FicWad

Chapter 21

It was now time for the fundraiser, starting on a Friday at 8 in the morning, and it was to run to midnight Sunday night. It was picked up by the world of public broadcasting so that there would be no breaks in the performances, no annoyances, and that the number for turning in pledges would be able to come in for the whole time. However, because there were some celebrities around the world that had graduated from that school, they pressed for one network or another in their countries to pick up the show, and they picked up the fee for a small donation to public broadcasting, and now the thing was going worldwide. The pledges were going to be much larger than what could come in for a telethon on the national level. Yet, they were not the only ones watching with a keen interest.

Luthor was on the phone with Savannah, and he said, “So, what do you have in mind?”
“Don’t worry, because we have our man on it,” said the doctor.
“I assume it was the same one that masterminded the burning of the property in the first place?” responded Luthor.
“He was highly successful, and I imagine he could be so again.”
“True, you did not fail on your end of things. I cannot wait to see what kind of toys he’s going to be bringing this time.”
“When do you want them released?”
“Don’t worry; I’ll let you know when to let them out. Once you see some others joining you—some of Slade’s compliment, and the Brotherhood of Evil, it will be time. In the meantime, I expect a very entertaining show. Why disturb that? Let them gain some hope, and then we can smash their dreams. They will rue the day they ever decided to mess with Lex Luthor.”

The show started off with Queen coming out to do the Star Spangled Banner in they way that they knew how to do it. They wanted this because, since they had been so successful with “God Save the Queen,” they figured they would give this a shot. They then decided to do “Dawn” from Also Spracht Zarathustra. The host of the show came out, and then announced that they would start with what should have been the fall variety show, giving people the first hand look at what the school had to offer. During that, the Pas De Six came out with the others that were involved, and they did their Paris number as they had planned. Rue, Mytho, Billy, and Ahiru dove into their number from An American in Paris with relish. This was followed by the dance a l’apache, as done by Fakir and Mary. It had always been hard for the two of them to do this number, because their love for each other had only grown as they had been separated. However, they had had the time to really let that blossom since they were allowed to be together again. As time had passed, they seemed to become as one entity, and they being described as joined at the hip became a common phrase. Thus, when it came to this dance, it was rough. To do this, they had to be violent with one another, and though they pulled it as much as they could, they sometimes had to make contact, and that hurt their hearts more than the slap. Because of this, there were worries that they could not pull this off. Yet, they proved that they were professionals, and pulled it off believably. Still, when they went backstage, Fakir was begging her for forgiveness, hoping that she wasn’t hurt. This put her into a laughing fit! When he asked why this was, she explained that she was about to ask the same thing, and he beat her to the punch. They embraced and kissed, but just long enough for her to make the change and join the girls for the Can-Can.

The Can-Can started, and they all threw themselves into it with fervor, demonstrating that the actual performance that they would do to this day at the Moulin Rouge is more than just a kick line. There was much in the way of gymnastic type of moves, pairs and trio work, and much in the way of teamwork and coordination. Yes, the kicking was there, but it was a minor part compared to everything else involved. They were able to demonstrate that, at the time the dance was originally presented, the showing of legs, even in pantaloons was very risqué, and added that touch that made it quite French in flavor. Calls from Paris were flooding in at this point, and it added a great boost to the pledges. After it was done, there was celebrating and dancing for how well they did, and so much so, that they did the haka again backstage. This got the acts that followed pumped up, and they went out and attacked the show with zeal. What happened next, though, was something to be remembered.

Starfire went out and did one of her native dances, (which, by the way, mirrored ballet to where it could not be told which dance was which,) as danced to Anitra’s Dance, to the point where every guy’s tongue was on the ground. She finished, and everyone was on their feet. When she finally was allowed to leave the stage, she was greeted warmly by the team, and she said, “Oh, I never expected to receive the ovation that is standing!”
This was followed by Rachel, who let loose with her repertoire, but it was not just the songs of hope that she sang that sold it. She sang it with a point of view of someone who had been set free from great burdens, and everyone was eating out of the palm of her hand. The other Titians who were disguised as students did their thing, and then this was followed by the modern dance department, who had decided to do hook up with the jazz department and do some jitterbug. Tim and Cassandra were in on that one, and they were letting loose. However, the Pas De Six were so caught up into the thing that they could not help but join them, especially when Uzzura was front and center in the percussion section, letting loose with her skill. She was so human to this point, that no one could have figured she was just a doll…and she was having the time of her life. To finish the show, there was a Grande Finale that involved doing Shake a Tail Feather which brought the house down.

After a short intermission to ask for pledges, the Fall Festival show was done, and Tanya’s concept of Fantasia Live was received with full enthusiasm from the crowd. The first half finished off with Night on Bald Mountain, and the second half finished with the spring scene as done to music from The Firebird. However, they did it a bit differently, as they had two maidens of spring for that—Starfire and Nana. Ever since they hit it off in the class, they had grown closer, and Nana gained much in zeal and skill from Starfire to where Nana was now en Pointe! They danced so well, you would have thought that the two were mother and daughter. After it was over, Nana was excited and filled with endorphins to the point where she could not calm herself. “Come, my little quipnar,” said Starfire, “You must calm yourself! After this is over, and I am done with the charade once the school is safe, we can to the painting of the nails, and go to the mall of shopping!”
In both acts, the special effects crew outdid themselves, and the kids who were in the stagecraft department knew they would be getting an A that semester!

At this, the professional acts came in to do their thing, and this was the point that the kids who were in the Titans, and the Pas De Six, (along with Elly,) cleaned themselves up and prepared to patrol before taking some rest. They were exhausted, but they also knew that keeping things secure was just as important as the fundraiser. They were thus willing to make the sacrifices, and they went out. They were happy to find that things were blissfully quiet, and they took their rest when the Justice Leaguers took over. Despite the racket outside, they slept soundly.

The show progressed into the next day, with each act contributing fairly well giving full concerts on their sets. The kids woke up the next day to see the tote board, and the total was already over a billion dollars, not just because of worldwide donations, but many rich patrons of the arts who wanted to see the school continue were dropping in the big bucks. Corporations worldwide also threw their hats into the ring, and they were making the cash registers sing as well. By Sunday night, they could be will into the tens of billions, if not more!

By sunset that Sunday evening, the whole fundraiser was to be capped off with a show by the Pas De Six, and it would be done with various others that had performed previously doing a number here and there with them as they danced and sang. Since this was to be a four hour set, they had it arranged as to where they all had points where the others could take breaks while others did solos or did combinations. Peter, Paul, and Mary were the highlight of the act when they did an all music set, and they blended in as they went through the folk music repertoire. As the end of the show was approaching, they finished off with a pas de six as done to Ravel’s Bolero. This was the show stopper! The beautiful thing about the whole show was that, though people came and went, the majority stayed. It seemed that there were about 145,000 people present, but the full attendance count went into the hundreds of thousands, and they all donated as well. It came time to tell the final total, and suddenly the communicators of the teen heroes were going off.

Outside, the Justice Leaguers were watching things, and that’s when they saw the approach of the most futuristic looking devices coming at them. They looked like giant spiders with large guns all over them. Going before them were villains like Cinder Block, Madame Rouge, other villains of the Brotherhood of Evil, the Hive Headmaster, Plasmas, Adonis, all ready to deal pain and trouble. Immediately, Batman was on the horn to the kids and said, “Keep everyone calm if you can, and then join us, because we are going to need the help!”
Immediately, the heroes were making their changes, just as the MC was getting ready to announce the final tote. “Alright ladies and gentlemen, before we read this, let’s have just one more round of applause for every performer that graced this stage tonight!”
This was followed by the thunderous applause and standing approval of all present. After it calmed down, he said, “And now, thanks to the contributions worldwide, this school is going to stand for a long time!”
However, a silky, sinister voice came over the PA system, and the voice said, “You speak prematurely, my good man! Tonight, this school is done forever!”
Robin heard that, and said, “SLADE! What is he doing here?”
However, Tutu did not stick around to give an answer. She was already bound for the stage. Just as people were beginning to move around in such a fashion as a bunch of cattle getting ready to pounce, Princess Tutu took the stage and the mic, saying, “Please, friends, fear not! He gives idle threats, but know that the Justice League and the Teen Titans are here with us to help put down this threat! The safest place to be is here! Please, no one be worried!”
With that, a prominent comedian took to the stage and started into some improvised entertainment, keeping the crowd under control. Slade did not account for this, because panic would have been the perfect thing. He was about to try again, but by this point, Blue Beetle and Cyborg had already done a trace to where the feed was cutting in, and then cut it off. Now Slade was upset. The robots would be strong, but they were more to cause panic. Now they would have to face the heroes along with those that he had brought. “No matter,” he thought, “I’ll just have to take and teach the little ballet brat a lesson.”
However, another individual in the crowd wearing a U.S. Cavalry hat was making his way to one of the general purpose tents, knowing that a possible million dollar payday awaited him. If there were others of Slade’s ilk involved, he might be able to make bank and retire that one night!

In the meantime, the Justice Leaguers were attacking. Madame Rouge thought that she was going to make an impact on the crowd, but she ran into the last person she wanted to meet that night. “Hi, Rougie!” said the Flash, “I hear you’re fast, but can you catch the fastest man alive!”
She had the ability to shape shift and stretch, and many heroes had trouble with her, because, sometimes an attack would go forth, but she would just shift in such a fashion as to merely allow the attack to pass through. Her lightning speed with her stretching had overcome many, but the Flash was a different issue. Every time she tried to attack, he was always one step ahead of the situation. “What’s the matter, Rougie?” asked Flash, “I thought you were bad or something.”
She was becoming enraged, and began to stretch throughout the forest, which was Flash’s aim. He had her so confused in the dark that she did not know what was going on. Before long, she was indeed stretched to her limits, and tied into knots! Normally, she would just pull herself together, but this exhausted her so that she just passed out right there.

Claire was making her way in, but was confronted by Adonis, who, in reality, was just some skinny man wearing an outfit that made him super strong, and made him look like a hulking maniac. When he caught sight of Claire, he said, “Ha! A puny girl; is that all they have to send after me?”
“Oh, really darling?” asked Claire, “Then, if I am that puny, why not teach me a fine lesson?”
He charged forward, but he was no fighter, relying on his muscle to get the job done. Claire used her enhanced strength and agility to make him look like a stumbling fool. He kept crashing into trees, falling down, doing more damage to himself than one could inflict. He shouted, “Stop running, you coward, and fight!”
“Oh, I absolutely will, darling,” said Claire, as two fans appeared in her hands. He charged in again, and then heard the sound of screeching metal as a large gash was cut into his chest. They started the exchanged, but he did not realize that he was facing someone with Amazon blood. His armor was functioning, but the superstructure was taking bad hits. “You can’t be beating me!” he shouted, but Claire said, “I can, and I am, idiot!”
This was followed by a hail of feather darts that were striking in all the joints and actuators. Suddenly, he could not move, and this was made worse by the black vines now growing and entangling him, getting tighter and tighter. As they did, his armor was now crumbling, and it fell apart around him as the vines now restrained him. “You’re the one to talk about being fair, cheater!” said Claire, “Hang tight for me, would you dear?”

Wonder Woman had a gorilla in front of her, but this one spoke with a French accent and was intelligent—one Monsieur Malla. “It is too bad that you could not prevent yourself from entangling yourself in our affairs, mon cheri. It is regrettable that I shall now be forced to pummel you.”
“You can try if you like, Monkey Boy!” said Wonder Woman, which got Malla riled. “Mock me not, human!” he shouted and went to strike, but Wonder Woman merely got out of the way. She then threw the massive ape as if her were a child. He landed hard, but he was up again. Parry and throw, parry and throw, the two went at it. However, after one throw, Malla came up with a large bolder, and then was promptly tackled by another ape—colored green. That ape said, “You didn’t learn from the Doom Patrol, and you haven’t learned now. What makes people say you’re so intelligent anyway?” said Beast Boy, who got great approval from Wonder Woman from the assist. Yet, Malla was on his feet, and getting ready to charge, when he suddenly found a golden lasso around him, and he was now as docile as a snail. “Now, tell me who’s controlling the robots, and who is in charge of this.”
Being that, in that lasso, he could not lie, he said, “Savannah is bankrolling this, but the one controlling the robots is one Otto Drosselmyer, and he’s over there.”
That was all a certain set of ears needed to hear, as she made her way through the fight.

Cinder Block was having all he could handle from Robin, as Cyborg, Blue Beetle, and Red Devil were making short work of the army of ground robots that were coming in. Superman, the Marvels, and Starfire were smashing the large walkers like they were toys. Drosselmyer had designed them for destroying property and causing tragedy in crowds. He never expected this! General Immortus was leading the robots, and ran smack into Raven. He leveled his Sturmgeweher at her and opened fire, but a black dome covered her, and protected her from the bullets. “You can’t take that forever, child,” he said, but that was before a red, white, blue, and gold image appeared before him and blocked the bullets with her bracelets, after which Wonder Woman snatched the rifle from him. He, however, shot past her at Raven, saying, “You could not certainly destroy someone who can live forever!”
Suddenly four red eyes appeared under her hood where two glowing white once were, as she moaned, “Azra Metrion Zynthos!”
She stared to lift off the ground as the black mist rolled out from underneath her. She then said in many voices, “I don’t have to destroy you to take you out!”
She now knew how to use this to her advantage, and she was going to insure that he was so terrified that even Arkham would not take him in the madness she was about to cause.

Meanwhile, the Hive Headmaster, Brother Blood, was seeking to try to ambush Tutu, who was entangling both walker and robot alike in the forest foliage when he caught two boots in the gut. He staggered back, but not far. The Chess Knights now stood before him, and he laughed, saying, “I have faced the best of heroes. What makes you two think you can defeat me?”
They looked at each other, and then pulled their swords and said, “We pack a punch.”
With that, they attacked, but Brother Blood was keeping them at bay with the bracers on his wrist. Although they were giving him a time, he just chuckled and smiled, waiting for an opening. He was indeed toying with them. Once they left him and opening, he parried both of them off and sent the two after each other in such a fashion that they both had to put on the brakes lest they skewer each other. “Mere students: what makes you think you can beat me?”
However, he did not see what came behind as a Batarang struck the back of his head and brought him to his knees. “If you don’t like the students, try the teacher,” growled Batman as he came in. Brother blood was out of it, but not entirely. He was up quickly and he wheeled around to confront a charging Batman, when he found two boots to the back. That knocked him off balance as Batman clotheslined him. He flipped onto the ground hard, and when he started to come up, all groggy, Batman cold-cocked him and put him down for the count.

At that precise moment, Drosselmyer was watching everything crumble around him. He did not expect this, and he kicked himself for not taking all this into account. He was starting to try to leave when a small rock hit him in the back of the head. “Ow!” he screamed out in pain, but when he wheeled around to try to see what hit him, it happened again. Before he knew it, he was being pelted with rocks from all directions. He was now screaming in pain, saying, “Please, ghost, phantom, or whatever you are; please don’t torment an old man!”
A voice spoke right into his head with a sinister laugh, saying, “You want mercy? Do you deserve it, hehehehe!”
“What are you!” he said, now stumbling around, hitting limbs and tripping over stumps and roots, to which the answer came, “I know the evil that lurks in the hearts of all.”
He was but a small boy when he had heard tales of the Shadow, but he thought he was long gone. This sounded like a female, though, and he wondered if this was his daughter, granddaughter, or some other relative. “I thought you were gone?” he said, swinging wildly, hoping to get lucky and hit him, her, or it.
“I am never gone,” she said, “I am the Shadow, and again I ask: why should you get mercy?”
“TORMENT ME NOT!” she screamed now, but Shadow was not through, “You tried to kill every student on that campus! You tried to cause people to die tonight! Why should I let you leave these woods alive?”
He was about to run again when he heard a twig crack right next to him, and it was not his foot! He reached out and managed to grab her hoody. At this, she lost her focus and materialized. He held her fast, surprised at the strength of the old man. He was not the frail and helpless man that he led people to believe. He then said, “Silly girl: you are not the Shadow, and you have to learn a lot. He carried two .45s, because he acted alone.”
“That’s because she does not need them,” said another voice, and he looked up to see that Raven had materialized, and now hovered off the ground, cape spread, with her astral raven all around her. He let the Shadow go, and turned to run—right into a clothesline from Claire who had popped up behind him. He went down in a heap for the count. They then went to see if she was alright, and Claire said, “Elly, if you don’t want to do this anymore, we could understand if…”
However, Elly cut them off, and said, “I got careless. Don’t worry, because I think I’m catching the bug. He’s right though, I need to carry a pair of equalizers.”
“You certainly don’t mean guns, do you?” asked Raven.
“Well, not that,” she said, “But I… Wait! Where’s Tutu?”
“What do you mean,” asked Claire.
“She was right there,” said Elly, pointing to where she had seen her. Claire tied up Otto in black vines, and the three were off to find out if she was with the others.

As Brother Blood was being restrained, White Knight stood straight up and said, “Tutu!”
He wheeled around and said, “She was right there,” pointing to where she had stood. He then said, “I sense another presence with her, evil and twisted!”
Batman then said, “White Knight, come with me.”
About this moment, Nightwing had managed to pull himself away from things to catch up to Batman. He then said, “Boss, what’s up?”
“Follow me,” said Batman, “It has to be Slade, and I will need your help.”
However, he was to get more than he figured, as Magpie, who had now caught up to the action saw his paydays had been taken, but he happened to catch Slade come up and ambush Tutu, and knock her out. As soon as he saw that, he went after them—not just to collect a payday, but also to save the poor girl from a fate worse than death. At the same time, Blue Beetle suddenly noticed, “Hey, I lost my tazers!”
Cyborg just said, “Hey, it happens, I can make you a couple more.”
What he did not realize was that a certain shadow of a girl had come up, snatched them, and went after the group. There was no way this masked creep was going to hurt her friend and roommate. All these creeps had taken much from her—her home, clothes, artwork, well-being—and she would rather be damned to Hell then to see the loss of Tutu. Slade did not realize it, but roving death was on his tail!