[IC] Young Justice 2020: Zero Year

[LostDestiny]

James had spent most of his time at the fire station. He somehow managed to keep his original job and thus was on call when the info on the crocs was given to the rest of the team. They had just gotten back to the station when another call came in. It wasn't specifically a fire but they had to go anyway. Some lady was yelling jumbled words to the dispatcher about a giant lizard man who had popped out of the sewers and tried to attack her while using a short cut to get home. His team looked at him, all fully aware of his powers due to the investigation. "What?" He questioned them slightly confused. "You have to see if you can handle that lizard thing the lady was talking about. Don't worry about the call we got it handled." Said the fire chief. "But..." James had managed to get out before his team was gone. "Damn it." He muttered heading to the parking lot after striping out of his fire gear.

Now clad only in a pair of black shorts and a black muscle shirt he ran to his motorcycle, shoved his helmet on his head and headed toward the scene. He didn't have anything to cover his face so his tinted helmet would have to do. The ride was freezing but he fixed that but slightly raising his body temp. He arrived at the scene shortly and headed around to where nobody would see him. The police had yet to enter the sewer so I figured it would be best gf he did so now. Pushing the out of place man hole cover out of the way he dropped down into the stink below. Following a distinct but light sound of splashing that echoed off of the empty walls.

[Omega Man]

Collaboration by Aro & KL

Days Earlier...

Black Hood watched from the viewing room as Photon, Guardian Angel, Scourge and Kid Rogue take on Magenta. The four had surprisingly worked quite well together, and with a little practice they'd be quite a force to reckon with. Before the simulation was finished and he could congratulate them on a great job his cellphone began to beep in his pocket, gaining what he could only assume was a stern glance from Red Tornado. "I'll just take care of this outside." Michael said as he pulled his phone form his pocket and slowly backed out of the door, nearly bumping into Superman on his way inside. "Who could be calling me at this-" the hero stopped when he saw that the call was from one of his contacts in the city.

Days Later...

The Young Justice Program was already off to a wonderful start. Wonder Woman had to take the heroine formerly called Foresight back to Paradise Island. The day Shock had cooked for the team she got a phonecall from her brother Static. Something was wrong with one of her parents back in Dakota, heart attack maybe. So much was still so unclear. By now, everyone had been briefed on the Killer Crocs and the disappearance of several of the homeless people. As a homeless person on Earth in Metropolis for nearly three weeks, Ditto was hit a little hard and wanted to do everything in his power to take the fight to these things so that they couldn't prey on the down and out citizens of Star City. Ditto was at an advantage, he didn't need another member of the 'Program for back-up. He was his own back-up.

He suited up, nearly 11 am, and grabbed a bag with a few of the clothes he'd acquired when first landing on Earth. The remains of his ship are in Superman's Fortress, but the ratty clothes should make the triplicating man look homeless one more time. He headed for the teleporter room.

Michael had spent that last few days scouring the city for any sign of what his contact had called him about days ago. "Giant lizardmen," the 'Hood grumbled to himself as he watched the streets below from a perch near one of the first disappearances. "Why can't the really strange stay in Gotham with Bats. Should lizards be his thing? Why they gotta come here and wreck things?"

Black Hood sighed, thinking that today would be just like the last several days. More disappearance, and nothing to show for it. "With the news coverage the League should be getting involved with this now, hopefully the others will have some more info when I run in with them." He said as he stood up in his perch and looked towards the park. The hooded hero was pulled form his thoughts though when several screams echoed up from the alleys near him. "Huh, what do you know," He drew a zipline arrow from his quiver, slamming one end into the wall behind him and shooting the other end towards a fire escape over the alley. "The criminal elements really do go back to the scene of the crime." The screaming had died down but he could see people rushing about the streets around him, it seemed like there were multiple occurrences like the one near him happening all over town.

"Well," He placed his bow over the taut line. "Let's go say hello to the big, scary crocodile men!." He said as he slid down the line to the fire escape.

Kilian was already in an alley, nearly two blocks up from where Black Hood had been perched. The alien hero had been crouched behind a dumpster with sunglasses on to keep the glow from his yellow eyes down for nearly two hours. The attacks were becoming more frequent now, not just at night but all throughout the day now as well. Like they were multiplying. When one of the Crocs approached the homeless looking Ditto, it was surprised by the strength the alien hero had. Even more so when he split into three individuals.

"You won't take another unfortunate soul if I have anything to say about it!" Ditto yelled as the Croc darted off towards a manhole cover in the alley.

The day was just starting, it was barely past 1 o'clock in the afternoon.

Aro/~KL~

[TheUnknowable]

Photon was cloaking himself as best he could when he saw Ditto yelling at the Croc man. "Wait up" he said to Ditto, appearing beside him. "I'll come with you. At the very least, I can light the place up, and if they attack, a few laser beams should help." He then jumped down the manhole.

[Damo021]

It had been a couple of days since the start of it all, Croc were attacking the city, taking homeless people of the streets utilising alley way and sewer as a means and method to the coordinated attacks, At first they seem to go unnoticed until more went missing at night, Then for some reason the attacks started during the day. When the initial waved of daytime assault had occurred L'Oriana was already in the city in civilian attire, Heck she was seeing the sights and getting some clothes shopping done as part of her understanding more of human culture on this planet, it was better than sitting in HQ all the time reading up on such things and getting hands on was more preferable.

At first when it was all going on screams and people running away from said attacks as they were happening, L'Oriana dropped everything she was doing to investigate, of course she at the time had no clue as to what was going on having no contact with others at the base who were getting briefed. Her investigations led her to come across one of these croc creatures taking a homeless very quickly towards the sewers to which she was not quick enough to stop, The second one she encountered was different, her curiosity got her into a spot of trouble where she engaged one, although the fight was not a simple one, her efforts was enough for the homeless individual to escape, however L'Oriana had to let the croc go and head back to base.

Days later Starbolt was geared up and ready to go, she was briefed much more one what was going on and who they were dealing with, if only communication was much more accessible for the team, Instead she would have to go out there and improvise against the enemy until she found her fellow team mates and assist them, Making sure her ring was secure on her, Starbolt flew out the HQ in search of more people needing rescue and to properly engaged these crocs, show them what a Tamerean can do.

Once back in the city Starbolt engaged another croc, stopping it before it could escape into the sewers, The battle was kinda quick paced as the creature had surprising speed to go with it strength, Close quarter probably was not advised as Starbolt tried to combine flying with her powers to do ranged damage, Not always simple as it was easy to underestimate the enemy along with her inexperience. The pair ended doing more damage to the surrounding area than each other but no one else was hurt or seriously injured, eventually she forced it to retreat after getting some good blows in from her powers. It was around this time that Starbolt spotted Hood, She recognized him from there brief encounter in the kitchen and thus went on to towards him to catch up and assist if needed, The numbers game would come in handy against the Crocs.

[TheUnknowable]

The three Dittos followed the crocodile man into the sewers below. The smell was horrific, and the alien hero still didn't understand why sewers were built the way they were. On his home planet of Cargg their waste was teleported to the center of their planet's core. That however wasn't important, vision becoming impossible even with glowing yellow eyes.. that was another story. The three Ditto's joined into a single hero once more to make less footsteps in the sewage water. Kilian was thankful Batman had mentioned needing a real suit rather than a t shirt and jeans, however white probably wasn't the best color to wear around in a sewer.

When his vision couldn't help him anymore, before seeing a faint glow in the distance, Kilian shut his eyes. Maybe the crocodile man was hunting him and following the glow. It seemed to stop momentarily, but then footsteps rushed upon Ditto who opened his eyes and screamed...

"I've got you now, creature!" he screamed splitting into three once again and surrounding... a luminating Photon?

"What was the human word for this again... awkward?" Ditto asked now being able to see around them and absorbing his duplicates.

Photon looked over to see Ditto absorb his duplicates. "Yeah, that's it. I saw something over there." He pointed towards a side corridor, then lit up his hand, turning it into a flashlight. "Come on." he said, then started walking toward the corridor.

A few minutes later they stepped into a large room. Photon held his hand up and lit the room. On the other side of the room he saw a pair of eyes reflecting the light of his hand.

"What are you doing with the homeless?" Ditto asked splitting into three individuals.

The crocodile man monster kept his distance, he was cornered and not nearly the beast the original Killer Croc was. Ditto's patience had been lost. The 'prime' Ditto clenched his fists. As the hero approached the behemoth he said bluntly...

"You WILL answer me. Who did this to you, do you remember ANYTHING?" Ditto question as the crocodile man buffed up his chest and stood a bit more menacingly.

That's when Ditto's duplicate turned to see the only entrance to the room they were in was blocked. Another crocodile man stood in the path.

Photon turned around, putting his back to Ditto. "Don't try anything." he said to the croc-man. It stood for a few minutes, staring at them, then roared. "Close your eyes." he said to Ditto, and a second later lit up the room until it was several times brighter that the surface at noon. The Crocs covered their eyes in pain, and he dimmed the light. Photon shot them both with low-power heat beams, and they crawled up the walls, through vents further up the wall.

"Well, that went better than expected." Photon said. "Want to track them down?"

"We don't have much choce. Batman said there's over two dozen missing persons reports, people just turn the other cheek because it's the civilians nobody cares about..." Ditto said outloud.

"But I care..." he thought to himself.

KL/U