The Banana Slug: …I lied.
Young Justice: Halls of Arkham
By The Banana Slug
CHAPTER 11: Do You Feel Blame? Are You Mad?
MOUNT JUSTICE
October 26, 3:56 PM
Miss Martian awoke with a torrent of sweat, getting up to find herself back in the cave, on a metal slab…the same one from the test a week ago, the one where she lost control. She looked to see her teammates wake as well, dazed and tired, a few hateful glares pointed at her, including one from Superboy.
From the edge of the room, Martian Manhunter and Batman stood, staring at her with concern. They stood side by side as they began whispering to each other, Miss Martian shook her head with shock.
"What…happened?" she squeaked out.
"You did it again!" yelled an infuriated Artemis as she stomped at the telepath as she huddled away, "What is your problem? Is this some sort of joke? We were killed! Worse than before! And you screwed it up again!"
"But…but…" she whimpered out, shocked by the accusation, "I didn't…"
"You didn't know, yeah, same like last time!" berated a furious Robin, "What is the deal? What good are you if you can't even control that mind power of yours?"
"Miss Martian," said Aqualad as he walked to her, sternly glaring down at her as she looked at him with fear, "We can't let you be a part of this team anymore, you are too dangerous to keep. I'm sorry, but that is the simple truth."
"No…I'm sorry…" she let out with sorrow, "Please…don't do this to me…"
"You did this to yourself!" yelled Artemis as she slammed her hands on the slab before M'gann, "You don't seem to get it that we aren't like your race, we're not okay with the whole mind manipulation thing! It's creepy and it would be better if you just left us alone forever!"
"Artemis is right!" shouted Robin with anger, "You seem nice, but you are a total creep!"
"This is for the good of the team, M'gann," instructed Aqualad, "If you cared about us, you'd leave." Miss Martian looked at all of them with regret and sadness, then at Superboy, who didn't even bother going over to her and just looked away.
"Conner…please…" she whimpered out, sobbing with despair.
"Don't!" he shouted angrily, then sighing before he said, "I don't…think it's going to work…if you keep screwing with our minds like this…" M'gann felt something drop inside her, a stone…once he said that to her.
And then, the doors opened to reveal Red Tornado, Superman, and Black Canary walking out with Batman and Martian Manhunter leading them.
"Stand aside," ordered the Dark Knight to the Team, and they did so as Miss Martian frantically looked around.
"What? What's going on?" she breathed out in fear as the heroes began surrounding her.
"Miss Martian, this is the second time this incident has happened," explained Batman calmly, "We cannot handle your psychic powers causing unforeseen problems with the League and anyone associated with us. The fellow League members and I have come to an agreement, saying you must be escorted back to Mars for psychiatric help."
"What? No!" she let out as Black Canary and Red Tornado both pressed their hands on her shoulders, "I can control it! Please! Uncle J'onn! Tell them-"
"I…was the one who said you should return to Mars," revealed a shamed Martian Manhunter, "I am sorry, but I cannot deny the fact that you are uncontrollable. We will be forced to sedate you if you refuse to come quietly, M'gann."
"No! No! NO!" she screamed, kicking at Batman in the stomach as she began to thrash around. The superheroes quickly held her down as she struggled and screamed bloody murder, tears running down her eyes as she saw her uncle with a needle in his hand.
"J'onn! Please!" she begged, looking to her friends. They looked, but then glanced away when they saw her looking at them, her heart breaking even more. She tensed up at the feeling of a sharp needle puncturing her neck, causing her world to go black as she entered unconsciousness…
She awoke later as she was strapped to a medical bed, being pushed by both Batman and Martian Manhunter down a long clean hallway of white marble.
"J'onn…please…" she let out in tire, "Don't…do this…"
"It is too late, niece," he replied sadly, "But I know you will fight me all the way, so before I send you back home…I think psychiatric help on Earth may be best for you. Then perhaps, you may return to Earth if the Team says it is fine…however, it seems unlikely, seeing what you have done to them…"
"We have the best of the best looking at your situation. I promise that you will be given the best treatment in this facility," explained Batman calmly, then stopping and nodding to an unknown person behind her.
"Do you think you will be able to help her, Dr. Crane?" asked Martian Manhunter in a hopeful tone.
"She seems to be incredibly attached to this world," sighed Scarecrow as he walked around her and stood next to Batman and the Manhunter as he wrote down on a notepad, continuing with, "But this is a place of healing, I will do my best…I promise you…"
Miss Martian looked at Scarecrow with wide eyes, shaking her head as she tried to scream, but she found no words could come out. Batman and the Martian Manhunter nodded as they waved goodbye to M'gann as the Scarecrow wheeled her away.
"This…isn't…real…" she let out, breathing heavily, "This…isn't a simulation…I'M STILL IN ARKHAM!"
"Very observant," chuckled Scarecrow as the clean hallways of the asylum slid away and turned into the dirty filth-covered walls of Arkham, "I was quite shocked when Joker shot you in the head, angry even, enraged…I thought you were dead…but it turns out, you're quite alive. Interesting."
"My friends," she let out, breathing heavily once again, "Are my friends alive! Please tell me! My friends!"
"Quiet, whore," hissed Scarecrow, "You're friends are fine, the people you mistook for friends were just illusions…Joker said that you were quite shocked and it was obvious my toxin worked wonders on your fragile psyche. But please, tell me, do you really believe you can see the late Amadeus Arkham?"
When he asked this, Miss Martian looked to the left and saw said Arkham glaring at her from the passing-by hallway. She looked at Scarecrow and glared at him, her left eye twitching with hate.
"Therapy isn't time yet…ass-head!" she hissed at him.
Scarecrow laughed heartily at her statement, then sighing with amusement and advised whimsically, "Word to the wise, learn to cuss better."
All she could do was blush and look away, closing her eyes and thankful that this wasn't a simulation, her friends were not dead, and there will be no ill will for past doings.
ARKHAM ASYLUM
October 26, 7:59 PM
Artemis yelped as she was thrown on the floor, groaning as she got up to see Zsasz walking to her with a wide wicked smile. "Run, my little rabbit, I love to catch rabbits before I cut them…so fun."
Artemis got up and reached for her quiver, only to see that it was taken away, with Zsasz holding onto it along with her bow. "Not one of archery, mind you," rambled Zsasz amusingly, "You may ask why I don't just shoot you down with a gun, eh?"
"Get away," she growled as she backed away, holding her arms up at him as she glared one of death at him.
"Guns are too quick, dear," he hissed out, "You can never savor the kill with them, that is why I use knifes. In the glimmer of the blood covering the metal, you can see a person's true color…"
With a soft calm smile, he looked at her with loving eyes, then asked to her horror, "Would you like to see how cowardly you really are, Miss Artemis Crock?"
Suddenly, without warning, he screamed as he jumped at her like a wild animal. She shrieked as she was pinned down beneath him, holding her arms up as he growled and snarled. His knife waving around trying to cut her throat, only to slash her arms and cheek.
"GET! OFF!" she screamed, kicking him in the stomach and onto the floor as she got up and fled from the deranged beast. Zsasz growled in pain, clutching his stomach before letting out a deranged yell, running after Artemis in top speed.
Shock took her lungs as the deranged madman slammed into her and threw her on the floor, Zsasz pressing his body against hers as he brandished the knife around her face. Her wide eyes looked at the glimmering metal, dripping with blood as she felt Zsasz's breath touch her ear.
"Stop struggling," he hissed angrily, "If you do…then I'll decide you are more trouble than your worth…and kill you slower."
"Leave…me…alone…" she growled out, glaring with rage as Zsasz got up from her. He chuckled as he sent his foot on her back, holding her down as she clenched her fingers with great pain.
"I am appalled by how pathetic you are, Artemis," hissed Zsasz with amusement, "Always trying to act tough when you are so…weak. What good are you to your little associates? I watched you as I stalked you, like a wolf and his rabbit, seeing how pathetic you can be by putting on this visage that you are a real hero."
"I am…a real hero…" she groaned out, then yelled in pain when Zsasz stomped on her back.
"Don't you play me! Have you looked in a mirror?" he shouted, chuckling and pressing his blade against his bald head, "You are sooo imbued with the lie that you actually believe you matter to your friends. Please. The attitude, your distance, your aggressive remarks, and the fact you never let anyone in. Who could care for a little bitch such as yourself…I'd rather kill you than fuck you, really. That's how annoying you are to me."
"Shut…up…" she hissed with anger, tears swelling up in her hate-filled glare. Zsasz lifted down his eye-lid and showed off the red meat underneath to the world.
"I think I'll leave a mark there, the constant annoying pain it will bring will remind me of you, Artemis Crock," he mocked with a dark hiss, "Does that please you? To know you matter enough for me to be constantly annoyed by your memory in the temple? At least you'll be important now…important enough to-"
Artemis quickly flipped and kicked Zsasz in the knees as he was out of balance from Artemis' escape. He screamed in pain as he fell on the floor, with Artemis lunging at him like a wild animal.
As she was upon him, he held his knife with an insane bloodlust and stabbed her in the shoulder. Artemis didn't care about the pain, but she grabbed the hand that held the blade and with all her might, broke his wrist. He roared in pain before it was silenced by a strike to his face, and then another, and then another, and another and another and soon, Artemis was wailing in on Zsasz well even when his consciousness left him.
"Sick! Filthy! Animal!" she screamed in hate and rage, "Put down! You need to be put down! Sick! Degenerate! Ugly! Heartless! Fuck! Die! Just! Die! Die! DIE!" Her mind was blank, all she could do was constantly beat Zsasz's face to a bloody pulp. Eyes black, lips bruised, and blood creating a puddle around his face.
Finally, she stopped, seeing him beaten on the floor. Still alive, but barely. She panted as she knelt on top of him, blood covering her fists as she looked at him with tears. "I am not pathetic," she growled out, "I will…tell them why…when I damn right feel like it…so it means I'm not pathetic…I'm not pathetic…you are…you are the pathetic one, Zsasz…because I do have people who care about me…not like you…you deserve to rot in this hell…alone…defeated…and humiliated…"
Her body froze when she felt something cold in the back of her head, and a loud click from that which brings the feeling of cold steel to the back of her head.
"Any day I'd agree with ya," chuckled Black Mask as he pressed his gun against the back of Artemis' head, "But right now, I don't care. Come with me. The doctor will see you now…and if you refuse, I'll have to splatter your fucking brain matter across my good friend Zsasz' body…hell, I think he'd like that!"
As he laughs, Artemis just knelt there, motionless as she glared at Zsasz…satisfied this beast was forced to eat his own words. That was what she believed. That was what she proved.
Robin woke with in a torrent of sweat, beaten and bruised as he was handcuffed against a pipe in the wall. He looked around to see many different employees of Arkham Asylum, nurses and doctors, guards and janitors, and Jeremiah Arkham as he laid against the wall, hand-cuffed to a pipe as well.
"Arkham!" called out Robin. Jeremiah gave him half a look, then turning away.
"…Took your time, it seems," he breathed out, "Joker found Harleen and I…took her away…don't know how long we have. Thanks for the effort…though…"
Robin looked at another side of the room, seeing Two-Face sitting on a table, flipping his coin as he had a machine gun against his shoulder and gave Robin an intimidating glare. From his side was Aaron Cash, handcuffed with his face beaten to a bruise as he spat out a large drop of blood from his cracked lips.
"Aaron! What are you doing here?" called out Robin again, tugging against the handcuff.
"Do you ever shut up," growled Two-Face, cracking his neck after saying so.
Aaron looked over, and even though his face was massively abused by fists and feet, he was able to smile back at the boy. "Robin…hey," he replied weakly, trying to open his eyes a bit more, "…The Pyg…he led some Arkham Inmates in and…well, he had more guns…and me and a few others survived…they beat us up…but we're alive…for now."
Robin shook his head with hopelessness, he didn't know if Artemis was alive, he didn't know if Miss Martian was alive, he didn't know if he was alive.
"Two-Face…what are you going to do with the hostages?" questioned Robin.
"Haven't decided…" sighed Two-Face as he looked at his coin, "Once Scarecrow is done with your friends, Joker said I could do whatever I wanted with them…perhaps I'll use you for a bargain to get myself out if heads, or slaughter every one of you if tails."
"Harvey, cut the crap!" yelled Aaron Cash sternly, "Listen to yourself! You were once our hero attorney, a white knight, and look at you now! You used to be something, and now you aren't better than the rest of these animals!" As Aaron berated him, Two-Face was looking out the cracked window, looking at the full moon with a smile.
"The moon…is so beautiful," was all he sighed out.
"What?" yelled out a confused Aaron Cash.
"It's a big silver dollar, flipped by God," Two-Face rambled calmly to himself, "And it landed scarred up, see? And so…he made the world…"
Aaron Cash only sighed and shook his head. "There's no helping you freaks…" Robin looked at the moon, wondering one small part if what Two-Face is saying is true…that God made the horrible world we live in because it was horrible to begin with…and he had no choice but to follow his own rules.
The desert was endless, the white desert of salt and scorching suns. Two eyeballs in the sky covered in white flames as they rained waves of heat down on Aqualad, nearly dehydrated and lost in the light of salt.
He saw illusions of water as he continued to trek down the hateful world he was forced to live in against his will, keeping his mind in track as he continued to walk and walk and walk until he couldn't walk anymore.
With a tired pant, he gave up and fell on the sand, kneeling as he looked up at the sky with misery. He groans in hopelessness as he slams his fists into the sand, parting slightly as he did so.
"I…failed…" he groaned in pain, "We're all…dead…every one…of us…"
Suddenly, he was blinded by a quick flash of light, a rolling thunder heard afterwards. He looked to see someone walk to him down the desert to him, a tall muscular figure that stood like a god. It was Maximilian Zeus, whom Aqualad met before from the falling steps and the electric chair.
Aqualad hung his head down when Maximilian stood before him, glaring down at him with a god-like scowl. "Neptune…why do you falter?" inquired Zeus, "Why do you look so unwell? A god does not fall in such a way!"
"I…can't escape…can't escape," groaned Aqualad, "The desert…is everywhere…"
"There is no desert, child," stated Zeus with a stern voice, "These are ravings, it is all in your head."
"I know!" shouted Aqualad, then coughing loudly as he said, "I failed my mission…and endangered my fellow teammates, and now…we are all dead…and if we survive, we go insane with the rest of the inmates here…"
"You have failed no mission, Neptune!" commanded Zeus as he pointed down to Aqualad, "You see yourself a human…I see a god, a god who leads! If you are worried for this mission of yours, do not worry, you still live! You can still fight! You can still defeat those that stand in your way! For that is your purpose! To lead the meek and instill courage in your subjects, Child of Atlantis! That is your birthright!"
Aqualad looked up at Maxie Zeus, seeing the suns set behind him as walls began to erect around them slowly. "Why…do you say this?" he asked him with his voice shaking, "Why do you believe in me?"
"…That question is rhetorical, Child of Atlantis," he replied with a booming voice, "But to be more precise…I can see the leadership in your eyes…you are a grand leader, even if you doubt it. The Gods were born to lead…and so were you."
The sands were swept away, revealing the linoleum floor underneath his knees as the walls came closing in, the ceiling descending slowly over the walls as he found himself back in the asylum. The desert was gone, the heat was gone, and it was only Maxie Zeus and Aqualad now.
Aqualad looked up at Maxie, who looked down at him before he turned with a nod and left the hero alone.
Suddenly, the sounds of clapping was heard as a tap of footsteps accompanied it. Behind Aqualad was the Joker, along with a squadron of insane gun-wielding maniacs, the Joker clapping mockingly slow as he got closer and closer to Kaldur.
"How heartfelt!" he giggled amusingly, "But…it is time to pay the piper, you understand? It is time for therapy. The Scarecrow wishes to end this…by giving you one last check-up! Nyaha ha haaha!"
Aqualad replied by getting up slowly, standing there as the Joker and his men walked to him slowly. He sighed and turned around, staring at the Joker with a dark glare. Without a hint of fear, he smirked and nodded his head.
"Fine…" was all he replied with.
ARKHAM ASYLUM
October 26, 8:08 PM
The victimized Miss Martian kept her eyes closed as she was wheeled down the hallway by the victimizing Scarecrow, walking with a skip to his beat as they crossed the streamers and the balloons left by the Joker. It was if it were some horrid wonderland.
"In the spring-time…the only pretty ring time…birds sing, hey ding," sang Scarecrow with a slight unnervingly happy tone, "A-ding a-ding, sweet lover's love…the spring-"
"Scarecrow…" interrupted Miss Martian, "Why me? …Why go all this trouble to torture me the most?"
"Simple, you caused the simulation to go wrong," explained the Scarecrow, "You are the most damaged by the experience because you caused it, much like a drunk driver taking out a small child and instantly regretting it as he is sent to an establishment such as this. All we are going to do is review what I have seen from all of you…"
"And then…will you let us go?" asked Miss Martian with a slight glimmer of hope, yet a massive amount of self-doubt.
"Oh no," chuckled the Scarecrow, "I'm going to kill you, simple as that."
"Simple?" she growled out with hate, "Is life so meaningless to you?"
"I don't know, maybe you should kill me and find out," said Scarecrow with the tilt of a head. He then stopped when he felt a cool air against his open wrist, looking around slowly as Miss Martian did the same.
"A little nonsense now is relished by the wisest man…" he hissed out to himself, then looking down at Miss Martian as he began wheeling her away again, "This place is haunted…by the spirit of one madman…the one who built this place…Amadeus Arkham…"
"I…know…" admitted Miss Martian with a hint of the hopeless, looking away as she kept her gaze away from him.
"They say he met this patient, in Metropolis, his name…Mad Dog Hawkins I believed," instructed Scarecrow like a teacher, "A patient known to destroy the genitals of women after raping and killing them…was slightly inspected by the doctor, then going home to care for his wife and daughter…"
The sounds of laughter and screams that once were prevalent in this hospital began to slowly go down as they moved down the halls, with Scarecrow continuing his speech. "One day…after coming home…he found the raped corpses of his wife and young daughter, the child's head found in her dollhouse. It has been said Arkham took his revenge against the murderer, Mad Dog Hawkins, by electrocuting him to death. Shock therapy. Apparently much different than it is today."
"Sad…" was all she could reply with, feeling incredibly tired as she shook her head slightly.
"He was locked in his own asylum after the grips of insanity finally took hold," he continued with interest in his own words, "He wrote an enchantment in his own cell to keep something out. Some say they are found everywhere within the walls of the asylum. Anyway, he died…after he finished it all. Some say the enchantment didn't work…and we are the demons who haunt the asylum."
"Sounds…like it," she breathed out, keeping her eyes open as she shook her head again.
"I wouldn't fall asleep in a place like this, I might get careless and leave you with the serial rapists while you rest," teased the Scarecrow, she shook her head vigorously to keep awake, much to Scarecrow's amusement.
He finally stopped in front of a pair of doors, sighing loudly and pleasantly as he looked down at Miss Martian's restrained form. "Miss Martian…it is time to assess what we have learned…and to end this charade. For real this time…"
The Banana Slug: BWAAAAHAHAHAHAAAHAHAAAA!
I'm sorry, some of the responses I've gotten were killer. I have to apologize if I trolled you, but it was expected, puh-leeze.
I hope none of you didn't really think the last chapter was really THE LAST CHAPTER. To be frank, I was worried some may de-favorite this story because of my little troll incident.
But, let bygones be bygones, you got two more chapters till the end.
