Ghoul had always needed leadership. He was smart, that much was certain, but as much as he wanted independence, he couldn't survive on his own.

That was why he joined Chucko. Chucko wasn't the smartest guy around, but he was a good criminal. He knew every inch of the streets like the back of his hand.

But their little gang couldn't stay the way they were forever. Gotham couldn't stay the same.

Not while Chronos was around.

They'd made a deal with Chronos; free reign in exchange for the city's protection.

They hadn't known what the consequences would be.

Ghoul struggled in vain against the restraints. Harsh operating room lights set fire to the backs of his eyelids as he grew weaker, the tranquilizer starting to take effect.

"This is all for the best...Ghoul, was it?" he heard Chronos say. He tried to spit curses at the sick bastard, but he couldn't speak, couldn't move, could barely even breathe. But he could hear, and the sound of a saw blade was drawing closer and closer to his right arm. "Just imagine how much stronger you'll be after just this one little operation."

The blade sliced easily though his arm and, is he could've screamed, he would have. Apparently Chronos had never heard of morphine.

Or maybe he was just that sick.

But if he thought losing his arm was painful, it was nothing compared to having the new one attached.

Every part of his body screamed as it was wired to his central nervous system. Even the tranquilizers couldn't stop his own gut-wrenching cry.

"Kill me, please kill me..." he begged as the pain continued, wires being attached to his bloody stump of an arm at a microscopic level. Were the restraints not holding him down, his back would have been arched so far because of the pain he might have been able to touch his feet to his head.

It was a pain only five others knew, and their screams were masked by sound proof walls.

"Now, why would I do that, Ghoul? You wouldn't be any help to me that way." Chronos laughed. "Now just sit back and relax. It'll be over soon."

'Soon' was four excruciating hours later, and if he hadn't been strapped down, he would've been dead long before.

Which was probably why they'd strapped him down.

When finally the arm was fully attached, he fainted.

He was not contented by the first thing he saw when he woke up.

"Good morning, Ghoul. I trust you had a restful night." Chronos smiled.

Cursing and thrashing like a demon, Ghoul's eyes were wild with anger.

"Ah, ah, ah." he chided, pulling out that looked like a small remote control. He pressed one of the six buttons and suddenly his body was fire, stinging and burning uncontrollably. He screamed. "You'd better behave or I won't let you out to see your friends."

Collapsing back to the crisp white bed, gasping, Ghoul's eyes followed Chronos out of the room, holding back a thousand more curses. He hated following Chronos' commands, but he didn't want any more pain.

But if he ever got the chance, Chronos was going to pay.

The robotic nurse undid the restraints tying down his left arm as it set a tray in front of him. Plain toast and lukewarm water were passed over in favor of the pills sitting in the small plastic container, which he swallowed dry.

"Humans require sustenance." the nurse said robotically, pointing at the toast.

"I'm not hungry." he replied, handing the tray back to the nurse. Normally, he probably would have flung it across the room, but today was special.

Today he'd get to see the others.

Being alone with only the robotic nurses for company was torture. The only thing to do all day was practice how to move his arm and flex his fingers. The monotony drove him to the brink of insanity, not to say anything for the pain. He became violent. More than once he'd thrown his food try across the room or tossed his water into the face of some of the more crude server bots, short circuiting them. Most of the time his efforts were rewarded with another burning attack and a visit from Chronos.

Eventually he became so tired of it all that he just stopped fighting. He swallowed his meds and obeyed Chronos' every word like the mindless automaton he was supposed to be. It disgusted him, but he would do anything to see the others again. Especially Woof. He wondered what sort of sick operation Chronos had forced on him.

He stopped when he realized he really didn't want to know.

"Now remember, if you don't behave today, I'll have to put you back into isolation."

Ghoul glowered at Chronos as he followed him through the bleached hallways. A thousand thoughts of killing Chronos in painfully gruesome ways flew through his quickly deteriorating mind, but he pushed them aside. Confrontation wouldn't help him.

Not yet, anyway.

"They've all had their own operations, as I'm sure you know, and they've all been going through their own physical therapy." Endless hours of learning the most basic movements all over again. And it was still too painful for him to even lift his arm. It hung dead at his side. "Some of them are doing better than others."

They entered another wide, bleached white room with more sterile furniture. No one else was in the room at the time.

"Make yourself comfortable. I'll go get your friends." Chronos said. Ghoul pulled out a steel chair with his good arm and sat down, using the back to support his other one. He wished they would give him a stronger dose of medication, because his arm was starting to hurt again. But since pain seemed to be their way of controlling him, he doubted it would happen any time soon.

Suddenly, the door opened, and Chronos entered the room again. Ghoul couldn't help but smile, if a bit weakly, when Woof followed. He stood and jogged lightly over to him as Chronos excused himself again.

"Hey, Woof." he said. Woof grinned up at him, but he could see he was in a lot of pain. Both of his arms had been replaced with mechanical counterparts, much more conspicuous than his own, which was fashioned to look like his real arm. He brought the hybrid over to the chairs and helped him into one. "Still having trouble?" he asked. Woof nodded, then looked up at him, searching for a difference. He held up his right arm with his left and moved his sleeve up slightly, exposing the only visible difference; a thin line running the circumference of his arm where it was attached.

"Don't worry, you'll have plenty of time to compare powers soon enough."

They turned to look at Chronos, who had entered the room again, this time with the Deed's in tow.

"Of course, it'll have to wait until after you've finished your therapy. We don't want anyone damaging anything." He smiled and left the room again.

Ghoul and Woof sat in silence and the Deed's milled about in a daze, until Chronos returned for the final time, flanked by Bonk and Chucko.

Bonk had no visible differences, but Chucko's legs had been replaced with some sort of metal ring which allowed him to control a ball which acted as legs. He seemed to be having trouble controlling it, and was clinging to Bonk for dear life.

"If you let me fall, I SWEAR—"

"Relax, buddy, I gotcha." Bonk cut him off.

"You'd better." Chucko replied.

"It's good to see all of you on your feet again." Chronos said. "Well, most of you." Even with his mask on, Ghoul could tell Chucko was glowering. "You can socialize for the next hour or so, then it's back to your rooms for more therapy." he said, and then left.

Things continued that way for a week. Breakfast, social time, physio, sleep (or, in Ghoul's case, endless hours of staring at the ceiling). Their actions became mindless, robotic. If it had continued for much longer, they would have all become Chronos' mindless slaves.

But luckily, physio paid off.

"Since you all seem to be more of less adapted to your...additions, I think it's time to learn how to properly use them."

Ghoul's new arm now had as much dexterity as his old one. It didn't stop the pain, but at the very least he could type again. All of the others could move around as well as they had been able to before their operations, too. And all of them were just as angry.

"Each of you will go to your own training room, so you don't accidentally hurt each other. We don't want anyone getting hurt on the first day of training."

Ghoul felt like snarling at him. Woof did. Keeping the six of them apart seemed to be his way of trying to control them individually. It wouldn't work, of course; they weren't always on the best of terms, but they were always a team. Even with cybernetic enhancements, that wouldn't change. As much as Chronos had driven them all to the brink of insanity, they were still them.

They were just a little less 'theirs' and a little more 'his'.

For no other reason than that he wanted to, Ghoul cut down the lamppost they were passing. With bis arm, he could do that.

The saw blade whirred to a gentle stop, as he commanded it. It was controlled by his thoughts, and though he'd had trouble with it at first, it was now as natural as breathing.

"Hey, hurry it up!" Chucko yelled. Ghoul rolled his eyes. As soon as Chucko had learned to move around again, he'd slipped right back into his role as leader. Bonk had become the right-hand made with the lethal giant hammer for a left hand, the Deed's continued to run on their own agenda, especially now that they had deadly electric whips and the ability to duplicate, and Woof was still his loyal companion, just stronger and faster.

And Gotham City was their playground.

"Hey, can we grab something to eat?" he asked.

"If you hurry up!"

Ghoul jogged lightly to the group, his saw blade retracting into his arm, his fingers balling into a fist against the pain as they were pulled back out.

With one glance back at the felled lamppost, he descended into the dark streets of the shell that once was Gotham.