"Where's he hiding out?" I walked over to where Jenks was holding one of the goons hostage against one of the walls, his bare hadn't around the man's neck as two of Jenks's followers were standing behind him. I knew one of them: the bird man from the club months earlier. He heard me walking up with Chato and Boomerang in tow now. Birdman looked at me, his eyes scanning me left and right there in a fast pace, a small smile on his lips.
"Hello again," he said to me, having me grin at him now briefly before we both looked at the matter at hand, finding Adams himself. The goon that was held hostage by Jenks was in his own trance, thanks to Jenks's ability and in how he was mind controlling him.
"Fifth floor. He has his own panic room that he ran into before you came," he said in a drained kind of tone, Jenks looking over at the three of us there.
"We'll find him" Boomerang reassured him, grabbing one of his boomerangs from his jacket.
"We should bring him out," Jenks suggested, "Knowing the money he has, a panic room is going to be tricky to get into."
"What do you suggest?" I questioned, trying to think of another way to get the guy out of his little hideaway that he barricaded himself into. He knew that we were coming, and now he was going to try and avoid us as much as humanly possible. But we were so close, way too close to just give up and not find him. There had to be a way.
"We can always do a good ol' fashion threat?" Boomerang asked with a shrug of his shoulders, "Let us expose the bastard and show the world his true colors?"
"Sounds dirty enough," Chato agreed there next to me.
"Sounds too easy, we need something dirtier," Jenks added as he thought to himself, before looking back at the man now and was still holding him up by the neck, "Does the man have a family?"
"Jenks," I said in an almost surprising tone, both in shock and in a warning. I didn't think he would go that thick and that low below the belt. But the way he sounded, almost like it was another conversation and not like a threat, I wondered what was up his own sleeve.
"I can find out about his family within seconds, find out where they live and then—_" Jenks explained as if he was listing off a grocery list in his head. But then he was cut off by the intercom, the man's voice there hitting the airwaves and he sounded desperate.
"I'll come out," We all stood there in silence, hearing it there and thinking that it was some kind of truck there wit the voice and how he sounded more scrawny than powerful like he did before. We all were in silence then, thinking that it was far too easy for us to just walk in there and for him.
"I'll come out and surrender," he said finally, after another moment or two of thinking to himself apparently. I looked over at Chato with a raised eyebrow, thinking that I missed something translation and even Boomerang had a confusing and almost uncomfortable look on his face.
"That was far too easy," Jenks said in a low manner now, thinking about it himself now as he looked back at the goon, whom said nothing but looked drained enough as it was. Deadshot, Flag, and Croc were walking around the corner with some more of Jenks's army.
"Did I hear what I just heard? He surrendered?" Deadshot asked in an amusing way, a small smile on his lips, "Sounds like he's a pussy."
"A big one," Croc said in agreement.
"Why don't we meet him and find out?" Jerks asked the group of us, "I wanna meet the man who's been turning my good friends into mind controlled zombies."
"Agreed," I said out loud there for the group, all of them were looking at me since I was still thinking of the concept that he did this to Chato. This was personal in my opinion, how he made my husband turn into something that was not even him in the first place, to take him to a dark part of his mind without him realizing it. It made me sick to my stomach and almost angry to the pointing of wanting to kill him, just for doing that to Chato.
"Waller's going to want him alive," Flag advised.
"Since when are we on her good side at this point, mate?" Boomerang asked in an honest opinion.
"Well, since we already pissed her off enough to go against her wishes her, I don't think we should really push it," Deadshot explained, having me look at him next to Chato and see him watch every one of us, me lastly. He knew, out of all the people there, he knew what I went through. He was our leader, and he knew that he would have to hold us together fi we were going to survive this and Waller in the long run. I had to respect that about him since he was the father figure to us all there in the squad.
"Let's just get him and get it over with," Chato said in a mumble now since he could feel the tension there amongst us all. I nodded in agreement, thinking we might as well get this over with in the right way than stew in it. Jerks looked back at the goon there, lowering him to the floor now and no longer holding him in a threatening way.
"You're going to lead us to him," He said in a statement, the goon looking at him with wide eyes and not moving for a second. Deadshot cocked his gun in almost a way to have the man move, in which it worked. Jenks, with the man there within his grasp, lead the way over to the elevators and we were following him. I could hear the commotion behind me, having me look one more time now as Jenks's gang and some of the SEAL's were rounding up the goons that were still left, getting them against the walls and cuffing them for good. I looked ahead again, staying next to Chato as we were entering one of the larger elevators that would hold the group of us. I faced out as the elevator doors closed behind us, shooting us to the sky.
Shooting us to Adams.
The double doors opened, Deadshot and Flag going in first and Jenks with the goon right in the middle, the rest of us were flanking in the back. We were quiet, walking in and looking around at the main office of Dr. Adams. If I thought some doctors where and when it came to luxury, he was far worse. Expensive furniture to the left near the high windows that showing the night sky, a huge and extensive library next to it along the wall, paintings that were far more than my own house to show some class, and it was all pointing to the large glass desk with the high-end computer on the top. There was no sign of a panic room, not a first when we were walking in and looking at the articles that we had on the wall. I was the one looking at them as we passed them, seeing the constant recurring word METAHUMAN there on each of those articles. It made a wonder, was he genuinely curious about us?
Or was it an obsession?
"Over here." The goon said to Jenks now as he was pointing to the library behind the desk there, all of us looking there and seeing nothing. Maybe it was behind the library, as a secret room that he was going to hide behind until this all blown over and he was scotch clean again. Bur we stood there, thinking of how this was going to work, and I saw Deadshot looking around for some kind of opening that he could use.
"You gonna come out?" He asked out loud, having me realize that Adams was listening in somehow since he might have had cameras in his own office, "Or should we blow the place to bits?"
"I'll come out in one condition," Adams said through the intercom in the room, all of us staying still and wondering what he was going to say next, "I'll talk to the female."
Everyone in the room looked over at me now, having me stay still and feel more confused and frustrated than anything. He only wanted to talk to me? Why was I the special one? It felt like he knew about me, more than I would like for someone as a stranger to know about me. I looked over at Flag and Deadshot now, in hopes that they would help since I didn't know what to say.
"I'll only talk to her and no one else," The voice said once again, still sounding hesitant and not confident, but still trying to hold onto something there on his side.
"You've got to be kidding," Deadshot grumbled not as he thought to himself. I had to think that this might be the only way that I would get him out of there and pray for what he has done. If I was going to go in there, I would have to remind myself that this was about the mission, not my own personal vendetta. I had to learn how to control myself now, in which I took a hesitant step forward and Chato immediately grasped my arm. I looked over at him, seeing the grave look on his face as he shook his head.
He didn't want me to go.
"I'll answer all that you need to know," The voice reassured me as if he was trying to coax me into going into the room. I kept my eyes on Chato, seeing the fear there in his eyes. I knew he was scared for me and what would happen behind those bulletproof doors, and he was not going to let me go from him again since that last time it happened we almost lost each other. He was in that trance thanks to that doctor, and he almost killed me because of it. Chato was not going to let that happen to me again if something were to happen to me in the end. I grasped his hand on my arm.
"He comes along with me," I said aloud for the man to hear, Chato giving me a confused look.
"The other metahuman? What for?" He asked, almost in annoyance as I looked ahead of me, at wherever the camera was.
"He's my husband, and he almost killed me because of your experiment," I said in a bold manner hearing nothing on his end. He was contemplating, I hope he was at least since I made it sound so bitter on my tongue. I stayed still, everyone in the room did as he was silent for almost 10 seconds before answered.
"Only you two,"
Chato grasped my hand as we both were looking ahead at the set of library books on the wall, taking a few steps together side by side. It felt like we were once again walking into a death trap and there was no way out. If this was the only way that we were going to get him to stop whatever he was going, then so be it. It might have to be.
"I don't like this," Chato murmured under his breath to me as we were getting closer to the library wall.
"Me neither," I agreed, "But it's the only thin we can do."
"Hey," We both stopped and looked behind us, seeing Flag there and Deadshot looking at me. They looked concerned, the both of them really, and I saw Flag carefully reached put scratch the back of his neck now as he spoke to the pair of us.
"Be careful," he said to us, the others in the room nodding in agreement. But as he was pulling his hand away from his head, I saw him tap his earpiece twice and not moving his eyes from me. I thought he was doing something random there in front of me, without being seen. However, I was realizing what hew as doing: he was telling us without using his mouth.
Lose the earpiece and the comm. No Waller.
We both looked back, having me breathe out slowly now as we approached the library wall. At first, nothing happened, the silence there was almost deafening as it feeling like we were waiting there forever and a day. But then I could hear things moving behind the wall there and the books as if something heavy and thick was sliding to the side with some heaviness behind it. Then the bookcase, the one in front of us actually, started to shift and was pushed back slightly, sliding to the left there with ease and without any real sound behind it. Being the library case was a thick metal door there, almost making me think that we were about to go into a large vault at the bank.
"Holy shit," Croc said in a gap behind us back in the middle of the room as the metal door was now sliding to the side. Chato and I could only stand there as it was slowly moving, having me feel like I had to tell Chato something before we go in there, and we both had to be on the same page.
"Don't let me do something stupid in there," I said to him, almost like a command as the door was moving further and further back into the wall.
"You're not going to do somethin' stupid," He reassured me under his breath as I now turned to face him, seeing him do the same. We were close enough to almost breathing each other in, and since this was going to be life or death at this point, I had to make sure that what we were doing was right.
"Promise me," I asked me, almost wanting to touch his face once more and have that sense of warmth again that only he could give me. I knew it sounded petty and like I was pleading him, but I had to know that he was going to be behind me 100%. He nodded his head slowly, pulling me into a hug and I hugged him back, the hug was comforting and not crushing.
"I promise," He said as he carefully rubbed my back there, the door was about to be all done opening there,"We'll be okay," He was short about it, which was perfect since the door was now opened and we were now about to go into the lion's den. Neither one of us knew what to expect, and I could feel him reaching over to my neck, having me do the same. We both knew what we had to do before we were going to meet with this Adams guy, and I felt him pop it out of my ear as I did the same for him.
We both released out earpieces without the others seeing.
Chato snuck it under my vest as I snuck it under his jacket, almost too skillfully then and without it being too in the open. Once we released each other and we looked ahead again, hand in hand, we started walking down the small hallway that was metallic walls and concrete floor. It was no longer than 10 feet into the thick wall there, and it was light to show the other door on the other end that was slowly opening itself. I was holding my own breath as the door was opening to show the room there that we were going to see.
Once we walked into the room, very slowly and with hesitation, I noticed that it wasn't a typical panic room. It was beyond large for a panic room, almost like it was its own small apartment there within the walls of his establishment. It was more comfort than modern, compared to his office out there. I saw one section being a living room with a fireplace in the wall, a fire already roaring there and making it almost seem cozy. There were floor rugs there and along the wooden floor and a record player playing some classic music to calm the air. Next to that was a smaller kitchen, a small table in the middle that had some papers spread out on the top of the table and a cup of coffee sitting there alone. Near us was a sitting area, a few chairs spread out and a small hallway that could be leading to the bedroom.
I thought nothing was seen at first, no sign of the guy as we were looking around at the small panic room, but then I noticed that someone was sitting with their back to us on the couch and looking at the fireplace, saying nothing and not moving an inch. I knew it was him, I could feel it there within my bones as both Chato and I saw him there. I could feel Chato getting one of his hands engulfed in flames and my one hand was morphing into a diamond form. We were ready for anything that could happen from this one man that did all of this, and we stood there as he finally spoke.
"Would you like some tea?"
We said nothing since it sounded so polite and yet not even close to what we had in mind. What was going on? We looked at each other now and stay still, our guards were still up now as he turned to looked over at the both of us, getting up from the couch he was sitting in and we finally saw his face.
For one thing, he looked worn down.
He didn't look like he could kill us, not in his face. No, he looked like he was lacking sleep and lacking any hope int he situation that was in front of him. Hell, he looked young but the bags under his eyes and the thinning hair was saying otherwise. I thought he would have gone through some kind of trauma there as he looked at the both of us.
"Can I get you guys some tea?" He asked again now, sounding a bit hesitant to ask. We were still staying still, still wondering if he was going to dos something or take off that persona that he was giving the both of us. But once again, nothing. He sighed, looking down at our weaponed hands. He shoved his hands in his pockets now as he walked over to where the kitchen table was.
"No need to think I'll do anything to you," he said to the both of us, not in a grumble, but none the less sounding drained. He sat down in a pump, motioning to the two chairs there now with his fingers, "Come sit. I'll tell you everything you need to know."
Neither Chato and I moved, thinking that we were gong to be crazy to move over there and sit with him as if we were old friends. I could feel Chato being hesitant next to me as if he was going to hit me for making the first move. I moved over to the table, keeping my diamond hadn't against my side but still alert enough to not fully believe this person. I walked, Chato right behind me close enough to where I could feel him press against my back there as I was slowly making my way over to the table, still wanting to seem as though I was not comfortable with this whole thing yet.
"I only picked to talk to you since I knew about you," He explained as he looked down at the table with the files there on the top, scanning them with his eyes almost like he's done this a thousand times before, "My job was to make the world a better place for the metahumans."
I sat down at the table across from him, placing my diamond formed hand there on the top of the table there in front of us as some sense of security. He eyed it there, and then look right at me, "I never wanted any of this: all of the death and the kidnapping."
"Sounds hard to believe when it's your name on the side of the building," I voiced to him finally, now almost seeing him smile a bit from what I told him.
"My name may be on the product, but it wasn't my doing for all of that to happen," He explained, I tilted my head at him now in confusion since he was making himself sound more like the victim, "I would leave that to my head of security."
"It was his idea?" Chato asked in a gruff behind me. As soon as he said that, Adams had a look of the shame there on his face: shame, and guilt as he was thinking in his head. I didn't know if I should be afraid of him or not, but it was getting to be that point.
"I thought employing a head of staff that was a metahuman was a good idea at the time," He explained, "But he had other things in his head that were a bit more on the sinister side. He knew how to talk to others, how to have them think things and know things that aren't true. So…he basically turned against me."
"So you were basically working for him?" I asked him, trying to get it right in my head what he was saying.
"Sounds petty, believe me, but after he killed my wife and told me that my daughter was going to be next, what more could I do but play the part?" That part killed me, what he was saying and how it sounded so truthful at the same time. He was threatened by this person, this other metahuman that basically took over this life and was going to kill his only child if he wasn't going to do his bidding. A big part of me didn't want to believe him, having me think that this was a huge lie. But the other side of me, the human side, knew where he was coming from. He would go to this length in order to have his daughter safe. He would turn his own company over to a bunch of radicals just to know that his daughter was not going to be harmed.
"What's her name?" I asked, seeing him slowly look up at me now in almost shock as to how I would ask him that and not call him out on his bluff. I stayed still, waiting for some kind of answer there from him as he breathed out slowly.
"Madeline," He replied softly, and saying her name almost brought a sense of light there on his face.
"We have a daughter too," I explained to him, not to jab at his side, but to just let him know, "Her name's Mary. She's going to be five soon, in about a month or so." I felt Chato placed his human hand on my shoulder, squeezing it slightly as I said this and I took my deep breath, "We're doing this because we felt as though we had no other choice."
He said nothing, thinking about it and all that was going on within the last few month. Did he have any real idea as to who we almost lost, who we could have lost? Was I supposed to blame him?
"Who was he?" I asked him now, seeing him give out another shaky breath there as he then looked a bit scary as he was about to answer it for me.
"The one you head slammed about 10 minutes ago."
I could see his face in my head again. It was vivid and almost too grainy like I was watching him on a film. The cocky boy, pretending to be a goon but he was behind the whole thing after all. Of course, he would have that kind of swagger behind him, being able to walk into the room thinking that he did own the world and all that was within it. I felt a bit sick thinking that a person like that was in charge of something this big and this life changing, and yet he was wielding that power a kid in a candy store.
Reckless and unhinged.
"You said he was a metahuman," Chato said behind me, speaking up once again, "What could he do?"
"He knew how to turn nightmares and dreams into reality…almost like an illusion," He explained, almost being haunted with it himself there. Did that man do any of that to me while I saw him the few times there? I didn't feel like he was doing it to me, maybe he was reserved about it. A bit taken back was more like it. and I had no idea how powerful he was since I was the one who knocked him out some minutes before being there.
"He plagued my mind, he knew what I wanted and what I was desiring after," he went on, thinking about it like it was itching away in his brain, and I could see it there as he was talking about it and the tick behind his tone, "He saw that I needed my daughter, and he used it against me…" He was the true victim, I could totally see it there on his face and in how he was trying to just breathe normally there. I really wanted to see that he was the one to blame, for what happened to Chato, and for what happened to plenty of others that weren't dangerous to begin with. How was it now that I was getting a change of heart for the guy? This was not supposed to be me at all, and yet here it was.
"You probably don't believe me, I wouldn't if I was you," He said in a huff now as he got up from the table there and moved over to the kitchen counter, grabbing one of the mugs that was left out there and then moving over to the kettle that was on the stove, grasping it in his hand and then pouring it into the mug, "I am the reason that most of your friends are dead, or about to be dead. I should be dead because of that."
Guilt, all over the place and on his face.
I had to look over at Chato, seeing him look down at me too. I wished to know what he was thinking at that moment if he was buying this as close as I was too. I could read that face, and I could see that he too was seeing this guy more as a human than a human being. We both were slowly getting on the same page, and I had to look back at the guy as he was clutching the side of the counter with his spare hand and holding his mug in the other hand.
"People are gonna ask about you," I said to him, slowly moving up from the chair there and standing a bit behind him, not moving a spot there as I was seeing him pause and hear my words,"If we do believe you on this on, and it's a bit of a long stretch believe me, how are we going to go away from this?"
He said nothing once again, thinking about it in his head and I could see it there as he was hunched over a bit now and it was washing over him on what we were supposed to do about this. I felt as though I was giving him a choice to get out of this without his head being on a spike from the other metahumans that were waiting out there for him. Chato took and step over to stay near me too, not saying anything as Adams rubbed the back of his head there.
"I'll turn myself in," He said finally, the both of us saying nothing as we were hearing something that we never thought we would that night, "I'll make sure that they know that no one else is going to be drugged I'll sign whatever I have to,"
"You know they won't believe you," Chato reasoned with him in a gruff manner, "They'll eat you alive." I knew it was true since they were only going to see his name and nothing more. They weren't going to believe him because of his name being on all the products and all the drugs there. It wasn't going to work..unless. I had an idea, a small glimmer of hope that could work there as I took another step forward.
"What if we make them believe you?" I asked him, in almost a hopeful tone instead of a drag. He looked over at me now, not getting what I was telling him.
"What do you mean?" He asked, placing the mug down on the counter again as he looked at me in concern now, thinking that this sounded impossible and not even close to working.
"We know someone that can have you tell the truth, all of the truth," I explained, almost sounding desperate again there since I wanted him to really know that I myself was telling the truth, "If we get him to use his ability on you and then have you tell them the truth, then we make this right."
No one said a word, no one moved since I left that there on the table. I was giving him a chance to not be seen as a villain if he was telling us the truth after all. Was he telling us the truth about himself, how he was blackmailed almost into doing all of this and left with the damages there in his name? If he was telling the truth, this might be the only way that he might be able to clear this name. But if he was lying, we would know once and for all if he was and he would be punished. I would only hope with the latter, since letting the mob that was still out there take care of him was not the best way. And I personally didn't think that he would survive with Waller, and with that mind in my head, I had a small sense of pity towards him.
He sighed, looking right at me square in the eyes then. I felt Chato touch the edge of my shirt there thinking that I was exposing myself there to the man that we briefly just met. Adams finally looked over at me, a look of satisfaction there on his face, not to mention fatigue.
"I'll do it."
Author's Note: I lied, I have one more chapter! Buwaha! Leave me a review!