Disappearing Inque
Deep in downtown Neo-Gothem, inside one of the small apartments that the poor people lived in, lived a 34 year old man named Aaron Herbst. He was someone you would consider 'a nobody', someone who nobody would ever notice. However, he wasn't always like that. When he attended university, he had great opportunities to become a 'somebody' as he scored great marks for his research in biogenetics, even impressing some of his teachers.
But that all changed when Aaron attempted to convince the university of Gotham to fund a new level in biogenetics, by giving humans the ability to shapeshift by using a polymorphic serum. His teachers and the school board refused, giving Aaron Herbst no choice but to take matters into his own hands. But before he could experiment his research on a human being, who was just a homeless guy, Aaron was arrested and in the chaos of his arrest, his research was destroyed including all the notes that would give him the formula.
After spending several years in jail and his career destroyed, Aaron was able to at least get a job as a technician at Gotham Cryogenics. He hated the work, but was at least able to earn some money to live off. His dreams of becoming famous in biogenetics seemed to be a faded memory to him. But that all changed 6 months ago, when a unique woman named Inque was locked up at the facility, who had the ability to shapeshift thanks to her liquid physiology as the result of an unknown experiment.
Aaron was given the task of keeping her frozen in a block of ice, as how she was brought into the building. By just being around her, Aaron's lost dreams were awakened. If he could become close to her, he would finally find back the secret to his experiment... and make the people pay for hurting him and destroying his career.
Aaron would sometimes speak for long periods of time as he spent with Inque, still frozen in a block of ice, talking about almost anything: his work, who he hated, his lost changes at the university, his struggles with finances or just what he enjoyed to do. Though he wondered if she could even hear him. Unknown to Aaron, Inque could clearly hear what he said, and felt pity for him.
One night, during his usual start of his nightshift, Aaron had a talk with his boss, hoping to get a raise. However, his boss, Mr. Chandler turned him down.
Aaron walked very angry into cell 317, where Inque was held, and said as he approached her. "He said no raise. Just like that! Told me that what I do here isn't important enough!" Before he sighed as he turned over to the controls, checking the systems while telling Inque. "Pff! Not important enough. I'd like to see him talk to you that way. You never had to swallow any disrespect, did ya?" Aaron shook his head as he walked back over to her. "No. Not you. And probably when you wanted something, you just took it."
Though Inque couldn't talk back, in her mind she was saying. 'I wish I could just do that, Aaron... but not anymore. Not since I have my own terms.'
"But look at you now. All you've got is me, and you're just all I got. That's why I'm staying here. Even if they don't pay me what I'm worth." Aaron formed a little smile, but then sadly sighed. "I don't know if you are even able to hear anything that I've been telling you for the past 6 months, but... thank you anyway, for trying to listen. You're the only one who has."
Suddenly, Aaron's cell phone rang before he picked it up. "Yeah. Herbst."
"The boss wants to see you, Aaron." His coworker told him.
This surprised Aaron that his boss wanted to see him again. "I wonder if he'd changed his mind?" he wondered. Aaron gave a smile to Inque, hoping for the best. "Maybe this will bring me luck?" He said before he planted a kiss on the ice, close to Inque's face.
Inque thought it was weird of Aaron to do that, but felt it was cute anyway. As Aaron walked out of the cell, Inque thought. 'Though you're not my type Aaron, I do hope you'll get what you desire.'
Unknown to Aaron, a surveillance camera was installed into the ventilation system above the door, so Aaron's boss could see anything that Aaron was doing when he was with Inque.
A bit later
Aaron was standing in his boss' office, who showed the images he'd seen of what Aaron did, even the planting kiss part. After stopping the recording, Chandler looked very serious to Aaron. "Let me guess, you were rehearsing for a play?"
Aaron was surprised in shock as he turned with an angry face towards his boss "You-you were taping me?!"
"You've been spending an awful lot of time in there, Aaron. And now we know what you were doing."
"But taping me!? How could you?!" Aaron nearly yelled.
Chandler then himself raised from his chair, looking very stern. "You could you?! I've never seen such sick behavior in my life!" He said with disgust before he then pointed him out. "Clean out your locker. You're fired."
Aaron couldn't believe his ears. After all the good work he'd done, he'd been put aside just like that. "But, Mr. Chandler, I've been working my ass off for you for more than 7 years, and-"
"And what Aaron?" Chandler asked while a guard was holding Aaron. "You wanna take this to the review board? You'll never win. And everyone will find out that you're a... sick person." Chandler warned Aaron.
Seeing no point of winning this, Aaron sighed. "I'll clean out my locker." And left Chandler's office. But as soon as Aaron left Chandler's office, he knew that he had to put his plan in motion a bit more earlier.
After leaving the building, Aaron went behind and climbed the stairs. While climbing up, Aaron mentally said to himself. 'What you probably don't know, Inque is that besides being an expert on biogenetics, I also learned a lot about psychology. And seeing that no one else knows how to give you the help you need. I'm all you have.' He finished with a smirk.
Once he was sure that the coast was clear, Aaron used a crowbar to open the electricity maintenance of Gotham Cryogenics and took out a pincers. "Finally I'll finish what I started years ago." And then cut the wire leading to Inque's cell.
As all the systems to keep the ice cold shutted down, Inque suddenly realized that was able to move. "Huh? What?" She asked with confusion but seeing her chance to escape, Inque wasted no time to break the ice and morphed herself out of her cell.
A guard was shocked to see Inque suddenly out of her cell. As he was about to call for backup, Inque quickly knocked him out and morphed herself away.
Meanwhile, at the Batcave
Bruce had finally decided to show his assistants and proteges more around the Batcave. Max and Melanie took a look at what seemed to be a large robotic suit of Batman. Curiously, Max asked Bruce. "Let me guess. You made an exosuit for yourself?"
Bruce nodded. "Yes. It amplifies effort and increases endurance."
Melanie took a better look at the suit and wondered. "It doesn't seem to have been used that much."
Bruce shook his head and explained "No. When I tested it, it put too much strain on my heart."
Max however wondered that her Boss' heart condition wasn't the real reason he stopped being the Dark Knight. "I don't buy it, Bruce. As I know you better, I would know that even a heart problem wouldn't stop you from being Batman."
"Would I lie to you?"
"No." Max answered while she and Melanie followed Bruce. "But you hold things back."
Melanie agreed with her girlfriend. "Yeah, you don't tell us everything. And it took you this long to show us around the cave?"
Bruce stopped as he glanced at the two women for a moment. "That's because we've had a lot of distractions, haven't we?" He asked before he continued walking towards the computer.
Max crossed her arms. "You know, Bruce. Someday you're gonna have to tell us both the REAL reason you've stopped being Batman."
Again, Bruce stopped and glanced at both his assistants and proteges. Though Max was right, he felt that it wasn't yet the right time to tell them why he really retired from being Batman.
Suddenly, an alarm went off at the computer. And as Bruce walks over to it and pressed some buttons, Melanie asked. "What's that? A new alarm system?"
Bruce gave a simple nod while still on the controls. "Yes. I've hooked it in the prison and into a few other places. Helps me to keep track of certain 'friends' of ours."
Figuring that this was a good idea to keep an eye on any of the villains that either Bruce or Max had encountered in the past, Max asked. "So which one is it?"
When the screen showed that there was a security breach in Gotham Cryogenics, it showed the one villain that had escaped.
"Inque." Bruce said.
Wasting no time, Max collected her Batgirl suit. Melanie followed and grabbed her Nightwing outfit, knowing of how dangerous Inque is after Max told her about her last encounter.
After they'd put on their suits, Batgirl grabbed the freeze gun used by Mr. Freeze, as it had worked on Inque the last time. "Just in case." She told Bruce.
Bruce gave a nod and sat in front of the computer while Batgirl and Nightwing entered the Batmobile and flew off.
Back at Gotham Cryogenics
The building was completely surrounded by the police. Inque, despite feeling remorseful of what she was doing, had no choice but to keep some hostages so that the police wouldn't catch her again. She peeked through a window for a moment.
"Over there!" A police officer called.
Inque gasped and went back inside before the police could shoot at her!
However, when the police lieutenant saw that Inque was releasing the hostages, he called his coworkers. "Hold your fire! She's letting the hostages go."
While the hostages slowly exited the building, while being frightened and shocked, Batgirl and Nightwing arrived at the scene while standing on top of a building nearby.
As Batgirl zoomed in, she noticed that one of the security guards had a strange jacket on, knowing that it was Inque. Batgirl wasted no time and kicked the security guard, with Nightwing landing close to her.
Shocked that Batgirl suddenly attacked a guard, several police officers tried to restrain Batgirl before she could shoot the freezegun at Inque. Nightwing quickly came to help her girlfriend, while Inque morphed away from the guard.
But before Batgirl could grab the freezegun, Inque grabbed it first and crushed it.
"Sorry, Batgirl. Not this time." Inque said.
Nightwing, knowing that electricity could weaken Inque, quickly grabbed an electric batarang and threw it at the shapeshifter, but Inque saw what Nightwing attempted and avoided it just in time and grabbed her, but didn't hurt Nightwing.
Inque's head shifted before Nightwing's. "Hmmm. You must be Batgirl's new partner that I've heard about."
While Nightwing tried to get out of Inque's grasp, Batgirl came to the rescue. "Let her go, Inque!"
As Inque shifted away, avoiding Batgirl's and Nightwing's attacks, she noticed something between the 2 Dark Knights. "Aaah, I see now. She's more than just your partner, right Dark Knight? She's your girlfriend, isn't she?" She asked Batgirl.
The police lieutenant ordered his men. "What are you waiting for?! Open fire!"
As the police shot at her, Inque quickly morphed away and fled into the sewers.
Seeing that it was pointless to look for the shapeshifter femine as the sewers could go anywhere in the city, the 2 Dark Knights left the scene before Batgirl contacted Bruce. "We've got some bad news."
"Let me guess. She got away?" Bruce asked through the intercom.
"And broke the freeze gun. But that wasn't the bad news."
"It gets worse?"
"Yes. Inque knows where the entrance to the cave is, remember?" She answered, reminding Bruce about the last time she fought Inque.
While both got back into the Batmobile and flew back to the Batcave, Nightwing started to tell her girlfriend. "That was strange. Inque had me right there, but she... wasn't even trying to kill me. Why was that?" She asked Batgirl.
Remembering that Inque too didn't try to kill her, Batgirl theorized. "I'm not sure. But I guess she doesn't want any dead people on her conscience. The last time I fought her, she told me that she doesn't kill innocent people, at least not anymore."
But as Batgirl remembered that Inque kissed her before when she got into the Batcave, she accidentally blushed. Nightwing saw that, and wondered what Batgirl was thinking about.
A little while later, in Aaron's apartment.
Aaron was watching the news on his tv, while taking a snack. As the news reporter told about how Inque somehow broke the ice that was holding her and escaped, made Aaron laugh. "Probably because of 'lousy maintenance'? Hahahaha."
Suddenly, he heard some noises from the pipes. He turned off his tv and looked around, but grinned as he was expecting what was causing it. He then saw some black goo dropping from the window. As Aaron looked up the window, Inque morphed into his apartment and shifted in her morph form.
Aaron pretended he looked surprised. "I... Inque? Is that you?"
"Yes, Aaron. What? Surprised to see me?" Inque asked.
"Uhh... no, no. It's just that... how did you know where I lived?"
Inque shrugged as she was somehow rolling her eyes. "How could I not know? You've been talking on and on for months, telling about your life, your failures and so on."
"You... you could hear me?" Aaron asked, surprised.
"Yes, Aaron, I could hear you. And see you too." Inque answered as she glanced at him.
Aaron slapped his face of how embarrassing this was now for him. Inque chuckled at that and assured him. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone." Then she glanced at Aaron with a serious look "Not unless you're stupid enough to try and call the cops?"
Aaron raised his hands and shook his head. "I won't. I promise."
"You're sure?" Inque again asked very seriously. Aaron nodded. "Good. Now, as I recall, you know everything about bio and cryogenics, right?"
"Yeah, I do. But... what has that got to do with anything?" Aaron wondered.
"I... can't change back into my human form. Probably because I've been trapped in that block of ice for the past half year." Inque answered with a bit of sadness.
"Oh."
Then Inque asked him "I need your help to get me fixed again. If you do, I'll reward you handsomely."
"I'll do anything for you, Inque. Anything."
Inque formed a smile, knowing she could trust Aaron enough.
A few hours later, while Inque slept on Aaron's couch (as she didn't want to 'share' his bed with her), Aaron quietly walked across the room.
He then collected a little bit of the black goo from Inque on the floor and placed it into a test-tube. As he raised himself, Aaron glanced at a sleeping Inque, then at the test-tube while forming an evil smile. "At last." He quietly said as he carefully walked out of the living room and entered a secret room that he had behind a closet.
In this secret room, was Aaron's little lab with some outdated lab equipment and many papers with failed calculations of trying to regain the formula that he'd lost during his arrest at the university years ago.
As Aaron started up his old computer and placed Inque's black goo under the microscope, he started typing in the calculations, while analyzing Inque's parts.
As the computer was showing how close he was to get the last pieces of the puzzle, he formed a big smile.
But then... at the last moment, the screen showed. 'FAILURE - UNSTABLE'.
Aaron was both shocked and angry. He had waited for so long to get his revenge and now it still wasn't enough. He slammed his fist on the desk in anger. "Damm it!"
But he suddenly realized that he could wake up Inque. He peeked out of his secret room, glancing at Inque. She was still asleep. Aaron sighed in relief and went back to his desk as he thought about what to do now. "I'm so close. But how could I..." Then he got an idea as a big evil grin formed around his face and started working on something else.
At the Batcave
Max was using some tools to seal the steel door to the entrance of the cave better. Melanie was helping her, but asked. "You're sure that sealing up the cracks is necessary, Max?"
"It is." Max looked at her girlfriend before going back to what she was doing. "Inque was here before. She knows the way."
"Does she?" Bruce asked Max as he approached them. "It was dark that night. And the Batmobile is awfully fast. And there is the way you drive."
"You got a better plan?" Max asked her mentor.
"I do. It's getting to know your enemy." Bruce answered as he then showed Max and Melanie a sample of Inque. "Inque left a little of herself on both your suits. I'll be at the microscope." He said before he left.
Just as Max was about to return to sealing the cracks, Melanie asked her. "Max. When we talked about Inque back in the Batmobile, I noticed you were blushing."
Max paused for a moment when Melanie mentioned that. "You... you saw that?"
"Pretty much." Melanie said before crossing her arms. "Is there something that I should know about?"
Max sighed as she didn't want to keep any secrets from her lover. She looked back, being sure if Bruce wasn't nearby and then asked Melanie as she stood up. "Okay, but... promise me that you'll keep this between us and won't tell Bruce?"
Melanie gave a nod, but still found it strange why Max was acting like this. "Okay, I promise, but... what is going on, Max?"
"Well... you remember when I told you how Inque got into the Batcave and nearly exposed this place?" Max asked, with Melanie nodding. "Actually, during my fight with her... she didn't kill me. Heck, she wasn't even trying. Then... when she raised me far up to the ceiling she... kissed me."
That wasn't something that Melanie had expected of Max to say. "Oh." She said before she saw Max blushing again. "Wait. You enjoyed it?"
Max gave a shrug. "Well... yeah, I kinda did."
Melanie then teased her a bit as she started to help Max to seal the cracks. "Guess that gives Inque all the more reason to come back here, huh?"
Max chuckled. "Maybe." She said. "Look, Melanie, you're the only one for me. And there is not a single woman in the world that can replace you. Even though she's a supervillain."
Melanie formed a smile on her face. "I know."
The next day
Inque finally started to wake up. After stretching herself, she saw Aaron in the kitchen. "Hmph. What time is it?"
"It's noon." Aaron answered while making some sandwiches "You like American Cheese?"
Inque shook her head. "I don't feel like eating."
Aaron raised an eyebrow, but then asked as he took a towel for her. "Well... maybe you like to take a shower?"
"No thanks."
After some thinking, Aaron understood now why as he placed the towel back and closed the curtains of the shower. "Hmm. I guess being in your current state, you don't have to eat anything anymore, right? And you don't like to shower because... water is your weakness. That reminds me of one of Batman's old enemies from a few decades back. What was his name again? Clayface? Heard he too had the same abilities you have, Inque."
Inque had not expected that Aaron knew about those things about her. But remembering that he was intelligent, she guessed he would have figured it out himself. "You're smarter than I thought you were."
Aaron shrugged, but was grateful for the compliment.
Then, Inque wandered. "I wonder. Why didn't you ever find a better job, or started your own business. I mean, you're pretty smart, despite you were kicked out of college because-"
"I don't want to talk about that!" Aaron nearly yelled.
Inque was a bit surprised by his outburst, but apologized. "I'm... sorry. I know how difficult it must've been for you."
"You have no idea, Inque." Aaron frowned as he finished making his food. As he sat down beside her, he stated after sighing. "But the truth is, I did consider a different job, or start my own business. But there was one thing that was always in the way."
"What was it?"
"Two words. Criminal record." Aaron crossed his arms. "When you have one of those, it's gonna follow a man for a looong time. I was lucky enough to find a job as a technician at Gotham Cryogenics. That was until I was fired because of that recent... incident before you got out."
Inque felt sorry for him, but wondered "Let me guess. They placed a camera in that cell and you didn't know about it?"
Aaron shook his head. "No. If I did, I wouldn't have planted that kiss."
Knowing that it was gonna take a while before it's gonna be dark, Inque changed the subject by grabbing the tv remote. "You know what? Let's just do something to distract ourselves till it's dark."
As she turned the tv on, Aaron smiled. But deep in his mind, he knew that his plan to manipulate Inque was working.
Later that night, in the Batcave
Once Max and his girlfriend had returned to Wayne Manor, Max and Melanie went back to working on sealing the cracks on the main door of the Batcave.
After using some plasti steel, Bruce approached his assistants. "Still at it, huh?" He asked.
Max removed her goggles. "She can huff and puff all she wants, but she's isn't gonna blow this place down."
"I know why she hasn't tried yet." Bruce said as he'd figured out why Inque hadn't been trying to break into the batcave yet.
Curious, Max and Melanie followed Bruce, who showed them the results on the sample of Inque. "I ran some tests on her residuum. The human part of her DNA has been damaged, probably by being frozen."
This got Max to think and she figured out why. "Of course. That would explain why Inque hadn't just morphed into her human form and just walked out of Cryogenics with the other hostages."
Bruce nodded "That's right. It's because she couldn't. She can't go back to her human form."
Melanie was then thinking what Inque could do to fix herself. "Hmmm. If I was Inque, I would have looked for a good doctor right now. I mean, there can't be too many doctors or labs in Gotham that do that kind of stuff?"
Max agreed with her girlfriend. "Yeah. We should look on the computer and make a list of-" She suggested before Bruce then handed her over a list of places that Inque would go to. "Oh. Seems you were one step ahead of us."
After Max took the list and checked it, Bruce took something from his coat pocket "One other thing." He said before he showed what he too wanted to hand over to Max, it was an electric batarang, but with more electric power. "It's not as good as Mr. Freeze's gun, but it's the best I could do on short notice."
When Max took the batarang, she figured that this electric batarang would be powerful enough to paralyze Inque long enough to be restrained.
"Be careful." Bruce adviced Max and Melanie. Before they both nodded and put on their suits.
Later, at Fulton Labs
Around the corner of the research facility, at the delivery entrance, Aaron was busy trying to open the door by changing the wires while Inque was wearing a long trench coat and a hat, so nobody would suspect something. And they came to this place because Fulton Labs was the only place in town that had the necessary components for Inque in order to fix herself so she could morph back to her human form.
Inque looked at her back, to see if anyone would see them, she asked Aaron while glancing back at him. "Aaron, how long before you can get it open?"
Aaron assured her "I'm doing the best I can. I just have to change one more wire and-"
"You!" they suddenly heard. Both looked, seeing a police officer before Inque quickly glanced away. "What are you two hiding in there for?" The officer asked.
Aaron thought quickly and embraced Inque "Oh... uhm, we're just trying to have some 'privacy', officer."
Inque, nodded "Yeah, just some privacy. Hahaha."
The police officer understood and gave a small grin before walking away. "Well... carry on."
Once the officer was gone, Aaron let go of Inque. "Sorry about that. I-"
"Just get the door open." Inque interrupted him before he nodded and went back on working to open the door.
Inque felt a bit uncomfortable after being embraced like that. For she hadn't had any good experience when it came to love when she was young. After Aaron had readjusted the last wire, he opened the door.
And not long after that, Inque used the many controls and machines to get the right chemicals to make the mutagen to heal herself. After some time, Inque had finally finished the final ingredients and mixed them together, then injected herself with the created mutagen.
Aaron watched as Inque slowly was able to morph into her human form, but only to morph to an unstable state.
"Quickly! I need more!" Inque told Aaron.
He grabbed the bowl and let Inque drink the rest of the mutagen. After a few seconds, she was able to morph into her human form again and Aaron was for a moment astounded by her beauty. "Wow. You look beautiful."
At that moment, Batgirl and Nightwing entered the lab from above the ceiling, seeing Inque now in her human form.
Max then contacted Bruce. "Looks like we've arrived a bit late. Inque has already been able to heal herself. And there's someone else with her too."
"Who is it?" Bruce asked through the intercom.
"I don't know. I've never seen him before."
"Neither have I." Nightwing added, but theorized as she zoomed in. "But he seems to be some kind of an 'admirer' of hers."
Bruce used his computer to see who this man is while Batgirl and Nightwing listened to what Aaron and Inque were saying.
Inque smiled when she was able to remain in her human form, as Aaron said "Seems the mutagen has done it's work. Your DNA is now fully healed." Then he asked. "Now, you said there was a reward?"
Inque gave a nod. "Yes, I did say that. I know how much you're suffering with your finances, Aaron. I can give you enough to start a new life."
However, Aaron had something else in mind. "No. It's not money that I'm interested in, Inque."
This made Inque a bit surprised as Aaron walked over to her, standing before her while forming a small grin. "What I want is something better than money."
As he was standing close to her, Inque had an idea what Aaron had in mind, making her sigh. "Look, Aaron. You're a nice guy and all, but... my body is not for sale, or my love."
"I wasn't meaning that, Inque. I want something else?"
"Than what?"
Slowly, Aaron took something from behind his back. Batgirl and Nightwing saw that it was an injection needle. Aaron then stabbed the needle in Inque's thigh and injected the blue fluid in her!
Inque took a few steps back, before the blue fluid merged with her morphing body making her scream in agony as Aaron evilly grinned while Batgirl and Nightwing looked in shock at what happened. Bruce saw it too and wondered what this guy had injected Inque with.
Aaron then said to Inque. "Inque. Stand up."
And just like that, Inque's body reacted and stood up, making her afraid.
"Turn."
Inque's body did as commanded. "Wha...! What have you done to me?!" Inque asked both horrified and furious at Aaron.
"A body control serum. My latest invention, all thanks to your substance. Now you have to obey every command I give you. Though your mind is not under my control, your morphing body is."
Inque tried hard to gain control over her body, but she couldn't, making her furious at Aaron. "I trusted you!"
Nightwing looked at Batgirl. "We've got to do something, baby!" She said, wanting to move in and help, but was held back by Batgirl.
"No, wait!"
But Nightwing accidentally hit an iron chain, making lots of noise.
Aaron looked around. "What was that?" Then he saw Batgirl and Nightwing, moving through the shadows, making him smirk. "Looks like we've got a few visitors." Before he then turned over to Inque, commanding her. "Inque. Kill them."
Inque's body then morphed away against her will. "No!"
As Batgirl and Nightwing were moving in, seeing that Inque was gone, they stepped on 1 of the chemical containers before Inque shoved them off and hit Batgirl with 1 of her arms as she shot the electric batarang before Inque dodged it and morphed her arm into Batgirl's face, pinning her into 1 of the containers and smashing her into them before she let the Dark Knight go, with blood dripping from her right lower lip.
When Inque morphed close to Batgirl, Nightwing flew up to her and kicked her body which got her close enough to stab electric batarangs into her body, causing her pain enough to stun her before Inque kicked Nightwing into the container and threw the other Dark Knight into another one, destroying it before Inque turned her lower half into a blade and went to stab Nightwing but Batgirl kicked her away before Inque morphed her limbs into insect legs and chased the Dark Knight up, breaking some of the containers in the process. Batgirl tried to grab the ultra electric batarang but Inque grabbed her and tried to smolder the new Dark Knight before she used her jet boots to get free as Nightwing got the batarang and successfully hit Inque with it, stunning Inque enough to where she couldn't morph it off her.
Batgirl and Nightwing landed on the floor and panted, trying to catch their breath after their intense fight. But suddenly, both were hit by a large extracting arm, controlled by Aaron. He grabbed them both while saying. "No one will stop me from achieving what I want. Not even you two!" And slammed them both hard to the ground, restraining them.
With another large extracting arm, Aaron removed the batarang from Inque's body, making herself to morph back before she begged Aaron. "Please, stop."
But Aaron wasn't going to stop as he said "Not until you give me what I want. But if you won't." He then commanded. "Make them suffocate till they're dead."
Inque was horrified that Aaron commanded her to do that. "No, please don't!" Before her body morphed again and grabbed both Batgirl and Nightwing while they were nearly motionless and forced them into her body, making them suffocate. Inque's head morphed into her human part and begged Aaron while tears formed in her eyes. "Aaron, please, STOP! I'll... I'll do anything you want, but please stop!"
Seeing that Inque was cooperative, Aaron commanded her. "Let them go."
Inque immediately threw them out of her body, dropping them on the floor before both Batgirl and Nightwing gasped for air before falling into unconsciousness.
Inque nearly cried, as she'd nearly killed the woman she'd started to admire and her partner and girlfriend.
Aaron walked over to Inque and stated. "If you don't want your 'friends' to die by your own hand, you do exactly as I say. If you do, I'll let Batgirl and Nightwing go and give you the antidote." As held up another injection needle, filled with some red liquid, which would free Inque from Aaron's control.
With tears falling from her eyes, Inque looked at Aaron. "What do you want?"
Aaron, feeling power hungry, grabbed Inque by the throat and said while frowning "The formula! The one that made you like this! I want it, so I can become like you." Then he evilly smirked. "And make the people pay for destroying my career and my life."
Inque was horrified to learn that truth what Aaron's true motives were. "He's insane."
Several hours later, inside an abandoned sports arena
While Inque was forcefully working on the mutagen that Aaron desired, Inque asked while her anger rose. "How could you lie to me, Aaron? I trusted you!"
Aaron crossed his arms while hanging to a railing, explaining how he manipulated her. "Well, you see Inque, despite being a master in both bio and cryogenics, I know a lot about human psychology. I just faked being a failure in order to gain your trust. I knew you would come to me after I helped you to escape that block of ice as I knew that being frozen for nearly 6 months will have caused some real damage to your DNA structure. So, after you came, I used a little sample of you in order to complete my work. However, it was still not enough, so I created this body control serum to give me the last pieces of the puzzle, as it wouldn't take a genius like me to figure out that you must have remembered or found the formula that made you like this." He then took her arm and softly stroked it, what sickened Inque. When Aaron then softly touched her body her whispered "Consider yourself lucky, Inque. If I had already discovered the formula myself, I would have killed you while you slept on my couch in my apartment."
While she combined the other fluid, Inque wanted to yell out at him, but being controlled not to yell at him she said "You're a mad man!"
Angrily, Aaron grabbed her by the throat. "Perhaps. But with you giving me what I truly want and after I've killed the professors that stopped my research, the people that reported me to the police and all the people inside Gotham Cryogenics, I will finally put my mark in history and no one will ever stand in my way again." As Aaron let Inque go, he commanded her. "Now, finish it!"
Still being unable to control her body, Inque finished the mutagen in less than a minute. When she rose up and took the mutagen, she warned Aaron. "It won't work, Herbst. The only reason I became like this is because of my unique genetic code. This'll kill you."
Aaron smirked. "Lying won't stop me, Inque." Then he ordered her to follow her.
Down below, Batgirl and Nightwing had just woken up, while being restrained to two poles of the center ring with chains.
"It's some kind of arena, with a big glass dome." Batgirl spoke to Bruce through her communicator.
Nightwing added. "Yeah. It looks like nobody has been inside in years."
"What else can you two tell me?" Bruce asked through both their communicators.
"Sorry, Bruce, me and Melanie weren't exactly awake when that guy brought us here." Batgirl explained.
Then Nightwing wanted to know from Bruce. "Did you get any info on that guy that was with Inque who's now controlling her somehow?"
"I did." Bruce answered while taking the file from the computer. "His name is Aaron Herbst. He was a former employee at Gotham Cryogenics, fired for showing unprofessional behavior. But get this: He was also a former bright student at Gotham University, but was arrested and jailed for doing illegal human experiments by using a polymorphic serum."
This made some sense to Batgirl. "So... he wanted to give humans morphing powers, like Inque?"
"Exactly."
"He's insane." Nightwing said with disgust before she and Batgirl both saw Aaron and Inque walking up to them.
As Aaron took the Mutagen from Inque he commanded her. "Stand here."
While Inque froze where she stood, Aaron then walked over to Batgirl while Bruce tried to contact her and Nightwing.
"Max? Melanie? What's going on up there?" Bruce asked, till he activated the vid link, seeing Aaron standing before Batgirl and Nightwing.
Aaron smirked at the two women while Batgirl said with a blade. "Whatever you're planning, Herbst, you won't succeed."
"Ah. Now that's where you are wrong, Batgirl. Now that I have Inque here as insurance in case you try to stop the inevitable." Aaron said with insanity.
"Of what?" Nightwing demanded.
Aaron smirked evilly while holding up the mutagen. "The future." He answered as he drank the entire mutagen, which tasted awful and nearly made Aaron vomit, but he swallowed everything up.
Slowly, Aaron's body started to change as some grey liquid formed around his body. Suddenly, he felt an agonizing pain, making him fall on the ground as he twisted around while his body morphed into different forms.
Batgirl and Nightwing watched in shock at what they saw Aaron changing into, even Bruce couldn't believe what he was seeing. Inque tried to look away, as this reminded her too much of how she turned into what she is now but she couldn't.
As Aaron's screaming stopped, all that was left of him was a small pool of grey liquid. But slowly, it started to form, turning him into his human form again, but now with a black and grey skin as he smirked very evilly.
Aaron sighed as he felt like he was invisible. "This power. Yes. After all these years, my patience has finally being rewarded. Tonight, Aaron Herbst is no more. I prefer: Neo-Clayface." Before his face then morphed close to Batgirl's face. "I know that you and your partner are not the only one who are watching. Inque told me about her latest encounter with you, while being in the Batcave. So, I assume that the 'old guy' is watching now too?" Then Aaron wondered."So who is he anyway? Your father? Grandfather?" But then Aaron figured who it was. "Aaah. He's the original Batman, isn't he?" Aaron then got the perfect idea and said in Batgirl's ear, clearly into her communicator "Listen here, Batman. We're in the Gotham Hills Arena, get over here right now. Or Batgirl and Nightwing die."
Nightwing shook her head and told Bruce. "No, stay where you are! He'll kill all three of us-" But Neo-Clayface morphed his arm around Nightwing's mouth, shutting her up.
Inque then stepped in, though she was still frozen from moving. "Stop it! Leave them alone! You got what you wanted, Herbst. Now let them go!"
Neo-Clayface morphed before Inque, saying while chuckling. "Did you really think I was gonna let them that easily? Or you? I lied. The Batman will be here and then I'll kill him, as a little bonus so that nobody will try and stop me. Then, I'll make you kill Batgirl and Nightwing, who you seem to care for so much."
Tears formed in Inque's eyes as Aaron, now Neo-Clayface, was going to force her to kill Batgirl and Nightwing.
Neo-Clayface then morphed around Inque, saying seductively while stroking her body. "As for you, Inque. I have so much in store for you, my precious treasure. Together, you and I will change the world." Then he whispered in her ear "Or I will find your daughter, Deanna and make you kill her."
Inque's eyes went wide when Aaron said he would force her to kill her daughter if she wouldn't do as he said. "No, not my daughter."
Aaron kept whispering into her ear. "Yes. I know nearly all about you, thanks to the files I stole. I know where Deanna lives and what she's been doing." Before he morphed away from her. "But until then..." He then commanded. "Guard Batgirl and Nightwing. If one of them or either escape, kill them." Before he morphed away, waiting for the real Batman to arrive.
Inque walked over to Batgirl and Nightwing as tears flowed from her eyes and she fell on her knees as she started sobbing.
Batgirl and Nightwing felt sorry for the morphing woman. "Inque..." Batgirl said softly.
Inque looked up to them. "I'm so sorry... I didn't want this to happen." Before she then turned angry. "I should never have trusted that bastard! Now he's going to kill so many people... even you."
"We'll find a way out of this, Inque." Batgirl ensured her. "There's always a way."
Nightwing nodded and then asked when she figured how they could escape "That antidote that Aaron made, where is it?" Inque looked at her confused before she explained. "I... still managed to hear that part before I passed out."
Inque stood up while telling. "It's in his bag. It's upstairs, but... you won't reach it. If you get loose somehow, I cannot control myself from killing you! I don't want to kill anyone, or you two!" Inque begged them as she didn't want to kill anyone.
Though it was a risk that could lose their lives, it was a risk that Batgirl and Nightwing were willing to take.
Batgirl reminded herself as the lock of the chain was at Nightwing's hands. "Nightwing, You still got that paperclip in your sleeve?"
Nightwing nodded and struggled, trying to get the paperclip out of her sleeve, as she was practising by her former parents how to unlock any lock with either a paperclip or a bobby pin. When Nightwing held it in her hands, she unfolded it, hoping to open the lock so she could grab the antidote and free Inque from Neo-Clayface's control
Meanwhile
Bruce, who was wearing a trench coat that seemed unusually bulky on him, along with a hat, scarf, and sunglasses to conceal his face, had arrived at the arena and went inside. When the former Dark Knight went further in, he saw what looked like Batgirl and Nightwing, free, and came closer. "You both got away?"
However, Batgirl, revealing to be the left part of Neo-Clayface, wrapped his arm tightly around Bruce while changing to his new form, grinned while saying. "They didn't get away, and neither will you, old man." Before he began twisting his arm to slowly crush the former Dark Knight to death.
Then, armor plates snapped shut over Bruce's body, and he burst out of the trench coat, making Batgirl and Nightwing horrified to see that Bruce had donned the exosuit to fight Inque, despite the risk to his heart. In the armor, Bruce managed to send Neo-Clayface flying into the far wall with a mighty punch but the new shape shifter struck back with a vengeance and sent punches that Bruce blocked before Neo-Clayface managed to punch the former Dark Knight into the upper sitting bleachers, short-circuiting the suit as Bruce fell to the floor, unable to continue fighting!
"NOOOO!" Batgirl yelled out in fear for her mentor's life as she tried to get free using the suit's full 20 times strength but was unable as the chains were too strong to break.
When Nightwing managed to get free, she flew up to grab the antidote but Inque tried to grab her and kill her. But in the last second before Inque was able to drag Nightwing in her body, Nightwing grabbed the antidote and injected Inque with it, freeing her, much to her great relief before she got angry and attacked Neo-Clayface before he could kill Bruce. But despite Inque's better experience with her powers, Neo-Clayface was stronger. When Batgirl was freed by Nightwing, they came to rescue Inque, but Neo-Clayface proved too much for them.
Then, as the monster that Aaron Herbst turned into was about to kill any of them, his body started to deteriorate and he tried desperately to gain control. "What? What's... happening to me?!"
"I tried to warn you, Herbst. The mutation only worked on me because of my unique genetic code. Yours is nothing like mine, which is why you're dying right now." Inque explained with no sympathy for him. "You brought this on yourself."
Batgirl and Nightwing then looked at the glass dome where lots of rain was falling before both Dark Knights grabbed 1 batarang each and broke the glass, allowing the rain water to bring the final blow to Neo-Clayface but Inque moved out of the way in time. As Neo-Clayface screamed in agony, he slowly began melting away into the sewer, killing him.
Batgirl and Nightwing then helped Bruce up and as the old Dark Knight removed his helmet, he asked. "Now do you both believe me about why I retired?"
Batgirl shook her head while smiling. "Not entirely, but after tonight, me and Nightwing are glad you didn't stay retired."
Nightwing sighed deeply as she looked at the remains of Aaron Herbst, the monster turned Neo-Clayface that slowly perished in the rain water until there was nothing left of him. "He was so obsessed with achieving his greatest achievement, that in the end, it destroyed him."
Batgirl agreed with her. "Yeah. But at least we stopped him before he could escape and cause more damage. Or rather, he destroyed himself and didn't even know it until it was already too late."
Bruce then wondered while looking around. "Wait. Where is Inque?"
Neither Batgirl nor Nightwing saw her, but figured. "Looks like she decided to run off."
Bruce then stated. "I did see and hear everything that had happened to her while she was being controlled by Herbst. Though she might not want to kill anyone, she's still a danger to the public."
Batgirl tried to talk Bruce out of it. "Aw c'mon, boss. Sure she's got her reasons for doing all of it, but if she was willing to save us all, she can't be that bad."
Bruce thought about that and knew his protege was right, but said. "Maybe. But until then, we've got to keep an eye open for her if she ever shows up again."
Batgirl and Nightwing nodded but while all three walked out of the arena, the 2 Dark Knights stopped before Batgirl quietly said. "Wherever you are, Inque. I look forward to see you again."
Nightwing smiled. "And I too, Inque." Before both walked hand in hand out of the arena.
Unknown to them, Inque had been hiding in the shadows. As she morphed back to her human form, she smiled at Batgirl and Nightwing, saying. "And I look forward to seeing you again, Batgirl. You and Nightwing." Before she then morphed away, planning to stay out of sight from the authorities and not cause any more trouble, for now.
There you go, my dear friends, the Disappearing Inque episode is complete. Next is the A Touch of Curaré episode, where Batgirl will test her sword skills on a deadly new opponent while protecting her predecessor and her husband while Max has that little talk with her. Rate and review. See you all soon, my dear friends.