No. No No No No No. This couldn't be happening. It couldn't be. The Rogues hadn't come all the way to this hellish city, fought through hordes of faceless monsters, screwed over Mob Bosses and went toe-to-toe with the Clown Prince of Crime himself only to come up empty handed. Had they?

With Mick's encouragement, and by that he meant less than playful shoving, Axel inched closer towards the unconscious frame hanging limp in the barbed-wire wraps. Oh god, this didn't look good. Forcing himself to swallow down an unusually thick wad of saliva, Axel reached out with a shaky hand and gently poked two fingers into the body's battered and darkly bruised shoulders. He waited a few moments before tutting to himself. Nothing.

Exhaling somewhat tiredly, Axel took yet another step closer and then jabbed his fingers back into Hartley's shoulders, this time much sharper than the time before. Still nothing.

Feeling his stomach beginning to turn, Axel threw caution to the wind and slammed his fist hard into the hopefully unconscious Piper's shoulder, hoping that a slice of his trademark violence would shake the boy before him out of whatever state he was in. Unfortunately for Axel though, nothing happened. Turning his head over his shoulder, Axel looked back upon Mick with watery eyes and a shaky bottom lip, his hands fidgeting around with the metal spikes on the lapel of his jacket anxiously as he spoke.

"Oh god Mick, i... i... i think he's dead." Axel begun, his voice wavering as he spoke. However both the Rogues never really had time to let his emotions truly manifest themselves as from behind Axel, a weak and labored sounding cough suddenly erupted from the limp figure hanging in the bonds.

"Axel, I'm not dead... you clueless ass..." The brunette muttered from behind them, wincing painfully as he forced himself to his feet, the bloodied barbed wire successfully slicing both his ankles just a little bit deeper than before as he pushed himself into an upright position.

Leaping forward and wrapping his arms around The Piper's battered frame, Axel hugged Hartley tightly and shook him about in his grasp, another painful groan escaping Pipers mouth as the bonds still wrapped tightly around his wrists and ankles dug in deeper the more Axel shook him.

"Holy shit dude! I thought you were dead!" Axel cheered triumphantly, his arms still wrapped tightly around Hartley's torso as he beamed up at him, apparently refusing to let him go. "I mean, i never thought i'd be so happy to hear you were alive! I always hated you to be fair but man, this is so damn aweso..."

Interrupting Axel mid-rant, Hartley turned his head lazily to look into the Tricksters eyes and swallowed harshly.

"Axel, just... just Cut the... theatrics for god sake... and... get me out of here..."

"Be That Hog! Sweat it out you squealer!

(Let your body jiggle!)"

If Cold never heard another fucking Lady Gaga song again in his lifetime then he'd be a happy man. The battle around him had went from Zero to Sixty in no time at all. From what Cold could guess, they'd only been fighting for something like 2 minutes and already the desolate wasteland that was the Observation Chamber was somehow worse than it had been before. A single stray lightening bolt from the terrifying storm Mark was brewing up outside had shattered the massive glass ceiling above only moments ago and while it seemed like all the main players in the room had somehow managed to survive the hail of glass without being impaled it had successfully disposed of one or two Doll-O-Trons, so that was something at least.

Aiming as best he could before firing a single shot from his gun, Cold pumped his fist proudly as the blast connected with an approaching Doll-O-Tron's head and stopped the creature dead in its tracks. The beast froze and pawed at the ice sealing it's face before it tumbled down onto the cold concrete flooring of the Observatory with a hollow smash. Cold grimaced at the sight. It seemed that this city would never fail to disgust him.

Looking above him briefly, Cold made a concerned face when he saw the heavy looking black clouds swirling around overhead, the air static around him as Mark's defensive storm continued to generate power at an alarmingly quick rate. With the roof now gone there was the added threat of a rogue bolt of lightening striking them down too. Things just kept getting better and better tonight didn't they?

"Slap her skin-he, LOVES to watch her ass go 'wiggle'!

(It's the feel of ecstasy!)"

Not wasting another moment, Cold turned his head around the room desperately looking for any sign of his companions.

Lisa was currently going toe-to-toe with 'The Sickle' Abramovici and appeared to have the upper hand if the massive gold deposits covering the Sickle's exposed torso like shrapnel were anything to go on. Trust Lisa to go head to head with the most aggressive and dangerous thing in the room and do so with a smile.

Meanwhile Mark was currently caught right in the center of a brawl between Harley Quinn and several Doll-O-Trons. While Cold couldn't be sure, it almost looked as if Harley and Mark were working together to hold off the monstrous horde. Typical Mark, making friends everywhere he went.

Firing another blast from his gun to spook off another few dangerously close Doll-O-Trons, Cold got back to work and started trying to deal with the more pressing issue at hand besides his family's well being. That's not to say he didn't care about them, but as heartless as it sounded it did make sense, to Cold anyway. Lisa and Mark were really not his biggest concern at the moment. Cold had worked with them for years now and knew without a shadow of a doubt that they could handle themselves in a fight, their brawl with Grodd a few months ago had proven that. Right now however Cold had to focus on one thing and one thing alone, finding The Joker and Professor Pyg among the chaos before him.

" Maybe i should have a little more just to stay out of my mind?

It didn't take long to spot the mad professor, the horrendous sound of the buzzing saw was a dead giveaway, currently located not too far off of Harley and Mark's current position, tearing his way through absolutely anything that dared to get into his way while he still had that hellish chainsaw grasped firmly in his meaty paws. Harley and Mark seemed far too preoccupied to have actually spotted that Pyg was quickly heading towards them. That wasn't good.

As much as seeing Pyg put that terrifying feeling of dread back into his stomach, more worryingly was the fact that Cold couldn't actually spot where exactly The Joker had slipped off to. While his interaction's with the self-professed 'Clown Prince of Crime' had been kept to a minimum so far, he'd heard countless gory stories of his antics. As soon as he'd dealt with the problem at hand - namely Pyg - he'd have to book it double time to find the clown before he did something the Rogues would regret.

Raising his gun into the air and aiming directly for the mad professor's head, Cold's tongue peaked slightly out the corner of his mouth as he pressed down the trigger and fired a perfect white shot of sheer ice right towards Pyg. Unfortunately for Cold though, the ice blast only just skimmed the tip of the mad-mans mask before slapping into the wall behind him with a light crunching noise.

Choking out a strained sounding chortle before snapping his head over to look into Cold's eyes, Pyg tipped his head back and let out a low guttural screech as he immediately took off away from Mark and Harley and towards Cold.

Ah shit.

"'Cause it's when i'm not thinkin' with you that i act like a swine!

Act like a swine! ACT LIKE A SWINE!" "

Cold cursed out loud as he narrowly managed to duck in time to avoid a particularly vicious swing from Pyg's chainsaw decapitating him in one fell swoop. Scrambling away to try and distance himself from the psychopath, Cold swung his arm around his back and fired a single shot of ice from his gun. Pyg in turn managed to duck down and avoided the blast, cackling like a man possessed as he did so.

Salivating at the mouth, Pyg carelessly threw the chainsaw to the wayside before lurching forward and tackling Cold to the ground. Both males rolled around on the floor in a mad struggle for supremacy with Cold thumping the bloodied wraps on the side of Pyg's head with tremendous force before Pyg suddenly smashed his head forward and collided with Cold's, momentarily stunning him and successfully managing to secure Pyg the upper-hand. Wasting no time, the obese males thrust forward and pressed his knees down impossibly hard onto Cold's forearms and wrapped his chubby digits tightly around Cold's neck.

"You want my diagnosis? You're a lost cause sweetheart. A deeply disturbed introvert with even deeper psychosis, relating mostly to a bad childhood and an... abusive father? Tell me, am i onto something with that line of thought?" Pyg snarled manically as he continued to tighten his grip around Colds neck. Beneath him, Cold's legs were flailing wildly in a desperate attempt to throw the heavy-set male off of him, however the longer the man pressed into his throat the dizzier he felt and the hazier his vision got.

Oh god, Pyg was killing him.

"I know, i know, i know, i know you want me!

You're just a pig inside a human body!"

"Shame really, such a pretty face doesn't deserve to be held back by age-old inhibitions..." Pyg added as he leaned in closer to Cold's face, his mouth hanging open haphazardly and drool dripping lazily from his lips down onto Cold's jaw. By now Cold could feel his heart-rate slowing down and his vision was almost completely blacked out. His kicking was doing absolutely nothing to hinder Pyg's attack and with the psychopath pressing all his weight down onto his arms he couldn't even feel them, never mind move them. This was it, he was going to die.

"You alright down there baby? You ain't saying much... oh well, perhaps when i ask your sister about your Father she'll be more co-operative than you've been..."

Hearing the plump professor even daring to mention Lisa made Cold's blood boil and his vision almost instantly switched from Black to a deep blood red. Adrenaline begun powering through his veins and he could feel his teeth grating against themselves in his mouth. Oh that had done it, this creep wasn't leaving the Observatory in one piece.

Summoning every ounce of strength he had left in him, Cold suddenly thrust his head forward and clamped down harshly on Pyg's lower lip, the abhorrent coppery taste of blood poured into his open mouth as his teeth tore through the Swine's flesh almost too easily. On top of him, Pyg's eyes suddenly sprung wide open and he let out a blood-curdling screech. Clearly panicked, Pyg began shaking his head, desperately trying to force Cold off of him to no avail. This continued for a few brief moments before -foolishly - Pyg threw himself backwards and off of Cold, who in turn bit down harder and managed to tear off an obscene chunk of Pyg's lower lip in the process.

"Squealer! Squealer! SQUEAL OUT!

You're so disgusting! You're just a pig inside!"

Quickly rising to is feet and then stumbling around the room like a drunkard, Pyg continued to squeal with both his hands pressed tightly to the now fountain of blood spilling from his mouth. The professor's horrifying shrieks of agony filling the air, drowning out the hypnotic baseline of the song still playing in the background. Meanwhile, the fight around the room showed no signs of stopping.

Still on the ground, Cold spat the chunk of the other's lip to the floor with a splotching noise before he raised a shaky arm up to his lips in a pathetic attempt to try and wipe the other man's blood from his tanned skin. Cold's head was pounding and his entire body was shaking. His chest felt as though someone were pressing an 500 pound weight into it and his vision was still mostly black due to lack of oxygen. Groaning silently to himself, Cold somehow flipped over onto his stomach and then managed to push himself up onto his hands and knees before emptying the contents of his stomach out onto the concrete below, his eyes burning and stomach aching as he painfully wretched his guts up. Oh dear god, had he actually just done that?

"Oh you horrible little cunt..." Pyg snarled somewhere not to far behind him."My beautiful face, ruined by some uncultured peon with bad taste in jackets and even worse skin...".

"Do ya? I know! I know! I Know you want me!

You're just a pig inside a human body!"

Still facing away from the malevolent masked fiend, Cold had the sense to grab his Cold-Gun up from the floor before standing up and turning to look towards Pyg, who by now had begun making his way back towards the abandoned chainsaw with a thick trail of blood and what looked to be shreds of gum following on behind him. Cold wretched again and thanked god that he seemed to have brought everything up already.

His body still desperately trying to recover from the Pig mans brutal assault just moments ago, Cold tried and failed to suck in a steady breath as he aimed his weapon directly at the back of Pyg's head, his finger pressed against the trigger lightly just looking for any excuse to open fire and end the Professor's reign of terror once and for all.

"Drop your weapon Pyg! It's over!" Cold shouted towards the broad figure still facing in the opposite direction, hoping that his aggressive tone was managing to cover how truly terrified he really was.

"Squealer! Squealer! SQUEAL OUT!

You're so disgusting! You're just a pig inside!"

"Over? Oink-Oink indeed..." Pyg muttered, turning around to face Cold with the chainsaw now grasped firmly within his blood-soaked digits once again. As he stared as Cold with dead brown eyes from beneath his terrifying mask, blood continued to pour like a geyser from the massive missing section of his bottom lip. Pyg's yellow, rotten teeth were now clearly visible from behind the bloodied shreds of skin that Pyg called a bottom lip. Once again Cold gagged at the sight and raised his free hand up to cover his mouth.

Even looking at the gash made Cold feel sick to his stomach. Had he really done that? Cold knew he wasn't exactly the most reputable sort, but was he really capable of doing that level of damage to someone just for mentioning his sister? True the man in question was a murderous psychopath, but did that really justify the means? Maybe Cold was more like his father than he cared to really admit?

This self-depreciating train of thought was cut short however at the sound of Pyg revving the chainsaw once more, the man managing a spine-chilling sneer with the remainder of his lips as he begun waving the chainsaw around carelessly in the air.

"Why Elsa, It hasn't even begun!"

SWIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINE! SWIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINE!

Across the room from Cold, Mark and Harley had successfully managed to get a moment to breathe after dealing with the apparently endless oncoming horde of Doll-O-Trons. Turning his head over his shoulder to congratulate his unofficial team-mate, Mark paused when he found himself alone once more. At that moment in time Harley was skipping across the room with a baseball bat in hand apparently off to help Lisa out with disposing of the Sickle wielding Abramovici twin, although from what Mark could see Lisa was handling herself just fine. Immediately taking off after the Clown Girl to provide support anyway, with the room now clear of Doll-O-Trons in the corner of his eye Mark managed to spot Lenny and Pyg going at it across the room. From what he could see things weren't looking to good for Lenny. Even though Pyg's mouth had literally been torn wide open Cold was covered in blood and shaking like a leaf in the wind, failing to maintain his cool. What the fuck had happened over there?

Turning his body around to face where Cold and Pyg were posturing like wild animals, Mark looked up through the shattered glass ceiling of the main Observation Chamber and saw that the black clouds above were now literally quaking with unused power. His endgame was finally ready.

SWIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINE! SWIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINE!

Around the room, the singing from Pyg's boombox had stopped and the instrumental begun building higher and higher towards a drop, just moments way from reaching the precipice. How appropriate, Mark thought to himself.

Smirking as he raised a hand into the air, Mark narrowed his eyes directly onto Professor Pyg and slowed his breathing, focusing everything he had on the Swine-Masked Fiend across the room. He could do this, he'd hit The Flash with one for gods sake, how hard could hitting an obese man wearing a Pig mask be? That said, Len was standing awful close to the other. Mark swallowed down dryly and tried his best to shake off any feelings of uncertainty. He'd just have to be a little more careful than usual is all.

Deciding it best not to dwell on the logistics, Mark shut his eyes tight and swung his arm down towards the floor, a massive bolt of burning white lightening seemingly mimicking his movements as it crashed down through the shattered ceiling above and collided with Pyg in a burst of blinding light that effortlessly engulfed the whole room.

SWINE!

Moments later when the light had finally dissipated, Mark looked over to where Cold and Pyg had been brawling and let out a loud sigh of relief as he saw Pyg's smoking corpse, although considering what he'd lived through already Mark doubted that the man was really dead, lying on the floor in a messy heap in front of a still shaking Len, who turned and looked over at Mark with his usually tanned features looking oddly pale. Cold honestly couldn't tell what he was more thankful for, Mark disposing of Pyg or the fact the electric pulse from the lightening had broken Pyg's boombox.

Dropping his weapon back down to his side and finally cracking a grin, Cold opened his mouth to say something snarky towards his savior when a single ear-splitting shot echoed loud through the room.

Cold's eyes sprung open and he begun frantically looking around the room for the source of the sound, and more importantly where the shot had hit. Instinctively he looked towards his sister, who was standing tall and proud next to Harley Quinn in front of a solid gold statue that Cold presumed was the remains of the Sickle Abramovici twin. Cold sighed aloud and smiled faintly, at least Lisa was alright. However before he felt his nerves calm down just yet he looked back over towards Mark and felt his stomach drop at the sight. Oh no.

Standing in the center of the room with both his hands clutched tightly to his stomach and a look of pure dread all over his face, Mark looked at Cold with wide eyes, Cold's gut clenching instinctively at what he saw reflected so clearly in the taller males usually stony hues. Pure fear.

"Lenny, what just happened... oh fu..." Mark begun before sinking down onto his knee's with a thud, blood beginning to seep from between his fingertips and down onto the ground below.

Behind Mark and in the doorway leading out into yet another wing of the Abandoned Observatory stood none other than The Joker, holding a smoking magnum between his gloved fingertips and wearing that awful sickening grin on his face. Behind him stood countless of his Clown-Masked henchmen, all now wearing thick body armor and sporting newer, deadlier looking weapons in their grubby mitts.

"Oops, clumsy me." The Joker begun, carelessly tossing the gun to the wayside as he stepped out of the doorway and into the light of the moon-lit Observatory, his feet crunching down on the shards of shattered glass covering the entire room as he continued on.

"I meant to kill him, not maim him! Oh well, we can't win 'em all."

The Joker bragged, continuing on into the room and closer towards where Mark had collapsed. Reacting instantly, both Cold and Lisa rocketed forward and stopped just behind their fallen comrade, both siblings standing side by side with their respective weapons pointed directly at the Joker's grinning visage.

"Honestly Cappy, do we really need to do it this way? You must've known i was going to kill you! Lex specifically asked me not to, but since when have i ever listened to what 'ol Melon Head has to say?" The Mountebank sneered at Cold, his eyes wild looking and body language oddly tense, contrasting the relaxed grin on his face.

Cold opened his mouth to shout something back at the clown, but stopped himself at the last second. Behind them, Mark was bleeding out and antagonizing the clown into a shoot-out was just going to do nothing else make assure that Mark wouldn't be making it home to Central City alive. If there was even the slightest chance Cold could somehow talk their way out of this then he'd would have to try.

"You don't have to do anything at all Joker. We can just leave, no one has to get hurt. We can just walk away and that will be that..." He said while taking a step back and tending to Mark. Grabbing Marks arm and placing it over his shoulder's, Cold carefully heaved Mark off the floor and onto his feet.

"C'mon buddy, get up. You're not dead yet..." Cold whispered.

Regardless of what happened next, he refused to leave the taller male behind They'd either all die in this godforsaken Observatory or they'd all make it out alive, there was no other option.

While Cold did his best to help Mark up onto his feet, Lisa continued to stare the clown down with an icy look in her eyes and her gun ready to fire.

"You really don't want to do this friend. Let us walk and that'll be it. 'Kay handsome?" Lisa said almost too sweetly.

"Do you really think flattery is going to work on me? My boys spotted your friends sneaking around the basement while we were discussing terms you dolt! You really think you can just come into MY HOUSE AND MESS WITH ME? THE CLOWN PRINCE OF CRIME HIMSELF?" The thin white duke screeched at the Snart Siblings, his eyes wide and burning with an unbridled fury. Oh god Lisa, why did you have to open your mouth?

"BOYS! TAKE OUT THE TRASH!" The Joker announced to the countless armed men standing in the doorway. "NO SURVIVORS!"

Back outside at the van, Axel sprinted ahead and opened the back doors to the large vehicle to allow Mick - trailing not to far behind hauling a barely conscious Hartley over his shoulder - room to maneuver the smaller male into the van. It took some effort, but with Axel's help Mick was able to lay Hartley down gently onto the backseat of the van without disturbing the sleeping male too much. Never in his life did Mick think he'd be taking extra care to assure that Hartley Rathaway was comfortable, but if this trip to Gotham had taught him anything it was to expect the unexpected.

Laying down on the spongy chairs of the van, Hartley continued to dip in and out of consciousness at an alarming rate. The kid had a wicked fever, was covered in deep -and probably infected - lacerations and was a pint or two away from bleeding out. If they'd arrived any later than what they did then the kid would have definitely been a goner.

"Oh god, you should've just left me, i don't deser..." Hartley started before his eyes crossed and his vision glazed over. Standing outside, Axel and Mick shared a confused look before turning their attention towards Hartley.

"I don't... i don't deserve to live..." Hartley continued, his eyes still glazed over and his face getting whiter and whiter. "I don't deserve to live... i helped him, oh god... i actually helped him."

Both Axel and Mick's eyes went wide at that last part. Hartley helped the Joker? That couldn't be right. Surely that was just the fever talking, right? Stepping forward and popping his head into the van, Mick looked down towards the barely conscious Hartley and begun speaking.

"Kid, i need you to try and focus. What are you talking about? Did you do something for Joker? Did you help him?" Mick said as softly as possible while Axel hovered behind him nervously.

"I didn't wa... didn't want to. He made me do it. Oh god, he's gonna..." Hartley said, his voice growing weaker and weaker sounding as the seconds skittered past.

"He's gonna kill everyone..."

Cold's would describe how he felt in that exact moment as 'blind panic' as he continued to force his way through the dilapidated Observatory as fast as his feet would carry them. Normally this sort of situation wouldn't have been such a problem, but after what had just went down in the other room with The Joker it was safe to say that Mark wasn't in such good shape. The taller males eyes were half-shut and unfocused as he haphazardly clung onto Cold with one arm around the smaller males shoulder and the other clutching his own gut, blood gushing from the still fresh wound with every step the pair took. Behind them, the wild screeches and howls of the Clown-Masked gang chasing them filled the air with an unmistakable feeling of dread. The sound was drawing closer by the second. Cold had to think of something fast.

A few minutes prior back in the Main Chamber, the masked men instantly begun acting out the Joker's will and opened fire on the three Rogues. Using their collective quick wit and all the luck they had, the three had somehow managed to push their way out of the main Observation Chamber and out onto the hallway relatively unscathed. However with the gang in hot pursuit Cold had told - or more accurately, commanded - Lisa to get back to the van and get help ASAP. Since he was carrying Mark he really couldn't do much of anything besides try and find a safe spot to get the other male patched up and as much as it killed him to admit it, Lisa was his only hope. Although hesitant at first, Lisa had took off without a word, sprinting down the stairs of the Observatory and into the darkness.

Looking briefly over his shoulder, Cold fired a stream of ice from his gun without really aiming, the glistening snowy substance slicing through the air and colliding with four of the countless Masked freaks chasing after them, instantly sealing their assailant's up in a rock-hard container of solid ice. This however did nothing to hinder the rest of the oncoming horde who never even so much as glanced at their fallen companions as they continued their unrelenting pursuit of the two men.

Cold could feel himself being dragged down by the now almost motionless figure desperately clinging to him. Mark's normally tanned skin was quickly beginning to turn a sickly shade of white and his eyes were now completely glazed over. Mark's other hand was still cemented onto his stomach and the blood seeping through his finger's showed no signed of relenting. Mark was loosing too much blood at way too fast a rate. If Cold didn't get him sat down and tended to the wound in his stomach soon then there was a good chance that Mark wouldn't be making it back to Central City with the rest of the gang. Noticing an awfully convenient set of double doors just up ahead, Cold wrapped his arm around Marks waist and heaved him up properly as he took off towards the doors with as much speed as his tired feet could manage. Swinging his arm back around behind him, Cold fired another shot from his Cold-Gun, this time covering the floor with a slick layer of solid ice instead of focusing on the hired goons giving chase. The horde never seemed to noticed the ice being made beneath their feet and one by one they all lost their footing on the slippery concrete floor and crashed to the ground with a thunderous series of bumps and thuds.

Taking full advantage of the opportunity presented to him, Cold literally forced both himself and Mark forward and through the double doors, sprinting into the seemingly empty room and taking in their surroundings as fast as he possibly could. Okay, he could do this. They were in a large spacious room. It was dusty so it clearly hadn't really been used in a while. Two big windows, although they were on the second floor so they weren't much use as of now. A stack of large wooden boxes were to their left and three empty units were to their right, by the looks of things this had been used for storage at some point. Besides that there was nothing else worth noting. No way up or down besides the door they came through and that clearly wasn't an option. Walking Mark over towards the boxes and gently laying the male down against them, Cold turned his Cold-Gun towards the door and fired at it, covering the door into the room in a thick layer of solid ice. Outside the room, the horrific screeches of the wild mob grew louder once more as they approached and began pounding into the doorway to absolutely no avail. The ice wall Cold had built was far too strong for those imbeciles to crack, but knowing that lot they'd find a way in sooner or later. Although it was only a temporary solution to their problem it would have to suffice for the moment. Reaching into the right pocket of his Parka, Cold withdrew his mobile phone and speed-dialed the first number he could think of, Lisa's. The awful toneless beeping of the call sounded like thunder in Cold's already throbbing head and after what seemed like an eternity the tone lead to Lisa's voice-mail. That wasn't good. Cold could feel a sweat beginning to form all over his skin as he tried both Mick and Axel's mobiles too, both of whom's phone's also went straight to voice-mail after ringing out. It was official, Cold was panicking.

Dialing Lisa's phone once again, Cold began muttering countless obscenities under his breath as he awaited to see if the call was successful or not. Moments passed, and Cold let out a wild sounding grunt of sheer anger as Lisa's voice-message began playing in his ear once again. Doing his best to pull in a shaky and extremely uneven breath, Cold managed to somehow level his voice as he prepared to leave his message. Hopefully it would get to the others on time.

"Lisa, It's Lenny" Cold started, the anxiousness in his voice was palpable as he spoke. "Listen, Mark and I are trapped up on the second floor. It's not looking good. I've somehow managed to stall those assholes outside. Honestly though i don't know how long it's gonna be before they find a way in here. Mark's bleeding out so i'm gonna try and patch him up before they find a way in. We need your help NOW Lisa. Please... please just hurry."

And with that, Cold hung up the phone and turned towards Mark, his eyes still unfocused and his skin as white as a sheet, although since they had stopped running the bleeding seemed to have slowed right down to a manageable pace, which was something to be thankful for at least. Jogging up to the other Rogue, Cold shrugged out of his parka and slapped Mark harshly across the face, the sudden jolt of pain harshly dragging Mark out of his stupor and back into the waking world with a bang.

"Mark, i know it's difficult but you're gonna need to stay awake with me for this..." Cold said as he reached into the pocket in the lining of his jacket and withdrew what looked like a small makeshift first-aid kid. "'Cause big guy, this is gonna suck."

As Hartley's cryptic proclamation sunk in, both Axel and Mick took a step back away from the van to try and get some space. Hartley wasn't making any sense. Just what exactly had he done for The Joker?

"Shit Mick, what do you think he's talking about?" Axel said in an unusually timid tone.

"Fuck if i know. Doesn't sound good though... We've gotta tell Len." Mick said resolutely. Axel meerly nodded in agreement.

At the same time as their little discussion, both Axel and Mick almost jumped out of their skin in fright as Lisa suddenly fired herself out the main doors of the Observatory and slammed them shut behind her frantically. Her leather jacket was ripped up on the shoulder and her hair was a damn mess. It was the first time both males had seen her looking even slightly disheveled. It was an odd sight indeed.

Bounding forward and pointing her gun directly at the large frames now several feet behind her, Lisa fired a continuous stream of gold onto the door. Within seconds she had coated the entire door in a thick layer of the solid substance and had effectively sealed it shut, locking her masked pursuers inside. She was finally safe, for the moment anyway.

"Lisa, what the hell? Are you alright? What happened in there?" Mick shouted up towards the girl he thought of as his sister with concern almost dripping from his tone.

"We got to speak to The Joker, albeit briefly as Professor Pyg and the rest of Black Mask's goon's showed up again. That bastard kick-started a full scale gang war up in the Main Observation Chamber on Level 2. We duked it out with everyone and eventually gained the upper-hand, but Joker turned the tables on us. He shot Mark and we scattered. Len was carrying Mark away from The Joker when he told me to come find you two." Lisa wheezed out between ragged breaths, doubled over with her hands on her knees as she desperately tried to get his breath back.

"Wait, what happened to Mark?" Axel asked softly, the colour instantly draining from his face.

"The Joker shot him, we need to hurry guys, we need to get back in there and help them out!" Lisa said, her tone growing increasingly more aggressive as she went on, the stress finally appearing to take it's toll on her.

While Lisa eventually managed to get her breath back, Axel was now making his way back up the steps leading into the Observatory with a drive in his step and scowl on his face unlike anything Lisa and Mick had even seen before. The two shared a glance before beginning to take off after Axel without hesitating.

"Axel, what're you doing?" Lisa shouted. "Went can't just charge in there footloose and fancy free! We need a plan for god sake!"

"Oh don't worry Lisa, i've got a plan..." Said Axel as he reached into the pocket of his jacket once more and withdrew a whole roll of his exploding stickers. "I'm gonna kill each and every single one of those mother-fuckers inside for daring to mess with my boyfriend..."

Still locked up tight inside the apparently abandoned storage room, Cold only just managed to hold back an ecstatic cheer as he finally finished wrapping up Mark's exposed torso, successfully having removed The Joker's bullet from Mark's body and covering up the garish wound without a hitch. Cold heaved out an exhausted sounding sigh of relief and wiped a thin layer of sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand.

Still sitting motionless against the boxes, Mark had fainted at some point between removing the bullet and cleaning the wound. Cold stilled for a moment and pressed his head against Mark's chest, smiling to himself when he heard a faint but steady heartbeat from within the Weather Wizards chest. Well, at least that was one problem sorted. Now to deal with the horde of clown's outside trying to force their way into the room.

Rising to his feet and turning back to face the completely ice-encased doorway, Cold took a single step towards it before suddenly his legs started going weak and he felt the world around him begin to plunge into darkness. It would seem that exhaustion had finally gotten the better of him as Cold collapsed down onto the cold concrete floor beneath him.

Oh god no, This couldn't be happening.

Still clinging onto consciousness with all of his might, Cold pathetically tried to climb back onto his feet but failed spectacularly, falling back down onto the floor and hitting his jaw painfully off the solid surface as he did so. Cold couldn't give up now, he had to get them out of here!

Laying sprawled out on the floor and his eyes beginning to close whether he liked it or not, Cold groaned painfully as he felt his body finally forcing itself to shut down. He couldn't give up. He was responsible for them. He'd failed them.

He'd failed them

Almost 5 hours later back at the motel, Lisa stood out on the small walkway between the different rooms with the wind blowing through her hair and an exhausted look on her face. It had been a struggle, but eventually Mick, Lisa and Axel had managed to push their way back into the upper levels of the Observatory and somehow saved both Lenny and Mark before it was too late. When they'd gotten there things hadn't looked good. Mark had lost a lot of blood and they weren't entirely sure why but Lenny seemed to have had collapsed. Seeing her brother laying motionless on the floor of the storage room hadn't really done anything to steady her nerves.

Getting them back to the hotel and allowing Mick to patch them up was easy enough, and it seems they'd been in the nick of time... mostly.

While it seems Lenny had just passed out from exhaustion - who could blame him - if they had arrived any later then Mark wouldn't be here right now. While Lenny had did as good as job patching Mark up as he could have done given the situation it wasn't quite enough. It had been touch and go for an hour or so, but Mick had given Mark the all clear not to long ago. Axel had wept like a baby when he was told Mark was going to be fine. Lisa had to admit, it was bloody adorable.

Hartley however, was another story. While Mick had done his best to stop the bleeding, clean his wounds and get him all wrapped up, no one was 100% sure that Hartley was going to make it through the night. Whatever damage The Joker and Black Mask had done to him was severe and since Mick was technically only a trained paramedic, he wasn't 100% sure what else he could do besides the obvious to help Hartley out.

Perhaps more concerning was what Hartley revealed he had gotten up to under The Joker's watch. While details were sketchy due to the state the boy was in, Hartley continued to ramble on about building some kind of device for the clown that would - quote - Kill Everyone. Lisa wasn't really to much of a worrier to be honest. Shit happened and that was that, there wasn't anything she could do about it. But, to say Hartley's terrifying ramblings had put the fear of god in her would be an understatement.

Before her thoughts and fears could truly take form, a still somewhat weepy Axel lightly tread out of his room and onto the walkway, closing the door behind him tenderly. Walking up to Lisa and placing a hand over her shoulder, Axel sighed deeply and let his head rest against Lisa's.

"Oh god Lisa, i'm a damn mess aren't I?" Axel muttered, his voice still noticeably shaky as he spoke.

"I don't think so. You thought Mark was gonna die Axel, i think you're doing pretty well all things considered." Lisa said warmly, wrapping one of her own arms around Axel's waist and pulling him in closer to her.

"Oh fuck, don't even say that out loud." Axel groaned, an almost inaudible chuckle escaping his lips as he spoke. "I still haven't wrapped my mind around it yet. I don't really want to, y'know? The idea of losing him is just... too much to handle."

The two Rogues stood silently for the next few moments, enjoying the tranquility of each others company and support before Lisa finally spoke up again, a gentle smirk on her face.

"You're in love with him, aren't you?" She said, turning her head to look into Axel's eyes as she spoke.

For the briefest moment, Axel turned away and looked off into the distance, apparently too deep in thought to answer immediately. Eventually, Axel turned his attention back to Lisa and nodded, his bottom lip held lightly between his teeth as he finally came to terms with it himself.

"Yeah... yeah, i think i am..." Axel spoke, a confidence to his voice that Lisa hadn't heard from him in the longest time.

"Called it. Well you better tell him when he wakes up. Sitting on something like that for too long isn't healthy. I mean, look at Lenny and Mick for goodness sake." Lisa added with a playful giggle. Although usually she'd keep her comments about Len and Mick's complicated relationship to herself it was clear to everyone that those two shared a deeper connection than they really let on. While at first it was oddly cute, all these years later it was just heartbreaking. Why couldn't they seem to make it work?

"Y'know, i think i've know for a while now. That i'm in love with Mark i mean. I just..." Axel hesitated, his voice becoming unsure once again. "I just hope he feels the same about me."

Smiling at her companion as he spoke, Lisa leaned forward and planted a small kiss onto Axel's cheek. Axel blushed in response and cracked a giddy looking smile at the brunette still leaning in close against him.

"Oh i know he will. Now go get 'em Tiger." Lisa said with a wink as without another word Axel unwound himself from Lisa and made his way back into his room to be with his unconscious lover.

Finally alone, Lisa looked back out onto the bright and beautiful Gotham City. The neon-hues and soft moonlight shining down from above gave the city an odd beauty at night. Shame during the day it looked like a shit-hole.

Exhaling to herself softly, Lisa reached into the pocket of her jeans and withdrew her mobile phone. While she was almost 100% sure that Lenny would kill her for what she was about to do Lisa had no other choice. The Rogues had officially gotten themselves in way over their heads here in Gotham City and needed all the help they could get.

Flipping through her cell's phone book, Lisa smiled to herself when she stopped on the name she was looking for. It has been a few weeks since they'd last spoke, she hoped he wouldn't be mad. Pressing the green button with ease, Lisa slipped the phone up to her ear and made the call.

An hour later, Lisa snuck away from Lenny's bedside and begun making her way up the stairs and onto the roof of the motel. 1:00am exactly on the roof of the 'Travelier Motel' in Gotham City. That's what they'd agreed on the phone, Lisa just hoped that her friend had kept up his end of the bargain.

Stepping off the stairs and onto the flat surface of the roof, Lisa couldn't help an overconfident grin from appearing on her features as she saw the masked figure standing on the roof apparently waiting for her to arrive. Lisa would never admit it, but she felt the oddest mix of fear and admiration while gazing onward towards the vigilante. A girl could get used to this.

"So, i take it Cisco passed on my little message then? Good to know, i was beginning to think that i agreed to dinner with him for no other reason than my pleasure." Lisa started, her voice silky smooth as she approach the figure with her hands shoved into her pockets and a wiry smirk on her face.

The man currently staring her down with a steely determination was none other than The Flash himself. Lisa had to admit, she was pleasantly surprised that he had actually turned up.

Making a concerned face at her comment, The Flash took a step forward and looked Lisa dead in the eyes.

"We'll talk about what your intentions with Cisco are later, but right now i believe you said you needed out help with something?" The Flash said sternly while Lisa couldn't help but chuckle in reply.

Oh yeah, it was official. Lenny was definitely going to kill her.