Chapter Three
Waylon barked orders to the thugs hauling the crates and generally just bossed everyone about without doing any work himself. Yeah he was protection and could probably get the job done five times faster by himself, but it was kind of fun to play crime boss and have his own henchmen, even if it was only temporary. As he stood out the front and watched for police or spawn of Batman he remembered a time when this was the kind of thing he'd planned on doing. Waylon had planned on becoming a criminal lord of Gotham, controlling the city from the shadows and making millions from gun and drug export. He had a kind of Scarface scenario in his head, rising from nothing and burying his face in cocaine or something like that with an office covered in gold. Unfortunately, his devolution had started and rendered him too dumb to organise such an operation before he'd even had a chance to graduate from hired thug. Still, he had managed to obtain notoriety in Gotham through sheer brute strength alone, but at this point in time in his life he really wasn't bothered anymore.
"I'm getting too old for this." He grumbled, turning his back to the entrance and stalking back inside.
He examined the crates as they were moved into the back of the food delivery trucks, each one containing various different weapons of varying levels of destruction. Penguin had taken a fancy to very rare and deadly weapons in recent times, the kinds of things the government kept secret and only used on their worst enemies. How Penguin had gotten a hold of them Waylon had no idea, only that moving such valuable and dangerous weapons would certainly attract unwanted attention. What Waylon didn't understand why there was such a big call for weapons of mass destruction in Gotham. Batman was dead, who else warranted such a big arsenal. Perhaps Penguin was going to sell them to Russia or something.
Waylon glanced at the clock on the wall of the warehouse. It was 2 in the morning and he was getting board, they'd been at it since midnight. He checked the other entrances to the warehouse to make sure no one was sneaking in, the front door guarded by one of Penguin's henchmen, Bossworth, a black man wearing a steel mask that covered his nose and mouth. The roof top was guarded by Penguin's preferred body guard, Lark. A very slight woman with short black hair who somewhat resembled Catwoman but wore considerably less clothing as was Penguin's preference for her. Waylon would have preferred to be left to do the job alone, that way there was a higher chance of Nightwing or Robin who whoever else getting into the building and giving him a much needed fight.
The boredom was excruciating and Waylon was well aware of what happened when he was bored for too long. Boredom made him irritable, and when he was irritable he got angry very quickly, and when he got angry Killer Croc was the one who came out to play and slaughter everything in sight. Generally most emotions forced the monster inside of him to take over, but boredom was the worst because he could feel it creeping up on him. He paced around the warehouse and then back out the front. It was a rather chilly night but the air was still and made you feel like the ice was forming around you if you stayed in one place too long. The sound of police sirens could be heard in the distance but only one car so it was definitely going somewhere else. It was kind of surprising to hear the police so far into criminal territory considering the whole city was run by the big, the bad and the ugly.
"Tonight's a drag huh?" Lark said, appearing beside Waylon and almost giving him a heart attack. He glared at her and growled but the irritating woman just smirked at him.
"What's the matter big guy? Did I startle you?" She asked flirtatiously. Waylon ignored her and turned his attention back to his boring job.
"Aw, you're no fun." Lark whined, trying to get a rise out of him, anything really. She was probably bored too. Waylon wasn't even remotely interested in her attempts to be flirtatious or seem sexy, he honestly didn't care. Regular women didn't do it for him anymore, rendering his porn collection obsolete and leaving him with an itch he couldn't quite scratch. He didn't know whether it was just his mind becoming more monstrous or what. Perhaps he had subconsciously decided that Madeline had been the only woman for him and everyone else just looked like meat. Then again, he hadn't seen Madeline since that night and his mind was struggling to show him images of her. If she suddenly appeared in front of him again would he still find her attractive? Was he still into humans? Oh god, was he going to have to look up pictures of crocodiles or something, he hoped not.
There was suddenly the sound of yelling coming from the warehouse and they both spun around to see a man dressed in black and blue get the drop on one of the henchmen. Nightwing.
"You were supposed to be keeping a look out!" Waylon snarled at Lark who was certainly aware of the fact this was her fault.
"Yeah yeah, let's just beat his ass and get the guns out of here." She grumbled, and shot into action. Bossworth came out from his guard post and opened fire on Nightwing who ducked behind cover just in time.
"Don't shoot in here, some of this stuff is highly volatile!" Lark yelled and Bossworth ceased his fire but didn't look happy about it. Waylon could help but smirk at little at the fact Nightwing had shown up, he'd wanted a fight and it seemed that Christmas had come early.
"Both of you get the guns out of here on the trucks and don't let anyone follow you!" Waylon ordered, taking charge like he'd always wanted to. Penguin's body guards hesitated for a brief moment but did evntually obey the giant crocodiles commands. Lark slammed the door shut on one of the vans and leaped onto the roof as the van began to move, her dual pistols out and ready to go. Bossworth got into the driver's seat of the other and sped away before the doors of the van even shut properly, the thugs scrambling to get inside. One of the thugs shut the roller doors of the warehouse so Nightwing didn't have a direct escape route, not that Waylon was about to let the bat wannabe go anytime soon.
"Smuggling guns huh? Not really your thing croc." Nightwing said cheerfully, whipping out the two electric sticks he used before crashing them together to create an electrified staff. He knew Waylon was vulnerable to electricity, but that didn't mean the fight was going to be easy. Waylon snarled at Nightwing, the Batman sidekick had always been a pain in the ass. It wasn't because he showed up and caused trouble for the criminals of Gotham, it was because of all his cheesy one liners and cheerful attitude. How had the brooding Batman put up with him? Waylon was also irritated by the fact this guy was an acrobat which gave him unpleasant reminders of the circus.
Nightwing attacked first, running towards Waylon and leaping into the air and doing a back flip so he could use the momentum to hit Waylon on the back of the neck with the electrified staff. Waylon felt the small shock hit him and make his body tense up a little, but it was short lived as he spun around to grab Nightwing by the leg. He missed and by the time he turned around to grab the acrobatic Batman wannabe from the other side he received a hard kick in the face. Waylon felt the sting in his cheek as he jaw dislocated, but it didn't take long for the bone to reset. He hardly had to wait for his body to regenerate anymore, it was practically instant. What wasn't instant anymore however, was his reaction timing, and before he had a chance to realise what was going on the staff came up from below.
"Batter up!" Nightwing called as his staff made contact with Waylon's lower jaw and send his head back in an uppercut swing. The impact wasn't that great however, giving Waylon a chance to slash around and almost catch Nightwing with his claws. Now he was on the offensive. He charged for Nightwing, opening his jaws to clamp down shut on the vigilante.
He backed Nightwing into a corner but the acrobatic nuisance ran up the wall and flipped backwards over Waylon's head. Waylon recognised the move as one of Batman's and had an idea. He quickly swung his tail around just before Nightwing landed and smacked into his side, sending Nightwing flying across the room and into the wall. The wall crumbled a little on impact and Nightwing groaned as he got back onto his feet. Waylon reached for one of the lifting trucks and hurled it across the room. Nightwing only just got out of the way before the truck crashed into the wall and consequently went through the wall.
Nightwing had noticed that he was losing however, and had decided to leave the fight with Waylon for another time, making a run for the air vent in the side of the warehouse. He sprinted, ran up the wall and slipped into the vent with ease before Waylon could stop him. Not that it mattered too much, the vans were long gone by now. As much as Waylon wanted to stay and fight some more he could feel his body quiver for more of a fight. He wanted to lose control and tear Nightwing to pieces, hunt him down to the edge of Gotham and rip his stomach out through his mouth. But he knew if he tried to do that then he'd end up getting caught. The other Batman spawn were always close by and Waylon didn't fancy going back into Arkham. One more treatment from them would certainly speed up his devolution and render him a complete monster forever.
Hurrying out of the warehouse through the new hole in the wall Waylon clambered into the sewer system and stalked away from Nightwing's location. He couldn't go home just yet and he still had to go check that the weapons made it to their mark, but he couldn't do that until he was sure Nightwing wouldn't follow him. Waylon new a location deep into the sewer system of Gotham, part of the old city buried underneath the new and half submerged in water. Besides, he felt Killer Croc clawing at the inside of his skull, desperate to escape and wreak havoc. At least if he was down there he wouldn't have anything to kill and he could just wait out the savagery in peace and quiet.
Madeline's head was throbbing when she woke up again, and her immediate response was to pinch the bridge of her nose to try and make it stop. Sadly it didn't completely stop when she did so, but she did feel considerably better when she realised that her hands were no longer restrained and she could finally move her body again.
"Good morning." Hugo Strange said with a grin. He was standing next to the table Madeline had been lying on as per usual, the tray of needles and solutions in front of him. Madeline didn't care about morning pleasantries, she could move again! She could feel her arms and legs and wriggle her toes and even walk if she wanted to. But she didn't want to walk, she wanted to run. She spotted the door that Strange would have come through, located directly across from the foot of the table she'd been lying on so she hadn't seen it before. Desperate to escape she leaped to her feet and made a sprint for the door. However, her sprint was cut unbelievably short when her legs failed to hold her up and she collapsed onto the floor.
"Oh my dear. Are you alright?" Strange asked with great concern as he helped Madeline back onto the table. Madeline didn't know if Strange had noticed that she'd tried to make a run for it and was just pretending she'd fallen or thought she'd actually just fallen. She kind of hoped it was the latter but he seemed like an intelligent man so that was unlikely. She'd have to be crafty if she wanted to escape from where ever it was that they were.
"What's wrong with my legs?" Madeline whined, looking down at her useless limbs. Was she paralysed or something? No, she could still move them, they were just very weak.
"You haven't regained all of your strength yet. Give it time and you will be back to walking about in no time." Strange reassured, checking Madeline's legs for damage.
"And how long will that take?" She asked, swinging her legs back and forth to try and get the blood flowing.
"Shouldn't be much longer now. Do be patient my dear, we cannot rush these things. Remember, you did die."
"Yeah I remember." Madeline replied with a solemn look. She remembered it quite clearly, and she still didn't know exactly how she felt about the whole 'Waylon killing her' thing.
"You said that you died too. How did you die?" Madeline asked, trying to block the negative thoughts from her mind, not that discussing how Hugo Strange died was any more light-hearted. At least it wasn't about her for a change. All she knew about Strange was that he had been put in charge of Arkham City and then wound up dead, but no one really knew the details aside from Batman, and he was dead too.
"I was approached by a man with a plan to take over Gotham and defeat the Batman, so naturally I accepted." Strange explained very calmly, despite his words sounding like those of a super villain. He handed Madeline a cup of water and some pills. Madeline didn't bother to question what they were, at least they were giving her the illusion of free will.
"Why did you want to bring down Batman? I mean, I know he's an asshole but he did at least keep Gotham safe-ish." She wondered, she was being a little contradictory since keeping Gotham safe-ish meant locking up all the super criminals, such as Waylon, and she'd hated Batman for doing that.
"I wanted to become Batman. My employer gave me the chance to do just that if I was able to bring Batman to his knees. Sadly, I lost. And to make matters worse my employer knew that I would the whole time. He'd expected it and engineered the whole plan to turn Batman into the perfect successor." Strange explained calmly once again, but there was a sharpness to his tone, as if he were trying his hardest not to scream and shout about the whole thing. Madeline certainly would if she were him.
"The perfect successor for what?" Madeline asked, getting more and more confused by the minute. "Who was your boss?"
The Head of The Demon." Strange said flatly, as if it were a common title such as Mayor or President. Madeline looked dumbfounded and shook her head.
"That just sounds like a really bad porno title." She grumbled, and Strange laughed rather heartily. He laughed so heartily in fact that he had to take off his mask so he could breath properly. Madeline could see his face a little better now. He had a beard that outlined his jaw which was surprisingly chiselled for a scientist.
"Indeed." He laughed, trying to get over the first joke he had no doubt heard in a long time. "In any case, my employer stabbed me right then and there with his sword and left me to die. In poor Bruce Wayne defence, he did try to save me, but he had other matters to attend to and was forced to leave me to die."
"So then how is that you are alive now?"
"The same way that you are alive."
"Well that's a big help thanks everything is so clear." Madeline growled sarcastically, crossing her arms and turning away as Strange went to inject her with something.
"I am not at liberty to tell you how they brought us back, only that they did, and that they have something special in store for you." Strange explained as the needle pricked Madeline's skin. Madeline felt a shiver go up her spine, but she wasn't sure if it was from the needle or from the prospect of this 'something special'. What did they have planned for her? What was this place?
"Can you at least tell me what this place does. A really vague description at the very least." Madeline begged. She wanted to have something to go off. Was this a government run facility, a private lab, a hospital or an asylum? What did they want with her. Were they just bringing people back from the dead to show that they could or did they have some ulterior motives. Were they making super soldiers, summoning aliens from another dimension. Pop culture had taught Madeline that anything was possible and that the government and secret organisations were batshit crazy.
"In good time my dear, I promise you. Right now however, I cannot tell you."
"Please! Just a hint then. Blink twice if its run by the government, three times for secret organisation, and four times for a dream. Is it all a dream? Tell me it's all a dream?" Madeline begged, but Strange just shut his eyes and turned his head away from her.
"Dr. Strange. Please remove yourself from Subject 3871's cell." An unfamiliar voice said over the speaker. No, not unfamiliar, it was the same woman from before. The one that seemed to call Strange out of the room whenever Madeline pestered him for answers. She was the one who was in charge, Madeline just knew that had to be true. But what concerned Madeline more was that title. Subject 3871. Was that all she was to them. A subject number? So she was being tested on. It had to be a secret government facility then. Strange hesitated, clenching his fists on the metal tray and resisting the urge to obey orders. The woman didn't seem to like this.
"Dr Strange, I am ordering you to remove yourself from the cell." The woman asked again, this time sterner than before if that was possible. She sounded like the rich mother in law you'd dread to meet for the first time because she'd be constantly looking down her nose at you. Strange didn't flinch but he looked to be fighting with himself. It was as if he didn't have a choice but he was trying to make one anyway.
Then, a small thing on the side of Strange's neck, buried beneath the skin, began to beep with a red flashing light. His face turned pale upon hearing it and he quickly picked up his tray and went to leave the room.
"Wait, don't go!" Madeline called, but no sooner was Strange out of the door when three new strangers dressed in hazmat suits came in. Madeline tried to resist but two of them grabbed her arms and held her down as they strapped her limbs back into the restraints.
"NO! LET ME GO!" Madeline yelled, but the third one jabbed a needle into her arm and she felt the hazy fuzziness come over her again. She was starting to black out again, and as much as she tried to fight it she could barely hold onto even the most remote shred of consciousness. She was able to hold on just long enough to hear the woman speak one last time as her head began to spin and everything else began to fade.
"Move her to a more secure cell and tell Langstrom he is now in charge of the case." The woman said over the speaker, and then everything went black.
Yes yes I know, filler is a bitch but it has to be done to flesh the story out a little and give us more to work on. Don't worry, Madeline will be up and about and bumping into Waylon once again, just give it time. But who is in charge of this place? Why do they have Hugo Strange and Langstrom under their control, and how do they have them under their control? Just forewarning you I came up with a seriously messed up and crazy plot twist for later so I hope you enjoy that when it happens. In the mean time we will have more of Waylon being all bored and depressed and generally a buzz kill, perhaps Riddler can cheer him up? Also Bossworth and Lark are actual Penguin body guards just FYI.