Apologies for taking a while with this. I just needed time to focus on delivering, in my mind, the best final chapter of this I could create. As fans of Batman, Vixen, and/or Dex-Starr, I hope all you readers like this. Please review and favorite this, and above all, have a good day!
CHAPTER THREE
CATNIP DOESN'T SOLVE EVERYTHING
"Are we ready?" A henchman in dark green clothing asked.
"What, do I look twelve? 'Course we're ready!" The second goon next blurted.
"Oh, yeah?
"Enough!" The argument got drowned out by a figure in black with a gun in his hand. Walking over to them, he held up his hand and then gripped it into a tight fist. The other two immediately shut up, recognizing the signal from their boss. "What's going on here, guys?"
"Nothing, Clay," said the first henchman. "Just making sure everything's in order." His hand unconsciously gripped onto the crate he'd been looking at beforehand.
"As much as I prefer that, I need you two to focus," Clay articulated seriously, his lip curling in frustration. "This is an important deal I've got going tonight. It's my last chance to join the Calvano Crime Family, so pull your crap together and join me. Now."
"Yes, boss." The three started walking around the bend and to the other end of the warehouse, passing piles of boxes and random assortments on the by. Just as they were twenty feet to the door, a screeching sound pierced their ears and flooded the room. Clay and the various henchman cowed in pain at the sound, covering their already-deafened ears. In anguish, some of the criminals attempted to move somewhere else, only winding up bumping into boxes or spraying obscenities on the fly.
"Owww!"
"What the hell?"
"Somebody do something!" King screamed, but by the time he'd finished, the sound had disappeared as well. He held up his hands and looked around shakenly, seeing almost nothing out of the ordinary. "Okay, what in the heck just happened? Guys?" He demanded loudly.
"Boss, look!" His eyes were directed to the nearby exit, and they nearly exploded as one of his men was chucked twenty feet into a concrete block. As he slumped into unconsciousness, the gang lord backed up and gripped his gun even harder. The panicked help exclaimed "Boss, what do we do?"
Clay turned to him with a look like he'd seen a ghost. "What do you think? Go figure out who that was and shoot them!"
Batman stepped closely behind a pair of boxes, gripping twin batarangs in his fist as he glimpsed the three henchmen in front of him. From what he'd seen in his thermal vision, there were about sixteen armed men in the building, King included. That left some work for him and his compatriots to do, but it wasn't the beatings he was worried about. Rather, it was whether or not Dex-Starr could help them succeed in catching these goons instead of butchering them like an animal.
To his luck, one of the gunmen decided to take a stroll in his direction. Throwing caution to the wind, he vaulted over the boxes that substituted for his hiding space and immediately chucked his two batarangs at him. The force sent the man towards the wall and left his clinging there, while his two allies ran towards Batman with bared fists. The dark knight blocked one swipe and pushed it to the side before using his elbow to jab the solar plexus of another. A loud pop could be heard, and Batman could only watch along with the others as he fell to the floor, the wind knocked out of him. Turning his attention back to the other goon, he simply delivered a punch to his cheek, and that was the end of that.
He shuffled over to the third henchman pinned to the wall by the batarangs, leveling an emotionless look in his line of sight. "Clay King. Tell me where he is, now." He made sure to put emphasis on the last word, causing the goon to cringe in fear.
"He's in the middle of the warehouse, where all the guns are! I swear!"
WHAM! He bolted to the door, whirling it open with the same fist he'd just started relaxing from the blow. The immediate sight was of Dex-Starr floating over at least three henchmen, the likes of which were either sporting grizzly cuts on their bodies or looked severely traumatized.
"What did you do to them?" Batman asked accusingly. The cat's darkened textures didn't become disturbed by the tone.
"Made them understand…like you say."
After assessing the knocked-out men, the detective shrugged, albeit darkly. "Remember not to cross the line, Dex-Starr. Vixen may have given you the benefit of the doubt, but I haven't."
"Dex-Starr keep that in mind." The cat floated farther down the warehouse, causing Batman to give chase. They came to a halt in a room with several operating machines and discarded packages lying about. Out of nowhere, another gunman sailed through the air with a wail and crashed into a column not far from where they were. Just as he was about to deduce what happened, Vixen came strolling in. The spiritual shape of a buffalo briefly surrounded her before disappearing into thin air.
"Tough crowd, huh?" She questioned humorously, only to notice that it hadn't broken Batman's seriousness.
"Did you see King?"
Vixen shook her head. "Not yet, though I did see a good amount of his men over in the room next door. You don't think-"
"Down!" Dex-Starr roared, his Red Lantern energy expanding and covering them. The two were about to ask what was up when they saw that his timely protection had saved them from a hailstorm of surprise bullets. Looking to the culprits at the end of the room, the cat roared once more and conjured up two bat constructs that immediately flew after the gunmen, bloodlust in their screeching. The soon-to-be victims ran with fear spurting from their faces.
"Nice save, Dex-Starr," said Vixen thankfully.
Batman muttered something and got up as the red protection faded. "We should check that room before King can get away."
"Right," Vixen agreed when the three began to race towards it. When she turned the doorknob, however, it wouldn't budge. "Huh, must be locked from the inside."
"He's in there," concluded Batman.
"Murderer!" Dex-Starr exclaimed ferociously. His energy was positively crimson, so much that he hovered closer to the door. "Let Dex-Starr at him!"
"Wait," Vixen said with her hands up defensively. "I got this." She put a finger on the totem and closed her eyes, drawing in a breath. When she opened them, the shape and impression of an elephant surrounded her body. Batman and Dex-Starr drew back, watching as she faced the door and charged with anger drawn across her face. She immediately smashed through the metal, a popping sound heard as it flew off the handles. Exchanging a look, the two barreled after her into the room, only to come face-to-face with at least ten armed men. King was standing at the front of the group with a rifle in his grasp.
"Great" Clay lamented sarcastically. "I get the Bat and some other nuts on my tail!"
Vixen's arms tensed, her body positioned in a stable yet threatening position. "We're here to bring you in, King. This ends tonight."
"For what? I was just minding my own business."
"For the murder of Gloria Flores ten years ago," Batman interjected. Saying the words spread silence over everyone there, but King's face seemed to have the most shock on it.
"…Flores? What…The chick I killed for initiation? You don't have any proof!"
"You mean besides the gun we found from your flunky Dane?" Vixen pointed out. "Or, I don't know, the witness to my right?" She jabbed a hard finger at Dex-Starr.
King's eyes focused on the floating blue cat, taking in his appearance, and then enlarged as if realizing something; the all-too-familiar look of fear had seized his visage. "No…" He whispered in an astonished voice. "You can't be…." Then, as if to check something, he rolled up his right sleeve. Located near the bottom of his arm was a pair of old scars, but from the looks of it seemed a lot like old claw marks.
"You're…the same cat that slashed me. You're…"
"Her cat," Dex-Starr snapped. "You, who killed Dex-Starr's owner. You, who profit off of suffering. You, who will feel the wrath of anger!" The aura around him began to burn brighter, causing the gunmen to draw their weapons in anticipation.
"I'm not going back to jail," King cried in an attempt to look tough, even though his body language was enough to tell otherwise.
"Then I guess we've got a brawl," Vixen spoke bluntly.
"RAGE!" Dex-Starr roared as a large sea of red, murderous constructs erupted from his mouth. They swarmed all over the space and began harassing and attacking the gunmen. With the distractions up, Batman took the opportunity to punch of them in the face and trip him, then grappled another right into a solar plexus blow. Not far behind him, Vixen had acquired the speed of a cheetah and easily dodged a hailstorm of bullets from two of the goons. Hailing a smirk, she flipped over them and then provided a snap kick, sending their guns flying high.
"What, not fast enough?" She joked. The two had no time to respond before she punched both in the face, letting them fall to the ground as her eyes searched for Dex-Starr. They soon found him floating near the ceiling, snarling in a way that sent more constructs spiraling across the room. Something in his face was ticked far more off than normal. It almost seemed like he was…happy?
Uh oh, Mari mentally thought. She cupped her hands and stood up as tall as he could. "Dex-Starr! That's enough! We just want to apprehend these guys!"
Her call had unlocked from whatever sick trance he had been in, but when his eyes locked with hers, she felt a pang of regret. "Dex-Starr not stop…won't stop, until murderer gets justice! Angry justice!" With a vicious snarl echoing off of his face, he levitated down right to her spot. "Dex-Starr thought you wanted to help…no?"
"I do, but not like this."
"I wouldn't worry about the gunmen," said a voice behind the duo. Batman has taken the opportunity to knock into submission most of the others around, their weapons scattered as much as their faces were.
"Okay…so where's King?" Vixen asked as her eyes scoured the room. She would have asked again if her senses didn't hear a pair of feet running haphazardly into the rest of the warehouse. Swirling around, she pointed a finger at the hole where the door had been, sure in her deduction. "There!"
"Murderer!" Dex-Starr flew out like a rocket towards the larger warehouse room, the two heroes close behind him. In their attempt to catch up to the pissed-off cat, they saw a glimpse of a man running several rows ahead of them. Batman correctly deduced it was their man and shot a grapnel forwards, letting the force shoot him on top of a pile. He was soon joined across the row by Vixen herself, but they couldn't see either person from the vantage point.
"Aaaaggghhh!"
Vixen and Batman looked at each other worriedly. "Dex-Starr…" She trailed off.
"We need to go. Now," He barked, embarking from the pile and bolting off as fast as he could muster. Vixen brushed off her worry and soon joined him by quickly mimicking the speed of the cheetah. Her determination crashed as her speed did, however, when she came to the spot she'd followed Batman too.
King was on the floor, whelping in pain as cuts covered his body and a small spurt of blood dripped from his rib. Floating over him was Dex-Starr in a rancorous manner, and Vixen could feel the build-up anger pouring out of him, the very thing he'd been waiting years for right in his claws. Just as he was beginning to form a construct in his midst, a batarang flew past him and into the nearest crate. He swirled around to find Batman staring daggers at him.
"Enough. We've got him," Batman stated.
Contrary to what he wanted, however, Dex-Starr's already-angered face morphed into a blue mask of hatred. "No! He killed Dex-Starr's owner! The only person in the world who loved Dex-Starr, and he killed her for money! He deserves to die!"
"Not like this. He deserves a trial in court."
"No!" Batman's move to fight him was blocked when a ray of pure red blasted him backward. He fell and hit the floor with bruises apparent. Vixen, shocked beyond belief at what was happening, pressed her amulet to summon the spirit of the only animal she knew could overpower Dex-Starr's ferocity.
"Dex-Starr…" She pleaded while drawing nearer to the feline. "Don't do this."
Despite what she'd offered, her plea hasn't visibly changed anything. Dex-Starr glowered at her in the same mean-spirited way that he'd done with Batman. "Dex-Star…want justice!" In a moment of pure hatred, he flew towards her, his claws stretched out and his teeth bared. But right when he would've struck her, Vixen closed her eyes and breathed in. The spirit of a lion surrounded her, and then and there, Vixen bellowed a mighty roar that sent shockwaves through the room. King and Batman marveled in awe at the act, but it was Dex-Starr who was so taken aback – literally – that he spiraled backward, hitting a box and crashing to the floor. His red lantern energy dissipated as he looked up weakly to see Vixen towering over him.
"You don't think I get what you're going through?" She asked strongly, bending down to look him directly in the face. "When I was a girl, my father died because bad people wanted this – my totem-" she lightly tapped the animal-shaped head on her neck, "-for all the wrong reasons. I've sought my whole life to find and make the people who took him from me pay, but if I did that? I'd be no better than them. And it would stain the memory of my father by lowering myself to their level of bloodshed."
"I know it hurts to have to miss them because of a piece of garbage's actions. And King sucks, he does, but he needs to get punished and pay the price for it in a true, honest way." Vixen stood up and gave a glowering look to the semi-conscious but injured crime lord. "If you want to honor the memory of your owner, then maybe just put all your pent-up anger into doing the right thing for once." She held out a tender hand, and Dex-Starr's weary yellow eyes considered it calculative. Then, he reluctantly let out a furry blue paw claw and took it up in her hand.
The two turned and gazed at the crime boss with disdainful looks, joined by Batman after he'd handcuffed him behind his back.
"I…I can't go to jail for this!" He wailed off like a child. "I-I was just starting out…I need a second chance!"
"From what we've seen of tonight, you've blown all your chances," Batman expressed. "Expect a prison cell in the morning."
"And a cold case unloaded on your ass," Vixen added strongly.
Dex-Starr walked forwards and looked him directly in the face from a couple yards away. Turning his face to the ceiling, his face twisted into a scowl. Suddenly, a hot, fizzling beam of angry emotions poured from his mouth and up into the ceiling, blowing a hole up there in its course. As he floated higher, he hissed at King and then turned to the pair of heroes watching him observably. He meowed something as his familiar red energy overtook him, lifting him up into the sky. The farther he went, the smaller he became, eventually disappearing into the night's stars.
Police sirens blazed in front of the warehouse. Officers were busy as could be, what with more than a dozen gun runners and their wanted leader in custody. Reports were being taken into consideration while the men were packed into cruisers and vans like sardines. King himself was pushed heavily into one at the front, and the media made sure to get breathtaking accounts of his injuries on video. The entire scene was being watched rooftops away by Batman and Vixen. Neither said a word, only daring to look at what was laid out in front of them.
"I guess you proved me wrong…"
Batman turned and cocked an eyebrow underneath the cowl. "What do you mean?"
Vixen chuckled uncomfortably. "What I mean is…this whole time, you were telling me not to trust Dex-Starr because of where he came from. I thought somewhere in him, I could understand and help him through it…but that pain, that raw anger…it's never going away. Those aspects of his psyche are what fuel him to do what he does as a Red Lantern. And I don't think putting away the guy who wacked his loving original owner will change any of that."
"Not necessarily," Batman interjected. "You empathized with him, proving that he could do what was best when push came to shove. He had enough respect for you in whatever cod he had to not kill."
She gripped her arms, too entranced by the police scene to want to answer. "…He said 'thank you'".
"Is that what he mentioned when he was leaving?"
"Yeah."
"Then maybe he really meant it."
Neither said anything after that, departing for their respective homes that night.
Somewhere deep in space, Atrocitus stirred in irritation. He looked around the bowels of space for his feline pet, only finding him floating a good distance from him. When he directed himself closer, his anger was at breaking point. "Dex-Starr! Where have you been?"
The cat looked up at him, this time not with a snarl or adorable look, but rather one hinting at inner turmoil. It was such a surprise that Atrocitus forgot what he was about to rant about.
"…What happened?"
Dex-Starr looked down and purred. "Goooottt…. jussttiicee…"
Atrocitus folded his arms. "What do yo-" the question was interrupted as Dex-Star lunged forward and immediately pushed into his chest, rubbing against it passionately. Somewhat taken aback, Atrocitus sighed and rubbed the back of his cat. Sometimes he just did things for no reason.
"I'm glad that you're back," he stated, "but I also hope you're still angry."
Hidden within his master's substitute for a hug, Dex-Starr's feline features twisted into a carnal smile.
"Yesss…stiiiillll annngrrryy…."
And that's that! Thanks to everyone who liked this story. I'm very proud to have given, at least personally, Dex-Starr some form of semi-twisted closure. More DC stories on the way soon!