Chapter 1: Pilot
Chapter Text
Richard is woken up by an electric shock to his temple. He cries in pain as his eyes shoot open. He looks confused. His face bruised, his lip swollen, and blood coming out of his nose. He looks at the man in front, hatred in his eyes. He tries to move but he can't, he is cuffed to a chair. He is wearing his Nightwing suit minus the mask, a red bird insignia on his chest.
"That blood on ya face, seems familiar, ain't it mate?" Mad Mod teases in a stern tone. He takes out a gun and loads it. "The Mark of Scath, where is it?" he demands dead serious. Behind him there's a tall woman with short hair, a grin on her face.
Richard looks confused, he tries to remember, his mind a little foggy right now. "I... I gave it to you" he says not sounding completely sure.
"Grayson… where is the Mark of Scath?" Mad Mod repeats. He doesn't buy Richard's response.
"Wait, what are you saying? That wasn't…? I gave it to…" Richard mumbles, his head hurting badly.
"I will count to ten, you are going to tell me where the Mark of Scath is, or she dies." Mad Mod moves to the side revealing Kory. She is also cuffed to a chair and her face swollen, blood on her cheek. Tape over her mouth gagging her. Mad Mod points his gun at her temple.
Richard widens his eyes as he tries to lean forward. They make eye contact. A pleading look on her eyes. He looks panicked.
"Kory, it's going to be okay" he says trying to comfort her. "It's going to be okay, you understand?"
Kory nods, tears threatening to come out of her eyes.
"One" Mad Mod counts. Richard looks at him.
"Listen to me, I gave you exactly what you asked me, you want anything more, I can get it to you. If there was a misunderstanding I can fix it, whatever you want!"
"Two."
Richard closes his eyes for a second and reopens them. He better change tactics. He tries to calm down. "Listen… let's talk, we can talk like gentleman, Mod."
The woman behind continues smiling.
"Three."
"Fuck!" Richard yells as he moves trying to escape, but he can't, the cuffs are too tight. Kory looks down. Richard tries to calm down. "Alright, I know where the Mark of Scath is, I can help you!" He says looking at Mad Mod straight on the eyes.
"Like youla helped me when this skank almost killed me?... That way?" he says motioning to Kory.
"Put your gun down, I won't talk to you like this" Richard says in a comprehensive tone.
"That's ya choice, lad… four."
Richard looks completely scared but tries to look calm. He has to, for Kory. "The Mark of Scath is with Victor, he has it. You want to know where he is, let her go, because…"
Mad Mod doesn't let him finish. "Victor doesn't have it; you wouldn't have given it to him. Five."
Richard looks at Kory and back to Mad Mod. "I can get it for you, but if you kill her, you get nothing."
"Six."
Again, Richard tries to move. "You listen to me! The only way you are going to…!"
Mad Mod shoots Kory in the leg.
"NO!" Richard yells. Kory tries to scream but she can't. Tears rolling from her eyes. She is in deep pain.
"You think this is a game?!" Mad Mod yells.
"Son of a bitch!"
"You think this is a game?! That I wouldn't do it?! Where is it?!"
Richard tries to contain his anger as he looks at Kory crying. "Look at me" he says to Kory.
"Where is it?!"
"Stay with me" he talks to Kory. Again, trying to comfort her.
"Seven! Seven!"
Richard looks at Mad Mod. A death look on his eyes. "I'm going to kill you; I swear I'm going to kill you!"
Mad Mod points the gun again at Kory's temple.
"Eight!"
Richard closes his eyes. He takes a deep breath. "Please" he whispers. Kory looks at him. He tries to think of a way to escape, but he has nothing, just to pray. "Please, don't do this, just let her go." A tear comes out of his eye. "I promise you; I can figure out what happened."
"Nine."
Richard looks at him. The tears now rolling freely through his face. "Listen, listen…" he trails. Mad Mod looks at him, waiting for what he has to say. "I want to help you. I want to help you get whatever you want, but you have to do what is right. And you know what is right."
Mad Mod appears to think about it, but ultimately smirks.
Richards eyes widen. He understands that look. "No…" he whispers, a crack on his voice. His whole world crumbling around him. "No…" He looks at Kory. She is looking at him, crying. He looks back at Mod. "No…"
"Ten."
Mad Mod pulls the trigger.
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ONE MONTH BEFORE
A huge ocean liner is located down at the port in Jump City. A few men descend big boxes from inside placing them at the shoreline. A few others guard, machine guns in hand. They seem foreign, maybe European.
At a near building, a figure is watching them from the roof. With a binocular he observes each of the armed men. He counts seven. He touches his earpiece. "Thirty-caliber, seven of them" he informs. Its Victor.
A big truck approaches the scene and parks next to the boxes. Two men descend and start loading the boxes into the truck. Victor notices it.
"Here are the bag boys, you can proceed."
"Copied that" a voice says through the earpiece. "Team one, move."
A black van parks right outside of the port and a SWAT team starts descending from it. They have grey suits with helmets on and automatic guns on their hands.
A young lieutenant is at another van watching all through various screens. "Team two, move" he orders.
Another SWAT team approaches from a boat.
Victor watches from his spot as both teams approach the scene. "Remember we want the truck to leave without suspecting so it can lead us to their place. Then you move to the cargo men."
"My men know the plan, Stone" the lieutenant says.
"Just checking, Carson." Suddenly a shot echoes through the place. Victor is startled as he looks through his binocular the source. Then another shot, and another. A shootout commencing between the men and the SWAT teams. "What is going on?! Who fired?!" He demands.
Lieutenant Carson looks surprised. "Who fired? It wasn't one of us" he says.
Victor notices as the panicked men get on the truck and drive away from the port. "They know we are here and now they are getting away!" he calls.
The lieutenant thinks. "Team three move to chase the truck."
"They'll never make it in time" Victor reasons. He looks at the driving truck. It probably will take the turn bordering his building leading them straight into the highway. He walks up to the edge of the building and looks down. The building its ten floors tall. Indeed, the truck takes the turn. He takes out a blue chip and places it inside his temple. A blue energy expanding throughout his whole body.
Victor jumps from on top of the building landing with his knees and fist in a superhero pose. "Watch out!" one of the men yells as the driver doesn't have time to react and the truck crashes into Victor. Both men instantly fly out throw the window in front. Victor gets up, he doesn't even have a scratch, barely felt the contact.
"Stone, you got it?" the lieutenant's voice echoes through his earpiece.
"Yeah, I got them." He walks to the back of the truck and opens it. Instantly two more men inside start shooting at him. Victor rolls avoiding the bullets. In a quick move he charges his canon and fires at then knocking them unconscious. He looks at his control panel. Ninety eight percent battery it shows. He smirks. Ever since he had started using the max 8 chip his abilities had improved. He was faster, stronger, his canon had a better fire rate and didn't waste his body battery.
He walks once again to the truck and opens it. Inside there are four of the boxes they were loading up. He opens one revealing machine guns, probably more than fifty in this box alone. The van arrives at the crash and more SWAT men descend along the lieutenant. He approaches Victor with a smile on his face.
"Good job, Stone, we shut down their whole operation here."
Victor looks at him, he isn't smiling. "Who fired?" he asks.
The lieutenant is taken aback by Victor's tone. "One of the men, thought he had been spotted and fired."
"It's the third operation we shut down this month without being able to link it up with their boss, who knows how many more we are missing, next time, make sure to tell the plan to your men"
"Is that a threat, Stone?" Victor doesn't answer. "You know who you sound like? Your old buddy Nightwing" The lieutenant adds.
Victor is about to retort but stops. He thinks. "Do you know where the ship came?"
"My men are checking now, they think Russia probably, we can interrogate the guards, but I don't think they'll talk."
Victor narrows his eyes.
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It's a cold night at Moscow. The streets seem deserted. Kory is standing below a bridge. Next to her is a man with red hair, green eyes and a red beard. Both have black coats on. Although Kory is usually not affected by earth temperatures, she must admit she is feeling a bit chilly right now. Behind them is their car. They are illuminated by the light of a single lamppost illuminating them from above.
Kory looks at her partner. "Do you think he is coming?"
"I do not doubt it, dear" he says in a Russian accent. "You must be patient, relax."
"I am the relaxed" she retorts.
The man laughs. "See? Your language slips when you are nervous."
"Perhaps I require more lip contact to avoid the slip ups" she says in a flirtatious tone. The man raises an eyebrow and looks at her.
Just then two black cars arrive and park a few feet from them. Five men descend. One of them takes a step forward, he is a bit overweight with lengthy orange hair and an open overcoat.
The man next to Kory smiles. "Like I told you, Russian punctuality." He walks up to them and extends his hand. "Leonid Kovar" he introduces himself.
Their adversary doesn't answer. He alternates his gaze from Leonid to Kory. "Wait, I know you" he says pointing at Kory. "You used to work with Nightwing, didn't you?" He looks at Leonid. "I won't make traits with vigilantes, we are done." With that he turns around going to his car.
"I can assure you I no longer have any relationship with Nightwing" Kory defends herself. The man stops. "Should I rip the balls off of your men to prove that?" Leonid smiles looking at the man.
The orange hair man turns around and laughs. "I like her." He walks up to Leonid and extends his hand. "Dwayne Mcduffie, or you can call me Controllus."
Leonid raises an eyebrow. "Not very Russian."
"Irish." They shake hands.
"Do you have your part?" Leonid asks.
"Where is yours?"
"Close" Leonid says.
Controllus laughs and nods. He signals to one of his men. He approaches them with a briefcase and hands it to Controllus. He opens it and shows it to Leonid. Inside there are two huge golden bullets.
"You know how difficult it is to get one of this from Mad Mod? But… for the right price…"
Leonid looks at him. "Why does Mad Mod want them?" he asks.
"What do you care?"
"I like to know with whom I do business."
"You are doing business with me! And now do you have my part?!" Controllus says raising his voice.
Leonid nods and signals Kory to approach. She walks up to them with a cellphone in her hands. The number ten million appears on the screen. Kory presses send.
"There you have, ten million euros, untraceable" Leonid says.
Controllus checks his phone. He smiles. "Pleasure doing business with you" he says as he hands him the briefcase. He looks at Kory. "I can also give you my number" he says in a flirtatious tone. Kory doesn't answer, her eyes flashing green in a warning tone. He quickly turns around, gets in his car along his men and leaves the area.
Leonid smiles as he watches them go. "The pleasure is all mine." He turns to Kory. "We got him." Kory smiles. "So… lip contact?"
Kory laughs as she walks up to him and places her arms around his neck. She leans forward to kiss him but stops. "Although I am uncertain about the beard."
"Oh? I can fix that" he says as he sticks out his fake beard. "And the hair." He takes off the red hair wig revealing black hair. "And the eyes." He reaches to his eyes and takes off a pair of contact lenses revealing blue eyes behind them. Its Richard. "And the voice." He takes off a transparent chip stuck to his throat. "That's better" he says in his usual tone, the Russian accent disappearing.
Kory smiles at him. "I do believe I like you better this way." They both smile as they close the distance between them.
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An old long-distance bus reaches the terminal at the outskirts of Jump City. Inside all passengers descend except a sleeping girl. She has a hoodie covering part of her face and a backpack over her. The driver notices her through the rear window.
"Hey kid, get out!" He yells.
Raven gets up, confused she looks around. She seems tired, her baggy eyes being evidence of that. She sees the driver and nods as she descends from the bus.
The driver turns on the engine and drives off leaving Raven alone at the side of the road. She looks around. Theres not much, just the countryside outside the city and some cars passing by. She puts on her backpack and starts walking to Jump.
Raven reaches an old diner by the road and enters it. She looks around. The place seems rather dirty, three or four customers in their tables, a cook behind the counter and a waitress walking around the place. Keeping her gaze down she walks in and sits by the counter. The cook looks at her. She reaches into her backpack and pulls out some coins and leaves them at the counter.
"Coffee."
The cook looks at her and then at the coins. He has a stern look in his eyes, but ultimately nods. Raven stands up and walks to a table by the window. She gazes through it. She notices a raven standing over a high voltage cable at the side of the road. A few seconds later the waitress comes to her table and leaves a cup of coffee. Raven looks at her reflection in the coffee. She notices her baggy eyes and sighs.
She is about to take a sip when suddenly two pair of red eyes appear in the reflection. Raven gasps as she flinches back scared of what she saw. She looks around. No one seems to be paying attention to her. She looks back to the coffee, the red eyes are no longer there. She pushes the cup to the side, not feeling like drinking from it anymore. She turns to the window watching the cars passing by. The last few days being difficult to her. Scratch that, the last few weeks being difficult to her.
The waitress comes back and leaves a bowl of soup on her table. "From the gentleman back there" she says signaling with her head to another table and leaves.
Raven looks in the direction she signaled. She makes eye contact with a man with pale skin, white hair and sky-blue eyes. He is also wearing a black poncho over some white clothes. Raven must admit he is quite handsome. The stranger smiles at her. She blushes and nods to him in appreciation. She turns to the soup and takes a sip. She sighs in content, the temperature of the soup being the adequate.
"The food here is not the best but I must admit the soup is not bad" a voice in a wordy British accent says. Raven looks up. Standing next to her is the stranger, looking at her straight on the eyes. "May I sit?"
Raven nods shyly. "Thank you for the soup."
He sits in front of her. "My pleasure, you seemed hungry… where are my manners? Malchior of Nol, at your service" he introduces himself with a bow.
"Raven." She pauses as she catches on what he said. "Wait, you said Nol? You have a title?"
"Indeed, I come from a long, boring family linage down at Nol."
Raven giggles. "You are funny."
"You've been there before?"
Raven denies with her head. "Just read about it."
Malchior raises an eyebrow. "Where? If I may ask."
"In The Book of…" she pauses once more. She doesn't want to scare him away. "Either way, aren't you a little far from your land?"
"I am, like I told you, family can be a little… overwhelming so I figured why not take some time off, recently I had a dream about this city, so I decided I wanted to visit it."
Raven's eyes shoot wide open. "I also had a dream about Jump, that's why I came back."
"You used to live here?"
Raven nods. "Yeah."
"You don't say, how interesting we both dreaming about the same place."
Raven shrugs. "It was last week, the same day of my birthday" she says not really referring to her actual birthday but to the day she had been found, according to the file Victor had given to her, but Malchior didn't need to know that.
"An awfully coincidence, may I ask how many?"
Five. "Eighteen" Raven says. If you take into account she had been found as a teenager, her past life being mainly a blur. "Yeah, I…" she trails as suddenly she is hit by a strong headache. She leans back on her seat. She is in pain.
"Raven?"
The headache stops. Raven opens her eyes. She looks at Malchior, he seems worried.
"Are you alright?"
Raven nods. "Yeah, sorry, I… sorry I must go." She says as she picks up her backpack and leaves the table. "Thanks again for the soup."
Malchior looks at her as she exits the diner.
________________________________________
A guard is at his night shift at a video store. He is currently seated bored looking through some magazines. He suddenly hears some falling objects. He looks up. He can't see anyone. The place is completely dark, nothing out of the extraordinary. Cautiously he stands up and walks to where the noise came from.
He reaches and aisle where he notices three video cases on the floor. He sighs as he picks them up and places them back in their place. As soon as he turns around a big green snake comes creeping from behind. Slowly the snake starts transforming into a small scrawny boy with green hair with a black and purple jacket. He looks to where the guard is. He is back on his chair reading the same magazine. He turns back to the movie cases. He grabs two and looks at them, as if deciding which one he wants. "Super Ninja Showdown 8" or "Maniac Fury: Attack of the Protozoids". The decision proving to be impossible he shrugs as he places them inside his jacket and runs to the exit.
The guard never realizing of his presence.
________________________________________
Victor is driving his blue Camaro through the dark streets of Jump City. He is currently on patrol, driving around waiting for an alarm to sound. He must admit its not the best part of the job but its one of the duties he has to fulfill, that was the deal he made with the police department in order for them to forgive his past offenses. He looks around the streets. The city has not been the same since Deathstroke's attack. It now seems darker, more dangerous, more threatening, or maybe it was just him projecting his insecurities.
He suddenly hears from the radio. "Jewelry shop alarm at Soto and seventh, unidentified robbers" it informs. In a quick move Victor turns the car around and speeds off to the jewelry. Finally, some action.
He makes it to the jewelry shop, hops of his car but is surprised to find the glass of the store shattered, and the two robbers tied to a near lamppost. He looks around. Who could have done this? He looks up where he sees two figures looking down at him. He smirks, already knowing who they are.
Victor makes it to the top of the building where he sees the figures. "Next time, how about we make it at an easier place to get to?" he jokes.
The figures turn to him. They are Kory and Richard.
"Victor!" Kory yells happily as she runs up to him and hugs him tight. "It is glorious to see you."
"You too, little lady."
Richard walks up to them and places his hand over Victor's shoulder. "Glad you could make it."
"So, what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?" Victor wonders.
"Can't we just come to visit?" Richard asks playfully. Victor raises his eyebrow. "Did you visit my grave?"
"Oh yeah, every week I go there and take a piss on it." Richard laughs.
"You are now working along the police" Kory says.
Victor looks at her. "Yeah, I made a deal with the new lieutenant. They forgive my crimes and in return I help them take down Mad Mods operation."
"We heard he was still alive." Richard adds.
Victor nods. "No one has seen him though, these last months he's been flooding the streets with guns and bullets, every thug we encounter seems to have a whole arsenal with him. The now mayor O'Hara has increased the budget assigned to the police department, he thinks this is the way of fighting against him."
"Yes, I've seen the new SWAT teams they are using, seem impressive." Richard says.
"At least their equipment. The guns come every week in an ocean liner from Russia, we've captured a few but none of the men have talked."
Richard thinks about it. A question comes to his mind. "The new lieutenant, what do you think of him?"
"Carson? A little young but has his heart in the right place… and what's up with all these questions?" Victor now questions.
Richard and Kory trade glances as they smile. "Well, we may have found someone who has been in contact with Mad Mod."
That catches Victor's attention. "Who?"
Kory continues. "His name is Dwayne Mcduffie or Controllus is his alias, he oversees the deliveries. Sends the guns from the manufacturers in Europe all the way to here, through Russia."
"Why use Russia?" Victor questions.
"Less surveillance" Richard answers. "Recently we found about these eight special bullets, each one worth one-point-five million. Six of those bullets were delivered here at Jump last week. With Kory we intercepted the other two bullets and using fake identities we bought them for ten million from Controllus."
"You what?!"
"Relax Victor, we did not hand him the money" Kory interjects.
Richard smirks. "We gave him a virus, basically we wired him."
"Did he talk to Mod? What did you find out?"
"He didn't talk to Mad Mod, but we heard other things in between codes." Richard pauses. "They are preparing for something, something big, we heard these words: Markovia, opera and Rouge."
Victor thinks about it. "The prime minister of Markovia is coming to Jump these days…" he trails.
"And he is scheduled to attend the opera along the mayor" Richard continues.
Victor looks at him, of course he knew that. "Rouge?"
"French assassin, one of the best, in the most wanted list by both the CIA and INTERPOL."
________________________________________
A tall slim woman with short dark hair descends from a commercial flight. Its Madame Rouge. She has a large white coat and shades over her eyes. She carries a large black case in her hand, walking oblivious to the officers at the airport.
________________________________________
"If she is who Mad Mod hired, we may be in trouble" Richard finishes.
"We need your assistance, Victor." Kory adds.
Victor appears in deep thought. If this assassin is as dangerous as they are saying, things could be difficult. He stops. Another thought coming to his mind. "And that's why you came?"
The question catches Richard off guard. "Yeah…"
"Why tell me here on top of a roof? Why not call from wherever you were? Why not notify the police? Or try to get the opera cancelled?" Richard doesn't answer, he looks down avoiding his gaze. "You want the attack to take place, you want to catch her in the act."
"Victor, we have a plan" Kory chimes in.
Victor looks at her. "He convinced you too?" He says in a harsh tone referring to Richard
Kori pauses. "We have a plan to catch her, but we need your help" she repeats.
"It's the same shit as with Deathstroke all over again."
"So, you're doing it?" Richard questions.
"No, Grayson, and you know why? Because you are a gambler, you take chances with people's lives, and one day your luck is going to run out, and the ones close to you will pay" Victor explains as he turns around. "I'm going to tell the lieutenant and we are going to prevent the attack." Victor leaves the roof.
Kory looks at Richard. "And now what shall we do?"
Richard turns to her. "We move, we can do it the two of us."
________________________________________
Raven is walking through the sidewalk at Jump City's downtown. The backpack still on. She gazes down as she walks. Although Malchior seemed like a nice guy, she can't allow herself to be close with anyone, it would be too dangerous for the other person.
She is suddenly hit by a strange sensation as she clutches her head. She notices a boy with green hair walking down the other side of the sidewalk, they lock eyes. The strange sensation in Raven is replaced by a strong headache, like the one she suffered at the diner. The boy is also hit by a strong headache as he too clutches his head. He screams as his face starts turning green and fangs grow on his mouth. He notices the people looking at him and runs away. Raven puts her hoodie on and leaves the scene, the headache never ceasing.
________________________________________
"Sir, with all due respect, I think we should cancel the function" Victor says to mayor O'Hara. They are currently at a private room at the opera house in Jump City. The lieutenant Carson by their side.
O'Hara doesn't like it. "This event is key to the relationships with Markovia, if the deal goes through, they could help us in the fight against Mod. Better equipment, more funds."
"But if something happens?" Victor questions.
O'Hara looks at Victor then at the lieutenant. "How's the security?"
"I have my men all around the perimeter, but sir, if I may…"
The mayor interrupts Carson. "Good, we are doing this, it's a must nothing happens, okay?" With that he turns around and leaves the room.
Victor and Carson look at each other. The lieutenant shrugs. "We better do what we can with what we have." Victor nods. Carson leaves the room.
Victor sighs. He looks at the control panel at his arm. He scrolls until reaching the disguise option. He taps it. His metallic body instantly changing to human. He looks at himself in a mirror. He must admit he doesn't look bad dressed in a tuxedo along the complete human skin. He lets a out a sad smile, if only it wasn't a projection. He turns around and exits the room.
________________________________________
The prime minister of Markovia descends from a limousine along his wife. Instantly they are surrounded by a mass of paparazzies photographing them. The mayor walks up to him and greets them. They smile as they enter the opera.
A pair of high heels descend from another car. Its Kory dressed in a stanning long purple dress revealing a little cleavage. Make up over her face and her hair perfectly stylized. She receives the look of various people that stop to look at her, both man and women. She enters the opera house along other attendants. Once inside she touches her earpiece being hidden behind her hair.
"I am inside" she informs.
Inside a small service room at the opera house is Richard dressed in a black uniform, similar to the Nightwing one minus the bird insignia and the mask. Esgrima sticks clutched to his back. He has four holographic screens in front of him. He can see the blueprint of the opera and the cameras inside. "Good… by the way you look beautiful" he says as he watches her through one of the cameras.
Kory blushes. "I thank you; you too would look rather handsome in a suit."
"Why do I have to be the one in a closet?"
"Because your face is quite famous, my love" Kory says as she continues walking.
"Fucking Victor" Richard murmurs.
The musicians, all dressed in black, are in-line showing the cases with their instruments to an officer. He looks at each and nods letting them inside. Madame Rouge shows her case and opens it. Inside there is a silver flute. The officer nods. Madame Rouge enters the opera.
She follows the rest of the musicians but separates before entering the stage.
Victor is at the entrance scanning each face waiting to find something suspicious. He notices a couple walking together into the opera, they are holding hands, a loving look in their faces. They stop as they look at each other, their lips connecting in a lovely kiss. Victor's eye softens as he watches them. The couple break apart as they continue to their seats. He misses that feeling, the feeling of being able to touch somebody, feel their skin. He pushes the thought to the side focusing back on the task at hand.
"Everything clear" he calls to the lieutenant.
The lights inside the stage turn off and the opera starts along the orchestra. A man in costume enters the stage and starts singing. The play is "Turandot".
In the service room, Richard is checking each face in the audience through the cameras. In the screen next to it he has a photograph of Madame Rouge. He moves through each camera but there are a lot to check.
Kory moves through a glamorous staircase. With one of her hands, she holds the dress so not to step over it. She reaches a door guarded by security. She shows him her ticket and he lets her in into a box with a wonderful view of the stage. The voice of the lyrical singer echoing throughout the opera.
Kory looks down. Just below her box is the prime minister and the mayor in their own box watching the spectacle.
She touches her earpiece. "Richard, have you located her?"
"Nothing yet" Richard says as he continues looking through the cameras. "I know you are here, where?" he whispers to himself.
He changes to another camera where he notices a tall woman moving through a hallway backstage. He widens his eyes. Its Rouge. "Kory I may have found her" he communicates.
"Where?"
"Backstage, I'll direct you."
Kory exits her box and enters a hallway.
"To the left, open the door, you should see her right there" Richard says guiding her through the blueprint on display.
Kory turns to the left to a closed door and using her strength forces the handle opening it. It's a backstage on top of the stage, from where the lights are directed.
Madame Rouge makes it to a spot and stops. She looks in front, a clear view of the prime minister in front of her across the opera house. She smirks. She kneels and opens her case revealing the flute. She starts moving the different parts around, it's a sniper rifle. The music of the play still echoing throughout the opera. She opens a secret compartment at the case and takes out three of the golden bullets and places them next to her. She grabs one and commences loading the rifle. She looks at the prime minister through the sniper and aims at his head, she has a clear shot.
Kory sees her. She takes her heels off and using her flight launches at Madame Rouge before she can take the shot. The assassin doesn't have time to react as she is tackled to the side. The rifle falling to the floor. Kory lands on top and punches her hard. She repeats the blow, but Rouge catches it and headbutts her. Kory falls and now Rouge is the one who launches at her. The opera still going on.
Richard watches the fight from the screen. He notices the bullets Madame Rouge left. Two of them on display plus the one on the rifle. Where are the other three? He starts looking through the other cameras, searching for anyone that could be suspicious. "Where could they be?" He mumbles. In one of them he finds a huge man with orange hair dressed as a cop enter the control room. He also has a black music case. Richard narrows his eyes. There is his suspect.
Kory even with her super strength is struggling against Rouge as she continuously punches down at her not letting her breath. Kory blocking the blows she can. She knees her in the waist getting her off. They both quickly stand up studying their adversary. Kory fires a green beam but Rouge dodges it and throws a couple of quick punches that Kory blocks with her arms as she backs away, overwhelmed by the assassin. Rouge reaches forward and grabs her by the throat slamming her hard to the floor.
Kory using her legs pushes her back and floats standing up. Madame Rouge takes out a knife and attacks Kory. She dodges the attack, grabs her wrist and pushes the knife against Rouge stabbing her. Rouge stumbles backwards as she looks wide eye at the knife in her chest. Kory smiles.
Madame Rouge reaches out and pulls the knife off her chest and smirks. Kory widens her eyes.
The man dressed as a cop enters the control room. Inside there are two workers, a man and a woman that control the lights, they look at him. The man walks up to them, punches hard the man breaking his skull and grabs the woman by the neck breaking it with ease and killing her. He places the black case over the control panel and opens it. Inside there is another flute. He starts separating the parts transforming it into a rifle. He has another clear view of the prime minister. He takes out three bullets and loads one of them.
In that moment Richard enters the control room. He sees the man aiming at the prime minister and throws a batarang at him hitting him in the hand. The man yelps in pain as he lets go of the rifle. Richard runs up at him and jumps up in the air delivering a flying kick to the man's chest. Both fall to the floor and get up quickly. Richard looks up at him. The man is really big, around seven feet and three hundred pounds.
The man attacks him, Richard ducks and throws a punch that the man catches and throws him hard against a wall.
From the lobby at the opera house Victor hears the fighting and moves to the source.
Kory continues fighting Rouge as she avoids her knife attacks. Kory fires a beam hitting her in the hand that forces her to let go of the knife. An angry Madame Rouge jumps forward punching Kory hard on the face sending her to the floor and hitting her head to the wall. Kory's eyes start closing, almost unconscious.
Rouge smirks as she goes back to the rifle and picks it up.
The man is about to throw Richard again, but he takes out another batarang and stabs him with it in the hand. The man screams again and lets him go. In one motion Richard kicks him hard on the knee, the man falls, Richard takes out his esgrima sticks, charges them and hits them to the man's temple knocking him unconscious.
Richard touches his earpiece. "Kory, do you hear?"
Kory doesn't answer as she struggles to get up.
Richard sees Rouge from across the opera, she is about to shoot. He grabs the man's rifle and aims at her. A column blocks most of her, he doesn't have a clear shot. He turns to the prime minister. If he doesn't do something quick, she is going to shoot him. An idea comes to his mind. He aims the rifle at the prime minister. Just before he can pull the trigger Victor along the lieutenant and two cops burst in the room.
"Richard, no!" Victor yells.
Richard ignores him and fires. The bullet travels all across the opera house until reaching the prime minister hitting him in the shoulder. The prime minister falls to the ground because of the impact just before Madame Rouges bullet hits the chair behind him.
"NO!" the assassin yells.
Victor tackles Richard to the ground, the cops coming in behind and handcuff him.
Madame Rouge looks at where the shot came. She swears as she throws the rifle and escapes the area.
The prime minister is taken away from the box by his security guards. They rip open his shirt to inspect the wound. "I'm okay" he says in a European accent. "It is superficial." Just a little blood coming out of his shoulder.
The opera is suspended.
________________________________________
A cuffed Richard is taken down to a backroom at the opera house by Victor, the lieutenant and the two cops. The mayor burst into the room angrily.
"What the fuck just happened?! You are alive!" he yells.
"He shot the prime minister" the lieutenant answers.
"In the shoulder" Richard whispers.
"Do not talk" Victor says angrily.
"What the fuck, Grayson?! Yesterday you were dead and know you are shooting the prime minister! Why is it that always something bad happens you are in the middle of it?!" the mayor questions.
"We knew of the attack; we didn't know there were two killers" Richard says.
"Who's we?"
Kory bursts on the room. "Richard!" she yells as he runs up to him and hugs him.
"Cuff her too" the lieutenant orders.
"Don't touch her" Victor warns.
Richard turns to the lieutenant. "Carson, is it? One of the killers was using a police uniform, why don't we cuff you and your men?"
Carson narrows his eyes. "Why don't we lock in you in prison huh?" he shoots back.
"Everybody calm down!" the mayor orders.
A security guard enters the room and whispers something at the mayor. The rest of the room stays in silence.
Richard looks at Kory. "Are you alright?"
Kory nods. "Yes, but Madame Rouge escaped."
"Its okay, you did your best" he says as he kisses her temple.
"The prime minister is alright" the mayor announces. "The bullet just grazed him before apparently another bullet hit his chair at his head height." He pauses and looks at Richard. "He saved him…release him" he orders.
"But sir…"
"Release him!"
The cops take the cuffs off Richard who narrows his eyes at the young lieutenant. The mayor looks at him. "Now Grayson, how about you tell us what the hell happened here?"
________________________________________
The boy with green hair is at his bed tossing and turning while he has a nightmare, he is sweating. He starts screaming, his skin again turning green and fangs growing. It hurts. His parents enter the room panicked.
"Garfield are you alright?!" the father asks.
"It's been months since he last suffered an attack!" the mom yells.
The father runs to him and grabs him trying to wake him up. Garfield doesn't wake up, just continues screaming. A loud roar comes out of his throat as both the father and mother back off him. Green fur grows on his skin as his eyes start changing and claws grow on his hands.
The parents scream in panic.
________________________________________
Its late at night at an excavation site somewhere in middle east. A man with glasses dressed in a white suit is sitting at a table below a tent as he studies a map of the area. Three months they had been there and had come empty handed, until now.
A local man wearing white burst into the tent, a mass of people behind him. The man is startled as he looks at him.
"Sir, we found it" he says. The man doesn't say anything, he just stands up and takes off his glasses. The local reveals an object bathed in gold in the form of a tridimensional S-like form. He hands it to the man in suit who just looks at it. He is amazed, they finally found it, all because of a vision he had of this place.
"The Mark of Scath" he breathes.
Chapter 2: The Beast within
Chapter Text
Everything is dark. A light comes from above forming the silhouette of a man.
"Tough day, Grayson?" Deathstroke says as he punches down at Nightwing. The hero tries to move away but he can't. He can only watch as another hard punch connects with his face.
"You are weak, Grayson, life out of Gotham has cost you."
Another punch.
Nightwing greets his teeth as he tries to react.
Another punch.
"You lack strength, you become predictable."
Nightwing's whole face is covered in blood, he can barely breathe.
"I wonder, what would you be without your jumping" he says as he steps hard on his ankle. The same loud crack sound echoing through the place. Nightwing cries in pain.
Another punch. Deathstroke pauses. He takes out a gun and points it at him.
"Loser."
He pulls the trigger.
Richard's eyes shoot open as he wakes up, alarmed, out of breath he looks around the room. He tries to calm down as he sits up, frustrated he runs his hands through his face. He looks around the room. It's their new apartment, in shambles, filled with moving boxes. The light coming through the window illuminating the room, the pouring rain echoing outside. He takes his foot from under the sheets and looks at it. The ankle is still swollen, the size of a tennis ball, a lot bigger than the other with even some purple spots. Even though it happened more than a year ago, it clearly hasn't healed correctly limiting his athleticism and jumping ability. He sighs as he runs his hand through his hair.
He looks to his side where a sleeping Kory is. A smile forms on his lips. God, she is so beautiful, he was really grateful she was in his life. He approaches a hand to her and caresses her cheek. Kory's eyes slowly start opening as she is woken up and makes eye contact with Richard. She smiles.
"Morning, beautiful" he says as he pecks her in the lips.
"Morning to you too" she salutes back. She studies his face, being able to read his expression. "Another nightmare?"
Richard nods as he gets off the bed, not really wanting to talk about it. Kory watches him go, a worried look on her face.
________________________________________
Nightwing and Kory enter a bedroom at a big suburban house. They instantly notice the great number of police officers inside. In the middle of the room, lie the corpses of the two victims, a man and woman, both in their middle age. The rest of the room being a big mess with objects scattered all throughout the floor and scratches in some of the furniture, clearly a sign of struggle. Victor sees them enter and walks up to them. He salutes them.
"How you doing?" Nightwing nods at him and focuses back on the corpses.
"What we got here?" he asks.
After the attack at the opera, both Kory and Nightwing had gained the mayor's forgiveness and permission to work alongside the police in the difficult cases and even had arranged a ceremony in their honor to thank them for saving the prime minister of Markovia, ceremony that would take place in the next couple of days. The wait had not taken long, as the very next morning they were called. The call had been around thirty minutes ago by Victor, something about a double murder.
Victor sighs, melancholy in his eyes. "It's not pretty, neighbors heard the screaming and called the police."
Nightwing observes the room, clearly a boy's room with all the posters and animal figures. Theres a certain gloom to the room, one of the walls stained by a starburst of blood. He focuses on the two bodies.
"Mark and Marie Logan, forty-two years each, both biologists, travelled a lot" Victor continues. "Their son Garfield, is alive, found him unconscious with his clothes torn."
"Where is he?"
"In his parents' room."
Nightwing looks at Kory. She understands him. "I will talk to him" she says leaving the room, grateful for getting away from the crime scene and dead bodies.
Nightwing focuses back on the crime scene. He kneels on the floor and taps his mask twice, making a scan. He looks at the corpses. The father has a big scar that starts from his face all the way down to his chest, like if it was made by a claw, a very big claw. Probably died instantly because of it. He turns to the mother, here the thing gets uglier. Her body is closer to the wall, the blood in it probably hers. Her face disfigured by multiple claw attacks. Also a few minor scratches along the arms and legs, some on the torso.
"Looks like the whole zoo escaped" Victor says.
Nightwing looks at him and nods. "Some big zoo."
"Tiger?"
"I was thinking something along the lines of bear, but then again, a bear can hardly pass through that door."
"Grayson do not touch anything" lieutenant Carson says as he burst in the room.
Nightwing looks at him and narrows his eyes, not liking being called by his real name when he is in the Nightwing suit, one of the multiple cons of having his identity revealed. However, he doesn't say anything and turns back to the body.
"Anything stolen?" he asks.
The lieutenant is about to retort something about how he isn't going to answer to him, but Victor beats him to it. "We are checking, but we don't think."
"The rest of the house looks like if it was left untouched."
"So, not a thief."
Nightwing stands up and talks to Victor, as if the lieutenant isn't present. "So, we thinking some big animal or at least something with big claws enters the house, mom and dad notices it and run to their most precious possession…"
"Their son" Victor completes.
Nightwing nods. "The animal follows them and kills them, but not the kid…" he trails as he thinks about it.
Victor also appears in deep thought. "The medic checked, not even a scratch on his body."
Nightwing looks at him, that was interesting. The lieutenant steps in, not being a fan of being left out of the conversation. "He could have fainted before he was attacked, and the animal left him."
The hero shakes his head. "But his clothes were torn… something doesn't add up."
"Also, the door of the house was locked, and there are no open windows" Victor adds.
"So, the animal couldn't have escaped." Nightwing pauses.
"Maybe someone with the key entered along his big dog" the lieutenant theorizes.
"Maybe, let's wait until Kory talks to him, maybe there's something she can tell us." Victor nods.
The medical examiner approaches them. "Have you found anything else?" the lieutenant asks.
The medical examiner nods. "Apart from the big scratches that caused their death, I found other minor scratches along their bodies that had already started the healing process."
Victor looks at him. "You trying to say this was not the first time they were attacked by this thing or whatever?"
The medical examiner nods. "Not necessarily, but yes."
Nightwing looks at Victor. What the kid had to say to them could be key to finding the killer.
________________________________________
Kory walks in the parent's bedroom, instantly noticing the kid seated on their bed. His gaze down with a few tears threatening to come out. His torn clothes removed, now wearing some new ones. Two cops by his side. Garfield's head shoot up, instantly noticing her. Kory lets out a sad smile as she walks up to him.
"Greetings, my name is…"
"I know who you are" he says interrupting her, although not in a rude way. "You are Kory Anders; I saw you on TV last year."
Kory makes her way to the bed and sits next to him. "I believe now is only right you tell me yours."
"Garfield, Garfield Logan, but everyone calls me Gar" he says looking down.
"What a glorious name, Gar." That earns her a small smile by Gar.
"You came with Nightwing too?" he asks.
Kory nods. "Yes, he is alongside Vic investigating the crime scene. Gar, do you know what happened?"
"I already told this two…" he says raising his voice and motioning to the other cops. "I don't remember anything!" With that he buries his head in his hands and starts crying all the pain away.
Kory places her hand over his back, trying to comfort him. "I am sorry friend Gar, I was not aware."
Gar looks at her and sighs. He was starting to like her, she was nice. "You know, when I feel bad, I like to make jokes, that always makes me feel better, my dad didn't like it though, he used to…" he trails not wanting to talk about him. "Can I tell you a joke?"
Kory nods. "I would very much like that."
Gar stays silent for a few seconds. "Who came first, the chicken or the egg?" he asks, for the first time a smile appearing on his face.
Kory thinks about it. "The chicken or the egg?... I would say the egg, because if there had been no egg, there would have been no chicken… Am I correct?"
"No, the cock" Gar says laughing a little.
"The cock?" Kory asks. Not getting the joke, she decides to laugh along Gar, seeing him a lot better.
Gar's laugh starts dying down as his face sombers once again. "My dad would have hated it... My mom would said that was an inappropriate joke but i knew underneath she would be laughing..." A tear rolls through his face. He looks at Kory. "Can you tell them to leave us?" he asks motioning with his head to the cops. Kory looks at them, they get the hint and exit the room. There are a few seconds of silence. "Kory?"
"Yes, Gar?"
"You are a hero, right? You help people. Can I tell you a secret? But you have to promise me you won't tell anyone, not even Nightwing."
Kory is conflicted. She doesn't like keeping secrets from the ones she loves, but ultimately nods. "I promise."
Gar pauses. "I know who killed them" he whispers.
"Who?" Kory asks leaning forward.
"Me, I killed them."
________________________________________
Kory is standing outside of the house, hugging herself. The rain pouring over her. What she had last heard really affecting her. She had never heard of a kid killing his own parents, this poor boy. He would need their help. Really traumatizing stuff.
"Everything okay?" Victor says approaching her.
She quickly turns around startled. "Yes, Vic, everything is alright." Victor doesn't believe her. "No, I'm sorry, it is just, seeing the two dead bodies, and poor Gar…" she trails.
Victors look softens. "I know, little lady, not exactly the type of thing you want to see." A question comes to his mind. "Why did you two come back?"
Kory looks at him. "What do you mean?"
"Why did you come back to Jump? Last I heard you were on vacation on a sunny place without a care in the world and now you are back here investigating corpses and crime scenes. And don't give me that crap about the prime minister" he elaborates.
Kory looks down. "Richard, he… everything was wonderful for the first few months, we had a house, normal jobs, he looked happy. But then he started obsessing about the crimes in Jump City, reading about them, about Mad Mods operation. He said we should come back, that he could not stay with his arms crossed while the people suffered, that he was a hero, it was in his nature… I tried convincing him to stay, I really tried, but he would not listen. He said he would come back with or without me, so I had no choice" she finishes, a little embarrassed on herself.
Victor places hand on her shoulder, trying to comfort her. Kory looks at him and lets out a sad smile.
In that moment, Nightwing exits the house. "Come on, there's been another murder, a few minutes from here." He notices Kory's mood. "You okay?"
Kory fakes a smile and nods. "Nightwing, is it okay, if I stay? I want to stay with Gar."
Nightwing nods. He then notices a camera located on the corner of the street. "Vic" he says pointing at the camera. Victor looks at it and nods. "I'll check it later."
Nightwing nods and walks up to Kory. "Be careful, alright?"
She nods back. "You as well." He kisses her as he and Victor leave the house, making their way to the other crime scene.
________________________________________
Nightwing and Victor walk through a filthy block at one of the most dangerous parts of Jump City, the rain still pouring over them. Nightwing looks up.
"This fucking weather. Wasn't this a sunny city last I was here?" he wonders.
Victor shrugs. "Beats me… Grayson, why are you here?"
Nightwing stops, a little wary. "I don't follow."
"All this effort you've gone to leave a sunny vacation with Kory and getting back in the shit, just something that I wonder."
Nightwing doesn't like the question. "I am a hero, I thought I could make more of a difference being here" he says while continuing walking.
Victor watches him go. "You know she loves you, right?"
Nightwing stops dead in his tracks. He turns around. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Victor denies with his head. "Nothing, man."
Nightwing doesn't like the comment, however, he pushes it to the side. They both continue walking, entering the property. It's a dirty tenement building. A beefy uniformed cop approaches them.
"What time did you confirm the death?" Victor asks.
"Like I said, we didn't touch anything, we were here at o-nine hundred" the cop explains.
"Wait, wait, wait, you didn't check him? You didn't check vital signs?" Nightwing questions in a bit of a harsh tone.
The cop answers back. "Believe me, he's gone."
"The point is, when you are first man, you should check signs."
"The guy is swimming in a pool of his blood, if he ain't dead, he would have stood by now." The cop rolls his eyes and leaves. Victor looks at Nightwing.
"With that attitude you are never going to win their trust back."
Nightwing stops. "If we learned something at the opera house, it's that there may be a rat at the police department, we can't let this type of things pass by."
Victor nods, with that, they step in at the crime scene, it's the small reception of the tenement building. The only light is a murky green illumination from the ceiling. There in front of the counter lies the corpse of a man, a pool of blood below him, his skin now a dark shade of purple, his mouth wide as if it had been forced open, but by far the most shocking thing was both his protruding eyes, literally both sticking out, the nerves behind it easily visible.
"God dammit!" Victor says looking away. "What kind of sick fuck did this?"
Nightwing doesn't say anything and kneels in front of the body. He taps his mask twice, making the scan.
Another cop is at the corner of the room talking to a woman. He spots them and makes his way to them. "Talked to the wife, she confirmed it, it's the landlord of the building, Mark Peterson his name." Nightwing looks at the woman. She is skinny, with pale skin and blond hair and wearing oversized old clothes. Currently smoking a cigarette.
Nightwing inspects the body. "Judging by the skin color, I'd say this happened last night."
The cop nods. "She found it like this this morning."
"Where was she?" Victor questions crossing his arms.
"Cheating with another man, I called, her story checks."
Nightwing nods, thinking. "Maybe we should talk to her later, what you say?" he says to Victor who nods back.
Using his gloves, Nightwing rips open the corpses shirt revealing his naked chest, but it looks empty, as if there was nothing inside, only his ribs. "All his organs exploded; he is just a bag of blood now."
"Probable cause of death?" Victor asks.
"I… I can't say" Nightwing trails. "But whoever did it, it was someone dangerous."
"This is some biblical shit, man." Nightwing looks at him.
The medical examiner enters the room. He looks at the poor lightning. "Mood lightning, I like it" he says sarcastically. He walks up to the body and kneels beside Nightwing. "Are you sure, we all fit in this small room?" he asks to no-one in particular. Nightwing looks around, he is not wrong. The medical examiner, him and Victor, the cop and the wife, in this small room.
"I'll let myself out" the wife says as she exits the room.
Nightwing watches her go, he looks at Victor. "Why don't you go talk to the wife?"
"Thanks, but no thanks, I'll stay on this" he answers back.
Nightwing turns back to the corpse. "See if she can tell us something." He says without looking up.
Victor is pissed; however, he doesn't say anything and leaves the room.
________________________________________
Raven slowly opens her eyes as she looks around. She is lying on a bed in a small white apartment room. However, she doesn't remember how she got here, her head hurting badly. She hears noises coming from another room. Without making any noise she gets up and walks out.
She enters the kitchen where she sees a man turned around busy cooking something. She notices a knife on the table. Using her powers she lifts it up. The floating knife approaches the man from behind.
"Oh, you are awake" the man says turning around. Its Malchior. Raven instantly let's go of the knife and fakes a smile.
"Yeah… how long was I asleep?"
Malchior checks his watch. "Around twelve hours I would say." He turns around having two plates with pancakes in his hands. "How about some breakfast?" With that he walks up to the table and sits down, leaving one of the plates for Raven. An incredulous Raven sits in front of him, her eyes never leaving him.
"Where am I? How did I get here?" She questions.
"You are currently at my humble apartment in Jump City, and how did I find you? Here I must confess my sin, after our exchange, I grew worried about you, so I decided to follow you. Imagine my surprise when I found you unconscious, sleeping against a wall in an alley. You remember anything?"
Raven denies with her head. "No, everything seems foggy right now." She pauses as she looks at Malchior, as if deciding if she could trust him. Pushing the thought to the side she focuses on the pancake in front of her. "Thanks, I suppose."
Malchior bows. "My pleasure, now eat, I want to show you something." Raven raises an eyebrow. "It is nothing bad, you have my word."
________________________________________
Down at the new police station, in the basement gym is Victor punching a heavy bag with hard, quick, punches. THWACK, THWACK, THWACK. Sweat drips from the human side of his face. He isn't wearing any clothes, his metallic body fully on display, and no gloves over his hands.
He notices Nightwing through one of the gym mirrors. He stops.
"They told me you were here, how about we meet Kory and have some coffee, put everything on the table?" Nightwing asks.
"We need to chat, man" Victor says in a harsh tone. Nightwing raises an eyebrow. Victor signals to an old, limp-roped boxing ring a few feet from them. He grabs a pair of practice pads and gives them to Nightwing.
"No."
"You just hold them up, I do all the work."
Nightwing takes the pads reluctantly and puts them on. Victor climbs into the ring. He holds the ropes open for the hero. Nightwing doesn't want to do this, but he climbs up.
"We worked together last year; I think I I've proven my worth, haven't I?" Victor asks in an accusing tone.
"Yes, Victor, you were impressive."
Nightwing holds up the practice pads. Victor starts working them, lightly, warming up. THWACK, THWACK.
"So, what's your problem? I can be just as useful in a crime scene."
"I know, that doesn't mean…"
"I'm more than the tech guy" Victor interrupts him, his punches gaining strength as he starts working his mind up. THWACK, THWACK. Nightwing is uncomfortable, his hands stiff trying to remain in place.
"I made a decision, because I had to worry about the integrity of the scene, and you weren't helping."
"That's bullshit!"
"When I'm on scene, I'm not looking forward to your comments about how nasty it looks, I can see that."
Victor punches a little more aggressively. Nightwing's backing, flinching, keeping the pads high. Victor is too strong for him. THWACK, THWACK, THWACK.
"You are not my boss… To the lieutenant… we are both… external consultants to help with the difficult cases…" Victor trails taking a pause after each punch.
"Why don't you go complain to your friend the lieutenant then?" Nightwing fires back.
That comment sends Victor and edge as he unloads a mighty wallop to the pads sending Nightwing to the floor.
"So, that's what all this is about, you are jealous, you miss not being the one in charge, the police having your back." Nightwing doesn't say anything, Victor may be having a point. Victor offers a hand and helps him up. "Just don't jerk me off, that's all I ask, it's not much, don't push me back and please do me the favor of remembering that."
Nightwing nods. Victor smiles.
"You said something about coffee, didn't you?"
________________________________________
"I believe in you" Controllus says with great emotion. He is at a dark study room with patterned shadows talking to someone. The blinds of the room are closed. "I believe in you; thanks to you I've made my small fortune. For the last five years, I've had the task of overseeing the deliveries from our fabrics all the way to here. Something I will be forever in debt with to your figure" he says clutching his chest. "If I ever did a side business was only to make your own profits higher, you have to believe me. That's why I find these accusations of me being a mole, a little disconcerting, I…"
"Can I have your phone, lad?" a voice says in a harsh tone interrupting him.
"My phone?" He looks around to the other people on the room, and back at the voice. "Yes, of course." He takes out his phone and hands it to him.
Mad Mod takes the phone and in a sudden movement slams it against the floor. Controllus is startled. Mad Mod proceeds to grab his cane and continuously slams it to the phone. Controllus looks a bit uncomfortable and scared.
Mad Mod finishes and gets back to his seat, out of breath. "Are you bloody happy now?" he asks Madam Rouge standing behind Controllus.
Rouge nods. "I would prefer if I could kill him" she says in a French accent. "They knew I would be at the opera, and we lost Mammoth."
Controllus gulps.
Mad Mod appears to think about it, but ultimately, he denies. "Nah, nah, we need him, he is just a bit of a clumsy, this little piece of rubbish." Controllus releases a breath.
"You still want me to kill the prime minister?" Rouge asks.
"Y'la forget about him; we now have another objective." Mad Mod says. He looks at one of his thugs at the side. "Gary!" The thug scrambles to the library behind him and takes out an old piece of paper with a drawing of an object. He gives it to Mad Mod who shows it to Rouge.
She raises an eyebrow. "What is this?"
Controllus takes a look at it and his eyes instantly light up. "That's the Mark of Scath, recently found at an excavation in…" Mad Mod shoots him a look. Controllus falls silent.
"This is what we need, lads" Mad Mod says.
"You want me to steal it?" Rouge asks.
"Not yet, my duckie" Mad Mod says standing up. "If anything, Deathstroke taught us was thet it you want something, the heroes can get it for ya… Nightwing is gonna get it for us."
________________________________________
Richard is sitting along Kory and Victor at a round booth at a local café. Each of them with a cup of coffee in front. A holographic screen at the center of the table.
Victor looks around. "Love the new Nightwatch." He says sarcastically.
Richard narrows his eyes at him. "Well, someone organized a raid at the old one…" he shoots back. Victor laughs.
"We are shuffling our options; this is what we have at the moment" Kory explains.
Richard focuses on the holographic screen. "We have two separate crime scenes this morning, lets just share everything we know, and we can decide our course of action." Victor and Kory nod. Richard presses a button, and the screens show a map of the city with the two crime scenes. "Too far away to be related."
"And different MO" Victor adds.
"And from different backgrounds" Kory speaks.
Richard nods in agreement. He taps the Logan case on the screen, and a hologram of the crime scene, appears. "First case, Logan house, two dead, Mark and Marie Logan. Big scars all over their bodies, something with claws did it. Found in the kid's room." He looks at Kory. "With Victor, we theorized, they heard whatever animal did this, so they run to the room where it attacked them."
"Also, nothing was stolen, furthering the theory that it was an animal" Victor adds.
Richard nods and continues. "The kid, Garfield Logan, fifteen years old, found unconscious on the floor, his clothes torn but not a single scratch on his body… Kory."
Kory is startled as she looks at him. "Yes Richard?"
"You've been a little quiet, you talked to him, is there anything more he can tell us?"
Kory appears to think about it but denies with her head. "He doesn't remember anything from last night."
Richard thinks about. He looks at Victor. "Vic, you have the camera footage outside the house?"
"Yeah, from the front and the back of the house" he says as he taps a button on his panel arm, sending the footage to the hologram at the table.
Richard touches the hologram of the camera footage. He fast-forwards in time through the night. No one coming in or out of the house, until the police arrive the next morning. "No one entered or exited the house…"
"So maybe the killer is still inside" Victor says.
"But surely the police would have found him by now" Kory argues.
Richard is in deep thought. "Maybe our friend Gar isn't telling us all he knows, maybe we should pay him another visit…" He pauses focusing on the other case. "Second case, Mark Peterson, the landlord." In the hologram, appear images of the corpse. Victor looks away, not really wanting to see it again. "I… I don't even know what to say about it. Happened last night, wife found him this morning, her alibi checks, Vic, anything you can add from talking to her?"
"Yes, they shared the business, this last few months they were in some sort of financial struggle, very few clients, their business had changed to a kind of hot-sheet hotel to try to keep it afloat."
"So, a lot of customers staying very little time, registration?"
Victor denies with his head. "They didn't keep, but she did remember a name... Arthur Light, was a regular client, the wife remembers hearing them arguing about money yesterday noon."
Richard searches the name in the hologram screen. Arthur Lights criminal record appearing. "Theft, identity theft, attempted murder…" Richard lists as he opens his eyes shocked. "Among others, there we have our suspect, send a search warrant to the police."
"Already done it, they have cruisers searching for him" Victor says.
Richard nods. "We'll wait until they find him, meanwhile, let's pay a visit to our friend Gar."
Kory nods, nervous, not liking the way this could play out.
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Raven and Malchior enter an abandoned warehouse. It is mostly empty, just a couple of boxes to the side, the light coming from the upper-level windows. Raven doesn't look impressed. "This is what you wanted to show me?"
Malchior smiles. "In fact, yes" he says as he moves to the center of the warehouse. Raven watches him from her spot. "You said you had heard about Nol, what exactly do you know?" he asks.
"That they were from an ancient place and a very powerful family."
Malchior nods. "What about their traditions?"
Raven thinks about it, trying to remember. "They knew how to use some kind of magic…" she trails not sounding completely sure.
Malchior smiles. "Exactly, Raven." He takes off his poncho and shirt, revealing his toned chest and abs. He closes his eyes as he focuses. Slowly, he raises his right arm, a ball of fire appearing on it.
Raven widens his eyes. He could control fire? "Whoa…" she mouths.
Malchior laughs at her reaction. "It's a tradition that hasn't gotten lost." He closes his fist extinguishing the fire. "I want to come clean Raven; I must admit that I know about your abilities."
Raven takes a step back. "You know?"
"Yes, but you don't have to feel scared, I won't hurt you, I want to help you, I believe you are the reason I was brought here; it is my destiny to help you."
Raven looks apprehensive, she doesn't know what to make of this. Except for Nightwing, Victor and Kory everyone she has ever met has tried to hurt or control her.
"I know you think of yourself as an outcast, but aren't you just misunderstood?"
Raven thinks about that. Malchiors words slowly making her inner walls fall.
"Attack me" Malchior says.
That shocks Raven. "What?"
"Attack me, trust me, Raven, you won't hurt me."
Raven looks conflicted but nods. She closes her eyes as he focuses on one of the boxes to the side. The box is surrounded by a black energy and starts floating off the ground. Raven makes a movement with her hands and the box is sent flying to Malchior.
He lights up another ball of fire and fires it to the oncoming box, blowing it up. He looks at Raven. "I think you can do more."
Raven looks around the warehouse. He focuses on more boxes and sends four of them to Malchior at the same time. He sends a ball of fire to each.
Outside the warehouse, an old lady walking her dog notices the fire through the windows.
Malchior finishes blowing out all four boxes. He smirks. "More."
Raven looks around to see what else she can throw. "There isn't anything else I can throw."
Malchior walks up to her. "Raven, you don't need an existing object to throw, you can create the object."
"How?" she asks. Another question coming to her mind. How does he know so much about her? However, she doesn't voice it.
"Let me help you" he says as he suddenly sends a fireball to her. By reflex, she catches it. The fireball ball turning into a black energy ball. She looks amazed at her abilities. She looks at Malchior and grins. She sends the black energy ball at him. Malchior barely has time to dodge it as he rolls away, the ball passing by. He looks at Raven. "Smashing." Raven smiles. A newfound confidence running through her body.
Malchior continuously lights up more fireballs as he throws them at her. Raven catching each one and sending it back. Malchior lights up more, aiming at the ones being thrown at him and another back at Raven. She closes her eyes as she makes a movement with her hands, creating a black energy wall blocking the fireballs. Malchior stops as he watches her in awe. Raven makes another movement, the wall disappearing. Four red eyes appear on her face as she starts floating. She makes another movement as a giant black raven aura comes out of her. With her hands, she does a forward signal, and the raven goes flying at Malchior. He widens his eyes as he doesn't have time to react as the raven hits him full, sending him flying back to the wall.
The raven flies back to Raven, disappearing as she collapses on the floor, blood coming from her nose, the red eyes disappearing. Slowly, Malchior gets up and notices Raven. "Raven!" He says running to her. He kneels next to her and lifts her head. Concern on his face.
Raven's eyes slowly start opening, she looks at Malchior making eye contact. "Mal…" she whispers.
Malchior smiles and nods. "Are you alright?"
Raven nods as she looks at him, their faces only inches apart. She focuses on his face, his lips. In a slow and timid way, she leans forward, capturing his lips. He is surprised at first but kisses her back.
________________________________________
Nightwing, Kory and Victor knock at the door of the Logan house. Although is now nighttime, it's still raining hard. A cop opens the door and looks at them. "Yes…?" he asks confused.
"We came to speak to the kid" Victor says.
"Do you have an order?"
"Lieutenant Carson told us to come" Victor lies. The cop thinks about it, not fully believing him. "You wanna check with him?"
The cop finally gives up. "Fine, you can come in" he says. After a long day of doing nothing, the last thing he wants is to get reprimanded by the lieutenant. "He is watching TV."
The three of them step inside the house. They instantly notice the TV on. Sitting on the sofa in front of it is Garfield, his mind focused on the gaming device in his hands. As soon as he hears the door closing, he quickly turns around. "Who is it…?" His words dies down as he sees them, a grin appearing on his face. "Kory!" he exclaims running at her and hugging her.
Kory laughs. "It is glorious to see you as well, Gar."
Nightwing and Victor look at them, feeling a little awkward. "Ahem" Nightwing clears his throat.
Gar looks at them. His eyes opening wide. "Wowsers, you are Nightwing, aren't you, sir? And you are Victor Stone."
"It's nice to meet you" Nightwing says extending his hand. "And please, don't call me sir." Gar smiles as he shakes his hand, and then Victors. "Now that introductions are out of the way, why don't we talk?"
Gar nods, his smiles disappearing. As soon as Victor and Nightwing turn around, he looks at Kory. She shakes her head, she hasn't told them his secret. Feeling a lot better, he walks to the sofa and sits down. Kory positioning behind the sofa. Nightwing and Victor in front. Gar's eyes moving from one to the other.
Nightwing notices his nervousness. "Don't worry, you're not in any kind of trouble, we are just going to ask you some questions, trying to get the full picture."
Gar nods, the uneasiness never leaving him.
Nightwing looks at Victor, he nods. Victor looks at Gar. "Do you have any pets, Gar?" Gar denies with his head. "Okay…"
Nightwing continues. "So, the neighbors heard screams coming from this house, at around three a.m., so naturally…"
"Yes, naturally" Gar interrupts nervously.
Nightwing doesn't like the interruption but decides not to voice it. "The police arrive, no one opens, and found you and your parents at your room, the rest of the house left untouched, do I have everything right?"
Gar nods. "That's what I've been told."
"Big claw marks found throughout the room on the furniture, so naturally you can understand Victor's question about having any pet."
"Anything more you can add that happened last night?" Victor asks.
Gar looks at Kory, then back at Victor. "I already told her; I don't remember any of it. I was having a nightmare, and when I woke up the room was full of police and my parents…" he trails looking down.
Kory looks at him, a sympathetic look on her eyes. Nightwing and Victor look at each other.
"What kind of nightmare?" Nightwing asks.
Gar tries to think about it as he clutches his head. The memory hurting. "A claw… a scream… nothing!" he yells suddenly.
"I will need you to keep your voice down" Nightwing says in a stern tone.
Gar suddenly glares at him, only a level gaze in return from Nightwing. He clenches his fists.
"Claws and screams isn't nothing" Nightwing continues. "What else?" He says as he moves forward.
"That's all."
"You must focus, man" Victor adds also stepping closer.
"I am!"
"You have to remember."
"But I'm trying!" Gar says as he clutches his head, his right foot tapping nervously on the floor.
"Well try harder! Your parents were killed last night, and we need to find what killed them!" Victor says raising his tone.
"I am!"
Kory looks at them, a worried expression on her face. "Friends, stop!"
"Not now, Kory, he needs to tell us what he knows" Nightwing says. He takes another step, getting even closer. "Try harder! If you can't tell me what happened, I have to assume the worst. That you know who did it and are protecting it. You need to remember!"
Kory can't take it anymore and she puts herself in between Gar, and Nightwing and Victor. "Stop! He does not remember" she says in a warning tone.
"Kory, what are you doing?"
"Richard…do not" she says with the same warning tone. Nightwing stops, not daring to take a step forward. "He is just a kid, not a criminal." She turns around facing Gar. "Gar, are you alright?"
Gar nods. "Thanks Kory." He clutches his head. "I'm not feeling very well" he says.
Kory kneels next to him. "Oh, Gar." She places her hand over his forehead. He is hot, very hot. She takes it back. "He is burning with fever." She informs turning to her friends.
Nightwing takes a step forward. "Gar, are you alright?"
Gar doesn't answer as he is struggling to breathe. He looks at Kory. "Kory, can I go to the bathroom?"
"Yes, little one."
Gar leaves the room; a troubled look on his eyes.
Nightwing looks at Kory. He walks up to her and talks in a low but stern tone. "Kory, he needs to tell us what he knows. Look at him, he isn't telling us all."
"Yeah, we are only trying to find the killer" Victor adds.
"So, the way of doing it is to interrogate a child?"
"We are not interrogating him, we…" he trails as suddenly a loud roar comes from behind them. Their eyes widen. Slowly, they turn around facing the roar.
Their eyes are met by a big, hulking, green, hairy creature. Huge fangs on his mouth and slime coming out of it. Fury on his eyes.
"What the…?" Nightwing mumbles.
"That's no bear!" Victor yells.
Slowly Nightwing starts moving his hands to his back, trying to get his esgrima sticks without being noticed. The creature notices as he lets out another loud roar. Nightwing stops his movement.
"No one moves" he whispers as he slowly raises his arms, trying to show the creature they aren't a threat. The creature appears to calm itself.
Just then, the cop, having heard the roar burst into the room. "What the hell was…" he trails as he sees the creature. Panic instantly overcomes him as he takes out his gun and points it at it.
"NO!" Nightwing yells but its to late as the cop starts shooting. The creature covering itself with its arm. He lets out another roar and jumps at the cop attacking him with its claws. The cop can't react as his face gets disfigured dying instantly.
Nightwing, Victor and Kory look at it. The creature roars again and runs to the nearest wall creating a whole and escaping through it.
"Let's go! Kory, stay with Gar!" Nightwing orders as he and Victor go out to chase the creature. Kory watches worried as the two of them disappear in the night.
________________________________________
The creature is running through the city jumping from building to building. At the street level Nightwing on his N-Cycle and Victor on his Camaro are chasing it. The creature takes a sudden turn changing direction, both vehicles keeping up with it.
"Do not lose it" Nightwing commands. Victor nods.
Victor checks a map of the city on his car's panel. "We are approaching the park; it will run out of buildings."
The creature reaches the end of the building line and jumps forward landing on a deserted park, it stops. Nightwing and Victor hop off their vehicles and confront him. The creature looks at them. Nightwing takes of his esgrima sticks and charges them. Victor charges his canon. All three of them in a standstill, waiting for the first to make a move.
"Attract his attention, I'll put him down" Nightwing says. Victor nods.
He fires his canon; the creature tries to block it with its arm as it staggers backwards, and before it can react, it is receiving a hard blow by Nightwing's esgrima sticks, sending him to the floor. Nightwing jumps on top of it and with his charged sticks hits it. The creature screams in pain at the electric shock; however, it doesn't fall unconscious as he throws Nightwing back. The hero does a backflip trying to land smoothly, but his bad ankle slips as he lands awkwardly. He gets up.
The creature roars as it quickly gets up. As both Victor and Nightwing close in to repeat the attack, the creature snarls and hurls its gigantic form at them. Nightwing doesn't have time to react as he swatted backward. He struggles to breathe as he looks at his chest. Three giant red lines rip through his Nightwing suit. He clutches it, his hand instantly turning red with his blood. That hurt.
Meanwhile, Victor finds himself going toe-to-toe with the creature, treading blow for blow, both tumbling to the floor. The creature attacks him using his claws hurting Victor as he tries to defend himself. He tries to aim his canon, but the creature moves it away avoiding the blast. Victor punches it hard to the face and with the new separation, he raises his foot and fires a sonic blast through it. The creature can't react as it is sent flying backward to the floor.
The creature is hurt, Nightwing has a chance to end it. He hits his two esgrima sticks together forming a bo-staff and runs to the creature gaining speed to deliver a forceful blow. Before he can get to the creature, a sudden Kory comes flying in between them.
"Richard stop!" she yells.
Nightwing widens his eyes as he is forced to stop his attack making him stumble to the floor.
"Kory…" he mouths confused.
"Do not attack him, it is Gar!"
Victor is also about to fire but he stops. "What…?"
The creature lets out another roar as he charges at them again with a raging fury.
Chapter 3: The Ceremony
Chapter Text
"Do not attack him, it is Gar!" Kory yells
Victor is also about to fire but he stops. "What…?"
The creature lets out another roar as he charges at them again with a raging fury.
He avoids Kory and attacks Nightwing. The hero dodges him moving backwards and moving to Victor. He looks at him. "What do we do?!"
"I... I don't know…"
"Do not hurt him" Kory says as the creature continues attacking the guys who merely try to move away from it, not wanting to engage in combat.
Just then, a black police van pulls up to the park. The back doors are opened as a full SWAT team squad gets out. They get into formation and point at the creature. "Fire!" one of them yells as they all start firing.
"No!" Kory yells. The blasts hurting the creature as it cries in pain. Kory flies up and fires a huge green energy beam in the space between the SWAT team and the creature creating a smoke curtain.
"I can't see!" "Stop firing!" The SWAT team stops shooting, not being able to see the creature.
"We have to get him away from them" Victor says to Nightwing. He nods, an idea coming to his mind. He pulls out an electric disk from his belt.
"We have to put him to sleep. You got the sonic?" Victor smirks and nods, understanding the plan. He runs to the creature and tackles him to the ground.
Meanwhile, Nightwing runs to his N-Cycle and starts the engine driving straight to the creature. The creature throws Victor away from it. Nightwing taps a button, the canons of the bike raising, as he fires a few inches to the side of the creature. The creature lets out another roar as he swats at the bike, Nightwing barely avoiding it as he drives away from the SWAT team, the creature chasing him.
"I think you gained his attention!" Victor yells through his earpiece.
"Stay ready" Nightwing responds. "Kory, continue shooting, you need to buy us time."
Kory nods as she lights up another beam, reinforcing the previously-made smoke curtain.
Nightwing makes an U-turn as he gets back to Victor and gets off with a jump. The creature charges at them. Nightwing throws his electric disc, a second later, Victor fires his sonic canon, hitting the disc just before it reaches the creature creating a huge energy blast that hits the creature, sending it flying backwards.
The creature can barely maintain its eyes open as it falls unconscious. Nightwing, and Victor walk up to it. The creature slowly turning back to Gar, his clothes torn apart. Kory meets them, she looks at Nightwing. They make eye contact. He doesn't say anything, he is pissed, he focuses back on Gar.
"Come on, we have to take him out of here" he says.
________________________________________
A woman is running, terrified, through a dark alleyway. Her frenetic steps stepping over paddles on the floor. Without slowing down, she looks behind; it's still following her! "Please, help!" she yells, but there is nobody close to hear her. She takes a turn into another alley and hides behind the wall. A tall shadow passing by. She is out of breath as she tries to calm down, inhaling and exhaling out of control, she covers her mouth with one hand. With the other, she scrambles for her phone. Nervously, she takes it out of her pocket, but drops it before she can use it, the impact producing a loud sound. She covers her mouth once again. The shadow stops and turns in her direction. Tears trickling from the woman's eyes. The shadow approaches her. The woman closes her eyes and starts praying. She opens them, there in front of her, four red eyes looking straight at her. She lets out a glass-piercing scream as the shadow surrounds her.
A homeless man hears the scream and looks in the direction it came. "Who is there?" Cautiously, he approaches.
The shadow turns to the man and panics, disappearing into the darkness.
The man makes it to the woman, he looks down at her. The horror in front terrifying him. "Jesus Christ" he murmurs.
________________________________________
A shirtless Richard is looking at his reflection through the mirror of the bathroom. His attention on the three giant red scars running through his chest. This creature or rather Gar, had really sharp claws. He timidly approaches his hand touching one of them but as soon as they come in contact, he takes it away, hissing in pain. He grabs a piece of cotton, dips it in alcohol and starts rubbing it over his scars, trying his hardest not to flinch away.
With his free hand he grabs his phone and searches for a specific contact. He presses call. It doesn't take long before someone picks up.
"Hello?" Bruce's voice echoes through the phone.
"Hey Bruce, how you doing?" Richard salutes a bit nervous while he continues cleaning the wound.
"Dick, what a surprise, is there anything I can help you with?"
Richard closes his eyes and swears. How does he know? "Yeah, listen, the Nightwing suit got a little torn during a recent fight, I was thinking you could send me a replacement?"
Silence from the other side. Richard closes his eyes preying. "Fine, you should receive it in the next couple of days."
Richard opens his eyes, relieved. "Thanks, also, since the ankle thing happened and I'm not as fast and can't jump as before, I was thinking of a heavier suit that could protect me more, you know, against, knives, claws…"
"Claws?" Richard closes his eyes regretting his last word, he had talked too much. "What kind of claws?" Bruce asks.
"From a dog…?" he says sounding more like a question than intended.
"A dog?"
"A big dog… or a tiger, or something sharp, you know what I mean."
Again, Bruce stays silent for a couple of seconds. "Fine, I'll talk to Fox."
"Thanks Bruce, look now I gotta go, but thanks a lot" he says ending the call. As soon as he does, he lets out a sigh of relief. Although their relationship had gotten better from where it once was, Richard is still not comfortable talking to him about his missions or possible mistakes, after all, he could have handled the Gar situation a lot better. He throws the now-red piece of cotton in the trash, puts on a black t-shirt, and exits the bathroom.
As soon as he enters the dining room at Victor's mansion, he notices Kory waiting for him, a timid expression on her face. She smiles. He doesn't return the smile.
"Are you alright?" she asks.
Richard nods as he turns around, aiming for the descending staircase to the lab. Kory takes a step forward and grabs him by the wrist before he can make it far.
"Can we talk?"
Richard looks at her as if deciding if he wants to have this conversation or not. He finally nods as he crosses his arms.
"Thank you." Kory pauses, thinking how she wants to approach this. She looks at his chest. "How are you feeling?"
"Fine."
"Oh, that is good" she says. Timidly, she starts. "About what happened earlier with Gar…"
"It's okay" he says interrupting her.
She looks up at him, confused. "It is?"
"Yeah, it's in the past, I trusted you and in return, you lied to me" he says no emotion on his voice as he again turns around.
"But it was not my intention, I did not want to…" she trails.
"But you did." Richard turns back to her.
"I know and I am sorry, it was only because Gar asked me not to reveal his secret…" she defends herself.
"He is a kid, he found himself close to you and told you what happened, its natural he doesn't trust strangers, but you... we are a team, we should trust each other, we…" he says motioning to the two of them. "Couples trust each other, they don't keep secrets from each other... What have I done to earn you lying to me!" he says raising his voice at that last part, his eyes becoming watery. "What do you think I would have done to Gar?"
Kory looks at him, reading his expression. She wasn't expecting this from him, she had really hurt him.
"I thought we had overcome that stage where we kept secrets from each other" he continues.
Kory takes a step forward to him and grabs his hands. She looks at him in the eyes. Green meeting blue. "I am sorry, Richard, I do not have a defense, I took a poor decision, I should have told you, and I do trust you, with my life, my love."
Richard looks at her. Damn she is good. His expression slowly softening until he smiles at her. "I also trust you with my life."
Kory beams a smile for the first time in the day. "I love you, and I promise I won't do it again."
Richard smiles. "I also love you." With that he leans forward, their lips connecting in a sweet kiss. Once they break apart, they look at each other. "I'm glad we could talk about it, even though I didn't want."
Kory giggles. "I believed it was most necessary."
Richard smiles and nods. "Come on, let's go with Victor; see if Gar woke up" he says as they start descending through the stairs, their fingers intertwined.
________________________________________
Slowly Gar opens his eyes, his eyelids weighing like a ton as he lets out a tired groan.
"Watch it, we had to give you a pretty strong blow to put you to sleep" a voice says.
Gar gets up from a stretcher and notices Victor standing a few feet from him. Currently busy welding his wounds from the fight. "By the way, you might want to cut short those nails."
Gar looks down, feeling ashamed. "I'm sorry."
"Nah, don't sweat it, I've had it worst."
"Where am I?" he says looking around. It looks like a fancy lab.
"You, my friend, are at the underground lab at my mansion" Victor says standing up and walking up to him.
"My head hurts" Gar says clutching his head.
"Yeah, it may happen after you get sonic-boomed." Gar looks at him not understanding. "When you get hit by my sonic canon and Nightwing's electric disk combined" he clarifies. "Nightwing's idea."
Gar lets out a small laugh. "I bet it looked cool."
"Hell yeah it was cool" Victor yells excitedly. "He looked at me and said, "You got the sonic?" and I knew he meant…" he trails trying to get back on track, this Garfield kid looked like cool guy. "Now how about you answer my questions?" he says crossing his arms.
Gar looks down but nods. Before Victor can say anything more, Richard and Kory enter the lab.
"Speaking of the devil" Victor murmurs. That earns him a small laugh from Gar.
"Gar, you are awake!" Kory says excitedly as she flies out to Gar, hugging him tight.
"Hey Kory" Gar salutes as they break the hug.
"How are you feeling?" Richard asks.
Gar looks at him. "I'm fine, just a little headache. Sorry for that" he says gesturing to his chest.
Richard raises an eyebrow. "So, you do remember?"
Gar nods. "Yeah, but only images."
Richard takes a step toward him. He offers him his hand. "I'm sorry for how we treated you, we shouldn't have been so harsh." Gar smiles and shakes his hand. "Now, how about you tell us the whole story" he says in a comprehensive tone.
Gar nods. "I… have abilities."
"What kind of abilities?" Victor asks. "And don't be afraid to tell us, we all have our thing, except him" he says signaling to Richard, who shoots him a glare.
"I can recombine my DNA to turn into animals."
"What we saw last night was no animal."
"Why do you not start from the beginning?" Kory suggests.
Gar nods. "My parents, they were both biologists, we used to travel a lot, most of the time to this wildlife reserve in Kenya. They had been called about a strange chimpanzee that had been freed from an illegal lab. They said he had suffered some horrible experiments…" he pauses. "I like animals, I always liked them…"
"What did you do?" Richard asks leaning forward.
Gar looks at him. "You must know I always did this with the other animals…" he defends himself. "I got to where he was being treated…"
________________________________________
A younger Gar enters a medical tent, a banana in one of his hands. There in front of him lies a chimpanzee on top of a stretcher, it looks asleep. "I heard they call you Blue Eyes" he says as he approaches it. He looks around, the tent is empty except for the two of them. "You are hungry?" he asks, offering the banana. The chimpanzee opens its eyes, waking up. He notices Gar and the banana. Gar makes it to a few feet from him. In a quick motion, the chimpanzee reaches forward, snatches the banana away from Gar and starts eating it. Gar is shaken from a moment but laughs. "I can get more for you if you like." The chimpanzee pauses eating the banana for a moment and looks at him. For the first time, Gar notices the scars on its face. "They hurt you really bad, didn't they?" Blue Eyes continues eating the banana. Slowly he reaches forward his hand trying to touch the monkey. As soon as his hand comes in contact with the chimpanzee's skin, its eyes widen terrified and lets out a loud scream. Gar flinches back but its too late, as in a quick motion, Blue Eyes jumps to him and bites him hard in the hand. Gar instantly screaming in pain.
________________________________________
Back in the lab, Gar shows the scar in his right hand to the team. "Blue Eyes died two days later. For my part, I was fine for the first couple of weeks, it was just a bite. When we got back to Jump, I started feeling sick… apparently, he carried some type of virus from all the experiments he had suffered" he trails.
"So, the flu turns you into animals?" Victor questions in disbelief.
Gar shrugs. "Pretty much, I used to have these attacks where my body would start transforming… but I learned to control it, now I can turn into more than twenty animals at will" he finishes proudly.
"Explain the creature we saw" Richard orders.
Gar again looks down. "I… I don't know what that thing was, I had never transformed into that, you have to believe me" he says raising his voice.
"We believe you, Gar" Kory says in a comprehensive tone, placing her hand over his shoulder trying to calm him down.
"The night where my parents... that was the first time it happened."
"Did anything unusual happen that day?" Richard asks, detective mode on.
Gar thinks about it for a couple of seconds. "Yeah, something happened. I was walking from school when I noticed this girl." He looks at the team. "You know, the one that used to work with you."
The team trades glances. "Raven?!" Richard asks. "She is in Jump?!... And what does she have to do with all of this?"
"I don't know, I just remember I was walking, and I saw her from the other side of the street, I thought she looked familiar from seeing her also on TV. I looked at her, and that's when my body started changing without wanting to. I went to my house, straight to bed, there I had the nightmare and the next thing I know, I'm that creature."
The team stays silent, processing Gar's words. The three of them trade glances as if deciding what they should do with him. They should alert the police to him so that they can take care of him, but then again, if Gar can't control his abilities, he becomes a risk to anyone close. They have to do what is right for him. Gar looks at them.
"Please, can I stay with you? Don't make me go back to that house, it's too painful" he says pleading. "If someone finds out about my abilities, they will lock me, experiment with me like they did with Blue Eyes, that's why my parents kept me a secret."
Richard, Kory and Victor look down at him, an unsecure look in their eyes.
________________________________________
Raven wakes up from the bed as she looks around. She is alone in the same bedroom as the morning before, Malchiors apartment; however, she doesn't remember getting here. She tries to remember, the warehouse, fire… suddenly she is hit by a strong headache.
She gets off the bed, for the first time, noticing that she is only wearing her underwear. She widens her eyes. Wait, did she…? Did they…?
Her thoughts are interrupted as a shirtless Malchior enters the room. "Good morning, beautiful" he salutes. He has a glass of water in his hands.
"Hi" she answers dryly as she covers herself with the sheets.
"How are you feeling?" he asks as he offers her the glass of water.
She takes it. "Thanks… like I've been hit by a truck." Malchior laughs. She looks at him. "Sorry but I don't remember anything, last night did we…" she trails, not wanting to voice it.
"No."
"Oh" she simply says.
"You did not want?" he asks, a trace of panic in his voice.
"No, no, it's not that, it's just... I don't remember."
Malchior sits in the bed by her side. His eyes to the front, not feeling great with himself. "Then I must apologize, Raven, even though nothing happened, I thought that was what you wanted, I'm terribly sorry."
"Then what happened?"
Malchior lets out a sigh. "After you kissed me at the warehouse, me made our way here. Again, I apologize for having misread the situation…"
________________________________________
Malchior and Raven make their way to the bed, their lips always connected in a hungry kiss. They settle over the bed, Malchior on top, the kiss continuing. Suddenly Raven stops, her eyes in blank. Malchior looks at her, confused. "Raven, are you…?"
Without saying a word, she gets up pushing him to the side. Malchior just looks at her as she exits the apartment.
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"You came back several hours later and went straight into the bedroom" Malchior says.
Raven looks down, her mind racing with possibilities of what could have happened. "Maybe... maybe it was using my powers that..." She looks at him. "Mal, there is something inside me, something bad, something evil. I feel like the more I use my abilities, the more I lose control of myself" she says sounding desperate. "What we did yesterday must have woken it up... I had never done that" she says referring to the black raven ability she had used.
Malchior grabs her by the hands. "Then you have to do it again, you have to fight it, Raven, you must use your abilities, learn to control them and you will control this other side of you."
"How?"
"I will teach you. Just like I learned to control mine."
Raven lets out a small smile. Maybe he was right, maybe he could help her.
________________________________________
A young cop approaches Nightwing and Victor as they make their way into the alleyway. Its now day, although a thin drizzle is falling over them. A distressed look on the cop's face. He signals to the heroes to follow him as they go deeper into the alleyway.
"I said to myself, I'm not going to screw around with this. Nope. Fuck that. Its still pretty fresh, I also called the medical examiner, he's coming." He stops and turns to them. "When I got to it, I knew, as soon as I laid eyes on it, this is the kind of shit you take care of."
Nightwing nods. "The witness?" After their talk with Gar, they decided they would take their time with the decision, and analyze all the alternatives. No more than five minutes later, they had been called about another dead body. Kory decided she wanted to stay with Gar, so that left Nightwing and Victor to look into it. After that, the three of them would go together to the ceremony in their honor at the city hall.
The cop signals with his head to the side where another cop is talking to a homeless man, a blanket over his shoulders, he looks terrified, his gaze lost and hands shaking.
The young cop moves to the side revealing the corpse of woman, probably in her thirties. A pool of her own blood below her, her skin a dark shade of purple, with her mouth wide open and the same protruding eyes sticking out. Nightwing kneels beside her and makes a scan.
"Excuse me" the young cop says before leaving the scene. Its just too disturbing for him.
Victor looks at the corpse. "Same killer as Mark Peterson."
Nightwing nods. "Yeah, both corpses look identical, our suspect, Arthur Light, any news from him?"
Victor denies it with his head. "They still haven't found him." He looks away. "This town is rooting, seriously." Nightwing doesn't say anything. Victor had a point there; this certainly isn't the same city as the one he had arrived over two years ago. He looks carefully at her body, especially her clothes. She has a black leather jacket over a white shirt and jeans on her legs.
"No sign of struggle shown in her clothes" he says.
"Why would you check that?" Victor asks curiously.
"Seeing Lights criminal record, it had occurred to me that if he was the culprit and he struck again, his motif could be... a sex offense."
"Rape?" Nightwing nods. "But Mark Peterson?"
"You said the wife had heard them talking about money, at their hot-sheet hotel and he has a past…" Nightwing rips open her shirt, revealing her naked chest. As Mark Petersons corpse, her chest looks empty. "Her organs also exploded… only her bones left."
Nightwing notices the medial examiner approaching them and stands. "Its all yours" he signals."
Nightwing and Victor walk up to the homeless man seated in the ground, leaning into the alleys wall. Victor throws him a bag with a sandwich in it. The man catches it without looking but doesn't eat it. His hands still trembling, whatever he saw really traumatized him.
Nightwing kneels in front of him. "You saw who did it?"
The man looks at him and nods, scared.
"You saw the man's face?" Victor questions.
The man looks at Nightwing straight in the eyes. "That was no man" he whispers.
"Then who did it?"
For a second, the man looks to the side and back at the hero. "The devil" he murmurs. His hands now trembling out of control, as if the mere mention of it scared him even more. For the first time, Nightwing notices the man has a crucifix between his fingers, clutching on it for dear life.
________________________________________
A bus reaches the bus stop. The driver opens the door as three people in line enter. Each one indicating their destiny and paying. A tall figure in a hood enters. The driver looks at it. "Where to?" he asks tired.
The figure takes its hood off. Is Madame Rouge. "City hall, and I will need your bus" she says with a smirk.
________________________________________
Victor drives his Camaro approaching the newly rebuilt city hall. Nightwing, still wearing his torn suit, by his side and Kory behind. The same light drizzle falling from the grey sky. Kory looks outside, a certain worry in her mind, it's the third day in a row without sun.
As they near the city hall Nightwing gazes outside, the street packed with apparent fans, all of them screaming, his blood chills as he sees a man with a hockey mask holding a sign that reads "Deathstroke was right!"
They park in front of the city hall and get out of the car. Instantly, they are swarmed by fans and paparazzies, cameras flashing. "Richard I love you", "Kory you are beautiful!", Victor, marry me!" are some of the incoherent shouts the mass of people utter. Nightwing looks around, all the people screaming his name. "Richard!" "Richard over here!" Grayson!" He starts sweating, his name, his identity, who he was... He struggles to breathe. "Tough day, Grayson?" "You are weak Grayson" he hears, the screams mixing in with Deathstroke's words. His head becoming dizzy, the crowd smothering him. He looks around. There he is! Between the people, Deathstroke, his black and orange mask on. "Life out of Gotham has cost you, Grayson." He starts making his way to him. Kory notices it and grabs him by the hand. He looks at her. "Richard, are you alright?" Nightwing denies. "Deathstroke, he is here." Kory follows his gaze; she can't see anyone apart the mass of people. Nightwing continues. Kory grabs him tighter, stopping him.
"Richard, look at me" she says. He looks at her, barely being able to hear her through the screams. "Breathe, Richard, breathe." He nods as he closes his eyes and starts breathing. Inhaling and exhaling. "There you go."
Nightwing opens his eyes, he looks around, Deathstroke is no longer there. He looks at her, feeling a lot better. "I'm okay, thank you." Kory smiles as she intertwines their fingers.
Uncomfortably, they start making their way to the city hall.
"There you are!" Mayor O'Hara says. "My god, let them breathe." He signals to his security guards that walk up them, pushing the people out of the way and creating a path. The heroes continue walking, reaching the mayor, who grabs them and poses for a photo, Nightwing and Kory to his right, and Victor to his left. They force a smile as the picture is taken.
They break apart and they start walking into the city hall. The mayor looks at Nightwing. "I know we had our differences in the past, but I'm confident we can work together once again."
Nightwing looks at him and nods. "You mean to take down Mad Mod?"
"Yeah, I inherited a heavy burden with him, but along with the police we are working hard to put him down, the last two months the crime rate descending from where it was, if we project, we could lower the crime rate by two hundred percent by the end of my mandate."
"You've spent a lot of money on the new SWAT teams."
"I believe this is the way of fighting against the mob. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have more people to greet" he says walking to another group of people.
The team continues walking into the city hall.
Victor is approached by a couple of boys. "Victor, Victor, a selfie?!" Victor smiles as he complies. "Booyah!" he yells while they take the picture. The boys laugh as they also yell. They continue walking.
Inside they are greeted by a child chorus singing, as people continue to flood inside, being restricted to the sides of the city hall, some of them with billboards admiring the heroes. Nightwing scans the crowd. He clocks rifled officers among the spectators to the side and on the upper level. The lieutenant sure had gone all out with the security.
A P.A. announcer starts speaking through a microphone, his words echoing throughout the city hall. "Ladies and gentlemen, thank you all for coming to today's ceremony to honor our heroes." The people start applauding. "As a reminder, later there will be a fundraiser to support the family of the deceased at the opera attack. Those who wish can help with a little donation." Again applauses.
People continue cheering them. Nightwing and Victor smile, it was nice being appreciated once again. A fangirl lifts her t-shirt up, revealing her naked chest. Nightwing turns away but laughs.
"This is nonsense" Kory speaks, a bit of anger in her tone.
Nightwing and Victor look at her confused. "What's wrong?" Victor asks.
"This" she says motioning to the whole room. "All of it."
Nightwing takes a step toward her and talks in a low volume. "Kory, they are honoring us, it's one of our duties as heroes."
"No, Richard, our duty should be helping them, and now that Gar needs our help, we should not leave him alone."
"Kory…"
She interrupts him. "And not receiving worthless medals, I should go with him" she says turning around and aiming for the exit of the city hall.
Nightwing takes a step to follow her but is stopped by Victor placing a hand over his shoulder. "Let her go, she has a point." Nightwing turns around and nods.
They both turn to the center of the city hall. Lieutenant Carson walks up to them and stands by their side. "Grayson, Stone" he salutes with a nod.
Victor and Nightwing nod at him and exchange glances, apparently, he is also receiving a medal. The mayor grabs a microphone and climbs on the stage. Instantly receiving an ovation. Nightwing looks around, they sure love him, then again, he had gained a lot of fame after the attack on the train.
"Thank you, thank you, let me hear you also for our heroes, the lieutenant Carson, Victor Stone and Richard Grayson!" The crowd applauds them too.
Nightwing fakes a smile and salutes a bit awkwardly, why did he have to introduce him with his civilian name? He looks around the city hall when he notices a silhouetted figure standing on the upper level, the people applauding around, but not it. It appears to be a woman, with short hair, could it be...?
His thoughts are interrupted by sudden distant screams. Nightwing turns in that direction. The mayor stops his speech. An awful groaning engine whine from somewhere outside, then sickening thuds. Nightwing's eyes immediately flit up in alarm to the upper level, where panicked spectators are seeing something through the windows, everyone turning, all except the feminine figure. Gazing eerily down to Nightwing's direction, waiting for something.
A loud crash sound as the main entrance explodes in a blizzard of glass on concrete as a whole bus rips through the doors, pandemonium, as the crowd scatters, some tossed in the air, the vehicle slamming past guardrails into the seated area.
Victor spins to see a small kid a few feet away, frozen in shock as others flee all around him. He hurls himself at the boy tackling him out of the buses path as it roars past, launching seats over their heads finally crashing into the stage, buckling upward, engine grinding, till it stops.
A surreal moment of quiet, then screams, tears, panic as Nightwing lifts his head and looks at the bus. The doors open. He takes out his esgrima sticks, preparing to engage with whoever that was. Victor lets go of the kid and aims his canon at it. The lieutenant and ten cops surrounding the bus. They are surprised to find actual civilians, timidly, coming out of the bus, their hands raised. The heroes lower their weapon. The driver walks out, his mouth taped as he has a black vest on, he looks scared, tears rolling from his eyes, a symbol on the tape, similar to an S, written in red. The heroes focus on him. It's a bomb! Both heroes widen their eyes.
"Theres a bomb!" the lieutenant yells.
The driver continues crying. The other civilian from the bus run away from him.
Nightwing turns around, the feminine figure already gone. He looks at Victor. "You can handle it?" he asks referring to the bomb.
Victor looks at the lieutenant. "How long till the anti-bomb squad gets here?"
"Already called, they'll be here in five minutes."
Victor swears. "It isn't enough, I'll do it." He grabs his car keys and throws them at Nightwing who catches it. "Not a scratch."
Nightwing smirks and nods. He quickly turns around and runs to the exit. The mayor recompose himself. He looks at a couple of cops. "Go with him!" he orders. The two cops nod.
Victor turns to the bomb and sighs. He walks up to the driver. "Easy, it will be okay, I've done this before" he says to the man with the bomb, he nods, still crying. Victor looks at the bomb, no timer, meaning it could go off in any moment or if they took the vest off the man. Also, a fault indicator with two bars, he can make two mistakes before it goes off. Well, at least that is going his way.
He looks at the driver. "Look at me, its going to be okay, you hear me man?" The driver nods vehemently, sweat all over his face.
Nightwing exits the city hall in a run. He scans the crowd around, all running away from the building. He notices the feminine figure casually walking to a police armored truck, its Rouge. She casually opens the door and gets in. Nightwing turns to the side, Victor's blue Camaro parked a few feet away. He runs to it, gets in and starts the engine chasing the truck.
The truck gets in the avenue and drives away, still oblivious to the Camaro. Nightwing makes a sharp turn, getting in the avenue and accelerates, almost catching up to her. Suddenly the siren of a police cruiser echoes behind them. Nightwing looks behind, two police cruisers joining the chase. Rouge also hears it as she looks through the rearview mirror, noticing Nightwing. She narrows her eyes.
"Fuck, this is not good" Nightwing swears.
In a sudden move Rouge hits the brakes, the truck instantly stopping. Nightwing swerves away avoiding crashing into her. Rouge once again starts the truck chasing him, now she is in behind.
Nightwing looks through the rearview mirror. "Fuck." He drives through the traffic, the armored truck keeping up with him, matching his move for move. She accelerates, bumping into him in the back of the car, Nightwing almost loses control but manages to control the car. "Vic is not going to like that." He takes a sharp turn getting in a thinner street, Rouge turning with him, the chase continuing.
Victor opens the bomb. Three cables inside. Red, blue and white in that order. He taps a button on his control panel, his right hand changing to a scissor and approaches it to the cables. From what he could remember from the train incident, the three cables bombs were fairly easy. The last cable was white, that means that's the one he must cut. He cuts it. One bar from the fault meter disappears. That wasn't it.
"Fuck" Victor whispers. The driver closes his eyes.
Nightwing continues being chased by the truck. He slaloms skillfully through the traffic trying not to hit any car. Behind Rouge just runs over the cars, moving them to the side using its strength. The truck makes it to him and Rouge veers recklessly into him pushing him to the sidewalk.
"You cannot escape" she says with her usual French accent.
"Fuck" Nightwing says as he continues being pushed. Rouge pushes again, the Camaro hitting the side of the building, sparks coming from the contact.
Victor closely inspects the cables. He was sure he had to cut the white one. He finds a fourth cable hidden behind the first one, its red. So, it's a four-cable bomb… and it has one blue cable. He approaches the scissor and cuts it. The timer on the bomb disappearing.
Victor lets out a sigh of relief as he leans back. He takes the tape off the mans mouth. The driver opens his eyes as he also lets out a breath. "Thank you" he whispers.
Victor nods at him. He looks at the tape, especially at the S-like symbol, it looks familiar. He puts on his earpiece. "Nightwing, we good here, how are you doing?"
Nightwing pushes the brakes all the way, the truck passing by. He opens his window and throws a batarang, hitting the back wheel of the truck. A beep-beep echoes before it goes off, the car tier blowing off and the truck flipping over and sliding a few feet through the wet asphalt.
He stops the car and gets out. He walks up to the truck and kneels next to the broken window, shattered glass on the asphalt, its empty, Rouge isn't there. He gets up and looks around. A scared civilian points in the direction of the entrance of a shopping mall near them. Nightwing nods in appreciation.
He taps his earpiece. "Victor, I followed Rouge a few blocks from the city hall, track my location and meet me here."
"Already on it, almost there" Victor's voice echoes through the earpiece.
Cautiously, Nightwing walks in the shopping mall. He receives the curious look of various civilians. He continues walking. He notices a scared security guard; with a shaking hand he points to the door leading to the bathrooms. Nightwing nods as he slowly approaches it.
Victor makes it to the shopping mall, he notices Nightwing and runs up to him. "Made it as quick as I could." Nightwing makes a silence gesture and points to the bathroom door, Victor nods.
Nightwing and Victor walk into the bathroom. There, standing casually in front of the sink, is Rouge washing her hands, some blood on her temple from the crash. With a stern look, the heroes position each to a different side of her, Nightwing to the left, Victor to the right, waiting for her next move. Rouge looks up and sees them through the mirror. She smirks.
"Children."
Nightwing smirks back before in a quick move he goes in for a punch. Rouge catches his fist and slams it to the sink. Victor sees the opening and punches her hard on the face, Rouge falls to the ground, seems unconscious. Victor walks up to her, a grin on his face.
"Didn't need your fancy sticks."
Suddenly Rouge stands up with a jump and pushes Victor back. She moves to Nightwing throwing two quick punches to the abdomen that he barely has time to block before she kicks him, sending him to the floor. Victor attacks her from the side, Rouge dodges it and elbows him hard on the face, and again for a second time. Now Rouge is the one punching him, before he catches her, grabs her and lifts her preparing to slam her to the ground, but while in the air she shifts her weight inverting the move, and she slams Victor to the ground. She positions on top of him and punches him down on the throat, Victor clutches his throat in pain.
Rouge notices Nightwing approaching and throws a kick to the hero's chest that makes him stumble backward, she then goes for a punch, but he catches it and counterattacks with a blow of his own, trading blow for blow.
Victor gets up. Nightwing punches Rouge and pushes her back allowing Victor to grab her from behind and throw her to the sink breaking it and the mirror. She falls to the ground but quickly gets up and grabs the pipe of the broken sink. She attacks Nightwing before he ducks, the pipe hitting the wall behind and she repeats the move, but Victor grabs her arm and now Nightwing attacks her punching her in the stomach. While being grabbed, Rouge kicks Nightwing again sending him back and placing her feet in the wall running through it and shifting her position, and now facing Victor as she gives him a powerful blow using the pipe. Victor falls to the ground.
She moves to Nightwing swinging the pipe, he dodges the first attack, catches the second, and delivers a flying kick making her stumble backwards. He quickly gets up before Rouge jumps to him grabbing him by the neck in a chokehold position. Nightwing struggling against her grip. Victor stands up and walks up to them, his fist raised in a boxing stance. Rouge looks at him. Nightwing takes advantage of the distraction and elbows her in the stomach getting out of her grasp, and Victor again punches hard on the face. Rouge throws another punch; Victor ducks and throws another hard punch to the face and the stomach.
Nightwing takes out his esgrima sticks, charges at them, and hits Rouge with them. The assassin cries in pain as she falls to the ground. In a quick move, he jumps on top of her and puts the esgrima sticks around her neck, preparing for another electric charge if necessary. Victor also aims his canon.
"The attack, what was the purpose?!" Nightwing interrogates.
"The symbol on the guy's tape what is it?" Victor questions.
Rouge smirks. "Wouldn't you like to know."
"Talk!" Nightwing demands in a stern tone as he brings closer the esgrima sticks to her throat.
"Children, I'm a hired assassin, if Mad Mod asks me to do something, for the right price, I do it."
"Why don't I believe you?" Victor comments.
"Believe me or not, your problem, he just told me I couldn't miss because he would hire someone else to do it" she concludes, the French accent never leaving her.
Nightwing and Victor trade glances. Mad Mod had hired another assassin? This couldn't be good. "Who?" Nightwing questions turning to her.
"What makes you think I know?" she asks. "Now if you would excuse me" she says before, in a quick move, she headbutts Nightwing and moves her legs forward kicking Victor back. She jumps up, grabs a metallic sphere from her belt and throws it to the ground, creating a blinding light that forces the heroes to look away, allowing her to escape. Once the light ceases, they look at each other, only the two of them in the bathroom.
________________________________________
A police cruiser parks right outside of a warehouse near the docks. The cops get out and look at it, as if reconsidering their life's choices that had led them here. They look at the place, it looks abandoned.
"Sure it is here they called?" One of them asks with a tired voice.
"Yep" the other answers. He lets out a sigh.
An old lady with a cane approaches them. "I was the one who called" she says. "These younglings will burn the whole neighborhood with their firecrackers."
The cops look at her. "With all due respect, miss, the place looks abandoned…" one of them trails as suddenly an explosion can be seen from one of the windows in the upper level that catches the cops off guard.
"See? I told you, it's a fire hazard."
The cops quickly take out their guns and enter the warehouse. What they see inside completely takes their breath away. Inside there is man with white hair and a poncho somehow throwing fire balls from his hands to a girl, a black energy surrounding her and catching the fire that comes her away, both still oblivious to the cop's presence.
"Everybody freeze!" Hands in the air!" they yell aiming their guns at them.
Raven is startled as she turns to them. She raises her arms obliging. "Please don't shoot."
The cops turn to Malchior who still hasn't moved. "Hands in the air, buddy!"
Malchior doesn't like it. He looks at Raven who seems to have surrendered herself. How could she have done that? They are mere mortals in comparison to her. He can't let them imprison her. He turns to the cops and narrows his eyes.
"Hands in the air or we will fire!" one of them threatens as they approach him cautiously. Slowly, Malchior starts raising his arms. "Yeah, that way, just…"
In a quick move, Malchior lights up a fire ball and throws it at the cops, nearly hitting them.
"No!" Raven yells.
"Fucking hell." The cops recompose themselves and start firing at him.
"NO!" She yells again. She focuses and catches the bullets before they hit Malchior. He smirks.
"What the fuck…" one of the cop whispers.
Raven closes her eyes, two pair of red eyes appearing on her face, she turns to the cops. An angry look on her face as she starts floating. The cops look at her wide eye.
"You will pay for that" she says in a deeper voice, clearly not one belonging to her. She makes a movement with her hands and the cops start floating, complete panic in their eyes as they scream, their backs start arching forward, both in deep pain. "The day is coming" she says with the same deep voice. A black vomit comes out of the cop's mouth, their skin turning purple, and eyes start coming out of their places. She makes another movement as their heads go in a different direction than their bodies, instantly breaking their necks. Raven lets them go as they fall to the ground. Their skin a dark shade of purple, their mouth opened wide and both eyes protruded out as they lie on top of their black vomit.
The red eyes disappear, her normal eyes coming back, she looks confused. "What happened?" she asks.
"Raven…" Malchior just whispers.
She turns to him and then to the cop's corpses. "I... I did that?" They are dead, she killed them.
Malchior places a hand over her shoulder. "Its okay" he says, trying to comfort her.
"Get away from me!" she yells moving away.
"Raven…"
"I killed them! Please get away from me" she begs. "I don't want to hurt you."
Malchior takes a step toward her. "I do not fear you."
"You should" she says as she turns away and runs out of the warehouse.
Malchior watches her go, a preoccupied look on his face, until its replaced by a light grin.
Chapter 4: The New Titans
Chapter Text
Its daylight in downtown Jump City. The glass of a tall office building shatters. Inside there is a man in a red hoodie that covers his face, holding a smoking silenced pistol. An anarchist symbol on the back of his hoodie. He leaves the pistol. Next to him, another man with the same hoodie gives him a cable launcher. The first one grabs it, aims at a lower roof across the street, and fires a cable across. Both step on the window frame, attach themselves to the cable, step into space, sliding across the dizzying drop landing on the lower roof across the street.
An SUV travels across the streets. Inside three men, all of them wearing the same red hoodie.
"Three of us, lets do this" the driver says in a southern accent.
"That's it? Only three?" the one in the passenger seat asks.
The one in the back remains silent loading his gun.
"Plus, the two on the roof, everyone gets their share, five parts is plenty" the driver answers.
"Six parts, don't forget the one who planned it"
"Yeah, well he should've come, I ain't giving him my part" the driver finishes as he pulls the car over in front of the Jump City First National Bank.
On the roof, one of the men pries open an access panel.
"You know if the boss came?" The other asks as he watches him analyze the different cables on the panel.
"I thought he always took part in the hits."
The men in the SUV get out and march into the bank holding assault rifles. They get into the lobby and fire into the ceiling causing chaos, the customers screaming in panic. "Hands in the air!" Heads down!" "I said hands up, head down!" A security guard, seeing he is overmatched, drops his gun and raises his arms surrendering. One of the men hits him hard with his rifle, the other two laugh. They proceed to round up the hostages at gunpoint. One of the tellers at the bank presses a button mounted behind her window, a silent alarm. One of the hooded men notices it and grabs her, throwing her to the ground. "Get over here!" The manager of the bank watches from his office, not liking what he is seeing, slowly he reaches below his desk.
On the roof, the man holding the cables sees the alarm ping and handhelds it. "Here is the silent alarm." He cuts the cable. "And there it goes, funny, it didn't dial out nine-eleven, it was trying to reach a private number."
"Is it a problem?" the other asks from behind as he raises his gun.
"Nah I'm done here…"
"Well done, Billy" he says as he shoots him in the head from behind. He picks up his bag and forces open the roof access door. He speeds down the stairs into the basement. He slams open the door.
In the lobby, the three men move down the line of hostages. Handing each one an object from a bag. A grenade, while at the same time they pull the pins out.
"Obviously we don't want you doing anything with your hands that isn't holding on for dear life" one of them speaks. Before he knows it, he is blown off his feet by a shot. The other two dive for cover.
It's the manager of the bank holding a shotgun as he steps out of his office.
The one in the basement reaches the vault room of the bank. He takes out a drill from his bag and starts drilling the vault. A bolt of electricity rips through the drill throwing the man to the ground.
The two in the lobby take cover as the manager fires again. "Ai, do ya know who ya er stealing to?!" he says in a British accent. "You lot are dead!"
One of the men quickly gets up and fires, he misses. The manager aims at him, and before he can shoot, the other hooded man shoots him down. The men nod at each other as one of them separates, heading for the stairs in the back.
He makes it to the basement, where he meets the other member of the gang still drilling the vault. He stops and looks at him. "They wired this shit with five thousand bolts" he says signaling to the vault. "What kind of bank does that?"
"A British mob bank" the other answers. "Where's the alarm Billy?"
He finishes drilling and starts spinning the wheel bolt opening the vault. "Boss told me to kill him when he was done, one less share" he says taking a step into the vault.
The other looks at him from behind. "Funny, he told me the same thing."
The one in the vault freezes as he scrambles for his weapon, but its too late, before he knows it, he is receiving a bullet to the head.
"Well done, Billy" he says as he steps over his corpse, entering the vault, which is filled with a mountain of cash. He kneels and starts loading them into a bag.
A couple minutes later, he steps into the lobby carrying several bags on his back. The other looks at him and laughs.
"That's a lot to carry" he says as he drops the bags on the ground.
The other kneels and grabs them in silence. He hears a click and looks up. There in front of him, the other man with the red hoodie is pointing his gun at him.
"I bet the boss told you to kill me as soon as we finished loading the cash."
The other shakes his head. "No, Billy, I was supposed to kill the truck driver."
"Truck? What…" Before he can finish, the tail of a giant red truck rockets through the front of the bank. The man pointing the gun gets distracted; the other takes out his gun and shoots him, killing him.
"Well done, Billy."
Another red-hooded man gets out of the truck. As soon as he sees him, the other shoots him also. He grabs the bags and starts loading them up on the truck.
The wounded bank manager watches him. "Think ya eis smart, aint you mate? Ya boss ai going to do the same shit to ya."
The only member still alive shakes his head.
"Yeah, sure he will, criminals like ya are all scum, what are ya morals, mate?"
The man walks up to the manager and crouches next to him. He takes off his hood, revealing a young man in his thirties and brown hair.
"I don't have any morals, compadre... I'm just an agent of chaos." He smirks.
He reaches for the dead member of his gang next to them and takes the hood off. Revealing a man with the same exact face, the same exact features as the other still alive. He winks as he gets up and strolls to the truck. The manager watches as the anarchist logo on the back of the hood gets smaller as the man moves away. He starts the engine and drives off the bank before the police can make it.
________________________________________
A man in a white suit and white hat is at a window seat in a train approaching Jump City. His point of origin being Gotham. His black hair perfectly combed, glasses over his eyes as he looks outside the speeding train. He takes out a cigarette and starts smoking, although its forbidden. He is at the back of the wagon, away from the other passengers.
Outside, rain pours over farms, small homes and lawns pass. The light flickers over the man's placid face.
He has one of his hands protectively over a briefcase by his side.
________________________________________
An eyeball, big, yellowish, distinctly inhuman, stares raptly, in between the legs of a wooden table, in the big diner room of a mansion.
"Gar? Are you in here?" A wondering Kory asks as she steps into the dining room. She looks around, not noticing him. She turns around, giving her back.
The eyes dart from side to side, making sure no one is around; this is its chance. Slowly, the green anaconda starts moving forward approaching Kory. When he makes it close enough, he lets out a loud hiss as he jumps to Kory, his fangs aiming at her. In a quick move, she turns around and grabs him while in the air.
She smirks. "I believe you will have to try harder."
The snake falls to the ground. Slowly, it starts turning back to Gar, his clothes untouched, meaning it was a planned transformation. He looks at her as she offers him her hand and helps him up. "How did you do it? I was so sure I had you this time."
"Always keep notice of your surroundings, that was one of the first rules installed on me by the warlords of Okaara." Gar rolls his eyes. This wasn't the first time she had mention them. "How did you feel the transformation?" Kory asks.
"Smooth, but I never had problem turning to an anaconda" he answers.
"Please, help me understand, how can you turn into some animals with ease, but others cannot?"
Gar thinks about it. "I'm not a scientist, so I don't know exactly. But I think it is because of practice, you know? Like I must see pictures of them for a long time, like memorize each aspect of them and then I can transform into them. And then they stay like stored in my mind, I'm basically an encyclopedia" he finishes with a proud smile.
"Oh, I understand, it is like a fighting technique, you add them to your arsenal" Kory says smiling.
Gar returns the smile. "Yeah, that's it."
"But if I ask you to transform into any specific animal that is not yet in your arsenal, you will be unable to do it, am I correct?" Gar nods. "What about a bear?"
Gar shakes his head. "Since I was usually at my house I practiced with smaller animals."
"Please try."
"But..." he protests.
"Gar..." Kory says in a comprehensive tone. "We saw what happened with that creature, you lost control, if you wish to prevent that type of accident, you must be better at controlling your abilities."
Gar thinks about it. Kory may have a point. He looks at her and nods. He takes a step back, making sure to have enough space to transform. He closes his eyes and starts focusing. Bear. Black fur. Four legs. Five feet. Four hundred pounds. Small round ears. Curved claws.
Kory watches him from her spot a few feet from him.
After a few seconds, Gar opens his eyes and looks at his hands. He is still human. He looks at Kory. "Told you I couldn't."
Kory lets out a sad smile. "Perhaps you may be able to tomorrow." Gar returns the smile.
________________________________________
Victor is downstairs in the underground lab. A thoughtful look on his eyes as he studies the holographic board in front of him. In the middle of it, is the S-like symbol that was drawn on the tape of the driver at the city hall. It looks familiar to him; however, he can't point out why. On the sides of it are photographs of the recent murderers. Mark Peterson, the woman in the alley, and the two cops at the warehouse. All of them dead, killed in the same merciless way. On top of the board, a photo of their prime suspect, Arthur Light, whose location is still unknown, he could be dead for all they know.
Although there's no apparent relation between the murderers and the symbol, Victor thinks there might be one; he just has to find it.
His thoughts are interrupted by Kory and Gar entering the lab.
"Where is Richard?" Kory asks upon entering.
Victor turns to her. "Went to investigate a bank robbery, I stayed, wanted to concentrate on this" he says motioning to the board.
Kory looks at it, especially the photographs. She is thankful she hadn't been on the crime scenes, all of them with their purple skin, protruding eyes… not a happy sight.
Gar looks around the lab, still amazed by it. All this cool gadgets and staff… although he must obey Victor's rule of not touching anything. He wonders around while Kory and Victor talk.
Kory focuses on the symbol. "Why did you include it with the other cases?" she asks.
Victor sighs. "To be honest, I don't really know, I had a hunch there could be a relation between them two."
"I wish Raven was here, she knew about this type of things."
Victor pauses. Raven! That's it. That's why the symbol seems familiar. "Kory, you are a genius" he says still looking at the board.
"I am?"
Victor presses a couple of buttons on this computer accessing the files. Luckily, he had digitalized all of his father's files. He accesses the C-14 file and opens it. Raven's picture appears.
"The file of Raven." Kory says.
Now more interested, Gar turns to the board. He looks at her picture. He was sure now, that's the girl he had seen the other day, she was the one who had started everything.
Victor starts going through the file until reaching the images of the different marks on her body at the moment she was found. There it is! The same symbol as the tape, it's a match.
"We must find Raven" Victor says.
________________________________________
Raven lays asleep on a bench in a park. A tree over her covering some of the rain. She has her hood up and is using her bag as a pillow. After the incident at the warehouse, she had used her abilities to get to Malchior's apartment, grab her things, and leave before he could make it back. She couldn't stay with him, she was too dangerous, she could hurt him by accident. She had killed those two cops. Something had snapped inside her. Since leaving him, she had remained in control, so maybe it was best to stay on her own.
She is woken up by somebody clearing his throat. Slowly she opens her eyes, noticing a cop looking down at her, not a happy look on his eyes. "You can't sleep here" he says.
"Please, I have nowhere to stay" she pleads.
"You can't sleep here, now get up or I will be forced to take you to the police station."
She considers it for a moment, sleeping under a roof doesn't sound like a bad idea, however, considering she had killed two cops recently, it wasn't the best idea, plus it was more people to hurt. She gets up and leaves the park.
She makes it to a traditional bakery and knocks on the door. An old man with a moustache opens and looks at her.
"Please, do you have some bread you can give me? I don't care if it is from yesterday" she begs under the rain, her soaked hair sticking to her face.
"No" he answers rudely. He is about to close the door, but Raven using her abilities, stops it.
"Please, I haven't eaten today."
"I said no! Now leave or I will call the police!" He says raising his voice, and with that, he shuts down the door, Raven doesn't try to argue and accepts it.
She walks to the back of the bakery. She sees the trashcan and opens it. Inside she sees a big black bag. Ignoring the smell, she opens it revealing various loaves of bread, probably from the day before. She grabs a handful and leaves. It isn't the healthiest decision; however, she is desperate, hunger clouding her mind. She had gotten food without putting anyone at risk.
She makes it to a close alleyway and sits down on the ground, a roof on one of the side buildings protecting her from the rain, piles of garbage bags to the side of her. She grabs one of the loaves of bread and takes a bite. It tastes awful and is clearly rotten. She looks at it, its mostly green. However, she takes another bite, the hunger being too much.
From the shadows, one figure watches her.
She starts sobbing in silence while she takes another bite. Tears rolling freely through her face. How had she gotten to this point? Just the other day, she was with Nightwing, Kory and Victor. She misses them, a lot. They were the only people who had shown her kindness, who didn't want anything from her. Maybe she could communicate with them, let them know where she is so they could help her… No, that would be too dangerous, she could hurt them. The evil inside her is too strong.
She trails as she thinks in Nightwing's words.
Richard kneels on the floor, a worried look in his eyes. "Raven, look at me, you weren't made to destroy, you weren't born with a labs purpose, no one was, it's your choice to find a purpose, if you want to do good, you can do it, you don't have to destroy" he finishes. Raven smiles. She launches at him and hugs him tight.
She continues crying.
________________________________________
Lieutenant Carson gets out of his car outside the bank, ducks the barrage of shouted questions from the press and picks his way into the lobby of the bank.
He gets in, approaching the medical examiner, who is taking pictures of one of the dead thieves. He crouches and looks at him. Nightwing steps from the shadows, Carson notices him.
"Is this the first time he shows up?" the hero asks. Carson shakes his head and hands him photographs taken from the camera footage. Nightwing looks at them. "All of them look alike?"
Carson nods. "All five dead plus the one who escaped have the same exact face and clothes."
Nightwing thinks about it. "He is a multiplier."
"He calls himself Billy."
The lieutenant signals to Nightwing to follow him as they walk to the vault.
"This was no ordinary bank." Once inside, he kneels on the ground and grabs a bundle of cash left behind. He throws it at Nightwing who catches it. "It's a mafia bank."
"Mad Mod?" Carson nods. Nightwing inspects the bills closely, using his mask to scan them. "They are marked."
Carson nods but doesn't elaborate. Just then, Mayor O'Hara walks into the room. Nightwing looks at him.
"They are marked" he repeats, motioning to the bills.
The mayor and lieutenant trade glances. It's the mayor who takes the lead taking a step forward. "For weeks, his guys have been making gun buys with this money, keeping the guns off the street. This is the second bank we find that was a drop for Mad Mod."
"This must have been a heavy blow to Mod."
"Yeah, which is not always good" the mayor says. He looks at Carson. "Give us a minute" he orders.
The lieutenant is about to protest but decides not to and leaves the vault. It's now only the two of them. "This kind of shit, usually leads to war between mobs, leaving us in the middle."
Nightwing nods. "I've experienced my own share of them in Gotham."
"Then you know what I'm talking about... I think this multiplier guy should be your priority."
Nightwing looks at him, not fully convinced. "One man or the entire mob?"
"But it isn't only one man... look with the marked bills we are trying to control Mad Mods operation. With this multiplier guy, there's no way of controlling him, he is chaos, who knows what he will do next."
Nightwing thinks about it and nods. "I'll handle it." He pauses as he thinks. He signals with his head to the exit. "The lieutenant, I don't trust him."
"Why is that?"
"I have a bad feeling, first the opera thing, then the armored truck outside the city hall, and now didn't want to tell me about the bills, just a feeling... and my guess is neither do you" Nightwing elaborates.
The mayor doesn't say anything, not wanting to admit it.
"I'll track him down along my team and report anything I find directly to you" Nightwing finishes.
"Okay, be careful, will ya?" he says but Nightwing is already gone.
Nightwing makes it outside and hops on his bike. This Billy case could be tricky one, the mayor was right, he is unpredictable, however this type of guys always have a weakness, he just has to look through his past hits, find a pattern.
He is about to start the engine when he suddenly is hit by a strange sensation, it seems familiar… Then out of nowhere, his head starts hurting badly, he clutches it as he screams in pain. Images appearing in his mind. Rain, a park, a trashcan, an alleyway. All of a sudden, it stops. He opens his eyes, out of breath.
"Raven…"
________________________________________
"This is rubbish!" Mad Mod says as he crumbles the newspaper about the bank robbery and throws it to the floor. "This Billy lad, already getting on ma nerves! This wanker!"
The other people in his studio look at him. Mad Mod looks down, thinking of a way to take him down. He turns to Madame Rouge.
"Can't ya just take care of him?"
"I've already been too exposed with the attack at the city hall, I prefer to keep low the next few days."
Mad Mod nods, not really wanting to get in an argument with Rouge. Controllus nervously watches him from his spot a few feet from him.
"This guy stole more than three million from me, I want him dead!" Mod yells punching his desk. "I want his head here over my desk!"
"Hey Bubba, if you wanted Billy, you just had to say my name" Billy says in his southern accent as he steps in the studio. Grin on his face. He is wearing the same red hoodie as in the bank robbery.
Without thinking it, Mad Mod takes out his gun and shoots him in the head. Controllus looks at the corpse.
"Is he dead?" he asks.
Just then, another Billy walks in the room. "You may be able to kill one Billy, but what about two?" Another Billy walks in behind.
Now Rouge takes out her guns and shoots them both.
Another Billy walks in. "We can keep doing it all…" Mad Mod shoots him before he can finish.
"The original isn't here" Controllus says.
Another five more Billys walk in. "We are infinite." Rouge and Mad Mods shoot them each without much difficulty until a click stops them, indicating they ran out of bullets.
Another Billy walks in. "You finished?"
With a death look in his eyes, Mad Mod puts away his gun. He signals to Rouge to do the same, she obeys.
"Now that's better" Billy says mockingly.
"What do ya want, lad?" Mod asks.
Billy takes a step forward and sits in front of Mad Mod at his desk. He looks around the study. "All of it, hell of a study, I want it all."
"Yula don't scare me."
Billy looks at him. "I already took out one of your banks, I can keep going, your deliveries down at the docks, I can take care of all of them. I have my own arsenal of guns, trust me, grumps, this isn't a war you will win. I'll give you one week to hand me your business. Oh, and I leave you the bodies so you can put on your desk all the heads you want." With that, Billy gets up and aims for the exit.
Mad Mod watches him go, furious, smoke coming out of his head. This bastard, thinks he can take all he worked so hard away from him. He takes out another gun and shoots him in the head from behind.
He remains silent for a couple of seconds, just fuming. He turns to one of his thugs to the side. "When is our guy arriving?!"
________________________________________
Raven is still in the alleyway. She has stopped crying, having been able to recompose herself. She shouldn't be weak. She has also finished the first loaf of bread, two more left, however, she isn't as hungry anymore to continue eating more rotten bread. So, she puts them in her bag.
A man approaches her, he looks dirty in old clothes. A knife in hand.
"The food now!" He says threateningly.
Raven nods and hands him the remaining loaves; they aren't worth it. The man snatches them away. He is about to leave but stops.
"The money, give it to me."
Raven shakes her head. "I don't have." She is starting to feel afraid.
"The money!" he repeats, approaching the knife toward her.
"I don't have!" He isn't listening to her. "Please, I don't want to hurt you."
The man reaches for her bag and grabs it. "My bag!" She says as she also grabs it, both pulling their way. She can't lose her bag. "Let go." The man doesn't stop as he continues pulling. Raven can feel it, the evil inside her, screaming to come out. She is about to let go of the bag when suddenly the man is hit in the head from behind and falls unconscious to the floor.
Raven looks up. There, standing in front of her, is Nightwing, a worried look on his eyes as he kneels in front of her.
"Raven, are you alright?"
For some unknown reason to her, she starts crying and launches at him, hugging him tight, both arms around his neck. "Richard" she cries.
Nightwing hugs her back. "Its okay, you are okay, I found you, you don't have to fear."
Raven looks up, meeting his mask. "No, no" she whispers as she starts separating from him. "Get away from me!" she yells.
"Raven…" He looks confused. "I won't hurt you, I would never."
"Please… I don't want to hurt you, I'm dangerous."
Nightwing leans closer to her. "You are not dangerous, you are not evil, you are our friend." He extends his hand to her. "Trust me, let us help you."
Raven seems conflicted, but she gives up, takes his hand, and again hugs him, a new wave of tears coming from her eyes.
________________________________________
Richard is looking through the files of the previous attacks made by Billy at the underground lab in Victor's mansion. One ruby robbery last year in Steele City, a sapphire at an auction in Metropolis two months ago, a complete jeweler's shop here in Jump two weeks ago, and the bank theft, breaking the pattern. The guy clearly has a thing for jewels, maybe they can bait him, set him a trap.
"Is Raven alright?" Kory asks coming from behind. Victor and Gar by her side.
Richard nods. "Yeah, she is asleep, I set her up in a bedroom, hope you don't mind" he says to Victor.
"Nah man, is cool, once she wakes up there's a couple of things I want to ask her."
"We should let her rest now; she looks as if she had a rough time."
"How did you locate her?" Kory asks.
"She found me, I... I can't explain it, it was like with Deathstroke, somehow, she contacted me, and suddenly I knew her exact location, found her in an alleyway under the rain, a man attacking her."
"She hasn't had it easy" Gar says, empathizing with her.
Richard nods and turns to the screen. "This is our mission now" he says referring to Billy.
"Billy?" Gar reads.
"What has this Billy done?" Kory asks.
"He is a multiplier, this morning he robbed the city bank by himself, he is unpredictable, which makes him very dangerous."
"How do you propose we catch him?" Victor asks.
"We set him a trap. He has an obsession with jewels, expensive jewels, he won't be able to resist if we put the right one in front of him, maybe at a charity event."
Silence. "Dude, does any of us have a jewel that we can use?" Gar asks looking around.
Richard thinks. Maybe he could borrow one from Bruce. It wouldn't be his favorite option, but he could try. "I…
"Perhaps I could be of assistance" Kory interrupts. Everyone turns to her. "When I arrived with my sister, we carried the jewel of my family with us. It is a Centaury moon diamond. My sister had valued it here on earth just in case. She told me, it was worth more than fifty million dollars at worst. We would use it in an emergency case. I have it here with me."
Everyone stays silent. Yeah, that would work. It is Richard who speaks. He stands up from his chair and grabs her by the hands. "Are you sure, Kory?"
Kory nods looking down. "This is an emergency, is it not?"
Richard smiles. He leans forward, places his hand under her chin, forcing her to look at him and kisses her. Once they break apart, they turn to the rest of the team, who nod in approval.
"We will need a great spectacle to attract him" Victor says crossing his arms.
Richard smirks. "Luckily for us, I have a lot of experience organizing this type of events as Dick Grayson."
________________________________________
Richard, dressed in a tuxedo, descends from a limousine, two supermodels wearing stunning dresses by his side, one in each arm. An almost too big of a smile on his face and shades over his eyes. Instantly, they are swarmed by the press, taking pictures and asking questions. "Richard, are you back to your playboy persona?", "What about Nightwing? Are you abandoning it?", "Do you have your suit under your shirt?" He stops as he smiles at them.
"Guys, how about we drop the vigilante shit to the side? This is for a good cause… Now… how about we party!" He yells enthusiastic as he again wraps his arms around the models. The press continues asking him questions. They ignored them as they make their way into a five-star hotel.
________________________________________
"We'll have to make it believable this is real and not a trap" Richard says back at the lab. "I'll have to do my best to sell the Dick Grayson persona." He turns to Kory. "Kory, you'll be among the guests, try to keep low."
Kory nods.
________________________________________
Kory watches, from one of the windows of the penthouse of the hotel, Richard's performance. She doesn't like it, however, it's all part of the mission. She is wearing the same purple dress she wore at the opera, not exactly the best choice for staying low, but its not as if she has many from which to choose.
The doors of the elevator swing open as Richard and the models step into the penthouse. Instantly surrounded by the other guests, all of them part of Jump City showbiz. Kory stays in her place, watching him salute people he probably doesn't know. A young man in tux approaches her. She notices him.
"Hi" he says rather timidly.
"Greetings." She returns the smile. Maybe she also had to sell a different persona to the public.
________________________________________
"There in the center of the room for everyone to see, it will be the diamond" Richard continues.
________________________________________
Kory enters her and Richard's apartment. She lifts the mattress, the place Richard taught her was the best place to hide something valuable to one, revealing a wooden box. She opens it. Inside there is a light green diamond the size of her hand. She grabs it and closes her eyes.
"I promise you, mother and father, I will not let him steal the jewel of the family. Even if I must die" she says in tamarenian. She opens her eyes.
________________________________________
As Richard said, in the center of the penthouse, under a crystal box, is the Centaury moon diamond. All the near guests stopping to gaze at it. It truly is wonderful, a rare sight to any human, not that they know is not from earth. The perfect bait for any thief, especially Billy.
________________________________________
Richard turns to Victor. "You'll be our eyes. You'll have control of every camera, in or out of the building, heat signatures, control of the power and elevators. If he makes a move, you have to be the first to know it."
Victor nods. A thought comes to his mind. "Since this time we are playing at home, I think we can accommodate a more comfortable office for me" he says with a smirk.
________________________________________
Victor carrying a heavy briefcase, enters an all-too-big office at the hotel. A large desk in the center of it. He sits in the comfortable chair in front of the desk. Opens the briefcase, takes out his laptop and holographic screens, and gets them online. With a smile on his face, he observes through the multiple cameras across the hotel.
________________________________________
"You will also need to be ready to jump into action in case all hell breaks loose" Richard says still at the lab. "We will need the numbers."
Victor nods. "I'll be ready."
"I will be among the guest" Raven says entering the lab, her arms crossed. Everyone turns to her. "You need me." She looks at Richard. He nods.
"Raven!" Kory exclaims before she flies at her embracing her in a tight hug. "You have no idea how much we missed you!"
"The feeling is mutual."
Victor comes to her side and high fives her. "What's up, little lady? Good to see you."
"Nice to see you, Vic." She looks at Gar and nods at him a little awkwardly. He nods back and looks down avoiding her gaze.
"In case a shooting commences, your priority will be protecting the guests, make sure no one gets hurt" Richard says.
Raven nods.
________________________________________
Raven, dressed as a waitress, walks around the penthouse. A plate with shrimp in her hands as she offers them to the guests.
She makes it to Richard and offers one to him. He grabs one and eats it while smiling. He grabs another shrimp and places it seductively in the mouth of one of the supermodels. The model takes the shrimp off his hand and eats it, always smiling.
Raven rolls her eyes at the performance and continues her duty.
She makes it to Kory, who grabs one and continues chatting with the young man.
________________________________________
"Is everything clear?" Richard asks.
"Oh, oh, what will I do?" Gar asks raising his hand.
Richard looks at Kory as if the choice were hers. After all, she has spent the most time with him, if someone knows if Gar is ready, its her. And he trusts her judgment.
Kory looks doubtful. Gar is very young and lacks experience in combat. She looks at him, making eye contact. A pleading look in his eyes. She smiles and turns back to Richard. She nods.
Richard nods back and turns to Gar. "Alright you are in, can you turn into something with a good sense of smell?"
Gar answers instantly. "I can be a hound."
"That will do, you'll be outside. Once his attack starts, you must find the getaway driver, he always has one. You locate him and put a tracking device on his vehicle, that's it, you stay out of danger, is it clear?" Gar nods excitedly. "I will give you one of his hoodies so you can lock in his smell."
Raven looks at Gar. She remembers him from seeing him in the street, when he first started losing control. "Let's hope he can control himself" she says in a monotone voice.
"And let's hope you don't give any unwanted headache to any guest" Gar says with a smile.
Raven shoots him a look and turns back to Richard. Her mouth turning upward with a little smile. Gar notices the smile and celebrates internally.
"Meanwhile, you have to stay low, man, a green hound will certainly attract attention" Victor adds.
________________________________________
A green pigeon is standing on top of a lamppost outside of the hotel. He looks around, trying to find anything unusual. The people outside oblivious of his presence.
________________________________________
"Everything clear?" Richard asks, looking at each of the team members. They all nod, their assignment being clear to them.
Silence again, everyone waiting for Richard to say his normal speech. But before he can say another word…
"This is so cool!" Gar yells excitedly. "We are like your old team" he says looking at Richard. "Like the Titans, but we are new, we are like... like the New Titans."
The rest of the team looks at Richard. "You had a previous team?" Kory asks, sounding a bit hurt. He nods.
"Didn't see that one coming" Raven adds.
"Yeah, it was in the past, back when I was Robin" he explains, not really wanting to talk about it. "But it isn't important, what is important is catching Billy" he finishes pointing to the screen. "And we are going to do it."
________________________________________
Inside his apartment, Richard kneels in front of a black box. A note attached to it. From Bruce. Richard opens it, instantly a smile forming on his face. This is cool. Fox had sure gone all out with this one.
________________________________________
"Doing a checkup, how is everybody doing?" Victor asks in his office. In front of him are all the cameras in the penthouse. Since Richard and Kory would spend most of the mission with the guests, that made Victor the most logical option to run point.
Raven continues serving the guests. She touches her earpiece behind her hair. "Raven in position, nothing out of the ordinary here, howlong till this Billy guy shows up?" She asks, already regretting coming here, this party was lame.
"Gar here" he says from an alleyway in front of the hotel. A serious look on his face as he looks around. He is taking his assignment very seriously. "No trace of Billy yet." With that he starts turning into a green hound and starts sniffing around, hoping to find Billy's scent.
"Kory here" she says touching her earpiece.
"What?" The young man by her side asks confused by the sudden interruption of their conversation.
"Oh, I was just saying that I am Kory and am currently here" she lies trying to cover what she really meant.
The young man seems to buy it. "Oh, I am also here... with you" he says with a charming smile. Kory smiles back at him.
Victor sees the exchange from one of the cameras. He laughs. "It appears Kory has made a new friend" he teases.
From the other side of the penthouse, Richard also notices it between the supermodels as they talk to him without him listening. To say he is not happy would be an understatement. He grabs a glass of champagne from a tray and walks up to them.
"You seem familiar to me, do i know you from somewhere?" The young man asks Kory in the same flirtatious tone. Before Kory can answer, the young man is tapped from behind. He turns around, its Richard.
"Mind if I borrow her?" He asks, the stern look on his eyes not matching his cordial manners.
Outside of the hotel, the green hound suddenly picks up a smell. He starts sniffing. He looks up. A big truck is parking in reverse on the middle of the sidewalk.
The young man instantly nods at Richard. "Yes, of course, I'm sorry." Although he had not recognized Kory, he is pretty much aware of Richard's alter ego, not someone with whom you want to mess around.
Richard fakes a smile and offers his arm to Kory as he leads them outside.
Victor enjoying the show from the cameras.
Richard leads Kory outside to the penthouse deck. He walks to the side of the balcony and pours the champagne off the edge of the building. He can't drink on a mission. Kory watches him.
"That young man may not know you, but I am pretty certain of what you were doing."
The green hound approaches the truck, he is sure, this must be Billy. He turns the other way aiming for the alleyway so he can turn back to human and notify the team. At that moment, five Billys descend from the back of the truck and enter the hotel.
Although they are fully on display of the cameras, Victor can't see them on his screens, they do not appear there. He must be being hacked.
Richard smiles at Kory. "Yeah, well, can you blame me?" Kory smiles for a second but looks down. "You know all that, with the girls is just a performance, right?"
"I know."
"Then what is it?"
"Why did you not tell me this was not your first team?" She asks, a hurt expression on her face.
The Billys make it to the lobby of the hotel. A security guard goes to meet them. "Can I help you?" He asks. One of the Billys takes out a gun with a silencer and shoots him. Another security guard is about to take out his gun, but the Billys point their guns at him. He stops and raises his arms.
"Not you, Bubba, we are gonna need you" one of the Billys says.
"Kory I…" Richard stops. This certainly isn't a conversation he wants the rest of the team, especially Victor, to hear. He reaches to his earpiece and turns it off. Kory looks at him, she understands, she reaches to hers and does the same. Richard continues. "I never thought it was that important" he defends himself.
Kory doesn't answer as she looks away. "I... do you want to see a photo?" he asks.
Kory turns his way and beams a smile. "I would very much like that." Richard smiles back.
The Billys and the security guard make it to the elevators. One of them indicates different instructions to the different Billys. Some go to the stairs, other stay. The elevator doors open. They get in.
The green hound makes it to the alleyway, he starts turning back to human. He touches his earpiece. "Guys do you hear? They are here! I repeat, they are here!"
Victor checks the cameras outside the hotel and lobby. "I don't see them."
"They just entered, I know their truck, I will go to mark it."
"Do it!" Victor says. He starts going to the other cameras through the hotel, he can't see them.
Richard reaches to his pocket and takes out his phone. He searches for a specific picture. He shows it to her. "They are Wally, Roy, Donna and Garth" he says while Kory looks at the picture. In it, is Richard wearing his Robin costume, to his left is Donna, woman with black hair and a black costume, having him in a friendly chokehold. Next to her is a man with long dark hair and a blue costume, Garth. Behind them, is Roy, with orange hair and a cap on in his red uniform, and next to him with a large smile is Wally, in a yellow costume. All five of them are smiling.
Kory smiles. "You seem happy, as if you enjoyed each other's company."
"We did."
Kory looks at him. "Then why are you no longer together?"
Gar approaches the truck, being very careful not to be spotted. He looks at the window. Inside, the driver seems oblivious to his presence. Gar reaches to his pocket and takes out a tracking device. He attaches it under the track. He touches his earpiece. "I did it!" He calls.
"Good job, Gar" Victor says. "Now get out of there before they see you."
Gar nods as he crouches, transforms into a green pigeon and flies to the nearest lamppost.
"Nightwing, Gar set the tracking device" Victor informs. No answer. "Richard!" Again, no answer. "Kory, come in!" She also doesn't answer. "Fuck! Raven, are you there?"
"I'm here, Vic" Raven says in a bored voice as she continues serving the different guests. "What's going on?"
"I can't get a signal on Nightwing or Kory, are they there?" With the side of his eyes, he looks at the camera on the elevator. In it five Billys can be seen, guns in hand. "He is here."
Raven looks around the penthouse. She finally sees them both outside. "I see them, they are outside talking, probably turned off their earpieces."
"Well, tell them to turn them on, we have a problem here, I will try to slow them down." With that Victor presses a couple of buttons on his laptop.
The elevator where the Billys are suddenly stops in between floors. "What happened, Billy?" One asks. The others shrug. They press the penthouse button again.
"We had our differences" Richard says to Kory. "Don't get me wrong, I still love them, its just... its difficult to stay with the same people for such a long time, everyone has their own plans…" He trails.
Kory looks at him, confused. "We have been together for a long time now."
That shocks Richard. He reaches to his arms and interlocks their fingers. "Yeah, we have, and I have loved each moment of it." He smiles. Kory smiles at him.
"And it has not been difficult to stay with me?"
"Not at all." That earns him a small giggle from Kory.
Kory pauses, she looks up and back at Richard. "Richard, there's something I must tell you." He raises an eyebrow, what could it be? "Since there have not been many sunny days recently, I am afraid..."
"Wait" Richard says interrupting her. He notices Raven looking at him, standing on the door of the deck. Something is going on. He touches his earpiece, turning it on. "Vic, talk to me, what's going on?"
"Oh, how nice of you to finish chatting" Victor says in a sarcastic voice. "We have a situation." He looks at the heat signature of the building, several red spots in the floor below them. "Billy is in the floor below you, a lot of them."
"I'm on my way." He looks at Kory. "We will finish talking later, stay here with the diamond." With that, he leaves the deck. On the way, passing Raven. "You too stay here." Raven nods.
Without being noticed, Richard leaves the penthouse. He reaches the hallway, looks around making sure no one is looking his way. He presses on one of the walls. It opens revealing a secret compartment, he reaches inside.
Victor sees Richard's heat signature moving through the floor below. "You should see all of them behind the door."
"On it."
A Billy with a machine gun is guarding a door on the floor below the penthouse. He suddenly notices something moving in the shadows. He raises his gun. "Who is there?" No answer. Again, he notices movement, so he fires countless bullets. He stops, the chamber in the gun empty. Then a figure descends in front of him. Is Nightwing, but with a red bird insignia on his chest, both esgrima sticks in his hands. He smirks.
"Hands in the air, pretty boy" the Billy says, although he doesn't have any bullets left.
Nightwing flips the machine gun around in Billys hand, uses it as a fulcrum to snap his forearm, smash him into the jaw with the stock without breaking step.
Nightwing forcefully opens the door, and jumps in expecting an army of Billys, but is surprised to find there is no one. Just an empty, large room. "Vic, they aren't here."
"What do you mean, they aren't there? You are literally in front of them" he says looking at the heat map. Indeed, he isn't lying, Nightwing heat signature is next to a lot of them. He should have them in front. "Where are they then?"
In the penthouse, the doors of the elevator swing open. From inside, a dozen Billys come out, all of them wearing the red hoodies and guns raised. One of them fires at the ceiling, getting everyone's attention. There are screams from the guests.
One of the Billys takes the lead as he moves smiling through the terrified guest. "I only have one question, amigos, where is the diamond?" He continues walking. "You? Have you seen it?" He says as he friendly slaps one of the guests. "You?" He finally spots it under a crystal box. The grand Centaury moon diamond, there in front of him in all its glory. "There you are." He starts walking to it.
An old, distinguished gentleman steps in his way. "We are not intimidated by thugs."
Billy stops, he smiles. "Yee-ha, I like your spirit, you should join my gang." He forcefully grabs him. "Have I told you I hate my gang?" He takes out a knife and puts it into the gentleman's mouth.
"Stop!" Kory yells.
Billy drops the gentleman and turns to her, as do the rest of the Billys. A grin on their faces. "Well, I'll be damned. Hello, beautiful." He approaches her, still knife in hand. "You are Nightwing's squeeze, aren't you? And boy, are you beautiful."
Kory's eyes flash green in a warning. Billy stops. "A little fight in you, I like that."
"Then you are going to like me" Raven says making her presence be known. She closes her eyes and black energy surrounds all the weapons in Billy's hands. Instantly, they are crashed down.
"What the fuck?!" Billy yells freaking out a little. He steps back and smirks once again. He closes his eyes, instantly five more Billys materialize out of him, all wearing the same hoodie. "It looks like you opened a six pack." He looks around to his fellow teammates. "Billys, take them" he signals. Instantly, all the Billys run at them, engaging in fight. The leaders trailing behind, he looks at the diamond.
Kory moves backward as she avoids the blows of three Billys. He blocks one, grabs him by the arm and throws him against the other two. Two more join the fight, jumping on her from behind.
Raven creates a black shield, blocking the attack from one Billy. Other jumps her from behind, tries to grab her, but she disappears through the ground, appearing to the side of him. She concentrates on one close table and, using her abilities, pushes it to the Billys, sending them flying.
Nightwing enters the penthouse, instantly noticing the chaos in which it has transformed. One Billy attacks him from the side, he ducks, catches his arms, elbows him to the face and punches him in the face. Another Billy takes advantage and attacks him with his knife. He stabs him in the back; however, the knife doesn't cut through his new suit. Nightwing smirks and delivers a roundhouse kick, knocking him unconscious.
Victor notices the fight going on. He closes his laptop, takes out his Max 8 chip, and inserts it in his temple. The blue light instantly extending throughout his whole body. He proceeds to sprint to the penthouse.
Kory is struggling against the two Billys climbed on her, she can't shake them off. Suddenly, they are surrounded by black energy and thrown off her. Its Raven. Kory smiles at here, before seeing a Billy approaching from behind with a knife, unaware to Raven. She fires a green beam that hits him. Raven quickly turns around, but the Billy is already unconscious.
"Thanks." Kory nods at her with a smile.
Nightwing, using his esgrima sticks, is fighting against three Billys at the time, ducking, blocking and counterattacking. He backflips away from them, barely able to complete the move, this suit is much heavier. Two more join the fight, its now five against him. He continues on defense, avoiding being hit.
Victor enters the penthouse. He sees Nightwing struggling against the Billys. He raises his canon and hits three of them. Nightwing takes advantage, he crouches and sweeps the feet of the other two.
Victor raises his canon and starts firing to the other.
The leader makes it to the diamond and takes it out of the crystal box.
Nightwing notices him. "NO!" He yells. The Billy turns to him and makes a run to the deck of the penthouse. Nightwing sprints behind him. He is about to get to him when he is tackled by another Billy.
The leader reaches the edge of the building. He looks down. Just below his position at the street level is their truck. He takes a deep breath and throws himself off the edge of the building. While in the air, he circles his body around the diamond, protecting it. He crashes right next to the truck, his body completely crushed, the diamond safe. A Billy descends of the truck and grabs it. "Well done, Billy." He gets back on the truck starting the engine and driving off.
Nightwing throws the Billy of him and sprints to the edge of the building. He sees the truck driving away. He jumps on the railing, gazing down at the huge drop. He touches his earpiece. "Team, Billy is gone with the diamond, I'm chasing." He extends his arms to the side and jumps off the building as he starts plummeting. He spreads his arm wide, a light fabric extending from his elbow all the way to the waist, as he starts planning at great speed chasing the truck, the fabric working as a wingsuit.
From his position on top of the lamppost, Gar sees the truck getting away. "No, no, no" he whispers to himself. "He is getting away." He thinks. "I can chase, I can do it... the fastest bird is the peregrine falcon, if I change into it, I can surely catch up to it, right?" The only problem is, he has never been a peregrine falcon before. "I can do it." He closes his eyes as he focuses. White chest, black back, yellow beak... He jumps off the lamppost, fully believing in himself. Just before hitting the ground his whole body changing to the peregrine falcon as he joins in the chase.
Kory hears Nightwing. She panics, she can't lose the diamond. She sprints to the edge as she takes on the air in a green beam.
Raven sees Kory flying away. She turns to Victor, who is a few feet from her firing his canon at the remaining Billys. "Vic, we have to go!"
"Can't you see I'm a little busy right now?!"
Raven rolls her eyes and closes them concentrating. A black energy appears below her feet as she fades through it. Another appears below Victor.
"What the…?" He too fades through it.
A second later, they both reappear inside Victors Camaro, parked outside of the hotel. Victor looks around, still confused how he got here.
"Drive! We are losing them" Raven says.
Victor nods as he starts the engine, he too joining the chase.
Billy looks through the rear mirror, all five heroes chasing him: Nightwing in his wingsuit, a green falcon to his right, Kory flying to his left and behind them tailing the truck is Victor and Raven in the blue Camaro. "It seems we attracted the whole circus" he says to himself as he drives avoiding the traffic. The diamond over the seat next to him.
Nightwing presses his arms against his body, gaining speed. Once he is over the truck, he takes out a batarang and, with great force sticks it to the ceiling of the truck, getting himself on it and preventing him from flying away.
Victor accelerates hitting the truck from behind. "Dammn it." Billy says. He closes his eyes as another Billy materializes next to him. He gives him a gun. "Take care of our little stowaway." Billy nods. He takes his body out of the window and fires at Nightwing who ducks just in time.
"You Billy back there, take care of the rest" the leader says. The back door of the truck open, two more Billys appearing with a heavy machine gun mounted on a tripod.
Victor widens his eye. "Oh no."
The Billys start firing countless bullets, one shooting while the other feeds him the bullets.
Kory and Gar move away, avoiding the bullets. Victor and Raven duck, the bullets hitting the glass of the car, shattering it.
The Billy is about to shoot Nightwing again, but before he can, Kory comes flying and blasts him off the truck.
Raven peeks up at the truck, the bullets still coming at them. She looks at Victor. "Keep them busy."
"What do you mean keep them busy? What are…?" He doesn't get to finish as Raven disappears through the floor again.
She reappears inside the truck behind the two Billys. They quickly turn around to her, but she makes a rapid movement with her hands twisting their necks and killing them. Victor looks up, there in front of him is Raven smirking at him.
Billy tries to maneuver the truck, trying to take out Nightwing. He is about to take a turn, but Victor comes from the side, pushing him straight and preventing him from taking the turn. The truck continues forward.
Nightwing moves to the side window and punches it, shattering it. He reaches for the steering wheel, trying to stop it. Billy struggles against him as he tries to remain in control. He elbows him to the face, Nightwing trying his hardest to remain in place. A green falcon comes flying from the other window and snatches the diamond.
"NO!" Billy yells as he tries to get hold of the bird, but before he can, Nightwing punches him in the face and veers the steering wheel completely. He jumps off the truck, Kory catching him in the air before he touches the asphalt. The truck crashes as it lands on its side.
After a few seconds, a stunned Billy comes out of the truck, confused, bleeding from the forehead. There, in front of him, he has Raven to the left, Victor next to her with his arms crossed, Kory with her eyes flashing green in the middle, to her right Nightwing, and completing the formation Gar, with the diamond in his hand. A stern look in their faces.
Billy smiles as he raises his hands surrendering. "Well played."
________________________________________
Mad Mod is in his dark studio, along his thugs, he is hearing the police radio about the capture of Billy.
"We are transporting him now to the police station to remain in custody…"
"Yeah, get in!" Mad Mod celebrates punching his desk. The thugs celebrating with him. "Take that ya wanker! Ya can't just come and mess around with Mody! Enjoy prison, my duckie."
Controllus timidly enters his studio. He looks at Mod, as if deciding if he wants to interrupt his happiness. "Sir…"
Mad Mod stops and looks to him. "What do ya want?"
"Your man has arrived."
A smile forms in Mad Mods face. "Let him in."
The man in the white suit enters the study. Instantly, he bows, like a theater actor. "Basil Karlo… or Clayface if you may."
Chapter 5: Arthur Light
Notes:
A little sensitive stuff in this one, its handled subtly, but just in case, a little warning.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
A binocular gaze focuses on a man exiting a club. Currently, in one of the darkest parts of the city, on the sidewalk can be seen, freaks, junkies, punks, leather boys and motorcycle men. The man is very skinny, probably in his forties, a goatee under his chin. He looks around, paranoid, a black hoodie covers most of his face, the rain pouring over him. He walks a few feet to a nearby car, opens it, and gets in the back seat, he is looking for something.
Two police officers watch him from their cruiser, it's a lookout. They take a picture.
The man retrieves a black box from his car and gets back into the club. Another picture.
One of the officers grabs his radio. "We found our suspect in the murders; I repeat, we have Arthur Light."
________________________________________
Gar presses play in the music player. Instantly Reptide by Vance Joy starts playing through the speakers at the living room in the mansion. He commences moving to the rhythm of the song, Victor joining him as they both dance. Richard and Kory, seated on a close sofa, watch them, laughing, Kory clapping to the beat of the music. Raven is also seated in the same sofa, watching them as they embarrass themselves, a small smile on her face.
All five of them enjoying this little celebration after they had taken down Billy, and as a team, each one contributing in their own way.
Victor throws an imaginary lasso at Kory; Richard gives her a little push in the back, and Victor starts pulling on the lasso, dragging her to the dance floor as she dances with them.
Richard laughs as he watches her enjoying herself while dancing.
He turns to the side toward Raven, the other "boring" member of the team, as Gar had called them. A thought in his mind. Earlier, when he had found her, she had said something about not wanting to hurt him, as if she was not in control of her abilities, however, that's not what he saw during the mission. She looked as in control as ever.
"Are you okay?" He finally asks.
Raven turns to him and nods. "Nothing like corny music to celebrate a victory." The other members of the team still dancing a few feet from them.
Richard laughs, but it quickly fades away. "You know, if you want to talk to me about whatever happened to you this last year, or us, we are here for you."
"I know, Richard, thanks."
"And then when the door of the truck opened, and another Billy came out with a machine gun and started TARARARA!" Gar says excited, forcing them to look at him as he holds an imaginary machine gun. "I moved away SO fast!"
"Dude, that motherfucker started shooting my car. I had to get another windshield!" Victor protests. "Lucky for me, Raven stopped him before he completely destroyed it."
Raven rolls her eyes.
"And then Nightwing jumped on the truck and punched Billy" Gar continues as he punches the air. "And then I took advantage and came down and snatched the diamond off Billy" he finishes with a proud smile.
"Thrilling Gar" Kory adds clapping. "I thank you once again for retrieving my family diamond."
Richard nods at Gar. "Well done, Gar, I must admit you proved me wrong. I didn't have much faith in you joining the mission, but you proved me otherwise. You can be a great asset to the team."
Gar smiles at the compliment.
"Yeah, boy!" Victor says high-fiving him. "We the New Titans, fuck your previous teams, we better!" He yells with a smile.
________________________________________
A few minutes after Victor's modest declaration, Kory is in the kitchen retrieving some sodas to continue with the celebration. She has five between her arms when she turns to the door and notices Richard leaning against the frame of the door, looking at her. A small smile on his face.
"Hey beautiful."
"Greeting" she says leaning forward and pecking him on the lips. "Are you going to let me pass or should I pay a little tax? Another kiss perhaps?" She asks seductively.
He laughs before his face turns a bit more serious. "Back at the deck, what was it you wanted to tell me? Something about the sun I think it was." He hadn't forgotten.
Kory's smile fades, she nods and places the sodas over the counter. She looks at Richard. "You remember how I told you I could transform solar energy into energy beams?" He nods. "Well, I also require it for a living, just like I need air or water. I am afraid it has been five days now without a ray of sun, I fear I am becoming weaker with every day that passes."
Richard looks down, a thoughtful look on his face. "That's not good." He looks at her. "You want to get out of town for a few days, go to a place a little sunnier?"
Kory shakes her head. "I believe it will not be necessary, it is a matter of time before the sun comes out again. I am doing this only to warn you I may not be as strong in combat."
Richard nods. "Alright, but be careful, and inform us if you get worse."
Kory smiles and nods at him. "I will do it, my love."
Then a worried Victor enters the kitchen, he looks at them, serious look on his face. "The lieutenant called. They found our guy."
________________________________________
Victor, Kory, and Nightwing stand inside the police station in the ready room, a windowless classroom with police rifles and uniforms to the side. In front of them stands the lieutenant. Five hardened SWAT police officers to the side, four men and one woman, sit in chairs facing him, waiting for the briefing. All of them wearing the grey SWAT team uniform, minus the helmet. Behind the lieutenant, is a white screen. A man in his forties appears on his screen, it's the same from the lookout.
"His name is Arthur Light" the lieutenant says. "We have reasons to suspect he is behind the murders of two civilians and two of our partners a couple of days ago."
Nightwing looks at the SWAT members. They sure are taking this case very seriously, something very common when dealing with a suspect of killing other cops. He focuses back on the lieutenant.
"We don't know how he killed them, so be careful, expect anything. This Light guy has a long history of crimes, theft, rape, attempted murder, he is dangerous. Two of our men were tracking him, found him outside a nightclub."
One of the officers raises his hand. "So, we walk to the club and ring the bell, problem solved" he says jokingly. The other cops laugh.
The lieutenant clenches his jaw. "Listen, Brooklyn" he says, referring to the cop who made that comment. "The suspect may not give up without a fight, expect resistance from him." He says that last part looking at Nightwing and Victor. He turns back to the cops. "This man killed two of us, two great men. Two women whose husband didn't come back home, children who will grow up without their father." Kory's face softens at that. "I want him behind bars, is it clear?!"
"Sir, yes, sir!" The police officer's answer.
"Go!" With that, the cops put on their helmets and leave the room. Nightwing watches them go, clearly motivated to take this guy down, the lieutenant sure was good with the pep talks.
The black SWAT van leaves the police station, the blue Camaro and N-Cycle behind it.
Nightwing touches his earpiece. "You heard them, this case is personal to them, don't let this blind you, keep a cool head."
"You got it" Victor says while driving.
"We will keep our heads cool" Kory adds, seated next to Victor. Since she was running low on energy, they figured it was best if she saved as much as possible riding with Victor.
"Also remember, this guy is only a suspect, he may not be our killer, so don't rush to act."
________________________________________
Raven is seated with her eyes closed, meditating while she repeats her mantra. "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos…" she chants in a low voice. She is currently seated in the living room of the mansion.
A few minutes ago, they had been called about another case, apparently, they had found a suspect of a previous crime. Since Nightwing didn't want Gar to go to this specific case, she had offered herself to stay with him. Not particularly because she cared about him, but because it gave her an excuse not to go. Two days in a row of using her powers to fight could have negative effects on her. Luckily, the evil inside her had not taken control during the Billy case, who knows how many people she could have hurt if she had lost control, it was reckless of her part to join the mission.
For a moment, her mind goes back to Malchior. It had been a couple of days now since she had last seen him. What would he be up to? Is he okay? Is he angry at her for running out without saying goodbye? It doesn't matter, she did it for the best. She could hurt him… but then again, she could also hurt her friends. She moves the thought to the side.
Suddenly, she is hit by the sensation of another presence in the room. "I know you are here" she says without opening her eyes.
Out of the corner of the room, a small green rat appears. It walks a few feet and stops. Slowly, it starts growing and changing until it transforms into Gar, clothes on. He stands up.
"How did you know it was me?"
"Not even real rats smell as bad as you" she says, her eyes still closed.
Gar raises his arm and smells his armpit. He shrugs, it isn't that bad. He looks at Raven, who went back to repeating her mantra. "What is that you are saying?"
"My mantra."
"Cool, does it help you focus?"
"Yes."
"Cool."
Raven opens her eyes for the first time, an annoyed look on her face. "Is there anything I can help you with, Garfield?"
Gar looks down, not daring to look at her while asking the question. "You know what happened to me? The whole creature situation?"
Raven nods. "Yes, Nightwing told me."
"You saw pictures of it?" Again, Raven nods. "You know how it started the day I saw you on the street. I was wondering if you know what happened, if you did something or whatever, or know what that creature was."
"I didn't do anything, at least not on purpose" Raven says.
"Oh, cool, can't blame me for..."
"But I know what that creature was" she says, interrupting him.
Gar looks at her with great interest. "You know?"
________________________________________
Once they reach the nightclub, all five of the SWAT officers rush out of the van and to the doorway. The heroes behind them. The one they call Brooklyn, shows his badge to the bodyguard standing outside. He moves to the side, letting them in.
They start descending, single-file through a narrow stairwell, the loud techno music of the club already buzzing in their ears. They reach the bottom of it and open the door leading inside the club.
Inside, they are greeted by a large, dark room, red and blue strobe lights illuminating the room, the techno music now deafening. The heroes look around the room. A large mass of men and women grinding their bodies together to the rhythm of the techno music, oblivious to the presence of both the heroes and SWAT team, probably too stoned to make sense of what could happen. On the far corner of the room is the counter, with tall columns to the side of the dance floor.
Nightwing turns to Victor and Kory. "Look around and take care." Kory and Victor nod as they start walking around the room.
Brooklyn does a hand signal, dispersing his team around the room.
Kory is grabbed by the wrist by a man who looks at her, a flirtatious look in his eyes. Her eyes flash green at that, making the man step back, not knowing if what he saw was real or the effect of the drugs he had taken. Kory doesn't like this place, although she would be lying if she said her planet didn't have similar places to this one.
A woman starts dancing against Victor, rubbing her body against his metal. Although Victor must admit is really beautiful, this is not the time nor the right kind of person to do this with, she clearly doesn't look as if she would remember this tomorrow. He moves her to the side and continues walking.
Nightwing walks forward, a look of concentration on his eyes as he looks at each face he passes, any of these people could be Light.
Brooklyn walks to the counter and shows the barman a picture of Arthur Light. The barman looks at it and points with his eyes to a door. Brooklyn nods at him and signals for his men to follow him. The heroes continue walking through the crowd.
Brooklyn opens the door, in front of him stands a dark hallway, closed doors to each side. He signals to each member to open a separate door. He kicks open the first of the doors. Empty, only boxes inside.
Victor sees the SWAT teams go through that door and motions for Nightwing and Kory to join them.
The female cop kicks her door open, also empty.
Nightwing enters the first one of the rooms. Only boxes inside, he kneels next to them and inspects.
Another cop kicks open the final door of the hallway, this one is much larger, also completely dark. Hesitantly, he walks forward, his automatic gun raised. He notices a figure between the shadows.
Nightwing looks closer at the boxes. He notices the Wayne Enterprises logo on them. He widens his eyes. He opens one of the boxes. Its empty, the equipment missing.
A round small yellow light turns on in front of the cop. "Who's there?"
Nightwing exits the room and gets in the hallway. "Get your men out of here" he orders Brooklyn, who just raises an eyebrow.
"Why is that?"
"We don't know what we are facing."
An electric blast comes from the round light hitting the cop, knocking him unconscious and sending him flying out of the room. The heroes and the SWAT team look in the direction it came. From the door, steps out a man in a black techno suit, yellow gloves, the small round light on his chest, and a yellow helmet. Arthur Light.
The cops raise their automatic guns. "Hands up!" Brooklyn yells.
Light smirks. "You are not taking me." With that, electricity starts running through his suit, like charging it.
"What the…" Victor mumbles before a huge energy beam comes from Lights chest. Victor puts himself in the middle, trying to block the blast, but its too strong, sending him flying back, going through the wall, and landing in the middle of the club. The people in it scream in panic, running out of the club. The loud techno music still going on.
"What's the matter? Afraid of the light?" He says with a smirk. He raises his gloves and starts shooting energy beams from them. He hits another one of the cops, the rest exiting the hallway.
Nightwing does a cartwheel, avoiding the blast and getting himself to the dance floor. Light coming after continuing firing. Nightwing and Kory take cover behind the counter.
Victor fires his sonic canon at him, but he ducks and fires one of his own, hitting Victor and sending him back. He fires at the remaining SWAT cops, who take cover behind the columns at the side of the room.
Nightwing looks at Kory. "I'll attract his fire; you circle him and attack him from behind." Kory nods as she moves to the other side of the counter.
Nightwing peeks out and throws a batarang. Light fires at it, the electricity beam disintegrating the batarang.
"How did he..." Nightwing manages to say before he receives a beam that sends him against the wall.
Kory sneaks past Light and tackles him to the ground. He struggles against her as he tries to get her off him, but she is too strong.
"Get out, you'll damage my suit!"
Kory elbows him to the face and delivers a mighty punch to the chest breaking the suit, and the yellow light turning off. That creates an explosion that sends her back. Light tries to get up, but before he knows it, he has Victor's sonic canon aiming down at him.
"Don't do it."
Light doesn't protest as he raises his hands in surrender. He looks around, three vigilantes and a whole SWAT team just for not paying the rent? It seems a little too much just for him.
Kory walks up to Nightwing and helps him up. "You are alright?"
Nightwing groans as he gets up, clutching his back. "That was not a confidence booster." Being almost knocked up by this guy sure wasn't the best look for him.
"I believed you did very well; your plan allowed me the opening to destroy his suit."
Nightwing smiles at her. "Come on, lets inspect the place."
________________________________________
Raven comes back to the living room, a large book in her hands. Gar watches as she walks up to the table in the center of the room and places the book on it.
"The book of Azar" she says. "I had seen that creature before." She starts going through the pages, looking for a specific one.
Gar tries to read some of the words, but they look more like hieroglyphs than words.
"Sanskrit."
Gar nods.
Raven stop. "Here." Gar focus on the page. In it, there is a drawing of the same exact creature as the one he had transformed into, but its fur brownish instead of green. A fire ring all around it, and people with torches to side, fearing it, or was it adoring him?
"What does it say?"
Raven reads. "It says it's a guardian."
"A guardian of what?"
Raven reads the text directly below the drawing. "A guardian of Azarath…" she trails. "A creature summoned to protect."
"What does that mean?" Gar asks.
"I… I don't know" she lies. She looks at him. "It doesn't say much more."
Gar remains in silence, thinking. "Did you summon the creature?"
Raven shakes her head. "Again, I didn't do anything."
"But what if, without you knowing, you did? Like unconsciously. Like you felt you needed a guardian or something like that?"
Raven thinks about, this Gar kid sure had a lot of imagination. "In that case, a guardian for what?"
________________________________________
Nightwing, Victor and Kory enter Lights apartment on top of the club, two forensics behind them. Victor hits a switch on the wall and the room is illuminated by a ceiling light. In the middle of the room stands a desk. The walls and floors are covered by visual stimuli: pictures, paintings, newspapers articles…
This one was one of his residences, Mark Petersons tenement building being the other. It was the manager of the club who had made the call, informing the police of Light after he saw his face in the news.
Brooklyn and his team had taken Light to the police station, even if he hadn't committed the murders, he was going to stay locked for a long time. It doesn't come free to attack police officers.
Nightwing focuses on a shelf covered with books. He reads some of the titles. "Handbook on firearms", "US criminal review" … and many more about physics mostly.
Victor continues looking at the paintings. "Looks like our guy was an artist."
Nightwing nods in agreement. "Photography his true passion."
Victor opens the door to another room. Its like another study, with another desk and blueprints on it. "Nightwing" he calls. Nightwing enters the room. "Look."
Nightwing looks at the blueprints. It appears to be his suit blueprints. He had made it himself. "What I'm asking myself is how this random guy had access to Wayne's technology."
"You think this is our guy?"
"I don't know, although his tech was impressive, it doesn't match the murders."
Lieutenant Carson enters the room. "Good job" he says. Victor nods at him. Nightwing doesn't say anything and turns back to the blueprints. "They inform me, Light is already at the police station."
"We should check with the manager of the club, ask if he knows where Light was when the murders happened, check if he has an alibi." Victor says.
Carson nods. "Already have my men on it."
Nightwing focuses on a stack of small black-cover notebooks on the side of the desk. He grabs one of them. Inside, the pages are covered with small, handwritten sentences. He starts going through the pages. "He used to work at Wayne Enterprises." Victor turns to him. He continues reading. "Was fired…"
"And stole some of their technology, I guess." Nightwing nods.
"Fifteen years I worked at that corrupt company" he reads. "Fifteen years in which I gave my all to them and that's how I get paid? All because of a woman. She misled me…" Nightwing stops reading as he looks at Victor. "If I'm not wrong, he had multiple abuse cases in his file."
"So, they fired his ass and blacklisted him."
Nightwing grabs another notebook. "Today I met Alisha at the club; god, she was so beautiful, and the way her..." He trails as he stops reading. He turns a few more pages. "I saw Sofía today..."
"Jesus, this guy" Victor says, not wanting Nightwing to continue reading.
Kory enters Lights bedroom. The ceiling light is on. She looks around, a small bed to the side of the room, a closed large window and board with polaroids in it. She focuses on them. The sound of a loud thunder echoes outside.
They appear to be photos of women, young women, but taken from afar, at a park, in the sidewalk, inside their house, taken from outside... Each one has a small handwritten date in the corner. One from a year ago, four months ago, two years, three weeks…
"X'Hal" she whispers, they are so many. Another lightning. One question comes to her mind. Why would he have pictures of women? Pictures clearly taken without their consent. She pauses as she thinks. A horrible thought coming to her mind. She gasps as she covers her mouth. Those poor women. Her eyes becoming watery.
"No…" Another lightning.
Her face slowly starts hardening. This man… no, this monster would pay for what he had done. She would make sure of that. She turns to the door and leaves the room. Her eyes flashing green with rage.
She passes next to Nightwing and Victor, who are still inspecting the place.
"Kory, what are you…?" Kory is gone before Nightwing can finish the questions. He raises an eyebrow.
He enters the bedroom, instantly noticing the board. He looks at the photographs. Each one is from a different girl with different dates each, this guy clearly was a sociopath. He focuses on the pictures, some of the women in their thirties, twenty, and maybe younger… he pauses. He widens his eyes.
"No, Kory…"
________________________________________
Nightwing, riding his N-Cycle speeds through the city, skillfully avoiding the traffic. He touches his earpiece. "Kory, come in! Don't do it! Its not worth it!" No answers. "Dammit!"
"Vic, come in."
"Man, what happened? You just left" comes Victor's voice.
"Vic, I need you to hack into the police station and deactivate the cameras inside and outside."
"Why would…?"
"Just do it!" Nightwing yells interrupting him.
Victor is taken aback. "Okay man, I'm on it."
"Nightwing out." Nightwing cuts the communication and accelerates even more, he just hopes he can make it in time, before it's too late.
Kory descends right outside of the police station and walks in. A determined look on her still-flashing green eyes.
She reaches the reception. "Where are the prisoners kept?" She asks the receptionist as she continues walking.
"The detention center? Downstairs, why…?"
Kory doesn't answer as she descends through the staircase. She reaches the detention center and walks through the cells until reaching the one Light is in and stops. Inside is Light standing up, he turns around and looks at her, confused.
"You again? I didn't do whatever you're accusing me of."
Kory doesn't say anything. That comment makes her even angrier as her eyes start glowing even stronger. She places both her hands on the metallic bar and using her super strength, bends them to the side, creating an opening. Light widens his eyes, not really knowing what to do. Kory steps in the cell.
Nightwing reaches the police station and gets off the N-Cycle without parking. His only thought being to stop Kory from making a terrible mistake. He sprints inside.
Kory walks up to Light, who remains frozen in his places.
"You will pay for what you have done." She would make sure no other woman would suffer because of him.
She places both of her hands to the side of his temple. Her hands start flashing green burning Lights face as he screams in pain.
"Please, NO! Mercy!" Light screams.
Kory doesn't say anything as she applies more pressure.
"You do not deserve mercy."
Nightwing descends the staircase, reaching the cells. There in front of him, inside the cells, stands Kory turned around, blocking his view of Light.
"Kory don't!"
Kory takes her hands off Light, his lifeless body falling to the side, his face completely burned. Slowly, Kory turns around, facing Nightwing, blood on her hands.
________________________________________
Nightwing is on the roof of a building close to the police station, its dark, rain pouring over him. He is angry, very angry, as he paces around the roof. She had killed him. He rips off his mask and throws it away. He walks to the edge of the building and gazes down. She had walked straight to his cell and killed him in cold blood. The police wouldn't investigate, after all, they think he had killed two of them.
He wasn't armed, he had already been neutralized. She had executed him.
Richard lets out an angry cry that echoes through the sky, nobody close enough to hear him. His soaked hair sticking to his face.
A few seconds later, Kory lands on the roof a few feet behind him.
"I will not apologize for my actions."
Richard doesn't say anything as he remains with his back turned to her. Kory takes a step toward him.
"Richard, tell me he did not do it. Tell me I made a mistake, tell me I made a wrong assumption and i will turn myself in" she says, tears falling from her face, the anger already starting to fade away. Richard turns to her, they make eye contact, but he doesn't say anything. "I knew it" she says as she looks down.
There are a couple of seconds before Richard says anything. "Why would you do it?"
Kory looks up. "He had the pictures on his room… the women he had abused…" she trails having difficulty even wording it. "He was proud of it... Richard, those poor women" she tries to make him reason.
He takes a couple of steps to her. "And that's why we were gonna make sure he stayed in prison! Alive!" He says raising his tone
"He did not deserve to live!" She matches his tone.
"That's not your call! We are heroes, we catch the bad guys; we don't execute them. I did not kill Zucco when I had the chance in Blackgate."
"This was not about vengeance, Richard, it was about preventing it from happening again."
She pauses.
"What if the next time he had done it with a younger girl? What if the next time he had killed her also?" She tries to argue. "How do we not know if he has already killed several of them?"
"We can't decide somebody's life based on an if."
Kory turns to the side and crosses her arms, he is too stubborn, but so is she. "In my planet, we would have killed him instantly and celebrated it. Those who do things like that, are no people, they are monsters." She isn't giving up.
"You are not on your planet! You are on earth! Here we take them to trial, and even if he is guilty, we do not kill them!"
Silence.
"Kory, we have to believe that they can change, that society can change."
"Then you are the naive one, Richard. People like him cannot change."
Another silence.
Kory turns to him, her look softening. "Richard, you saw the pictures, there were so many, some of them so young." Her eyes becoming watery with the memory. "Can you look me in the eyes and guarantee he was going to go to prison? And if he got out, he would not do it again."
Richard stays silent for a couple of seconds, that is a difficult question to answer. A lightning flashes on the sky, followed by the loud thunder.
"We don't kill" he finally says.
"Clorbag!" She yells in Tamaranian, not being able to control the impulse to swear in her native language. "You came out with this?! Or was it the Batman that installed it in your mind when you were just a little one?" She shoots back, pointing at him.
Richard is taken aback but decides to ignore that last part. "That's what separates them from us, we wouldn't be any better than them if we did."
"No, Richard, I would never do something like that, I would never be friends with someone who did such a despicable thing, and if not killing is what separates you from him, then I do not want anything to do with you!"
"Kory…"
They stay silent for a couple more seconds. Her words echoing in both their minds. The rain still pouring over them. Another lightning followed by the thunder.
"I said what I said."
"Kory…" he tries again. "Killing should be our limit" he says in a softer tone than before.
"Richard, I have met people like him in the past, monsters. You cannot convince me that what I did was wrong. Today I saved a future woman from him."
"Kory, you killed a disarmed man in cold blood! We must have a higher morality than the rest of the people we can't kill!"
Kory pauses, silence. "I guess there is nothing to talk about. If this rule of yours is what keeps you away from turning into someone like him, then perhaps it is not such a good idea we stay together."
Another silence.
"Perhaps it's not."
Neither giving up. Both having too much relation to their argument to accept the other. How can he get mad at her for killing him? How can she kill someone in cold blood and not have any remorse about it?
Another lightning. The rain intensifying around them.
Kory takes a step back. "It was a pleasure meeting you, Richard." With that, she shoots herself into the sky in a green beam.
Richard watches her go. He lets out another angry cry as he punches the floor, his eyes becoming watery.
Notes:
complex debate on this one. Both come from separate backgrounds with different backstories, so each has their own way of thinking. Let me know whose side are you on. I tried to keep it as subtle as possible. Hope you're enjoying it, and please like and review.
Chapter 6: The Library
Chapter Text
The Mark of Scath is at the center of the holographic board at the underground lab. To the sides of it, are the pictures of the corpses of Mark Peterson, the woman at the alley and the two cops. Richard studies them with an analytical gaze, chin in hands, and as he rests his elbows on the keyboard.
He has spent the last few hours down there, looking at the case, trying to find something he may have missed. That's what he always does. Obsess over a case so he does not have to think about anything else and face his other problems, in this case, his argument with Kory. You could argue that's the reason he became Robin in the first place.
Victor descends to the lab. Richard looks at him and turns back to the board.
"Didn't know you had come back" Victor says. "Where is Kory?"
Richard doesn't answer. "Why did you put them together?" He asks without looking at him. "The symbol with the murders."
"Thought there could be a connection. These murders happen, while this symbol appears on the mouth tape on a bomb hostage."
"You think Mad Mod could be behind the murders?"
Victor shrugs. "Don't know, call it a hunch."
Richard thinks about it. "Seems unlikely… and we are sure Light didn't commit the murders, right?" he asks.
Victor nods. "Yeah, checked with the manager at the club, had an alibi for two of them."
Silence. Richard looks at the screen.
"The symbol, you know what it means?"
"Not exactly, but it has something to do with Raven?"
Richard turns to him. "Raven? What does she have to do with all this?"
"The first time I saw this symbol was in her file." Victor takes a step forward and access Raven's file on the holographic screen. He starts going through the pictures in the file until reaching one showing the burned cornfield where she was found. It's the same S-like symbol as the one on the tape. "Whatever it is, its related to Raven."
"Yes, I know what it is."
Richard and Victor turn around, meeting Raven standing at the door of the lab with her arms crossed.
"How long have you been there?" Victor asks confused.
Raven shrugs. "Not much." She looks at the screen. "A year ago, I had a dream about this old library. I found it a hundred miles or so from Jump. When I got there, found it abandoned, and that symbol..." she points to the screen. "engraved in the entrance. It is the Mark of Scath."
Silence.
"What does Mod want with it?" Victor asks. Raven shrugs.
Richard thinks about it and turns to the screen. He starts typing, searching anything related to the Mark of Scath. Some news about the discovery of the Mark of Scath appears. Theres a picture of it. It's the same S-like symbol but tridimensional and bathed in gold, the size of a football ball.
Raven widens her eyes. It had been found. "No…" she murmurs to herself.
Richard looks at her. She may be knowing more that she says. He turns back to the screen.
Victor reads the article. "Was found by an American expedition. It will be brought to the country in the following days, beginning a tour through some of the cities, including…"
"Jump City" Richard finishes. Silence. He thinks. "I bet that's when Mod will attack" he says looking at Victor. Silence as they make eye contact.
"Oh no, no, no, I know that look, you are thinking of taking a gamble" Victor says referring to Richard. "We are not doing this shit again!" He raises his voice. "We are not stealing it so that he can't get it. We are not making the same mistake as we did with Deathstroke."
"That's probably why he put the symbol on the tape" Raven adds.
"Yeah, he is counting on us to steal it."
"But the last time we did it, we ended up freeing Raven from Starlabs" Richard argues.
"And almost destroying the city" Victor answers.
Silence. Richard thinks. "You are right, we don't know enough, we can't just jump blindly into this."
"Thank you."
"That's why first we are going to investigate." Raven and Victor look at him. "We are going to visit that library." Victor doesn't look convinced. "Look, with these murders we've been passive, waiting for the next one to occur."
"Yeah, we were forensics, basically."
"Exactly, from one crime scene to the next. With Billy, he made one hit, and we stopped him. We took initiative, we have to get back to the driver seat."
Victor thinks about it. "Fine."
________________________________________
The door of an apartment opens, revealing Kory on the other side. She steps in. Its hers and Richard's apartment, she hasn't been here since the fight with Richard. She looks around, natural light coming from the window and the moving boxes to the side. The place seems untouched, meaning probably he hasn't been here either. She walks to their room, grabs her bag and starts putting her clothes in. She knows she is probably making a rushed decision, but she doesn't care, she isn't planning to come back. She moves to her nightstand to grabs some of her things when she suddenly notices a framed photo of her and Richard, both smiling. She looks at it, for a second, her look softening. She sighs as she grabs it and puts it down, not wanting to look at it.
She stands up and turns around, but before she can take a step, she stops.
"That clorbag" she swears. This should be an easy decision. She looks outside through the window. Theres a bar there, just crossing the street. Maybe the alcohol could help her, at least that's what humans say.
________________________________________
Nightwing, Victor, Raven and Gar stand in front of the library. The entrance is a grand affair, with towering columns to the side, the door opened, from the other side only darkness being discernible, along with the scent of aged paper and wood. An underlying chill coming out of it. Raven looks up. Standing on top of the library is a flock of ravens, looking straight down at them, as if they knew who they are. Gar gulps.
Nightwing focuses on the symbol on the entrance. "The Mark of Scath."
Victor nods. "It's the same as the tape."
"Dude, what are we even going to find in there?" Gar asks, clearly trying to convince the rest of the team not to enter.
"Only one way to find out" Nightwing says as he takes a step forward. Victor behind. Gar takes a deep breath and follows them.
"Wait!" Raven says getting their attention. "We shouldn't enter."
"What's inside?" Victor asks.
Raven shakes her head. "I didn't go far, just know its an evil place, nothing good happens in there."
Nightwing and Victor trade glances. "You are not telling us all, aren't you?" Nightwing questions. Raven looks down. "That's what I thought, come on." With that he turns around once more, walking to the library.
Raven watches them as they continue walking. "Richard, why isn't Kory with us now?" She shoots back, a last resource to stop him from entering.
Nightwing stops, he narrows his eyes as he turns around and looks at Raven. She doesn't even blink as she looks back at him. Silence between the two of them. Victor and Gar alternate their gazes from one to the other.
Finally, Nightwing turns around. "We are going in." All four of them enter the library.
Inside, they are surrounded by complete darkness, rain dripping inside. Victor lights a flashlight from his shoulder illuminating their path as they continue. They haven't gone far when, suddenly, two pairs of red eyes appear on Raven's face. She gasps, her eyes turning back to humans.
Nightwing turns to her, concern in his eyes. "Raven?"
Then, out of nowhere the entrance of the library starts collapsing on itself, debris falling and dust clouding their view.
"Watch out!", "Dude!", "Move!" are some of the incomprehensible shouts that echo in the darkness.
Once the dust clear, they are able to see the entrance completely covered by debris, blocking the exit and incoming light, now only Victor's flashlight illuminating the room. They trade glances.
"Only one way out" Nightwing says as he turns around going into the darkness. The other three look at each other and follow him.
Victor moves his flashlight to the side illuminating countless shelves with countless old books on each. Ravens flutter in the upper reaches of the long-disused facility. Loud squawks can be discernible throughout the place, making Gar uncomfortable, as he tries to remain with the group.
"Dudes, even without the creepy librarians, I'm not digging this place." They all ignore him as they continue walking.
"This place is old, very old" Raven says.
"Don't go away from the flashlight" Victor warns. "Without light, you die in this kind of place."
"I wish Kory was here" Gar whispers. Her green energy beams sure would have been helpful as another source of light. Nightwing ignores him as he continues.
They hear a loud caw as a raven flies over them, they duck, the raven passing over them and disappearing into the darkness. The group trades glances as they get up and continue walking
With the corner of his eyes Gar notices a shadow moving. "What was that?!" he yells quickly turning, the group stopping.
Victor looks at him. "What was what?"
"That thing! The thing that moved!" Gar points to nothing in particular.
"I don't see anything, man."
"We are being followed" Nightwing says he continues walking, the others behind him.
Gar notices a drawing of the creature, engraved in one of the walls. "Raven! Raven! Look."
"Yeah, I saw it" she says as she continues walking. Gar looks at the creature. It clearly has a relationship with this place, maybe here is the key to finding more about it. He runs back to the group.
After a few minutes of walking, they reach a blank wall at the end of the passage, a dead end. Victor pans his flashlight around, no apparent exit.
"Now what?" Victor asks no one in particular.
Nightwing appears in deep thought, he turns to Raven. "When you were here, where did you go?"
Raven shakes her head. "I never made it this far."
"Dudes, what are we even hoping to find here?" Gar asks. No one answers.
Nightwing goes back to inspecting the wall. Raven looks at him. "There's nothing here. Can we go now?" Before she can turn around, the two pairs of red eyes appear again in her face. She gasps, as in cue, the wall in front of them moves out of the way, revealing a narrow dark descending staircase.
Gar freaks out as he jumps back but tries to play if cool. "Secret passage, cool."
The red eyes disappear on Raven. Nightwing looks at her, he noticed it. "It was you, wasn't it?" Raven doesn't answer. "The evil inside of you, it is leading us this way."
Raven looks at him and nods. "I'm afraid so."
Gar takes a sniff near the passage door. "The air is thicker down there."
Before Nightwing can take a step forward, Victor grabs him by the arm. "You sure we should go down there? Who knows how long that stairs go. Are we sure we want to find whatever is down there?"
Nightwing looks at him. "Like you said, we should investigate before we act."
"You hear that?" Victor asks motioning to the passage, where no sound is coming from. Nightwing doesn't answer. "Exactly, not even the crows go down there."
Nightwing ignores him and points to the passage. "This is the way." With that he walks forward, disappearing in the darkness.
"Is this about Kory?! You can't just ignore your problems!" Victor yells. No answer.
Gar crouches, transforming into a green rat and follows Nightwing.
Raven looks at Victor. "I can't leave him alone." She steps forward and follows them.
Victor watches them go. He really doesn't want to go down there. "Dammit… Gar goes down the creepy stairs, and I can't?" He says to himself. He sighs. "I wouldn't hear the end of it." He takes a breath and follows them disappearing into the darkness. "And we keep going deeper."
________________________________________
Kory is sitting at the bar counter, melancholy on her eyes as she taps with her fingers the wood of the counter. She hasn't drunk anything yet, just stayed in silence, thinking.
A petite bartender woman approaches her. "Is there anything I can serve you?" She asks a bit shyly while she cleans an empty glass.
Kory looks at him. "Can I not just stay here in silence?"
The bartender lets out a small giggle. "Sorry, bar policy, you must order at least one drink, I just work here" she excuses herself with a smile.
That earns her a small smile from Kory. She looks at a board where the different drinks are written. "What should I order?"
"It depends on what you want."
"I want to forget" she answers instantly.
The bartender thinks about it. "I would have to say whiskey." Kory nods. The bartender turns around, grabs a bottle of whiskey and pours some in a small glass. She pushes it forward to Kory.
"Leave the bottle" she says. After all, her kind has a better resistance to alcohol than humans.
The bartender looks at her, a bit worried. "Okay, but if something happens, I'm calling you a cab." She leaves the bottle and moves to the side, serving other clients.
Kory stays alone. She grabs her glass and downs it in one gulp. Yeah, it felt like water. She grabs the bottle and fills the glass again. It will take a while to the alcohol to start affecting her. Two cops pass behind her and recognize her. One of them tips his cap in respect, appreciation on his eyes and they both walk by. Kory rolls her eyes, a little annoyed, they shouldn't be thanking her for killing Light, after all, he was innocent of commiting the crime they think he did.
Her mind goes back to Richard. Damn him and his morals. Can't he understand where she is coming from, why it affects her so much, he didn't even give her a chance to explain him. Or maybe she didn't want to explain him. She trails as she thinks back to her past.
A teenager Kory is strapped to a stretcher on a dark room. She tries to move but finds she can't as she struggles to get out. A dark figure comes to her side, a huge syringe on his hand as he sticks it on her arm. Kory cries in pain as the syringe's contents run through her blood burning her.
"Please stop!" She cries as her eyes start flashing green.
Kory stumbles to the floor as she is thrown into another dark room, the door closing behind her. Her arms and neck filled with syringes marks. She moves to the side, hugging herself as she cries.
Koma is on the other side of the room, with other Tamaranian girls to her side. She notices Kory and walks up to her hugging her. "You okay, sister?" Kory nods without looking at her. Koma notices the marks on her body. "Did they also touch you?"
Kory looks at her. She shakes her head. "No, they did not, why…?" her words dying down on her mouth. "Did they…?"
Koma doesn't answer, she just nods. Kory covers her mouth as she gasps and hugs her older sister tight.
Kory downs another glass of whiskey, yeah, still water. She fills it yet again, half of the bottle left.
________________________________________
They descend through the staircase, barely being able to see the step below. With each step, the difficulty of breathing increasing, the air getting thicker. Nightwing is the one leading the group, a green rat on his shoulder. Behind Victor and Raven.
Victor becoming wary with every step he takes; he looks at the panel on his arm. "According to this, we are around five hundred feet underground." No one answers, not wanting to voice their fears.
Nightwing notices something, an inscription written in the wall; he freezes as he stops descending.
Raven also notices it. "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here" she reads. Silence.
"Dante's inferno" Nightwing says. He looks at the rest of the team. "According to mythology, that's the inscription over the gates of hell." The green rat on his shoulder looks at him, as if trying to convince him to stop. Nightwing looks at him for a second before he focuses on the road ahead. "We move." With that, he continues descending. Victor and Raven trade glances and follow him.
After a few minutes of descending through the staircase, they finally reach the end. In front of them lies a long corridor, large wooden statues made of stone to the side. They continue walking.
Victor focuses on the statues. Each one around seven feet, they look human with cloaks covering their faces, huge scythes on their hands. He turns back in front. He doesn't notice as the eyes of one of the statues suddenly move, his gaze following him.
Raven suddenly stops. She notices something written in the wall and walks to it. The group follows her, with Gar turning back to human. Victor illuminates with his flashlight. Raven looks at it. It looks like an altar with a hole in it. Next to it, there's a long text engraved on the wall, written in Sanskrit.
"What does it say?" Nightwing asks.
Raven reads as she follows with her finger. "Here lies him, the one who all owns, the one who all conquers, the one who all destroys. Here he was imprisoned… Trigon his name, chaos personified, the most dangerous demon to step foot on the face of earth." At the mention of his name, a loud wind passes sending chills down their spines. They trade glances. Raven continues. "The monks guard this place, their mission to prevent anyone from freeing him."
One of the statues behind them slowly moves its scythe.
"Why would anyone free him?" Nightwing questions.
"The monks made sure he couldn't escape. But he found a way. The Mark of Scath."
Silence.
"Oh great!" Victor says. "And now this Mark of Scath is on its way here to Jump, sure convenient."
Gar points to the hole over the altar. "I bet that's where the Mark of Scath goes."
Raven continues reading. "Thats the key to freeing him, but he can't do it on his own, he needs a mortal to free him." She pauses. "Trigon is cunning, he knows how to get what he wants from others. Be warned, even in his imprisoned state, he can communicate with the outside, access their minds, and call them."
Nightwing looks behind suspiciously. He felt something, he doesn't know exactly what, a hunch. However, he doesn't see anything unusual in the darkness. He turns back to Raven.
"Many monks had to be sacrificed. He will concede whatever their deepest wish is to whomever frees him…" Raven stops as she turns around, alarmed. "A couple of weeks ago, I had a dream about Jump City, that's why I came back."
"He called you" Nightwing says.
Raven nods. She thinks back to Malchior "I met a guy a few days ago, he also had a dream about the city, I think he also was called."
Nightwing thinks about. "We have to assume he also called Mod, that's why he knows about it."
"Who know who else he called" Victor says. "The promise of fulfilling their deepest wish must be impossible to resist."
Gar brightens as he looks at Raven. "That's why you summoned me, the creature! Just like he is calling everyone to free him, you called the creature to protect you! The guardian!"
"Or he call you too" Victor points out.
Raven rolls her eyes. "Gar, again, I didn't…"
Before she can finish Nightwing notices a scythe coming to meet Ravens neck. "Raven, watch out!" He jumps forward and with his esgrima sticks blocks it. He looks up, there in front of him is one of the statues, its eyes flashing red.
Victor turns around illuminating ten or so of those statues standing behind them, watching them threateningly. They widen their eyes. "What the fuck?!" He fires his canon, the statues moving away and attacking them.
Nightwing pushes back the scythe and does a cartwheel, avoiding the attack of another monk. He raises his esgrima sticks just in time to block another attack. He can barely see them, it's too dark. He raises his leg, pushing the statue back, and throws a batarang at it blowing its head. However, it doesn't stop as it continues swinging its scythe at him.
Victor continues firing his cannon at the statues approaching him. One of them manages to sneak from the side and swings its weapon cutting him. Victor yelps in pain as he staggers backwards. "Okay, now you made me angry." He transforms his canon back into a hand and delivers a mighty punch to the closest statue destroying it. He then moves to the next, delivering another punch, but it's blocked by the monk using the scythe, and before he knows it, another statue is cutting him in the back. Victor again screams as he falls to the ground.
Raven, using a black shield made of her own energy, is protecting herself from the attack of three monks, each trying to cut through using their weapon. From the corner of her eye, she notices Victor on the ground trying to protect himself as three statues cut him with their scythe. She concentrates on the statue closest to her and throws it against the statues attacking Victor, getting them away from him.
Victor quickly stands up and fires his canon, creating separation.
Raven raises her shield again just in time to block an upcoming attack, but it isn't enough as she is sent to the ground. The scythes of two monks go down on her, but she fades through the floor just in time to avoid them, reappearing behind them, and back to defending herself.
Meanwhile, Gar, in rat form, is escaping from the attack of five monks at the time, running through the floor, barely being able to dodge some of the attacks.
Nightwing is struggling against two of the statues, blocking their attacks. A third one joins the fight, attacking him and cutting through his new suit. He yelps as he jumps back. He looks around, everyone seems to be struggling against the statues, they can't maintain this fight in the darkness for much longer.
He notices Gar running away from the statutes. He throws an electric disk at the feet of the statues chasing him, paralyzing them just before they hit Gar. The rat runs up to Nightwing and climbs on his shoulder. Nightwing breathes as he tries to think. He moves to side, barely avoiding another attack. They can't go back the way they came, there are too many of them that way. The only way is forward. He blocks the attack of two statues, pushes them and jumps back. "Raven! Vic! Run! Forward!"
Raven looks at him and nods. She runs to Victor, grabs him and phases them through the floor, appearing a few feet in front of Nightwing. They run forward.
Nightwing looks at the rat on his shoulder. "Go!" The rat obeys as he climbs off him and follows Victor and Raven.
Nightwing moves away from another attack, throws a roundhouse kick to a close monk. He looks up, what appears to be a whole army of statues behind him. He takes out a smoke bomb, throws it to the ground and runs behind the rest of the team. The statues running closely behind him.
Raven runs until reaching the edge of a large cliff, only darkness visible on the other side and an endless pit below. Victor comes from behind and grabs her before she loses her balance. They look behind. An army of statues behind, chasing Nightwing. They look at each other.
"Go, I'll catch you" Raven says.
Victor nods, as he takes a deep breath and jumps forward, disappearing into the darkness. Raven jumps behind. Gar makes it to the cliff and jumps, hopeful of being able to transform midair.
Nightwing comes in last, jumping without even thinking about it just before the statues reach him, his figure fading into the darkness. Everything goes dark.
________________________________________
Koma looks at Kory straight in the eyes, her hands on the side of her sister's head. "Kory looks at me, this is our chance to escape, you have to follow me." Kory nods. "Don't have mercy on them, they didn't have it with us, and neither will now, you understand? They don't deserve mercy. Its them or us." Kory nods again. "I understand, Komi. I will do what I must."
Kory is still at the bar, the bottle of whiskey empty as she just pours the last of it into the glass. Although she isn't as drunk as a human would be after drinking a whole bottle, she must admit her senses are not working at the fullest of their capabilities, her hands shaking as she fills the glass.
She is about to down the whole glass when suddenly a beer bottle shatters on the ground behind her, startling her. She turns around, seeing the bartender on the floor picking up the pieces of glass, next to her is a table with three men, all of them laughing their asses off.
"Sorry" the bartender says looking down in shame as she picks up the pieces.
"You lot should be mare careful" one of the men says in a British accent as he continues laughing. They probably tripped her. The man places his foot over her back and pushes her down. She lets out a low cry as the pieces of glass hurt her hands.
"Would you mind?" Kory yells from her place, their laughter giving her a headache.
The men stop as they look at her. "Stay out of this, lad" one of them says.
"I would very much like that, but I cannot with your laughter that is causing me the headache and that you insist on harassing the woman providing me with alcohol" she says in an angry tone, not exactly sure if she had made sense. The bartender takes advantage of the distraction and leaves the men.
One of the men stands up facing her, another grabs him by the arm trying to stop him. "Mate, remember that Mod told us to stay on the low for the next few days" he says. Kory's ears perk at that.
The other brushes off the warning and walks up to Kory. He punches the counter and looks down at her, clearly trying to intimidate her. "I dare youla to repeat that." Kory doesn't say anything, his voice really annoying her. "How about ya get the fuck out of here, whore?"
In a quick move, Kory grabs him by the head and slams him into the counter, then lifts him up and throws him to the ground. The other two quickly stand up, prepared to fight her. Kory raises her arms ready to fire a green beam, the men watching her waiting for the next move. After a few seconds, no energy beam comes from her hands. Confused she looks at her hands. "What?... That is the unlucky." She turns back to the men, who trade glances and charge at her.
She catches the fist of the first one, twists his wrist, and punches him down, knocking him unconscious. The other grabs her from behind, but she quickly spins around and headbutts him pushing him back a few feet. Kory then grabs a fork from one of the tables, the man throws a punch at her, but she meets him with the fork sticking it in his fist as he cries in pain.
Kory then grabs him by the coat at neck level and raises him off the floor. "Now, care to repeat what you said about the Mad Mod?" She questions.
________________________________________
Richard's eyes shoot wide open, panicked he looks around. Everything is dark, only darkness surrounds him. Who knows how much he fell through the cliff.
"Where…?"
He suddenly feels his right hand being intertwined with another. He looks to the side, where a smiling Kory is looking at him.
"Greetings, Richard."
"Kory?" He mumbles confused.
She notices his confusion. "Richard, are you alright?" She asks still smiling.
"I… I thought… you…" he again says sounding confused.
Kory cocks her head to the side. "You seem rather pale, Richard."
"I…"
Kory shrugs. "Come on, Richard, I want some of the ice-cream" she says walking forward and dragging him with her.
"Ice-cream?" He looks up and is surprised to find they are at the Jump City carnival on the pier, with the Ferris wheel and food stalls to the side, the place crowded with people, all oblivious to them.
They start walking, Richard watching in awe as nobody seems to be paying attention to him, no cameras flashing, no incoherent shouts at him, nobody worried about the Dick Grayson or Nightwing alter ego. They reach an ice-cream shop, where they are served by a polite man with a mustache.
"What would the happy couple like?" He asks.
Kory pokes her tongue out as she thinks. "I believe I would like… chocolate and strawberrie, please."
"Very good choice" the man says as he starts serving the ice-cream on a cone and hands it to her.
"Mrs…?"
"Kory" she answers with a smile.
The man nods with a smile and looks at Richard. "And the gentleman…"
Richard looks at him, he doesn't recognize him. "Richard." He takes a couple of bills. "Oh, no, no, its on the house" the man says rejecting being paid.
Richard nods at him with a smile as they both turn around, continuing to walk.
"Are you sure you did not want some of the ice-cream?" Kory asks while she licks her ice-cream.
Richard looks at her. "I…" he shakes his head and smiles. "I only want you." With that he closes the distance between the two of them, kissing her.
________________________________________
"Stone! Stone!"
Victor suddenly opens his eyes, confused. He looks around. He is sitting on the bench of a football stadium. His face completely human. He looks down, he is wearing his old college football uniform, minus the helmet.
"Stone! Do you hear me?!"
Victor looks up. The coach is yelling at him. "Coach?" He asks confused.
"Get your head on the game, Stone. Come on, you are in." Victor stands up and puts on his helmet.
The teams get in position, Victor moving to the side as a wide receiver, as he observes the defender he has in front. The quarterback calls the play, and the ball is snapped.
With that, Victor gets shot like a bullet in a dead sprint forward, the defender tries to tackle him, but Victor runs past him like a moving train. The quarterback drops back, scans the field and throws the ball at Victor. He catches it while in the air between two defenders, continues running, does a spin move to avoid a fourth defender in his way and goes on. Touchdown! The crowd goes crazy as it roars in excitement. Victor throws the ball to the ground and shouts wildly, hyped as he flexes his muscles. The team coming in behind to celebrate with him.
________________________________________
Gar slowly opens his eyes and gets up. He is on his bed at his old bedroom. He looks around, the room seems untouched, no furniture on the floor, no blood, no dead bodies. He hears the sound of a radio coming from outside.
With suspicion, he gets up from the bed and slowly walks out, careful not to make any sound. He reaches the kitchen where his eyes completely widen. There in front of him are his mom and dad, both alive, acting as if nothing happened. The dad is sitting in front of the table reading the newspaper, a cup of coffee in his hand, while his mom is standing at the counter cooking, moving to the beat of the music coming from the radio.
"Mom… dad…" he whispers.
Both of them turn to him.
"Gar, you are awake" the mom says in a sweet tone.
"How you doing, champ?" Dad salutes.
Gar looks confused. "I…"
"Sweetie, are you feeling alright?" Mom asks, a worried look on her face. She walks to his side and kisses him on the forehead. "Now, why don't you come and have breakfast with us? I made you your favorite, tofu waffles" she says motioning to a plate with waffles over the table.
Gar nods and sits next to his dad, still confused.
"Don't tell me you've grown too old to sit with your old man" dad jokes as he nudges him playfully.
Gar smiles for the first time. "No, dad." He then proceeds to take a bite of his food. Mom joining them, sitting next to him. Gar looks at them, a smile on his face, they seem like a happy family again.
________________________________________
Raven opens her eyes, nothing nor nobody around her, only darkness, and silence. She looks around.
"Hello?" She calls, but theres no answer, only her echo.
She takes a step forward when suddenly two pairs of giant red eyes appear, making her gasp and stumble to the ground.
"The day is coming" a deep voice coming from the eyes says.
Raven widens her eyes. The evil side of her. She clutches her head. "No, I won't let you control me…" she whispers.
At that, the voice laughs. "Raven, I already have control over you. The murders, do you think you did them? That you had anything to do with it?" the voice says.
"What?"
Images appear of her using her dark energy to kill Mark Peterson at the tenement building, the woman in the alleyway, and the two cops at the warehouse, the two pairs of red eyes on her face.
"No..." she whispers. Raven thinks as she looks at the eyes, they seem familiar. She again widens her eyes, realization hitting her. "You... you are the one who has been controlling me, there's no evil side inside me, it's just you! Trigon…" she shoots.
"The portal must be open!"
"What does it have to do with me? What do you want from me?!" She questions.
"You are the key to everything. You were made for this, Raven, I made you with this purpose."
"What?!... You made me?" She asks, not wanting to believe it. "I'm…"
"My daughter, Raven. You are going to destroy the world" Trigon says ending with a laugh.
Raven remains silent. "You'll never get the Mark of Scath! My friends won't allow it!" she yells.
Trigon laughs. "Child, your team is under my control, they will do it for me."
Raven pauses, confused. "What?"
Images of Richard, Victor and Gar appear, each in their own fantasy. "I showed them their deepest wish, and they did the rest. They would rather live in their own fantasy than face the world."
"No…"
________________________________________
Richard continues walking through the pier, his right-hand fingers intertwined with Kory's, a smile on his face, he is enjoying this new anonymity.
He suddenly notices a mirror to the side, he stops.
"Richard?"
Richard ignores her as he looks at the mirror. It is his reflection, but with one particularity. He has a black mask with pointy ears that covers the top half of his face. "No…" The Batman mask.
He walks up to it, leaving Kory behind, the whole world around fading. In the reflection, he is now wearing the complete Batman suit. He touches his face with his right hand, the reflection copies him, but with the suit.
"No, I… I'm not you!"
His reflection smiles back at him and nods. He raises his hand showing blood all over them, the creepy smile never leaving his face.
"No!" He roars as he punches the mirror, the mirror shattering, but the smile still visible in the broken pieces of glass, blood now coming from his hand, as he looks down, out of breath.
________________________________________
Victor is at a late-night party on a big house, the place filled with people and loud music buzzing. He has a beer bottle on his hand as he chats with some of his teammates, a smile on his face, he missed the after-game parties.
A girl approaches him. "Excuse me, are you Victor Stone?" She asks.
Victor looks at her with a smile. "I am" he says flirtatiously.
The girl blushes. "I just wanted to say, you were impressive."
"Thanks, beautiful."
The girl looks around. "Would you want to talk in a more private place?"
Victor smiles. "I'd love to, after you" he says motioning to the stairs leading to the top floor.
Once they reach a bedroom, Victor grabs her by the waist and they start making out, when suddenly she stops. "What is that?" She asks, a bit of fear on her face.
"What?" Instinctively, he takes his hand to his face, where he is surprised to find metal. "No." He quickly turns to the side to a mirror, where his reflection is completely robotic, no trace of human flesh. "No! No, no, no."
He crumbles to the floor, clutching his face. "No, please no! I don't want to go back to this!"
________________________________________
Gar is still having breakfast with his family. He is almost finished with his food when he is interrupted by an alarm on his dad's phone. Dad looks at it, frowns, and looks at mom. "Dear, we have to go." Mom nods as they both stand up.
"What?" Gar says freaking out a little. "But you just got here."
"We will talk later, son, they need us at work" dad says without even looking at him.
"But…"
"Gar, theres been an emergency. Will you be alright on your own?" The mom asks.
"No! No, I won't be!" Gar says raising his voice. "I need you!" He gets up and tries to grab them from the arms but is unable to stop them. His eyes start turning green. "Don't leave!" Tears coming from his eyes, claws growing on his hands. "Don't leave me alone!" This can't happen, not again. He starts growing, his clothes barely fitting him, fur growing on his skin.
"Don't miss us, Garfield" the mom says as they both exit the house, leaving Gar alone looking at the door. He collapses on the floor and starts crying, his body going back to human, his clothes a little torn.
"Please don't leave. I can't do this alone" he cries.
________________________________________
Richard opens his eyes, in front him is the broken mirror. He looks down where he notices Kory on the floor, a pool of her own blood below her. "Kory!" He yells as he rushes to pick her up. Her opened eyes to the side, with blood coming from her forehead and multiple bruises on her cheeks. "No, no, what did I do?!" His reflection on the mirrors still laughing. "I'm sorry, Kory, I dragged you into this, I dragged all of you into this" he cries. Suddenly, a batarang materializes on his hand. Unconsciously, he starts bringing it closer to this cheek. He presses the tip to his cheek and starts tracing a symbol with his blood, the Mark of Scath.
Victor reaches to his face, grabs the metal and with great forces tries to rip it off his face. He screams in pain as he pulls it off, flesh coming out as well as blood, a lot of blood. He holds the metal up, showing his face totally disfigured, as he cries. The Mark of Scath engraved on his disfigured face.
Gar once more gets up, as he starts growing, his eyes turning green, fangs growing in his mouth, fur coming from his skin and enormous claws in his hands. It's the creature. He lets out a loud roar as he lunges at the door destroying. He then moves around the kitchen, destroying everything in his way, the table, the counter, the family photos, everything as he lets out another roar. On the counter is on display the Mark of Scath made with his own claws.
"Please stop!" Raven pleads as she watches them, shocked.
"They will open the portal for me, with your help" Trigon says, laughing.
"No…"
"You can't stop it."
"No…" she looks at Trigon. "I won't do it… and neither will they! I know them. They are not this thing you are showing me, they are good people, they won't fall for your tricks… I won't let them!" She yells raising her voice. She closes her eyes and starts concentrating, repeating her mantra. "Azarath, Metrion…
"You can't save…"
"Zinthos!" With that her eyes open, both glowing white as the whole place becomes white.
________________________________________
Raven opens her eyes, out of breath, she looks around. She is on the floor outside of the library. Victor, Gar and Nightwing next to her, all of them appear out of breath, looking around. For a moment, she thinks she sees the two pair of red eyes on their faces, but it quickly fades away. The men exchange glances, confused, neither wanting to share what they had experienced.
"It was all a dream" Victor says.
Raven nods, not wanting to deepen.
Nightwing stands up, as do the rest of the team. "Is everyone okay?"
"Define okay" Raven says.
They all nod. "What happened?" Gar asks.
Nightwing looks at Raven. "Raven got us out." He stays silent for a couple of seconds, thinking back to what Raven read about Trigon. He looks at Victor, who appears to be thinking the same thing. They make eye contact and nod. One decision being taken. They must steal the Mark of Scath, before it falls in the wrong hands.
Chapter 7: Dead Reckoning
Chapter Text
Richard points at the holographic projection of the Mark of Scath at the center of the underground lab. "This is our objective" he says. Victor, Raven and Gar looking at him with interest, waiting for the plan. "It will be arriving at the Jump City International Airport on Wednesday. This man…" a picture of a man in his sixties, almost bald and glasses over his eyes appears. "will be carrying it secretly in a black box, like this one." A picture of the man carrying the box appears. "His name is Otto Von Bork, Swiss nationality, he was the one leading the expedition that found the Mark of Scath. In every city he's been to, he has leaked to the press the day of his arrival, only to arrive one day earlier."
"Like a security measure" Victor says crossing his arms.
"Exactly. We have to assume he will arrive tomorrow; we only have to find out the exact time and flight and intercept him."
"Uhm, dude, aren't there thousands of flights arriving every day?" Gar points out. "How will we find him?"
"He will be arriving on flight D5482 from Metropolis. Twelve fifteen the time of his arrival" Kory says, speaking in a serious tone as she descends into the lab. Everyone turns to her. She looks at Richard making eye contact but neither says anything.
"How do you know that?" Victor asks.
Kory turns to him. "I had an encounter with one of the men working for Mad Mod. He will also be there."
That catches the interest of Victor, who looks at Richard. "If he is going to be there, we can catch him too." Richard nods but doesn't say anything.
"Maybe then it will not be even necessary to steal the Mark of Scath" Raven reasons, hoping to persuade them not to steal it. It is just too risky for her liking.
Richard thinks about it, but finally shakes his head. "Remember what you read down there. It is calling people to free him, just like he called Mod. Who knows who can be the next. Locking him won't stop Trigon much."
"So, how do you propose we steal it?" Gar asks.
"We can swap it with an identical box" Victor proposes, pointing at the picture of Otto Von Bork carrying the black box.
Richard nods as he appears in deep thought. "I may have an idea for him not to notice its missing."
Raven raises an eyebrow. "How?"
Richard moves to one of the side tables where a pair of glasses are, just like the ones that Kory used to infiltrate at Starlabs, next to it a thin electronic device. He grabs the glasses and moves to Kory offering them to her. Kory looks at him, not saying anything, not a hint of emotion on her face. She can sense this is his way of trying to make things right, but it isn't enough for her. She finally grabs them and puts them on. Richard then grabs a batarang and hands it to her.
"Look at it and blink twice quickly" he orders.
Kory obeys as he looks at it and blinks twice. Instantly the electronic device on the table starts making a noise. A couple of seconds later, a same-exact-looking batarang comes out of it.
Gar's face brightens. "Oh, oh, like a 3D printer!" He yells excitedly.
"It won't be of the same material, but visually, it will do the trick." Richard turns to Victor. "Can you install it on a similar box as the one he carries?"
Victor nods. "Can do, no problem."
"I will make the swap, use a fake identity with a fake profile, and arrange a meeting at the airport" Richard says. He looks at Victor. "You'll run point, access the cameras, and be our eyes." Victor nods. Richard turns to Gar and Raven. "You two will be middle point. You'll be at the airport; you must be ready in case all hell breaks loose and act if Mad Mod makes a move."
"I also will be at the swap" Kory declares, leaving no room for debate.
Richard looks at her. He doesn't say anything, not wanting to argue with her. Kory matches his gaze, firm in her position. The rest of the team alternates their glances from one to the other, not liking the way this could play out.
Finally, Richard nods. The mission comes first.
"If we are hoping to catch Mod, we should inform the police" Raven says. Hopefully, that would be enough to put an end to this.
"I'll talk to the mayor" Richard says. "He'll sure inform the lieutenant, but at least we will be on his good side. But I can't tell him we are planning on stealing it, they will be there to help with Mod."
Silence. Victor looks at the projection of the Mark of Scath on the holographic screen. "The fate of the universe depends on us succeeding on this mission and stopping whatever it unlocks." Another silence. This is serious, there can't be any room for failure on this mission.
"So, let me see if I understand everything. We will be stealing this super wanted artifact, while dealing with this Otto guy, Mad Mod and his men, AND the police?" Gar asks. "Basically, committing treason."
Raven shrugs. "Or, as we like to call it; Monday."
________________________________________
Its late at night, Richard enters the living room of the mansion, completely dark with the lights off. Since the flight would be arriving early, they had arranged that staying there would be the best option. Upon entering, he notices Kory sitting on the sofa watching TV, something about fungus. He looks at her.
"How long will we continue not talking?" he says.
Kory for a second turns to him, but then focuses back on the TV. "Once we retrieve the Mark of Scath everything will be alright."
Richard looks at her, he must make things right. "You got us all the intel we needed" he says. "Thank you."
Kory shrugs without looking at him. "I did what was best for the team. Done deal."
Richard thinks. Talking about the incident may be the only way to fix things, at least that's what he hopes. "Back at the apartment, before you killed Light, you chose not to tell me, why?"
Kory looks at him, turns off the TV and stands up. For the first time, a bit of emotion in her voice. "I could not… It was not your burden to bear."
Richard pauses, looking straight at her in the eyes. "But I did bear it, didn't I?" Kory doesn't say anything. "If you make your choices alone, how can I trust you?" He says in a comprehensive tone.
Kory narrows her eyes. He hasn't changed his mind; he just wants everything to be back to normal. Well, she also hasn't changed her mind. "You cannot." She pauses as she thinks. "The truth is, things between us have not been the same ever since we came back to Jump" she admits looking away.
That catches Richard off guard. He doesn't answer; she may have a point there. Kory turns to the side and tries to walk away, but he grabs her by the wrist. She looks at him.
"We don't know what could happen tomorrow, are you sure you want things to be this way?" He doesn't want to have any regrets.
Kory walks up to him, meeting his gaze. "If this is how things ends… then let them be." Without hesitation, she walks away and leaves the room.
Richard watches her go, he then sighs as he punches the wall.
________________________________________
Lieutenant Carson is at the back of a black police van. In front of him, five cops dressed as civilians listen to him. They are currently approaching the airport.
"Grayson informed us Mad Mod will be here. His plan is to steal a highly wanted artifact, the Mark of Scath. I have a feeling he isn't telling us all. The mission is to apprehend Mod while also keeping an eye on Grayson and his team. He is unpredictable, expect anything. We will patrol the airport as civilians, and backup will be waiting outside in case it is needed. Is it clear?" The lieutenant asks.
"Sir, yes, sir" the cops answer.
The lieutenant is walking through the airport, his men behind him. He looks around, trying to find anything suspicious. He suddenly hears one of his men through his earpiece.
"I have eyes on Grayson" he says, in the van, looking through the cameras at the airport.
"Where?" Carson asks.
"In terminal D, thirty yards in front of you, blue suit" he says. In the camera, Richard can be seen walking around in a suit, a suitcase in his hands.
"I see him" the lieutenant says as he sprints directly to Richard, walking obliviously with his back turned to them. "Out of the way! Move!" He yells to the people in his way as he runs to Richard.
He makes it to him, grabs him by the back, and turns him around, revealing a man with a beard and shaggy black hair, definitely not Grayson.
"Cosa fai?" The man yells angrily in Italian. Carson looks at him, confused. He touches his face, maybe it's a mask, he tries to pull it out. "Excusi?! Qu esta faziendo?!" The man yells again.
The lieutenant gives up and walks back. "Sorry" he says. He touches his earpiece. "Its not him." Behind him, the Italian man is still yelling at him.
"Its him" the man in the van says. Indeed, on his screen he can see the lieutenant with Richard in front of him, yelling angrily. A hundred percent facial match appearing on the screen.
"I'm telling you, it's not him!"
"And I'm telling you, facial comes back with a perfect match…" he trails as suddenly the face of Richard on the screen changes to the Italian man. The man looks at it confused. The screen showing a zero percent facial match.
Victor is in a service room, four holographic screens in front of him as well as his laptop. He smirks having watched the spectacle through the cameras of the airport.
"How did you do that?" Gar asks confused. He is seated alongside Raven at a café at the airport, watching everything happen through a tablet.
"No one is safe from the Cyborg" Victor jokes as he continues typing. He changes cameras, focusing on a man in a black coat walking through the airport. The face of the man changing to Richards.
The cop in the van notices the fake Richard through the cameras. "I got him" he says.
"Where is he?" The lieutenant asks.
"Terminal A, gate five" he says.
"Goddammit!" Carson swears. "He is on the other side of the airport!" he says to his men as they start running in that direction.
Once they walk away, a man in a black suit, with red beard and hair, and glasses passes right behind them. Leonid Kovar.
"Richard, they are on their way to terminal A, this side of the airport is all yours" Victor informs.
Leonid smirks and touches his earpiece. "Good job, Vic" he speaks in a Russian accent. He walks right to one of the gates from where the passengers of a flight are coming out. He touches his glasses. Automatically, the glasses start focusing on the different people walking right by his side, until they find Otto Von Bork, one hundred percent facial match appearing, he is wearing a white suit and is carrying the black box. "I see our man" he informs. "Kory, you see him?"
"Yes, I have eyes on him" Kory says as she watches both of them from the upper level of the airport. She is wearing a suit, the glasses over her eyes, and her hair tied back.
"I'm making my move." Leonid walks straight to the encounter with Otto. Just before he can speak, a man in a suit with white hair and beard, and an eye patch over his eye walks by his side. Leonid freezes. Otto Von Bork passing right by his side. Leonid remains in his place, not moving.
"What? What happened?" Victor asks as he watches him through the cameras.
"Deathstroke…" Leonid whispers, not fully believing his eyes. He was dead, right?
"What? I couldn't see him from the cameras."
"Neither did I. Are you certain it was him?" Kory asks.
"Yeah, I'm sure." After all, he's been dreaming with his face and the beating he provided him for the last year. Leonid thinks. If somehow, he is alive and here that changes everything, the mission now seeming a lot more dangerous. "Kory, you do the swap. I'll take care of Deathstroke." He must take him out before he can affect the mission.
Kory nods. "I will."
"Nothing changes, we move" Leonid says as he follows Deathstroke. "Vic, stay with Kory, follow the plan."
"Copied that" Victor says as he is about to close his laptop and follow the mission, when suddenly an alarm pops up on his screen. A baggage in the sorting area. The alarm quickly disappears before Victor can even speak. That didn't seem good. He touches his earpiece. "Raven, Gar, are you there?"
"Still here" Raven says, bored of having to wait.
"There was an alarm in the luggage sorting area. Go look at it, maybe Mod is down there, or I fear maybe a bomb…"
"Will look into it" Raven says interrupting. She looks at Gar. "Let's go."
"Finally" Gar says. With that both stand up, making their way to the baggage sorting area.
Kory descends from the upper level and makes her way to Otto Von Bork, who continues walking down the airport. She walks right in front of him and extends her hand. "Leonid Kovar" she introduces herself.
Otto raises an eyebrow. "I was led to believe you were a man" he says with a bit of an accent.
"Oh, that is quite a common mistake people make with me, but I assure you, it has never been a problem for myself" Kory says. "Now, if you may, I have rented a room at the VIP for our meeting." She gestures to the side.
Otto doesn't seem convinced, but ultimately, he nods. "After you."
Raven and Gar enter the baggage sorting area. They are instantly swarmed by the sight of an infinite number of cases moving through infinite conveyor belts leading each to their respective flight.
Gar is stunned. "Whoa…" He looks at Raven. "How are we going to find anyone or the bomb?"
Raven thinks. They obviously can't go checking case by case. Then again, Victor wasn't even sure that there was a bomb in the first place. Maybe she can sense it. Without speaking, she sits in the floor, closes her eyes and starts chanting her mantra. "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos."
"What are you doing? How is that…"
"Don't speak" Raven says interrupting him as she continues.
Leonid follows Deathstroke until he reaches the restroom, where he enters. There he finds Deathstroke with his back turned washing his hands in the sink. He looks up at the mirror and notices Leonid staring right to him.
"Can I help you?" He asks in a smooth, deep voice. Yeah, definitely Deathstroke.
Without speaking and with a glare on his face, he removes the chip from his throat. "Deathstroke" he calls in his normal voice.
Deathstroke stops and smirks. He slowly turns around facing him. "Grayson, I presume. You didn't think I would come back?"
"I watched you die."
"There are many forms of immortality, kid."
Silence. Leonid takes out a batarang. "You don't have any weapons" he says.
Again, Deathstroke smirks. "You better than anyone must know that I don't need them."
Leonid lets out an angry cry as he charges at him with the batarang. Deathstroke dodges, catches his arm and elbows Leonid on the face, and again for a second time. He then throws a roundhouse kick, but Leonid ducks and sweeps his feet, sending him to the ground. Leonid throws himself on top of him, Deathstroke catches him and sends him to the side, before he gets up with a jump.
Kory and Otto enter the VIP, where Kory leads him to one of the private rooms. There, they take a seat on the sofa, facing each other. Otto never letting go of the box in his hands.
Kory looks at him and smiles. "I must admit it is a real pleasure to have this meeting, I am deeply grateful for granting me…"
Otto raises his hand, stopping her. "The pleasure is mine to have this meeting with a fellow archeologist, now, if you don't mind, I would prefer we carry this meeting in German" he says in German, in a stern tone.
Kory looks at him, after a few seconds, she nods. "Not a problem." Luckily for her, Richard is fluent on German. Otto smiles and signals her to continue. "How long did the excavation last?" She asks.
"Ninety-four days and sixteen hours" he answers with a smile. "But we persevered and finally found it."
"How did you know where to look?"
Otto thinks about it. "Call it an archeologist's hunch." He laughs. "I knew that region was basically untouched by our profession, so I thought there must be something buried there."
"That was before or after you found out about the existence of the Mark of Scath?"
"I would say it started about a year ago. I had had multiple dreams about this golden object. Naturally, I started studying until I found out it was the Mark of Scath."
Kory thinks about it. He must also have been called by Trigon. Maybe this is the right time to ask the important questions. "Can I see it?"
Leonid is pushed against the wall of the restroom; he moves just in time to avoid a punch by Deathstroke that creates a hole in the wall. He receives a hard couple of punches to the chest, but then blocks a third one and pushes him back with his feet. Leonid then jumps on top of him, wrapping his legs around his neck and shifts his weight sending Deathstroke to the floor, Leonid on top of him. He then punches down on his enemy, but he catches him as they both struggle to overpower their adversary.
A civilian enters the restroom, instantly noticing both of them fighting on the ground. Nope, he gets out, not wanting to have anything to do with whatever is happening.
Deathstroke raises his leg and pushes him back. Both get up with a jump. Leonid looks at him.
"No trash talk this time?" Deathstroke doesn't answer.
Leonid charges at him, he faints going left, just in time to move to his right throwing a mighty punch that connects with Deathstroke's cheek, sending him straight to the floor again.
"You are weaker" he points out.
Deathstroke spits blood. "Doesn't mean I can't end you." With that, he lets out a battle cry as he charges at him.
Raven is still concentrated, trying to look for the bomb. How is she even supposed to find a bomb between this many cases? How would she know if its bomb? She suddenly stops, sensing a timer, maybe a watch? No, this object is much bigger. Her eyes shoot open. She looks at Gar. "Tray 01833, heading to the northwest corner, go, go!"
Gar nods as he crouches, transforming into a rat and running straight to the case. Raven behind. The rat reaches a brown bag in tray 01833. With his small hands, he opens the bag, revealing a bomb. Two minutes left in the timer.
Raven makes it to the bomb. Gar looks at her, as if in his rat state he could ask what to do. Raven looks at the bomb. "I don't know how to deactivate it." She touches her earpiece. "Vic, you were right, there's a bomb here. How do we deactivate it?"
Vic is in a service room at the VIP. He hears Raven. "How much time left?"
"Minute and a half."
"Fuck." He thinks. "Tell Gar, he must get inside the bomb, there you have to see how many cables are, if there are six, cut the fourth, if there are three, cut the white one, if there are four, the red one, five, the last one, is it clear? I have to go on with the plan, Victor out." Victor cuts the communication. He touches a button in his panel, his metallic skin changing to completely human in a waiter uniform. He looks down at the black box.
Raven looks at Gar, but he has already transformed into a green cockroach. She thinks he sees him nod at her before he enters the bomb.
The lieutenant and his men reach the man in the black coat on the other side of the airport. "Its him" the cop looking through the cameras informs.
Carson quickly grabs him by the shoulder and turns him around. Its not Richard. One of his men quickly puts himself in the middle. "Sorry, he thought you were someone else."
The lieutenant curses. "Grayson is jerking our chain" he says angrily. He thinks. "Run facial on either Anders or Stone" he orders.
The man in the van presses a couple of buttons. There on his screen appears Kory. "I have Anders."
"Where?!"
"Gate D, she entered the VIP along with Otto Von Bork, a couple of minutes ago."
"Fuck, Grayson, what are you playing?" The lieutenant looks at his men. "Gate D, go, go, go!" With that, they start sprinting to the VIP.
Otto nods as he crouches and opens the black box on the floor. He gets up, holding in his hands the S-like golden object, the Mark of Scath. Kory looks at it, wide eyed, its brightness reflecting in her eyes, it sure is a breathtaking sight. Otto hands it to Kory, who takes it, her eyes never leaving it.
After a few seconds, she manages to refocus on the mission. She looks at it and blinks twice in rapid motion.
In an adjacent room, Victor has another black box opened, inside, the electronic device starts printing the copy. He touches his earpiece. "Kory, continue blinking, the object is too complex for the machine."
Kory obeys as she again blinks twice in rapid motion. Otto looks at her, starting to suspect something isn't right.
After a few seconds, the electronic device finishes the 3-D print of the Mark of Scath, Victor closes his black box and places it on the lower shelf of a small cart. On the upper shelf, two porcelain cups of coffee. He pushes the cart out of his room and enters Kory's VIP room, placing it suspiciously close to Otto's box.
Otto looks at him, he is about to speak, but Kory beats him to it. "I ordered us some coffee." Otto looks at her and nods. Kory hands him the Mark of Scath and he puts it inside his black box.
At the sorting area, after a few seconds, the green cockroach gets out of the bomb. He starts growing as he changes back to Gar. Raven looks at him.
"Did you cut the correct one?"
"Yep, the fourth one" Gar says with a proud smile. However, something isn't right, Raven can sense it. She closes her eyes focusing on the bomb. It is still ticking. In that moment the timer hits zero.
"Gar, watch out!" Raven manages to yell as she surrounds the bomb with her black energy, but it isn't enough as the bomb goes off, blasting through the black shield and making the sorting area and whole airport shake, debris and metallic parts falling from the roof on top of them.
Screams, pandemonium all throughout the airport as the alarm starts buzzing and people start running terrified to the nearest exit.
Leonid and Deathstroke are still fighting when the airport begins to shake and debris starts falling. Leonid manages to move away, but Deathstroke cannot, as he is crushed down.
The hero looks at him. He appears to be dead with his eye closed, when suddenly his body starts melting, liquifying, and moving away from the debris in little droplets.
Leonid looks at it confused. "What? What are you?"
The droplets are creeping together, fusing into larger blobs. These pools shiver and run together, soon forming a muddy central mass, in the form of a body with yellow eyes looking straight at Leonid.
Leonid widens his eyes. "Clayface." That explained everything.
Clayface creates a giant fist and throws it at Leonid, who doesn't have time to react and is thrown through the wall and out of the restroom into the lobby of the airport. Leonid clutches his back, that hurts even more without his suit. He takes off his beard and red wig. Richard looks up at the oncoming figure of Clayface.
"Aren't you a little far from Gotham, Karlo?" He teases through the pain.
"You know what they say, an actor gotta earn their living" Clayface answers in his own voice.
The whole VIP room starts shaking because of the explosion. Kory looks at Otto, who seems preoccupied looking at the ceiling. This is her chance. Without he noticing, using her feet, she pushes his box near the cart, while Victor does the opposite move with his box, almost completing the swap. Suddenly, the sound of a bullet echoes outside.
Kory stops and looks at Otto. "We have to get out of here."
They get out of the room when they notice Mad Mod and Madame Rouge with Controllus and five of his men with machine guns, entering the VIP area. Mod smiles. "Hello, governa, wouldn't you by chance have something for me?"
Kory puts herself in front of Otto, protecting him and the box. "You will have to pass through me."
Controllus looks at Victor, he notices the fake box in his hands. "He also has a box."
Otto looks at him. "What?" He looks at Kory who ignores him, focusing on Rouge.
"Get me the two boxes, lads" Mod orders. He steps back and exits the VIP area, there's no way he is staying, in case this goes wrong.
With that, Rouge charges at Kory, throwing a hard punch, Kory dodges her and throws a punch of her own, but Rouge catches and sweeps her feet, sending her to the ground and jumping on top of her.
Meanwhile, Victor throws the box and takes cover behind the column as they start firing at him. He moves to the side and fires his sonic cannon hitting one of the men who goes to the floor, the rest still firing, Victor takes cover again. He looks to the side, where Controllus approaches Otto with a gun. The archeologist throws his hands in the air, instantly surrendering and handing him the box with the real Mark of Scath inside. Controllus takes it and punches him, knocking him to the floor. He then notices the other box on the ground, had they already made the swap? Not wanting to take any risk, he grabs it and runs to the exit. Victor widens his eyes; he can't get it. He makes a move to follow them, but the moment he steps out, an avalanche of bullets comes his way, forcing him to take cover again.
The lieutenant is sprinting along his men to the exit. "Come on, we are almost there!" He yells. He touches his earpiece. "Send some men to the sorting area; that's where the explosion originated."
Raven opens her eyes, her head hurting badly, blood on her forehead, she was lucky to have survived. She looks around, the area destroyed with debris all over the place. She tries to move, but finds out she can't. She has a metallic beam over her leg trapping her. She tries again, but its impossible. She releases a sigh.
She looks to the side, where she notices Gar a few feet from her, crouched, looking down. "Gar" she calls. No answers. He seems to be struggling to breathe, probably suffered a hard blow. He is gripping the grated floor, trying to remain in control. His eyes green, his body starting to grow and becoming hairy. Raven widens her eyes. "Gar, breathe, everything is alright" she says, trying to calm him.
"I… I can't!" On Gar's face she can see the struggle to suppress the creature. His claws now growing, fangs on his mouth, slowly transforming, he seems in pain as he clutches his head.
Raven must do something. She focuses on the metallic beam trapping her, becoming black with her energy as she tries to move it away, while talking to Gar. Its heavy, very heavy. "Gar, you gotta fight it, listen to me, we're going to be okay." She touches her earpiece. "Raven here, is somebody there?" She asks.
Victor answers. "Victor here, I guess the bomb went off, right?" He asks still taking cover.
"Yeah, I'm with Gar, at what's left of the sorting area, currently trapped, we need help." She looks at Gar, who continues to transform. "Please, hurry, Gar isn't himself right now" she says, panic in her voice.
Victor looks to the side. Kory seems to be struggling against Rouge, and who knows where Richard is. He thinks. Raven needs him. He can't both go after Controllus and help Raven. He makes a decision. "I'm on my way." He quickly moves to the side and fires his sonic canon hitting one of the men, then charges at them throwing a punch to one, moves to the next, takes his gun away and also punches him, dodges another round of bullets from the last man, grabs his machine gun and uses it to deliver a hard blow, knocking him unconscious. He looks behind, all five of the men in the floor. He sprints to Raven's location.
Raven looks at Gar. "You heard that? Vic is coming" she says sounding desperate to Gar. But he isn't listening, the creature is almost complete as he lets out a loud roar. Raven is completely scared.
Richard is thrown across the airport, Clayface slow walking up to him. Richard takes out his last batarang. He must make it count, Clayface is not the type of villain with whom you go blow for blow.
Clayface creates another giant fist and throws it at him, Richard dodges as he moves right and jumps on top of his arm running to meet him. The shapeshifter moves his arms around, but Richard jumps up, throws the batarang straight behind Clayface and delivers a flying kick to Clayface in the face, the villain falling to the floor on top of the batarang that goes off. Richard landing smoothly with a cartwheel. He looks at Clayface who is currently headless because of the explosion. If he had known before that that was Clayface, the fight would have been shorter.
He touches his earpiece. "Victor, where is the box?"
"Controllus has it" Victor says as he sprints to Raven's locations. "That fat fuck grabbed both boxes and ran off."
"Fuck" Richard swears. He thinks. How is he supposed to find him. As far as he knows, he could already be out. He then, out of nowhere, notices Controllus sprinting through the empty airport carrying both boxes. He lifts an eyebrow. Well, that was easy. "Found him."
Kory is pushed with great force to the wall by Rouge. Kory then grabs her, and she pushes her to the wall next to her. She hard punches Rouge in the face, prepares another one, but the assassin catches her while grinning, twists her wrist and pushes her back with her leg. Kory falls to the ground. Rouge jumps on top of her, ready to punch her, but Kory grabs a close metallic tray, blocking the punch, and then uses it to hit her and get away from her grasp.
Both look at their adversary, studying it, Kory a little out of breath, Rouge still grinning. Kory thinks, she can't continue this for much longer, in this moment, Rouge is stronger than her, and she knows it.
"Already tired?" Rouge taunts in her French accent.
Kory doesn't answer back. She raises her hands preparing to fire her green beams. Rouge looks at her. But nothing happens, Kory looks wide eyed at her hands. She doesn't have any more energy, no sun energy. "No, no, this cannot be happening." It had never happened before.
Rouge smirks. "It looks like you are out of energy."
Kory looks back at Rouge, she then lets out a battle cry as she charges at her.
Raven focuses again on the beam on top of her, she must get away quickly. Another huge roar. Raven looks at Gar, her skin a shade paler than normal, completely terrified. There is the huge form of the creature, fully transformed. "Gar…" she whispers. The creature turns to her. It lets out another roar as it charges at her. Raven turns back to the beam, she focuses, black energy surrounding it. Her nose starts bleeding because of the effort. The creature swats at her, but just in time, she manages to lift the beam just enough to get her leg out and escape.
She looks at it. A disturbed face on the creature. Raven jolts to the exit, the creature chasing behind. She rolls under a turbine, starts to crawl within the maze of pipes. The creature pulls them out from above the catwalk. Raven falls through the catwalks and quickly and stealthily escapes. The creature lets out a loud roar of rage.
She is about to make it out of the sorting area when she suddenly trips, falling to the ground. The creature hears her as it turns in her direction. Raven widens her eyes. The creature roars as it charges at her. Raven focuses on some of the debris and throws them at it, but the creature easily swats them away as it continues. Raven doesn't know what to do. The creature is about to attack when it suddenly receives the impact of a sonic cannon direct to its chest, sending it flying back. Raven looks behind. There by the door is Victor, his sonic canon raised.
He looks at Raven. "Are you okay?" He asks worried. Raven nods as she gets up. "We have to get out."
Raven shakes her head. "Not without Gar, we can't leave him."
Victor nods. He then raises his canon, aiming at the creature that is currently on the floor, his back turned. "He is not going to like this." Just when he is about to fire, they suddenly hear…
"Wait!" Gars voice echoes through what's left of the sorting area as the creature stars getting smaller and back into human form.
Victor lowers his canon. "Gar?"
Gar turns to them, now completely human with his clothes torn. "Sorry." He lets out an embarrassed laugh. "I lost control." Raven looks away. With her energy she grabs one close suitcase, opens it and throws the clothes to Gar, currently naked. "Sorry" he repeats.
"Just put on the clothes" Raven says, right now not feeling very happy with him.
Rouge throws a punch to Kory who dodges, grabs her arm and pulls forward, sending her to the ground. She then puts herself behind Rouge as she placer her arms around her neck in a choke lock and applies pressure.
"Surrender."
Rouge struggles as she tries to break free, but she can't. Kory's hold on her is too strong.
"Surrender!" she repeats applying more pressure, almost leaving her unconscious.
"Freeze!" Both women look up. There, by the door of the VIP room is the lieutenant along his men. Their guns raised pointing at them. "Hands in the air!"
Rouge smirks as she raises her arms.
"But…" Kory protests.
"Do it, Anders!"
Kory lets go of Rouge and raises her arms. Carson then takes out two pairs of handcuffs and throws to the floor in front. "Put them on, both!"
Kory is confused. "What…? But…"
The lieutenant takes the safety of his gun. He isn't playing around. Kory obeys as she reaches down, grabs the handcuffs and puts them on. The lieutenant then turns to Rouge. "Now you."
Rouge smirks. Slowly she reaches down to the cuffs. She grabs them, but just before she can put them on, she throws them at the lieutenant who moves away. The cops then shoot at her, but she dodges them with ease. Moves to one of the men, grabs him by the neck, twists it, killing him and uses him as a human shield against the oncoming fire. She takes his gun and fires at the remaining cops, killing them all. The lieutenant tries to move away, but before he knows it, he is receiving a bullet to the heart. He collapses on the floor, blood coming from his mouth as he starts choking. Rouge steps on his stomach, applying pressure and accelerating his death.
Kory looks at her, mouth agape, she had killed them all.
Rouge then turns to Kory and points at her with the gun. She smirks.
Controllus is still running through the airport, carrying both black boxes. He is about to make it out when suddenly the figure of a man steps in his way. Richard. He is smirking. Controllus gulps.
Richard signals him to hand him the boxes. Controllus obeys as he gives them to him, and Richard leaves them on the floor.
"Thank you."
Controllus laughs a bit awkwardly. "Now, that…" Richard interrupts him with a hard punch to the face knocking him unconscious.
Richard touches his earpiece. "I have both boxes. How are you all?"
"Good to hear, I'm here with Raven and Gar now, we are fine" Victor answers. Raven by his side, and Gar with a tired look on his face with his new clothes on.
"Kory is not with you?" Richard asks, a bit of worry in his voice.
"No, last I saw her she was in the VIP with Rouge…" Victor trails.
Richard widens his eyes. "And you left her on her own?! Kory come in, are you there?!"
Kory's earpiece is by its own on the VIPs floor, Richard's voice echoing throughout the room.
"Kory come in!"
The room is empty, no one to pick it up. Only the corpses of the lieutenant and cops scattered around the room.
"Kory!"
Silence.
Chapter 8: Deal with the devil
Chapter Text
A man has his head under a bag. Suddenly, the bag is removed revealing Controllus under it, a bruise on his face because of the punch. A light drizzle falling over them.
"Where is Mod?!" Nightwing roars angrily in a deep voice as he grabs him by the collar of the coat. He isn't playing around.
Controllus appears confused, he looks behind. They are currently at the edge of a tall building at downtown Jump City. Bellow the sound of the traffic can be heard. He looks back at the hero and smirks. "From one professional to the other let me tell you, you are not going to throw me, you are a hero."
Nightwing leans forward. "Wanna bet?!"
With that he pushes him off the edge of the building, Controllus screaming as he falls. Nightwing takes out his grappling hook and shoots it at Controllus feet, catching him just before he hits the floor.
"You son a bitch, you son of a bitch!" Controllus screams as he dangles midair.
Nightwing raises him to the top of the building again and grabs him by the coat. Controlluss skin a tan paler because of the fall. "Where is he?!" He demands again.
"I don't know!" Controllus answers dead scared.
Nightwing punches him hard on the face. "Where is he?!"
"He has many places…"
Nightwing again punches him. "He must have a favorite one. Where is he?! Where is Kory?!" Controllus face is completely covered in blood, he can't continue for much longer.
A few feet behind Victor, Raven and Gar watch them, not exactly sure how to feel about it. They also want to find Kory, but Nightwing is literally torturing him right there. Both black boxes in the floor next to them.
Nightwing punches him again. That's it, Victor can't take it anymore and walks to them. Nightwing throws another punch, but before it can connect Victor catches it, looking at him with a stern look.
"I think that's enough."
Nightwing looks at him, not exactly happy for being interrupted. "We still don't know where she is."
"And you think that if you continue punching him you'll know?"
"He has Kory! I'm not resting until I find her!" He isn't thinking straight right now, the anger clouding his mind.
"I know, that's why we must keep a cool head."
"Fuck keeping a cool head!" Nightwing doesn't like it. "Don't forget why she is missing, because you left her on her own against Rouge" he shoots back. He turns back to Controllus.
Raven is watching them, feeling a bit of relief. At least they are now in possession of the Mark of Scath, therefore no one can bring Trigon to earth. They only have to find Kory, and everything will be solved.
"The day is coming" she hears. Raven gasps. Trigon. Suddenly all around her turns on fire, the whole building, the whole city. No longer hearing any sound, no traffic, not her friends, only the sound of the flames. She looks up where she is met by the sight of a thousands suns descending over the city, a trace of smoke behind each one.
She clutches her head. "No, no, no…" she whispers. She looks down. There lying dead on the floor are the bodies of Richard, Victor, Kory and Gar. Their faces almost undistinguishable, completely burned down.
"Everything will burn… I'm inevitable" Trigon says in his deep voice.
"NO!" Raven yells, out of breath. She looks around, she is at the top of the building, in Jump City, in front of her Nightwing is still arguing with Victor. Everything seems to be back to normal.
Gar looks at her, concerned. "Raven, are you okay?"
Raven looks at him and nods. Gar doesn't fully believe her but decides not to push it.
Nightwing again grabs Controllus by the coat. "So, you are going to talk?" He threatens in a menacing voice.
Controllus can't even answer, his face covered in blood, some missing tooth, barely conscious. He is about to punch him when suddenly he is interrupted by a loud ring from a phone. Nightwing stops. He reaches for Controlluse's coat and takes a out a cellphone, an incoming call by a private number. He presses answer.
The phone's screen displays a live split-screen image: Mad Mod on one side and Nightwing on the other. "Ello, governa" Mod salutes with a smile.
"Mod…" Nightwing hisses. "Where is Kory?!"
"She is fine, lad, don't worry."
"Listen to me, if you even hurt her…!"
"You are not in position to threaten me, lad!" Mod interrupts him. "Now ya listen to me! You will bring me the Mark of Scath or she is dead! Ya hear me?!" He yells.
Nightwing closes his eyes and takes a breath, forcing himself to calm down. "Where?"
"I will send the coordinates to this wanker, now chop-chop, to work lad." With that Mod cuts the call, the screen turning black.
Nightwing narrows his eyes. Angrily he makes a move to throw the phone but catches himself. He turns around and quickly walks to the boxes.
"Richard, you can't be thinking about giving him the Mark of Scath" Raven says, worried. She looks at Victor and Gar. He can't do it.
"Let's think about it" Victor suggests. "What would Mod want with it? What do we think is his deepest wish?"
"Power, is always power with guys like him" Nightwing says. "Whatever he does, we can stop him."
"But this isn't just Mod, is Trigon, I've seen what he is capable of. We can't risk it" Raven says.
Nightwing doesn't say anything and kneels in front of one of the boxes.
"What are you doing?" Victor asks.
"He has Kory at gunpoint, I'm going to give him what he wants" Nightwing says without looking up. He opens one of the boxes. There inside is the Mark of Scath in all its glory, no electronic device inside the box, meaning it's the original. Gar looks at it, his eyes never leaving it.
Nightwing is about to grab it when suddenly Victor aims his canon at him, surprising everybody, a stern look on his eyes. "I can't let you do that, Grayson."
"Whoa-whoa, easy" Raven says looking at Victor. For a second, she thinks she sees a trace of red eyes on his face, but they quickly disappear.
"Because if you hand him the Mark of Scath, how am I going to be human again?" He continues.
Raven looks at him, utterly confused. Where did this come from? "What?"
Nightwing looks at him and narrows his eyes. Slowly he raises his arms and stands up.
"That's it…" Victor says.
In a quick move, Nightwing takes out his esgrima sticks and puts himself in a battle stance. His eyes fixed on Victor who keeps his gaze on him.
"I ain't losing her, Vic." Nightwing shoots back. "I intend to give it to him and free Kory."
"No! No! You are not fighting!" Raven orders, but neither is listening. She also notices the same of trace of red eyes on Nightwing. They are being called.
"Guys, guys I think there is another choice" Gar says. Everyone turns to him. A hopeful smile on his face, his eyes watery. "My parents, Trigon promised me he could bring them back if I gave him the Mark of Scath."
"Gar…"
"Please, I was the cause of their death, they are innocent, they didn't do anything wrong. Let me have them, let me hug them one more time, tell them I love them." A tear rolls from one of his eyes. He motions to Victor. "Please, this is to save lives." He motions to Nightwing. "Two of them."
Raven looks at him, a sad smile on her face. "Gar, he isn't…"
"What do you know, witch?!" Gar roars back interrupting her. The sad expression in his face being replaced by a murderous look. "You don't even like me!" His form slowly growing, skin becoming hairy, he is transforming again.
Nightwing raises his hand, trying to calm him down. "Gar… breathe" he says in a comprehensive tone.
But Gar doesn't listen to him as he continues to transform. "I can't lose them again!" He yells in a deeper voice just before he finishes, now only the creature present, staring right at them with a murderous look, slime falling from his mouth and now two pair of red eyes on his face.
"Gar…"
The creature lets out a loud roar as he charges at them. Nightwing and Victor widen their eyes but don't have time to react as the creature grabs them both as all three of them fall from the building.
"No!" Raven yells.
Victor while in the air manages to break free and shift his position, Nightwing the same, now the creature below as they fall to the ground in the middle of the street, the creature absorbing most of the hit. The traffic around them being interrupted. Nightwing gets up first, takes out his grappling hook and shoots himself up. Victor gets up and fires his cannon hitting the cable, Nightwing falling on his back to the ground.
Raven looks below. "In their last moments is when people show who they really are" she hears Trigons voice in her mind.
"Stop!" She yells to them.
The creature gets up and swats Victor away sending him flying to the other side of the street and into a building. The creature now swats at Nightwing who jumps up avoiding him and then down.
He looks up at Raven. "Guard the Mark of Scath!" He rolls away avoiding another hit.
"No!" She answers back, offended but doesn't move, clearly not liking what is going on.
The creature grabs Nightwing by the foot and slams him hard against the floor. He is about to do it again, but his arm is hit by Victors sonic cannon forcing him to drop Nightwing. The creature turns to Victor, but in that moment Nightwing stands and hits him in the back with his charged esgrima sticks, the creature screaming in pain and allowing Victor to deliver a hard punch sending the creature to the floor.
Victor then turns to Nightwing and delivers another punch, but the hero catches him with his sticks. The creature stands up and attacks them forcing their standstill to end as the try to dodge the creatures blows.
"This is barbaric!" Raven yells from above. "This is no way for grown men to…" she trails as she realizes neither is listening to her as the continue fighting. "Fine!"
Victor punches the creature, but in doing so, he disregards Nightwing's position who hits him with his esgrima sticks.
"Lets just haul our weapons and start banging away at each other!" Raven yells sarcastically. "That will solve everything! I've had it with you men and your rush to fight!"
The creature punches the floor sending a huge wave to forces Victor and Nightwing to the ground. The creature then jumps at them, but they each catch an arm, forcing the creature back.
"Enough!" Raven yells. An idea comes to her mind. She starts panting, a fake out-of-breath look on her face. "Oh, my inner side, is too strong, I can't control it!" She fake collapses on the ground; her eyes closed. She can still hear the fighting continuing below. She opens her eyes. "Men…" She gets up.
Controllus makes it to her side as he also watches the spectacle going on below them. "Well, this got screwy." He pauses as he thinks. "Let me see if I got all right. Each wants the Mark of Scath for himself. Stone, I think is trying to regain his human form, ol Grayson's looking to trade to save his loved one and maybe clean his identity. And green bean there, I think he's trying to settle some unresolved business with his deceased parents… terrible temptation the Mark of Scath." He turns to Raven. "Am I right?" She doesn't answer as she turns back to the fight. Controllus turns to the boxes, with the three men fighting below, they seem unprotected.
"Don't even think about it" Raven says before he can take a step. She looks behind to the two boxes.
Victor fires his sonic canon hitting the creature sending him to the floor. He then turns to Nightwing and fires, the hero does a cartwheel avoiding it and jumps in front of Victor, hitting him with his sticks, he repeats the move, but Victor catches him and throws a punch as they start trading blow for blow.
Nightwing throws a roundhouse kick that connects with Victor, sending him back. He then takes out a batarang and cuts through Victor's chest making him scream in pain as he falls to the ground. The hero throws another kick connecting with the human side of his face.
Nightwing smirks. "This isn't boxing."
An angry look on Victor's face as he spits blood. He is taunting him. "I will kick your ass." He lets out a battle cry as he, in a quick move, gets up throwing a punch to Nightwing, who is surprised, but manages to move away, but then Victor punches him in the stomach, taking the air out of his lungs, and then throws a mighty punch connecting with his jaw, metal connecting with skin, sending Nightwing to the floor.
The hero spits out a tooth covered in blood as he struggles to get up. Now it is Victor who is smirking. He lifts his canon and aims at him.
In that moment, they hear the creature's roar. They both turn to it. There is the creature, holding a car over his head. The creature throws the car at Victor, who doesn't have time to react as he is pushed by it sending him back. The creature then focuses on Nightwing, lets out another roar and charges at him.
Nightwing widens his eyes, he won't have time to react. Without looking away from the creature he touches a button on his wrist. The creature changes to four legs as it gains speed, its objective being to murder Nightwing. The hero closes his eyes, expecting the worst. The creature is about to reach him, when suddenly an auto-piloted N-Cycle comes crushing into it sending him to the side.
Nightwing presses another button on his wrist, the cannon on his bike focusing on the creature and starts firing an avalanche of bullets at the creature, that makes him scream in pain as he tries to cover himself. Nightwing presses the button again, the firing ceasing as the creature looks knocked up.
He releases a breath of relief. He grunts in pain as he struggles to get up, but just before he can make it Victor grabs him from the waist from behind and slams him hard against the ground. Nightwing grunts in pain, his back hurting badly. Victor then puts his arms around his neck trying to choke him. Nightwing struggles against his grip, Victor is just too strong for him. He throws an elbow, but Victor doesn't give up, his hold getting stronger.
"Give up!"
Nightwing throws another elbow. He can't give up; Kory's life depends on him.
"Don't make me do it!" Victor yells as he applies more pressure.
Nightwing eyes start closing, almost out of air. With his last breath he reaches to his belt and takes out his batarang and stabs Victor in his robotic eye, making him scream in pain and release him. Nightwing gets out releasing a long breath of air. He looks to the side where Victor is on the floor clutching his eye. Nightwing takes out his esgrima sticks.
"Sorry, but I can't lose her" he says as he charges them and hits Victor in the back.
The creature slowly gets up. He notices Nightwing standing next to Victor. He then looks up where Raven and the boxes are. He runs at the building and jumps up.
An out of breath Nightwing looks up noticing the creature climbing the building. He can't let him get it. He looks around, coming up with a way to get to him. He climbs to a close bus stopped because of the fighting, from there he jumps to a near lamppost, and using it as a horizontal bar he swings and using his momentum he does a giant circle, like a gymnast, that summersaults him to the creature, holding on to his back.
Nightwing then hits his esgrima sticks to the creature's temple letting out an electric shock that spreads throughout his whole body making him scream in pain. The creature doesn't give up and continues climbing. Nightwing hits him again, the sticks never leaving the creature head as he keeps absorbing electricity, smoke coming out from his head and roaring in pain. After a few seconds, he loses his handle on the building and start falling. Nightwing then positions his feet on his shoulder and jumps up doing a perfect frontflip and landing awkwardly on the roof of the building. He grunts in pain as he gets up, the fight had really taken a toll on him.
Controllus walks to him. "If I may…" Without even looking at him, Nightwing punches him hard knocking him unconscious.
He walks up to Raven. "Raven, the Mark of Scath."
Raven doesn't like it, however she obeys. "The one on the left."
Nightwing nods. He kneels in front of the boxes and opens the one in the left. There inside is the Mark of Scath and no electronic device inside the box, meaning it must be original.
"Please Richard, don't do it, there must be another way" Raven says in a bit of a desperate tone.
Nightwing closes the box and stands up. "There is no other way." He starts walks away.
"You know he is planning on killing you both, right?"
Nightwing stops as he thinks. "Then I better not make him wait." With that he leaves with the box.
Raven watches him go. This is not going to end well she thinks.
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The sun is descending as the N-Cycle approaches a deserted wasteland. Jump City in the distance. Nightwing descends from the bike, box in hand and looks around. This is the location Mod gave him; however, he can't see anyone close. He must wait.
He touches his neck, red marks on it because of Victor's chokehold, plus added to his back hurting and bruise on his face. Needless to say getting the Mark of Scath had really come at a high price for his body.
After a few minutes a black limousine approaches the place. Nightwing looks at it. The limousine parks right next to him. The driver lowers his window.
"Sit in the back mate."
Nightwing nods, enters the limusine and sits in the back. Seated by his side is Rouge. He looks at her. She seductively scoots closer to him and puts her arm around his neck. A bag in her other hand.
"Put it on."
Nightwing looks at her, as if asking if he must. Rouge nods. Nightwing takes it and puts it on, covering his face. As soon as he does, Rouge punches him hard, knocking him unconscious.
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Richard is woken up by an electric shock to his temple. He cries in pain as his eyes shoot open. He looks confused. His face bruised, his lip swollen, and blood coming out of his nose. He looks at the man in front, hatred in his eyes. He tries to move but he can't, he is cuffed to a chair. No mask over his eyes.
"That blood on ya face, seems familiar, ain't it mate?" Mad Mod teases in a stern tone. He takes out a gun and loads it. "The Mark of Scath, where is it?" he demands dead serious. Behind him is Rouge, a grin on her face.
Richard looks confused, he tries to remember, his mind a little foggy right now. "I... I gave it to you" he says not sounding completely sure.
"Grayson… where is the Mark of Scath?" Mad Mod repeats. He doesn't buy Richard's response.
"Wait, what are you saying? That wasn't…? I gave it to…" Richard mumbles, his head hurting badly.
"I will count to ten, you are going to tell me where the Mark of Scath is, or she dies." Mad Mod moves to the side revealing Kory. She is also cuffed to a chair and her face swollen, blood on her cheek. Tape over her mouth gagging her. Mad Mod points his gun at her temple.
Richard widens his eyes as he tries to lean forward. They make eye contact. A pleading look on her eyes. He looks panicked.
"Kory, it's going to be okay" he says trying to comfort her. "It's going to be okay, you understand?"
Kory nods, tears threatening to come out of her eyes.
"One" Mad Mod counts. Richard looks at him.
"Listen to me, I gave you exactly what you asked me, you want anything more, I can get it to you. If there was a misunderstanding I can fix it, whatever you want!"
"Two."
Richard closes his eyes for a second and reopens them. He better change tactics. He tries to calm down. "Listen… let's talk, we can talk like gentleman, Mod."
Rouge continues smiling.
"Three."
"Fuck!" Richard yells as he moves trying to escape, but he can't, the cuffs are too tight. Kory looks down. Richard tries to calm down. "Alright, I know where the Mark of Scath is, I can help you!" He says looking at Mad Mod straight on the eyes.
"Like youla helped me when this skank almost killed me?... That way?" he says motioning to Kory.
"Put your gun down, I won't talk to you like this" Richard says in a comprehensive tone.
"That's ya choice, lad… four."
Richard looks completely scared but tries to look calm. He has to, for Kory. "The Mark of Scath is with Victor, he has it. You want to know where he is, let her go, because…"
Mad Mod doesn't let him finish. "Victor doesn't have it; you wouldn't have given it to him. Five."
Richard looks at Kory and back to Mad Mod. "I can get it for you, but if you kill her, you get nothing."
"Six."
Again, Richard tries to move. "You listen to me! The only way you are going to…!"
Mad Mod shoots Kory in the leg.
"NO!" Richard yells. Kory tries to scream but she can't. Tears rolling from her eyes. She is in deep pain.
"You think this is a game?!" Mad Mod yells.
"Son of a bitch!"
"You think this is a game?! That I wouldn't do it?! Where is it?!"
Richard tries to contain his anger as he looks at Kory crying. "Look at me" he says to Kory.
"Where is it?!"
"Stay with me" he talks to Kory. Again, trying to comfort her.
"Seven! Seven!"
Richard looks at Mad Mod. A death look on his eyes. "I'm going to kill you; I swear I'm going to kill you!"
Mad Mod points the gun again at Kory's temple.
"Eight!"
Richard closes his eyes. He takes a deep breath. "Please" he whispers. Kory looks at him. He tries to think of a way to escape, but he has nothing, just to pray. "Please, don't do this, just let her go." A tear comes out of his eye. "I promise you; I can figure out what happened."
"Nine."
Richard looks at him. The tears now rolling freely through his face. "Listen, listen…" he trails. Mad Mod looks at him, waiting for what he has to say. "I want to help you. I want to help you get whatever you want, but you have to do what is right. And you know what is right."
Mad Mod appears to think about it, but ultimately smirks.
Richards eyes widen. He understands that look. "No…" he whispers, a crack on his voice. His whole world crumbling around him. "No…" He looks at Kory. She is looking at him, crying. He looks back at Mod. "No…"
"Ten."
Mad Mod pulls the trigger on Kory's temple.
"NO!" Richard yells as he looks at Kory's lifeless body, her green eyes rolling back, her red hair cascading to the side, and her head falling forward. Blood coming out of her mouth and head. He can't believe it, he had really killed her, no, executed her. He had given him what he wanted, and still he had killed her in cold blood. He can't take his eyes away from her, that was really Kory, his Kory, the person he most loved in the whole world, dead. No more fight in his body, no anger, just sadness as the tears roll freely through his face. "Kory..."
Mod approaches him, his head only inches away from Richard. "We couldn't just trust in ya word that that was the real Mark of Scath. We had to make sure, lad, ya know what I mean, mate? And now we know."
Richard looks at him, a murderous look in his eyes. He leans forward and headbutts him hard breaking his nose. Mod staggers backward in pain, as blood comes from his nose. "Bloody hell, that hurt." He takes out a napkin and applies it over his nose. He then looks at Richard and smiles. He moves to Kory.
"Don't you touch her!" Richard yells. "Don't touch her!"
Mod places his hand on Kory's temple and pushes her to side as she and the chair fall to ground. He then moves to Richard.
"Now mate, if you'll allow me, I'm going to free this Trigon fella." With that, he pushes Richard to the side as he also falls to the ground, giving him a clear sight of his loved one's dead body.
Mod motions to a tough-looking thug standing next to him. "This fella is going to watch over you, while I'm gone, alright, mate." But Richard doesn't care, his gaze fixed on her. Mod leaves.
Richard completely crumbles as he continues looking at her. "I'm sorry" he whispers. His face showing the complete and utter pain he is going through. "I'm sorry… I… I failed you." Blood continues coming out of her dead body.
The next thing that happens is a complete blur for Richard as he hears a loud explosion followed by Victor's sonic cannon and Raven's energy. Raven approaches him and talks to him, asks him something about whether he is alright, but he doesn't answer, he doesn't care; she was dead, Kory, and all because of him, all his fault.
Chapter 9: Memory
Chapter Text
A large black truck parks right outside of the imposing figure of the library, loud thunder flashed in the sky. From inside, Mad Mod descends, a grin on his face and the black box between his hands. Behind him Rouge and at least ten of his men, machine guns in hand. They advance, entering the library.
________________________________________
The sound of musket fire echoes in the sky. It's a cloudy day in Jump City, a light drizzle falling from the sky. A mass of people is gathered at the city graveyard. All of them wearing black clothes with black umbrellas, sad expressions on their faces, some of them even crying.
The mayor is currently giving a speech. In front of him lie six wooden coffins, an American flag over each one. They are the corpses of lieutenant Carson and the five cops who died at the airport. A portrait of each one next to the mayor. To the side a line of soldiers in blue uniform with muskets in hand, ready to fire again. Between the mass of people, you can see the families of the dead, women and children crying.
"Today we are not just honoring six men" the mayor says. "But six heroes who gave their lives in the line of duty. Six brave men who only wanted to make the world a better place. Ripped away from us, just like that." He pauses. "I can only speak from my experience watching lieutenant Dennis Carson grow up and work alongside him… He was a bright man." To the side, the girlfriend of the deceased lieutenant is crying inconsolably. "So young, so full of potential… he wanted to make things right, help the city where he grew." Another pause. "That's why I'm announcing a scholarship in the honor of this six heroes, to help young men in difficult backgrounds reach their fullest potential." Respectful applauses. His expressions hardens. "And to the organized crime… I am now declaring the war to you! We will not rest until this city is once again a peaceful place to live in!" Another round of applauses followed by another round of musket fire to the sky.
A few feet from them, another funeral is going on. A more modest one consisting of three figures standing in front of gravestone: Kory Anders it reads, a few bouquets of flowers next to it. They are Richard in the middle, wearing a black suit and shades over his eyes, Raven to his right, also wearing black, and Victor in the left, a bandage over his robotic side, damaged in the battle. Sad expressions all over their faces. Gar not being present, as he also had been terribly injured in their fight.
________________________________________
Mad Mod and his men advance through the dark library. They reach the end of it, where the secret passage is. The door swishes open, revealing the descending staircase. They start going done, single line, Mod leading the group.
They reach the end of the staircase and advance through the dark corridor. To the side, the statues of the monks look at them. Without them noticing the statues start moving.
________________________________________
Richard opens his mouth to say something, but quickly closes it, deciding not to. Even though this is not his first time mourning a loved one, he never was good with words in these situations. Something about her coffin finally descending underground made it click for him. Kory, she was gone, all because of his him. Maybe if they hadn't argued, if he had been more open to listen to her, or maybe as simple as if they hadn't come back to Jump, she would still be alive.
Raven looks at him, feeling a bit responsibility with how things played out. Maybe she also could have done something different.
________________________________________
TWO DAYS BEFORE
Raven makes it to Richard, who is in the floor tied to a chair, tears rolling freely through his face. "Richard, look at me, are you alright?" But he doesn't answer as he continues crying, whispering something about Kory. Raven turns around, for the first time, noticing Kory in the floor, also tied to a chair and blood coming out from her head. She widens her eyes. "Vic!" She calls.
After taking care of the last of the men in the room Victor comes to her side, also noticing the dead body, a hole in his robotic eye. "No…" he whispers.
"Help me with Richard and take Kory away" she orders. Victor doesn't respond as he keeps his gaze on Kory. "Victor!" They need someone with a cool head in this moment, someone who can think rationally and not be prey of their feelings. She must be that someone right now.
Victor looks at her and nods. He lifts Richard up, unties him and then moves to Kory getting her out of the room.
Raven focuses on Richard. "Richard, what happened here?" She asks in a serious tone as she puts her hands to each side of his face, trying to force him to look at her.
Richard shakes his head, still crying. "He killed her… I got him what he wanted, and... and he still killed her..." he pauses, that last part coming more as a choke. Clearly voicing it feeling like a dagger to his heart. "And now he is gone… with the Mark of Scath."
Raven shakes her head. "I'm sorry, but he didn't."
Richard pauses as he focuses on her for the first time. "What?"
"He has the fake Mark of Scath" Raven says. "I changed them during the fight. The real one is at the mansion, I couldn't let him have it, I'm sorry."
Richard looks up, thinking, then it was all for nothing, all the fighting, the exchange, everything just for handing him the fake Mark of Scath. "Its okay, you did what you thought best" he just says. He doesn't have it in himself to be angry at her, he just feels sadness running through his body in this moment. He looks back at her. "How did you find me?"
"When I made the swap, I put one of your trackers inside the box."
Richard nods, another question coming to his mind. "Gar?" He doesn't remember seeing him now, and he had given him a really hard shock to put him to sleep.
"Alive, we left him at the mansion, that's all that matters."
Richard again nods as he looks away, a new wave of tears coming to his eyes. It was all because of him, all his fault.
Victor had taken Kory to a different room, and after several hours of trying to bring her back to life and Richard's constant orders, he had finally given up. After all, there isn't much you can do for someone with a bullet on their head, doesn't matter if said someone is a Tamaranian with super strength.
________________________________________
Back at the graveyard, Richard decides he's had enough of just standing in silence and takes a step forward. After all, Kory would want him to say something. He takes his shades off and just holds them in his hand.
________________________________________
Scattered throughout the dark passage of the library are the remains of the statues, all of them destroyed by the machine gun fire, and also some dead thugs.
Mad Mod curses. "This fucking wanker! He gave me the fake Mark of Scath!" He yells as he angrily jumps around. In front of him is the altar with the false Mark of Scath directly inside the whole, where it is supposed to be. Rouge and the remaining thugs around him. "He is taking the piss!"
________________________________________
"I never was a religion type of person" Richard starts. "Even after my folks died, I wasn't thinking of an afterlife. I guess that's why people do, its nice to think that when you die you go somewhere, that you don't just become nothing…" he trails as he continues reflecting, a sob coming out of his mouth. "Now I would really like to believe you have not just become a nothing, that you are up somewhere looking down at me, or that your spirit is somehow around us, protecting us, guiding us through this shitty life." With his free hand, he wipes the tears out of his eyes, not wanting to cry any more. "What I can promise you is that you won't be forgotten, not by any of us."
A sad smile comes to his face. "I remembered you used to tell me about your people's deity… what was it her name?" He pauses as he tries to remember. "X'Hal, that's right, I remember you telling me how your people believed that after death you go to your heaven, where she is waiting for you alongside your loved ones... I hope you are there… reconnected with your parents."
Silence.
Raven looks down, his speech killing her internally.
Victor sighs as he walks up to Richard and places a hand over his shoulder, trying to comfort him. Richard looks at him and puts his hand over his.
"I'm sorry" he says.
Richard shakes his head. "Nah, don't worry, I'm sorry." He motions to his face. "For..."
"Call it even" Victor says. "I also gave you a pretty nice blow." Richard lets out a small laugh. It is true, he should probably see a dentist in the next couple of days regarding that missing tooth.
Victor turns around and starts walking away. Richard also turns and looks at him. "You know she didn't even want to come back to Jump?" Victor stops and turns to him. Richard continues as he turns back to the stone. "I forced her. We were happy, had peaceful lives… I just had to ruin everything as always. I guess I just couldn't stand still, I just had to go and fuck everything up. I told her I would come back here with or without her." He looks at Victor. "What does that tell you? That I preferred chasing thugs in the streets than to be with her!" he finishes, a bit of anger in his tone, anger to himself. "And now she is gone... If we had stayed, I'm sure she would still be alive."
"Richard, don't do that to yourself, it wasn't your fault" Raven says.
Richard shrugs as he seems thoughtful. "I guess that after you spend so much time chasing something, it's hard to stop, that's why I couldn't stay at peace. That's the way I was raised." He pauses. "But I won't do that, it's of poor student to blame the teacher, I'm a grown man, I make my own decisions…" He again pauses as new tears roll out from his eyes as he thinks back to Kory, a sad smile forming. "We really had it all."
Another long silence takes place. After a few minutes, Victor turns around and leaves the place. Raven watches him and turns to Richard, who continues looking in silence at the stone. She walks up to him.
"Richard…" she calls. He turns around meeting her gaze. She looks down. "I'm sorry…" she pauses. "If I didn't make the swap, if I had been more open to find an alternative, if…"
"Raven…" Richard interrupts her. "Really, its not your fault, you did what you thought was the best option, I don't blame you." With that he again turns to the stone. Raven looks at him. After a few seconds, he lets out a sad smile. "You know I loved her, right?"
Raven nods. "Yes, I know."
"You heard the saying that when you lose someone you love, you never forget about them, you just learn to live without them?" Raven doesn't say anything. Another sad laugh by Richard. "What's funny is that if you asked me a couple of years ago, I would say I was learning to live without another someone."
Another silence.
"You want a piece of advice?" Richard suddenly asks getting Ravens attention. "Don't keep things to yourself, you might regret it later." How well he knows that, so many things he had not told the people he loved, taking their presence for granted.
Richard turns to Raven. "Raven, you can go, I won't do anything stupid, I promise."
Raven doesn't like it, but she nods. "If you need us, we are only one call away" she says referring to her and Victor.
"I will."
With that, Raven leaves the graveyard leaving Richard alone with her stone and his thoughts. He looks down.
He lets out a sad smile as he thinks back at the memories of her. He talks to her as if she could listen to him. "Back when I met you and you kissed me and asked for my help... boy I was a goner." He lets out a laugh that comes off more as a choke than intended. "From the first moment you had me." He pauses. "I really meant everything I ever told you. You made me a better person, you made all of us better people…"
Victor is sitting at the stretcher in his underground lab. Tears rolling freely from his only human eye as he thinks back at Kory's last moments.
"Come on, Kory! Don't you dare die on me!" He yells as he applies electroshocks to her unconscious body. Her chest arching upward, but she doesn't open her eyes. He has already extracted the bullet from her head; however, her heart hasn't started beating. "Come on!" Another electroshock. He checks the panel on his arms, still no heartbeat.
She is gone.
Victor punches the stretcher out of anger, breaking it.
Richard continues at the graveyard. "Your smile, your optimism... you were the heart of this team, you made a difference to each one of us, we all loved you…"
Raven is at her bed in the mansion sitting against the wall. She is also crying, the room around her a complete mess of object scattered through the floor. She has lost control of emotions, therefore of her powers, but she doesn't care. All she can think about is Kory, she wishes she was there, that everything was just a nightmare, that she had done something different.
She stops as she hears sobbing coming from outside. She stands up and gets out of her bedroom. She reaches the door from where the sobbing is coming from. She opens it revealing Gars room. He is currently curled up in his bed crying, a few scars on his face. He had a really strong connection with Kory, she was the one who had first talked to him, helped him with his parent's death and his transformations. Raven thinks back to what Kory would have done.
Without speaking, Raven walks up to the bed and sits beside him. Gar stops crying and looks up at her. She doesn't say anything as she motions to her shoulder with her eyes. Gar understands as he sits up and places his head over her shoulder. He continues crying, although not as lonely as before, grateful for her presence.
"Im sorry" Gar speaks in between sobs. "He promised me he could bring my parents back" he cries.
Raven places her hand over his head, comforting him. "Shh, its okay, its not your fault." She looks up as she thinks.
"The world is now a darker place" Richard continues.
Richard enters his and Kory's apartment. Its dark, the only light coming from the window. He looks around to the mess of moving boxes. This places now seems soulless, he doesn't want to be here. He lifts the mattress of the bed and takes out a wooden box. He opens it revealing the Centaury Moon diamond. He grabs it, it clearly meant a lot to her. In that moment, he notices a picture. He grabs it and looks at it. It's a photo of them two in Argentina, both of them smiling as they hold the other, behind them is the view of a mountain. A sad smiles forms on his lips. They really had it all.
"And now I don't think I can keep this team together. You were the glue, the one who thought in everyone. I am not that, never was good at working as a team…" Richard thinks. He looks up, keeping his gaze on the stone. "But I will try, for you, I will make this team work, I will make sure we stay together." He again pauses.
A tear rolls from one of his eyes. "I will miss you… I love you…"
With that he puts on his shades and turns around, leaving the graveyard, hands in his pockets and his gaze down. The stone left standing alone.
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Mad Mod angrily punches down his desk at his studio. "I want them down!" He yells. "They stole it from me!" The people around him just watch him, not daring to speak. "I want the Mark of Scath back!"
One of the thugs shyly takes a step forward. "According to our man on the inside, Nightwing and his pals are using Stones mansion as their base of operations" he informs.
"Then there we are going." Mod looks at Rouge. "And we are getting it. We are using our whole arsenal." He turns to his closest thug. "You lot, I want everyone in this!"
"Sir, what do you mean by everyone?"
"I want everyone! The lads at the docks, in the streets, the fucking lads at the pub! EVERYONE!"
________________________________________
Debra Martinez is standing at a newspaper office. Behind her is a PowerPoint presentation with a picture of Mayor O'Hara giving a speech. With an energetic attitude, she points at the mayor.
"Our dear mayor O'Hara, ex-police lieutenant and hero, and now almost a year as our mayor, he was elected under the promise that he would fight against organized crime and eradicate it in the city." She makes a dramatic pause.
To her side is Max, a young intern, watching her with great interest, or is it maybe lust?
Debra continues. "Since his mandate started, he has increased the budget assigned to the police department by a staggering sixty percent, creating a new SWAT squad, buying new equipment and weaponry, and making traits with, for example, the prime minister of Markovia to help with that."
She changes to slide showing a bar chart. "The crime rate peaked three months ago when it suddenly stopped and started descending this last couple of months. But what changed? The crime still seems out of control. The attack at the opera, at the city hall, at the airport…" the slide changes to pictures of the attacks. "…do we actually believe the crime rate is descending? And just in time to the arrival of the vigilante Nightwing. Added with the death of the lieutenant… We all heard his promises that if we would project, we would lower the crime rate by two hundred percent at the end of his mandate. But what is behind all this? Something doesn't add up, has Mad Mod suddenly stopped? Or we are being fed false numbers and lied to our faces?" She makes another dramatic pause. "In conclusion, there's a story here and I'm the right person to follow it" she concludes, a little out of breath.
Silence.
In front of her is a large table full of executives, most of them seem bored looking at their phones, no one even listen to her. She sighs. Noticing she has stopped one of the executives looks at her.
"So, let me see if I got this right, you are accusing our dear mayor, a hero who helped save the city, of being corrupt and making deals with the Mob?" He asks.
"I didn't say that" Debra defends herself.
"You implied it."
"Yes, sir."
The executives trade glances as if deciding if this story is worth it. Finally, one of them looks at her.
"I'm sorry, but we can't greenlight this story without evidence, and all you have here is speculation. Find real proof or change your stance to align with our interests." The executive turns to the rest of the members of the table. "Shall we hear the next one?"
Debra is below a roof outside of the newspaper building, a cigarette on her hands as she takes cover from the rain. She exhales, creating a smoke cloud around her, right now feeling greatly frustrated. How is she supposed to make a name for herself if they won't give her the interesting stories? How is she supposed to be the next Lois Lane or Vicky Vale. She thought this one was her opportunity, but they turned her down.
Max approaches her. He speaks in a shy tone. "Excuse me." Debra looks at him. "I heard your presentation, you were great."
Debra smiles at him. "Thank you, although the execs don't think the same."
"You really think he is dirty?"
"I know he isn't as clean as people think. They just prefer to believe in a world where our mayor is a hero rather than a corrupt one." She takes another puff of her cigarette.
"How are you going to get the evidence?"
Debra shrugs. She is about to take another puff when she suddenly stops. She realizes she is giving up. Would Lois Land give up? Did she give up when she discovered that scandal at Lex Corp.? Of course not, she went deeper. Debra looks at Max.
"You got a camera?"
________________________________________
Richard enters the living of the mansion, hands in his pockets. There he notices Victor and Gar sitting at the main sofa and Raven on the side one. All of them in silence, their gaze lost as they think back to Kory.
Raven notices him. He looks at her. "Hey" he salutes.
Victor and Gar look up, meeting him. "You are leaving?" Victor asks.
Richard shakes his head. "No, just came to check how you guys were doing."
Gar shrugs without looking at him. The kid has gone through a lot, first his parents and now Kory. Victor looks at Richard. "It's been tough."
"Raven?"
"Fine" she answers without looking at him.
Richard turns to Gar, noticing the scars on his face. He places a hand over his shoulder feeling bad for him. "How are you doing?"
Gar looks at him. "I am okay" he lets out a small laugh. "I guess i had it coming" he jokes referring to the scars.
Richard returns the laugh. "No, you didn't; I am sorry."
Silence.
Richard looks at each of them. "Look, I know we are all hurt, and we loved Kory, but we have to get up, just because we lost a soldier is not excuse for giving up."
"We are not soldiers! Kory was not a solider!" Raven snaps, her eyes glowing white and the TV behind Richard starts floating.
Victor raises his hand, trying to calm her down. "Raven, calm down."
Raven glares at him. "No, I won't calm down, she is dead! Dead! And I couldn't do anything about it! We were late!"
Richard looks at her. "Don't you think I know that!" He also snaps. "I too blame myself for it! I loved her with every inch of my body! And believe me when I tell you I would do anything to bring her back, but I can't! We can stay all day pointing fingers at each other, whose fault was it, but it won't bring her back! So enough about it! " Silence. Raven looks down, avoiding his gaze, the TV stops floating. Richard takes a deep breath, calming himself. "She died fighting for this, because she believed in doing good above her personal interest, let's not make her death be all for nothing. We have the Mark of Scath and Mad Mod will be coming for it. He will stop at nothing to get it. So, I need to know if I can count on you for one last stand, or should I take it with me and run? The matter is, I won't last long on my own, not without you."
Everyone stays silent.
Victor is the first to stand. He looks at Richard. "That fucker killed Kory, I'll make sure he pays for that, I'm in" he declares. Richard nods at him, an unsaid appreciation for Victor, his friend. He turns to the rest.
Gar thinks about it. He finally stands, looking right at Richard. "Kory would want us to stay together, I'm in."
Richard nods at him and turns to Raven making eye contact. "Raven, you are the last piece of the puzzle, we can't do it without you."
Raven looks down. They will need her if they want to have any hope of surviving, she doesn't like, but she has to. Or maybe there is another way of saving them. She looks at Richard and nods. He nods back.
Richard turns to the group. "He will want to have it as soon as possible. We can expect him to come this very night." He looks at Victor. "Vic, you and I will be the first line of defense inside the mansion, we will make they come to us, there we will fight them."
"Sounds good" Victor answers. "Two against the entire mob… I like our odds."
Richard smirks. He looks at Gar. "Gar, you'll be second line. You'll be at the staircase stopping whoever gets past us, got it?"
"But I can't be the creature, I won't be able to control it" he protests.
Richard takes a step forward placing a hand over his shoulder. "Then don't. We all know Kory for being a powerhouse, but she was also a great tactician, using her enemy's weaknesses to her advantage. Don't be the creature, don't overpower them, outsmart them."
Gar smiles at his speech. He is right, he has the whole animal kingdom at his disposal; he can stop them without turning into the creature. He nods.
Richard walks to Raven. "You'll be our final line of defense inside the lab, if we all get past, you have to defend the Mark of Scath or escape with it."
"I can be useful in battle; I can help you."
"I know." Richard kneels in front of her looking at her straight in the eyes, a trace of fear in his eyes. "The truth is, I'm completely scared... I don't know what could happen tonight. I lost Kory, I don't want to lose either of you. You are the most powerful of us, that's why I need to feel safe you are behind us protecting the Mark of Scath" he finishes.
Raven looks at him, it was a rare sight to see Richard this vulnerable voicing his feelings. She launches at him and hugs him tight. "I love you all, I don't want to lose you."
Richard pads her back. "I know, we love you too."
Gar makes it to their side and hugs them. Victor smiles as he also joins the hug.
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Mayor O'Hara is at his office at the city hall. A tired look on his eyes as he reads the complete report of what happened at the airport attack. Although it is currently nighttime and well past his working day, he must stay, being the mayor in times of crisis demands it. In front of him is the muted TV showing the news about the opening of this Empire State-like skyscraper in the city in the next couple of days, not something he minded a lot. He takes a sip of his coffee when suddenly he hears his private phone buzz. He stops. He reaches to the desk drawer and opens it. From inside, he takes out a cellphone. He looks at the screen, automatically his eyes shoot wide open.
He exits his office in a hurry, his coat on one of his arms. He passes his assistant without looking at her. "Doris, I'm going out, cancel all my dates for tonight and tomorrow, will you?"
The mayor is out before Doris can even talk.
The mayor gets in his car outside of the city hall and drives off. The moment he is gone, another car starts its engine and follows him. They are Debra and Max.
________________________________________
Nightwing and Victor are on the second floor of the mansion, looking outside through the grand window. Its quiet outside, almost too quiet, only the falling rain being heard. In front of them stands the garden with the metallic gate.
Victor looks at Nightwing. "We sure he is coming this way?"
Nightwing shakes his head, a determined look on his face. "No, I can only assume. He is pissed, he doesn't care about plans. He will bring everything he's got in a direct attack." He touches his earpiece. "Everybody in position?"
"I'm in the staircase" Gar answers. "I'm cutting communications." With that he changes to a snake becoming one with the shadows.
"I'm here" Raven says at the lab. In front of her is the Mark of Scath. She looks at it, a thoughtful look on her eyes.
Nightwing nods. "Alright, be careful, love you, Nightwing out." He cuts the communication and looks at Victor. "Now we wait."
They watch as a gigantic cloud forms in the sky, directly on top of them. Some reddish lightnings coming out of it, followed by loud thunders.
"Looks like Trigon is on his side" Nightwing notices.
Victor thinks. "All hell is gonna fall on us." He says sounding a bit fearful. He looks at Nightwing. "If the worst is to happen, then it will be an honor dying by your side."
Nightwing smirks. "Let's make it worth it." They both share a respectful nod as they turn to the window.
No more than five minutes have passed when suddenly they hear the horn of a truck. The truck makes it to the property crashing into the metallic gates and opening them wide. Behind it a full caravan of trucks and other cars make it to the property, parking right in front of the mansion. From inside, an infinite number of thugs get out, each carrying heavy machine guns and other weapons as they get into formation facing the mansion. There are also men with mounted machine guns at the trucks. Maybe some bazookas also.
"They sure are a lot" Victor points out.
"They are here" Nightwing informs through his earpiece. "Can you count them?" He asks Victor.
Victor turns to him, a fake annoyed look on his eyes as he points at his missing eye. "I have no cybernetic eye, remember?" He turns to the window. "I would say at least sixty, for now."
"I would say eighty" Nightwing says trying to lighten the mood as more cars continue entering.
Finally, a black limousine enters the property. From inside, Mad Mod and Madame Rouge get out. One of the thugs brings him a megaphone.
"Hello, governa" Mod salutes with a grin through the megaphone. "Now, Nightwing, if you lot don't mind, I came for what is mine. We will destroy this place and take it."
"No harsh feelings?" Nightwing asks to Victor without looking at him
"Not at all" Victor answers.
With that they both get in battle stance. Both ready to follow their plan.
At the lab, Raven hears Nightwing. They are here, she doesn't have much time. She must make a decision. It's now or never. She walks up to the Mark of Scath and grabs it. She closes her eyes.
"Azarath, Metrion, ZINTHOS!" She yells. Instantly a black hole materializes around her, making her disappear.
Raven reappears, she is outside, rain falling over her. She looks up. There in front of her is the dark and imposing figure of the library. A red lightning appears in the sky falling right on top of the library illuminating it.
Chapter 10: The Last Stand
Chapter Text
Giacomo Spaletti waits by the window of the office. Although it's a second floor he has a clear view of the Golden Gate bridge, he also notices as the sea seems rough this particular night. A cigarette between his right-hand fingers. He thinks back to his grand father as he looks at the bridge and the hundreds of stories he had told him while working on the bridge. To think he had endured all that, just for his grandson to die without descendant, and all because of a delivery mistake. He then looks down at one of the guards patrolling outside the building with his machine gun, hopefully it would be of some use, but Giacomo doubts it.
After a couple of minutes, he dusts off his coat and gets away from the window.
He looks to the other side of the office where a blonde man is tied to a chair trying to speak, but all Giacomo can hear are incoherent mumbles.
In that moment, his partner, Michael, enters the office, a brown bag in his hands. "¿He said something?" He asks referring to the blond man, while he takes out a bottle of whiskey from the bag. He then unscrews the cap and takes a sip.
Giacomo checks his watch, almost nine at night. He looks at his younger partner with a stern look. "Do you think he say anything, Michael?" The blond man's face is disfigured, his jaw almost hanging out over his chest.
"I didn't mean to break his jaw" Michael defends himself.
Giacomo rolls his eyes. "Give him a sip."
Michael nods and approaches the blond man. He is still using the same blue shirt from work. Michael lifts slightly the man's head so that the whiskey can pass through his throat. Giacomo watches with interest.
The blond man coughs and spits a rain of blood over his chest. Through his bruised eyes, he looks at the men in front of him and talks some more incoherent words that Giacomo wouldn't be able to understand if he hadn't been saying the same three words for the last three hours. "I know nothing."
"Yes, we know." Michael looks at Giacomo. "Have to admit it, kids tough."
Giacomo decides he's had enough as he walks up to the blond man and places a hand over his shoulder. "Jake was it, right?" Jake doesn't answer as he can barely hear anyway. "Look, we are only trying to figure out who send the package. You arrive with a huge package; we automatically send it to the destiny it says. Then we check the forms, there's no name, apparently no one send it. Do you understand how we can get in trouble for this? We are only trying to save our own necks" he speaks in a comprehensive tone.
Jake only answers in incoherent mumbles.
Giacomo swears in Italian as he turns to Michael. "Why did you have to break his jaw, motherfucker can't even speak." He walks back to the window and takes another puff of his cigarette. In that moment, he notices as the guard outside is knocked up in the floor. "What…?" He turns back to Michael noticing Jake is no longer in the room, only the empty chair left. "Where did he go?"
Then an arrow comes through the window impacting Michael in the chest knocking him up. A panicked Giacomo takes out a gun from his pocket. "What is going on?"
In that moment, a dark-haired woman in a black suit with a shield burst through the window. Giacomo shoots at her, but she blocks it with her armband. He then takes out a golden lasso and throws it at him, wrapping him up. Behind her enter three more figures. A man with long hair in a blue suit, a man with a cap in a red suit and a bow in his hand, and finally a man with a mask and a yellow suit. Stern looks on their faces as they look down at Giacomo.
"What is the package that arrived?" The woman asks taking charge. Giacomo tries to free himself from the lasso, but he cannot. "The Lasso of Truth commands you to answer."
"I don't know, the Jake fella just came with it" Giacomo suddenly answers, surprised at himself. "We first send it without asking questions."
"What is it inside?" The ginger-hair man asks.
"Don't know, just that is a huge box. The letters A.M.A.Z.O. outside, that's all I know, I swear!"
The four figures trade glances, now a worried look on their faces.
"Donna, do you think…?" The yellow-suit man asks.
Donna doesn't answer and turns back to Giacomo. "Where did you send it?"
"The destiny said Jump City."
________________________________________
"FIRE!" Mad Mod orders. With that all his men open fire at the mansion delivering an avalanche of bullets, creating holes in the walls, shattering the windows, getting inside and destroying everything. The thugs in the mounted machine guns also firing, burning countless rounds of bullets. They continue for a few more seconds.
Inside the mansion, the bullets keep destroying everything in the way as no one can be seen. The portraits in the dinner room scattered throughout the floor, their glass shattered as more bullets make their way inside. In the living room, the TV is destroyed alongside the sofa next to it.
Mad Mod signals to one of his men carrying a rocket launcher. The man nods as he aims at the central window of the mansion and fires. A huge explosion goes off inside. Mod motions to his men to stop, they oblige. They surely couldn't be alive after all that. Silence.
"Now, get me the Mark of Scath, will ya lads?" He motions to his men. A big chunk of his men step forward entering the mansion. Rouge also takes a step, but Mod stops her. "In chess, the pawns move first."
The thugs enter single line in the mansion, their machine guns raised. Everything is dark, the only light coming from the outside. One of the thugs steps to the light switch and tries to turn on the light but nothing happens.
"Lights' off" he informs.
They continue walking immersing into the darkness. A lightning bolt goes off outside for a second illuminating the room. The thugs separate, some of them going upstairs, others continuing on the first floor, the uneasiness never leaving them.
Three of them step into the dining room, also dark. They move around inspecting the room. Suddenly one of them is yanked off his feet upside, whipping him into darkness with a piercing scream. The other two quickly turn around, scared and fire into the darkness.
"What…?" "Mikey…?" They whisper, dead scared. No answer. They split, each moving very slowly to a different side of the room. One of the thugs thinks he sees a figure between the shadows. "Mikey?" He reaches with his hand forward when he is also yanked into the darkness.
The third one quickly turns around, sweat coming out of his forehead. "Jamie? Where did ya go?... Mikey?" He asks, completely scared, maybe he should run away while he can. Just then he hears a noise from the ceiling. He looks up just when a figure falls from the ceiling on top of one of him delivering a kick to the face.
Upstairs a group of thugs is walking through the corridor, stopping by each door, forcing it open with a kick and checking it. They hear the shots fired downstairs. They stop. "What was that?"
They are about to make their way down when a small metallic spheric ball rolls through the floor. They look at it, before they can speak, the ball goes off producing a blinding light, forcing the thugs to look away. In that moment, a large figure makes its way to the corridor punching one of the men and then moving to the next one, knocking them unconscious, as it continues moving to the next one. The light stops as the rest of the thugs recompose themselves. They look up just in time to see a sonic blast making their way to them sending them all flying through the corridor.
Outside, Mad Mod notices the explosion. He talks to the thug holding the rocket launcher. "There, fire at that window" he orders.
"But, what about our men?"
"Fire, ya wanker!"
The thug nods as he points at the window form where the sonic canon came and fires.
Victor widens his eyes as he notices the incoming missile, he ducks, managing to move away just in time as the corridor goes off with the explosion.
________________________________________
Raven looks at the library. Another reddish lightning. She gulps as she looks down at the Mark of Scath between her hands. She doesn't want to do this, but she must.
"You know I can bring her back" she hears Trigon's voice inside her mind. She shakes her head, not wanting to hear him. "It is the only way."
"Get out of my head!" She finally yells.
"Whoa I'm not going to hurt you" she hears behind her, forcing her to quickly turn around and raise her hand, prepared to throw away whoever that was. She is surprised to find Malchior standing right there, his hands raised.
"Malchior?" She asks in disbelief.
"It is me, Raven. I'm here to help you."
"What are you doing here?" She doesn't trust him. After all, he had admitted having come to Jump City because of a dream, Trigon had called him.
"I want to help you, Raven. Help you with that" he answers motioning to the Mark of Scath.
Raven clutches protectively the Mark of Scath. "I'm going to destroy it" she lies.
His expression doesn't change. He takes a step forward. "Then let me help you."
Raven thinks about it. She doesn't like it, he hasn't explained how he got here, maybe Trigon had called him right here. Then again, she may need his help, who knows what she could find down there. She looks at him and nods. Malchior smiles back.
They both turn to the library and enter.
________________________________________
More men continue entering the dining room. They fire their machine guns as they notice a figure moving between the shadows. "There fire!"
The figure throws a batarang at one of the men, then cartwheels moving to another, delivers a flying kick. From the floor, he sweeps the feet of the closest men and then makes a run for cover behind one of the furniture. The thugs continue firing.
Nightwing touches his earpiece. "I think they figured the entrance to the lab is from the dining room. How are things up there, Vic?" He asks.
Victor moves away from another incoming missile that destroys another room. He touches his earpiece. "There's not much upper level left here!"
A thug appears from behind and grabs him, but Victor catches him, twists his wrist and punches him hard.
"You did what you could" Nightwing answers. "We split their first wave, now come back down and help me."
"Copied that."
Another wave of thugs enter, flooding the room bullets. Nightwing throws a smoke bomb, clouding the room as the thugs start coughing. He then takes out his esgrima sticks and proceeds to move to the closest one hitting him in the head. He then moves to the next one as he sends them to the ground one by one, moving like a shadow through the smoke. He suddenly receives the impact of a bullet that bounces off his suit, although still hurting him. He quickly turns around, meeting two more thugs. They are about to fire when they are hit by Victors sonic blast sending them back as Victor makes it to the room.
Nightwing looks at him and is about to say something about how he had it covered when another wave of incoming fire makes its way to the room forcing them to take cover together.
"What did I miss?" Victor asks as he quickly fires his canon and takes cover again.
Nightwing shrugs. "Not much…" Now he moves and throws a batarang, hitting one of the thugs. "Just having the time of my life."
More fire comes their way, forcing Victor to move deeper into the furniture. "Not to brag, but I'm at twelve right now."
Nightwing turns to him, he smirks. "Eighteen." Both enjoying this friendly competition in such a stressful moment.
Victor narrows his eyes. "I'm not gonna let some birdboy outnumber me." He again turns to the thugs, but another round of fire forces him back.
He looks at Nightwing, who is smirking while holding an electric disc in his hand. Victor grins as he nods, understanding the plan. "Let the best man win."
In a quick move, Nightwing turns around and throws the electric disc, followed by Victor doing the same and hitting the disc with his sonic canon just before it reaches the thugs, producing a huge energy blast sending all of them to the ground. With that, both heroes charge at them.
Nightwing jumps over Victor using him to gain altitude as he punches down one of the men. Victor blocks with his arm and delivers another punch to another one. He then raises his canon firing at Nightwings positions, who ducks just in time as the impact hits another thug. Both fighting in perfect sync as more thugs continue to enter.
________________________________________
"So, why is it you want to destroy it?" Malchior asks as they walk through the darkness of the library. To the side, the shelves with old books on each.
Raven doesn't look at him, she just continues walking. "I have to."
"You've been here before" Malchior points out. "You seem to know where you are going." Raven nods. Malchior thinks.
They reach the blank wall at the end of the passage. Raven looks at it. The last time it had opened on itself. She places her hands on the wall. Nothing. She pushes. Nothing. She takes a step back. She closes her eyes and focuses on the wall as she tries to open it. Nothing happens. She concentrates even more, using more force, blood starts pouring from her nose. She finally gives up, panting.
"This didn't happen before" she says, still a bit out of breath.
Malchior looks at her. "You are certain it is this way?"
Raven nods, still looking at the wall. "Yeah, we came down here and the wall swished open."
"Then allow me" he says taking a step forward, Raven moving out of the way. He closes his eyes, focusing. Raven watches him for a couple of seconds. Suddenly, his eyes shoot open as he fires a fireball into the wall. The wall catches fire as it disintegrates itself.
Raven looks at him, wide-eyed. Malchior just winks at her and signals her to continue.
"This way."
________________________________________
Nightwing disarms one thug using his esgrima sticks, then throws a roundhouse kick sending him to the ground. He looks out of breath, the long fight already starting to weigh on him.
He looks to the side where Victor is firing his canon. He hits one of the thugs. "Twenty-four!" He fires again hitting another. "Twenty-five!"
Nightwing smirks, the competition motivating him even more to keep going. He charges at another thug hitting him with his sticks then delivers a bicycle kick to another thug attacking him from behind. "Twenty-eight" he yells.
Victor smirks. "You are falling behind!"
Mad Mod is still outside, fuming. This is taking too long. How many more men does he have to send?! Rouge looks at him. "You want me to take care?"
Mod stops her. "Not yet." He looks at the three men holding rocket launchers by his side. "You lot, its ya turn, lads." The men nod as they step into the mansion.
Victor punches another thug. "Twenty-seven!" He yells grinning. Just then he notices the rocket launcher men entering the room. He widens his eyes. "Watch out!" He takes cover.
Nightwing looks at him, noticing the incoming missiles. He barely has time to react as one of them passes right by his side hitting the wall behind, creating a massive whole. The explosion sending Nightwing to the floor, his eyes closed, unconscious as blood starts coming out of his forehead.
The thugs notice the descending staircase into the lab. "This way, lads." A group of them separates as they start descending.
Victor sees them. He takes out his canon, but he can't shoot as he is forced to the ground by another incoming missile. He touches his earpiece. "Yo Gar, they breached us, they are going your way." He fires again forcing the thugs to retreat, stopping more from continuing to descend.
Mod watches as the explosion goes off inside, he is grinning. He turns to Rouge. "Now, ya can go." Rouge smirks as she walks to the mansion.
________________________________________
Raven and Malchior reach the end of the staircase. Raven looks to the side where she notices the destroyed statues. That was probably Mod. After a few minutes of walking, they reach the altar. Raven looks at it. There is the hole, the place the Mark of Scath is supposed to go. She stops. Should she do it?
Malchior looks at the altar. "You don't want to destroy it; you want to bring him back." Raven turns to him. "You cheeky girl. You want his power."
"Mal, understand me, this is not for myself, I only…" she pauses. "I only want it to save my friend."
Malchior takes a step to her. "You are willing to risk destroying the world just to save a friend?" He asks with an air of superiority.
Raven looks down, thinking. Yes, that was her original plan. But is it worth it? Would Kory want this? She looks down at the Mark of Scath in her hands, then at Malchior meeting his gaze. "No, no, I'm not" she says catching him off-guard. "It's too dangerous, I… I can't, she wouldn't want this. She would want us to remember her for who she was, not to summon Trigon to bring her back. That was what Richard was trying to tell me. To learn to mourn the dead ones." She smiles. "We can't do it, Mal, it's not the correct thing to do." She turns around, aiming to the stairs.
"You are a coward" she hears Trigons voice in her mind. "You are killing her; she is never going to come back." She ignores him as she continues walking.
Malchior watches her go. He doesn't like it. In that moment, two pairs of red eyes appear on his face. Trigon. "I'm sorry, but I can't let you do this" he says.
Raven stops, wary. "Mal…" She slowly turns to him.
"I'm afraid you are not taking it away" he warns. His hands lightning up with fire.
Raven raises her free hand, becoming black with her energy. "I don't want to hurt you, Mal."
He smirks. "Dear, you couldn't even if you tried." With that he fires two quick fires-ball at her.
Raven raises an energy shield blocking his attacks, but it isn't enough as she is sent to the ground. She looks up, Malchior is slow walking up to her.
________________________________________
Five thugs slowly descend single-line through the dark stairwell of the mansion, taking each step with precaution, their machine guns raised. Their steps echoing through the passage. The first one notices the light at the end of the tunnel.
"There is, mates." He suddenly feels something running through his legs. He stops, a little wary. "What was that?!" He says turning to his fellow thugs.
The others look at him. "What was…?". "Oi, I felt it!" Other interrupts him.
Their raises their guns as they inspect the place, a scared look on their faces.
"This place eis haunted" one of them whispers.
Another thug turns to him lowering his gun. "Oi, I'm tired of this lot, haunted this, haunted that" he says mockingly. "Everything is…" He suddenly is interrupted by a literal green bat flying right at his face and biting him on the nose as he screams in pain. "Oi, get it out!" He moves his machine gun around, his finger on the trigger as he involuntarily fires multiple bullets illuminating the dark passage.
"Oi, watch out!", "Stop!", "Shoot him!" Are some of the incoherent shouts they utter before some of the bullets reach them killing them.
Then the bats flies away. For a second is silence. The only thug alive is panting, a lot of blood pouring from his nose. "That bastard…" He suddenly feels as a giant snake starts creeping through his body, enveloping him as it squeezes him. "No! No!" He shouts before the squeeze of the snake makes him fall unconscious as he falls to the side.
The snake moves away from him as it starts growing turning back to Gar, a bit out of breath, but he laughs, a little proud of himself. Some blood on his nose as he spits the nose. He looks up, some more thugs walking down.
________________________________________
Nightwing groans as he opens his eyes, his head hurting. He looks up, noticing Victor a few feet from him taking cover as he fires his canon, he then turns to Nightwing and yells at him. Nightwing can't hear him, his ears buzzing because of the close explosion. He places his hand on the ground and uses his strength to stand up, struggling a bit.
Victor sees him struggling. He fires again and makes a run to him, taking cover along with him and helping him stay on his feet.
"You okay?" He asks. Nightwing nods. Victor turns to the thugs who continue entering the mansion. "We can't continue this for much longer."
"We can't… We can't give up" Nightwing says in a tired tone before groaning in pain.
"What do you have in mind?"
Nightwing thinks. "Mod, he is the key to everything, we take him down and they will stop."
Victor nods in agreement. "How do you propose we get with him?"
Nightwing looks out as he thinks. "I'll do it, you'll have to buy me some time."
"Can do." Nightwing then extends his hand to him. Victor looks at him and shakes it. Both keeping their gaze on the other in a look of respect. This could be the very last time they spoke to each other. "Go avenge our girl." Nightwing nods. He intends to.
________________________________________
Raven has her shield up, still blocking Malchiors attacks. She won't last much longer; he is much stronger. She moves away avoiding his attacks. She then focuses on some of the debris of the statues and throws them at him.
Malchior notices them and shoots his fireballs at the incoming attacks, blocking them. "You will have to do better than that, dear" he says. He then puts his hands together letting out a ray of fire directly at her.
Raven widens her eyes and just in time manages to raise once again her black energy shield. She clutches her teeth, struggling against his powers.
Malchior smirks. "You are weak."
"Let me out!" Raven hears in her head. "You can't defeat him without me."
"NO!" She yells as suddenly the black energy raven comes out of her body flying directly at Malchior. Now he widens his eyes as he doesn't have time to react, the raven hitting directly and sending him flying against the wall.
Raven crumbles to the floor, panting, out of breath, that attack had taken a lot out of her. She hears Trigon laughing inside her head. She then looks up as Malchior once again stands up. He smirks.
"Finally, a challenge."
________________________________________
Victor presses a couple of buttons on his control panel on his arm, diverting most of his energy left onto his sonic canon.
Madame Rouge gets into the mansion, joining the thugs left, three of them carrying rocket launchers. "Where are they?" She asks in her French accent.
Before any of them can answer, a smoke bomb comes rolling through the floor. Rouge widens her eyes, already knowing what that meant. In a quick move, she moves away, getting out of the mansion.
The smoke bomb goes off clouding the room. In that moment, Victor gets out of his hiding spot, aims his canon and fires a huge energy blast, blowing the entrance of the mansion and sending the thugs flying back. Smoke coming out of Victor's body because of the blast, he had never done something like that. He touches a button on his temple, expelling the Max 8 chip, it looks completely burned, he throws it away.
Nightwing gets out of the hiding spot, meeting him. He looks up in front. There, around fifty feet in front, is Mad Mod, he appears alone, observing the whole battle from afar. The hero then turns to Victor and nods. Victor nods back. He grabs him from the back, makes a complete spin and using the momentum he throws Nightwing into the air as let out of a battle cry.
Nightwing is sent flying out of the mansion, over the thugs. While in the air, he pushes his head down, completing a flip and landing with his back and rolls in the ground, quickly getting up. There in front of him is Mad Mod, a bit of a scared look on his eyes as he wasn't expecting that. Nightwing greets his teeth and takes out his esgrima sticks, prepared to engage in combat.
"This ends now" he says, a murderous look on his eyes.
Mad Mod lifts his cane as an esgrima sword. "Bring it up, my duckie."
Nightwing lets out a battle cry as he charges at him.
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The mayor reaches outside the mansion noticing the grand number of cars and trucks parked around. It has already started. He stops his car and reaches to his coat taking out a gun. He gets out and enters the property. A couple of seconds later, Debra and Max arrive at the place.
"What is going on here?" Debra wonders. She turns to Max. "Come on."
He nods as he grabs his camera, and they get out of the car. Before they can take a step, a big explosion goes off inside the mansion, making them stumble.
"This is a warzone" Max whispers.
Debra smirks. "Yes, it is, here's my story."
"Are you crazy, I'm not going in there."
"Fine, give me my camera, I'm doing it with or without you."
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Nightwing swings his esgrima sticks at Mod who barely has time to block them as he moves backwards. Nightwing continues his assault not letting him breathe. Mod is struggling, the hero fighting more aggressively than he was expecting.
Mod blocks another attack and takes advantage, throwing an attack of his own, hitting Nightwing in the head sending him to the floor. Mod closes on him and hits him while on the floor in the ribs. The hero screams in pain. He repeats the move, but Nightwing sweeps his feet before he can. He then gets up with a jump and hits him down with his sticks, Mod blocking him while on the floor, but Nightwing continues. A blinding fury in his eyes. Another hit. Another. Nightwing reaches and takes his cane and throws it away. Mod takes out a gun, but Nightwing hits him in the hand forcing him to let go of it.
The hero then lets out a battle cry as he swings his sticks hitting Mod full on the face as teeth and blood come flying out.
Mod opens his eyes. There in front of him is Nightwing standing, a bit out of breath and the same murderous look on his eyes. Mod smirks. "Do it, lad, end it."
Nightwing thinks. There's nothing in the world that he wants more than to kill him right here. He had taken Kory away from him. He knows he shouldn't, but he doesn't care.
"Do it, ya coward!"
Nightwing narrows his eyes as he screams again and raises his sticks ready to kill him, when suddenly a bullet impacts his back from behind. He widens his eyes as he stumbles to the floor. He turns behind, there standing is Mayor O'Hara , a smoking gun in his hand.
"Wha…?" Nightwing whispers confused through the pain.
The mayor fires again to his chest. The impact hurting Nightwing as he lets go of his sticks. He looks down at his chest, blood coming out of hit despite the suit. The mayor walks up to him and kneels in front.
"You are with him..." the hero whispers, not fully believing it.
O'Hara nods. "Understand, I don't like it either, but this is the way of controlling him." In the back Mod stands up, walking to them.
"You killed so many, so many innocents' lives."
"Innocents is a strong word for this city" the mayor argues calmly. "The whole incident with Deathstroke changed the people in the city, forever. They were scared and you weren't here. Their trust in the police force broken. They only felt safe with a gun between their own hands."
"Mod…"
O'Hara nods. "When I was elected, I tried to fight against him the correct way. Huge amounts of money for a new police corps, better weapons, everything, but nothing changed the first few months. I learned nothing can change if the people don't want to change. More money into campaigns against drugs, guns. But people didn't want that, they just wanted to keep feeding their fears and giving Mod more power. I had to negotiate with him, helping him get the Mark of Scath and he would reduce his influence." The mayor looks at Nightwing, not liking the look on his eyes. "I had to, this is the way of fighting against them, limiting them in the way you can. Its not realistic fighting against them."
Nightwing spits at him. "Tell it like you like, you are just a corrupt piece of shit."
The mayor cleans the spit out of his face. "You are the one who taught me this. Last year, when you stopped Deathstroke, it was only because you went over the law, against the same laws that are used against us. Its the only way. We are the same; we want the same thing."
"I'm nothing like you..."
The mayor turns to Mod and nods. Mod grabs his gun and walks up to Nightwing placing it against his temple.
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Victor is taking cover as the thugs continue firing rockets at him. He rolls away, avoiding another impact. He jumps at one of the thugs, takes his rocket launcher away, and punches him. Two more thugs are approaching him. Using the rocket launcher, he blocks them and then hits them sending them to the floor. He lifts the rocket launcher and fires at the remaining thugs hitting some of them
Rouge moves out the way. She takes the weapon away from one of the thugs and fires one of her own. Victor can't avoid it as an explosion goes off right next to him sending him flying. He falls unconscious, the human side of his face covered in blood.
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The thugs on the stairwell notice the bat flying through the darkness and fire their machine guns. Gar can barely dodge them as suddenly he is hit in the wing making him fall to the ground and start changing back to human. He cries in pain as he clutches his arm, blood coming out of it. He looks up, the thugs aim their guns down at him, ready to kill him.
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Malchior continues firing fire balls at Raven. She still has her shield up, but it wont last long as she is struggling.
"Let me out!" Trigon yells in her mind.
Malchior stops the attack and fires a huge fireball into Raven.
Raven can't block it as the attack is too strong sending her to the floor.
"I can hear your friends, they are dying! You listen to me, Raven?! You friends are going to die! Let me save them and bring back Kory!" Raven for the first time listens to him. She looks to the side where the Mark of Scath is.
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Mod takes the safety off the gun. Nightwing closes his eye expecting the impact.
"I hope I see you again, Kory" he whispers, a light smile on his face.
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Raven thinks. This is the only way; she can't let them die also. She must make a choice. She closes her eyes, and the Mark of Scath starts flying up to the altar, inserting itself into the hole, Malchior never realizing of it.
"Now keep your promise" she whispers.
She hears Trigon smirk inside her head.
"Deal."
Malchior is about to fire another attack when suddenly he receives an attack sending him flying back. He looks up confused. There in front of him is Raven, but she is floating, two pairs of red eyes over her face and a smirk on her face.
"Raven?" He whispers.
"Ravens not home" she says in a deep voice with a smirk. That's not Raven, its Trigon. Malchior widens his eyes.
Raven raises a hand, lifting up Malchior, who starts choking, and then makes a hand movement snapping his neck. Malchior falls to the floor, dead.
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Mod is about to fire when suddenly two pairs of red eyes shoot wide open on Nightwing's face. A new strength coming out of him. In a quick move, he takes hold of the gun and moves it out of way, the bullet missing, and punches Mod in the face.
O'Hara is surprised and takes out his gun firing at him and hitting him multiple times in the chest. But the bullets are not affecting him as he takes out a batarang and throws it at the mayor, slicing through his neck.
A few feet from them behind some bushes, Debra takes a picture, utterly surprised by what she is seeing. This is gold.
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The thugs are about to fire at Gar when suddenly they hear a terrifying roar. They freeze, dead scared. In front of them, that scrawny kid who they were about to shoot starts changing into a much more larger creature with green fur and two pairs of red eyes on his face. The creature finishes transforming and lets out another roar as he jumps at the thugs, killing them all with its claws, as the thugs scream in pain, and the stairwell is transformed into a blood bath.
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Rouge approaches Victor, the rocket launcher up, ready to kill him. She stops.
"Not now assassin, I have other plans for you" she hears a deep voice inside her head. She turns to the thugs behind her.
"Out, we are leaving."
"What?"
"You heard me, we are leaving" Rouge orders as she walks out of the mansion, the thugs behind leaving Victor behind.
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Nightwing then turns back to Mod and continuously punches him in the face as he screams angrily, Mod only laughing through the beating. Not thinking, only rage running through him, only thinking of revenge. This is no longer Nightwing nor Richard, this is a beast, a beast only thinking of killing the man in front as he delivers blow after blow. Mod is barely breathing now, his whole face disfigured and covered in blood. Nightwing delivers one more hard punch.
He is about to punch him again when he is interrupted by the flash of a camera. He turns to it, spotting Debra, wide-eyed. He walks up to her, ready to kill her.
"Please no, I'll delete them" Debra pleads desperate. But he doesn’t listen as he continues walking forward.
He takes out a batarang when he suddenly stops, snapping out of it.
"What?" His eyes turning back to their normal blue. He looks in front at Debra, who takes advantage and runs away, dead scared. He looks down at his chest, no more blood coming out of it.
A still confused Nightwing turns around, noticing Mod's dead body. "No, no, no…" he whispers panicked as he runs to him. He places his hands on his neck, no pulse, he is gone. He turns to the side where the mayor's dead body is. He had killed them.
He looks down, his hands covered in blood. "No..."
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Raven gets out of the library, her feet in the air, floating, her eyes still red. She smirks as she looks at the sky.
"Humanity will no longer dawn."
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It's a quiet night at Jump City graveyard. Some reddish lightnings going off in the distance. No one at sight at the place, only the countless gravestones with the dead bodies under.
An old worker walks around the place on his nightshift. A dog by his side. Thirty years in this job have grown a bored expression on his face. It’s not an ideal job, but it pays the bills.
The dog suddenly barks running away from him. "Bobby, where are you going?" The dog runs until reaching a particular stone. A couple of seconds later, the old man reaches him. "What's wrong with this damn dog!" He looks at the stone. "Kory Anders" he reads.
He suddenly feels a rumble as the floor starts trembling below him. "What the…?!" The old man runs away, not wanting anything to do with any of this.
Only the dog stays watching as suddenly a hand reaches out from underground.
Chapter 11: Guilty
Chapter Text
Victor tiredly opens his eye; he has blood on the human side of his face. He looks around. Its morning, a thin drizzle falling from the sky. He is at what's left of the dining room. There are multiple thugs scattered throughout the room, unconscious or dead, he doesn't care. He doesn't remember much, he was fighting Rouge and some thugs, he received the impact of a missile and then, blank, nothing. To be honest, he doesn't even know how he is still alive. He places his hands on the floor and using his strength, he gets up.
Once he gets up, he notices the opening to the underground lab is wide open. He looks at his control panel on his arm, barely any energy left, plus he doesn't have the Max 8 chip anymore.
He proceeds to descend through the stairwell, his canon raised to face whoever made it down. What he finds there takes his breath completely away. There in the stairs are about ten or so thugs, all dead, their face disfigured, some limbs missing, and the stairs covered in red.
"Gar…" The creature must have taken control.
Carefully to not step over any corpses he continues going down. There he finds Gar unconscious, his clothes torn, and not a single scratch on his body.
"Gar!" Victor quickly makes his way to him and raises his head.
Gar slowly opens his eyes and looks at Victor. "Cyborg?"
Victor lets out a small laugh. "Good to see your humor is intact. You okay, man?" Gar nods as he gets up, although struggling up a bit, Victor helps him. "What happened here?"
Gar tries to remember, his head hurting. "I… I was fighting Mods men when... I was shot!" He suddenly remembers as he looks down at his arm. It looks untouched, not a single trace of a bullet. "The next thing I know I'm the creature, but…" He looks at Victor. "I don't remember trying to transform into it, it's just happened… I must have lost control. I only remember rage… and blood, a lot of blood."
Victor places his hand over his shoulder. "It's okay, man, I understand." He pauses. "Raven? Did anyone get past you?"
Gar shakes his head. "I don't think a single men got past the creature… and Raven, I didn't see her, but I could be wrong."
Victor nods and turns to the lab. "Raven? You still in there?" Both descend the stairwell entering the lab where they find it completely empty. "Raven?" Victor calls again. No answer.
Gar notices her book on top of one of the tables. He turns to Victor. "Something happened... she wouldn't have left without her book."
Victor thinks about it, Gar may be right, but he doesn't want to believe it. Then realization hits him. "No…" Had she freed Trigon? That would explain Gars sudden transformation and her disappearance. "Get in the car, I will look for Nightwing." With that, he leaves the lab.
Gar turns once again to the book. He looks around, Victor has already left. In a quick move, he reaches for the book and takes it.
Nightwing is still outside, in front of him are the corpses of both the mayor and Mad Mod. He can't get his gaze away from his hands, both covered in blood. He had killed them, he had broken the vow he had made of not killing, his most important rule, Batman's rule. Something had snapped inside him, in that moment, his only thought was to murder them. Maybe that, or maybe he just wanted revenge, revenge for taking Kory away from him. He isn't any better than the criminals, he is another murderer. He can hear sirens approaching the mansion, probably to put him away where he deserves to.
He can hear footsteps as Victor makes his way to him, a worried look on his face.
"Come on Rich, we gotta go." He then notices the corpses in front of him. "Jesus…" He looks back at Nightwing, he had killed Mod?! …Not important right now. "Come on, Gars on the car, we gotta go before the police arrives."
Nightwings gaze stays on the corpses. "I killed them, Vic."
Victor widens his eyes, the mayor too?! "We will deal about it later, now we must go!"
Nightwing doesn't answer, he doesn't even look at him.
Victor looks up, multiple cruisers are approaching the property, they'll be here in a matter of seconds, and this certainly doesn't look great, especially with the dead mayor. "Son of a bitch…" With that he leaves Nightwing behind.
Nightwings gaze stays down on his hands. Now he hears multiple footsteps around as the cops make their way to him. They place his arms behind and handcuff him.
"You have the right to remain in silence…" One of them speaks as they force him up, but he doesn't care, he doesn't care anymore.
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A huge truck arrives at the docks in Jump City. The driver gets out and looks around. The place seems empty; no one around. He checks the address, yeah, he is in the right place. Three hours driving from San Francisco with this huge box behind just for no one to show up. He would make sure they heard him when they arrived.
He takes out a cigarette and a lighter and lights it on as he inspects the place. He hasn't taken many steps when suddenly he receives a bullet directly to the head killing him.
Rouge and five thugs step in. Whoever had spoken to her in her mind had called her here. She looks around noticing a figure lurking in the shadows.
"You are the one who called me?"
From the shadows, steps Raven, wearing a purple cloth with the hood up covering part of her face, the same four red eyes on her face. The thugs point their guns at her, but she seems unfazed. Rouge lifts an eyebrow. "Aren't you with Nightwing?"
"Not exactly" Raven speaks with a deep voice. That's not Raven, that's Trigon.
Trigon makes a movement with his hands as suddenly the thugs start choking and clutching their throats. He makes another movement, and their necks snap as their lifeless bodies fall to the floor. Rouge just keeps an analytical gaze, not minding the dead thugs.
"What's in it for me?"
"Your name is on every most wanted list in the world, at the rate you are going, it won't take long before the Justice League makes you their number one priority. I can fix that for you, I can make them forget about you, I can make the whole world forget about you."
Rouge thinks about it, she finally nods. Trigon smirks and walks to the truck. He focuses on the doors, and they swing wide open. There inside is a huge box. The Wayne Enterprises logo on it. Trigon now focuses on the box and opens it.
Rouge smirks at what's inside.
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Debra is at an office at the newspapers. She watches as, from the other side of the desk, his boss looks at the photographs she took last night. A smile on his face.
"This is great."
Nightwing punching Mad Mod. Nightwing throwing his batarang at the mayor. Nightwing killing Mad Mod. Nightwing looking straight at the camera with a menacing look.
"I love them, I love them all." He continues until reaching one of the mayor shooting Nightwing, there his expression changes, not liking that one. He looks at Debra. "Good job, Martinez. I'll give you six hundred for each one."
"Make it a grant, and if you don't like it, I can go to the next news channel, I can guarantee you won't find this anywhere else" Debra says. She had put her life at risk for this, Nightwing could have killed her. She is setting the price. "And I want the story."
The boss doesn't like it, but he gives up. "Fine." He writes a check and hands it to her. "Show it to my secretary, she will take care." Debra nods. The boss appears in deep thought as he thinks how he wants to handle this story; he has gold in his hands. He then looks at her. "How about: Mad vigilante goes on a rampage and kills mob leader and mayor of the city?" A smile on his face as he comes up with the title.
"But there's more to it than Nightwing going on a rampage, what was the mayor doing there?" She protests, it just doesn't make sense. "You weren't there, that was a warzone, I think…"
"Martinez…" the boss stops her. "We don't care what you think, we pay you to write what we want, not what you think. Now, what sounds better? That a vigilante who has a previous story of doing dodgy stuff kills the mayor? Or that our mayor, a dear hero who helped save the city, was corrupt and somehow involved with the mob?"
Debra doesn't answer.
"Cash the check and write the story" the boss orders.
Debra nods. "Yes, sir."
He smiles. "Wonderful." He then presses a button on his desk. A couple of seconds later, another employee enters the office.
"You called me, sir?"
"Yes, I want these pictures circulating immediately, you hear me? On a website, our billboards, our news channels, and prepare a special edition paper for noon. I want these pictures everywhere! Everyone must know who killed the mayor."
Automatically, they start printing the newspaper with the picture of Nightwing killing the mayor. The newspaper is then sent all throughout the city. At the same time, the news is being broadcast by every news channel and shown on the giant billboards in downtown Jump City, especially on the new skyscraper of the city, the Tower, the new highest building in the city, with four giant billboards, one on each side. "…these pictures showing Richard Grayson assassinating the mayor.", "I think I speak for everyone when I say we are tired of these so-called heroes dictating our lives and stepping over the laws.", "In moments like this it gains importance Senator Luthor's proposal for a heroes' registration law where we can determine who we want serving our country and who not. Nightwing, I would certainly not want.", "Who is paying the damage for the heroes' disasters? Last year, Grayson almost destroyed the city, who paid to rebuild the city?... Us, the taxpayers.", "But I think we are not asking the important questions; what was mayor O'Hara doing there at night by his own without his bodyguards? The other side of the story that we as journalists should want to know.", "Now that the city has lost its primary crime lord, can we expect a war in the streets for control of the city?", "Batman, please take a hold of your boy, he is out of control.", "The former vice mayor has already stepped forward to take the role of mayor and is soon to name a new police lieutenant." are some of the debates in the different news channels.
It doesn't take long before everyone in the city has heard about it.
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Nightwing has his gaze down as he is transported on the backseat of a police cruiser. His bloody hands cuffed. A full caravan of police cruisers behind escorting them to the police station, in a few minutes they would be there.
He looks up noticing a picture of him killing the mayor on a giant screen in a news building with the title Vigilante kills mayor! Not a single expression comes to his face, that's right, now the world would know him for who he was, a murderer.
And to top it all, he had been played by the mayor. All this time he had been feeding him information about his plan and curse of actions, giving him the advantage. He hadn't been able to see through his lies. But the people don't know that, for them, he is a hero, a hero that had killed their mayor.
But what about the attack at the opera? Probably an internal fight for control between them, a fight in which he had stepped in. He had also helped the mayor and therefore Mod by taking out Billy. He had been their pawn, doing what they wanted. He should have been smarter, more patient, and not just rushed in to every case.
Once they reach the police station, ten cops escort him to the detention center. All the cops at the police station stop what they are doing and just watch him in silence, disapproval in their eyes. Many of them trusted in him, they had fought by his side, and now, they feel betrayed. Nightwing doesn't dare make eye contact, he just keeps his gaze down. He is thrust into a cell with another six more inmates who look at him with hungry looks, all of them eager to teach a lesson to the vigilante. He doesn't even blink. They probably left him here so they could beat the crap out of him.
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Four figures arrive at the docks where the truck is. The place seems empty, no one around as there's nothing inside the truck, the box already taken. Only the corpse of the driver left dead a few feet from the truck, and the five thugs.
"They already left the area" Donna says looking around. Arsenal kneels next to the driver, inspecting it through his shades. Aqualad, for his part, kneels on the floor and inspects the other bodies, trying to get something.
"This was a massacre" Kid Flash points out. He then sprints to the back of the truck. "Package isn't either."
Donna thinks. She turns to him. "Do a roundup of the place, Wally, make sure, there's nothing to be missed." He nods as he sprints away. She turns to Arsenal. "Roy, talk to me, what do you see?"
Arsenal continues looking at the body. "Driver has a bullet on the head, a precise shot, our killer is a professional." He then turns to the thugs. "Regarding these fellas, their necks snapped, but no sign of struggle in the rest of the body."
"I suppose all of them at the same time" Donna says.
Aqualad looks at her. "So, two killers, one of them a precise shooter, the other with telekinesis abilities." Donna nods, not really liking it. This could be even dangerous than they first thought.
Kid Flash comes back. "Nothing to report. Place is emptier that Roy's dating history."
"Dude!"
Donna ignores that last part as she thinks. "Okay, now we wait, keep your eyes open for whatever happens in this city. At the first police emergency, we are there, is it cleared?" They all nod.
"The package under no circumstance can be freed."
"Donna..." Kid Flash calls. Donna turns to him. He shows her his phone where the news about Nightwings capture is, a picture of him killing the mayor. Arsenal and Aqualud also look at it.
"No..." Donna widens her eyes, thats their friend. She then stops and thinks, they must keep a cool head.
"We should take him out, he is obviously being framed" Arsenal says crossing his arms.
"Plus, he could help us with our assignment" Aqualad adds.
Donna shakes her head. "We do not have time. If he has everyone talking about him, that could be an advantage, letting us work on the low for now."
"But Donna..." Kid Flash argues. "He is our friend... He needs us."
"The mission comes first." She doesn't like it, but its what must be done. "Remember Batman's orders. Plus Dick is a grown man, he can take care of himself."
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Nightwing is sitting at the bench inside the cell, his wrists cuffed together in front. They'll probably keep him here for a few hours before they take him to whatever prison they like. His gaze down as he thinks back to Kory, god, he missed her so much. This last days without her, seeming like an eternity. Back when he thought Mod was going to kill him, deep down he was hoping he would pull the trigger. That way, maybe he could reunite with her. How had things gone all wrong these last few days? One day you are happy with the woman of your life, the next you are in a cell with five angry inmates who can't wait to kill you. He sighs, they better do it quick.
One giant inmate steps up to him and crouches to his head height. Nightwing doesn't look at him
"You are in hell, little man…" he forcefully grabs him by the hair. "…and I'm the devil."
Nightwing looks at him, not really liking being grabbed by the hair. "You are not the devil." He then forcefully headbutts him on the nose breaking it. "You are my punching bag." The inmate falls to ground, his nose bleeding.
The rest of the inmates then charge at him. Nightwing raises his cuffs blocking the fist of the first one, kicks his knee out, and then boots his face. Another one grabs him from behind, Nightwing struggling against his grip. The other two take advantage and punch him in the stomach. The hero grunts in pain. He then pushes back, the inmate hitting the wall and letting go of him. Nightwing then using the wall as support kicks both inmates at the time sending them to the floor. Then he elbows the one on the wall in the face. He gets up and moves to the two on the floor and kicks them in the stomach multiple times.
Then the giant inmate gets up and throws himself at Nightwing sending both to the floor as he punches him. The hero then throws a punch of his own using the cuffs, the metal increasing the force of the blow. The other two inmates joining the fight. Nightwing catches one of the punches, twists his wrist and sends him against the other one. He gets up and kicks the giant inmate in the stomach.
In that moment, the cell door swings open, and he is grabbed from behind between two guards as they start taking him out from the cell.
"Take him out!"
"Why?" Nightwing protests as he struggles against them.
"For protection."
"I don't need protection!"
"Protection for them."
Nightwing turns to the inmates, who are all on the floor grunting in pain.
They take him to another room, where they rip his mask off and take the profile pictures of him holding his name card. Richard John Grayson. Once facing forward, once facing right and once facing left. Then they remove his gloves and take his fingerprints.
Then they carry him to outside to a police truck. The mass of people outside boo him and throw stuff at him as they curse at him. "Fuck you, Grayson!", "You suck!", "We don't want vigilantes on our city!", "Hope you rot in hell!" All of them hating him, and he doesn't blame them. He had killed their mayor. They get him to the truck where they push him in. Probably to move him to prison.
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The metallic door of a storage unit opens revealing Victor and Gar on the other side. Gar, in a new set of clothes, is leaning against Victor for support, while holding the book with the other hand. They get inside.
Victor sighs. He wasn't expecting to ever come back to this place. Inside there is a side table with a few lockers and a screen. "Back when things went south with Deathstroke, we used this place as our base of operations."
Gar nods understanding.
Victor thinks as he looks around. "We regroup here for a bit, try to find Raven and well go from there, hopefully get Nightwing out of prison and then we go after Rouge." He says clearly struggling to come up with a course of action. It was usually Nightwing the one who organized the team and came up with the plans. He sighs again and moves to one of the lockers to inspect it. Hopefully he could find the necessary parts to make another chip, even if it was a less powerful version. Victor then sets on the table and removes the bandage over his broken robotic eye as he inspects it.
Gar looks down at the books in his hands. He places it over the table and starts reading, or at least trying to.
They are interrupted as a loud crash sound comes from outside, followed by numerous car alarms buzzing off. They quickly get out of the storage unit, both prepared to engage in combat with whomever that was.
There they are met with bright green beam illuminating them. Both watch in awe, their eyes completely wide.
"How…?"
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After a few minutes, the police truck gets into the highway, two more cruisers escorting it from behind. Inside, the back door has a high, narrow horizontal slot for light and ventilation; cut to just inside it, through which erratic beams flicker in from the passing streetlights to frame the face of Richard lost in the deepest self-loathing he has ever known. He looks out as a massive cloud is taking over the skyline, some reddish lightning coming out of it. He narrows his eyes. Trigon…
Suddenly the vehicle jerks violently. Richard looks up, he tries to look outside, but he only sees the cruiser, a panic face on the cops inside as they veer to the side. Then the truck veers recklessly sending Richard to the floor, his cuffed wrist prevents him from cushioning the falls as he lands on his face and grunts in pain.
Then there is a huge explosion outside hurling the vehicle onto the ground and landing on its side. Richard again hitting the walls of the truck. One barrel roll after another carries the armor-plated vehicle along until it slews into a building at the end of the block. Richard groans as he tries to get up using only his legs. He looks up, the back door has been completely open. He walks out.
The moment he steps out of the truck, he is met by a blinding green light coming from above. He raises his cuffed wrists trying to see through. Once he is able to look up, his gaze sets on the last person he was expecting to see. There floating in the air with a bright green light radiating from behind, is Kory, dressed in the same black clothes in which they had buried her, her red hair flowing with the wind, her gaze looking down at him, and with a thin smile on her face, probably the brightest light he had ever seen her produce.
Richard can only watch in marvel at what he has in front. He had died in the crash, right? And now finds himself in heaven. His legs start moving forward as if they had a mind of their own. "H… Ho… How…?" He just mumbles.
Kory giggles as she descends right in front of him. Without speaking, she leans forward placing her hands over his cuffs and melting them as they fall to the ground.
"Greetings" she salutes.
Richard opens his mouth to say something, but nothing comes out. "How…?" He mumbles again. "I saw you died... he shot you…"
Kory looks down, trying to think. She moves her hair out of the way, not a single scratch where the bullet impacted her. She then smiles and meets his gaze making eye contact. Green meeting blue. "I do not know."
Richard reaches with his hand forward placing it against her cheeks as he caresses her, trying to prove this is real and not a dream. "I thought I lost you…"
Kory just smiles. She then takes hold of his hand interlocking them together.
He leans forward placing his forehead against her. His eyes become wary as a few tears threaten to come out. "I… I missed you so much... I love you."
"I love you as well, Richard." He smiles. "Richard", that way only she could pronounce his name, he had missed it. He had missed her so much. Without speaking he leans his mouth forward placing his lips against her in a tender kiss. A kiss full of passion, desire and on top of all, love. She quickly answers the kiss, kissing him back. He places his hands on her waist, clinging to her like life itself, as if he let go of her, he would lose her again. The whole world around fading, nothing more mattering, just the other. They don't know how, but somehow, they had found their way back to the other. Questions would come back later. Their previous fight forgotten.
Without breaking the kiss, they enter their apartment moving into the bedroom. Richard picks her up, Kory placing her arms around his neck, and he lays her on the bed. Their mouths still together in a hungry chest. Her hands on his chest as if asking for permission. He chuckles and nods. She then proceeds to rip open his suit revealing his naked chest. Meanwhile he reaches to her shirt and also rips it open. Richard then shifts his position placing himself on top. He is about to continue kissing her when he stops as he suddenly starts sobbing, tears falling from his eyes.
Kory looks at him, growing worried with this sudden change of moods. She reaches up and places her hand on his cheeks cleaning his tears away. "My love, what is the matter?"
"I…" he cries. "…I thought I lost you…I'm sorry Kory, sorry for everything, for not listening to you, for dragging you back to this shithole of a city, I… I'm sorry."
"Shh, my love, it's alright" she reassures him dragging him down with her and embracing him tight. "Whatever you are sorry, is in the past, is it not? I love you." He nods through the tears and chokes a smile, clearly missing her voice and accent. She reaches up and gives him a short kiss, before she breaks it leaning back. "Now love me, Richard."
It doesn't take any more out of her to Richard to place his lips on hers and just kisses her.
________________________________________
A massive thunderstorm is approaching Jump City's penitentiary on the outskirts of the city. Down at the ground, two figures step forward, looking at it with mischievous smiles: Madame Rouge and Trigon. All hell would fall on the city.
Then, Trigon raises his hands and starts floating several feet on the air as he approaches the penitentiary. The guards inside can only watch in awe at what they have in front, a scared look on their faces… they would need reinforcements.
"People of Jump City, its time to raise against the system, the system that oppressed you, just like they did with me" Trigon speaks. The inmates in each of the cells hearing his voice in their heads. Red eyes start appearing in their faces. "Take control of all, burn it all. Raise!"
At that all of the inmates yell inside their cell, eager to get out. The guards inside trade glances, now really starting to fear. Trigon then makes a movement with his hands and all of the cell doors swing open.
Chapter 12: The Outbreak
Chapter Text
The inmates in the main hallway at the Jump City penitentiary continue getting out of their cells and fighting the oncoming guards, a new wave of anger and strength running through their veins as they overpower the guards, a full riot taking place over the penitentiary.
Meanwhile, Trigon descends right in front of the gates. The guards outside point their guns at him and fire, but he makes a movement with his hands stopping the bullets, and then makes another one snapping their necks. He enters the penitentiary, Madame Rouge behind, a grin on their faces.
They start walking through the main hallway, around them the fight between guards and inmates going on.
"I'm not at full strength yet. I need you to put your own team to fight my daughter's team" Trigon explains.
"My pleasure." Rouge then turns to a guard fighting an inmate, grabs him by the neck, and twists it. She reaches to his pocket, where he has a security tablet with the list of current inmates. She starts going through the list, trying to find the adequate people for the job.
She reaches the high security wing of the penitentiary, where the most dangerous inmates are, the ones who should belong in Arkham rather than in Jump. All the cells in this hallway still locked.
She walks to a specific cell. "Billy, no other name known" she reads.
From the shadows of the cell, Billy steps out, a security collar around his neck preventing him from multiplying. Multiple anarchist's signs carved in the walls of the cell. "Billys name is not in the system, Bubba" he explains with a smile.
"Four jewelry shops in Steel City, all at the same time, plus stealing all the money at the Jump City bank, impressive." Billy just shrugs with a smile. "If you want out, you will hear what I offer."
"If you take this thing away from my neck, I'm in, señoritas" he says gesturing to the collar.
Rouge turns to Trigon. "If we want to fight Nightwing and his team, we will need an army." Trigon nods and snaps his fingers. Automatically, the collar opens itself and falls to the floor.
Billy smiles, and another Billy materializes from him. Then both step out of the cell.
They continue to a few cells away. "Mammoth" she reads. "Four hundred pounds of pure strength, once he gains speed, he cannot be stopped." Inside the cell is a huge orange-haired man, the one in the attack at the opera who tried to kill the Prime Minister of Markovia. He looks at Rouge. "Mod, had you using guns." She shakes her head. "That's a waste of talent." Trigon opens the cell. "You are in." Mammoth nods and joins them, man of few words.
"Basil Karlo, or Clayface" she reads reaching the next cell. Inside, is a middle-aged man with black hair, combed backwards. He looks at Rouge.
"Buddy, here is a little way from home" Billy jokes.
Karlo shrugs. "I can play into any role for the right money."
"I could use your abilities." His cell swings open.
Trigon turns to Rouge. "Is that all?"
"One more." Rouge grins.
They reach the end of the hallway, where a metallic, heavy door is. "Otto Von Furth" she reads. Trigon forces the door open. Inside it's a dark room. In the center of it, is a naked man sleeping inside a cryogenic chamber. "Or Plasmus."
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Richard is lying on his side on the bed, a placid smile on his face. His gaze fixed in the red-hair creature in front of him. There, Kory lies asleep, the bed sheets covering her naked chest. This is the first time in a while in which he had managed to sleep more than five hours straight, and all because of her. He had missed her so much.
Slowly he reaches with his hand and caresses her cheek, he had also missed her soft skin. She opens her eyes meeting his gaze. "Greeting" she says as she yawns.
Richard chuckles. She is so adorable. "Hi." He reaches forward and pecks her on the lips. "You slept well, beautiful?"
"Always with you by my side" she answers sounding a bit tired.
"We can stay on bed a bit longer, you know" he smiles positioning on top of her and giving her another kiss. "That is, if you don't want to sleep some more."
She places her arms around his neck. "Richard, I just came from the deceased ones, I think I am entitled to feel the sleepy... But now I would like to participate in the sexual encounter."
He laughs at her wording, however, his smile fades, ruining the moment. She is right. Ten or so hours ago she was dead, he had buried her. And now she is alive, and they don't even know how. "What's the last thing you remember before…? You know…" He asks dead serious, detective mode on.
Kory closes her eyes as she tries to remember, a bit uncomfortable. Her memory foggy right now. "The Mad Mod…"
"Seven! Seven!" Mad Mod yells at Richard.
Kory shakes with the memory, her eyes still closed. "He shot me…"
Mad Mod pulls the trigger, everything goes dark.
"Then darkness…" she continues. Her face seeming in pain as she remembers.
"Kory, Kory…" Richard places his hand on her cheek, but she doesn't open her eyes.
"Then there was fire…"
An explosion of fire spreading everywhere, like a vast sphere of fire, like a nuclear bomb, like the fire of a thousand suns.
"Kory! Kory, come back to me!" He tries to break the trance, his voice a bit desperate.
"Then everything went green."
The flames become green.
"And…"
"Kory!"
Kory's eyes shoot wide open as a green beam comes out of them. Richard just in time manages to move away as the beam continues into the window of the room shattering the glass. After a couple of seconds, she blinks, her eyes coming back to normal. Richard just looks at her.
"You okay?"
"I believe so" she answers a bit ashamed. "I apologize… that had never happened to me before…"
Richard looks a bit worried. Who knows how many new abilities she has. After all, it's not exactly normal to come back from the dead. He leans forward and kisses her temple. "It's okay, you are okay."
Kory smiles. "I am also glad to find you alive."
She leans forward and kisses him. He instantly answers the kiss. After a few minutes, however, he breaks the kiss leaning back. He would love to just stay like this all day, but there's another conversation that needs to be had.
"What is wrong?" She asks reading his expression.
"I just…" It's not the easiest of topics, even he doesn't want to have this conversation, however, if he wants to have the tiniest of hopes of things being like before, he must. "You remember about... you know, our fight?"
Kory leans back as she looks down and nods. She was also hoping to avoid that conversation.
Silence as Richard thinks about how he wants to approach this. "You... still want us to be together? After all that?"
Kory meets his gaze. "I must admit I was angry when I said that... it is the sensitive subject for me... but yes, I do believe I want to fix things."
Richard lets out a small smile at her confession. "I also had time to think it through during our time apart." Kory looks at him, waiting for him to continue. "I was too quick to judge you, it's just... I'm sorry, I said things I regret, saying you were just like the criminals we fight... I didn't even consider your past... I… I hope you can forgive, because you are not like them, you are the most compassionate person I've ever met, you are light, you make people around you better…" Kory smiles at that. "It's just... is the rule I have engraved in my mind, at that moment, nothing else mattered…"
"You were not all wrong though" Kory says catching Richard off-guard. "You were right, this is not my planet, no matter how I felt or if he did deserve it, I should not take the life of a person... I promise you it shall not happen again."
Richard smiles. He leans forward taking her hands in his. "I promise you if the situation happens to repeat itself, we will talk about it, listen to each other, instead of jumping to judge." Kory nods in agreement. Another silence. Another thought comes to Richard. "You know... We never had a proper conversation about our relationship status, right?"
Kory shakes her head, with a smile on her face. "I do believe so, it was never a pressing matter, we both want to be with the other."
"Yeah… well, I want you to know I really want to be with you" he says with a smile.
"That makes us two".
They both lean forward connecting their lips in a tender kiss, full of love. Richard places his hands on her waist, while she places her arms around his neck. Both eager to participate on the sexual encounter. Before the kiss can turn into anything more, the room goes red. Kory opens her eyes, a little wary. She breaks the kiss, leaning backwards.
"Richard…"
He follows her gaze outside. He widens his eyes. Up in the sky, the moon is right in front of the sun producing an eclipse of sun, turning the city and outskirts red. This can't be good. A thoughtful look on his eyes as he tries to complete the puzzle. Trigon is becoming stronger
________________________________________
Multimillionaire, philanthropist and CEO of Wayne Enterprises, Bruce Wayne, is at a board meeting on the top floor of the newly rebuilt Wayne Tower. An analytical look on his face as he listens to the rest of the executives, even though his mind is elsewhere thinking back to his nocturnal habits.
Suddenly his cellphone meant for "emergencies" beeps interrupting the meeting. The executives look at him. "Sorry" he apologizes before turning to the phone showing a broadcast news where it reads Unexpected solar eclipse over Jump City. He narrows his eyes.
________________________________________
Madame Rouge and the rest of the newly formed team watch as Trigon has his eyes closed. Behind him the moon finishes positioning right in between the sun and the Earth turning everything red. He finally opens his eyes and smirks.
"Much better."
________________________________________
"Trigon just became stronger" Nightwing says. Around him, Kory, Victor and Gar listen to him, currently at the storage unit. After noticing the eclipse, he had made the call to the team to assess the situation. No more than ten minutes later and using Kory's flight they were there, and Richard back on his old Nightwing suit with the blue bird insignia. "That would explain mine and Gars sudden outburst at the mansion, Kory's resurrection and the eclipse."
"And Raven's disappearance" Victor adds crossing his arms.
Gar turns to Nightwing, a worried look on his face. "Do you think she got him out?"
For a moment, Nightwing appears to think about it, but he shakes his head. "Don't know, our priority right now has to be finding Raven, we will go from there." He thinks. "We need eyes everywhere…"
"How will we achieve that?" Kory wonders.
An idea comes to Victor. "I may know a way." Everyone turns to him. "Someone must have seen her, or her abilities, or if Trigon is out…" Nightwing nods, waiting for him to continue.
"Or maybe they are with Trigon" Gar adds.
"Doesn't matter, we can use cellphone or electronic devices, access their cameras and microphones, if someone comes into contact, we can know." Kory looks at him, not really liking this.
Nightwing thinks about it. "Turning a whole city worth of cellphones into a spying device..." It's not the most ethical idea, but its not as if they have a lot of choices. "You can do it?"
"And maybe even into high-frequency generators/receivers, to give us a more exact location... I'll need some time, but I think I can manage."
"Good, do it."
"Richard, do you not think this is an invasion to the privacy of people? Is this not one of those limits we should not trespass which you speak of?"
She has a point. Nightwing sighs. "Yes, Kory, yes, it is. But we must find Raven, if Trigon is out in the open, she may be our only hope to stop him. We are heroes, it's out duty."
She lets out a sad smile. "Richard, I may not be from this planet, but even I know you do not have to cross every limit just to stop the guy to be a hero, a person doing something as simple as doing the correct thing can be a hero, teaching the others how to do it."
The speech almost making Victor change his mind as he looks down. Nightwing takes a step to her, placing his hands around her, trying to reassure her. "You are right, I promise you, after we find her, we will not do it again."
"I can shut off the software" Victor adds.
Kory nods. "Alright, if this is what the team wants, I will stand with you."
Nightwing smiles and leans forward pecking her in the lips. "I promise."
In that moment, an alarm goes off at the holographic screen. Nightwing quickly turns to it. "Riots at the penitentiary" he reads. "All inmates got out of their cells." He turns to the team. "Gear up, we leave in five." He turns to Victor. "We can manage, stay here, try to get the software running."
"Are you sure you want to go?" Gar asks Nightwing. "You know, the whole wanted thing."
Nightwing shakes his head. "I don't have a choice, we are needed."
________________________________________
Three black police vans are approaching the penitentiary. Each one of them carries a whole SWAT squad. Inside one of them, the newly promoted lieutenant, Brooklyn, is drawing up the gameplan. "I want men blocking the three entrances, no one is getting out. I'm advancing with my team through the main entrance till the yard where most of the heat signatures appear to be, our priority is to help the guard still inside."
"Sir, yes, sir."
"Guns on stun, is it clear?" He proceeds to put on his helmet. He knows the lieutenant is not supposed to be in the middle of the action, but he cannot leave his team alone, it's not his way of doing it.
They are almost there. Everyone stays silent, nervous, some on their first real assignment, and to contain a prison outbreak no less. Not Brooklyn, his gaze forward, focused on the task at hand.
The moment the vans park outside the penitentiary the doors swing wide open.
"Go! Go! Go!" Brooklyn yells gesturing to his men to get out. Everyone descends in a frenetic run as Brooklyn makes multiple hand signals dispersing the men to their specific assignments.
He then aims to the grand entrance, his team following him. In the entrance are two newly freed up inmates holding shotguns. Before they can notice the SWAT squad, they are shot down. Brooklyn gestures to advance as his team runs inside. They were expecting the inmates to have gotten to the armory, he can only hope they make it in time to save the guards.
They advance through the main hallway, reaching the yard, everything is quiet, too quiet for an outbreak. Once they reach the yard, he stops, wide-eyed behind his helmet.
"What the…?"
Right in front of him are hundreds of inmates and guards, all standing still with their backs turned to them. All of them in silence, no fight going on. All of them illuminated by the red light of the eclipse. Brooklyn spots the penitentiary Sargent between the mass of people.
"Sargent…" He yells approaching him, though a bit wary.
In that moment, the Sargent turns to him, as well as the inmates and the rest of guards, four flashing red eyes on each of their faces.
"What…?"
The Sargent raises his shotgun.
Brooklyn widens his eyes. "Cover! Take cover!" He orders as re reaches for cover as the Sargent and the inmates start shooting them, and even killing some of them.
Brooklyn makes it to the hallway taking cover behind the sidewalls. "What is going on?!" He trades glances with the remaining cops still alive. They are still shooting at them. He looks to the side where one of his men peaks outside to shoot but is shot down instantly. They won't survive for much longer. He grabs his radio. "Its an ambush! Our men, they…" He tries to make sense of what he is happenning. "We need back-up! Send reinforcements!" He peaks out and fires a couple of shots before taking cover again. Another one of his men is shot down, only a few left of his squad. He again reaches for his radio. "Team two, how we doing?"
"They are too many, they forced us to retreat" comes the voice through the radio.
"Fuck. Team three, report."
"Same here. No one got past us, but we wont hold for much longer."
________________________________________
Trigon hears the commotion on the penitentiary. He closes his eyes.
"They are here" he announces.
________________________________________
Out in the distance, three figures can be seen approaching the scene from the sky. One of them is Kory carrying Nightwing from the wrists and next to them a green hawk.
"Gar, make a round up from the place, make sure no one leaves!" Nightwing yells. The hawk nods and separates from them. Nightwing then looks up at Kory with a grin on his face. "Drop me in the middle of the yard."
Kory nods and proceeds to let go of his wrists as Nightwing begins to fall.
While in the air, he pushes his face to his chest completing three perfectly executed rolls before landing with his knees in a superhero pose. Kory landing instantly behind him, her eyes flashing green with energy coming from her hands.
All the inmates and guards around turn to the two vigilantes.
From their cover spot, Brooklyn and his men just look at them in awe.
Nightwing gets up and takes out his esgrima sticks putting himself in a battle stance. "Let's handle this" he says with a smirk. He then lets out a battle cry as he charges at them.
The inmates around raise their guns and start shooting at them. The hero dodges the fire attacks and makes his way to the closest one delivering two blows with his sticks sending him to the ground, he then moves to the next one with a flying kick.
Kory lights up a huge energy beam and fires at five of them sending them to the ground. One inmate attacks her from behind, she catches his fist and headbutts him. Another charges at her with his shotgun, she blocks it and punches him. She then fires an energy beam sending two more flying back. She appears more powerful than before.
Brooklyn watches the fight going on, he can't just stay put. "Come on! This is our chance!" He orders his man as they charge forward; their guns raised, firing at the inmates and guards, letting out a battle cry as they gain ground.
Nightwing blocks an upcoming attack and sweeps the feet of his attacker, then cartwheels avoiding multiple shots. He takes out his batarang and throws it at the two inmates firing at him, hitting them both. He turns to Kory, standing only a few feet from him, as she handles three inmates at one without much difficulty. He runs at her, attacking one of the inmates around her.
She notices him and smiles. He smiles back and winks at her. They then turn to the rest of the inmates and guards, both standing with their backs turned to the other, leaving no blind spot.
"I believed your ankle was in bad condition, I had never seen you perform such a landing" she says teasingly.
"Oh, you are not the only one feeling stronger... How you doing?" He asks as he avoids an attack and counterattacks with his sticks.
"Oh, I missed engaging in combat" she admits firing up a green beam.
"Remember, no…"
"Yes, Richard, I know, no killing, I am aware" she defends herself raising her tone a bit.
"Just checking."
He delivers two quick hits to a guard attacking him, but the guard doesn't give up as he catches his esgrima sticks and punches Nightwing. Luckily for him, Kory is quick to react and fires a green energy beam from her eyes sending him flying.
Nightwing looks at her. "Thanks."
"Do not mention it" she says as she gets back to fighting more enemies. Nightwing doing the same.
"They don't give up, they seem stronger."
"Maybe it has something to do with their eyes" Kory suggests as she ducks and fires another beam. She would really like to fly now, but she can't, as that would make Nightwing an even easier target.
"Yeah, Trigon is after this." He blocks an attack and delivers a roundhouse kick to the face of the attacker. He pauses as he thinks. "I better go check the high security wing, make sure no one got out there." He looks at her. "You'll be alright?" he says punching another enemy without looking at him.
Kory nods. "I promise."
Nightwing nods back and makes a run for the high security wing, where the most dangerous criminals in the penitentiary are.
He reaches the wing. Everything is quiet. He looks around, all inmates appear on their cells; the riot hadn't touched this part of the penitentiary. He continues walking, although some of the cells are open, the inmate inside missing, he wonders who that could be.
Suddenly he notices a small figure with a cloak on at the other end of the hallway.
"Hey you, stop!" He yells as he runs to it. The figure running in the opposite direction, taking a turn to the next hallway.
Nightwing quickly catches up to it as he pushes it to the wall and takes off the hood of the cloak. He widens his eyes.
"Raven!"
A scared look on her face as she struggles to breathe. "Richard, help me…" she cries, tears threatening to come out of her eyes.
"What happened? Where were you?" He asks, concern all over his face.
"He is inside me, he has taken control…" She says sounding desperate.
"Who? Who has taken control?" He places a hand on her cheek forcing her to look at him.
"Richard, listen to me, you have to kill me, it is the only way" she says as she appears in deep pain.
"No, Raven, I won't, we can defeat him… Raven!"
In that moment, the two red pair of eyes appear on her face, followed by a large, creepy smile.
"Ravens not home" Trigon says. Instantly he makes a hand movement, pushing Nightwing to the wall on the other side of the hallway.
Nightwing grunts in pain as he struggles against his power. Trigon approaches him, his hand still raised, keeping Nightwing against the wall.
"I had to save you to convince my daughter, but that doesn't mean I can't end you now."
The hero can't answer. Trigon makes another hand movement to the side. Nothing happens. He raises an eyebrow. He tries it again. Again nothing.
"It appears my daughter is stronger than I thought…"
He lets go of Nightwing, who falls to the ground a bit out of breath.
"I'll have to have someone else kill you" he says before disappearing through the ground the moment Nightwing was about to attack him.
Nightwing looks around, Raven appears nowhere to be. He thinks. He must find a way to free her, killing her is not an option for him. He then goes back to Trigons words, who might be that someone else?
As if on cue, he hears a loud roar coming the other way. He quickly turns around just in time to receive a forceful punch sending him flying a few feet back.
He grunts as he looks up. There in front of him is a very large mass of purplish slime, roughly shaped humanoid with an extremely wide mouth and two tiny yellowish eyes…
"Plasmus…" the hero whispers. He remembers it from their fight a few years back. This is not good.
________________________________________
The second SWAT team is at the south entrance of the penitentiary, currently in a shootout with the guards inside, who from one moment to the next began shooting at them. After a few minutes, they had forced them back, almost backing them against their own vehicles.
Suddenly, a green hawk comes flying attacking one of the guards and taking his shotgun away. He then flies away and starts moving from guard to guard, managing to take all their weapons away without even hurting them, leaving that to the SWAT team that advances with him.
More guards and inmates start focusing on the hawk and shoot at him. Skillfully Gar manages to avoid the bullets, hopefully he could buy the cops enough time to continue advancing, however, he won't last for much longer. He flies back away from the penitentiary, turns around and aims back at the building, but with much more speed. Just when he is about to hit them, he changes mid-air into a grizzly bear landing over the inmates and swatting them away.
They have almost taken control of this part of the penitentiary, only a few more enemies left. Gar changes back to human, a smug look on his face. "That was unbearable" he jokes with himself.
In that moment, a red arrow comes flying his way, hitting the wall behind him just a few inches to the side. Gar lets out a scared cry as it had almost hit him. He recompasses himself and looks at it.
"What in the Lord of the Rings...?" He thinks, who would carry arrows? Realization hits him. "Green arrow…"
A beep-beep echoes from the arrow just before it explodes, sending Gar to the ground, a bit of blood on his face.
Up on one of the towers of the penitentiary is a man with a red suit, leaving his toned arms on the open, shades over his eyes, a cap over his ginger hair and a bow in his hand.
"The criminals just keep getting weirder" Arsenal says.
________________________________________
Kory is still in the main yard fighting the few inmates left. A few inmates fire at her. She shoots a green beam at them disintegrating the bullets. She looks around, they appear to be winning, the fight almost over.
She looks to the side where three guards are approaching her with their shotguns. She jumps at them, using her flight to gain altitude. While in the air, she charges her energy beams and is about to fire when suddenly a figure using a shield crashes into her, sending her flying to the side.
Kory grunts pain. She looks up, not a happy look on her face.
There standing a few feet from her is the figure of a woman in a battle stance, with black-raven hair, a black uniform, black boots, and a shield and a sword on her hands. Donna Troy, or Troia, sister of princess Diana from Themyscira, and an Amazon herself.
"Yield" Donna orders pointing at Kory with her sword.
Kory gets up, a murderous look on her face. She starts floating and lights up two green beams on her hands. She would show this woman who she is messing with.
Troia studies her from below, this is clearly no ordinary human. However, she won't be any match for an Amazon.
Chapter 13: The Old Titans
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Nightwing cartwheels avoiding multiple attacks from Plasmus, who keeps throwing his arms made of goo at him. The hero then stops and throws an electric disc, hitting one of its arms. The monster roars and continues attacking him, becoming angrier with each failed attack. Nightwing goes back to dodging the attacks. He must find a way to put him to sleep quick. He begins running around the monster, hopefully that will help.
He cartwheels avoiding another attack, that summersaults him into a front flip avoiding a second straight attack. But while in the air, Plasmus throws a third arm impacting Nightwings foot sending him flying because of his momentum. Nightwing lands on the floor on his back, he grunts.
Plasmus roars again and throws another arm. Before Nightwing can process it, a yellow blur makes it to the monster and moves its arm just slightly to the side as the attack misses Nightwing by a few feet.
The monster appears confused. Then the yellow blur begins running around Plasmus avoiding its attacks with ease.
Nightwing lifts an eyebrow as he stands up. He knows who that is. "Wally?"
The speedster makes it to Nightwings side. "Hey Dick, how you doing?" He again goes back to running around the monster.
Nightwing takes out his esgrima sticks. "What are you doing here?"
"Oh, you know, just doing cardio as always" Kid Flash answers while running.
Nightwing jumps on top of one of Plasmuss arms, and delivers a forceful blow to the monster, and lands with a front flip. "You are on your own?"
"Oh, no buddy, I'm the distraction."
"Distraction?"
Then out of nowhere, two water pipes running below the floor of the penitentiary break up through the concrete, sending a giant wave at the monster. Kid Flash makes it to Nightwing and takes him away from danger. The wave impacting Plasmus and sending it back against the wall.
From the newly created hole emerges out Aqualad. Nightwing smiles and makes it to him.
"Good to see you, Garth."
Aqualad shakes his hand. "Its good to see you as well, my friend."
They hear another roar as Plasmus once more stands on its feet. The heroes turn to it.
"I presume Donna and Roy are also here, right?" Nightwing asks without looking at his friends.
"Yes, they are on the other sectors trying to control the outbreak" Aqualad explains.
"My team is also here."
"Well, hopefully they are getting along just fine" Wally adds.
________________________________________
On the yard of the penitentiary, Kory shoots a massive beam of energy from her eyes. Troia raises her shield blocking the attack. Kory lands in front of her and now throws at forceful punch. Troia again blocks her and pushes her shield forward hitting Kory on the face, she then swings her sword at her. Kory catches her wrist and applies pressure. Troia cries in pain and let's go of her sword. Kory then punches her. Troia answers headbutting her. Kory staggers back, but then she headbutts her back. She lights up a beam on her free hand, but Troia grabs her by the wrist and, using her other hand delivers a vicious punch to the chest sending Kory back flying through the wall of a cell. Kory lands on her back, instantly noticing Troia jumping over her. However, before she can land, she shoots a massive beam with her hands together, sending Troia back to the yard.
________________________________________
Nightwing, Kid Flash and Aqualad continue running around the Plasmus, avoiding its attacks.
Aqualad, using his swords, cuts through the monster's arm. Plasmus screams in pain. Nightwing takes advantage and using his esgrima sticks, delivers a forceful blow sending the monster to the floor. However, it isn't enough as it gets up once again, and back to the fight.
"Hey Dick, not that I'm not enjoying our time together, but how do we stop this thing?!" Wally wonders as he gets back to running.
"We have to put him to sleep" Nightwing answers mid backflip.
"How do we do it?" Aqualad asks before he receives a blow that sends him flying.
"I don't know... he seems stronger... angrier…" He thinks. "Get me in contact with Roy!"
Kid Flash touches his earpiece mid run. "Hey Roy, how you doing, buddy?"
"Hey, I think I made a mistake" comes Arsenals voice from the other side, sounding remorseful.
"Yeah, well, it happens to most, I also once cheated on my girlfriend. Look, buddy, Nightwing here wants to talk to you."
"Nightwing? What is Dick…?"
Kid Flash makes it to Nightwing and hands him his earpiece. "Roy, you've got something loud?"
"Gotcha covered, boss."
"Good, meet us at the high security wing" Nightwing says just before Kid Flash makes it to his side and moves him away from a Plasmus attack.
"Would you be careful? I worry" Kid Flash says dramatically. Nightwing rolls his eyes. The speedster goes back to running. He runs at full force at Plasmus, climbing through his body until reaching the head where he delivers a punch, which combined with his speed sends the monster back. Kid Flash then lands on the ground and is about to run away when his foot is grabbed and he is thrown to the side.
Arsenal makes it to the high-security wing, instantly noticing his three friends fighting a monster made of goo, across the wing. He presses a button on his quiver, changing his arrows into sonic. He takes one and aims at the heart of the monster.
Nightwing notices the archer. "Wally! Garth! Move!"
Arsenal fires. The arrows travelling all across the wing until hitting the monster right in its chest, but only hallway. The monster screams. Nightwing rushes to Plasmus, jumps up, and brings his foot to the arrow pushing it all the way into the monster. He falls on the back.
Plasmus looks down at him, nothing happened. It reaches down with one hand, when suddenly an explosion goes off inside the monster and the goo going everywhere.
Aqualad offers a hand to Nightwing helping him off the ground. They look to the side, where in between the remains of goo is a naked man sleeping on the ground.
Arsenal and Kid Flash make it to their side.
"So, gross."
"Good shot, Roy."
"Never knew a shot I couldn't hit" the archer answers arrogantly.
"Donna?" Nightwing questions.
"She was going to take care of the inmates at the front yard, you know how she is, always wanting to take care of everything by herself" Kid Flash answers. He touches his earpiece. "Donna, you there? Never gonna guess who we ran into." Silence. He turns to Nightwing. "No answer."
Nightwing closes his eye. He touches his own earpiece. "Kory, where are you?" Also, no answer. "Fuck…" He already has an idea of what is going on.
________________________________________
Troia is thrown against a wall. Kory is about to punch her, but the Amazon grabs her and throws her against another wall.
Kory's eyes flash green with rage. She flies forward at her adversary tackling her and flying through a wall landing both back in the yard. They quickly stand up, studying their opponent. Both feeling a bit out of breath.
Kory charges her green beams, while Troia raises her sword. They would do their everything to win this fight, their pride being at stake.
They let out a battle cry as they charge forward, when suddenly Nightwing lands in the middle between the two women interrupting the fight. Both Kory and Troia stop before they could accidentally hurt him.
"Enough!"
They look around noticing there aren't any inmates still on their feet, and the outbreak has been contained by the SWAT squads. They turn back to Nightwing.
________________________________________
A couple of minutes later, they are all sitting around at a table at a pizza place a few blocks from there. Richard dressed as a civilian with shades covering his eyes, Kory to his right, her gaze fixed on Donna, to his left, Gar, eating a whole veggie pizza by himself. To the kids left, is Roy amazed at how this Gar kid is just casually eating as if he had not received the impact of one of his arrows a few minutes ago. To the archer's side is Garth, Donna next to, glaring back at Kory, and finally, Wally going through his second pizza.
Silence. Kory and Donna, having a glaring contest between the two of them. Wally being too busy to talk, Gar the same. Roy, feeling guilty. Garth, a bit uncomfortable with the situation. And finally, Richard, detective mode on, trying to come out with an explanation on why his previous team could be here in Jump.
After a few minutes, Roy talks.
"Are you sure you are okay?" He asks Gar.
"Yeah dude… don't... sweat it" he answers while munching a slice of pizza.
"He heals fast" Richard explains. Roy nods, now feeling a bit better.
Another silence. The only sound coming from their table being Wallys and Gars eating their respective pizzas.
Garth looks around the table. "So, this is your new team…" he says in a cordial way, trying to clear the air.
"Yes, yes, it is" Richard answers with his arms crossed. He is not happy with them, not even a heads up of their mission?
"They seem nice…" Garth adds with an awkward smile. In front of him, Kory is still glaring at Donna.
Another silence.
Wally finishes his pizza and motions to the waitress. "Keep them coming..." He gestures to Richard. "…he is paying." At that comment, Richard can't help but let out a small chuckle. He had missed his best friend. Wally turns to him, a fake offended expression on his face. "So, this is your new team? The one with whom you replaced us?" Richard rolls his eyes, always so dramatic. "What do they have that we do not? Are they better?"
Kory suddenly punches the table. "Yes, yes we are!" She raises her tone, not getting the joke.
Before Wally can say anything, Donna answers back. "Oh really? Want to see you prove it, Red!"
"I believe I already have!"
Donna stands up. "If not for Dick, I would've kicked your ass!"
Kory matches her. "You want the rematch?!"
"Hell yeah, I want…!"
Garth takes hold of Donna, while Richard of Kory. "Everyone calm down!" Richard yells, forcing them to look at him. "Now there are more pressing matters, so, if you don't mind."
"Fine!" Both women answer at the same time as they get back on their seats.
"Good, now… why are you all here?" He asks looking at each of them.
The Old Titans trade glances.
"It is classified" finally Donna answers crossing her arms. In that moment the waitress comes back holding two pizzas. Wally instantly going for one of them.
"Of course it is. Whose orders?"
Before Donna can answer Garth beats her to it. "Batman's orders"
Richard raises an eyebrow. "Unbelievable…" He shakes his head and sighs, trying to process it. "So, now you are working for him. The whole reason we created the Titans was to stop working for them, but now I guess you are back at it. Just doing the side little missions they don't feel like doing…"
"Hey, fuck you, man!" Roy interjects pointing his finger at him. "You weren't there, you left us, remember?"
"Yeah, dude, what happened to I work solo now?" Wally asks, a real hurt expression on his face now. Richard doesn't answer.
"What I want to know is why you've got a whole prison of possessed inmates?" Donna continues the interrogatory.
"Yeah, dude… they were like zombies... that was crazy" Wally adds with a whole slice of pizza in his mouth.
"What's really going on here?" Donna crosses her arms. "Might have something to do with why you've got a giant-size red eclipse over beautiful and sunny Jump City?"
Richard thinks about it. Does he want to share what is going on? Not really. Gar looks at him.
"We might need their help…"
Richard nods and turns to Kory. "Kor?"
"I do not think we need them" she answers stubbornly.
"Oh yeah, because clearly you have everything under control over here" Donna shoots.
"Donna!" Garth interjects.
"Fine!" Richard answers. "But you go first, then I'll fill you in on our situation." He sure as hell wants to know why had Batman ordered a mission on his city.
"Fine." Donna gives up. "A few weeks ago, there was a security breach at Wayne Enterprises, some new defensive mechanism was stolen…"
"What defensive mechanism?"
"That is classified" she answers back.
"Donna!"
"Its Batman, of course it is. Who stole it?" Richard thinks. So, they steal something from him, and he sends the back-up team to retrieve it. However, for him to care that much, it must be something important.
"An employee, Batman caught him but not before he ships it across the country.
"What did the employee say? Who was he working for?"
"Nothing" Garth continues. "Didn't remember nothing from the last couple of days. Some sort of hypnosis… we checked with Martian Manhunter, who confirmed his story."
"Yeah, like your inmates back there" Roy adds.
Richard trades glances with Kory and Gar, a worried look on their faces.
Donna notices it. "Exactly, Boy Wonder, our missions may be related." She leans back on her seat. "End of story, Batman assigned us to retrieve the package. We followed it to San Francisco to a dodgy delivery company. From it there it was sent right here to Jump. It arrived yesterday, but we were late, we only found corpses, corpses a lot too similar to the ones at the penitentiary gate…"
"Their necks had also been snapped using some sort of telekinesis" Garth explains.
"Admit it, Dick, you don't have this situation as in control as you say… now talk."
The Old Titans all turn to Richard, interested in what he has to say.
________________________________________
Richard is on his phone outside of the storage unit, he doesn't look happy. "I thought we were making progress, Bruce! That we were back to talking, trusting each other. But now I find that you sent a team to my city with specific orders not to tell me? And all to clean a mistake you made."
He pauses as he tries to calm himself.
________________________________________
A holographic screen is showing the footage from the security camera outside the penitentiary. In it, is Raven snapping the necks of the guards outside with a hand movement.
Richard watches closely at the storage unit. Behind him are the Old and New Titans, Victor included.
"Face it, Dick, that's not your friend anymore" Donna says, after being briefed on the situation. "The mission comes first."
________________________________________
"I'm taking control of your team, I'm the one who knows best what we are up against" Richard continues on the phone outside. He isn't letting them hurt Raven
________________________________________
Richard turns to Donna. "No, there's must be a way to stopping him without hurting Raven."
"You don't even know how to stop him, period."
"Raven is our friend" Kory argues. "We don't hurt our friends" she shoots at Donna.
Richard nods. "Theres always a weakness, we just have to find it."
"I bet he has the same weakness as everyone" Roy says while playing with one of his arrows in his hands.
Before Richard can argue with him, Gar speaks, the Book on Azar in his hands. "Dudes, I may know where to look." They all turn to him. "Uhm… Raven always carried this book with her." He places the heavy book on the table in the middle of the room. "I bet we can find an answer here."
Victor messes with his hair. "Well done, boy."
"What does it say?" Garth questions.
"I… I can't read it."
"Let me have a look at it, kid" Donna says walking to the book. She opens it. "It's Sanskrit." She starts reading. "Trigon, the terrible, his only desire to see it all burn, to see humanity cease to exist… once liberated, he takes control of the host…"
"Raven…"
"Quickly spreading himself through the people around…"
Richard thinks. "But Raven is keeping him at bay for the moment, that's why he couldn't hurt me, that's why he could only control the inmates…"
"The easiest ones to control…" Victor adds.
Richard nods.
Donna continues. "With every day in control of the host, his powers will increase to the point of being invincible." She goes through some pages. "He has been defeated in the past, the host must expel him, whether it is by its power of will or by its death…"
"My point exactly" Roy says.
Richard turns to him. "We are not killing her. She can do it; she can expel him. If I know someone whose power of will is that strong, that's Raven. She's the most hopeful person I've ever met."
"So… What's the plan, boss?" Wally asks. "We play a few hands of poker while we wait? I can get us some cards."
Richard shakes his head. "We get to her, try to talk to her, help her fight him."
"The good ol power of friendship, I like it" Wally jokes.
"It won't be so easy" Donna thinks. "He will have the inmates he got from prison, plus the security mechanism."
"That's why is critical you share with us what we are facing."
Donna sighs. He is right. "Its code name is Amazo. After Amanda Waller got the clearance to run her Suicide Squad, Batman argued the criminals couldn't be trusted. Using the technology at Wayne Enterprises, he programmed this android to fight the battles he couldn't, to be available for when his body gave up. It has the ability to replicate the powers and fighting styles from whomever he is fighting against… One of its purposes is fighting against a Superman-level threat." She sighs, they are screwed. "It is unstoppable…"
Silence takes over the room.
________________________________________
"And you keep making the same mistakes!" Richard yells at the phone. "And where has that led you? … Back to me…"
________________________________________
"We can call the Justice League, right?" Gar proposes. "Surely, they can help us, right? … dudes?"
No one answers.
Richard shakes his head. "We are already fighting a demon and an unstoppable android. If Trigon can control whoever he likes, who can assure us he can't control Superman also?" He pauses. "They can't help us. As of now, Raven is barely being able to protect us, her friends. We can't let anyone get close to her…"
________________________________________
Richard runs a hand through his face, he is still on the phone. "I'm leading a mission to get to Raven. We believe she can protect me and my team from Trigons mind control…" he pauses. "Bruce, I need you to get in contact with the rest of the Justice League. Make sure no one approaches the city, no matter how ugly it gets, we can't fight them also… Dick out."
Richard finishes the call and puts his phone away.
________________________________________
Richard turns to Donna. "I think it's also best if the ones to approach her are my team, the ones whom she knows best."
Garth nods in agreement. "Dick is right, we will help you get to her."
"We can take care of the Amazo" Donna says crossing her arms.
"Good, me Kory, Vic and Gar will approach her."
"Actually, I'm running with them" Victor says getting everyone's attention. "They'll need the numbers, plus I think I can help with this android."
"Yeah, dude" Wally says wrapping one arm around Victor. "I like Tinman over here." Victor glares at him.
Richard laughs. Apart from his speed, that's why you always need Wally on your team. He can easily help calm the nerves before an impossible mission, with his jokes. He nods at his best friend. The speedster nods back.
He turns to Victor. "Did you manage to get the software online?" The Cyborg nods. Richard turns back to the rest of the team. "Using his software, we will be able to lock a location on Trigon." He presses a button on the control panel on his arm.
Automatically, the holographic screen in the middle of the room turns on, showing thousands of tiny monitors displaying architectural patterns, between all of them showing a map of the city.
"Wow…" Gar whispers.
Wally playfully elbows Kory. "You have a mini-Batman in here."
Kory doesn't answer as he looks at the screen, clearly not approving of this.
Donna appears in deep thought. "However, his powers will increase as time passes." She turns to Richard and his team. "You'll have to act quick."
Richard smirks. "And you'll have to buy me as much time as you can."
________________________________________
Inside a church, a mass of people is hearing the priest's words. Everyone is silent at their seats with their gazes down, the church seeming clearly more full than usual. The red light from the eclipse shining through the vitro behind the priest, making everyone think of a potential apocalypse.
The priest is currently reading a specific sermon regarding the end of times, his intention clearly to calm down the people.
Suddenly the doors of the church swing open. Everyone turns to it. There they see a girl wearing a purple cloak with a hood on. The girl takes her hood off, revealing Raven, the two pairs of red eyes on her faces and the creepy smile.
Everyone screams in panic as they scramble to the exit.
Trigon makes a movement with his hands shutting the doors, preventing them from escaping. He then raises his hands as he starts floating.
"God has left the city."
The people crowd themselves to the doors trying to force them open, but it's in vain.
The priest watches in awe at what he has in front, with one of his hands he reaches to the cross around his neck. He looks to the side.
From the eyes of the characters of the side painting in the church, he can see blood coming out.
The people continue screaming.
The screams suddenly cease as the windows get painted red.
________________________________________
"Have a lock on him!" Victor yells, catching everyone's attention as they turn to him. Richard takes a step forward. "He is at the Tower, the newly built skyscraper." He presses a button. The screen then shows a holographic 3D map of the city. In the middle of it, there's a giant building way taller than the rest of them, a red dot over it indicating Trigon position.
"Why be there?" Garth wonders. "Right for everyone to see."
Richard looks at him. "Because that's what he wants, for everyone to look at him, to adore him, he wants a monument with his name in it." He thinks and turns to Donna. "He won't resist a full-frontal attack." He points to the avenue leading to the building. "You will march through here. He will send all his got to you…" He focuses back on the building. "…giving us an opening to infiltrate undetected."
Donna smirks as she shakes her head. "I missed your suicide plans, Boy Wonder." Richard grins. She looks at the holographic map. "We have the advantage the building is near the water, that's gives one less direction from where someone could approach." She turns to her team. "Roy, I want you five blocks east…" she signals to a few small buildings. "No one gets past you, no matter whose side they are on, got it?"
"Gotcha, boss."
"Wally…"
"My turn" Wally interrupts.
"You'll be middle point between us and Roy, keep us informed and aid whomever needs it." Wally nods. Donna turns back to the map. "That leaves me, Garth and Victor to march forward in a frontal attack." Victor and Garth share a salute with their fists. She looks at Richard. "I think I got it all."
"Will he not suspect of a trap if he doesn't see us at the frontal attack?" Kory points out.
"Red is right" Donna admits. Kory looks at her, a bit surprised, she nods. The Amazon nods back.
Richard thinks about it. "We'll have to let our presence known at the start." He focuses on the map. "Then we'll have to disappear... the sewers." He points to the sewers below the street level. "We can use them to pass undetected, that will take us right below the building, where we can start the climb." He looks at Donna. "I expect a good show."
"Trust me, we will." She grows serious. "Are you prepared to make the tough call if the plan fails?" She doesn't need to explain what she means.
Richard doesn't answer. He looks at the rest of the team. Some of them his long-time friends, others his new friends, and then the love of his life. "The fate of the universe is at risk, we can't fail. Be careful, I don't want to lose anyone today." Silence, they all nod. "Gear up, we leave in five."
Roy puts on the quiver with his arrows behind his back. He then grabs his bow preparing for combat.
Gar closes his eyes trying to concentrate. He opens them, his eyes a stronger shade of green.
Garth grabs his swords and makes a quick move with them trying to warm up.
Victor presses a couple of buttons on his control panel. Since he doesn't have the Max 8 chip anymore, he will have to make his sonic blasts count.
Kory puts on metallic armbands over her wrists. She then lights up two quick green beams on her hands, testing her powers are still working.
Wally puts on his speed goggles.
Donna grabs her sword and her shield and pushes them together producing a loud clank.
Richard puts on his Nightwgins suit, maybe for the last time. He wraps his utility belt around his waist, places both esgrima sticks behind his back and puts on his mask.
Nightwing then walks behind Wally and places a hand over his shoulder. "Good to have you at the team, Wall."
Kid Flash smirks. "See you at the finish line, Dickie Boy."
Nightwing smiles. He continues walking to Kory. They make eye contact and push their foreheads together. Silence.
"Be careful."
"I will, my love."
He closes his eyes for a second and reopens them. "If for whatever reason you feel overmatch… I want you to run, you hear me? Or you call me or them... I don't want to lose you again."
Kory nods. "I also do not want to lose you." She leans forward and kisses him again, also maybe for the last time.
"I…" He starts, but doesn't continue, not finding the words to voice it. He gives up and kisses her again.
________________________________________
Trigon makes it to the roof of the Tower. Behind him are Rouge, Billy and Clayface. He turns to them.
"Make sure no one interrupts me." He automatically starts levitating reaching the same height as the antenna on top of the building.
Rouge turns to Billy and nods. He nods and grabs a radio. "Turn it on, Billy."
"You got it, Billy" another Billy answers from the street level. Nex to him is a large wooden box open. He reaches inside the box and presses a button. Instantly, two red eyes turn on from the darkness of the box.
Trigon continues levitating. He raises his hand focusing on the moon producing the red eclipse.
________________________________________
A military Russian submarine is cruising through below the ice through the Arctic Ocean. Inside a general is giving numerous orders. The four red eyes flash on his face. He stops and turns to the nuclear weapons button. His eyes turn back to normal.
"General, are you alright?"
He nods. He is, right? What was that? "I am okay, focus ahead."
________________________________________
Down at the Batcave, Bruce finishes hearing Richard's message. He looks down at the Batman cowl between his hands. A thoughtful look on his eyes, he must do something. He turns to the side.
"Alfred, get the Batwing ready."
Notes:
Well that leads us to the final chapter of the story, the final battle, and then the epilogue. Hope you are enjoying. Let me know what you thinking of the story, do you think it is on the same level as the first one? A warning not everyone might make it alive. Thank you to everyone who made it this far.
Koryfan2021 on Chapter 1 Tue 20 May 2025 11:17PM UTC
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Koryfan2021 on Chapter 2 Wed 21 May 2025 05:15PM UTC
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Cocolecoco on Chapter 2 Wed 21 May 2025 07:10PM UTC
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Koryfan2021 on Chapter 3 Fri 23 May 2025 12:16AM UTC
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Callmenightwing7 on Chapter 3 Fri 23 May 2025 03:19AM UTC
Last Edited Fri 23 May 2025 03:21AM UTC
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Koryfan2021 on Chapter 3 Fri 23 May 2025 04:23PM UTC
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Koryfan2021 on Chapter 4 Sun 25 May 2025 02:23AM UTC
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Koryfan2021 on Chapter 5 Mon 26 May 2025 05:19PM UTC
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Koryfan2021 on Chapter 6 Wed 28 May 2025 11:41PM UTC
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Koryfan2021 on Chapter 7 Sat 31 May 2025 02:45PM UTC
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Koryfan2021 on Chapter 8 Tue 03 Jun 2025 04:47PM UTC
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Cocolecoco on Chapter 9 Thu 05 Jun 2025 01:25PM UTC
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Callmenightwing7 on Chapter 9 Fri 06 Jun 2025 11:30PM UTC
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Koryfan2021 on Chapter 9 Thu 05 Jun 2025 05:20PM UTC
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Koryfan2021 on Chapter 10 Sat 07 Jun 2025 01:01AM UTC
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Koryfan2021 on Chapter 11 Sun 08 Jun 2025 04:42PM UTC
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Koryfan2021 on Chapter 12 Tue 10 Jun 2025 11:25PM UTC
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Koryfan2021 on Chapter 13 Fri 13 Jun 2025 04:42PM UTC
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