seeming to bleed from beneath his feet like ink in water.
"You know all you have to do," he said, voice dipping cold. "No one needs to get hurt."
Diana's lips pressed into a tight line as she raised her bracers and stepped forward.
"I'm already doing what has to be done."
"Very well then," Jake said, cracking his knuckles. "You leave me no choice."
The wind shifted. His Spider-Sense pulsed. Her stance - weight on the ball of her back foot - told him everything.
He'd found a missing piece he hadn't even known he needed.
Trust, reinforced by facts. That was what had been missing. And the Web of Life had filled that gap.
He didn't need to worry about Wonder Woman wearing the Helmet of Ares or wielding some divine wildcard. All the information he needed - here, now - was already flowing through his instincts.
His Spider-Sense.
And damn if it wasn't telling him he could let go. Not hold back.
She could take it.
He didn't need to worry about making a mess he hadn't planned for. He could really test his limits with her.
He smirked, voice dropping to a whisper as his silhouette stretched unnaturally behind him.
"My apologies in advance, princess."
He launched with webs, blurring forward, fists flying.
A jab. Feint. Elbow. Knee.
Diana deflected them all fluidly, her eyes calm - studying his crude but fast technique with clinical patience.
He ducked under her counterpunch, slid behind her, and aimed a knee for her spine. She spun mid-air, caught his leg, and hurled him sideways.
Jake flipped mid-tumble, landed on all fours, and fired himself back with a web.
His Spider-Sense screamed - left hook incoming - he twisted low, countered with a palm strike to her ribs.
It connected.
But felt more like a push.
Should've added more power to that.
Adrenaline kicked in. He pressed harder. His fists blurred - driven by instinct more than strategy. He dipped under a lasso swipe and rammed his shoulder into her torso, forcing her back several feet.
She didn't budge far.
Her eyes narrowed. Her rhythm shifted - less reactive now, more precise. She let him come.
Wove through his speed.
Then-
CRACK!
Her forearm slammed into his chest like a battering ram, sending him flying.
Jake rebounded with a webline, aiming to wrap her bracer-
Snap.
She severed it mid-air with a flick of her lasso.
She surged forward.
He ducked, webbed the ground, slingshotted behind her, and fired another shot - this time toward her shoulder.
She spun - lasso met web mid-air.
The golden rope twisted around the silk, locking it. For a second, the battlefield stilled, held in glowing tension.
Then she lifted, floating with measured force - lasso pulling taut.
Jake let go just before it yanked him off his feet and landed hard, knees bent.
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W-O-L Combat Profile
Name: Diana Prince
Alias: Wonder Woman
Skills: Superior Hand-to-Hand Combatant, Tactical Combat Precision
Weapons & Equipment: Lasso of Truth, Indestructible Bracers, Sword and Shield
Special Abilities: Flight, Superhuman Strength
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Jake cracked his neck.
'So, that's what fighting a god feels like...'
He glanced at her stance. She wasn't even at half her strength.
Then again - neither was he.
Streak? Day 1/10
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