Chapter 7—Hope

(The sewers under Arkham)

Grendle screamed in rage as his fists connected with Donna's. The makeshift club had finally broken when she slammed it down over his head. The steel pole had finally bent beyond use and now it lay as a testament to the battle taking place. Wally, for all the good it was doing him, had collected a stack of bricks in several locations and would dodge Grendle long enough to make it to one of them and hurl the bricks at him. A normal enemy like Bane—or hell even someone as tough as Bizzaro—would have been slowed down. Instead Grendle was getting madder and stronger by the second. Donna felt the monster's true power when he grabbed her by her neck and began punching her in the stomach.

"We will not be denied our vengeance!" he screamed as he struck her.

Wally ran toward him and jumped on his back, his hands covering the monster's eyes. He watched as Grendle dropped Donna and turned his attention to him. The monster rammed its back into a wall and Wally felt something snap in the lower half of his spine. He let out a loud cry of pain, then felt his hips and legs go numb. Grendle rammed his back into the wall again and Wally cried out—but from reflex this time. He felt nothing.

"Hero, you will die!" Grendle shouted.

Wally was about to let go when he felt something shove through him. Everything began moving slow for a moment. He looked down to see a piece of iron sticking through Grendle's chest. The monster moaned and tried to move forward, but it was unable to. It made sense in a way… Granny West had told him fairy tells when he was younger. In all of the stories the fairies, trolls, leprechauns, and even ogres where hurt by iron. So the stories where right Iron, pure iron was a weakness to most mythical creatures. It was the same for Grendle. Flash dropped one hand and felt down his side. The iron had passed through his lower back. If he could get to a hospital or medical unit he would live. He watched Donna rise and look toward them. Her face showed utter horror.

"Wally!" she screamed.

"The hero and us shall die together. It is an honorable way," Grendle said as his eyes began to close.

"You beast!" Donna said as she struck him.

"His family…his ancestors killed our brothers, fathers, mothers… We needed to complete the cycle. No more Grendles… no more warrior heroes… We can rest," Grendle said as he began to slump.

"Donna… I can't move my legs… he's too heavy to push off, but think he's keeping me from bleeding out. We need to find a way to get me down. Go find help… I'll be fine until you can get back," Wally said as he hung in the air behind Grendle.

(Toward the opposite end of the sewer)

Kara followed Talia through the muck that filled the tunnels of the sewer. She could smell the filth down here and wondered if Luthor's body would worsen it any more than it already was. She tried to not think like that. She wanted him to face justice, but true justice was receiving what you gave. His life would pay for the life he took away from her. She felt herself shiver as she realized how much she had changed. A few hours ago she was a Kent. She believed in Ma and Pa Kent's idea of midwestern morality—and now she was ready to rip Luthor's dick off, shove it up his own ass. She heard someone moaning behind a solid wooden door to their right and walked toward it.

"This is a distraction. We need to press on," Talia said as she stopped.

Kara looked at her and then at the door. She felt some of her strength had returned and hit it with her elbow. She watched as it broke open and inside she saw Clark. Clark was lying on a table with strange energy shackles attached to his wrists and ankles. She could see that his blue eyes had been brutally torn out—and now it looked as though someone had begun slowly peeling the skin back from his right forearm. She turned and looked as Joker walked out wearing a Hawaiian shirt, barbeque apron, a pair of Bermuda shorts, and green flip-flops on his feet. He looked at her and his eyebrows arched up.

"Oh, we have guests! Why, we where just starting to cook—ain't that right, Superman old pal?" Joker laughed evilly.

"Help me," Clark could barely croak out.

"Let him go!" Kara said as she looked at the Joker.

The sound of a gun firing caught her attention and she ducked before the bullet could strike her. She looked to see Luthor standing off to the side. He was standing in front of an old propane grill and the end of the barrel of his gun glowed green.

"I came prepared for this, my little love doll," Luthor said coldly.

She felt anger rise up in herself. She wanted to fly at him and tear him apart, but he was ready for her. She smiled as realized that they weren't ready for Talia. The femme fatale moved with grace behind her. She watched Joker's smile drop slightly and he raised a Kryptonite blade. She watched as Luthor tried to shot but a throwing knife found his wrist and he dropped the gun. At that instant Kara was on him.

"Wait… Wait no we can talk about this," Luthor pleaded as he backed up.

"Talk about what, Lex? About what you did to me? About what you've done to my cousin? How about what I am getting ready to do to you?" she shouted as she grabbed a rusty iron bar that was part of the wall and ripped it out.

Lex tried to run but found himself suspended in the air. Suddenly he was thrown forward and his waist hit a damaged table. He felt a small hand holding him down while another grabbed his pants and underwear. In an instant both where ripped away. He closed his eyes and then intense pain tore through him as he felt the blunt foreign object violate him.

"Beg for forgiveness! Beg like you made me beg, you bastard!" Kara screamed as she pushed the bar deeper.

(Near the gardens)

Diana stopped as she looked at the gardens before her. The time had dropped down to five minutes until the twenty minutes was up. She started up the steps and stopped when she heard something fly toward her. She jumped back and looked at the exploding bat-a-rang embed into the ground. She looked at Bruce who moved toward her.

"Kill her, my pet. Kill her and you may feast from my love again," Ivy said seductively.

"Batman, no! Please don't do this!" Diana cried.

He stopped for a moment and shook his head. "Princess?" he asked before a tree limb caught Diana's French maid outfit and pulled back. As it lifted her, the outfit ripped and she fell to the earth.

"Diana… DIANA!" Bruce said as he turned around and looked at Ivy. "I should break you in half."

"Come now, pet, you enjoyed what we did. I didn't hear you argue once," Ivy said as she cocked an eyebrow.

"She's mine," came an angry voice behind Bruce.

He turned to look at Diana, flying toward the master of the plant world.