DC Gothic - Young Justice.
Part 28.
Rebel Base. Qurac.
I groaned as the throbbing pain in my head brought me fully into the waking world. Which was a shame because I'd been having a nice dream about one Azrael's adventures in the past.
Once I was able to focus I saw that I'd been shackled to a folding chair. I had ropes around both my arms and my legs. Also I noted that I had been stripped down to my boxers and t-shirt.
This didn't worry me and I was far from helpless. With a few words in R'lyehian I cast a spell that should have weakened the ropes enough for me to easily break them, only nothing happened, these terrorists had ways to counter magic, and that meant they had been prepared for a spell caster.
"The mole" I muttered "Of course, they must have told the League of Shadows about my powers".
To my surprise someone replied to my statement.
"Of course they did" someone said.
A woman's voice echoed in the gloomy room and I peered into the darkness.
"I figured it'd be interesting to see who was behind the mask" the voice then said "I must say, it's rather disappointing. You're no one".
This pleased me a little rather than offend me as it meant that whoever was really behind the upcoming terrorist attack and my capture didn't know much about me. They'd expected me to someone important behind the mask, which meant they didn't know everything about me even if they did know about my powers.
"Who are you?" I then asked "What do you want?"
At this point I figured I needed to start gathering information in order to plan my escape. Batman, who'd I'd messaged before leaving, might turn up and save me, but I was going to count on it.
"My name" the voice replied "My name is unimportant"
A woman stepped into the light and she more out of place in Middle Eastern camp than even I was. She was not only European, judging by her accent, she was also dressed as dominatrix. Which was odd and not just because women in Muslim countries tended to very modest in dress.
"My name doesn't matter Azreal" the woman was now saying I just wish to ask you a few questions".
Which would involve torture I was sure
"You expect me to talk?" I asked.
My question amused her.
"No I don't" she answered "at least not without some encouragement."
She walked slowly around me and I got a vibe of a predator stalking its prey.
"Of course we could just send you off into Allah's loving embrace if you wish to be stubborn about it" she then said.
Her tone of voice suggested that she was not a big believer in Allah.
"Well better you than Cheshire" I said "Now she's scary".
And also hot.
"She volunteered to interrogate both of you" I was informed "But she'll have to wait her turn.
When I heard the crack of a whip I started pitying myself while wondering if ninja cat girl wasn't the better option.
(Line Break)
Rebel Base. Qurac.
Cheshire stared up at the ceiling of the tent she'd been given to rest in, however sleep eluded her. Lifting an arm she glanced at a digital watch on her wrist and sighed. She then stood and stepped out into the camp. The golden glow of the morning light lit up the eastern sky as she slipped into the shadows and made her way to the command tent.
"The only way those two fools will flee is together." she grumbled to herself "Idiot men".
Moments later she pushing through the tent flap and slid into the room. Spying the newest computer she slid into the seat and plugged in a special USB drive. A moment later the security system that had locked the PC disappeared and Cheshire quickly rummaged through the files until she found the battle plans, which she copied.
She didn't yet know what she planned to do with this information, but she figured that later on it could come in handy.
Then she pulled the USB stick from the drive and pocketed it just seconds before the rebel leader entered the tent, by the time he leader was sitting at this desk Cheshire was outside, and listening in. Three men had entered the tent, the leader and two of his officers.
"The one calling himself Red Arrow is most resistant to torture. I even resorted to an infidel method that should have loosened his tongue but it failed as well" a man who wasn't the leader said.
Cheshire winced in sympathy.
"So how soon shall we put them out of their misery?" another man enquired.
The leader soon answered.
"Less than a week. Our transports will arrive by then" was the reply "Did you get much from the other one?"
Again there was no pause in the conversation.
"Our ally sent us someone talented in the art of torture" the other man said "However the man who used the swords seems to have some sort of healing power. He may take time to break".
Cheshire was intrigued to hear that.
"We haven't been able to track down the third member yet, either she was blown to bits or the flying one is still out there somewhere" the terrorist was saying to his leader "I will send more patrols just in case".
Cheshire scowled upon hearing that bit of news.
"I'm not sure I'll kill her or enlist her help" she whispered "but either way I better find the flying bitch".
(Line Break)
Rebel Base. Qurac.
Roy Harper groaned as the door creaked open and looked up to see woman clad a dominatrix outfit. After a moment, he felt a bowl of water being forced against his lips and he took a drink from the cool liquid.
"Who are you?" Red Arrow asked "And what's with get up?"
The woman laughed and leaned forward.
"I am no one important, merely an agent of her majesty's will" she replied before changing the subject "I put your friend through quite the extreme variety of torments, and he did not wish to tell me much of anything about himself. I was so disappointed, I wanted to learn a bit about you so called 'heroes'."
Roy cursed.
"You already know everything you need to" he then said.
The dominatrix didn't agree.
"You know many things" the woman went on to say "Like who informed you about the exchange?".
Roy didn't answer right away, but there was only so much whipping he could take, and since his arms were held up by strong chains he didn't even a chair to sit in.
"Don't know" he finally said "Ask Azrael, he's the one with all the contacts".
The woman snorted.
"Typical, so you're just his lackey?" she mocked.
Red Arrow played along with best he could.
"Yeah" Roy said.
The women then changed tactics.
"If that's so, maybe I can get him to talk by beating you to a pulp in front of him." The woman said. "Or maybe I should do something more imaginative to the both of you".
Red Arrow felt fear when he saw the predatory gleam in her eyes.
"No, well perhaps I should ask something else" she then decided "What's the history between you and Cheshire?"
Roy swallowed.
"What's it matter to you?" he asked back.
Again the woman seemed amused.
"I was just wondering if she'd like to fire a bullet into your brain" the woman said causally.
Truthfully Roy had idea if Jade would do that or not and so he couldn't answer. The female torturer didn't like that at all.
(Line Break)
Rebel Base. Qurac.
I swore as Roy was forced down into a seat across from me and held in place by two guards.
Once he was secure the evil woman slowly stalked around us with a feral and predatory smile.
"Now I've heard you hero types can't bear the suffering of others " the torture said "So lets put it to the test"
At this point I was cursing myself for starting to like Red Arrow, a week ago I would have been able to bare to watching him suffer, now the idea upset me.
"When I get out this I will kill all of you" I stated.
Rather than reply the leather clad woman motioned and one of the uniformed terrorists dropped a car battery on the table, along with a set of jumper cables.
"No mercy to the American infidels" she said with glee.
I felt the need to speak again.
"Actually I'm British" I informed the bad people "Not American, don't care if you blow it up".
I was ignored.
"Where are you going to put those things?" Roy asked.
I really didn't want to know.
"Remove his trousers" the woman said with a demonic smile.
I'd been right. I really hadn't wanted to know.
(Line Break)
Hospital. Qurac.
Jade had little trouble finding the flying woman, some of the locals had kindly brought her to a hospital. Which proved to Cheshire that not everyone in this country was evil. Not that she normally judged but the terrorist cell she'd been forced to work with just rubbed her the wrong way.
"You captured them" the alien princess said.
It wasn't really a question, but Blackfire got an answer.
"Yes" Cheshire replied.
The alien had mostly recovered form her wound, she was a lot tougher than a human. Because of this she was not only already out of bed, but nearly ready to go back into battle. None of the nurses or doctors wanted her to leave, they just Warren't willing to argue about it. The alien princess was rather scary.
"And now you want to rescue them?" Blackfire asked.
It was confusing.
"I had a job, I did it now that it's over I want to help Roy" Che sire stated "and I'm thinking of defecting".
"You are an assassin." Blackfire replied "Why would we want you on our side?".
Cheshire slumped against the wall and shook her head.
"You don't understand I want something you have" she explained.
She then shook her head
"No you have someone I want." Cheshire corrected.
Blackfire scowled for a moment and then her eyes went wide. Slowly she turned her gaze to Cheshire and for a fleeting moment saw a flicker of sadness slip across the mask of indifference.
"Roy" Blackfire murmured "You want him?"
Cheshire bowed her head,
"I don't want him to die" she admitted.
Blackfire laughed suddenly.
"Oh you can have him" she then said "I mean he's good at the sex, but I'm not interested in anything long term".
Cheshire's green eyes went wide in surprise.
"But... I thought, you and Roy... and..." she struggled to say.
Blackfire smiled.
"I have needs" the alien princess said "He satisfied them, that is all".
Cat girl ninja took some time to process that
"That's actually rather sad" Cheshire said quietly.
Blackfire didn't see it that way, and she didn't care what the assassin thought about her.
"Its up to Azrael if you join the team or not" the Space Babe was now saying "But if you save him from horrible torture and death, I'm sure he'll say yes".
It would be rude to do otherwise.
(Line Break)
Rebel Base. Qurac.
"Is your magic working?" Roy asked me.
Whatever was preventing me from using spells seemed to effect the entire base.
"Sorry no" I replied.
A line of men armed with assault rifles were currently lining up in front of Red Arrow and I. We were seconds away from being shot.
"You know sometime I should learn their language" Roy said "Would be nice to know if they are counting down to our deaths".
I laughed and soon wished I hadn't as everything hurt.
"Bit late now, isn't it" I replied.
The terrorists hadn't aimed their rifles at us and the leader was speaking so I assumed he was still sentencing us to death.
"You've died once already. Does it hurt?" Roy asked.
My current plan was do be shot, let them dump my body somewhere and wait to wake up again. Then I would avenge Red Arrow by slaughtering all the rebels. I'd creep back into the camp, get a gun and just kill everyone.
"Yeah it does" I told Harper "but not for very long. Then its like falling asleep".
Well it was like that for me.
"How'd it come to this?" Roy asked.
I also answered this question.
"We got our asses handed to us by a girl dressed as cat ninja" I reminded him "but hey you won't have to live it down. My humiliation will be eternal".
Roy found that funny.
"If you live through this avenge my death" he request "Don't kill Cheshire, just make her life a living hell".
I nodded my head.
"Will do" I promised.
Assuming of course I was actually immortal, and the first time I'd come back hadn't been some kind of fluke. Plus there was always the chance they would cremate my body. I might not come back from being dust in the wind.
The guards took aim and just before anyone fired a number of smoke pellets dropped before the line of shooters. This was followed by screaming and people shouting in Arabic.
Next a purple star-bolt raced passed my eyes and I started to get a good idea of what was going on. My theory was confirmed when a green clad figure dropped behind Roy and withdrew a pair of deadly forks. I almost called out a warning, but the cat girl ninja only used her weapons to free Red Arrow.
"Oh hell" Roy grumbled "She's never going to let me live this down"
Given that the ropes binding me were now being cut lose I was willing to let bygones be bygones. At least with Cheshire, the dominatrix who was now running towards me was going to suffer horribly, even if I had to beat her half to death with my bare hands.
She snarled at me and stepped forward while slashing at me with one of my magical weapons, however she was no swords-person, or at least not one close to my level, and I able to avoid the attack, then I grabbed her wrist and squeezed it as hard as I could. Evil bitch dropped the sword and I caught it will my free hand. I then slashed her, and the sword phased through her body, doing no physical harm rather it effect her mind. Not that she suffered for long as I knocked her out by bashing her head with the handle of the sword. Which dropped her to the ground with a thud.
"Next time we met I'll make you suffer" I promised.
That would have to wait as right now things were rather crazy. I looked around and found that the rebels were either out of action or running away. Clearly they weren't a brave lot, although given that the alien princess had blasted most of their camp to rubble in a matter of seconds I had to credit with brains for legging it.
"So you survived Cheshire" I heard Roy say to Blackfire.
I looked around for the cat-girl ninja and found that she wasn't far away. She was knocking out a few rebels who'd been braver than the others, but not smarter.
"Takes more than a missile to kill me" bragged the space babe.
I ignored their talk and focused on Cheshire when I saw that she had one of my swords.
"Hey, that's mine!" I yelled.
Cheshire scoffed.
"Yeah, and you can it back when you learn to use it" she said to me.
Now I was really mad.
"Fuck you!" I shouted.
I attacked and used the sword I'd recovered in order to clash blades with the cat-girl ninja, who to my annoyance turned out to be rather good with a sword. But to be fair I'd been tortured on and for the past few days, and she hadn't.
"Damn it Jade!" I heard Roy yell "Give it back to him!".
Cat girl ninja snorted and countered another one of my blows before lashing out and nearly cutting into my face.
"Oh, you've done it now" I said
She caught my next strike with one of her deadly forks and twisted in such a way that my sword fell from my grip. The sword clattered on the ground. Cheshire slowly raised the stolen blade towards my throat.
"I'm a professional Azrael" she told me "You are an amateur".
Given what I'd recently been through it was understandable that I'd simply had enough. I didn't want to hit any woman, but cat ninja girl had pissed me off so much that I let my anger take control. I batted the blade aside with one fist and then before she could react my other fist was hitting her mask so hard that it broke.
Cheshire stumbled backwards, and I struck again. I gave her no chance to fight back I just kept hitting her until a purple star-bolt blasted through the air and struck the ground next to me.
"That's enough, Azrael!" Blackfire shouted "We need to leave now. You can settle things between you later".
I had to agree with that, and I couldn't just leave a Mother Box in the hands of terrorists. Plus I needed my armour back.
"Fine lets get our stuff and go before the guys with guns come back" I said.
(Line Break)
Monastery. Outside Gotham.
While I felt much better now that I had all my stuff back and a small nuclear bomb hidden someone in my base which I could use to kill anyone I dam well pleased. Still there was still something pissing me off, and that the fact that Cheshire wanted to join my team.
"Why?" was my first question.
We were all in what passed for an infirmary in the team's base. It wasn't very equipped. I'd have to fix it up later as while I didn't need help healing the same wasn't true for the rest of my team.
"Arrow and I are old friends" she told me "I've missed him"
Roy sputtered and glanced nervously at Blackfire.
"If you want to be with her I don't mind" the alien princess said "Perhaps we can come to some sort of agreement to share until I find someone to service my needs".
My life so sucked right now.
"You must be fucking kidding me" I muttered
He could have both of them for all I cared I was just shocked, and so was Red Arrow.
"But... but... Fire!" Roy stammered.
The alien princess was amused by Red Arrow's reaction.
"I'm not interested in being a couple" Blackfire explained before changing the subject "Now ninja bitch wants to join up with us and I think that she should".
There were valid reasons not to let her join.
"She's crazy" I pointed.
Cheshire snorted and glanced around the group.
"Are you kidding?" she asked "I thought that was a qualification".
Well she wasn't wrong. I was unstable, Blackfire seemed to be too, and Arrow was getting there at least.
"Great why don't we all just check ourselves into Arkham" Roy suggested.
Perhaps we would all end up there.
"I've been in worse places" cat-girl commented.
Arrow replied before I could.
"You're a professional mercenary and assassin, of course you have." Roy said to her "You probably lived out of a third world brothel at some point".
I was now thinking of keeping Cheshire around just so I could watch her annoy the hell of Roy. I had no TV here, so I needed something to watch while eating popcorn.
"Only for a month," Cheshire said with a snicker "The neighbours kept me up all night".
She was amusing too, that was a point in her favour.
"I'll have to see what Batman has to say before I accept your application to join my awesome team" I told Jade "But you can stay here until I get a chance to talk to him".
Cheshire laughed.
"Please, we're near Gotham" she reminded "Bats either knows I'm here already or will find out in any second. Then he'll just appear...".
I spotted him first.
"Actually, I'm already here" the Dark Knight said "You really should secure the area before talking."
Cheshire twitched. While I hadn't gotten to know her yet she seemed to always be so confident. So it was strange to see her so unnerved.
"I'll have to train you more than I had thought" Batman told me "Your first mission as a team was disaster".
It wasn't as if I didn't know that.
"I wonder who tipped you off this time?" I said.
Batman didn't say a word as he stepped fully into the room, as Cheshire tensed he sent her a glare that froze the woman in her place. I liked that he could scare her.
"It doesn't matter how I know you're back, or how I found out how badly you did" the Caped Crusader said "What I want to know is why you've picked up one of the League of Shadow's best agents and brought her here?".
My guess was that he had a way of tracking boom tubes, that was how he knew we'd gotten back not long ago.
"She's in love with Red Arrow and wants to play house with him" I told the Batman "She is the reason we were captured, and tortured, and I will have my revenge for that. But she also saved us, and she helped us get our stuff back. Plus she gave me a nuclear weapon, that's a hell of gift".
Batman made no visible reaction so I figured that he'd already suspected that this was the case.
"The League of Shadows sold the nuclear device to the terrorist cell for far less the ten million dollars you told me about" we Batman's next words "and the sale was just cover. The League of Shadows wanted the terrorists to overthrow their government, but it was Queen Bee's plan. She intended to use the chaos caused by the destruction of the Quraci government as justification for a take over. The UN would take action if she attempted to invade again, however they'd be far less inclined to prevent her from resorting order in a country that boarders her own".
Now a lot of things were making sense, like how a rebel army with tanks decades old could afford to spend ten million on a bomb.
"But why tell us?" Red Arrow asked.
Batman was also able to answer this query.
"Either the Shadows wanted to double cross Queen Bee or Talia's father wanted to weaken our side by taking out your team" the Dark Knights death "Its even possible that Queen Bee wanted you to be killed by the terrorists in order to further justify her army taking control. The UN might even support her take over if she had evidence that the terrorists had killed at least one American citizen".
The bad guys had very convoluted plans these days, and I still didn't understand the big picture.
"There's no proof of any of this" the Dark Knight went on to say "We don't even have evidence that the terrorists were planning an attack since you four scattered the rebels".
I noticed then that Cheshire had suddenly perked up.
"Oh wait" she said "This might help".
She handed the Caped Crusader a USB stick.
"I copied their battle plans" she explained "I don't know if there's anything linking the terrorists to the League of Shadows or Queen Bee, but maybe it will led to something".
Batman took it without a word and then looked at me.
"I want the device" he then said,
The torture must have driven me crazy because I refused and even faced the glare of doom.
"I might need it" I told the Dark Knight "Things are happening, big things I want something as a trump card. Besides its worth a lot and I do need more resources".
My team looked shocked.
"I'll give you four customised bikes" Batman offered "complete with non-lethal weapons".
For a nuke that was a bargain, for him.
"I also want... two collapsible staffs, a utility belt for Cheshire, enough equipment to turn this into a proper sickbay, and we guys get a raise, we were tortured we deserves it".
Batman replied right away.
"Done" he stated "Now where is it".
Now I was wishing I'd asked for more, on the other hand he'd have just taken it by force, so making a deal was best.
"In the Chapel, inside the altar" I told him.
Then he was gone, the door banged shut behind him as he left.
"Okay something is up with him" I then said "First this mayor thing, and now we actually notice when he leaves. I'm worried".
No one else seemed concerned, well actually the girls were they were just worrying about Roy.
"He gets two girls, and I didn't even get to keep the nuke" I muttered "Life is so unfair".
Red Arrow looked at me.
"I had my balls electrocuted" he reminded me "I deserve to be pampered by attractive women".
That was something I could not argue with so I decided to leave him to his growing harem.
"Look after him ladies" I ordered "I'm going to pay a visit to Talia al Ghul. I may murder her".
No one even replied.
