[b]Metropolis[/b]

Arsenal stood on the roof of the deli that sat next to the Daily Star Radio Station. He had managed to arrive before the cops had gotten there and sealed off the area. He made a note to ask Black Lightning how he got his information so fast. Arsenal himself had been scouting the area for a few minutes now, trying to figure out the position of the villains in the building. So far he hadn’t seen anything save the back of a hostage from a window on the west side of the building.

Arsenal’s brow furrowed as he planned how he was to enter the building. Quickly mentally going over what trick arrows he had brought, a plan formed that would probably work. The first step of the plan was to nock an electrical arrow and aim it at the power box on the side of the radio station. Arsenal quietly counted down from five before releasing the arrow. It hit the power box perfectly, sending a large volt of electricity throughout the building, surging the devices inside. Within two seconds all power had gone out in the building, the only light coming in from the windows.

Without wasting a second, Arsenal leaped across from the roof he was on and somersaulted through a window into the radio station, the shattering of glass announcing his arrival. Arsenal speedily got up and made his way silently through the darkness toward where he had seen the hostage. With the stealth of a ninja, Arsenal crept through the hallway, noting the sign that pointed toward the recording booth where the Daily Star DJs worked. As he got closer he heard a female voice stating that Robert should go check out the noise. Arsenal quickly recognized the voice as Livewire, also remembering that Bloodsport’s real name was Robert DuBois.

As Bloodsport walked over the hiding hero, Arsenal decided to risk it. With a mighty pounce Arsenal collided with Bloodsport, knocking the rifle he was holding to the floor. In the grapple Arsenal attempted to get a choke hold on the villain, his arms reaching around his neck. But Arsenal was surprised by the strength of Bloodsport, who managed to toss Arsenal off him, causing him to tumble down the hall. A second after that Bloodsport used his personal teleporter to summon another automatic rifle into his hands. Another second after that and he was spraying bullets all the way down the hall.

Arsenal somersaulted backward, barely avoiding the shots, as he retreated back into the darkness. Bloodsport continued to fire blindly down the hall, emptying his whole clip. Rather than reloading, Bloodsport tossed his rifle away and summoned a shotgun instead, and then slowly approached the darkness where Arsenal had disappeared into. As Bloodsport led himself through the darkness with his shotgun in front, Arsenal emerged from the shadows, a bola quickly leaving his hand. The balls and chord wrapped around Bloodsport’s hands, causing him to drop his shotgun and prevent him from summoning anymore guns.

Realizing the predicament he was in Bloodsport retreated, before calling out, “Hey Livewire, we’ve got a cape here!”

“I don’t wear a cape…” mumbled Arsenal as he charged Bloodsport, knocking him to the floor.

Livewire popped out of the recording booth, a feeling of anger very evident on her face, “Jesus! Do I have to handle everything myself?”

As Arsenal and Bloodsport wrestled on the floor, Livewire shot a blast of electricity, hitting both of them. The hero and the villain rolled off each other, wriggling in pain as electricity went up and down their bodies. Arsenal was initially surprised she would hit her co-villain, but then again she apparently did all this just to play her music.

Livewire charged another blast, but before she could fire it Arsenal tossed a throwing knife, the blade slicing her hand and causing her to lose focus. Before she could charge another, Arsenal fired a shock arrow at her, causing her electrical energy to surge throughout her body. The extra energy caused her head to go light and temporarily forget what she was doing.

Arsenal nocked another arrow pointed at Livewire, hoping to take her out quickly, but Bloodsport grabbed him from behind, somehow getting out of the bola restraints. Arsenal fell right onto the floor, dropping his bow. Bloodsport summoned a pistol into his hand, and pointed it at Arsenal’s head. With the speed of a world class athlete, Arsenal grabbed the gun with his hand and pushed it away from his head as it fired. The two of them both gripped the gun, trying to take control, but Bloodsport ultimately wrenched it away from Arsenal, slamming it down into his nose.

As blood spurted out of Arsenal’s now broken nose, he raised his head abruptly, butting right into Bloodsport’s face, shattering his nose as well. The temporarily stunned Bloodsport was pushed off by Arsenal just in time to see that Livewire had recovered and was preparing another blast. Arsenal nimbly grabbed his bow and dived out of the way of the blast, which hit Bloodsport square in the chest, causing him to spasm for a few seconds before collapsing unconscious.

Arsenal let loose another shock arrow at Livewire, causing her to overcharge once again. Throwing caution into the wind, Arsenal fired all the shock arrows he had at Livewire, hoping to charge her until she shutdown. As the last arrow collided with the villain, she formed an aura of blue lightning around her, singing the carpet and walls of the hallway. Random bursts of electricity blasted off her, scorching whatever it hit.

Realizing that this may have been a bad idea, Arsenal tried to recall the file the Supermen had on Livewire, wishing he had an encyclopedic knowledge of super-villains like Batman did. After a few seconds he recalled the time last year that Superman had defeated Livewire by throwing her into a water tower. While using water to defeat electricity seemed counterintuitive to Arsenal, he figured he should at least give it a try.

Spotting a water cooler further down the hallway, Arsenal dashed toward it, hoping that Livewire was still entranced by her surge of power. Just as Arsenal reached the water cooler, Livewire became aware of him, turning to face him with energy bolts ready. But Arsenal was quicker than her, tossing the water cooler at her as she fired her electricity.

The blasts caused the plastic water cooler to explode, spraying water all across the hallway. Before Livewire could fire another shot the water fell on her, diffusing her built up electrical energy. Arsenal laughed as Livewire tried in vain to summon electricity to fire at him.

“Looks like you’re out of juice,” Arsenal said as he nocked one more arrow.

Livewire just screamed in anger as the arrow, a boxing glove trick one, collided with her face, knocking her out cold. Pleased with himself Arsenal turned toward where Bloodsport had been lying, only to see him crawling away. With a quick nock of another boxing glove arrow, Arsenal fired into the back of Bloodsport’s head, causing him to collapse once more.

Satisfied that he had taken the villains out, Arsenal moved into the room where the hostages were being held. As he entered the lights turned back on as the backup generator activated. A quick scan of the room showed that no one was hurt thankfully. Outside the wail of sirens indicated that the police had finally arrived. Taking out a throwing knife, Arsenal cut the bonds on all the hostages.

“Thanks, er, Red Arrow?” questioned a balding man.

“It’s Arsenal.”

With that he leaped out the window, landing in an alleyway just out of the view of the police. Hopping back onto his motorcycle, Arsenal sped away from the crime scene, feeling pretty good about the first outing of Arsenal.