After 10 rewrites, we have an update! I have never struggled with a single chapter the way this one worked me; this chapter alone has pushed me into several writer blocks, it's insane. I had so many ideas of writing it and it conflicted with my other ideas but it's here and I'm happy it's here. I did have to cut this chapter because it was long but we're finally getting somewhere. Enjoy.
The explosion tore through the rooftop, knocking Max, Nightwing and Alias violently thrown off their feet as stretching fissures erupted with a huge section folding into a downwards slope. With the three of them now sliding off the tilting building, Alias had to think quickly while Rhys fell into the crumbling rubble so she gestured her hands up right as they neared the edge, ice columns shooting them towards a nearby tower crane. Max landed at the top, using his bionic prosthetic to grab onto the galvanised steel wire and allowing the momentum to swing him up and over. Nightwing used his Batclaw to swing him on top of the crane cockpit and Alias skidded to a stop beside him, the three of them in shock as they witnessed the building coming down. The defunct shopping mall folded unto itself unceremoniously, all of the Arkham Knight's meticulous planning of Batman's demise falling into the concrete abyss.
Alias glanced up at Max, "Your hunch was terrible."
"It was a hunch!" Max yelled, ripping the hood off his head and shifting his pistols into a sniper rifle. "Provoking her probably wasn't the best course of action, Al. She single handedly destroyed Founders' Mall."
"She's irrational and acting on impulse," Nightwing noticed. "That's also affecting the control of her powers. They're unstable."
"She's charging a Shard. Whatever Sinclair did to her, it's a whole different fight now."
Max frowned at Alias, "And her charging a Shard is supposed to be bad, right?"
"Considering they are already charged, immensely."
"You think you can absorb it from her?"
"It's worth a shot." The tower crane shook with the debris and folding knocking against the structure and Alias held onto Nightwing, before Max ended up beside them just as a chunk of building rebounded in front of them. "Right now, we need to keep moving."
"Couldn't agree with you more." The trio sprinted across the platform and a figure suddenly burst through the chaos, zooming straight up before arcing across the sky. Max was the first to react, his firearm up and raining fire at the lightning missile, and Alias joined him with icy shots that were dodged easily. Rhys didn't slow down for a second and the platform was running out, so Alias leapt in the lead before running off the tower crane, adjusting her weight in the fall and motioning her hands as she did.
Arid winds surrounded the men and she brought the haze onto her freckled cheeks, a quick thought completely freezing the collapsing building in time. The debris, the construction equipment, containers, the lift that brought them there and the bellows of smoky plaster and glass fragments and bent reinforcement were halted in its descent. Not even a second into the fall and Alias didn't have time to react. Rhys grabbed the Meta Mercenary by the throat and flung her through the Lexcorp building, her growls seething, and instantly snapped her attention to the several bullets in her back and spun in the air. Max widened his eyes, almost reeling back in her gaze. "Shit."
Rhys was about to ball her fists and crush the two men inside their wind bubbles but was dragged back down to earth, with a recovering Alias gasping for air with an arm extended as she emerged from the gaping hole where the windows would be. A small splinter cracked against her jaw but she paid no mind to it as a crazy idea involving the carnage popped into her mind and she narrowed her eyes. A gust of ice shoved her allies away from the building frozen in time and the mist lit up her hair in fiery blues and purples as Alias outstretched her arms; the debris trapped in stasis obeyed the laws of physics as it plunged towards the earth and she made sure Rhys was caught in the rough downpour.
"Holy shit," Max appropriately commented as the ice underneath his feet softened his fall but had to weave through chunks of abandoned shopping mall and just about lunged beside a ventilation unit to avoid getting crushed by the tower crane. "I'd like a heads up next time!"
"Sorry," Alias appeared next to Nightwing in wisps of violet and splayed her hands, creating a glassy dome that deflected rebar and scattered cinder blocks. "Her powers are of an entirely different nature. Every time I summon ice, I'm having to constantly rebuild it because of Rhys's volatility."
Nightwing could only look at the destruction before him, "Max, can you slow her down?"
"If I can tap into her head first. That Shard is making it hard to block her."
Alias peered at Nightwing, "You noticed how fast her heart is racing?"
"Extreme tachycardia." He narrowed his eyes. "She… she shouldn't be alive right now. Seriously, it's at 191 beats a minute and it's not slowing down."
"It's because the Shard is keeping her alive," Alias concluded. "Rhys was never able to use her powers because she knew it could kill her if she did."
"What the hell did Sinclair do to her?"
Once the metal rain finally calmed down, Alias moved her hands away from the barrier that dissolved from the absence of contact. "Let's go." Nightwing nodded and fired his Batclaw up at Logerquist Towers, wrapping an arm around Alias before engaging the mechanism. Quickly vaulting over the railing to the apartment's outdoor space, they passed the Riddler's disabled pressure plate but Nightwing suddenly yanked Alias back and she let him, for Rhys landed heavy in front of them, the concrete cracking underneath her boots. She was hunched over breathing heavy, growling, the damage evident in cracks upon cracks against her skin. Nightwing was right, her power was unstable but Alias didn't drop her guard for a moment. This sort of power that Rhys had access to was unfathomable until now.
Rhys sighed and tightened her fists, pulling her shoulders back to take in a breath and in doing so the cracks sealed over. "Make this a bit more entertaining, Mercer," Rhys taunted, putting her hands on her hips and tilting her head.
"I intend to." Alias dashed straight for Rhys, quickly flicking her hand and a glacier fired her into the air mid-step and energy cackled in Rhys's fist, charging a shot to blow her out of the sky. Rhys fired and Alias took the impact but instead of her being thrown off course, her body exploded into violet shards and Rhys hesitated for a second, smiling when she looked behind her and Alias wobbled in place, clutching her shoulder as her skin crackled and seared, the sleeve completely burnt off. Rhys grinned; Alias looked rather surprised.
"Try that again, I dare you!" Alias wanted to make space by stepping back but Rhys was too fast, grabbing her injured arm and flipping the Meta over her shoulder, Alias grunting when she hit the ground. Rhys kept her in a wrist lock and her empty hand sparked red, and a few rounds into her back disrupted the attack with Alias following up the stagger by jamming a icy knife right into her thigh, rolling sideways and up onto her feet and slamming Rhys's head into her knee. Her head bounced off and she stepped back and regained composure, looking Alias dead in the eye with blood spilling from her nose. A crack split the air and Rhys was launched backwards, Alias ducking to the side as a second round stopped her flying fist before it could hit Alias. Rhys was seething at this point, going so far as to rip a statue out of the ground and send it hurtling towards Max, but the statue hit another rooftop and the sniper was already on the move.
"You didn't forget about me, did you?" Nightwing introduced himself to the scuffle, twirling one of his sticks between his fingers and Rhys viciously swung for him but missed completely as he flipped over her arm and spun on his toes, striking the electric point into her ribs. He knew it wouldn't hurt her but the voltage was enough to make her flinch even if it was barely, and Alias was sure to follow up with a blast that threw Rhys off her feet. Rhys flipped out before she hit the ground, the loose gravel bubbling under her feet as she recovered and hovered in place to watch as Nightwing and Alias stood next to each other, ready to face her again. Rhys almost laughed.
"Think I won't snap your neck, bird boy?" Rhys said, pulling out the Batarang Nightwing threw mid-fight and flinging it away before wiping the blood that spilled. So annoying.
"I think you'll try," he responded. "But you won't get that far, will she Alias?"
"No she won't," Alias shrugged, her scorched arm coating itself in a violet sheet. "But what we will do is find out where Jason is, whether you tell me or I make you tell me."
Rhys smiled. "It's adorable how smug you've gotten considering you don't know how you got here in the first place."
"Oh? And what's that supposed to mean, Rhys?"
Rhys's voice darkened, her hand sparking red, and she looked ready to charge the duo. "Why don't you ask the Red Hood when you find him?" Another round smacked into Rhys's head and she snarled, snapping her arm up without looking and fired at an unsuspecting Max who took vantage on the City Vision Construction building opposite the apartment tower, and Alias countered with a blast of her own to nullify the attack. She wasn't certain if the attack hit him, but at that moment she couldn't feel his signature. Oh no.
"Max!" Nightwing tensed and stepped forward, flicking on his detective vision and not spotting Max's skeleton in the blast.
Rhys grinned and, in the midst of his momentary breakdown, simply flicked her other arm and sent a barrage of crimson lightning straight into Alias. She pulled Nightwing behind her and thick layers of ice shrouded her body, an even thicker barrier appearing before her, but they were already swept off her feet and she gasped when the ice couldn't bear the pressure. The railing split against their bodies and they went hurling towards the ground, but Nightwing managed to draw his Batclaw and the sudden change in direction flung them into the lower outdoor space, completely winding them as they landed a tangle of legs and arms.
"Dick…!"
"It's okay," Nightwing wheezed. "I got you." As Alias took most of the blast, her muscles were locked in response to the shock, her eyes watering at the sheer pain. Nightwing, who had his arms wrapped around her, struggled to unravel his hold on her as the burning overtook the adrenaline.
This was the power of the Wrath, enough to inspire death in hopeless foes.
"Don't tell me that's it," Rhys went off again, gently touching down metres in front of them, and crossed her arms as red sparks flickered off her hair. "Don't tell me Taeyeon's little rose and Bruce's first Robin are tapping out already? All this talk about you two being the best and, honestly, I don't see it." Alias was fighting, her trembling hands pressed against Nightwing as she attempted to push herself back onto her feet and Rhys smirked at the work she's done.
Alias's skin was charred, where the strikes patterned her skin beautifully; lines that followed un-guiding paths, crackling and glistening and a gorgeous shade of red. Even as Arcadius's Mark flushed across her cheeks and into her hair, the damage was slowly undoing. Alias coughed a few times and stripped off what remained of her jacket, snapping off her burnt gauntlets and feeling the cracks on her face. They were definitely spreading but Rhys could feel Alias's determination, even if it was pitiful. Nightwing clutched his midsection when he stood up, his bruised face twisted in pain and Alias placed a gentle, glowing hand on him, having enough strength in her to straighten up his posture but left his uniform to reserve some energy. She saw Alias whisper something to Nightwing but his face didn't change. "Shame. You should be dead."
Rhys's losing control.
Nightwing tightened the grip on his escrima sticks and Alias tilted her head. "It wouldn't be the first time." Rhys's stance changed, her elbows up and hands charging with volatile energy.
"I'll make sure you don't get a second chance." Alias sprinted straight for her and dodged a few energy blasts, each one melting on contact and was caught off-guard when Rhys suddenly moved behind her and barely ducked underneath a ferocious kick fuelled by the Shard's arcana and a familiar signature made Alias focus. Instead of creating distance, Alias struck Rhys's chest several times, hard enough to knock her off-balance but quick enough that Rhys could react. And she did, slapping Alias's arms outwards and went in to grab her head. Her grip was vicious, enough to crack her skull, but the haze burned brighter and Alias made sure that Rhys didn't let go by squeezing her wrists. "Keep still."
Nightwing ran up from behind the Syndicate lieutenant, spun his escrima sticks between his fingers and jammed the taser ends straight into her neck, maintaining for as long as Alias kept holding on, and Rhys began glowing the longer she cried out. Then she stopped screaming, looked down at Alias and grinned. "Okay."
A shudder of pain flooded straight into Alias's brain and she realised what was happening: Rhys was never diminishing, no, she was only getting stronger. This whole fight wasn't to kill Alias, but to take back Arcadius, and she could feel everything ripping her nerves apart. She tried prying Rhys's hands away but everything hurt, the cracks already on her skin fracturing into more lines and the haze began slowly fizzling out from the ends of her hair.
Blake!
The shockwave that quaked out of Alias propelled both of them in separate directions with Nightwing backed into the store shutters and Rhys phasing too late out of the tumble and was sent barrelling off the building. Alias cried out, wilting onto the floor and her entire body smoking. She was shivering, her hands to her chest as the cold seeped in. She always felt cold, but was never affected by it, but it was burning her fingertips and freezing her toes.
Something was wrong.
