Author's Notes:
Hi again, everyone! Hope you had a good Christmas (well, holiday, whatever you wanna call it)! Here's Chapter 8 and, as the title probably gave away to you, it's about Doctor Wheeler's plans. (Warning: this does contain a reference to a suicide, so proceed with caution.) Without further ado, here it is...
"What are you two doing here?!" Doctor Wheeler demanded to know a second time.
Both Nightwing and Batgirl remained silent. The oldest of the two vigilantes kept a stoic gaze despite his current situation, but the youngest still could not hide her terror.
Wheeler, enraged, turned to Vincent. "Do away with them both. Just take them outside to do it," he reminded firmly.
"Yes, sir," Vincent saluted. The psychiatrist turned to leave.
"Wait a minute!"
Coba's sudden shout caused everyone, including Grayson, to look at her in surprise. Wheeler was the first to glower at her irritably. "What do you want, runt?"
Coba was about to speak again, but her voice refused to come out from her throat. She felt panic begin to take over her senses. This is it. We're going to die.
"Stay calm, kid," she swore she heard Dick's voice say. "Focus on the task at hand instead of your fear."
But how can I stay calm if I'm not even calm at all? Coba wondered anxiously. Unless... She realized something, managing to hide her pleasure from her captors and her own grandfather. Unless I can use my fear to my advantage. She looked at Wheeler, still terrified though in more control of it. "Why are you doing this to the kids?" she asked. "What do you hope to gain?"
David glared even more fiercely at her. "What makes you think I'll answer any of those questions?"
"You asked why we were here, and it was to find out the answers to those questions," Coba only partially fibbed, keeping her voice as terrified as she really was. I don't know if that was another reason why Grandfather came, but it was definitely a reason why I'm here. "Besides, you're going to have us killed, aren't you?"
After receiving a hand signal from Wheeler, Vincent kicked Brooklyn in her side, causing her to gasp in pain and roll onto her back with her bound hands between it and the cement floor. "Use those claws, kid!" the girl thought she heard Selina say. Without having to think it over very long, Coba realized what her grandmother's voice meant. Silently and without shifting her body or her horror, she unsheathed her suit's claws and began picking her handcuff's locks.
Dick struggled hard to get to her, though his being handcuffed as well made it very difficult to do so. "Leave her alone!" he yelled gruffly. In response, however, another guard simply slammed his boot into his back, just inches away from where the bullet near his spine was sitting.
Wheeler grinned menacingly, almost causing Coba to shudder. "You see, Batgirl? Your friend here does not like to see you hurt. This is simply because he, like practically every adult in Gotham, fears for the safety of children."
It's not as simple as that, Wheeler, Coba thought: we're friends, allies, partners when it comes to fighting crime... and kin.
"But, even more so," Wheeler continued, "the adults also fear the children. Why else would they be here if their parents and the other adults were not afraid of them? Or of what they're capable of? I took the latter of these questions into consideration several months ago after dealing with a patient of mine who was psychologically deranged, and whose parents were afraid of him. He had already stolen police vehicles and lashed out at his parents."
The man's expression became even more grave, even somewhat saddened. "I had done all I could to help them, but his parents thought I was a phony. A few weeks later, I learned that the boy had escaped from an asylum his parents placed him in, and he had left me a note on my office desk requesting my presence at his house that night. I did not want to disappoint him: I felt that I had done so already.
"I arrived at the young man's home at the time he requested. To my horror, he stood with a machine gun in his hands. His parents lay dead on the floor in front of him, several rounds of bullets in their bodies. He claimed to have done it for me, for it had been them who hurt my ego by sending him somewhere else. I told him it was not what I wanted, and that he had done it for himself, for it was he who felt the pain for what they had done. He yelled at me, saying he thought I'd understand... but I did, although I didn't say it before he held the gun to his own head and..." Wheeler trailed off, turning his gaze away from his literally captive audience as he did so.
Batgirl felt a pang of sympathy for the man, knowing that he was indeed telling the truth as far as his feelings and words were concerned, but was still very tense about him. She continued listening once he recollected himself after a moment, and she continued picking the remaining lock of her handcuffs.
"While I was in the hospital to be looked over for wounds—both physical and psychological—I began thinking of how that boy had made his parents afraid of him, how he made the city afraid... and how he made me afraid. Then it hit me: the perfect way to get revenge on those parents and the city officials responsible for turning these children into monsters through neglect, abuse, discrimination, and or lack of discipline. The revenge is not for my own gain, mind you, but for the gains of the children under my tutelage."
"More like under your command!" Nightwing growled. "You're brainwashing them, depriving them of their wills and abilities to decide. Heartlessly, I'll add!"
"My tone is only heartless to aid with speeding up the process, Nightwing," Wheeler said sagely. "I'm doing this for them for their own goods."
"You mean for yours!" Coba suddenly exploded, surprising everyone once more including herself. "Like the kid you say killed his parents, your mind had tricked you into thinking certain individuals want what you desire, which is death and destruction to those who've wronged you!" Did I seriously just disrespect the dead? she thought, surprised by her own words. And somehow figure out how Wheeler's mind works?
Vincent pulled out an electric cattle prod and struck Coba with it, shocking her and causing her to scream in pain. He pulled it away after a moment, allowing her to stop and regain her breath. "Watch your tongue, you crippled runt!" he spat.
He knows about my bad leg, Brooklyn realized in surprise. She looked at her right leg and realized why: the cattle prod's electricity had disabled the extra strength in her suit's right side to support her right foot, which was now drooping down from lack of support. Well, this is just peachy, she thought sarcastically.
"That's enough, Vincent!" Wheeler barked as Vincent moved to prod Coba again. "I do not like her words towards me, though that does not give you permission to hurt her without my saying so..."
Coba was no longer listening to Wheeler lecturing Vincent as a disturbing sight passed by. Terry and Sean were being herded by two tall and strong guards. To the ISO, she realized despairingly. To her relief, the teens did not look in the direction of her and Nightwing. Well, at least they won't feel more helpless: that may mess up their plans.
"Do away with them both," Wheeler ordered for the second time after a brief moment.
Vincent roughly grabbed Batgirl by her shoulders to pull her to her feet, causing her to gasp in alarm. Dick, noticing his granddaughter's discomfort, suddenly looped his cuffed hands over his legs and slammed the links together, breaking the cuffs, before grabbing the guard's left hand and slamming his fist into the villain's face. Vincent released Coba before tackling Dick to the floor, pulling out his cattle prod once more to electrocute him.
Without warning, Coba unlocked the last link in her handcuffs and slashed her suit's claws across Vincent's back. The guard let out a yell of pain before the girl shoved him away from her grandfather, causing him to drop the prod to the floor. The other guards and Wheeler were frozen with shock, giving Coba the time she needed to free Grayson from the cuffs still locked around his ankles. She helped him stand up as the villains recovered. The two vigilantes stood back to back, facing their opponents as they did so.
"Forget the risk of ricochet!" Vincent yelled to Wheeler and the other guards as he stood back up, grabbing the cattle prod. "Shoot them!"
"No, you idiots!" Wheeler yelled. "You'll hurt the teens in their cells! You do this you're fired, do you hear me?!"
The guards, despite Wheeler's warnings to fire them, raised their guns at Batgirl and Nightwing, ready to fire their weapons.
Oh, you had to end it on a suspenseful note, didn't you?
Yes, yes I did. I know it, I'm bad. :P
What did you guys think of the little back story I added for Wheeler? Was it too much? Too little? Or just right? I really wanted to add one because all the episode "The Last Resort" really stated about him was that he was a child psychologist who was really brainwashing the kids sent to him. I wondered, "What if he was really an honest man but was seen incorrectly, and something caused him to snap?" And no, I don't support suicide. I've been in that state of mind before, it's not fun, and I don't support it. I'm very much against it, though I don't disrespect anyone with the thoughts.
Please leave a review below and have a great rest of your day! :D
