: I apologize deeply for this delay. Personal matters have flooded into my life, I've been searching for a job, and I've been assisting a good friend of mine, Phen0m20, in writing a story that is quickly becoming his flagship. But I'm back, for now at least.

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"If you walk away right now and leave that moronic failure behind, I might consider letting you live," the bandaged man said. His voice was somewhat muffled, but Alex could swear he had heard it before.

"How about you do that?" Alex suggested. "The riddle-obsessed 'moron' is with me."

"Really?" Riddler said hopefully.

"Don't get comfortable. You're mine, not his." Alex said coldly.

"Very well." The mummy said calmly. He pointed both of his powerful handguns directly at Alex. "It is said that David vanquished the unstoppable giant Goliath with but a single stone. Well today, Hush shall defeat the walking god Zeus by the might of his own hand." He fired four rounds into Mercer, two in the heart, one in each lung. Hush stood there, a triumphant smirk hidden behind his makeshift mask, waiting for the one everybody was afraid of to fall to the ground lifeless and forever gone. He was shocked beyond comprehension when Zeus merely looked at him with an expression that somehow managed to have traces of both irritation and amusement.

"What else you got?" He began walking forward, advancing towards the man who called himself Hush. The masked gunman began to desperately empty hid guns' magazines in to Mercer. Alex paid no mind to it as his had his armor melt out of and then solidify on him. The bullet bounced of the congealed Blacklight like plastic. When he finally got close enough Alex casually grasped the barrels of the guns and snatched them out of Hush's hands. The now desperate Hush then reared back his right arm, clenched his hand into a tight fist, and thrust his arm forward right into Mercer's armored gut. Hush's eyes widened and he stepped back, letting out a groan of pain as he put his right hand into his left one. If he had punched any harder, he would have shattered every bone in him from his finger tips to his wrist.

Mercer made his armor disappear back into his and crushed the guns in his hand as if they were glass. "Got any more tricks up your sleeve, Hush?" he asked with obvious amusement.

"Try this." Hush reached into his trench-coat and pulled out what appeared to be a spray-paint canister. Alex suppressed a laugh and allowed Hush to do whatever he was going to do. Instead of paint, a thick green mist shot out of the cylinder's nozzle, and Mercer instantly felt... sick. He staggered back a step and covered his mouth with his hand as he coughed uncontrollably. After the unnatural smoke dissipated, Mercer took a second to finally step coughing and pulled his hand away to look at it since it was giving him a strange sensation. Biomass dripped off of his digits and palm, and fell to the floor only to evaporate within a second of landing.

"So you do have a weakness," Hush said to himself with a whisper as he observed Zeus's shocked veneer as he watched a strange black ooze drip off of him. "I should try to frame the clown more often." He then raised his voice to catch the attention of both Zeus and his former partner who had been staring stupidly the entire time. "I'm sure you'll enjoy you're final moments! At least your faces will imply that you did!" He pulled a few smoke grenades out of his trench-coat's pockets, pulled off the pins, and threw them towards the duo before running out of the warehouse and into the dying night.

"Oh this is bad!" Riddler cried out as green smog slowly filled the condemned building. "Very bad!" He would have said more, but Zeus grabbed his by the his chest.

"Hold on," Zeus said as he tensed his legs. This stuff was trouble, and running through it was suicide. "And watch your head." He rocketed himself upward with the Riddler locked in his iron grip. He smashed through the rotted and desecrated roof with any sort of trouble. He maneuvered over the rooftops until finally coming to a stop about four blocks away from the warehouse. He tossed Riddler to the ground and looked down at him menacingly. "Who was that?" he asked with a level-headed tone.

"I believe he revealed his name to you," Riddler answered with a smile. It disappeared when Zeus grasped him by the throat and pulled him closer so that their faces were inches apart.

"I am not in the mood for games and jokes."

"Well, that's good," Riddler responded with a nervous smile. "Because niether of those arwe normally associated with me."

His patience lost, Zeus grabbed Riddler by his neck and hoisted him up into the air. "You are wasting my time. I find that to be royally irritating." He was about to squeeze when blinding lighting manifsted out of nowhere and the sound of ahighly powerful engine filled the air. The lights became more focused as a now familiar automobile rolled up next to Zeus and the Riddler.

"Gotten yourself on the bad side of Zeus, Nigma?" Nightwing asked with amusement as he hopped out of the driver-side of the vehicle. Riddler responded with a nervous chuckle.

"Where's the Big Man?" Zeus asked, surpired that Batman wasn't the one in the car.

"He's... sick," Nightwing answered.

"Sick?" Zeus repeated with confusion. "Why would he take the night off just for that?"

"He's very sick," Nightwing insisted.

"Regardless of his condiction," Riddler interjected. "You still have gotten on my way of getting payback at that idiot Hush."

"Idiot?" Nightwing said. "That's a rather small word for you Riddler." He carefully studied the self-proclaimed enigma form a moment that seemed to last for hours until he finally spoke up again. "Zeus, give him a little slap."

Zeus did so without hesitation. Shock filled him when his hand connected with the Riddler's face and seemed to indent it like mud. He pulled hard and managed to release his hand, and took a chuck of the Riddler's skin with it, which clung to him. Zeus observed his hnd and watched as the "skin" slowly turned a slightly light brown, and then slid off of him to the ground. Zeus then looked over to a smiling Riddler and dropped him. The enigma landed on his feet and slowly turned the same color as the substance that was just on Zeus's hand. He grow to about twice his height and his stature widened vastly. He looked like a monster in a matter of seconds.

"Clayface," Nightwing stated as he pulled out two of his signature weapons. "Should've known."

"But like all the others, you didn't, little bird." Clayface's stature and voice reminded Zeus of the Supreme Hunter he had decapitated on the Reagan. That wasn't good.

"I don't know who the Hell you are," Zeus said as he made his claws coat his arms. "And I don't care. You're going down."

"Why do I have a feeling this is going to be a lot harder than you think," Nightwing murmured to Zeus.

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A/N: Originally, this was going to involve a confrontation with Scarecrow, but then I realized something; I have no idea what Alex is afraid of.