A/N: This is something completely different to my usual reading of Kara or Lena-centric stories. I always feel that Winn is under rated and he had so much more potential considering his genius and his origin story.
This niggled at me until I had to type it up. Thanks to the GF for the idea.
Chapter 1:Through my fault...
The DEO was abuzz with activity. Temporary Director Lucy Lane was frantic and shouting orders at anyone who got within twenty feet of her.
It had been twenty four hours now.
Twenty four hours since Lena had been kidnapped.
Eighteen since Kara, J'onn, Alex and the DEO tactical team had been captured trying to rescue Lena. It had all been a set up. A fucking trap! They had walked right into it and Winn had been the idiot who told them where to go.
He should have known that the van which had snatched Lena was too easily tracked.
He should have known there was something suspicious about the warehouse he sent the team to.
He should have protected them.
He should have protected his family.
It had been twelve hours since Cadmus had interrupted the television broadcasts across the country to deliver their message. Kneeling battered and bruised was Alex, Lena, the DEO tactical team and finally a barely recognisable, battered J'onn and Kara with kryptonite and power suppressing collars around their bruised necks.
Lillian Luthor stood behind the kneeling group, flanked by heavily armed men with resting psycho faces and enough small arms strapped to their bodies that they could start world war three.
Lillian frothed at the mouth like a rabid dog as she proselytised her gospel of alien hatred. It seemed that with her most recent escape from prison and her last public trial Lillian had decided that hiding her psychosis wasn't worth the effort anymore.
Lillian had declared Lena to no longer be her daughter after consorting with the enemy.
She had outed the DEO and declared that if they attempted to stop Cadmus' good work then she would execute one of her hostages. Lillian had smiled cruelly then, "And to show I am a woman of my word…" she said and nodded to her men. The double gun shots had rung out through the screen and Alex and Lena's double scream had echoed out. Agent Branton lay at Lillian's feet, a large pool of blood expanding beneath her. Kara lay on top of her, the tears and wracking sobs caused by the death of her teammate or the bullet in her shoulder.
Lillian gloated about bringing a god to its knees and showing the citizens of this country that they could fight back against the aliens.
The broadcast had cut off and pandemonium had ensued. Random acts of anti-alien violence had broken out all over the city. The NCPD was overstretched trying to address it but was failing miserably and casualties, alien and human alike, were mounting up. The DEO was being ordered to stand down by the president so as to not further blow their cover and give evidence to their existence.
The FBI was leading the investigation and the DEO was shadowing them. Lucy had returned temporarily and was trying to co-ordinate the search from the shadows but nothing was working.
Winn was frantic trying to track anyone, anything that could help save his friends. Kara's broken sobs playing over and over in his mind.
It had been ten hours since Winn handed Lucy the I.D's on the two Cadmus enforcers in the broadcast. Both were ex-military men whose records had been erased...well almost. Winn would normally take pride in having identified them so quickly but he was too worried. Every time he closes his eyes, even blinks, he sees Alex's anguished face, he sees J'onn locked in placidity by the collar while his eyes rage as he sees the daughter of his heart shot.
Lucy strode towards him. "Schott, we have tracked the next of kin of the two Cadmus soldiers. The first, Harry Jameson has no living family, a loner and lifetime military man. Basically he was the perfect psycho for Cadmus. The second one we thought we had some joy with; Casey Mulligan was a foster kid who joined up and on paper at least seemed to make a life for himself. We managed to track a foster sister he grew up with and had been in regular contact with until last year, but when he joined Cadmus it seems he has cut all contact. I had agents question her along with the FBI, we ran her financials and her phone records…there was nothing. Please tell me you have found something on the origin of the broadcast?"
Winn's shoulders dropped, his temporary moment of hope lost.
"I can't triangulate the signal, I am pretty sure it is from somewhere in National City…but where? That I can't say," Winn admitted with a frustrated growl. Winn swivelled back to his computers, his hands flying across the keys even as he shoulders drooped.
A hand on his shoulder made him jump, "Winn you need a rest," Lucy's voice whispered, filled with concern. Winn craned his head back to look at her and frowned.
"I'm fine. Are you sure the sister didn't know anything, maybe I should…" Winn bit out before Lucy cut him off by suddenly spinning him around to fully face her.
"Agent Schott, the sister has been cleared. You have been working twenty-four straight hours since this went down and had worked a twelve hour shift before it all kicked off. I think you need a break. Hit the rack for an hour" Lucy said as she gently caressed the dark circles beneath his eyes.
Seeing revolt in Winn's eyes Lucy straightened abruptly and with rigid posture and a tone of command, "I can make it an order Agent Schott."
Winn was outraged. Lucy breezes in here and thinks she can tell him what to do. Where was she when it all happened? Who is she but Jame's ex and Lois Lane's rug rat sister?
He had to find them. It was his fault. His fault his family was hurting. His fault Kara was maybe dying out there and Lena, the woman she loved and who made her happy at last was having to watch her suffer. Winn would always love Kara, but it was more of as a goofy big sister these days and he couldn't live with himself if he lost this family too.
He sucked in a breath to argue but noticed the tightening of Lucy's lips. He knew that hard jaw, it reminded him of Kara when he and James wanted to be heroes. Arguing was pointless. He would have to be sneaky, just like he and James were with Guardian.
"Fine. I need a shower and a few hours sleep." He said with a deep sigh, makings sure his gaze hit the floor and his shoulders slumped enough to make Lucy think she had beaten him in his exhaustion.
Lucy looked at him suspiciously for a moment before the calling of her name drew her attention to the command screen in the centre of the room and she waved Winn goodbye with an insincere, "Come back in the second you're ready."
Win waited until Lucy was thoroughly distracted before he swivelled back to his seat, lifted his DEO laptop and the emergency tactical bag he had packed in case of zombie apocalypse.
Back at his flat Winn was deep into the background check on Casey Mulligan's foster sister; Emily Stuart. On the surface she seemed perfectly innocent. A nurse and single mother. Her dead beat boyfriend ran out when their son was five: adorable little Casey jnr.
If naming her child after her foster brother wasn't damming enough the fact that Emily lived in an apartment in a good neighbourhood, which she couldn't ever have afforded alone raised another red flag. Winn had done some deep dive financial checks and the transfers of large sums from Casey's accounts after private security jobs matched up just a little too well with large one off payments made on her mortgage which left her free and clear thirty years sooner than she could ever have dreamed of.
So Emily and her brother were a lot closer than she was claiming. Winn can't help but think about his relationship with Alex, J'onn and Kara. He would do anything for them. Just like a brother. If he was on the run, could he resist talking to his family. To a nephew who was his namesake? For an entire year? What if there was an emergency?
Winn sighed in the darkness of his apartment. He was almost sure that Emily had lied to the FBI. She had some means of finding her brother but his hunch wasn't enough to pull her in for questioning and there is no actual evidence of contact. Winn stared at the picture of the smiley blonde nurse and her little boy he had pulled from social media. She seemed so innocent, almost a bit like Kara.
Even if he spoke to her, he doubted she would betray her brother,
An even if he could find some evidence to bring her in she would sit in questioning for hours...hours in which the chaos in the city would worsen and God knows what would be happening to his family.
Winn paced in the darkness of his apartment, the Catco news channel played on mute on his TV showing the city tearing itself apart as factions of Cadmus and their supporters rioted throughout the city.
What to do?
What could he do?
What could he do to protect his family?
He could go back to the DEO and try to convince Lucy to bring Emily in or…
Winn strode to the sideboard and grabbed up the photo of himself as a boy smiling and laughing with an action figure as his Dad bounced him on his knee. It was the only picture he had of his father, the only reminder he allowed himself of him, the man he loved before he died and became Toyman.
Winn stared blindly for a moment at the picture. What would he do to make this right? To save his family?
Winn slammed the picture down and slid the back of the frame out revealing a key taped to the back of the picture.
With a trembling hand Winn fingered the key and twirled it between his fingers.
He had never gone to the storage locker that his dad used as his workshop. He was afraid to, and the thought of turning it over to the authorities, the last vestiges of his father…he just couldn't.
Winn was pretty sure it no longer contained the toys and action figures that his father built and had delighted him as a child, but rather contained the workshop of the Toyman, the serial killer, genius bomber.
Perhaps, perhaps that was what Winn needed to protect his family.
Cadmus acted without mercy and Lillian Luthor was a genius. It was time to fight fire with fire. Winn was the son of the Toyman and he had been terrified of becoming like his father. Terrified that if he ever really let his mind free reign he could become like him…but perhaps acting without mercy was what was needed.
The side of the light had failed, it would take the grey to stop Cadmus.
With dark eyes and a short nod to himself Winn grabbed his laptop, emergency tactical bag and the key.
Ironic really, Toyman ruined his first family, but now the son of Toyman had a family to save.
Chapter 2: Rise of the grey and new toys.
Winn stood outside Emily Stuart's building less than six hours later. He had checked in with the DEO through a backdoor in the server Alex had made him install last year. It was just in case the government ever got anymore funny ideas about using the DEO for more nefarious purposes or if they decided to turn against Kara. Winn had thought Alex paranoid but now he was seeing the necessity of her planning for every contingency and being an over protective nutcase.
The DEO were still chasing their tales: following anonymous tips and raiding old L-Corp warehouses that he knew Lena had already insured were decommissioned. As intent on removing Lex's legacy as the DEO had been, Lena had been ruthless about rooting out anything Lex had left behind which could threaten Kara, the love of her life. With renewed determination Winn closed the laptop and hefted his kitbag and the case of other toys he had retrieved from his father's workshop, and some he had quickly tinkered with to his own design. Winn had felt like a mad evil genius playing in his father's workshop but when the slightly unhinged laugh of glee had attempted to pass his lips he had pulled himself out of there, and remembered he had a family to save. He couldn't afford to go full Toyman loony tunes.
Emily Stuart lived in a nice apartment in a good part of the city. The security door on the building entrance, the security cameras in the lobby and security system in the apartment were all slightly above average…and therefore child's play for Winn to bypass. In less than five minutes Winn was inside her building and then her apartment. Looking around at the open plan room Winn took in the photographs of a smiling blond woman and a small boy with sandy hair and a gap toothed smile. The picture of Emily hugging her son Casey Jnr and her brother Casey Snr reaffirmed his plan. With a tight jaw Winn stepped into the room and began to set up. He knew he had less than an hour, Emily's phone showed she had just dropped her son off at school and was making her way home to change for work. With the riots all nurses were being called back to the hospitals. He had to be ruthless and he had to be quick.
The keys jangled in the door and Winn let out a deep breath. He called upon his training at the DEO and every bubbling hard emotion he had ever felt to freeze his face to impenetrable granite. If he saw his own face, gone would be the usual smiley and goofy Winslow Schott. Dressed in his black shirt and jeans, minus his usual cardigan, he seemed older and less approachable.
Emily breezed into the kitchen and failed to see Winn lounging on her couch at first. He was still as a statue, his eyes dead and jaw tight. When Emily spun to lift a mug from the half counter of the kitchen overlooking the sitting area she saw him and let out a sharp cry of surprise, dropping her mug and freezing for a second.
"Ahhh" Emily cried, her eyes wide and a fine tremble beginning in her body. Winn and Emily stared at each other for a frozen moment before she jumped forward to a knife block and brandished a rather impressive filleting knife in his direction.
"Who the fuck are you and what the fuck are you doing in my home?!" Emily cried.
Winn stared through her, his non reaction to her wielding of the knife even more unnerving.
At his silence, Emily began backing up to her bag which was set on the counter, obviously hoping to get to her phone.
"Y-Y-You stay away, I am calling the police!" Emily cried on the verge of hysteria.
Winn's face unfroze and the left side of his mouth kicked up in a cruel smirk.
"That would be unwise for little Casey Jnr," Winn said in a cold voice barely audible to Emily.
"What?" Emily whispered, her brows furrowing, colour running out of her face and her movement towards he bag halting.
Inside his own mind Winn shivered at his own dead voice. It wasn't him, he was even more disquieting than the hysteric ramblings of his father. He had to keep the act up though; he had to get what he came for. The guys would forgive him for this, he just had to make it look and sound real, he just had to do enough to save them.
"I said it would be unwise for little Casey Jnr for you to do anything, but what I say," Winn elaborated as he simultaneously made a negligent gesture to the large TV on the wall which obediently sprung to life and the sounds of children playing filled the room.
Emily dropped the knife with a harsh gasp of breath as her son's playground appeared on the TV. Automatically her eyes spotted the sandy hair of her son as he chased another boy, enjoying the free play time before school started. Their childish games and laughs out of place in the tense atmosphere of the apartment.
"What are you doing? If you hurt…" Emily said, her tone fluctuating between threatening and confused. The desperation in her eyes leaking through as she glanced between Winn's small figure and her son on the screen.
Winn's smile, if nothing else, became more pronounced.
"Threatening me, Emily Jane Stuart, would be unwise. I know you. I know your son and you know nothing of what I am capable of. You know nothing of the bomb attached to the drone currently filming your son and completely under my control." Winn said as though discussing the weather.
Emily jerked at her full name and began to shake uncontrollably at the reality that a bomb was hovering unseen over her sons head.
Seeing she was not going to speak Winn continued, "I will be kind however, I will tell you who I am." Winn made another negligent gesture and the TV screen split so that it now showed the drone feed following Casey Jnr and a screen flicking through archived film footage and stills of old newspaper.
Winn smiled softly at the new feed on the screen and turned back to Emily before making another airy gesture to the screen.
"What you are seeing on the right side of the screen is archived footage of my father's arrest and a few…family mementos of newspaper clippings about his more notorious acts. Considering your young age I will assume you do not know of The Toyman," Winn said with an arched eyebrow and at Emily's terrified shake of her head he continued.
"Yes well, my father, The Toyman, took issue with a 'friend' who stole some of his ideas so he went on what the papers called a rampage. Teddy bears stuffed with explosives, remote controlled cars with a bang…as it were."
Winn smiled with feigned pride and his tone carried a twisted amusement.
"He is currently serving concurrent life sentences for multiple murders and I am his son. A son who surpasses his genius. A son who has never been caught for his many criminal acts. A son who has built weapons and suits of armour that this country would consider weapons of mass destruction."
With every statement that Winn made Emily's eyes cast back to her son and then to the evidence of Toyman's crimes.
"What, what do you want?" Emily whispered all but ready to collapse with stress.
Winn smiled. "I am so glad you have grasped the situation Miss Stuart. What I want is simple. I want the means of communication that you are using to contact your brother."
Emily blanched back, "I don't…we don't speak, The FBI…"
Winn's face hardened and he leaped to his feet causing Emily to stagger back against the kitchen counter.
Winn strode to the half side board and leaning over he growled between his teeth, "I admire your loyalty Miss Stuart, but I have a bone to pick with Lillian Luthor and you are the link to find her. You are undoubtedly in contact with your brother who is with her and so you are in my way. You stand between me and Lillian…that is a decidedly dangerous place to be. I do not have my father's patience, but I do have his…more fun traits."
Winn clicked an unseen remote and the TV returned to showing the playground which was now suddenly being filled with footballs of all colours and shapes and a timer appeared in the top right of the screen, counting down from 5 minutes.
Winn smiled again watching as the children ran to catch the balls and began throwing them between each other, Casey Jnr with a black and white patterned ball.
"This is a warning. I'll save the bomb on the drone for the grand finale or a merciful end, depending on your next answer. The balls that my other drones have just dropped are filled with acid and a small explosive device. When the timer hits zero…boom. But don't worry, it won't kill the children, just make them more interesting to look at...a bit like a Picasso painting...with screams. Let's not forget the screams." Winn said with barely contained giggles.
Emily Stuart paled even further if possible and floods of tears began to cascade down her cheeks. With a savage cry of "wait!" she sprinted to her bedroom, almost slipping on the wooden floor. Not a minute later she slid on her knees back into the room at Winn's feet holding up a small black burner phone.
"Here, Here, Take it, Take it," she wailed.
Winn flinched at her hysteria but clicked the screen off and plucked the phone from Emily's shaking hands.
"Thank you my dear, your son will be fine so long as you don't tip off your brother by some other means that I am coming by. Good day."
And before Emily could react, Winn swept up his bags, unplugged a small USB from the back of the TV and all but ran from the apartment, leaving Emily weeping on the floor.
Winn didn't stop running until he was back at his van, locked in the back and struggling to control his breathing as his lungs tried to hyperventilate and his stomach sought to revolt and expel its contents.
Tears streamed down Winn's cheeks as he replayed his words and actions. Emily's desperate cries echoed in his head. Oh God, he threatened a child. The balls contained nothing more than a party popper, he had hopped he wouldn't need to make some "explode" and cut the feed so the noise would break Emily into giving him what he needed.
He was no better than his father. It had all come too easily! He had planned it all so simply, even if it was all a ruse, he had still thought up these sick devices and schemes. He could have so easily made it real.
20 minutes passed as Winn choked and coughed.
The small glimmer of the little black phone caught his eye and with a forced calming breath he sat up.
He had gotten what he came for. The horribleness needed to be worth something. On auto pilot Winn plugged the burner phone into his computer setup and began running back traces on the phone's past calls.
Winn tried to calm his harsh breathing, carrying out the meditative breathing J'onn and his father had let him take part in when he had managed to shut up for a while. The Martian calming exercise slowly brought his breathing under control. While the trace ran on the phone he checked in at the DEO and was frustrated to see Lucy still had them chasing their tails and she hadn't tried to contact him after almost 8 hours.
Winn, without any ego, can say he is one of the best hackers and analysts the DEO has, yet Lucy hadn't called for him to get back in. Winn growled to himself. It was now 36 hours since Lena was taken and 26 hours since Alex, Kara, J'onn and the DEO tactical team were taken. Kara had been bleeding for 20 hours since she was shot…what else had they done to her? To Lena? To Alex?
Nausea turned in Winn's stomach.
The computers beeped and a location popped up. With an aborted whoop of joy Winn pulled up the address. He knew where they were!
But… could he trust Lucy with the information? The president had ordered the DEO to take a back seat and the FBI to lead. Could either group be trusted? Lillian and Cadmus routinely had outright moles in government agencies and sympathisers at least. Could he risk his family on the unknown?
Winn glanced at his kit bags and at the cases choking the van which he had taken from his dad's work shop.
Winn knows what he has to do, but it means another step into the grey, a step into a darker part of it.
He couldn't hold back.
He would have to be ruthless.
He would have to be his father's son.
With a glance at the burner phone and another at the frozen image of his friends on their knees, beaten and bloody, Kara shot and crying…What would he do for family?
Winn's resolve hardened. There was no price too high to pay, and he can't trust anyone else.
God forgive him, may his friends forgive him, the Son of Toyman must rise and the title must become his.
Chapter 3: War of the Toys: a Toyman crowned.
Winn breathed heavily as he surveyed the old mall that Cadmus was working out of. If he didn't hate them all so much he would have praised their fucking genius. The abandoned mall on the outskirts of the city had closed five years ago when a re-gentrification project a few miles to the east sucked all the life and custom from it. Apart from a few junkies there was no-one close by enough to notice a few trucks coming and going every now and then. The expanse of over ground parking offered clear lines of sight and the underground parking structures would be easily converted to clandestine bunkers and supply depos for discreet drop offs and pickups. The shop units allowed compartmentalisation and the already present CCTV would be easily upgraded, allowing for excellent security.
It had taken Winn 60 minutes to devise a plan of attack. 60 minutes of letting his mind free reign for the first time since he was a child. Every mad thought and unleashed idea allowed eccentric and crazy freedom. 60 more minutes were used to set up his toys and slave them to the command gauntlet of the Guardian armour.
Open attack wasn't an option, Cadmus would see him coming from a mile away and then his friends were hostages Lillian would have no compunction in torturing to get him to surrender himself.
Stealth though couldn't be his plan either. Toys were not meant to be quiet things, they were meant to be played with, to be noisy and chaotic. Winn would use that. He would use that which his enemy least expected to gain victory.
Lillian Luthor and Cadmus had taken his family, they had taken his friends. He was going to take them back or die trying…and take as many of the bastards with him as he could. Even if he fails, he is sure in the confusion he would cause Alex would improvise something or would be able to protect Kara at least. He had to depend on his friend's ability to improvise, hopefully just long enough for his mad cap plan to work.
Winn drove his van into the mall carpark doing his best to look curious but clueless. He stopped the van, pulled his dorky cardigan on and stepped out with his tablet running a broadcast triangulation program, a single backpack was slung on his shoulder and he proceeded to wander closer and closer to the underground car park entrance. He kept his eyes down and muttered to himself, for all the world giving the impression of a geek following a trail and lost in his tablet.
Winn was aware of the movement on his periphery but pretended to be oblivious, purposefully glancing towards the satellite dish on the top of the mall. Even prepared for it the blow to the back of his head hurt like a mother!
Darkness. Step one complete.
A sharp slap brought Winn roaring back to consciousness with a sharp jerk.
"Wah?! Uh, by the force, my head!" Winn grumbled blinking rapidly.
His vision swam and his head thumped but after a few short blinks the room came into focus. A rudimentary command centre had been set up in what looks to have been an Apple store. The poetic irony was delicious. One homogenising group of bandits, afraid of anything different, in the home of another.
Lillian Luthor stood before him with a cruel dry smile on her lips looking like the cat who had caught the canary. Men in tactical gear roamed around behind her, a setup of computers seemed to be monitoring the riots in the city and co-ordinating groups via social media. The imposing face of Hank Henshaw, lit eerily by his half blue side, scowled at him.
Inside his head Winn whooped, he was alive and inside.
Rubbing his forehead, Winn plastered a terrified and shocked expression on his face.
"Oh crud!"
Lillian's lips tilted into a more pronounced closed mouth smile at his utterance of despair. Her eyes cut to Henshaw giving him a small self -satisfied nod which he responded to by relaxing infinitesimally from his militarily stiff stance.
"Winslow Schott Jnr. What a pleasure to have you join us," Lillian said.
"Uh, I take it this is an inconvenient time, I should be going…" Winn said in a desperate and squeaky voice.
"Oh no Mr. Schott, I have a few questions for you and you are always welcome to join your friends downstairs. The more hostages…I mean guests, the merrier," Lillian laughed.
Winn curled into himself protectively on the small iron chair and plunged his hands deep into his soft cardigan pockets.
"Uh, I am a government agent, here under orders and my team…" Winn began to bluff, following the script he had prepared.
Lillian cut across him, "Your team is locked up downstairs and as for the rest of the DEO, well considering you came here by yourself and we are yet to be under siege, I can only surmise through my great intellect that you came alone!"
Winn flinched dramatically and stuttered "I, You, No…"
"Yes," Lillian hissed.
Henshaw handed Lillian his backpack and a clipboard which she survey with a raised eyebrow which reminded him painfully of Lena. God he hoped she was OK.
"I admit to being impressed that you tracked us here. I was sure I had scrambled the broadcast enough, but computers were always Lex's forte rather than mine. You came here with a van filled with sub par computers, some empty crates and a box of teddy bears?"
Lillian's voice held her condescension and confusion and before she could think more on those empty crates and the oddity of the situation he jumped in, "Hey those teddy bears are voice activated, fully interactive furry friends of my own design and destined for the Luthor Children's Hospital toy drive!"
Winn pulled his face into a mask of mock outrage that Lillian had mistaken his genius for children's toys.
Lillian snorted at his whiny tone and rolled her eyes, "You truly are a funny little hobbit Mr Schott. Smart, but odd, as only truly great intellects are. Tell me, is that the reason you are here alone? Did the DEO fail to see your genius?"
Winn pulled an annoyed face, "The DEO has been pulled back by order of the president to try and limit the damage your announcement of our existence did. Now the half trained monkeys at the FBI are leading the investigation and well…"
Lillian Luthor laughed, full blown and with real joy. The laughter made her look instantly younger as her usual smug and superior look faded. For a moment he could see the beauty she must have been in youth and not twisted by hatred.
"The FBI? Ha, no wonder they have had no luck in finding us. Oh this is better than we could ever have expected. "The smile on Lillian's face made Winn flinch for real and he made no effort to hide it. God he was never going to joke with Lena about who had the worst parents ever again. Lillian had all the maternal warmth of a rabid polar bear.
When back under control Lillian turned to a now smirking Henshaw. Take him to his friends and set up the camera, we will broadcast a new message to the city and the country. With an extra hostage having dropped into our hands we can dispose of one of the others. Perhaps one of the aliens as planned, that should whip up our supporters and reassure those who were flagging that we are untouchable now. While the city burns we can begin preparing phase two. This will act as the perfect distraction."
Henshaw nodded and grabbed Winn in a vice like grip by his arm. His fingers felt wrong, too cold and too hard. Winn yelped and Lillian frowned slightly at Henshaw, "Be careful, he may prove useful as a new Jeremiah."
With that disturbing statement Henshaw grunted and beganpulling him a little more gently after him. Winn was dragged, tripping over his feet behind Henshaw but his mind was on Lillian's words.
She planned to kill J'onn or Kara. Winn struggled to keep his breathing calm and to not snarl and just jump the gun. He had to wait until he was with his friends. Lillian was using all of this as a distraction; there was a grander plan afoot. A more dangerous one. Any wavering of his resolve hardened. The city couldn't survive any more violence. The riots were bad enough and the alien community was already battered. Whatever Lillian had planned he had to stop…by any means necessary.
Henshaw dragged Winn down a stationary escalator and across the lower floor of the mall. Two armed guards stood outside a shuttered unit. The shutter had been reinforced with steel mesh. With a nod one turned and inserted a key with a quick twist which began winding up the clanking shutter.
He could first see feet pacing about behind a second set of steel bars. Winn cursed internally, a steel cage, inside a shop unit, with a concrete block back wall. His mind did quick calculations…his plan should still work, the back wall looked just far enough from the cage door.
When the shutter was raised enough Vasquez , the leader of the DEO TAC Unit rushed the bars, "Winn!" she cried. The four members left from her team rushed forward too, their hard faces breaking in worry. Winn knew these people: Thompson, Benett, Dirken, Quan and the deceased Branton whose corpse lay in the corner of the cell. The fuckers had locked them in that cage with the body of their friend.
Winn swallowed his anger and nodded at Vasquez as Henshaw opened the cage. J'onn remained seated in a stupor as the power dampening collar stole his mind and abilities. Alex, tear stained and exhausted was lying over a prone Kara, her tac gear covered in dried blood. Kara was pale and sweaty, the bullet wound in her shoulder patched with Alex's shirt and some emergency medical provisions from the teams belts. Lena sat, her Luthor Ice queen mask in full force, with Kara's head on her legs while she was gently stroking her hair.
"Winn" Alex whispered as he was thrown into the cell.
The door clanked behind him and the shutter rolled closed. The TAC team surrounded him and Alex scrambled to his side. For a moment Winn lay on his side letting the jarring of his bones die down.
"Winn, are you alright?" Winn what happened?" Winn is help on route?" "Winn?" The voices clamoured at him. He blinked and allowed his eyes to scan around the room.
Alex was the first to spot what he was doing, "No, No cameras, and no listening devices that we can see. There's no way out so I suppose they don't think them necessary."
Winn sighed. He reached forward and fell into Alex's arms. He clung to her. "I am so glad you're OK."
Alex stiffened at first but counter to normal stoic attitude she melted quickly into the embrace.
Scrambling back, Winn crawled quickly to Lena and Kara. "How is she?" he asked.
Lena's lips trembled and her head made the slightest shake. Alex came up beside Winn and rested a hand on Kara's head trapping Lena's hand too.
"She lost a lot of blood and the damned collar is stopping her from healing….she needs out of here Winn. What's going on? How are you here? Where is the DEO?"
Winn sighed "The president ordered the DEO to stand down to minimise the damage caused by Lillian outing you all. The FBI is leading the investigation and between it and Lucy Lane fucking it all up as the acting DEO director…" Winn's voice had been rising as he recounted his tale and his fists clenched.
Alex shot him a concerned look and put a calming hand on his arm, "Hey Winn, breathe."
Winn breathed deep forcing himself to un-tense.
"How did you get here? Did my mother…did Lillian, take you?" Lena asked. Her voice was broken from crying and barely above a whisper.
Winn flinched and both Alex and Lena noticed. "I got a lead on finding you but Lucy was playing by the book. A good fucking soldier like her daddy. I decided I wanted to save my family more than I gave a shit about the rules and PR. I did some…less than legal things…some less than heroic things, to find you all. Then I just came here to get you all."
Lena's brows scrunched, "You came here alone…You came after my mother, head of Cadmus, a Luthor…alone."
"Jesus, Winn, we're fucked." Alex swore.
Winn stayed silent, letting her incredulous tone wash over him. His friends always forgot who he was, they always underestimated him. He even encouraged it. Liked it. It gave him a sense of safety. It let him pretend he was the harmless hobbit, the hero's side kick he had always wanted to be.
Not anymore.
"And I am the son of Toyman" Winn whispered darkly.
"What?" Alex said looking at him like he was mad. Lena however just weighed him with her gaze, and with a small nod it seemed she finally saw him, finally understood. If anyone would, it was her.
"I am Toyman" Winn said more firmly as he rolled to his feet.
"And I have a plan to get us out of here."
Alex took a breath to speak but Lena held up a commanding hand which hailed her silence.
The DEO Tac team had been watching their interaction with confusion and it was to them Winn turned.
"Get everyone against the cell door away from the exterior wall. Help move Kara and J'onn."
"Hey, wait, what?" Alex began .
"Alex, if you want to save Kara, do as I say. Trust me." Winn said holding her eyes.
Alex weighed him, her sniper stare boring into his soul and for the first time seeing something dangerous.
She nodded slowly and began dragging Kara and J'onn towards the cell door.
Winn reached inside his mouth and felt around for the micro wire attached to his back molar. Pulling and gagging he retrieved the small dime sized disc he had stored in his stomach.
Alex's eyes shot to her hairline, the DEO team and Lena looked at him like he was some strange alien they had never encountered before.
"It's going to get noisy, so cover your heads and ears," was the only warning Winn gave as he pressed the disk and it flashed red .
The group stood huddled together in silence. One minute passed, two, three, four. The tense bodies around him began relaxing and heads began glancing around them, underwhelmed at the silence.
"Winn, maybe it didn't…" Lena began only to be interrupted as an explosion rocked the mall on the opposite side of their location.
"What the fuck Winn?" Alex whispered harshly.
Winn smiled and laughed with a little madness leaking in, "The teddy bears came for a picnic."
The mad laugh caught in his throat as more explosions sounded and the sounds of alarm, running feet and panic began filtering into them.
A massive explosion from outside could be heard and the ground shook. "That's the van going up right on time" Winn mused.
The group huddled closer.
The two guards outside could be heard shouting and then the clomping of feet as they stormed off.
"What now, we're still locked up?" Vasquez asked.
Winn smiled again, the creepy smile they were growing to fear.
"The distraction has worked, so now part two starts." Winn pressed the disk again and then threw it toward the exterior wall opposite them and cried, "Get down and kiss your asses goodbye, this will work or kill us all! Ha Ha Ha!"
A faint call of "BEEBO LOVES YOU" in a squeaky voice sounded before the back wall exploded inwards. The group pelted with stone and concrete.
When the ringing in Winn's ears stopped and the team crawled off him and began staggering forward he saw the massive hole in the wall.
Movement from the dusty hole had Alex and the Tac team tensing to fight but Winn held up a stilling hand as he strode forward and like a father greeting a child he bent down to greet the small blue and purple Beebo toys that began marching through the Haze. "Beebo loves you" The toys cried as they homed in on Winn, pulling bags behind them and soon followed by toy drones in a rainbow of colours carrying more bags and a swarm of small radio controlled cars.
"The bags contain weapons and kit. Suit up. I have something to get the collars off," Winn said. He made to dive into the bag the Beebo was carrying when Alex spun him around and grabbed him by the collar.
"What the fuck Winn!" Alex cried looking half terrified, half outraged.
Winn was fed up with this and he very calmly gripped Alex's hands, not flinching under her hands and angry glare as he normally would.
"I am the son of Toyman Alex, what did you think was going to happen? The DEO is powerless and we can't trust anyone. I did what I had to in order to protect my family. You seem to forget I am a certified genius on the same level as you Alex…maybe higher. I tried to hide from those facts most of my life. Tried to be anything the opposite of my father, tried to be the Tech hobbit, then the sidekick of two heroes, and you know what? I am tired. I am my father's son, but I am not my father. I can choose to use that genius how I want. To harm or to help, and I choose to help my family, and anyone who gets in my way is going the same way as that wall!"
Winn's speech was delivered with a matter of fact and resigned tone. No heat, no anger, just tiredness and resolve as he flicked his thumb at the blasted wall behind him.
Alex's face cycled through confusion, anger, empathy, pride and a host of other emotions he couldn't quite fathom ,before she settled on resigned anger. With a small shove she released him and brushed past him muttering, "We are talking about this later and we are not calling you Toyman...get a better codename."
Winn froze for a second before nodding and fumblingly reverting to type for a moment, "Uh, yeah sure, I'll fill out a report. Reports are fun, maybe com Cisco about the name…" he rambled before Lena's amused gaze and flickering concerned look to Kara snapped him out of it.
With a cough Winn refocused, "Right, uh collars."
Winn went to the first kit bag the Beebos were carrying and pulled out a brightly coloured water pistol.
"What the hell is that?" Vasquez questioned as she snapped a magazine in her M4 from the second kit bag.
Alex, Lena and the rest of the group cast him confused looks.
With rolled eyes, Winn pointed the pistol at Kara and shot a stream of yellow goo at the Kryptonite collar. Before anyone could react he did the same to J'onn's power suppression collar.
"Hey!" Alex cried.
"It's a custom acid my dad created. I found it in drums in his old Toy workshop. It's supposed to melt metal without damaging plastics or organic material."
"Supposed to?" Lena hissed looking concerned.
Winn rolled his eyes again and jerked his head at J'onn. The hissing sound of the acid intensified as it worked through the collars and then it snapped. J'onn's eyes glowed red and before their eyes his form rippled. The last Green Martian stood before them, towering over everyone.
"Ahh, it is good to be free. Thank you agent Schott, but we will be discussing your unorthodox methods and the illicit materials you seem to have squirreled away from your father."
J'onn gave him a fatherly look, but he seemed amused. While he had been locked in his own mind at least he had been aware it seemed.
With a brief nod to his team J'onn returned to his Hank Henshaw persona and turned to Kara.
The acid was taking longer to eat through the collar as it contained Kryptonite that it couldn't dissolve. When it was about half way through J'onn reached forward and snapped the collar with his enhanced strength.
"She's lost too much blood to heal quickly, we need to get her back to the DEO," Alex said as she swooped in to check her sister.
"J'onn should fly her to the DEO, he can put her under the sun lamps and muster the DEO to come here and crush Cadmus. Kick Lane out on her ass too," Winn muttered.
"We can't risk her taking a bullet if I fly out of here with her…" J'onn began, but was cut off.
"That won't be a concern," Winn interrupted as he pulled on the Guardian gauntlet from the bag and pulled up the site map showing the position of his toys, "Even after taking out the wall and the detonations to cause the distraction on the other side of the mall I still have over three dozen Teddy bears in the air being carried above head by drones. Each one is wired with a small explosive and is programmed to protect you guys as identified by a very basic facial recognition program."
"Teddy bears came for a picnic…" Vasquez mumbled in awe.
J'onn's eyebrows shot up and he was about to comment when Lena cut in, "If Winn says they will protect you then they will. You have to get Kara out of here and return with more firepower."
J'onn studied Lena, then Winn and the team. Alex offered a small nod as she racked a Beretta and put on her badass face. He surveyed the Tac team and then looked with concern at the broken form of Kara, who was all but his daughter.
"Stay alive, that's an order!" J'onn said and then scooped Kara up and flew at velocity out the hole in the wall, causing the drones to waver in his wake.
Sounds of gunfire and small explosions kicked up from outside. Winn glanced at his gauntlet and after a moment said, "They're clear."
Lena and Alex's shoulders drooped in relief. With a deep breath Lena strode to the kit bag and withdrew a Beretta of her own. "We need to delay their withdrawal until J'onn can get back" Lena said.
The Tac team's safeties as one clicked off and they formed up behind Alex who looked like she was about to lay waste to Troy.
"Allow me, " Winn said with an easy wave as he stepped in front of them and sprayed the cage's gate and shutter with acid. In a matter of moments both dissolved.
"Ok, form up, we advance as a column with rotating lead and rear…" Alex began.
"Uh Alex…I have a better plan…" Winn interjected, his usual hesitant tone reasserting itself but his gaze did not waver from Alex.
Alex's jaw tensed but she nodded for him to continue.
The small act of trust and acknowledgment made Winn's stomach unclench. They would be Ok.
Winn smiled evilly and giggled like the mad genius he was learning to embrace.
"Watch this," he said.
Pulling up the gauntlet again and rapidly typing commands the small army of drones and radio controlled cars around them whirled forward out into the corridor.
Alex came to watch the gauntlet over his shoulder. "You're mapping the interior and marking hostiles." Alex said.
Winn laughed again, prompting Lena to comment, "That laughing is still creepy," to which Winn shrugged.
"The cars are doing more than that," he explained, "Watch."
Winn pulled up a drone feed of the corridor to their right, two armed Cadmus agents were looking confused at a small red radio car that had driven up to them. There was no audio but the two were obviously confused and discussing the car. Their guns at the ready.
Winn smiled evilly and hit a command on his gauntlet. The little red car suddenly exploded and the two Cadmus men dropped like stones crying out and grasping their legs and groins.
"What the fuck?!" Alex cried, looking at him with horror.
Reading her expression Winn smiled and made calming gestures, "No, no, no, they aren't dead. The cars only have a small explosive, the front internal cavity is lined with a row of ball bearings so they acts as shrapnel grenades. The cars are so low down they only cause damage to the legs and groin when they detonate, I promise. There is a 98% survival rate, you would need to be very unlucky to hit the femoral artery!"
Alex still looked outraged but Lena cut across her. "Good. It will disable them until J'onn can return and it gives us a free run to try and find my mother." Turning to Alex, Lena continued, "Their Cadmus Alex, they would kill us with a smile. Playing fair will only get you killed."
Alex clenched her jaw and nodded reluctantly.
"How many can you take out? Can you locate Lillian and give us a clear run to her?" Alex asked. Winn nodded resolutely and began typing at the gauntlet. Small pops and explosions began echoing down the corridor.
The DEO team swept through the mall disarming any unfortunate Cadmus soldiers they came across who had run afoul of Winn's toys. Winn's drones had located Lillian packing up at the command station on the second floor as she prepared to make her escape. Unfortunately she had her men shoot the drone down and Winn was re-tasking one to try and find her again.
The team rushed up the stationary escalator but by the time they made it, there was nothing left but smoking computers.
"Fuck!" Lena cried.
The DEO team spread out but there was no sign of Lillian or any of the computer technicians.
Winn lifted his confiscated backpack which Lillian had left on the desk beside the chair he had woken up in. Rifling through he saw his tablet and toys were still present so the hope of remote detonating them and killing the wicked witch if she had taken them with her was out.
"That bitch, she must be headed to the roof. Winn, send a drone to check." Lena cried as she kicked the consol.
Alex moved forward to console her when there was a blur of blue and black that sent Alex sailing across the room.
"I am afraid I can't allow you to follow your mother Lena." Hank Henshaw's gravelly voice said. His blue implants glowed and pulsed, and with each movement his body whirred with metallic gears.
The Tac team and Lena opened fire but with inhuman speed Henshaw blurred forward, his right arm up and deflecting bullets from the vulnerable left hand side of his face with melodic pings.
Lena emptied her gun but it wasn't enough. With two large strides he grabbed Lena by the arm and pulled her close to him.
Winn tapped his gauntlet furiously but dropping a teddy bear bomb would likely hurt or kill Lena.
"You don't deserve the name Luthor, you traitor!" Henshaw growled. The Tac team stood frozen, afraid to hit Lena if they fired. Alex groaned and came limping forward, her gun levelled at Henshaw.
"Let her go!" Alex cried
Henshaw, smiled cruelly and his grip on Lena intensified. Lena winced. "Stop moving or I crush her," he warned.
Alex froze.
It was a standoff and one which was guaranteeing Lillian's escape. Winn was furious. Henshaw was caught. Even if he tried to escape he was done for and J'onn had to be close to returning.
The desperation in Henshaw's eye, the mad frenzy of hate spoke of martyrdom. He had stayed knowing he would not be able to escape.
Winn had to act or Henshaw would kill Lena and God knows how many others, maybe Alex…maybe Vasquez, before they could put him down. Kara would not survive losing more people she loved, not ever again.
Winn giggled into the tense standoff, momentarily distracting Henshaw's attention.
"Something funny?" Henshaw growled focusing on Winn.
Winn pulled a YO-YO from his retrieved backpack and began playing with it. Yo-You go up, Yo-Yo go down.
"I just find it funny that the great Cadmsu was destroyed by a bunch of toys. It's really kinda pathetic." Winn said, moving slowly forward. He had to get in striking distance.
Henshaw thought him a wimp, a computer hobbit. He had no idea he was letting a lion stalk closer.
"You know nothing, boy! Cadmus will save this world…" Henshaw evangelised.
Lena was watching him, her eyebrows scrunched. She knew he had a plan, just not what.
"Yeah, yeah! Cadmus is awesome. Blah Blah Blah." Winn interrupted.
"But be honest, you were bested by a bunch of toys. A bit like this Yo-You, and all it can do is go down and up, down and up…" Winn matched actions to words pushing and pulling the bouncing Yo-Yo. "Down-and Up….DOWN!" Winn yelled the last and Lena tried her best to duck, her eyes blown wide in horror and surprise. Henshaw didn't move, too shocked by the actions of the cardigan wearing nerd.
His grip holding Lena was loosened by her dropping her knees which meant she managed to drop down a few inches. That was all it took so that when the suddenly blazing white hot string of the Yo—yo which Winn had swung forward from his hands, wrapped around Henshaw's neck she was clear.
Henshaw tried to scream, a cruel metallic sound. His hands flew off Lena and tried to grab the string which was now burning white hot and wrapped about his neck. He mewled and groaned as he fell backwards and Lena scrambled forwards to try and get away from him.
"What the fuck!" Lena cried. Winn was transfixed watching Henshaw writhe and scream. When Alex went to move forward to try and help Hensahaw, Winn lay a restraining hand on her shoulder.
"Don't. It's a thermite ribbon Alex. It's burning hot enough to cut through his enhanced metal skeleton. There's nothing you can do." Alex looked horrified.
Henshaw was silent now and with a dull thud his head clunked from his body, the weighty metal sounding dull and hollow. A perfectly cauterized wound smouldering white hot around the Yo-Yo string.
Boots pounded on steps and dumbly Winn turned to see J'onn in Henshaw shape pounding towards them with an army of DEO agents.
J'onn took one look at their shocked faces, the body of Henshaw and simply said, "What the hell happened here agents?"
Winn plopped down on his butt where he stood. He had killed a man. Maybe he wasn't so far from his father after all.
Lena fell down beside him, her stare vacant and fixed on Henshaw. "You saved my life," she said, "Thank you."
Winn let out a massive breath.
Maybe he wasn't so much like his father after all.
He had protected his family.
At any cost. It was worth it.
If the cost was being Toyman…well it was a cost he gladly paid.
The end.
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