Notes: Track 34 added to soundtrack (on profile).
Chapter 26: Slice-&-Dice
Three figures stood on a rooftop in Crime Alley. One was garbed in purple, with night-vision goggles and a cat-eared mask. Another was dressed in red, yellow, and green, which starkly contrasted the black and blue third party, standing beside him.
"So, Leslie wanted to hide something, eh?" purred Catwoman.
"She won't tell us, but she might tell you…could be a clue to these 'Monster Men,'" Nightwing confirmed with a nod.
Catwoman grinned.
"She'll talk to me," she said.
"Um…would now be a bad time to say, 'Speak of the Devil?'" Robin asked. The Boy Wonder had been looking down upon Dr. Leslie Thompkins' house with interest, and he now gestured for his two companions to come closer.
Nightwing and Catwoman moved over and looked down.
A pair of bulky, gray-skinned figures were moving down the street…straight towards Dr. Thompkins' home.
Catwoman hissed softly in disgust.
"What are those?"
"Monster Men," replied Robin, and reached into his utility belt, handing a small injection gun to Nightwing. "You sure this'll work, Dick?"
"It better," replied Dick Grayson. "We have enough blood on our hands as it is."
"What's that do?" asked Selina Kyle.
"It's a little chemical I whipped up, using some of the blood from our last encounter, and some tranquilizers," Nightwing replied. "In theory, if we inject the Monster Men with this, they'll get knocked out, but the self-destruct compound in them will stop short of killing them; they'll simply revert back to children."
"And if it doesn't work?"
"Then Bruce won't be very happy with us at all…if and when we find him."
"Hey!" Robin exclaimed. "Look there! Coming up behind them!"
Nightwing looked down as instructed.
He glowered at the figure that trotted behind the ogre-esque beasts; it was a tall, muscular man, with blonde, crew cut hair, wearing nothing but a pair of red boxers and dark sunglasses. His eyes, barely visible, were a cool blue color. He had fair skin, and what might have been called a handsome complexion…were it not for the cruel, manic smile that tainted his lips. Even from here, the trio could clearly see the shallow, criss-crossing, tally mark-shaped scars that covered his arms, legs, and chest.
In one hand, he carried a Bowie knife.
"Zsasz," snarled Nightwing. "What's he doing here?"
Victor Zsasz, simply referred to as Mr. Zsasz by the mass media, was the truest definition of a psychopath; born in a wealthy family and spoiled as a child, Zsasz lived "the good life," yet had always felt incomplete. After running away from home at eighteen, he was mugged by a desperate man, wielding a knife. Zsasz killed the mugger in self-defense…and believed he had found purpose: life was pointless, so death was the goal.
Believed to be without a chance of salvation, Zsasz marked his kills by cutting a tally into his own flesh; he almost always used a knife…the same one the mugger who assaulted him had used.
Such was the Bowie knife he brandished now, sweeping it dramatically around his head. One of the Monster Men held up a leg and kicked down the door.
Dr. Leslie Thompkins scream was very sharp and clear.
Almost immediately, the trio on the roof leapt down to the street below.
Zsasz saw them and grinned.
"Well, well!" Zsasz greeted in an oily voice. "If it isn't the Bat-birds and Ms. Kitty!"
"Your taking no lives today Zsasz," Robin growled.
"I'll give you nine seconds before I scratch your face away," hissed Catwoman.
Zsasz laughed, and snapped his fingers, darting into the doctor's house. The two Monster Men roared and charged at the three. Moving simultaneously, all three managed to leap over the heads of the oncoming brutes, which slammed straight into a concrete wall, face first.
One of them bellowed in rage, short, stubby nose bleeding and broken. It launched a punch at Nightwing, who sidestepped it and fired the injection into the creature's arm.
The Monster Man fell face first to the ground. Groaning, it rolled onto its side.
The second beast approached, one eye scratched, bald scalp scraped and bloody. It held up its arms, fists clenched, and slammed them into the ground. The pavement buckled from the sheer force of the ogre's superhuman strength, and all three felt their legs quaver, dropping down onto their backs and losing their sense of balance.
The Monster Man let out a deep, hoarse, and almost comically brainless laugh, and grabbed Catwoman by one leg, taking the other in its other hand, intending to tear the nimble lady in half, right down the middle…
Something sharp caught in its arm, and it growled angrily, dropping her, the diamond-sharp claws of Selina Kyle's gloves leaving deep gashes even in its tough, gray skin.
Roaring in fury, the Monster Man raised up its foot to crush her…and then fell over backwards, silent, as an injection was fired into its neck.
All three watched as the two Monster Men swiftly began to change back into children. Their wounds seemed to heal as they shifted back into their true forms.
Cautiously, Nightwing touched the necks of both; they were both young boys.
He smirked.
"The formula's working just fine…for now."
"Which is more than you'll say for the doctor!"
The trio turned to the door.
Mr. Zsasz had returned.
And his blade was against the neck of Leslie Thompkins.