Freya's POV:

From below, I see that the others were already waiting near Rick's car and I carefully land in front of them. "Sorry, we're late." I greet once I carefully help Yolanda to the ground and Courtney gives a small nod.

"It's alright, but..." She trails off at the large building in front of us. "are you sure The Gambler's in here?"

"Who comes up with these names?" Rick asked, his voice laced with annoyance. He didn't look too thrilled about the fact he had to wear his Hourman suit.

"I like 'em." Beth grinned as she adjusted the cape around her shoulders. "Chuck says the signal's still active. So, yep, he's in there."

"Wonder what he's doing," Yolanda whispered.

"Who cares?" Rick muttered but Courtney walks over to stand in front of us.

"Okay. You guys sure about this?" She asked, making sure to meet each of our eyes.

Rick flips over the hourglass which sent a wave of gold energy to spread over his body. "Hell yes."

Yolanda nods. "I'm sure."

"Yeah. Me too." Beth hesitantly answered.

I nod. "I'm waiting for the moment to say 'I told you so'." I sarcastically remark.

"Let's move. It's time to start getting answers." Rick stated and tries to step around Courtney but she stopped him.

"Hey. Follow my lead." She tried to order.

"Yeah. Whatever." He muttered and stepped around her which caused her to let out a sigh as we followed behind him. He stops at the door that had a pin code to the side and he lifted his fist. "I got it."

"Stop!" I scold before he could smash it. "You're going to set off the alarm!"

"Well, how are we supposed to get inside then?" Rick raised his voice.

"I can do it." Beth suggested as she quickly stepped in front of us. "The goggles can see the code."

She dials in the four-digit number and the door barely creaks open which causes Courtney to let out a chuckle. "Nice."

"Thanks." Beth grinned before she gestured for us to go inside. "After you."

Courtney steps inside first and Rick followed after with the rest of us trailing behind.

I look around the empty hallways, surprised at the fact that not a single security guard was around. Specifically, several unconscious ones if Steven was here.

We turn to the next hallway and see an empty desk but see a pair of feet sticking out from the side.

We slowly approach the desk until my eyes widened slightly at the sight of the security guard who laid dead with his eyes open in the puddle of his blood.

I glance at everyone else, seeing each of their shocked expressions at the sight of the body.

I knew exactly what they felt. That gut-wrenching feeling in their stomach filled with terror. They knew that superheroes had to sometimes deal with seeing a dead body, but not this soon.

"Is he okay?" Beth worriedly asked and see Yolanda move her hand away from her mouth while Rick didn't dare take his eyes away from the body.

"Aww, what do we have here?" I hear a voice I recognized and I shut my eyes, knowing exactly who it was.

The five of us quickly turn to the next hallway, seeing the two figures stand at the other end of the hall, blocking one of the doors.

One wore a black and yellow sleeveless costume with a paw-shaped mask that covered her left eye while the other wore a grey and silver-ridged hockey vest with a white and black hockey mask that covered his face. On his left arm was a padded shield and in his right hand, he held a metal bat.

Oh god, both of my parents were here.

"They do not look like hackers." Rick muttered in annoyance as he held his fists up.

"Chuck says they're called Sportsmaster and Tigress." Beth frantically whispered. "They work under Icicle."

"So what do we do now?" Yolanda worriedly asked.

"Okay," Courtney turned to us. "Let's lead them outside, and we keep them together so we can stay together." She explained.

The rest of us nod, but Rick shook his head. "I can do this myself." He grunts as he sprints forward, causing all of our eyes to widen.

"Hourman!" I call out but it was too late.

Tigress and Sportsmaster cross each other's paths but he guides my mom to evade Rick's tackle by giving her a boost.

Yolanda tries to rush forward as well but is instantly kicked down by Tigress, sending her to collapse on her back.

My dad slams his bat against the back of Rick's head who stumbles against the door. Before he could recover, Sportsmaster slams the end of his bat to Rick's chest, breaking through the door which caused Rick to let out a groan.

"Stay down, kid." I hear my dad order before he meets back up with my mom in the middle of the hallways that split off into two different directions.

"I knew this was a bad idea." I scold as I help Yolanda to her feet before they could let on another attack but see the smirk form on my mom's face.

"Copy that." I hear my dad mutter under his breath before they both split off from each other.

From the back, I see Rick already had pushed himself up. "I got Jason Vorheeves." Rick growled as he sprinted towards the direction my dad ran off to.

"I got tiger-lady." Yolanda added before she sprinted off as well while Beth and I followed behind Courtney.

"Wait!" Courtney yelled out. "We need to stick together!" She groaned.

"I'll help Yolanda with Tigress." I tell Courtney and she nods before we split away from each other, hearing Beth worriedly follow behind me.

Beth and I arrive on time to see Yolanda desperately try to climb on the wall but my mom lunges and grabs ahold of her ankles.

"Come here, kitty-cat." She sneered before she pulls her back down and slams her body on the floor.

I hop down from the ledge before my mom could reload her crossbow and kick her off of Yolanda, earning a grunt to escape from her lips.

She tilts her head to the side. "Sportsmaster and I killed a Doctor Fate." She spoke as she curiously eyed my frame while I held my fists up. "Won't be too hard to kill another."

I've sparred with my parents before so this shouldn't be too hard.

I hope.

She's the first to rush forward and slice with her claws but I block it with my arm and try to jab her ribcage. She blocks it with her knee and tries to strike again but I move my head to the side, dodging her attack.

Series of punches towards each other were thrown, but almost as if it was memorized, we dodged each of our attacks.

Suddenly, I managed to grab a hold of her wrists and she lets out a growl as I tightened my grip under her, practically never taking my stares away from her.

Yolanda sprints from behind with her claws extended but instantly my mom's foot slides behind my ankles, causing me to slam my head on the ground.

She swiftly turns around and steps out of the way, causing Yolanda to lose her footing for a moment but it was enough for my mom to grab her arm and twist it behind her back. My mom chucks her to slam face-first against the concrete wall and Yolanda sinks to the ground once more.

Before I could crawl to help her, I feel a foot press down on my chest and see the crossbow in my mom's hands as she aimed it towards my throat with a smirk.

I shut my eyes, waiting for her to push the trigger but the sound of a fire extinguisher goes off along with the feeling of her foot off of my chest.

I look up and see Beth aiming the fire extinguisher towards Tigress as she struggled to breathe.

"Beth?" I grunt as she quickly helped Yolanda up to her feet.

"Run! Run, run!" She panicked, ushering for me to run faster through the other hallway as I helped Yolanda try to sprint with her arm around my neck. "How do we get out of here!"

Thankfully, there was a door at the end of the hallway and she quickly pushes the door open. Once we step outside, we barely see Courtney stand up from the floor with a pained expression as well as Rick who still laid on the floor, clutching onto his side.

"Hourman." Beth whispered and she quickly ran to Rick with Yolanda who unwrapped her arm around my neck and followed behind.

"We're going into overtime." I hear my dad's whisper echo in my head which causes me to turn away from everyone else.

"Mission accomplished?" I hear my mom's whisper as well until my dad pulls out his hockey stick.

"Not quite, babe." He tosses a hockey puck on the ground and hits it straight towards Courtney. It latches right onto the Cosmic Staff and it begins to blink red, causing my eyes to widen in realization.

It's a bomb.

I fly straight towards Courtney and snatch the staff from her hands before I quickly fly as far as I could. I chuck the staff into the air and instantly it explodes in the sky, but the blast sends me off balance which causes me to fall thousands of feet high along with the staff.

"Come on, work!" I grunt, trying as hard not to panic and get myself to fly again. I shut my eyes and mustered whatever energy I had left and felt the speed of the drop slow down enough for me to slam into the windshield of one of the cars.

"Doctor Fate!" I hear someone call out as I weakly lift my head with a grunt.

I try to push myself up but the agonizing pain on my shoulder instantly forced me to lay back down.
I tilt my head to the side and saw the staff glowed in Courtney's hands, causing a bit of relief to fill in my chest since it didn't get destroyed.

I glance at the others, seeing the determination in their eyes, indicating they weren't giving up just yet despite the smirks on my parents' expressions. Except for Beth who was practically terrified.

They take several steps forward towards them but the sounds of jets behind them, cause them to stop in their spots with their eyes widened.

I look up and see Pat in his STRIPE robotic suit slowly land behind our friends, but judging Rick, Beth, and Yolanda's expressions, they weren't sure of who the hell it was.

"Don't worry." Courtney assured, seeing that Yolanda worriedly glanced between the robot and my parents. "He's with us." She confidently stated before they faced forward.

"Date-nights over." I hear my dad's whispers towards my mom who looked slightly intimidated at the size of the robot.

He digs into his back pocket and throws what seemed like a shuttlecock into the air. Once it hit the ground, a bright smokescreen clouds our vision which causes us to look away.

Once the smoke cleared up, they look around for any sight of them but I knew they disappeared. It was better to leave a fight they knew they wouldn't win.

I let out a breath I had been holding for a while but the speakers from Pat's robotic suit crackles to life. "Kids, let's go. Now." He sternly ordered.

I slowly force myself to sit up but see Beth rush over to me with a worried expression. "I got you."

She tries to help me up but I slap her hands away. "Leave me alone, I'm fi—" The sharp pain hits my shoulder again and I accidentally let out a grunt. "Agh!"

"Your shoulder is bleeding out so I'm helping you whether you like it or not." She slightly raised her voice.

I look over my shoulder and my eyes widen at the sight of the wound that heavily bled out. "Okay, okay. I'll take the help."

.·。.·゜✭·.·✫·゜·。. *✭˚·ﾟ✧*·ﾟ*✭˚·ﾟ✧*·

"One more glass shard, ready?" Beth asked and I nod, keeping my stares on Rick and Yolanda who were staring at Pat's STRIPE robot in awe.

Pat took us back to his workshop and immediately pulled Courtney aside to talk, leaving the rest of us in the lower level.

With reluctance, Beth forced me to sit on the chair so she could take out the glass shards that were lodged into my back.

"Just do it." I mutter, using my arm to cover my eyes. I feel her pluck the shard instantly which causes me to let out a hiss. "Thanks."

"It's no problem." She grinned as she put the shard in the garbage.

I shake my head. "No, I mean like for earlier. With the fire extinguisher." I stand up from my chair, my back making a small crack once I stretched. "You got Yolanda and I out of there."

"Oh, that was all Chuck." She explained, tapping on the side of her goggles. "I didn't really do much."

"Beth, it was obvious you were pretty terrified of just being there." I chuckle. "It took a lot of bravery for you to even try to attack one of the ISA members instead of just taking off. So...nice job."

"Thanks, Freya."

I nod as we look towards Rick and Yolanda, but my eyes landed on Yolanda, seeing that she slipped off her cowl and held it against her hip. "I'm just glad she didn't get too hurt." I spoke, seeing the bruise on her cheek.

Yolanda locks eyes with me and walks over to us with a small smile. "Hey."

I slip off my helmet. "Hi."

"I'm...gonna check out the robot with Rick." Beth awkwardly cleared her throat before she walked away from us.

"How's your shoulder?" Yolanda pointed to my shoulder. "You doing okay?"

I nod as I glance behind my bandaged shoulder. "Definitely will leave a scar," I trail before I face her again. "but I'll survive. Just not excited for tomorrow since I'll be pretty sore."

"Same." Yolanda let out a small laugh before she gestured to herself. "I look like a wreck."

"No, you look pretty." I answer but my eyes widen slightly, feeling my face flush once I see her raise a brow in suspicion. "Pretty nice! Pretty nice."

"Uh-huh."

I clear my throat. "Oh wow, I can't believe Pat has a huge robot." I point as I walk over to stand next to Rick.

Rick shook his head with disbelief. "There is no way he built this out of cars."

"More like twenty cars." Yolanda spoke as her eyes trailed at the height of the robot.

"Pat should work for NASA." Beth added.

"Maybe this shows that Court was right." I say, causing the three of them to turn to me.

Rick slowly nods. "There's more to Pat than we thought." He muttered before he scratched the back of his neck. "No hard feelings, right?"

I nod with a fake smile. "New start."

"Guys," We all look up to Courtney and Pat, seeing that they were standing on the balcony. "I hope your schedules are clear after school because this team needs a lot of training if we want to have a chance to take down the Injustice Society." Pat sternly stated which caused my eyes to widen.

You've got to be kidding me.

"Wait so does that mean...?" Yolanda trailed off, a smile starting to appear on her face.

"I can keep Chuck?" Beth excitedly asked.

"After tonight, it shows that we need to do better at working together." Courtney responded as she went down the stairs from the balcony with Pat trailing behind her. "This is your guys' last chance if you want to back out now."

"You already know my answer." Rick said as he crossed his arms.

"If I get to talk to Chuck still, I'm in." Beth added as well.

Yolanda glanced at the cowl in her hands before she looked up with a nod. "I'm in too."

Everyone turns to me expectantly, waiting for my answer and I knew at that point that it was hopeless to change their minds.

"If everyone's in," I let out a sigh. "then I'm in too."

.·。.·゜✭·.·✫·゜·。. *✭˚·ﾟ✧*·ﾟ*✭˚·ﾟ✧*·