Chapter Five

Work was irritating enough without the added weight of all that had happened that morning weighing down on Waylon lack a sack of bricks. What was he going to do about Jack? He had to get rid of him somehow. That wasn't even what Waylon was most concerned about though, he was more concerned about the fact he hadn't felt normal male urges upon seeing that picture of Madeline. Was it guilt keeping his manhood from responding, or was he really losing his attraction to human women? He tried to arouse himself by glancing at Lark who was certainly dressed for male attention in tight leather pants and a low cut leather top. But he got nothing, nada, not even a light tingle. Oh god this was terrifying.

"You okay big guy. You look a little tense?" Lark asked, sauntering over. Waylon stared intently at her cleavage, willing his body to react how it should, but nope, nothing at all.

"Can we hurry this up. I don't want Nightwing showing up again." Waylon growled, turning his back to Lark and stalking over to the crates. He picked up two and quickly hauled them over to the truck and shoved them inside.

"What's the matter? Struggle last time did you?" Lark asked with her hand on her hip in a cocky manner. "You must be getting old."

"I'm only thirty four." Waylon growled, not happy to be referred to as old by anyone but himself. Thirty four wasn't old for criminal, heck, Penguin was pushing fifty and Twoface was certainly over fourty. Still, he felt old and just wanted to sleep all the time.

"That's like, super old." Lark teased, pouting mischievously. "You need to get married, have some kids and work a boring nine to five at that age." Waylon growled at her suggestion, mostly because it hurt to think about what could have been if Madeline hadn't lost the baby, or if Madeline hadn't died. Lots of ifs that hurt to think about.

"Don't!" He warned, and hurled another box into the back of the van.

"Touch a nerve did I?" Lark pouted, moving closer and resting her hand on Waylon's chest. "I'm very good at that sort of thing." Waylon snarled at her more viciously than usual, even going to far as to snap at her. He would have bitten her head off if she didn't have good reflexes. Lark backed away, looking a little upset but also determined.

"Not. Interested." Waylon snapped, and returned to the crates. "Can we hurry this up? The less time we spend here the less likely we are to get interrupted!"

"Aw, but then we'd miss out on the party." A familiar and unwanted voice joked from above, and Waylon glanced upwards just in time to receive a kick to the face from Nightwing's boots.

Penguin's thugs scattered and quickly climbed into the vans to take off. Waylon wasn't sure if Nightwing was after him or after the weapons trucks but he was determined to keep the attention on him. Who knows, maybe they'd finally break the no kill rule. Before he could strike at Nightwing however, he felt something wrap around his wrist and something red flash past him. The red blur was apparently attached to the thing around his wrist because as it went past, Waylon felt his arm yanked along with it and smash into his face. He shook his head to regain focus and looked up just in time to see Nightwing come at him with the electric sticks in hand and smacked them into his face, knocking his head backwards to be knocked forwards again by Robin and slammed into the ground.

Waylon growled furiously and whipped his tail around to keep them at bay while he tried to regain control of his mind. Killer Croc wanted to come out and play, and Waylon's anger was rising with all the blows to the head.

"Come on, keep it together." He coaxed to himself. Two opponents meant he had to stay on his toes and keep his mind together. If it was just one or the other he could lose control and still win, but a team was far too tricky to just use brute strength against. He'd have to use his brain, which was becoming increasingly more difficult with each blow he took.

Robin was the first to try and attack, coming at Waylon from the side and rolling over his back and swinging the bo staff around and knocking Waylon's head to the side. Nightwing came charging in with the intention of electrifying Waylon's head with the two sticks but Waylon saw it coming and snapped his jaws, catching the stick in his teeth. The electricity was still running through them however, so he received a painful electric shock through his tongue and gums which felt considerably worse than normal. Not exactly using his brain very well was it? Forcing himself through the pain he clamped his jaws down and snapped the stick in half. Nightwing somersaulted away from him as he spat out the remains of the weapon, the acid from the batteries or whatever charged the thing vile on his tongue.

"Well, now we know he'll eat anything." Robin commented, appearing on Waylon's shoulder and hooking his bo staff under Waylon's neck. He pulled back hard, forcing Waylon's neck upwards so Nightwing could take a shot at Waylon's exposed neck. Waylon had fallen victim to this kind of attack before however, and put his hands up to grab hold of the staff and simultaneously block Nightwing's attack. He smirked as Nightwing's fist collided with the back of his hand and then yanked the staff forward, taking Robin along with it. Robin was forced to let go of his staff, which consequently allowed Waylon to snap it over his knee as if it were a mere twig.

"Well then, this isn't going according to plan." Nightwing joked as Waylon charged for them. They both leaped into the air, narrowly avoiding getting crushed in Waylon's jaws. What they didn't expect however, was Waylon's claws coming after them as they tried to get away, and Waylon managed to grab hold of Robin's leg.

He pulled down as hard as he could and Robin's face slammed into the concrete. The force was enough to knock him out in an instant. They needed thicker skulls if they were going to go up against him. Nightwing saw what was happening and tossed a smoke pellet at Waylon, hitting him in the face and blinding him momentarily. Waylon squinted through the smoke and tried to see what was going on. He had a feeling that Nightwing was going to use the smoke to attack him. Unluckily for him however, Waylon's hearing was superb and he could hear the fabric of Nightwing's clothes moving the clink of gadgets coming towards him from behind. He spun around and slashed with his claws, making contact with Nightwing's side and cutting through the fabric, sending the bat wannabe flying like the rodent itself.

The smoke cleared and Waylon spotted Robin on the ground, still unconscious. Finally, he could eat one of the Batman's annoying brats. He stalked towards Robin, Nightwing too far away to make to them in time. He reached down and grabbed Robin by the arm, holding his up in the air. Before he could take a victorious bite however, something rope like wrapped around his neck and yanked him backwards a little. It wasn't enough force to pull him over, but it was enough to make him drop Robin and give Nightwing enough time to swoop in grab his friend. Once they were in the clear the rope around Waylon's neck unravelled and recoiled to its owner. Waylon spun around to snarl at Catwoman, clad in her leather jumpsuit and cap with cat ears, her whip back on her hip as she smirked.

"Thought you boys could use a hand." She smirked. Waylon roared and tossed the closest object to him, which happened to be a crate, towards the cocky cat.

As expected she avoided it and twirled up into the air and onto the rafters. Catwoman was fast and nimble, and as silently as a thief in the night she slipped out of the open window she had crawled in through. Waylon spun around to see Nightwing and the unconscious Robin slip out through an open latch in the roof.

"Oh no you don't." Waylon growled, and charged outside to spot Nightwing using his grappling hook to hurtle off into the distance. Waylon was determined to eat at least one of Batman's buddies that night and charged after them.

He had to keep them in sight so he was forced to run on the surface through the streets. Oncoming cars honked and swerved to avoid him but most failed to do so. He bashed them out of the way with a sing swing of his arm, keeping his eyes up on the sky where Nightwing and Robin attempted to escape. They were slowed due to Robin's unconsciousness, and that was the only reason Waylon could keep up with them. They were also unable to glide across the night sky like Batman did because of this so they were forced to grapple from building to building at a rather pathetic speed.

"I got you now." Waylon growled to himself with triumph when Nightwing's grapple swung low and forced them to land. Robin had regained consciousness but was still injured so they hobbled towards the closest building in a bid to lose Waylon inside. It was an Avery, a new one, build in central Gotham entirely out of glass. Not a very sound building material for such a high crime area. Another useless expense to make the city seem more cultured.

Nightwing and Robin stopped at the front door, glancing back as Waylon came charging towards them on all fours. He had them now. Nightwing looked to be putting something on the hinges of the door and then took a step back, holding Robin up with his free hand. He appeared to press something in his hand and then there was a small bang and the door fell forwards. They slipped inside and Waylon snarled with irritation. The inside of the Avery was a tropical jungle, they could easily escape him in there. He'd tear the whole place apart if he had to. He'd find them and he would kill them, no one was escaping him today.

He put his arms up to shield his face as he charged through one of the glass windows. The glass shattered and some shards pierced his skin but he just shrugged them off as if they were flecks of dust. The birds scattered upon the intrusion, the loud squawking making it difficult to pin point the location of Nightwing and Robin. He listened carefully and sniffed the air but all the bird shit, humidity and squawking made it nearly impossible. Nearly impossible. He heard the sound of breathing, the laboured breathing of the injured Robin nearby. He had him. Waylon got low and skulked towards the source, staying silent as he crept through the undergrowth. They weren't the only ones who could be stealthy. As he drew closer in silence, the panicked birds went quieter and he could hear Robin and Nightwing more clearly. They were standing only a few feet away from him, not doing very well at hiding as every so often they moved a little and made a sound, the crackle of leaves or the scuff of dirt.

At least this night wasn't going to be a total waste of time. He was going to get to feast on two heroes and perhaps get a little more respect from the other criminals in Gotham. He stalked closer now, practically inches away. He could see flashes of movement through the thick leaves. Now was his opportunity. He dug his claws into the dirt to get more leverage and then pushed away from the ground, claws outstretched and jaws open to catch the two heroes in his teeth.

Only he didn't get the drop on Nightwing and Robin, instead something else was lurking in the undergrowth and spun around to slash at his face, cutting through his leathery skin and knocking him to the side with great force. Waylon crashed to the ground and had to give himself a second to comprehend what had just happened. What the hell had enough power to knock him to the ground? The sting in his cheek from the gash was deep and he felt a bit of blood trickle from the scars. Before he could get a glimpse of the thing however, it scurried off into the undergrowth and disappeared. Waylon sat there, bewildered and defeated in the middle of the Avery, birds screeching around him and the sound of police sirens in the distance. What the fuck?

When Madeline came too she was strapped down to a table again, her wrists and ankles bound by leather. Only this time the table was moving, the ceiling above her racing by and a few people in hazmat suits in her peripheral vision. Her head hurt really badly, as did the rest of her body. She felt like she had just gone toe to toe with a freight train. One of the people made themselves more visible and stepped to Madeline's side so she could see them better. Madeline couldn't see who it was because of the suit, but she had an inkling it was the woman.

"Just thought I'd let you know that field test A was a success. You performed very well, all be it a bit quick for my liking." The woman said in her prudish, snobby voice.

"What the fuck are you talking about." Madeline groaned, glaring at the woman as they turned a corner. The woman didn't answer Madeline's question and instead looked forward to where they were heading.

"We are placing you in the long term holding cells. I hope it is to your liking as it will be all you see for quite some time." The woman explained, and then slowed down so she dropped out of Madeline's sight.

"Long term? What are you... Hey! HEY!" Madeline yelled as the woman slipped out of vision. "What is going on? What did you do to me? Give me answers god damn it!"

The table came to a stop and Madeline felt the restraints being loosened. Before she could break free however, she was being picked up and carried into a small cell that was no bigger than a bathroom. They dumped her on the bed and quickly removed themselves before Madeline could get up. The glass door shut behind him and when Madeline got to her feet she buckled over again onto the floor. Helpless, she crawled to the glass and banged on it as hard as she could.

"LET ME OUT!" She screamed at the top of her lungs, her eyes burning as they started to swell with tears. The people in hazmat suits walked out of sight and Madeline was left alone.

She wasn't completely alone though. She looked up and saw the roes of other identical cells in front of her and alongside her. All were small with a glass door to remove all privacy. Madeline peered at each of the cells, each one containing a person. Some looked human enough, such as the man sitting in the cell across from Madeline's hunched up in a petrified ball. Some however, were not human looking at all, like the one in the cell two cells down from the man, a woman with pale blue skin and hair like bolts of electricity, or the one next to her, a bulky man with red skin and wild black hair. What the hell was this place.

"Don't bother trying to escape. They have this place locked down tight." A stranger's voice said from the cell next to Madeline's. Madeline crawled to the edge of her cell and pressed her ear against the wall.

"Hello?" She called desperately. "Can you hear me?"

"Yes Adele I can hear you." The stranger spat, clearly bitter. Who wouldn't be bitter, they were locked in tiny cells somewhere far from all hope and just down the road from hell.

"My name is Madeline." Madeline said, desperate to make a connection with someone. She needed someone to talk to, someone who wasn't jabbing her with needles and knocking her out every five minutes.

"Who are you?" Madeline asked after the stranger didn't reply. There was hesitation, as if the stranger was thinking over his response. Then he finally spoke.

"Jason." He said plainly, but his tone had softened a little bit. Madeline couldn't help but smile at the fact she had someone to talk to, a fellow captive, a friend perhaps?

"Jason. Where are we? Who are these people?" Madeline asked, propping herself up against the wall.

"I don't have a fucking clue." Jason grumbled. Madeline heard the sound of the mattress strain as Jason sat down. "Government perhaps. A private sector, which one I have no idea."

"Private sector?"

"Yeah, the kind of 'off the books' government job that makes people disappear. Welcome to the magical land inside the magicians box."

Madeline sighed and looked up at the ceiling. The light was a flat panel so she couldn't kill herself with the light bulb if she wanted to.

"So how did you die?" Madeline asked casually, that being the only topic of conversation they'd have in common.

"How'd you know I died?" Jason asked, sounding concerned but intrigued.

"Well I died and they brought me back to life, hence why I'm here. They brought Dr Strange back to life to so I'm assuming everyone here is dead too." Madeline grumbled. She really wanted a bottle of cheap wine to drink herself stupid with.

"I did die yes. But that was way before I was thrown in here. A lot of the people here weren't resurrected either, like Lonnie over across from you."

Madeline glanced over at the man huddled in a ball. He looked to be in his late twenties or early thirties, thin, kind of shortish with brown hair.

"He looks a wreck." Madeline said casually, not daring to consider what she must look like. She hadn't seen a mirror in a long while.

"He's been in here for a long time. Was in a juvenile detention facility before, locked away for trying to blow up Gotham. At some point in time they threw him in here and he's been here for a good ten years at least. Damn near gone insane." Jason explained, sounding sympathetic to the man's case but it wasn't that genuine. He sounded cold, as if he didn't care about anything anymore, as if he had given up on all that was good in the world. He sounded like someone who had been betrayed.

"But why. Why is he here? Why are any of us here? How are we special?" Madeline asked, trying to figure out the significance of it all. If there were non-humans here then it had to be some sort of super soldier factory or something. But why pick the people that they did. Was it random or was there some sort of specific criteria.

"I dunno. Can you think of anything that makes you special?" Jason suggested. Madeline thought for a while. She was a stripper from a redneck town down south who'd lived in Gotham before becoming a model in Metropolis. Nothing special there, the only thing in her life that was out of the ordinary was her taste in men.

"I fucked a crocodile." She said casually. There was silence from Jason, followed by laughter in disbelief.

"What?" He gasped, thinking he misheard her.

"You know Killer Croc? Yeah, he was my boyfriend for a while." Madeline said nonchalantly, as if she were discussing the weather. "Maybe that's why I'm here."

"The giant cannibal crocodile guy?" Jason clarified, still not believing her. Madeline laughed, it did sound funny when you put it like that.

"Yep."

"Why?" Jason asked, this time sounding genuinely interested.

"Because. He was a bad boy with a tragic back-story and the whole 'the world hates me and it turned me into a monster' narrative. Girls love it when a wild guy can only be tamed by them."

"And did you tame him?"

Madeline didn't respond straight away, she sat in silence for a bit, her hand on her scared stomach from where Waylon's teeth had pierced her side. God she missed him. Was kind of pissed off at him but damn did she miss him.

"Madeline?" Jason asked again, sounding concerned. Madeline shook her head to get rid of the tears that wanted to swell in her eyes. She couldn't think about that right now, there were more important things to deal with.

"Yeah?"

"Was he the one who killed you?" Jason asked, and Madeline smiled to herself.

"But of course." She said, almost laughing at the irony. She wasn't the person to tame him after all.

"Do you hate him for it?" Jason asked, sounding as if he had been in a similar situation himself. Madeline shook her head for her own benefit.

"No." She said, and could practically see Jason's surprise.

"Why not?" He asked, unable to comprehend the idea that Madeline didn't hate Waylon for killing her.

"Because I love him."

What was in the Avery? How powerful is it? What was field test A? And who is this 'Jason'? I'm guessing if you guys are Batman nerds you'll know who Jason is anyway.