Vengeance
"NOW!" Ghost began his attack as he sprang from his hiding spot behind Ares and Circe.
Ghost patiently waited for the most opportune time to strike Ares and Circe. He knew he didn't have the power to take them on in a frontal attack, nor did he have all the required weapons to defeat them in a surprise attack when he first arrived. As much as it angered him to see his long time friend Batman be ruthlessly beaten down by Nightwing and Robin, he couldn't reveal himself until he was absolutely sure that he could defeat the so-called God of War and that witch. It didn't bother him at all to see Batman annihilate the inmates of Gotham the way he did, although he believed that Batman should have been more efficient in doing so. After seeing Batman getting blasted by Ares and having the magical bow and arrow fly out of the courtyard, Ghost knew that those were the last weapons he needed to take down Ares and Circe. He just needed to wait for the perfect moment to do so.
While in the air, Ghost threw the magical electrifying net device at Ares' back while quickly shooting an arrow at Circe's left shoulder. Both Ares and Circe were hit simultaneously as Ghost landed behind Diana to grab three more arrows out of the quiver, aimed all three of them, and shot Circe again as she turned around. Both Diana and Donna looked on in surprise to see Ghost silently moving so quickly. They had no idea that he was even on the island, let alone behind them the whole time. It amazed them to watch how he had trapped Ares in the magical net while shooting down Circe with the magical arrows all in one fluent motion. Circe had an arrow in each of her shoulders with two more in her stomach as she fell to the floor in agonizing pain. Ghost grabbed one more arrow before he ran up to Circe, pinned her down, and positioned the arrow directly between her eyes. Ghost's red screened eyes narrowed as he glared at Circe. The tip of the arrowhead was inches away from her face, ready to be launched into her brain.
Ares was in excruciating pain as the electrical current continued to increase while pulsating throughout his body. Even his godly strength and powers weren't enough to break the net's hold on him as it continued to tighten around him. The electricity became too great that it made Ares lose his control on the energy restraints he put Diana and Donna in. The restraints began to weaken and fade just enough to allow Diana and Donna to break free.
Diana and Donna quickly flew up to Ghost and Circe with pure anger running through their veins. Donna took the bow and arrow from Ghost as she repositioned it back over Circe's face while Ghost went to help Batman. Diana glared at the witch as she clenched her fists tightly. "You witch! You'll pay for this!"
Circe struggled to move but stopped once Donna tapped the arrowhead into the skin of her forehead. "Go ahead and kill me. I'll be back."
Diana was about to beat her into the ground when Donna quickly shouted "Diana don't! We still need her to turn the others back to normal!"
It took every ounce of Diana's self control to stop herself from pummeling Circe into oblivion. Diana took out another arrow and jammed it into Circe's chest. "Turn them back to the way they were! NOW!"
Circe squirmed in pain as Diana continued to twist it, causing as much pain as possible. "Ok… done!" Circe said as she tried to stop Diana for twisting it further.
"She's lying! Use the lasso to make sure she actually did it!" Donna dug the arrowhead into Circe's forehead until blood began to drip out.
Diana took out her magical lasso of truth and tied it around Circe. "Did you restore them back to normal?"
Circe glared at Diana as she spoke through her clenched teeth. "…no…"
Diana took another arrow out and jammed it into Circe's chest again. She began twisting both of them as Circe continuously cried out in pain. "Turn them back to normal! NOW!"
Circe continued to squirm as she gritted her teeth from the excruciating pain. "It… it's… done…"
"Now swear that you will never turn any of them into animals again!" Donna demanded, still holding the arrowhead at Circe's forehead.
"Ne… never…" Circe spat out. Diana didn't really care whether Circe agreed to what Donna wanted. Diana just wanted to torture Circe for her crimes as she started twisting and turning the four arrows in Circe's stomach and chest. Alternating between the four to maximize the pain as blood began pouring out of the wounds. "OK! OK! I… swear… stop… stop!" Circe managed to cry out as she couldn't take anymore.
Diana didn't care what Circe said as she continued to dig the arrows deeper into Circe's flesh until Donna looked up and saw Batman lying on the floor with Ghost distracting both Nightwing and Robin as best he could. "DIANA! BATMAN!"
Diana's head quickly snapped up towards Batman as she saw him lying down, motionless. Diana quickly ripped out the two arrows that she was twisting into Circe and zipped towards Ares with Donna close behind with the magic lasso in hand. Circe cried in pain as the two arrows were torn out of her flesh. She slowly gathered herself and disappeared back to her island to attempt to recover from her wounds.
"ARES!" Diana watched as The God of War squirmed within the net as she jammed the two arrows into his chest.
Ares screamed out in pain but continued to smirk. "Do as you wish Princess… but I'll win! He's going to die very soon!" Ares tilted his head towards Batman. Diana looked up to see Batman slowly get up and defend himself from Robin while Nightwing and Ghost were fighting each other. "Mark my words Princess, you will be mine… I won't rest until you lay beneath me in my bed."
Diana's eyes widened with rage as she continued to twist the arrows deeper into Ares' chest. "Take your mind control off of them! NOW!"
Ares gritted his teeth in pain. "Never… maybe I'll have them kill each other after they finish with your pathetic husband."
Donna took a quick glance at her friends fighting each other before returning her attention to Ares, tying the lasso around him. "Talking about being pathetic… you're stupid enough to be trapped by this net twice. I mean, surely you would have learned your lesson the first time with Aphrodite?"
Ares glared at Donna with anger. He was humiliated when he was trapped in front of all the Gods a long time ago by Hephaestus. And here he was, trapped in the very same net by some unknown mortal. "I shall see to it that you and everyone else will suffer at my hands for this Amazon!"
Donna returned his glare with one of her own as she pointed her arrow at Ares' forehead. "I don't think so… incase you've forgotten, you're trapped in this net for eternity or until we decide to free your sorry ass."
Losing her patience Diana took out another arrow and jammed it into Ares' crotch. Ares screamed out in horrendous pain as Diana twisted it before ripping it back out. "Free them from your control NOW!" Before Ares could react to her demand, she jammed the arrow back into his crotch.
Ares cried in pain as he saw his own blood pouring out of his crotch. "Never!"
Diana took another arrow and jammed it into his crotch as Ares screamed in agony. "If I must suffer for an eternity, so will you!"
She continued to repeatedly stab him until the pain became too great for Ares to take. "STOP! STOP! It's done! I swear!"
Suddenly both Nightwing and Robin began floating in midair as a white light emitted from their bodies. Their blood red eyes faded back to white as they blinked repeatedly trying to figure out what just happened. They both looked down to see Batman lying on the floor motionless with Ghost kneeling down next to him. Their eyes widened in shock as they saw that Batman was covered in blood along with their own gauntlets. "BATMAN!" They both fell to the floor and quickly ran to him.
"BRUCE!" Diana dropped the two arrows in her hands and quickly left Ares and Donna to tend to her fallen husband.
"Are they both back to their normal selves?" Donna demanded, still glaring at Ares while aiming her arrow between his eyes.
"Ye… yes… just as they once were… before..." Ares managed to squeak out as the throbbing pain from the net and arrows continued to increase.
"We'll release you if you swear that you will NEVER interfere with the lives of Diana, myself, or any of our loved ones and friends again and return Gotham back to its rightful place!" Donna's eyes narrowed as she spoke. Ares glared at her, refusing to agree to such a deal. Donna stomped on Ares' crotch to emphasize that he was in no position to bargain.
Ares curled up in pain. "You… you have a deal…"
Donna pointed the arrow back onto Ares' forehead. "Say the words!"
"I… I swear to never interfere with your life or the lives of Diana, or any of your loved ones and friends again." Ares said bitterly as the electric current continued to pulsate throughout his body. Donna fired the arrow from the bow, hitting the controlling device and shutting it off. Ares glared at Donna just before disappearing with a flash of light.
"BATMAN!" Diana held Batman in her arms, he was just barely breathing.
"Take him back to the cave Diana. We'll clean everything up here." Nightwing looked around the courtyard, seeing the remains from the destruction that just took place. Diana nodded and quickly took off with Batman in her arms. Nightwing watched Diana disappear into the night before turning back to Robin in complete anger. "I can't believe we did that to him." Nightwing looked at his blood stained hands.
"I know… I…I knew what I was doing… but I couldn't stop myself." Robin stared at the floor where he remembered brutally beating down a helpless and defenseless Batman.
"Heads up. Here comes the police." Donna motioned over to the cops as they were making their way through the piles of broken bodies scattered all over the courtyard.
"Wow… see! Bats always comes through!" Flash said as he put his arms behind his head and reclined on the chair.
"Yea… as long as he isn't going to DIE from that beating!" Shayera smacked Flash on the head, causing him to fall off of his chair.
"I just want to know who that man is…" Green Lantern pointed to Ghost on the screen.
"I have no idea… but whoever he is, he saved Batman's life." J'onn said as he switched on the announcement speaker. "Attention… From what we can tell, Batman has been taken to a medical facility by Wonder Woman. We'll update all of you on Batman's condition once we hear from her." The giant crowd of heroes below slowly dispersed as they began talking to each other about what just happened.
Superman sighed in relief as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Only Batman…"
"I can't believe he almost killed The Joker and the rest of them." Flash scratched his head.
Green Lantern replayed the footage as he shook his head in disbelief. "I can't believe Nightwing and Robin almost killed HIM!"
"Hell! I can't believe Nightwing and Robin were dead! How in the hell did they die to begin with?" Shayera leaned against the monitor with her arms to get a better look at the possessed Robin fighting Batman.
"I'm not sure… but I'm going to make sure we find out. Bruce is never doing anything like this on his own again. I don't care what he says." Superman glared at the monitor, but was relieved that his friend found a way out of either killing himself or Nightwing and Robin, and didn't submit to the darkness within him.
"You're starting to sound like Bats himself." Flash grinned at Superman. Superman turned his glare from the monitor to Flash before flying off the platform without saying a word.
"He's even working on a glare too!" Flash motioned at Superman as both Green Lantern and Shayera shook their heads, laughing with Flash.
A/N: I believe what Ares got was justifiable under the circumstances… don't you agree? I know I wanted this story to stay in the darker mood setting, but hey… having a little comic relief is always funny right? Thanks for the support and reading my stories! Reviews are always welcomed and greatly appreciated.