Krownest, Detention Facility #0874
"What do you mean he just walked in?" Sabine demanded as the doors swished open into the elevator, "You didn't catch him?" She'd gotten word from her mother that they'd caught the maniac who killed her brother two days ago, and she'd been sent by her parents to evaluate him in any way she saw fit, and they'd gotten permission to do this from Bo-Katan herself.
The officer shook his head as the elevator dinged and began to move upwards within the facility, "He just appeared inside the headquarters, no explanation, no obvious motive, and he certainly wasn't worried," The way he said the words were giving away his tone, he clearly found this whole ordeal with the so-called "Joker" deeply disturbing, especially the fact he simply surrendered without any reason at all, "You think you can get anything out of him?"
Sabine however, wasn't feeling much better about this herself. It was only two days ago she'd gotten a message from the man himself, which was cryptic in more ways than one, and equally frightening, "I don't know," She said. Her heart still ached from her brother's death, like someone had punched a hole right through her heart, "But this man killed my brother, Officer. I have to see him."
When the elevator came to a stop, her heart ache was replaced with anger almost instantly. The doors opened to reveal the same cell block design as the Imperial one, grey panels covering angry red lights on the floor, the walls were bent like an arrowhead, and everything was made of pure durasteel, nothing could get in or out. She set her foot out onto the floor as the impact echoed through the cell block, with no one besides her or the officer with her to hear it. The halls were empty.
"We had to withdraw our guards from this hallway," The officer said eerily, "It seems our... guest has given them quite a fright, we had some of them that refused to be anywhere within a hundred feet of that room, and those weren't even the people who went in to the cell," Sabine raised an eyebrow inquisitively, as the officer sigh and spoke, "Every single one of the guards we sent in that room came out crying, distraught and scared. Even the ones who simply went to give him his meals," Sabine stared at the door to the cell as she approached, "Three of them have gone insane since they went inside," The young artist sucked in a breath as he spoke, "Miss Wren, I must say, I've never seen anything quite like him before. And your mother has to understand that. We are dealing with someone we do not understand at all."
Sabine nodded slowly, closing her eyes, steadying her breath, "Open the door." She ordered, as the officer sigh, and walked to the monitor next to the door, and punched in the code. The door opened within a second, and the first thing she noticed was the smell. The cell smelled of acid and lye, the lights were interestingly dim, and a lone figure in a grey jumpsuit sat at a table, staring at the wall with blank eyes.
She stepped down the steps into the room, seeing the man fully, noticing he was laying out three decks of old playing cards, and his face was shrouded in shadow. Sabine approached the table cautiously, pulling a chair from the corner of the room, and placed it across from the figure at the table. The man's fingers froze abruptly as he placed another card onto the desk, but he didn't look up. A moment later he resumed laying out the decks, "Hola." The man said with a giggle at the end of his words.
The air grew suddenly quiet, even the blow of the vents seemingly ceased as the man spoke, "Tell me everything," Sabine said, but the Joker only continued placing cards, "How did you find my brother?" She growled, the mission Tristan had been sent on had was top secret, only the highest officials knew of it, "Where did you see him?"
"Heh," The Joker chuckled, his grin growing larger and larger, "HehehehehahaHAHAHA! I'm supposed to being telling the jokes around here, colors," He leaned forward, allowing her to get a good look at his face. His face was pale, his grin stretching from ear to ear, and a neat mound of green hair on the top of his head, "You don't seem capable of accepting that maybe some of your officers are more loyal to cash than honor, heheh!"
Sabine clenched her fists and grit her teeth at his face, "How did you find my brother?" She asked, ignoring his answer.
"Does it bother you?" He asked, leaning forward even more, "To know just how alone you really are?" He asked, his grinning face inches away from hers, "Bean." Sabine finally snapped at the name Ezra had called her, and seized his collar, pulling him over the table to her face, "Oh? Did I touch a nerve?" She growled and threw him into the wall, the sound of his skull cracking against the metal could be heard through the entire facility.
She threw a punch at his skull, "How do you know about him?!" She screamed, her mind frantically trying to work out ways to make him talk, "WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT EZRA BRIDGER?!" She brought her boot down on his face, making him collapse onto the ground, but he just laughed. And he laughed. He kriffing laughed.
"AHAH! AHOOHOO! You have- nothing!" He shouted at her from the ground, his voice sounding of pure delight, "Nothing to do with all of your anger!" She grabbed his hair, and smashed his face against the table, but he kept laughing. Always laughing.
She put her hands around his neck, and squeezed, leaning in closely, "Where. Is. He?"
"Taken care of," He choked out, making her eyes go wide in shock, "Haha, you should see the look on your fa-" She punched him again, knocking him to the ground again, as she brought up her foot, slamming it down on his skull. Again. And Again. And again until she drew blood with each stomp, "Heh- heh- ack! That was..." He gagged as she rushed away from him, "Hilarious."
Sabine ran out of the cell, closing the door behind her, as she gasped for air. And then the tears came. And they came hard. She slid down the wall, her hands covering her face, sobbing loudly when she hit the floor. The artist sat there crying, crying out for him, "No... no, not him..."
"EZRAAAAAA!"
In The Cell,
The Joker coughed as he sat up, his face bleeding and bruised, but he was cackling maniacally, "HEEEEEHEEEE! AHOHOHAHAHAaaa..." He got up in his chair sitting there laughing to himself, his cards sitting before him as he pulled one out, and a clank could be heard from above him, as he looked at the card he'd pulled from the deck, "Now for the jester to see the king," He looked up at the ceiling.
"Come find me, Bats."
The Halls,
"What's going on?" Sabine heard voices coming from around the corner, making her hand come up to wipe away the tears that had come from her eyes, "Where's Sabine?" It was her father, he was here, "Sabine? Sabine!" He yelled as he turned the corner, and he saw her face, her eyes stung from the tears, and her heart ached more than it ever had before, "Sabine, what's wrong?"
She felt her legs go weak as she fell into her father's arms, "He killed him," She told her father, as he held her head, "He killed Ezra." Alrich was silent, but his grip around her tightened, he knew she was attached to the young padawan the moment he saw them, and losing her friend... losing him... was like losing a part of herself, the hole that had been in her heart before had grown, and now there was nothing left.
"Sabine," He said, pulling away from her to look her in the eye, "I don't think he is," She looked at him, a small glimmer of hope ignited in her chest with those words, "But there is something else I need you for," She stared with those hazel eyes of hers, "There's something on the top floor of the building, I sent a team to investigate but they haven't come back." He came to get her for this, and it was something to take her mind off of this whole situation.
She swallowed a sob and nodded, "I'll go." She said, grabbing a blaster, and walked toward the elevator. As she stepped into the small, dark compartment tucked into the shaft, the lights flickered ominously, making short bursts of noise as they flashed. Sabine pressed her finger onto the button, as the doors closed around her, and it began to slide upwards.
Sabine checked the charge on her blasters- full capacity, good. She had left her gauntlets in the lobby below, she'd have to remember to get them later. The doors opened into the top floor of the building, she expected it to be some rat messing with the systems, but when she arrived, she could tell something was very wrong. The top floor led directly to the warden's office, who was off world, dealing with personal matters. The office's back wall was entirely glass, providing a full view of the capitol city below, but when Sabine looked at the window, there was a large hole in it, like something had hurtled through it with incredible speed.
Wind rushed past her face as she stepped into the office cautiously, her feet clanking against the floor. No doubt whoever was in here could hear her very clearly. She aimed her blaster at every dark corner of the room, eyeing every possible hiding spot for the intruder. In the center of the room was a gray durasteel desk, with shelves of sculptures and personal items of the warden's, with a holo-chess board tucked in the upper right corner. Sabine's eyes scanned the room, seeing nothing at first, but when she got closer something glinted on the desk at her.
The wind kicked up as she got closer, looking onto the desk, and spotted a small, strangely shaped piece of shrapnel lodged into the metal. She grabbed it and picked it up, noticing that it wasn't shrapnel at all, it was some kind of steel, and it was shaped like a... bat?
Just then, something moved in the corner of her eye, as she spun towards it and put her finger on her blaster's trigger, "Stop! Don't shoot!" A familiar voice yelled, as Sabine peered around her gun, seeing Hera standing before her, "I expect a warm welcome."
"Oh kriff, Hera," Sabine said as she wrapped her arms around her former captain in a hug, "I could've shot you!" As she pulled away, confusion hit her, "What are you doing up here anyway?"
"Well," said Hera, pointing a finger past Sabine, "You'd have to ask him."
A shadow moved behind her, and a deep voice echoed through the night, "Tell me," The voice asked as she whirled around, and a figure stood crouched on a shelf above her, his body and face completely concealed by shadow, but his two white eyes shone in the moonlight, and a cape flapping behind him, "Where do you keep your trash?"
I know, it's been a while. I was a little confused about how this chapter's going to work, it took me sometime to lay out how I was going to write this, but I know exactly what's going to happen for these next few chapters. This was mainly just to get all the characters together, to have Batman and Hera group up with Sabine and Clan Wren.
Also, this whole situation isn't going to go the way you think (Unless you've read my source material, in which case keep your trap shut). I might do a few one-shots as a follow up when this story concludes, since I think there's a lot of neat stories that could come out of this, and maybe a sequel involving another, more interesting (albeit lesser-known) DC character. I'm getting ahead of myself, but Ursa and The Joker will have a big role going forward, and Sabine's story arch will be wrapping up in a chapter or two (For reasons that are secret, again, don't say anything).
If you're only reading this story for Sabezra, don't worry, I'll get to that. And Sabine will still play a big role in the story even if she isn't in it as much, trust me on this one. And it's also about to go into the Batman and Joker dynamic a lot more, so if you've been holding out for that it's coming.
One final note: The Division 2 is awesome. Please review if you liked it, and if you guys ARE interested in what happens next, the next chapter will come out very fast. Within the next five days or so probably. Anyway, have a good one!
-MB
