Hello my dear readers, Foamy here! I'm sorry its been a month, life has been...well, a bitch. I finally got my health stuff straightened out only for my car to break down. I've been struggling to get it back on the road and mostly failing. Life is stressful right now, but I'm not giving up on this story. Every time I get a new review it refuels me more and reminds me that I haven't lost my touch. I'll finish this damned story even if it kills me lol.
Crunch crunch crunch crunch crunch crunch-
"Rouge?"
"Vhat?"
"Where, exactly, are we going?" Deathstroke asked as he peered over the cliff edge. He could see the French village they had left some hours ago far below them at the base of the mountain and it was mildly unsettling to think one little slip could have disastrous results. And considering how little speaking there had been on this trip beforehand, he was welcoming a distraction.
"Up ze mountain." Rouge replied as she trekked onward. "Can you not see ze trail we are following?"
"This is not a route. This isn't even a path." He said as he trudged after her. He had never been fond of the cold and wearing his metal helmet made it even worse.
"That iz because it izn't supposed to look like one."
"I see." Deathstroke hummed sarcastically to himself. "And just what is at the end of this path?"
Rouge paused and looked back at him. "Ze real reason vhy France, Italy, and Svitzerland want to make the mountain a World Heritage Site and cut off ze world from seeing it."
He raised an eyebrow, not that Rouge could see it. She continued on anyways.
"At ze end of the unassuming path we are taking iz the face of a cliff above us. In zat face is a door very cleverly hidden in the rocks, which leads to the blackest of black sites that NATO possess. There are five prisoner cells and three rooms for guards, along with various other small rooms for them, including a small kitchen, a pantry, and a bathroom that is little more than an open balcony with a slide into a chasm within ze mountain." She paused. "Well, that's how I remember it."
His eyebrow rose higher, though it wasn't because of this information. It was because her thick accent had lessened, a slip up. Either the accent was fake altogether or she used it to hide her real accent.
Interesting. He thought. "And just how do you know this?"
"I vas once held prisoner there in my youth, a long time ago." She shrugged. "It iz ze only place that makes sense to hide a man as dangerous as ze doctor. Only ze highest priority of international threats are housed here."
"This is Mont Blanc. How does a tourist attraction make sense for a secret prison location?"
"Because three people going up and two coming back down iz not uncommon." Rouge replied in a tone that suggested that she was smiling. "Ze mountain is quite dangerous…"
"Fair enough." He said. "If it's such a high priority place, how did you get out? Surely the guards must be the best of the best…"
"One of ze guards made a decision to visit my cell to 'relief himself' with my 'assistance'." She said flatly. "He made ze mistake of unshackling my legs while I was still conscious."
"I see." Deathstroke replied just as flatly. He didn't need the details about such a 'visit'.
"I imagine ze other prisoners either starved to death or froze."
Deathstroke had no reply this time, for he didn't expect anything less from the infamous Madam Rouge. Instead, he simply followed her up the mountain.
Crunch crunch crunch crunch-
"Rouge?" Slade still had one question left for the mysterious assassin.
"Vhat?"
"Just what did you do to get thrown in this place?"
She stopped and so did he. Slowly, she turned and looked at him in the eye.
"Vhy do you want to know this?" She asked.
"Professional curiosity and professional courtesy." He answered, not bothering to hide anything. "I like to know who I'm working with."
She was quite for a moment before she looked out over the vale below them with a strangely nostalgic look on her face. "I once served a man who had a dream that vould change ze entire world. When his empire crumpled and he vas defeated, I vas captured and thrown in this prison for serving as his top assassin in his innermost circle." She turned back to their path and began moving forward again. It was apparent she would say no more.
"So who was this man?" Slade dared to asked as he climbed up and over a rock some minutes later.
"Zat was a long time ago. His name iz irrelevant to the world as it iz." Rouge replied icily, not bothering to look at him. "Less talking, more climbing. The more we speak, ze more likely our voices will trigger an avalanche."
Slade, who actually wasn't that experienced with mountaineering, decided it would be best to do as she said. He now had a great many more questions he wanted to ask her as they climbed higher, but they would have to wait.
They would continue climbing in silence for some time and Slade found himself wondering just who in their right mind would willingly be stationed in such a place. He would take a desert outpost over this freezing nightmare any day.
"We are here."
Slade gazed upon the cliff wall, noting that it was only about eight feet high and very rocky. It didn't look it could have even a painting of a door on it.
"You are certain this is the location?" He asked skeptically.
Rouge said nothing, merely smirked and approached the rock wall. There was a slight shadow from an overhang the size of book and she reached into it. Slade did a quick mental assessment of the location and realized that at all hours of the day the shadow would be present in this one particular spot, simply because it had cover on all sides but one just from all the surrounding rocks.
Click
It was a very audible sound, one that made him glance warily above. Nothing happened, so he looked back to find Rouge pulling at the overhang. There was a single squeal of metal on metal as a door shaped section of the wall popped out and swung open. Smiling triumphantly, Rouge gestured for him to enter.
"Pull your hood over your face so that your mask is less visible." She said before shifting into an older man with a fair amount of wrinkles, grey hair, and brown eyes. 'He' adjusted the pack on his back before striding inside. "Let me do the talking."
Slade did as he was instructed and pulled his hood as low as he could and pulled his skier name-brand facemask up so that it his even more of his traditional mask. He entered the dark hole into the mountain and Rogue followed, swinging the door shut behind them. They were now in a concrete room, barely large enough for three people, with a single flickering light above them and a thick iron door opposite them. Rogue moved past him and rapped on the door. It sounded like a gong getting hit, a loud metallic clanging that reverberated throughout the room and beyond.
They stood there for a solid five minutes before a small hole in the door opened up to reveal a blue eye.
"Coming or going?" A thickly accented Russian voice asked.
"Going." Rogue replied. "Zookeeper."
There was a grunt and another screech of metal as the door was opened. Rouge motioned for Slade to follow. They stepped into the sparsely lit concrete hallway and found a rather large man waiting for them.
"By all means, American, take him." The Russian grunted. "He is disturbing to be around."
Rouge gestured before them. "Lead the way and we'll leave quickly."
"Konechno." The man said as he turned and led them down the hall.
Slade found himself pondering just how long it took the concrete to set in a place such as this. Hell, who built it? Why hadn't he heard of such a place before? He had served in the US military for a long time and had done some pretty nasty things for them, so how could he have never even heard a whispered rumor about it? Was it really the absolute top when it came to secrecy? What the hell was that weird feeling he was getting?
Why did he feel slightly sluggish?
He was now aware that something was actually wrong, something was very wrong, but he couldn't figure out what. Perturbed, he tapped Rogue on the shoulder to get her attention. But when she turned around, she was no longer shapeshifted. She was wearing her own face!
Slade's hand came up and he clamped it over her mouth. She looked at him in confusion until he pointed at her face and made a chopping motion. Her brows furrowed for a moment, then her eyes widened in surprise as he removed his hand.
"No powers." She whispered.
"Then no loose ends." Slade responded as he pushed past her and went after the Russian. He pounced on the larger man and wrapped his arms around his neck, immediately cutting off his air circulation and his ability to speak. They struggled for a moment before there was a crack. Slade dropped the lifeless corpse at his feet moments later.
"Hope you brought a gun." He said as he opened up his coats and withdrew a silenced pistol.
"In zis weather? No." Rouge replied as she opened her own coat and withdrew a knife with a peculiarly curved blade. "But zis will work."
Slade nodded before they set off down the hall.
The first door they came upon, to the right, opened up to a break room and kitchen combo. There was a man there, who was obviously shocked to see them. Slade put a bullet in his head before he could utter a single syllable.
"These appliances are electrical." Rouge noted as she eyed some cables running into the wall. "There is a generator of some sort. That is new."
"Gasoline doesn't exactly do well in freezing temperatures." Slade replied as he peaked back out the door. Both ends of the hallway were still clear.
"Whatever it runs on, it still gets turned off." Rouge said firmly. Her companion simply nodded once more and they pressed onward.
The next room they came to, a bunk room on the left, had two sleeping guards in it. Slade quickly put a bullet in each of their heads and then they moved on. The third room was a wreck room. It had a television, several gaming consoles, a desk with computer, and some furniture. It was unoccupied though, so Slade shut the door and they continued on yet again.
The next door they found wasn't a normal door. It was a cell door, heavy and iron like the entrance. It had a slot for food at the bottom and a peephole at eye level. There was also a switch next to it. Slade flicked it and peeked in.
"Empty." He said, peering about the forlorn room. There was a cot with adequate blankets and enough floor room to exercise, but nothing else. He flicked the light off as Rouge moved to the next door.
"Storage." She said, peering about at the boxes of clothes and blankets and MRE's.
Up next were two doors, one on each side of the hallway. Slade went to the one on the left, flicked the light on, and found himself slightly surprised.
"Vhat?" Rouge asked as he backed up and started unlatching the door. "Iz it ze doctor?"
"No." Slade said. "But someone useful nonetheless."
Rouge peered inside as he opened the door and found yet another large man in there. He was bald, but had a big bushy moustache, and was wearing standard prisoners clothes underneath a heavy coat and pants. He also looked rather surprised.
"Deathstroke?" He said, revealing his thick Russian accent.
"Anatoli Knyazev." Slade said to Rouge. "The infamous KGBeast."
"The rogue assassin who killed several US senators and targeted the US president?" Rogue asked in surprise. "I heard he vas executed in Moscow."
"Bah!" Anatoli huffed. "I was not rogue, I was following my superior officers orders!"
"Not surprised there, but what are you doing here? You aren't an international threat." Slade asked, gesturing at the other assassin.
"Mother Russia used me as a scape goat." Anatoli now sighed and unfurled himself from the blankets he was entwined in, revealing a metal capped stub of a left arm. "Sent me here to make the Americans feel better even after their precious Batman took my arm."
"We didn't come here for you, Anatoli, but I will free you and you can repay me at a later date." Slade gestured down the hallway. "Four of the guards are dead that way, go find warmer clothes and a weapon."
"Da." The Russian said as he got up. "Gladly."
"Would you happen to be here for me?" A voice behind Slade and Rouge said. They whipped around to the other door and found a singular eye looking at them from the peephole.
"You Zookeeper?" Slade asked.
"No?" The owner of the eye said. "But I can pay all of you handsomely for my release."
Slade looked to Rogue, who shrugged.
"It does not matter to me." She said.
Slade looked at the eye. "Betray me and you'll wish I'd left you in here."
"I am a man of my word." The other man chuckled. "You will be amply compensated."
Slade nodded and opened the door to reveal…
"Oh la vache, it's Vandal Savage!" Rouge said in surprise. Slade himself was just as surprised to see such a legendary man standing before them in prison garb and blankets. He was fairly dirty and he needed a shave and haircut, but his face was unmistakable.
"Yes, it is I." Vandal smirked smugly.
"What are you doing in here?" Slade asked. "No one has seen you in years."
"After my last defeat at the hands of the Justice League, the governments of the world decided that I was too dangerous to put into a normal blacksite prison, so they sent me here. Its ironic because I was the one who ordered the original version of this place to be built two centuries ago for some rivals and their generals."
That answers those questions. Slade thought to himself as he said, "Then you know the lay out of this place."
Vandal nodded. "It's been renovated and brought up to modern technology, but nothing has really changed."
"How many more rooms are there?"
"Two bunk rooms, a bathing room, one cell, and a storage room I assume houses whatever power nullification device is here as well as a generator." He gestured back the way they came. "Let me grab some proper clothes and I'll take you to the last cell, where your friend must be."
Slade nodded and Vandal joined Anatoli jogging down the hall.
They were gone for several minutes when Slade heard a door open further down the hall, followed by footsteps. He ducked into one cell while Rouge ducked into the other. They waited, weapons drawn, but the footsteps faded rather than got louder. Moments later Vandal and Anatoli scurried back up and ducked into the cell behind Slade.
"So, Deathstroke, who's this Zookeeper you're looking for? Vandal asked quietly as he adjusted his new coat and checked the pistol he picked up.
"A doctor." Slade replied, peeking his head out but still seeing no one.
"They put a doctor in this place?" Vandal asked incredulously. "What the hell kind of doctor is he?"
"A dangerous one." Rouge hissed before she darted out of her cell and down the hallway. Slade was right behind her and the others behind him.
Rouge stopped at the first door she came to and quietly opened. Shaking her head, she closed it and moved on to the next one. She opened this one and smiled as she peered in. She looked at Slade and jerked her head further down the hallway before slipping in the room. The hall curved to the right after about ten feet, the continued on for another ten feet before the path split. To the left was a partially open door, inside a man urinating into what appeared to be a chasm. To the right was an open room housing a large device Slade assumed was the generator and power nullifier.
In front if him, however, was a stone bridge across a ten foot wide chasm, probably a branch of the one from the other room.
He peered all around, but it was impossible to see just how large, or even deep, it was since the only light came from a single dull bulb on the wall beside him. Across the bridge was a small alcove with its own dull light and another heavy iron door, along with a rack of…well, he wasn't sure.
He started when he heard the door to his left open, but it was just Anatoli dashing in. He heard a gasp, a struggle, then a crack, followed by dasvidaniya from the Russian.
"That's all the guards." Vandal said, relaxing.
"I vant that machine off." Rouge said as she walked up behind them. Her knife was covered in blood, but she wiped it off on Anatoli when he exited the other room. The Russian gave her a disbelieving look but shrugged it off.
Slade nodded and entered the generator room, as did Rouge. Vandal and Anatoli stood back in the doorway and watched as they scoured the machine.
"Tch, of course they made it." Rouge said. Slade, curious, moved around to the side and found a logo etched into the side of the machine.
Dayton Industries Inc.
"Damn Doom Patrol." She spat, then actually spat on the logo. Slade said nothing as he resumed his search for the switches.
He did find them a couple of minutes later, tucked away behind a panel that he hasn't noticed the first time. There were only two switches, one for the power and one for the power nullified, along with a note taped to the inside of the panel door explaining what each one ran and various operation details. As it would turn out, it used a prototype self sustaining energy generator to operate.
It wasn't so damned big it would be leaving with him.
"There." He said as he flicked the nullified switch into the off position. He instantly felt better, felt like himself, and he could see Rouge visibly relaxer before she shifted several times. Even Vandal grinned.
"I'd love to know how that thing works." Vandal said as he looked the device over.
"I know a man who can get you one." Rouge said before gesturing to Slade. "Let us get ze doctor and go. I don't know ze actual time tables or check ins for this place."
Slade nodded and made his way past the others and across the bridge. When he got to the other side, however, he slowed to a stop.
"Rouge." He said slowly as he eyed the now very visible rack of gas masks next to the door. "Is there, by any chance, something wrong with the doctor?"
She didn't answer at first, but when she did it was rather…concerning.
"He might be a little…sick." She said coyly. Slade turned and looked at her.
"Define sick. " He said in a tone that would brook no argument.
"Ze doctor has a terrible disease called sakutia within his body, one that is lethal only to humans. It has a ninety nine percent fatality rating, with ze doctor and one other, Beast Boy, being ze only survivors. This also makes them carries of sakutia."
"How infectious is this disease?" He asked, growing far more irritated that he had been the entire week. Diseases were something he wasn't fond of, especially not after his tenure in Vietnam.
"Ze very air he exhales contains ze disease. A normal person will die within minutes of breathing ze same air as him. Those that have stronger immune systems begin to mutate and change into horrible things. And before you ask, no, I don't know vhy it does that."
"What sort of things?" Anatoli asked.
"Horrible mixtures of man and animal, absolutely insane from ze pain of the mutation and wild from ze merging of their human mind and their new animal instincts. Despite the resistance, ze disease eats them up and they die within hours."
"Man and animal?" Slade asked. "How do animals come into this?"
"Probably because ze doctor got his powers from Beast Boy." Rouge shrugged when the others stared at her. "I vont pretend to know all ze details. All I know is that something happened between them and ze doctor gained the ability of shapeshift into creatures like ze green brat. But ze doctor also became ze carrier of ze airborne sakutia disease, virus, vhatever you want to call it. He went crazy trying to cure himself and attacked ze Doom Patrol, trying to get Beast Boy and experiment on him until he found his cure."
"The Doom Patrol defeated him and locked him in here then?" Vandal asked. "How did they do that? The man is a walking plague."
"All I've been able to come up with iz that Mento hit his mind and knocked him out." She shrugged once more. "I vasn't there, so I don't really know."
Slade stared at her, contemplating this new complication. This would change things drastically to house such a man, let alone transporting him. Being around the man could be dangerous even for him, not to mention Brother Blood and his followers. How would he work on what Slade had planned for him?
He mulled it all over for a minutes before turning back to the rack and removing his masks. He grabbed one and put it on before he noticed that the others were watching him.
"I didn't come all this way to this godforsaken mountain just to leave empty handed." He said darkly. "Now put your masks on, we're getting the doctor and leaving."
The others, startled at seeing his older and slightly wrinkled face and stark white hair, jumped to follow his order (even Vandal, who knew Deathstroke's reputation was nothing to laugh at). They piled into the alcove, snatched up masks and slipped them on.
"Anatoli, open the door." Slade ordered as he stowed his gun. He didn't want the doctor to think they were hostile.
The Russian complied, opening the door and swinging it wide.
"Doctor Register?" Slade called out as he and Anatoli peered into the room. It was unusually dark. Perhaps the light didn't work?
There was no answer at first. And then…
Click…click click click
It was a soft sound, like a knife being gently tapped against the wall. Then it stopped as abruptly as it started. Slade and his companion exchanged glances.
"He's probably weak from hunger." Anatoli shrugged. "I will fetch him."
Slade nodded and stepped back, allowing the Russian into the room. Anatoli had taken no more than entered the doorway when Slade's innate sense of danger went absolutely berserk. It was the same sense that had kept him alive on all his big game hunts years ago and it never once was wrong.
"Get ba-" He started to shout, but it was too late.
No sooner than the first syllable had left his mouty did a multitude of purple limbs burst out of the darkness and wrap around the Russian. They were clawed, furry, scaly, insectiod, everything one could think of. Anatoli went to scream, but a purple tentacle wrapped around his head as he was snatched into the dark room.
Slade slammed his back into the wall beside the door, the pistol coming back out as he listened to Anatoli's muffled and terrified screams. They started growing louder and louder until there was the unmistakable sound of flesh being ripped apart. He looked at his remaining companions to find Vandal backing across the bridge and Rouge plastered to the other alcove wall.
They stood and listened as the tearing sound came once, twice, three times more. With each rip, Anatoli's cries became quieter and quieter. Then there came another sound, one that Slade was rather familiar with from his days as a big game hunter: the sigh of a predator satisfied with his kill.
And then it got worse.
"Aahhh…Russian." A voice echoed out of the darkness, which was immediately followed by a tearing sound and chewing. "Not as good as the borscht and knish I had with Mark and Marie in Moscow that one time, but still…healthy, heart in good shape, no drugs in the system…I'm impressed that someone would bring me something so…delicious."
Slade's one eye went wide when he heard Anatoli's skull being cracked open and his innards being slurped up. He looked at Rouge, furious. "You didn't tell me he was a cannibal!"
"He vasn't last time I saw him!" Rouge spat back.
"When you've been as long as I have without a proper meal, anything will be a delicacy to you." The voice said with a chuckle . "I do appreciate this-" CRACK! "-you just don't know."
"Call it a gesture of good will." Slade said, deciding to use Anatoli's death to his advantage. "I didn't come here to harm you."
"I figured as much, since you went to all the trouble of hunting me down and killed all the guards." Crunch crunch crunch. "On top of that, you brought Madam Rouge of the Brotherhood of Evil. Tell me, Rouge, how are you?"
"I am doing vell, doctor, despite being cryogenically frozen for several months." Rouge said carefully. "This man is named Deathstroke and he rescued me as vell as my master just so that he could rescue you."
Crunch. "I see. Ooo, marrow! My favorite!"" Sluuuuurp. "And just what do you want, Mister Deathstroke?"
"I need a geneticist and you made the top of my list." Slade said. "I have a full laboratory for you to use, with cutting edge technology, as well as housing and catering to any needs you have.
The slurping stopped. "Must be something important then."
"To me, yes."
Riiiiiiiip! "And that would be…?" chew chew chew
Slade hesitated and glanced at his companions. He didn't really want them to know what he was doing just yet but…fuck it.
"I'm growing old, Doctor, and my children failed to live up to my expectations in following in my footsteps. Then not one, but two apprentices failed me after I had so painstakingly chosen and trained them to continue my legacy. Because of this, I chose another route offered by a man with mutual interests…a route to make an apprentice."
The feasting stopped as the still-hidden doctor mulled this over. "Are you talking about artificial life? Isn't that decades away from being possible?"
"The world has changed a great deal during the few years of your imprisonment, Doctor." Slade replied.
"Time indeed marches on." Another chuckle. "So how I fit into all of this? I am a geneticist, yes, but my specialty is animals."
Now for the hook. Slade thought. "I obtained a rather rare piece of reptilian DNA and wish to splice it with another rare piece of DNA that is, as I was told, rather malleable."
"You want to mix reptile and human?" A mocking laugh followed. "Don't be ridiculous! Humans and reptiles aren't-"
"The other piece of DNA is only half human." Slade interrupted. "The other half is of a being that possess DNA that allows it reproduce with just about anything."
A pause. "A fertile hybrid? And you want to mix the hybrid with the reptile?"
"Yes." There's the line.
"Hmm…that's interesting. Tell me more."
"Not here, Doctor. We'll discuss this back at the laboratory." Slade said.
"Ha, I don't recall agreeing to leave with you and you literally cannot make me." The doctor replied mockingly.
Slade knew that was bait but ignored it. "Well if you want to stay here you can, but then I can't give you your payment for your services."
Yet another laugh. "Payment? Really? What could you possibly offer me that would make me want to work for you, assassin?"
Underneath his mask, Slade smiled. "Garfield Logan."
Dead silence.
And then…
"Did you say…Garfield Logan?" The doctor asked softly.
"Yes." Slade replied. "I will bring him to you, personally, when you complete your task."
"Garfield Logan."
Slade's brow furrowed. "Yes, I just said-"
"Garfield. Logan…GARFIEEEEELLLLDDDD!"
Slade glanced at Rouge as the doctors roar deafened him to see that she had bolted across the bridge. Vandal was already disappearing into the doorway across the other side. He didn't blame them, his own sense of self preservation was screaming at him to leave. There was a rumble from inside the room, one that made him back away from the door and onto the bridge.
When the Doctor finally showed himself, what Slade saw was nothing less than a nightmare come to life.
At first, Slade thought the doctor had turned himself into a colossal centipede as he burst into view from the doorway. Then he realized that the limbs making up the creature weren't the kind you saw on a centipede: dozens were scaly, dozens were hairy and clawed, dozens were insectiod, and dozens were nothing better than tentacles. It was truly a massive creature, pouring out of the room in a never-ending tide of purple flesh and limbs, flesh that was also scaly and hairy, covered in quills and spikes alike. It went across the alcove wall and down into the chasm, then came back up behind him and wrapped around the bridge, cutting him off from Rouge and Vandal.
Twice, thrice, did the creature wrap around the bridge before Slade finally saw the head, though head was probably a strong term to use, seeing as it was just the doctors face at this end of the monstrous body he had. It reared up and hissed then lowered itself down to eye level with Slade.
Aside from the dozens of different eyes from dozens of different animals scattered about his face, the doctors was actually rather plain. Strangely enough, his human hair and eyes were brown, whereas everything else was varying shades of purple. There also appeared to be a strange line running down his lip to his chin.
Said strange line suddenly widened as the doctors jaw snapped open wide like a flower, revealing rows and rows of shark-like teeth on each side and just as many on top. At the entrance to his throat two sets of strange insectiod mandible unfurled and flexed towards him as there was a popping noise. The throat suddenly widened and Slade knew the doctor could swallow him whole if he wished.
But Slade refused to cower before this monstrosity.
"Do we have a deal?" He asked unflinchingly..
The jaw snapped shut and the eyes closed except two, the doctors own natural brown eyes. He leaned in, face to face with Slade and whispered but one word.
"Deal."
A/N: retconning villain back grounds because their original ones were lame af is fun, wheeeeeeeeeeee~
