Nightmare's Power, Is That A Dent I See?

"So how did you escape? The bomber…he said he went after everyone, kidnapped them and are using them as pawns in his game to take over the city."

"Actually he did try, twice in a row. He tried to threaten me, saying if I didn't give myself up then he would come over and finish the job himself...eventually I fought him in my own home, however I couldn't track him down when he escaped. The man's a professional, I give you that." Izzy and Cody now sat at the steps to the main hall, the troops still holding up on their position while two others were sent deeper into the room which despite the risks was needed vitally for the recon, in the meantime Cody had managed to make Izzy spill about her life since the three seasons and found that the girl had instead of looking for trouble messing around, she had joined the Navy Seals first before she went to become a Night Ops when their reputation was quite tarnished and since then the orange-haired madwoman became the top operative and trainer for all recruits brave enough to handle her challenges. Crane and Courtney sat beside them the ex-CIT had not expected the last person to save her being the mad dog attributed woman helping them to regain consciousness, but then who else could be in the high ranks than her? The doctor himself was deep in thought unable to join the conversation with his fingers intertwined and locked like chains, the thumbs circulating each other as his worry grew about the gas attack earlier…even without the formula he had completely forgotten that Casteon knew where the storage area was and to make things worse, he had used the prototype Nightmare gas on them instead of the real thing which was a short relief as if it had been the one he had now…the thought sent shivers just at the very thought of the bomber holding the greatest fear toxin ever created. The shuffle of black boots and guns being locked and loaded from all directions, even the reception desk was put aside for the setup of a communication line from the asylum to the outside the technicians ensuring this time the bomber won't succeed in hacking the system, Izzy shifted in her seat as she saw the bleak eyes the detective had on her…it was unnerving for the night ops commander who used to know the sweet old Cody full of life and energy for the show, she had not been at the reunion that night but the news of their friend going insane over the fact he lost his crush to the delinquent was no shocker to her. The man had certainly changed, actually too much that she couldn't recognize him on the first sight as he had completely become a sort of anti-thesis of himself: the messy hair along with his taste of clothing being much…civilian for her liking who preferred uniforms, but the one thing that stunned her was his eyes they used to be clear crystal bright blue like an opal but now it was instead blackened and bleak, their color was a shadow in its grey torment as he folded his arms quiet.

Cody on the other hand was happy, he really was for his former teammate who had been a harsh and very good competitive material but now for the first time in his life he had not considered the fact he was going to succeed this round, the bomber had held his cards to the last and he had not even thrown in a huge play: just torturing and constantly whacking around the fringes of their minds, messing them up with Nightmare was a bonus in his plan to weaken them…and if that was his intention to make them snap, it was slowly having its effects as the detective curled up with his hands on his knees. He didn't know how to read the man's mind, on one hand he is this insanely obsessive and mad criminal who was unpredictable and ruthless with no regard for human life while on the other his words to Cody somehow started to make some sense…why hadn't he had Gwen in his hands but waited until she came right to him, and the fact he was tricked by the bomber made him feel much more vulnerable and insecure right now even with Izzy who crossed blades with the man before, even she couldn't beat him down to the ground and he escaped…to kidnap more of his friends. His more irrational side condemned Izzy the moment he heard that it was she who had the best chance of catching the bomber who was in her home but then, the detective knew, it was too late for his own good and now he paid for it…they paid for it with three lives of their own, Heather, Katie and Sadie, Noah wasn't found and he assumed him to be dead so that was that. Their quiet was interrupted by the doctor who scraped the steps to his feet, scrambling for the nearby wall where a layout of the asylum laid hung out across the wall as Cody stared at him like the rest and made no attempt to stop him hearing mutters of Crane but the one thing that hit him was the words 'This is bad…' as he stood up addressing the doctor who pointed towards a section of the block, the detective could see the words marked 'Medical' on it while a worried look crossed his face.

"What is it Crane?" Crane couldn't speak for a few moments, his face frozen and pale like snow which brought a sense of dread over the other three…or other two, with Izzy still holding a stern face at the doctor who spread his arms out in explanation and a sigh. He had held out about the experiment long enough, and no doubt the Night Ops knew about this facility and its extent of operations with it being a arm of the government to commit their secret missions and cover-ups for the most dangerous facilities, including Erebus…no point in denying any further.

"That Nightmare we were hit by was taken from a storage containment unit somewhere in the main cell block, the doctors and staff like me wanted to hide it permanently from any prying eyes by sealing it up with passcodes and security blocks but in case of emergency a programming system allowed us to detonate the containment destroying the gas in the process…however, it seems that Casteon neutralized that threat already. That gas was a prototype of the real stuff I have right here, a weaker version that hasn't been through the proper procedure in making the concentrated gas it is so that's why the visions you had was a small dose of the true potency of the weapon, small but real to the victim." Crane explained thoroughly, the detective figured as much with the nightmare of Trent and Duncan attacking him which sent his hand covering a small scrape on his shoulder where the delinquent assumingly hit him on the shoulder merely ripping the fabric, the scar was still there…and that worried him a lot.

"So, what does this mean? If this gas is just a shell of its more potent form, why worry?" Courtney queried, snatching the very words out of Cody's own thoughts as the detective tried to consider what he had heard so far…a Nightmare gas that has a small taste of horror the completed form could have, what good could it do to the bomber? Unless…

"Here's the real problem with the gas: the potency is just a mere 5% of the gas' true extent in its unpurified form, but it still is able to affect our minds and attack our mental defenses effectively like its own purified form…however that isn't the end of the trouble, I tested its effect on people who are exposed to such a low dosage for too long and I found out that the test subjects released into their cells were tormented hour by hour by recurring nightmares which were so real their bodies started to tear up and soon…they just lost it. Raving and screaming, they soon died of the small dosage I gave them which is just what's happening to the three of us now…we need to get to Medical, a whole room of curing the gas is there in case staff were infected." The explanation sent shockwaves throughout the trio who stood there utterly stunned by what they just heard, the gas was still able to haunt them even after the first strike and if they could not stand up to one single attack…

"And so the problems start piling up, eh Detective! I just found out how the stuff works and I must say the results are impressive, madness then death in over little of an hour after hour dosage of fear…" The chuckling voice of the bomber echoed throughout the hall, sending the men into a state of alert guns pointed at the doorways and corridors that led to their position ensuring that every weakness was guarded. Izzy stood on her feet, her hand tightened against her gun while Casteon continued to laugh the green eyes glaring at the roof where speakers lined the hallway with dripping outright malice towards the man who tried to kill her, Cody had a hand on his own pistol cocking it tight with the ammo clip as he went on alert.

"Casteon." Izzy seethed out the name in hate and anger, the bomber chuckling again at the name resounding against the hallway walls retorting back with hints of impatience in his voice.

"Well now, look who it is. Little Miss Izzy trying to stop me with her motley crew, well then…I did say that I would start detonating random bombs around the city so say goodbye to some of your houses!" A sharp click echoed around the hallway in a loud noise sounding like that of a eerie hiss alerted Cody as the whole building suddenly quaked, sending the men tumbling to the ground unable to take the shockwaves as the windows facing the city suddenly had a loud burst of light and explosions instantly making the detective's face scowl as they all slowly crawled out from their positions hearing the bomber laugh hysterically at the sound of booms.

"I thought I told you: no sorts of entry or I will start detonating some random bombs. Right now I just had fifteen blowing up, let's see…some local pubs, a few houses of some important city officials and…the bridge to the asylum itself at the same time! What a riot!" The bomber listed, Cody starting to lose it as he yelled at the intercom system in anger and spat on the floor.

"You Goddamned BASTARD!"

"Hehehehe, I told you…you shouldn't have called in your friends. Now I take away some of your friends at the tip of the bridge where bombs were placed under the very spot the police chief's tent was situated at, let's see…the corner at the nearby crowd of lines? If you don't believe me, why don't you just hear this little piece of news I picked up on the radio stations tonight?" He said as he clicked a button, and next thing on everyone's minds was the familiar sound of a local radio station the voice of the host coming in worried and full of anxiety.

"This just in: bombs that the Bomber of Fleet Street had given in his warning tape have just occurred, damages are being assessed at the moment but from what we know from news reporters at the edge of the asylum, well…the police stationed there were caught in a large explosion, the whole entirety of the shockwave sent ripples throughout the edge of the bridge destroying much of the whole end along with some bodies which are being recovered, but I am sorry to announce that one of them is our own police chief James Ingram Gordon-" The radio was cut off by the bomber who just gave a snicker, the detective having a black face at the speakers casting the gloomy message over the asylum announcing the death with a damn, which the detective knew, smile on his face. The doctor merely had a shudder at the news while Courtney couldn't help but sink to the floor, her eyes were a deep dark blank at the news but the rest stood their ground.

"What a riot! What a riot! The whole city will soon be leveled to the ground, my best artwork yet…you know, it reminds me of a certain town in America where two teenage spies tried to stop me. You know what happened to them, right? Anyone? No? Well then, here's the punchline: I left half the local school destroyed decimating nearly half the school roll altogether, bombed the mayor's office killing him effectively and also…I killed the woman's family along with that "Major Screwup" of a boyfriend she had. See?"

"Casteon, you'll be marked for death!" The death threat by Cody made the bomber snicker at the confidence, it was a real surprise to see that the detective was so blinded by this whole game…well he will soon find out the purpose of it, with a little help on the outside. Watching the game play out from the very safe zone he picked up in Medical from his personal laptop, Casteon had a gleeful look on his face at the detective's angered face loving the pain and anger exuding from the man who would soon be his next witness to something bigger, his fingers just tapping on the keyboard but lightly on the keys as though gracing them with a dance while he held up a dark red handphone to his ear hearing the distinct beeping of the call being sent. Behind him sitting in the only bright light of the room, purposefully lit up to show off his future work to the detective was none other than Alejandro but instead of kicking and screaming like he was supposed to the ex-enemy in season three had his face melted by a douse of acid the bomber had thrown on him earlier to finish his own masterpiece, the skin peeling off its place and landed slowly in pads of flesh pooling on the floor while the top of his head was completely dissolved the scalp splat into brains and matter strewn over the floor when Casteon had jammed his own hand after the acid, hissing noises seemed to only be the noise as the other line picked up a hoarse voice spoke through clearly annoyed to the teeth to be awakened so late.

"Goddamnit! What and who is the little punk speaking?" Casteon sighed, this man was still very easily irritated by simple interruptions of life…the bomber now decided to teach the man a lesson as he spoke on the phone calm but a hint of anger buried in the words.

"It's me, D…or are you trying to piss me off right now?" Casteon's announcing brought a worried chatter over the phone, the bomber just relaxed in his seat laying his boots on the top of the table as he smirked to himself…D seemed to still recognize the most dangerous men alive, at least for now. D was the bomber's contact for any small time jobs, an information broker mostly when he was of no use to the bomber physically but there were a few before him who took on the role of being Casteon's information broker and…dare he said it, a useful 'henchman' at times. The bomber didn't resist insulting or yelling at him, whenever he left a town or city D would always disappear for good in order for him to leave no possible connection to him so now there was one more job he wanted from D.

"D, I have a last job for you." The man swore evidently on the phone, his voice was worried and panicked at the mention of the dreaded words.

"Casteon, c'mon man…we can talk about this, you can't be thinking of leaving the city yet. You still have so many lives to take like the time at Middleton-" He pleaded subtly but the bomber knew what was going to happen, the man lazily hanging his finger on the button which led to D's house while he reprimanded him in a sharp tone.

"I didn't pay you to stand around anyway! So, I want one last piece of information from you: where is the location I specified for you? I was going to use it for another purpose when someone, or should I say Cody decided to barge in and capture me first." He paused, waiting for the man to say something before he heard a firm reply from his own information broker in the city, obviously incensed at the foreknowledge of what Casteon was about to do.

"No, I won't do it." Casteon sighed, his fingers playfully circling the red button that would end the life of his own associate for a while. He didn't really wanted to kill D so quickly, but then again the man couldn't live like his predecessors before: the Middleton High episode proved to him that point about betrayal…this man had to die.

"D, D, D…do you really have to make me pull the plug on you myself? I have a bomb sitting in your house, and by the accounts of the house being surrounded by three police officers I see you've betrayed me…"

"Casteon, I've done everything you asked of me: the woman, the bombs I smuggled in for you…heck, I even gave you information all about the Nightmare gas! But now you want to bring the city down with you! I cannot let that happen." The man's voice had gotten almost erratic and very scared, but not so frightened with the bomb being disarmed and the fact he had some officers to guard him from the bomber should he come over. D had been very careful in ensuring he knew all about how the bomber worked, and with him working on his own its very hard for the criminal to try and kill him being trapped in the asylum…he was safe.

"I'm going to lay some ground rules now, I will tell the police about what you're planning and admit your guilt in everything that have happened up to this point." The informant threatened, his beady eyes gleamed as he typed the order to send it to the police who would get the information of Casteon's uploaded plan…

Bang. The one sound echoed on the other line of the phone with Casteon now turning his attention to the dead Latino, his eyes watching the eyes melt into the acid's foamy dissolving form destroying what was left of the once-handsome man's face sliding into a liquidated state filling up the empty sockets. The thudding of the body told him enough as another struggled breath spoke on the other side, hoarse and very choked it sounded like a man with a sore throat as Casteon smiled to himself…it didn't matter, the informant was dead now and he had the plan underway.

"It's done, D is dead. We'll wipe off his face and name from the government archives immediately, Casteon…are you sure it'll work? It's a tough decision to do with your master plan." Casteon smiled at the man's concern, it was something he appreciated from an old friend of his in his crime spree…someone a bomber could always turn to in outside work with goons, when the criminal appreciated being a lone wolf.

"No trouble, I am not really planning to go anywhere for now…but soon I will ruin this city, detective or no detective. Just continue with your job…HD." The man with the codename spoke in the same choked voice with a small laugh that sounded like someone dying, almost freaking the hell out of the bomber who gave a small shiver but it was out of excitement with the prospect of seeing the city fall into total chaos.

"Of course, Casteon."

End