The Inquisitor

Chapter 31

Nightmares

A/N: I'm going to give everyone an early warning, there is some very dark, very graphic and very disturbing material in this chapter and I can guarantee that at least some of you will be pretty disgusted by it and I will mark it for those who would rather not read some really, really, really messed up shit.

And I'm gonna be honest I had a very, very hard time writing it and I still can't believe I actually wrote it. If some of this goes against the guidelines for please let me know and I will alter it as best I can.

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-Mt. Justice-

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The ride back to the cave was mostly silent, though every now and then Miss Martian would feel the eyes of her teammates resting on her every now and then before turning away. It didn't take a mind reader to understand that they were nervous around her now, and she honestly couldn't blame them. She had just killed a creature in cold blood after all.

This was in almost direct contrast with how they interacted with the Inquisitor. While M'gann had been more than just a little bit out of it after she had…ended that poor ape's life, she had noticed that none of the other members of the Team had reacted at all to the Inquisitor's almost casual slaughter of the other mutated animals. It was kind of unnerving really; at some point back during their time in the Qurac/Bialyan border zone, the Inquisitor's actions simply just stopped phasing them.

She wasn't sure when exactly it happened but it was obvious that by the time that they tried to admonish the Inquisitor for his killing of Psimon they only really gave him a token attempt at chastising him. Even when he killed Shifter, none of them had truly bothered to say a single thing against how he had butchered the serial killer in such a horrific manner. Whether it was out of shock, horror, disgust or…something that none of them wanted to admit that they were feeling.

The only one who really talked at all throughout the whole thing was Captain Marvel who at least tried to lighten the mood with stories and bad jokes. And while some of the group did complain somewhat about how the Inquisitor had used one of their own as bait to lure out the enemy and how he didn't tell anyone the plan. It was also somewhat frustrating when the Inquisitor all but repeated a line that he had spoken earlier in the mission, that "there will be times that I will need to keep information from you for the sake of the mission but I will explain my reasoning afterwards if possible."

Considering that the Inquisitor didn't go into any other detail than that, several members of the Team were understandably frustrated. However Robin quickly pointed out that Batman had done similar things on several occasions when it came to his allies and enemies. After all if an ally was captured or went missing, a tracker would only make sense to have on their person and one didn't really need to give a thorough explanation as to why someone would put a tracker on an enemy.

Of course the Inquisitor had Robin send in a preliminary report to Batman in regards to the events that happened during the mission. It wouldn't do to have those idiots in the League to accuse him of trying to leave out certain…details about what happened. Not that some of those fools wouldn't try to find some way to blame him for what the xeno had done. Though in all honesty the only real complaint he had about Miss Martian's performance was that her killing the mutant had been far too messy and prolonged. She could have easily simply snapped the beast's neck and been done with it.

Under most circumstances Dante would have assumed that the xeno was simply showing her true nature but after seeing how she normally interacted with other humans, especially that child back in the border region he wasn't so sure. It was either the most elaborate attempt at deception that Dante had ever seen in his life that would make even the trickery the Eldar and their darker kin used pale by comparison or (far more likely) there was something more going on.

He would need to keep a closer eye on the xeno during missions from here on out, just to be on the safe side. Of course Dante also knew that there would likely be a problem for him in the form of Miss Martian's uncle. The fool would more than likely blame him for his niece's actions. 'And if the fool xeno decides to get violent well…' Dante reflexively put his hand on the top of his psi-maul's grip.

Eventually when the group finally landed back at Mt. Justice, they found Batman was already waiting for the team with that same stern expression on his face that he always had on him. Though to many, Batman's expressions were completely unreadable, there were those who could see through it and to what lay underneath, one simply had to very adept at reading facial expressions or simply have spent a great deal of time with the man to understand his body language.

Given that Dante had spent many years around people who acted similarly he thought that he could at the very least have a relatively good read on the Caped Crusader. He was concerned. Though whether that was about what the xeno had done or what her uncle might do, Dante was unsure. Of course he may also be apprehensive that the other members of the Team might follow down the same path.

Though Dante had only been using more watered down training methods that Inquisitor Monroe and his retinue had used on him after his recruitment as an Inquisitorial Acolyte. If they were undergoing that level of training there would have been nothing but outrage by those pathetic leaguers. Still though he more than expected at least some of them to find some reason to complain about him in the upcoming debriefing.

Upon landing the Caped Crusader immediately took them into the briefing room and began to get the full story of everything that happened in Africa. For the most part Batman remained relatively stoic in regards to how the accounts progressed. Even when it got to the point where Miss Martian had to end up killing one of the mutated apes in cold blood, Batman's stoic expression never once wavered.

It was honestly rather impressive if Dante was perfectly honest, especially when one considered that Batman had the exact same childish beliefs as the rest of the Justice League. If he didn't know any better, Dante would have sworn he was looking at another Inquisitor.

Of course there were those in the room whose expressions were so blatantly obvious that even a member of the Death Korps –whose poor grasp of social cues would make the average menial laborer a master orator by comparison- could understand what they meant. Martian Manhunter, who while normally absent from debriefings, instead decided to appear at this one in particular. It was more than likely that the xeno filth had blamed him for what had happened with his niece and was more than likely going to confront him over it.

It only took roughly fifteen more minutes of the debriefing before Batman finally finished the debriefing, which was fine by the Inquisitor, he had other more important matters to attend to. Matters that were critical to many of the long-term and short-term plans he had for the future.

The very instant that the debriefing was over, Dante made his way over to the Zeta Tubes, the Martian filth watching his every step. It was clear that the Xeno wished to confront him but much to the Inquisitor's surprise this never happened. Instead he seemed content to simply observe Dante and glare daggers into his back. Even when Dante finally entered the Zeta Tube he still felt the crimson eyes of the xeno upon him, though.

There was a small part of Dante that wanted to turn and taunt the xeno behind him and would no doubt take a small token of amusement at the umbrage at whatever Martian Manhunter's outraged reaction might. However it would only escalate the situation and given what Dante was about to do, he needed the absolute minimum amount of attention trained on him. Especially with Batman so close to them. It would be best to not do anything that might make a spectacle of the situation.

So Dante simply set the coordinates on the Zeta Tube for Seattle and walked on through, though keeping his guard up as he did just in case the xeno decided to try and do something...regrettable.

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The instant that the Inquisitor had left through the Zeta Tube, Martian Manhunter looked over at Batman and said "I know what you're going to say Batman, and I still think that the Inquisitor had something to do with what happened with my niece."

Martian Manhunter knew that such a deduction was probably foolish and was more based on his desire to keep his niece safe. But ever since M'gann had met the Inquisitor she had started to change. Oh they were subtle at first but J'onn could easily tell that they had started shortly after the two met. Then there was the incident in the border region between Qurac and Bialya. His niece had always been a kind and gentle soul, until the incident in Bialya she never would have harmed anyone in such a brutal manner and certainly never killed another creature.

Now though, J'onn was all but consumed with worry for his niece. Worry that she was slowly becoming something she wasn't.

It was then that Batman finally spoke up "I do understand your suspicions and though I do share them in some respects, the Inquisitor hasn't gone out of bounds in regards to his leadership over the Team. True some of his training regimes are a bit more intense than what most of the Team is used to but it still hasn't been anything that would lead to what happened with Miss Martian."

J'onn knew that Batman was correct in that regard and it was more than likely that M'gann's experiences with Shifter and the warzone he had dropped everyone into had affected her far more than she let on. It wasn't fair to just blame the easiest target when something else may have been to blame. When Batman then voiced that M'gann would be taken off active duty for the time being –unless of course there was no other alternative in the event of a truly dangerous crisis– as well as have more sessions with Black Canary, Martian Manhunter was visibly relieved.

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-Fawcett City, several hours later-

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Captain Marvel, AKA Billy Batson flew through the skies of his home city, smiling as he watched the city lights beneath him. He knew that it was past his bedtime and that his uncle would probably chew him out for being home so late but he just absolutely loved flying through over the city at night. The lights the sounds, everything it was all just so incredible to see from above!

Of course though he wouldn't be able to do it for very long, it was already getting too late and he would need to return home soon. Especially if he wanted to make it to bed on time. Captain Marvel let out a small sigh, wishing that he could enjoy the view for a few moments longer he gave the grand view of his home city one last glance before heading back to the home he shared with his one remaining relative.

It only took the boy a few minutes at most to make it back to the house in the suburbs of Fawcett City unnoticed, and upon entering he saw his uncle waiting for him, with an expression on his face that was trying to look stern but came across more as loving and relieved. "Uncle Dudley you'll never guess what happened today!" he all but cheered excitedly.

Billy Batson's uncle cocked an eyebrow and gave his nephew a wry smile "You can tell me everything in the morning, but right now you have to go to bed, school's tomorrow and you're not going to be sleeping through half your classes."

Billy Batson looked as though he was about to argue with his guardian but he quickly acquiesced "Alright uncle," he all but sighed in disappointment but even he could wait a little bit longer. Still the superpowered kid gave a smile before heading towards his room "Goodnight uncle, see you in the morning."

"You too kiddo,"

Captain Marvel made his way back into his room and called out "SHAZAAM!" Light filled the room for a split second, and once it had faded the form of Fawcett City's protector was replaced by that of a ten-year-old boy in jeans and a red t-shirt. Billy Batson let out a yawn as he began to get ready for bed. He had a long day of school ahead of him tomorrow and he would need his sleep.

The boy was feeling so secure in his surroundings that he never even noticed the observer watching him from behind a chain-link fence that was partially obstructed by a pair of garbage cans.

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The Inquisitor watched the foul sorcery play out in front of him with a disgusted expression on his face. So this was why Captain Marvel's face was never recognized when the man-child was out of uniform. He could literally change his appearance from that of a child to that of a grown man. As much as Dante hated to admit it, it was a masterful disguise to say the absolute least. Still that was perhaps the only thing that was intelligent about the heretic in front of him.

When Captain Marvel had removed the tracking device on the way back from Bialya, the fool hadn't even bothered to check in case there was more than one attached to his person. As a result, Dante had managed to track him to Fawcett City after ensuring that he wouldn't be discovered. It hadn't been easy but it was unlikely that the Justice League would catch on to this little…reconnaissance operation.

He had been waiting months for the League members to lower their guard enough for him to make this kind of move and now he had since been rewarded. Confirmation on the secret identity of one of their more powerful members. It was perfect, and was something that would prove immeasurably useful in the future.

Ever since he was subjected to the indignity of working alongside the Justice League –although as much as it chagrined him to admit it, the sidekicks had proven relatively more competent since Bialya– he had been attempting to gather as much information on their secret identities as he possibly could. While they were incompetent in almost every aspect of their war against crime, they were surprisingly cunning –at least by comparison– where their secret identities were concerned and it had taken him more time to gather this information than he had initially expected.

Batman was one of the easier ones for Dante to uncover. One only had to deduce who would be wealthy enough to afford half of the things that Batman used on a regular basis. That combined with a certain wealthy playboy's utter disdain for all things criminal after the murder of his parents it was relatively obvious that he would want to gain justice not only for their deaths but for those that had also lost loved ones to the criminal underworld. Of course there was also the possibility that Bruce Wayne wasn't the Caped Crusader and was instead only funding him but Dante found that to be very unlikely.

Not only that but it would be even harder for him to confirm it like he was with Captain Marvel, Batman would no doubt have numerous contingencies in the event he even tried something like that.

Then there was a similar problem with the xeno known as Superman. This particular one was slightly more difficult for the Inquisitor to pin down all things considered. He had to cross reference the Man of Steel's first appearance with those that had arrived in the city within a month or two. Not an easy task and would have taken an eternity to sift through if it hadn't been for one, simple, thing. The Daily Planet.

Given how close Superman seemed to be with a certain female reporter from that news organization it would seem as though there was a possibility, however unlikely that he may be employed by the same company. When Dante checked the dates that corresponded to all new hires against the date that Superman had made his debut, there was only one that truly stood out. Clark Kent. A man who had been adopted by the Kents that lived in a town called Smallville which was situated roughly fifty miles to the west of metropolis.

Not only was Clark Kent physically similar to Superman but his clearly sheltered upbringing would explain many of his disgustingly naïve beliefs (or at least the disgustingly naïve beliefs that the xeno would discard when its true nature came out).

Of course much like with Batman there was no real way Dante could confirm this for certain. The Man of Steel would no doubt detect the Inquisitor long before he could even make the attempt to confirm who the xeno was pretending to be. At some point he would have to use Waller to confirm his suspicions about this but he would need to be in a position to get something valuable out of revealing this kind of information.

Sure Waller may have been an ally for the time being but it was clear that they were allies of convenience. Dante couldn't be sure whether she would turn on him if he became a liability in her eyes.

There were others whose identities he only needed more confirmation which included Green Arrow and his lover Black Canary whom he was positive were Oliver Queen and Dinah Lance respectively. Robin who was Bruce Wayne's foster son Dick Grayson, Flash –Dante had been given quite the hint as to his identity after that fool Wally West had revealed his own real name shortly after the Team was formed– who was a Forensic Specialist working for Keystone City's police department by the name of Barry Allen.

However with some of them he still had to confirm who they were and oddly enough he still was having some difficulty with uncovering who Artemis was underneath that mask, though he would figure it out sooner or later. Because while she stated that she was Green Arrow's niece, Dante knew she was clearly lying, it was all over her body language whenever it came up.

The only ones he really didn't have to uncover were Wonder Woman and Troia, both of whom didn't seem to be attempting to disguise who they were given that the former was the ambassador to the UN from her own pathetic people while the latter only seemed to spend her free time in the Cave.

Pushing those thoughts aside for the time being, Dante began to make his way back to Seattle, there were things there that he needed to attend to. More specifically criminals that thought it was a good idea to try and take over Kingman's old operations there. It seemed as though sparing Grafton had proven the proper decision. The sniveling lawyer had proven to be a valuable source of information, but Dante couldn't forget that the fool had betrayed his employers and would easily betray him if a better option came available. Still though for now, he would focus on the criminal fools who thought it a good idea to try and fill the vacuum in Seattle.

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-Several Years Ago-

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(A/N: WARNING, DISTURBING CONTENT AHEAD YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!)

The walls of the room that the boy once again found himself in was covered in stains of blood and other forms of viscera. There were a litany of surgical instruments on an operating tray just a few feet away from him and all of them were practically drenched in blood. Screams could be heard almost everywhere at this point, the other captives being tortured for either information or simply out of boredom the boy didn't know. The only reason that he was one of the few that weren't screaming was because he had screamed himself hoarse a long time ago and now nearly nothing could come from his mouth without pain.

The wounds on his body were even worse now. Several sections of his skin had been flayed off with a flensing knife, there were patches of burned skin from electrical equipment as well slash marks from a knife that weren't made for flaying but rather just to make cuts into the skin.

The boy wondered how long he had been in this place, as there wasn't anything that could be used to tell how much time had passed since he had been thrown in here. Of course it was also very difficult to tell the passage of time back in his cell too. It could have been more than simply days, it could have been weeks or even longer for all he knew.

In front of the boy was the same monster that had been torturing him for days. He was angry, but this was nothing new. Every time the boy wouldn't scream as loud or would refuse his offers of mercy in exchange for swearing allegiance to the 'true gods' he would make it more painful but would always stop before causing any permanent harm. Instead he would leave the room and move to another one nearby and screams would erupt from the cell until eventually they stopped suddenly. The boy was young but he was not stupid, he knew that those people were likely dead. They were the lucky ones.

Those that weren't nearly so lucky were still being tormented in other parts of the massive storehouse. Their screams constantly echoed from almost every direction that were only partially drowned out by the booming sound of his captor pacing in front of him. He had been for the last few minutes, and was snarling every few moments through his heavily scarred visage.

Eventually the armored giant let out a guttural growl to signify just how annoyed he was with his current victim still hadn't been broken. Even after repeated tortures both mental and physical over the course of hours at a time, the boy simply wouldn't break. They flayed off portions of his skin and poured various pain inducing drugs into his systems. While the boy screamed constantly he never begged for them to stop. The torturer eventually switched tactics and used a cocktail of drugs to induce horrific hallucinations. Like before, the boy still didn't seem to be breaking, at least not yet. The boy still glared hatefully at them rather than out of fear.

When the giant spoke again it was still in that same guttural tone that he always spoke in "I must admit, I have rarely had such a subject that has been so difficult to break. In fact most mortals simply start begging for mercy within a few minutes. This is rather impressive." He gave a deep, throaty laugh, "When you have been properly…educated you will have the potential to become one of the Ruinous Powers' greatest servants."

The laughter started again as the boy heard the echoing sounds of footsteps coming towards the door. These however were not the stomps of the giants or the cultists that served them. It was more like someone was walking barefoot on the permacrete floor. "And it would seem as though the tool that will break you of your sad devotion to the Corpse Emperor has finally arrived."

Within moments the metal door behind the giant opened with a high-pitched screeching noise as metal scraped against metal. The Giant turned and stepped to the side, letting the boy see the new arrival for himself. There was a normal sized person that was clad from head to toe in a ragged looking hooded cloak which completely obscured the facial features of the woman. "He is yours now milady." The giant stomped off and closed the door behind him.

The instant that the door fully closed, the individual standing in front of the bound boy started to make its way towards him. When it spoke it was clearly a female's voice but it was distorted, it was like someone was speaking while something else spoke the exact same thing at the same time. Despite how altered the voice had become it was one that the boy knew all too well. After all, she had given birth to him.

"My boy, my precious boy." She spoke as she pulled back on the hood, completely lowering it to reveal her face. The boy's eyes widened in horror at what his mother had become. Her face was deathly pale, her eyes were dark, darker than anything he had seen before and there was a strange symbol that had been branded into the flesh of her forehead. It was a strange mix of the symbols used for men and women.

The boy was too rattled by what he was witnessing to utter so much as a words as his mother took off the cloak, only to find that she was completely naked underneath it. He noticed that his mother's body was just as pale as her face. Her hands were more like claws now, her fingernails much longer and thicker.

She sauntered towards him, her smile reminding the boy of a blade. "Oh why my boy do you resist, the Prince can offer you so much. Every dream you ever had can become yours if only you would renounce the False Emperor and pledge yourself to the Prince of Excess forevermore."

The bound child said nothing and the creature that looked like his mother continued forwards until she was all but hovering over him. She sighed as she dragged a finger along his bound right hand, leaving a long, deep and bloody wound in its wake.

"Mother w-why are you doing this?! Why are you hurting me?!" the boy screamed, looking for a reason, any reason that his own mother would be tormenting him like this. "Oh but I'm not hurting you my son. If you would pledge yourself to the prince, the pain will turn into an everlasting pleasure. Not only that but you will even have the father you have always wanted, the Prince provides for the faithful."

The creature that took the form of the boy's mother ran its tongue along the wound it had just created in his skin, licking up the blood. The boy resisted the urge to scream in horror and disgust but soon gave in as the creature created another cut in his arm and repeated the process.

This continued for several minutes, and with each strike the creature masquerading as the boy's mother would ask for the boy to renounce the Emperor and embrace the Prince of Pleasure and Excess, only to be rebuffed. The monster would even flay off portions of the skin -not that his previous tormentors hadn't already done just that-, just to add to the pain, laughing every time it did so.

At this point the creature sighed, seemingly disappointed "I can't say that I'm not frustrated by this little Dante, you must understand that all this pain, all this suffering you are making me inflict upon you can become a world of truly pure perfection. If only you would open yourself up to it."

It then tilted its head and tapped the side of its cheek with its right index finger's elongated nail. Each time the creature tapped its cheek the sharp nail would dig into the skin and by the third tap, a wound had opened up and blood was now flowing onto the finger and down from its cheek to the neck. However the monster didn't even seem to notice this, and instead a sadistic smile began to appear on its face.

"If pain is not enough to sway you to the Prince's side, then perhaps you will be more receptive with pleasure!" The creature then proceeded to use its claws to tear open Dante's already tattered clothes, leaving bloody slashes along his skin as it did so.

Dante was all but naked at this point and his eyes widened in abject horror as he continued to struggle against his bindings. The abomination got on top of the table and that the boy was restrained to and when Dante was looking directly at the creature its face had altered even further. Its eyes had become completely black and its teeth now resembled razor sharp fangs.

The creature's head lowered itself until it was next to Dante's head and began to nibble on his ear, tearing out small chunks of the boy's earlobe. After it was done it whispered words that chilled the boy to the bone "Now then little Dante, let me show you a world of truly pure perfection."

The boy's eyes widened in utter horror as the daemon began its work and outside the room only screams coming from a young boy could be heard, along with the sounds of something else from a different source entirely, something…carnal.

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-Mt. Justice, Miss Martian's Quarters-

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M'gann woke up completely drenched in sweat and she felt bile rising up in her throat. She immediately made a run for the bathroom before she evacuated the remains of her dinner through her mouth. It only took a few moments to finish, but the Martian continued to go over her latest nightmare in her mind. It was safe to assume that she had found out far more than she ever wished to learn about the Inquisitor's, no, Dante's past.

When Kaldur told her that her powers could be an invasion of privacy it never truly 'clicked' with her until now. She felt the bile start to rise up in her throat once again but this time she managed to force it back down again. Her disgust at what she had seen and at herself for so acting so thoughtlessly.

Miss Martian knew that she couldn't keep this a secret anymore, she had to make amends, somehow, some way she had to make amends for this. She had to find a way to apologize to Dante for her actions in a way that he would accept. She knew that it would be a near impossible task but there had to be something she could do to fix this.

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To be continued.

A/N: Apologize to Dante in a way that he would accept, lady you just put yourself on one hell of a snipe hunt, to say the absolute least. Oh and don't worry she's not just going to walk up to him, apologize for violating his mind, sifting through his thoughts and then he'll just accept her apology, if she did something so stupid well…I'm sure everyone here is smart enough to know what would happen at this point in time.

Oh and interesting little tidbit, originally I wasn't going to have the Daemon/corrupted mom/possessed mom, do...THAT, it was originally going to be that she would just torture him through more, conventional means but the theories that some of the fans put in the reviews made a lot more sense for a daemon, especially one of Slaanesh's clique would pull something along the lines of the fan theories instead. Also I did enjoy the theories that people put up that Dante's mom was either corrupted by Chaos or it was a daemon taking on her physical appearance but no one put through the thought that she may have been made a daemonhost by her captors.

As to whether or not she was any of those three things, well...I'll leave it to the readers to decide it amongst themselves.