Batman’s talk of just being prepared put Raymond at unease. However he was even at more unease when the Caped Crusader broke the news of the breakout at Belle Reve. Even for an inexperienced hero like Raymond, he could tell that this was a big deal. Raymond had heard of Belle Reve before, on online discussion forums. Apparently it housed the worst of the worst, super-villains who were too dangerous to keep in a city.

To make matters worse, Nightwing suggested that this could be a diversion to draw the League away from the Hall of Justice. Batman seemed prepared for such a situation, as he put Nightwing in charge of the so-called Junior Squad. While Natasha had never personally teamed up with Nightwing, she knew that, even though he was Batman’s sidekick, he was probably the best choice for a leader of the young heroes.

After putting on the comm ear piece, Raymond and Natasha returned to the main lobby. Superman had finally shown up on stage but instead of starting the festivities, he explained that the Justice League was needed and would return shortly. While murmurs of discontent were voiced by some of the guests, Superman seemed to placate them by bringing out a band. Unfortunately it was a band Raymond had never heard of, so he quickly stopped actively listening to them.

Natasha also ignored the band, instead having BORIS patch her through to the Hall’s security systems. It seemed like the firewalls for the Hall of Justice hadn’t been upgraded much since the days she lived in D.C. Natasha bet that the firewall for the Watchtower was much more impregnable.

Before Raymond started patrolling the Hall, he made sure to check in with his father. Langford was pretty understanding about the situation, telling Raymond that he too had been put on guard duty several times back when he was still the Ray. Raymond was surprised at how relaxed his father was, as he grabbed another glass of champagne.

Raymond would spend the next thirty minutes wandering the lobby. No one questioned him  as he went about, as he made sure that all doors and windows were secured. Meanwhile, Natasha had remained nearby the stage, using BORIS to check all the cameras in the Hall at the same time. As she cycled through the video feeds she saw a black van pull into the parking lot. But before she could mention it someone else did.

Hearing of the mystery vehicle, Raymond immediately began heading toward the main entrance, several of the other junior heroes joining him. But just as he got within eye sight of the van, Raymond saw the door slide open and a metal man get out. Before Raymond could react, the metal man began firing green bolts, striking one of the other heroes and raining glass on the others.

Raymond instinctively threw himself back, landing on the floor a few feet back and putting some distance between him and the villain. Thankfully none of the glass had done any damage as his suit repelled the various pieces. As Raymond was pulling himself off the floor, Natasha came blasting down through the lobby, headed straight for the villain.

However, Kid Flash moved faster than Natasha and was upon the metal man first, only for an equally fast man in yellow appear in front of him. Natasha ignored the two speedsters conversation, instead jetting toward the metal man. Only for another villain to emerge from the vehicle, this one a mage of some kind. Before Natasha could raise her kinetic hammer at the metal man, the mage summoned forth a whole bunch of scorpion monsters.

Natasha’s hammer would hit one such monster, bouncing off the creature. Now out-gunned, Natasha used her reverse thrusters to hastily reunite with the Junior Squad, just as Nightwing ordered the team to protect the guests.

Raymond, now back on his feet, scanned the room, seeing Wonder Girl’s trouble with monsters. Noticing another one approaching her, Raymond shot forth a burst of light, sending the scorpion thing skidding backward and away from Raymond’s fellow hero. He would then keep doing this, pushing the scorpion monsters back, but not doing any real damage.

Natasha was doing much the same, firing at the monsters with her wrist-mounted plasma cannons. Like Raymond she wasn’t having much luck as she was just slowing them down slightly. Wonder Girl then suggested going after the mage to stop the monsters. While Natasha knew very little about how magic worked, she did figure that was a possible solution.

Attempting to get back outside, while dodging the monsters and the super speed battle going on, Natasha had her kinetic hammer at the ready. Meanwhile, Raymond was still blasting the scorpions, who were slowly making ground, only for a green rhino to bulldoze its way through the monsters.

[color=#FCF523]“Thanks for the save,”[/color] Raymond said as Beast Boy transformed into a gorilla, [color=#FCF523]“So I guess your thing is animals. Cool. Me, I can shoot light.”[/color]

Raymond felt immediately uncool as he went back to firing at the scorpion monsters. Here he was, shooting ineffectual light that was doing nothing to the enemies. Still, he persisted, the thought that he was protecting his father helping him push forward.

Natasha had her thrusters at maximum, preparing to strike the mage in the head. However, as soon as she began to swing her hammer down, a super fast force collided with her, pushing her several feet to the left. The kinetic hammer still fell, but it now completely missed its target, instead smashing down into the front of the black van.

[color=#DECAED]“Damn it!”[/color] shouted Natasha as her suit took a few seconds to recalibrate.

Once she had straightened out her Steel suit, Natasha saw that more scorpion monsters had positioned themselves in front of the mage. Natasha gritted her teeth unsure of what to do. She could go in for another swing, but there were far too many other enemies in the way to screw up her strike. So instead she had BORIS try to scan the scorpion men, seeing if they had any weak points.