A/N: 02.20.2018

Alright, time to learn more about Tumulus and the Graves. I want to, again, thank The Bloody Red Lantern for the inspiration of the plot element of how Rene became Tumulus. After reading this, go check out his stories! They are fantastic!

Enjoy!

Chapter 25

Basem awoke the next morning with Sally's arm draped across his chest. He leaned over and kissed her forehead. "I love you," he whispered.

She smiled. "I love you, too." She opened her eyes and stared at him. "You okay?"

"Not really. But… right now… it doesn't hurt as much."

She kissed his cheek. "I feel the same way." She laid her head on his chest, "What are you going to do next?"

"Probably keep looking for the Graves," Basem answered. "Honestly, I don't know. Terry said that he's waiting to hear back from Amanda Waller. She might have some more news. Anything that can help us catch them. Before…"

"It's okay," Sally said. "I know they're threatening me."

"I don't like bringing it up."

"It's not your fault."

He stared into space.

"Basem?" she asked.

"I'm not so sure about that."

Basem and Sally decided to spend the day together, with Sally even calling in to work and not going to class. That night, Terry and Max came to the Manor with Terry heading straight for the Cave. Max went to go see Sally and Basem, finding them both in the dining room.

"Hey, guys," Max smiled.

Sally smiled, "Hey, girlie."

Basem nodded at her, "Hey, Max."

"Mind if I join?" Max asked.

"Please."

Max sat down and stared at Basem, "Terry told me what happened last night."

Basem looked away.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Basem answered. He looked at her and chuckled, "I didn't know Terry could fight like that. I mean… when he's trying? Damn."

Max smiled, "He's really good as physical movement."

Sally stared at Max's stomach, "I'd say he is."

Max laughed, "Shut up."

Basem chuckled. He looked toward the study, "Terry went to the cave?"

"Yeah."

Basem took a deep breath and stood up.

"If you fight again, make sure I'm there," Max said.

Basem looked at her, curiously. "Why?"

"Because that's a fight I wanna see! Duh!"

Sally burst into laughter while Basem smiled and rolled his eyes.

Basem walked down to the cave, finding Terry staring at the computer screen along with Bruce and Hayate. All three turned around and watched Basem as he approached.

Basem, sheepishly, walked up to Terry, "Hey."

Terry smiled, "Hey, brother."

Basem took a deep breath, "Look, uh, Terry… last night…"

"Forget about it." Terry patted Basem's shoulder, "It happened. We dealt with it. Time to get back to work."

Basem exhaled, "Yeah. So, we good?"

"We're good."

Relief washed over Basem. "Good. Where are we?"

"Still searching," Bruce answered. "The Graves are keeping quiet. I'm guessing Malum's money and influence is helping them stay out of contact."

"What we need to do something about Sally," Terry said. "And, at least for the next couple of days, I think I can convince Max to stay at the Manor."

"That'll ease my mind a bit," Basem said.

"We have around 24 hours to meet Tumulus's deadline," Terry added.

"How do you think he will fulfill his threat?" Hayate asked.

"I've been keeping an eye on Sally's apartment," Bruce said. "So far nothing out of the ordinary."

"And the most important part about that apartment is here," Basem added.

"So that rules that out. The school's been pretty quiet, too, and the hospital where she works."

"That just leaves here," Terry said.

"If they come here," Basem said, "they could get down here. Bruce, they could get the Cave and learn everything. About you."

"A price that'll be paid if it must be," Bruce declared. "I honestly don't care about that."

Basem stared at him, appreciatively. "Bruce…"

"Plenty of people know who I am," Bruce said. "More than I like but it happens. This isn't about my legacy as Batman. This is about protecting innocent people who didn't sign up for this life."

"She kinda did when she decided to date me," Basem said.

"No," Bruce replied. "She signed up for you. Not this. Not to be targeted for a madman who wants baseless revenge."

Basem opened his mouth.

"Yes, it is baseless," Bruce said before Basem could argue. "You didn't kill Marie and you did all you could. Nothing about that was your fault."

Basem closed and folded his arms.

"Wise words from Wayne-sama," Hayate said.

"He sometimes has a few," Terry smirked.

"Wiseass," Bruce said, smirking as well.

Terry chuckled then sighed. "Still, at least, it would be nice of Waller would just call us back with some info."

Suddenly, Terry's phone started ringing, causing all of them to stop immediately.

"Okay, that… is really terrifying." Terry answered the phone, "You heard me talking about you, didn't you?"

"I would say 'yes, because my ears were burning,'" Waller said, "but I'm old. My ears are always burning."

"That's probably because people are always talking about you. And probably always will."

"You're probably right. At any rate, I need you to come see me. I have news."

"That is a good thing, right?" Terry asked

"In its own way," Waller replied.

"I'll take it. I'll be there as soon as possible." Terry hung up.

"Get going," Bruce said. "We'll keep searching."

A couple of hours later, Terry was back at Waller's estate. She met him at the door, "Good to see you, Terry."

"You, too," Terry replied.

"Let me cut to the chase: what I found isn't good."

"That is so not shocking at this point that I just need hat saying 'It's Not Good News.'"

"You should've asked. I have stock in a company that makes them." Waller led him into the living room, invited him to have a seat, and began pouring tea, "How much do you know about Greek mythology?"

"Hercules, Amazons, a few gods, and that's about it," Terry answered.

She smiled. "I thought so." She handed him a teacup, "All legends have a speck of truth to them. But, as you well know, a speck could be so much more."

He took the tea, "Considering I have Wonder Woman saved in my phone contacts, yeah, I believe ya."

Waller chuckled, took her teacup and sat down, inviting Terry to do the same. "Actually, it's funny you bring up Wonder Woman. In some ways, she's responsible for a lot. Her and Superman."

"How so?" Terry took a sip of tea.

"They were some of the first: beings who appeared human but, by their own nature and nothing else, were superior to humans. That started the train rolling of people who wanted to experiment with improving mankind. Give them superpowers or, in some extremes, make them gods."

"A little bit of Project Cadmus slipping into this?"

"We weren't the first to try things like that," Waller defended. "Despite my efforts and few lapses in sanity, we weren't the last."

"So, one of these groups got a hold of Rene?" Terry asked.

"That seems to be the case. From what I learned, Thalia is a member of the Moirai."

"Moirai?"

"Here's the short version," Waller said. "In Greek mythology, the Moirai were often known as the incarnations of destiny. They were called the Fates in English."

"I think I remember a movie about that," Terry said.

"In the mythology, there's only supposed to be three of them but, with the group that's currently out there, there's been evidence to the contrary. They exist as a group of individuals whose power have been augmented."

"How'd they get Rene? More importantly, how do we stop them?"

"From the encounters I've come across, their bodies are designed to take all sorts of punishment," Waller explained.

"Yeah, I noticed," Terry said. "But I think Hayate was able to hurt Tumulus. If barely."

"Extreme force can damage them. It just takes a lot of it. They're not as strong as Superman, nowhere near. And, as powerful as they are, they're still human. It's also a matter of their mental state."

"Great. Anything else?"

"Yes," Waller said. "Certain metals can penetrate their skin."

"I need a holy blade, don't I?" Terry asked.

"They're trying to be Greek gods, so, yeah. But you don't have time for that. You're just going to have to give it your all in this, Terry. Their skin is hard to penetrate but they have other weak points, like any other human."

"Getting to those points are what's nearly impossible," Terry mused.

"Never said it was going to be easy," Waller added.

"Never is." Terry took a deep breath, set the tea cup down, and leaned forward. "Rene. How the hell did he get hooked up with a group like this?"

"They approached him prison. He was quite vocal about the 'evils' of the Justice League and how they weren't real heroes."

"Do we know who approached him?"

"An agent of the Moirai," Waller said. "A true believer, you could say. They tend to attract runaways, people that common society won't miss. The man killed himself about an hour after he approached Rene. They had others inside the prison who began the early part of Rene's treatment to give him the powers. When he was ready, they set up a fire at the prison to fake Rene's death to get him out and finish his treatments. The rest you know."

Terry rubbed his forehead, frustrated. "Who the hell are these guys?"

"Dedicated."

"Tell me about it." Terry exhaled, dropping his hand. "How did get hooked up with Malum and Troy? Are they part of the Moirai?"

"No. But we think that the Moirai and Malum had business together at some point or another. The same goes for Troy. They knew that Nightrunner went to Gotham and that they would have to fight you and them and possibly Basem's friends from Paris so best to join forces. I think, between Malum and Blitzkrieg, that's how they're keeping Basem's friends in Paris occupied. For now, anyway."

It was a lot of information, only time would tell how much of it would be useful. Terry nodded, "Thanks for the information, Ms. Waller. Hopefully, it'll help."

"I'm sure it will," Waller said. "You'll make it work. But, actually, there's another reason I called you here, Terry."

Terry stared at her, questioningly, "Okay. What's that?"

"Did you know that there were a few Kobra soldiers who captured Rene survived?"

Terry's interest was piqued at hearing that. "No. Were they interrogated?"

"Until their toes fell off."

Terry stared at her, blankly. "I can't tell if you're joking and that scares the crap out of me."

Waller just smiled. "Did you ever wonder why they kept Rene alive when they caught him and didn't kill him right away?"

Terry's face hardened. "Believe it or not, that thought did cross my mind more than once."

"I believe you. Well, it turns out before they were about to get rid of him, he screamed that the Justice League would save him. He said, 'my sister is in the League.'"

"Are you freakin' kidding me?!" Terry threw his back against the chair.

"They kept him alive to lure the League there."

Terry's eyes widened. "Wait a minute. Then…"

"Yes," Waller said. "Basem didn't get Marie killed. Her brother did."

"I need to get back to Gotham."

"Yes, you do."

Terry hurried back to Gotham and headed straight for the Cave, explaining everything he learned to Bruce, Basem, and Hayate once he was there.

Basem looked at Terry in shock, "He told them?!"

"Yup," Terry said.

Basem threw his head back then ran his hands over his face. "He couldn't have! He wouldn't have done that!"

"He did."

"He wouldn't!" Basem screamed.

"Basem," Hayate said calmly.

Basem stared at Hayate then at Bruce and Terry. He slowly shook his head, "He… it's impossible." He walked away from the group, heading deeper into the cave.

"We'll deal with that later," Bruce said. He went back to the computer, "I've heard of the Moirai before and I'm disappointed that I didn't put it together sooner."

"You've faced them before?" Hayate asked.

"No, they only recently started making a name for themselves. Within the last ten years, give or take. Regardless, this gives us more information than we had before. We're not going to waste it."

Terry folded his arms, "So, now we know. What do we do?"

"We hunt them down," Bruce said.

"Works for me."

Dressed in common clothes to remain as inconspicuous as possible, Blaze was sitting in a diner in downtown Gotham. She had a burn phone in her hand and was twirling it over again. If she did this, she would be saying good-bye to a lot of money. A lot. If she didn't and when she was caught by the police, knowing it was just a matter of when, she'd never see the light of day again.

Then again, Tumulus would kill her if she found out what she was considering. Actually, she would be lucky if he just killed her.

Blaze shook her head. She was dead, either way. "Screw it."

She dialed.

"911, what is your emergency?" the operator asked.

"I need to talk to Commissioner Gordon. I have information on the recent attacks in Gotham."

A/N: Whoa! Okay, so, what happens now?!

Blaze is turning on the Graves?! Who are the Moirai? And, most importantly, Rene talked?!

Things are coming to a head, folks. It's about time we settle all business!

Thanks again to The Bloody Red Lantern for the inspiration! Go give his stuff a read!

Thank you all for reading! Hit those Fav/Follow buttons and leave me a review! See you soon!