Chapter 11.
"Please forgive me" pleaded the stubby alien; volus do not kneel well and so it was bowing as low as it could get, "it was not my fault."
"Of course it wasn't" the voice was soft and intoxicating, "you are forgiven Pin Quin." The beautiful emerald asari caressed her hand along the volus' mask, causing him to close his eyes under his suit in ecstasy.
"Thank you, Ivy" the volus breathed in relief. The green asari smiled and withdrew her hand. She turned and walked into her extravagant garden, disappearing in the flora. The black and white garbed volus turned and started his walk back to his base. He unhitched a walking cane from his back and began the slow walk out of the garden.
Life was good for the volus. He started out as a banker with the Citadel and after several run-ins with gangster types, he realized how much more money he could make with them. Not much of a fighter, Pin Quin could easily manipulate banking records and soon was an asset of the criminal empire. Since those days, Ivy has given him his own crew of turian mercenaries and put him in charge of certain operations. The latest being shipments of red sand coming into the Citadel. He walked with a slight limp out of the garden area and down a dark hallway to where his Kodiak shuttle was waiting for him.
"Penguin" growled a gruff voice from the shadows.
Pin Quin hated that name. Early in his criminal career, a human mercenary working under him called him a penguin, comparing him to the Earth-born flightless bird. The mercenary did not live long, but the name got around to his subordinates. Now no one says the name to his face, except those who wish to mock him…or threaten him.
"Who's there?" heavily breathed the small volus, looking into the darkness of the hallway.
Two piercing blue eyes rounded a corner of the hallway. The figure was over eight feet tall, towering over the small volus. Pin Quin recognized him immediately; he was Ivy's enforcer and right hand associate, Bane. The volus took two steps back, intimated by the hulking krogan.
"You were in charge of the shipments, Penguin" snarled the masked krogan.
"I…I already told Ivy it wasn't my fault. She said-"
"What she said is irrelevant, you failed your task" Bane said as he approached the volus.
"The original shipment was raided by C-Sec through an anonymous tip. I talked with my contacts at Omega, but they are experiencing difficulties with their shipments…" the volus trailed off. The krogan's eyes flared with biotic intensity as he effortlessly grabbed the volus and lifted him to eye level.
"What happened!?" yelled the krogan. Pin Quin started to breathe heavier, causing his respirator to quicken.
"My contacts said there was some kind of Bat on Omega and that he hired a team out there to disrupt activities," Pin Quin flailed his legs trying to escape the iron grip of the krogan, "I've ordered a new shipment from Illium though and it should be arriving soon, please that's all I know." The krogan let loose the volus, causing him fall with a thud.
"The Bat…I've run into him before, he is nothing but a nuisance, much like you."
The volus used his cane to help him to his feet, "I can guarantee the next shipment will be here with no trouble."
The krogan began to walk past the volus towards the garden area and stopped with his back facing the volus, "For your sake, I hope your right."
The volus dusted himself off and took a final deep breath, continuing his walk to his waiting shuttle. Pin Quin realized that Poison Ivy was nothing but a pretty face, Bane was in charge; a truth he dare not reveal to anyone or else suffer Bane's wrath.
The Batwing's engines hummed softly as they were shutting down. Batman sighed in the cock pit and then hit some switches and buttons on the holographic displays, opening the canopy. He flipped himself out and started a slow walk down the stairs of the platform the Batwing rested on. Draping the cape around him, he started walking across the large technological cave's floor.
"Sir, your meal is prepared" stated the synthesized butler's voice throughout the cave.
"Thank you Alfred" Batman said realizing his voice modulator was still active, causing his voice to sound more menacing. He shook his head and made his way to the armory.
Stepping inside, motion sensors tracked his movements causing robotic arms to sprout from the walls. Casey stood still lifting his arms while the robot arms took the Batman armor one piece at a time. First were the foot and leg pieces, followed by the gauntlets and helmet, last was the chest and cape. Underneath the armor, Casey wore a thin black skin suit; he ran a hand through his hair and stepped into a wash room of the armory to take a quick shower.
Minutes later Casey walked out barefoot in black trunks and a towel around his shoulders. He strode over to the main consoles and promptly sat in the leather chair. Casey swiveled the chair to the table next to him and uncovered the meal that had been laid out. Looking at the food in front of him caused the young man to raise an eyebrow.
"What is this?" asked Casey staring at the purple meat cut in front of him.
"A salarian dish, Sir, one you specifically mentioned to save the recipe for."
"I must have been trying to impress someone" Casey replied after shrugging and cutting into the purple meat. After finishing, he returned to the main screens and started to look over all updates. Apparently his new red and blue ally had done a swift job at taking down the shipping yard on Gorgon that created the merc armada. Casey nodded in approval as he moved on to other updates.
On his way back from mercenary encounter, Alfred had mentioned that another large shipment of red sand was being sent from Illium to the same coordinates the previous large shipment was being sent to. Casey had told him to track the shipment until he was back in the cave. The red sand was now only halfway to the Citadel and would arrive in less than five hours.
Casey yawned. He realized that he had been awake for over thirty hours. He rubbed his eyes. After thinking about it, every part of his body ached. He stretched his back and arms in the chair.
"Alfred, monitor the shipment as well as normal channels and let me know if anything happens" Casey said as he got up from the chair and slowly started for the stairs to the upper manor.
"Will do, Sir"
-Five Hours Later-
"And you had no problems?"
"None, Mr. Quin" replied a turian mercenary.
"Good, good. Make sure to transfer the shipment from the frigate to the cargo vehicles quickly and quietly. We have a schedule to keep."
The volus stood next to a large metal container in the middle of the cargo yard. The turian mercenary group was scatted all over the warehouse, unloading metal crates full of red sand.
The echo-locater in Batman's left 'horn' on his helmet identified twelve mercenaries throughout the warehouse. The volus was obviously in charge and so Batman tagged him in his HUD as a VIP. The dark knight was crouched atop several of the large metal containers overlooking the mercenaries. His ocular enhancers marked the four mercenaries who were there simply as guards, carrying heavy assault weapons. The other eight were busy going back and forth to the large frigate that had made port next the warehouse and other cargo vehicles.
Batman leaped off the container, extending his cape, and gliding down to one of the lower containers. He landed quietly, not wanting to alert any of the mercenaries. He crouched down and moved slowly to the edge, observing two of the turians taking a smoke break away from the others.
"…anyway, we should get back, or the 'Penguin' will start squawking at us" laughed a turian as he tossed his cigarette and left to join the others.
"Hey, I'll be there, just let me find some peace and quiet or something, okay?" replied the remaining alien, who stood directly underneath where Batman was crouched. The caped knight held his black and blue omni-tool right over top of the turian, doing a scan of his image and voice pattern.
Batman had completed his scan and started adjustments on his omni-tool while still watching the remaining mercenary below him. With his calibrations complete, Batman swiftly jumped down from the container, directly behind the smoking turian. With no effort, Batman put the mercenary in a turian designed sleeper hold while covering the mercenary's mouth. Within seconds, the turian was out cold. The dark knight dragged the unconscious alien around the corner of the container, finding an open one and setting the unconscious mercenary inside.
Batman climbed back atop the container he was perched on before and listened with his audio channels to see if anyone was alert to his presence. Satisfied, he moved across the containers, staying in the shadows. Batman spotted three more of the workers as they were heading back to the freight ship to get another load of cargo. He leaped down onto the floor and unclipped three small puck-like discs from his belt. He placed the discs in a triangle formation on three different cargo containers at eye level.
Batman crouched as he moved like a ghost between the opening of two cargo containers. On the other side of the opening the three mercenaries were walking by, sighing and breathing hard. Batman melted into the shadows as he activated his omni-tool in front of him, creating a decoy hologram of the turian mercenary he had taken out first. Batman then adjusted his omni-tool, causing the decoy to play a fabricated voice that sounded identical to the unconscious turian's.
"Hey, I found something!"
The three mercenaries turned and saw one of the other workers looking at them and gesturing them to see what he had found. Batman directed the decoy to walk towards the triangle formation trap he had set across from him. The mercenaries shrugged and walked down the opening between the containers, following what they thought was an associate. The turian group walked right past where Batman was hidden, as they turned the corner and continued following the decoy.
"Hey, what's this all about man?" asked one of the mercenaries, as the turian they were following suddenly stopped at the end of the corridor. Batman watched and pressed a final button, causing the hologram to fade and activating the placed discs. The three discs each flashed a dark blue once before they dispersed a powerful knockout gas from the tops of them. The mercenaries fell instantly after inhaling the clear, odorless gas.
Batman emerged from the shadows across from the knocked out workers. He was still crouched as he moved around the corner to where the mercenaries were originally passing by. Batman peered around a corner, utilizing both his ocular enhancements and echo-locator to pinpoint the remaining eight mercenaries. No one seemed aware of the dark knight stalking the warehouse, strategizing an attack plan to get to the volus leader.