Chapter Ten: War in Bludhaven
Batman, Question and Galatea arrived at a LexCorp National Bank late that night. They had entered in through a skylight on the roof, and dropped down into a control room. Batman immediately began tampering with the camera system, and a few moments, he stood.
"I set the security cameras on a two-hour rewind, which means that we have two hours in here to roam freely. That should be more than enough time." Batman said.
"Sounds good. What about the alarm system?" Question asked.
"I need a security code to shut that down. I could hack the system, but it'd waste too much time. We'll just have to be careful." Batman said.
"Fine. I don't see any guards on the security screens, but just to be sure… Galatea, check for any guards in the building." Question said.
"Sure." Galatea shrugged with clear boredom. She turned and began to use her x-ray vision, but soon shook her head. "No good. The walls are reinforced with lead, I can't see through them for crap." She sighed.
"Figures. This is a LexCorp bank, after all. Lex Luthor doesn't put his name on anything that isn't reinforced with lead." Question said.
They cautiously exited the control room, and found the hallways were clear. They moved down into the main lobby, still void of any security.
"Doesn't look like there any security guards here." Question said.
"That's what's bothering me." Batman said.
"Aren't I usually the paranoid one, Batman? Then again, it's understandable that you're on edge, what with Diana vanishing and all."
"Stay focused Question!" Batman shouted angrily.
"Ooh... sensitive subject bats?" Galatea asked half-mockingly.
The dark knight ignored her. He just moved over to the counter, where almost a week before, a four year old girl had been tossed by Toyman and hit her head, and was killed from the impact. The edge of the counter was still broken off where her head had made contact.
"Exactly what do you expect to find Batman?" Question asked, but again, Batman had no reply. He drew a pair of mini bat-binoculars. He zoomed in on the rug where the girl had died.
"I ran a profile check on the girl who supposedly died here, and there's one problem… she doesn't exist." Batman finally began to explain.
"What?" Question asked.
"According to the news, her name was Anna White. But when I ran a search on her, there was nothing. No birth certificate, no medical or dental records, no parents on record, nothing. It's like she doesn't exist. I need to investigate more." Batman said.
He searched for a bit longer with the binoculars, but eventually let out a sigh of disappointment.
"There's nothing on this damned rug but dust mites. I was hoping there would be some trace of DNA left." Batman said.
"Well duh, Lex Luthor is a billionaire, I'm pretty sure he can afford to have a rug cleaned!" Galatea shouted.
"Dust mites? Take some of those if you want DNA." Question said.
"How could I get DNA from dust mites?" Batman demanded.
"Dust mites eat dead skin, right? If a person died on that rug, they would have been all over it. They're small enough that I'm sure some of her skin hasn't digested yet, there might be enough to draw DNA from."
"That's brilliant… if it works, anyway." Batman said, drawing a pair of tweezers from his crime scene kit and picking up dust mites, putting them in a test tube.
"Um, hello, the rug was cleaned! That kind of tends to kill dust mites! They wouldn't be the same ones that ate her skin!" Galatea argued.
"There are more dust mites in the average room than there are people on the planet. It's unlikely that all of them were killed in the cleaning. And it's even more unlikely that all of the skin was washed off of the rug, even if they are all new dust mites, they've probably eaten fragments of skin already on the rug." Question explained.
"Gross." Galatea shivered.
After Batman had collected a significant number of dust mites, they began to leave.
"Something still doesn't seem right. There seem to be absolutely no security measures in this entire place, very odd for a LexCorp building." Batman said.
"Well as long as we get out of here alive, it isn't important." Question shrugged.
Then Galatea began to open the door. Instantly there was a loud beeping sound, and then a bright flash. Batman and Question, being several feet behind Galatea, were able to leap behind the counter and take cover. There was a blinding flash, and when it cleared, Galatea was unconscious on the ground.
"What happened?" Question asked.
"It's called a Sleeper Flash. Cadmus agents use smaller versions of them. It emits a flash that triggers certain chemical reactions in the brain, causing immediate unconsciousness to anyone who sees the flash." Batman explained.
"How long will she be out?" Question inquired.
"It can put a person to sleep for up to three days, unless they are awoken early by a second flash. But with Galatea's advanced physiology, I imagine she'll be awake in a couple of hours."
"Alright then, let's get her out of here. Then we can begin searching for Zatanna, while you work on extracting DNA from the dust mites." Question said.
"Yeah." Batman agreed. "Be careful though, this place is probably wired with more traps."
Meanwhile, in Bludhaven…
"I don't get why we're here Clark. In my last dream, Galatea was at a bank in Metropolis!" Supergirl stated.
"I know. I just need a little bit of… leverage." Superman said in a near-sinister tone.
"What does that even mean?" Supergirl asked impatiently.
"Just trust me, Kara. We have some work to do in Bludhaven before we go after Galatea and her little crew."
"Ok, whatever. What do we need to do?"
"Well, this will go faster if we split up. Go out and try to find information on the crime lord known as Blockbuster… any information you can get."
"What for Clark?"
"Like I said, just trust me. I'll explain everything later."
"You better." Supergirl grumbled, flying off into Bludhaven. "I'll call you if I find anything!" She yelled back before speeding up her flight.
Superman grinned. He knew exactly where he was going; he just needed to get rid of his cousin for a while. He soared off into the night, and within fifteen minutes he had reached his destination. A nightclub where some of Bludhaven's worst criminals hung out almost every night. Superman hovered in the window, careful not to be seen. He looked into the club, scanning over the crowd. Finally he found the man he had been looking for, Tony Zucco. Zucco was a mob boss who had for years been stationed in Gotham City, but had recently moved to Bludhaven. Zucco was sitting by the bar talking to some strippers at the club and pounding drinks. Must to Superman's delight, Zucco had a bit too much to drink and had to run out the back door to vomit. As Zucco entered into the back alley, he was snatched up by Superman and pulled high into the air.
"S- Superman! What the hell are you doing in Bludhaven!" Zucco screamed.
"Shut up." Superman warned. "I want answers. Now."
"Forget it. I'm not talking!" Zucco retorted. Superman grinned and placed to two fingers onto one of Zucco's ribs.
"Lets start with these…" Superman said, pinching down and snapping the rib like a twig! Zucco shrieked in agony, and Superman moved his fingers down to the next rib. "Are you ready to talk now?"
"N- not a chance…" Zucco winced, holding his ground. Superman pinched, breaking a second rib. Again, there was a scream from the helpless criminal.
"What do you want to know?" Zucco huffed, giving up.
"Blockbuster. You're his right hand man, right?"
"Yeah, me and the Block are tight. I'm pretty high up in his ranks." Zucco nodded.
"And Blockbuster has plenty of Bludhaven cops on his payroll, right?"
"Sure, more than half the police force in this city is corrupt." Zucco said, still having no idea where Superman was headed.
"Ok then, good. So if you have so much power in the mob, you could probably get a few cops to do a job for you, right Zucco?"
"Well that depends man, I don't know if-" Zucco started to argue, so Superman broke a third rib, inciting another shriek.
"Ok, ok, ok! I- I can get whatever you want done!" He cried.
"Good. President Lex Luthor is currently arming regular police forces to battle superhuman enemies. Rumor has it that a small shard of kryptonite was recently delivered to Bludhaven police force, in case they had to go up against me. I want you to go to some cop on Blockbuster's payroll, and I want you to tell him that Blockbuster needs that kryptonite. Tell him that it needs to be delivered tonight." Superman ordered.
"Why the hell would you want Blockbuster to get his hands on kryptonite?" Zucco asked, highly confused.
"All part of the plan." Superman smiled. "Oh, and make sure some rumors about this get circulating around. I want anyone with connections in Bludhaven's underworld to know about this, is that clear?"
"Um… sure…" Zucco groaned.
"Alright then. Have a nice night." And with that, Superman put Zucco back and the ground. "That kryptonite had better be on its way to Blockbuster, tonight." Superman reminded him, and then he flew off.
Meanwhile, back at the abandoned Cadmus base…
After a few hours of working, Batman had finally extracted a usable amount of DNA from the dust mites. But when he went to test it, something very strange happened. The skin samples seemed to melt, they turned to some sort of sick putty form, and then just sort of oozed out.
"I doubt that's normal." Question stated.
"No, but I think I may have seen this before…" Batman said.
"Of course you have." Question chuckled.
Batman took a small electric prodder, and poked it into some of the sludge. Then something odd happened, it began to morph. It took the shape of a cube, then a sphere, then a spike ball of sorts! Batman removed the prodder, and it fell into putty again.
"Just as I thought. It reacts to electrical impulses. I know exactly what this is." Batman remarked.
"And that would be what exactly?" Asked the Question.
But before Batman could answer, Galatea began to moan. They looked back to see her beginning to wake up. She sat up uncomfortably, having no idea what had happened.
"What's going on?" She asked, looking around the room.
"You fell into a trap back at the bank. You've been out cold for a couple hours." Question told her.
"Damn… guess I haven't been much help, huh?" She sighed, stretching. "And I had another one of those stupid dreams." She said.
"What dreams?" Batman asked.
"Doesn't Kara have them too? Just on the opposite end, right. When she sleeps, she see's what I'm doing, and when I sleep, I see what she's doing. It's really pretty annoying."
"What did you see this time?" Batman asked, curious.
"She was with Superman, and they were flying around Bludhaven for some reason. That's really all that I got out of it." She shrugged.
"Bludhaven!" Batman suddenly gasped, grabbing a communicator from his utility belt.
"Who are you calling?" Question asked. Then suddenly, it dawned on him. "Wait, you don't think Superman is going after-" Question shouted.
"That's exactly what I think." Batman said, cutting Question off.
"Tell him to get out of Bludhaven immediately." Question said.
"That would do no good, he's too stubborn. He usually doesn't have his communicator on him anyway." Batman said
"Then, I repeat, who are you calling?" Question asked again.
Batman was silent for a few moments. Then he said, "The Oracle."
A half hour later, back in Bludhaven…
The Oracle had received Batman's emergency call, and acted immediately. She sent two members of the Birds of Prey, Huntress and Black Canary, to Bludhaven. Helena Bertineli, a.k.a. Huntress, was relatively new to the Birds of Prey, but had proved her worth time and again. Dinah Lance, a.k.a. Black Canary, had been a long time member of the team, and though she admired Huntress, she did not fully trust her yet.
The two women arrived in Bludhaven quickly, both of them being avid motorcyclists.
"Took you long enough, Dinah." Huntress said, even though she herself had only been there about a minute before the other.
"Some of us try to drive safely, Helena." Black Canary called back.
"That's your problem, Dinah. You don't take enough risks. I mean, come on, we're already vigilantes. We shouldn't have to obey traffic laws." Huntress said, rolling her eyes.
"Stay focused, Huntress." Black Canary said, using her partner's alias instead of her real name to show that it was time for business. "We have to find Nightwing. You've more experience with the batclan than me, where do you suppose we should look?"
"If you want to find Dick, listen for the nearest gunshot. He'll most likely be there beating the crap out of the shooter."
"Sounds a lot like his mentor." Black Canary pointed out.
"No, he isn't really like Batman. He's… I don't know… lighter."
The two heroines head out into the night, soon traveling from rooftop to rooftop, searching. Eventually Huntress stopped at an old warehouse, and looked down in through a broken skylight. Black Canary was soon at her side, and they looked down to see a group of around thirty mobsters, talking. One of them looked like he had just been hit by a car, and he was the one talking.
"It was insane, he just came outta' nowhere! He took down Vinnie and Fuzz, I barely got away! He was asking Vinnie questions about the kryptonite deal going down tonight; I wouldn't be surprised if he showed up at the tradeoff!" The guy said.
"If Nightwing does show up there, then we need to go in later, after the altercation is over with, and take ourselves a cut of the money. I bet Blockbuster is paying a pretty high amount for that kryptonite stuff." Another thug said.
"Sounds like these guys know where Nightwing is headed." Black Canary said.
"Let's crash the party." Huntress nodded, leaping in through the skeleton of what used to be a skylight. She landed with a hard kick onto a guy's back, flinging him face first into the concrete. A few of the thugs opened fire on Huntress, and she quickly ducked behind a big guy behind her. The bullets riddled her involuntary human shield, killing the man. Huntress then leapt out from behind the corpse and fired off shots from her crossbow, impaling the arms of the shooters and causing them to painfully drop their guns.
Black Canary soon joined into the mix as well, greeting a man with a roundhouse kick to the jaw that sent him spiraling. She turned around and elbowed a guy in the throat, causing him to fall back. A thug came around behind her with a crowbar, but in mid swing she reached up and grabbed the weapon. Then she jabbed her elbow into his ribs, causing him to loosen his grip, and she took the weapon and spun around, smacking him in the side of the head with it. A man began drawing a gun, so she threw the crowbar into his face, knocking him out instantly.
Within a few minutes the women had cleared the room of all but a few criminals. Huntress rolled out to the side and fired a crossbow that severed a light fixture from the ceiling. The fixture fell down and almost crushed the remaining thugs! They barely made it out of the way, and Huntress leapt in, grabbed shards of glass, and threw them with deadly accuracy, slicing the legs of the remaining criminals. She then kicked one of them in the chest, grabbed him by the throat, slammed him against the wall, and balled up her fist. But before the punch made contact, Black Canary grabbed her arm and held her back.
"It's over Huntress, you win. Now put him down." She said.
"What? This guy shot at me and you expect me to just-"
"I expect you to do the right thing, Huntress! Excessive violence is not the way we operate. You could have killed them, you did kill one!"
"No, they killed him! I just happened to be the one they were actually trying to kill!"
"We both know that's not how it works, Huntress. Now put the man down, and chill out. Please." Black Canary ordered. Huntress sighed and stepped back, literally dropping the thug. He was barely conscious, but that was often the best time to question them.
"What's with this kryptonite deal? Where's it going down?" Black Canary demanded. He gave them the location of the deal, and then passed out. The two women got onto their bikes, and headed sped off to Blockbuster's hideout.
Meanwhile, at the offices of Lex Luthor…
The president sat in his office when he received a call from Dr. Hamilton, head of the CORRUPTION project and co-manager of the V.O.P., a very important man. "Hello, doctor. I trust the production of the Superdrones is going well?"
"Very well sir. We'll be ready to launch by tomorrow." Dr. Hamilton said from the other end.
"Perfect. Then it is time to begin phase three. Is the suit ready?"
"Almost, sir. I'm just making a few last minute modifications. But there's something you should know, sir… our V.O.P. spy in the Birds of Prey reported something rather unsettling. Apparently Batman has now included The Oracle in this. She has dispatched Black Canary and Huntress to Bludhaven, which happens to be the current location of the CORRUPTION subject. We fear that the outcome of this may be negative." Dr. Hamilton said.
"Then fix the problem before it even becomes one. Prep Green Arrow and Sonar to battle the two of them. Be sure to specialize Green Arrow's arsenal, especially. He may become a very vital asset to us during phase three." Luthor instructed.
"Yes sir. And what of Batman, Question and Galatea? They are becoming quite bothersome."
"I wouldn't worry about them quite yet. I want to see just how all of this unfolds."
"Very well sir."
"Oh, and Dr. Hamilton, about Oracle… we can't have her involved in this. Have our spy kill her."
"Of course sir."
"That will be all, Dr. Hamilton."
Meanwhile, at Blockbuster's hideout…
"Officer Scofield. What brings you here?" Blockbuster asked.
"The- The kryptonite you requested, sir." The corrupt police officer said.
"I requested no kryptonite. I wouldn't have any use for the stuff, I have no interest in going up against the big blue boy scout." Blockbuster said, anger lining his voice.
"But… but Zucco said…"
"Now you are calling Zucco a liar. Zucco is my best man. Insulting him is the same as insulting me. And I do not tolerate insults from anyone." Blockbuster announced. "Kill him." He said, looking over to one of his two bodyguards.
The bodyguard withdrew a machine gun and opened fire on the officer, killing him. Blood pooled around the body.
"On second thought…" Blockbuster said, "Take the kryptonite. It could be useful eventually, after all, I never know where my business will take me." Blockbuster said.
The other bodyguard picked up the box the cop had been carrying, and opened it up, revealing the glowing green rock. Then he closed it up again and handed it to Blockbuster. Blockbuster put the kryptonite in his coat pocket and turned to go back into his palace of a hideout.
Nightwing watched all this go down from top of the building, shrouded in shadows. "Sickening…" He mumbled under his breath. "Blockbuster goes down tonight." He promised to himself. Nightwing turned and sprinted across the rooftop, heading inside through a fire escape. He did a flip and smacked down two guards on the top floor, then continued on his way.
At the same time, Blockbuster entered into his main office, where his chair sat, the back of it facing him. And someone was in it! No one sits in Blockbuster's chair.
"Hey! I don't know who the hell you are, but pretty soon it won't matter. Dead men don't need names!" Blockbuster pulled out a pistol and fired off six rounds into the back of the chair.
But then the chair turned around casually, and in it was none other than Superman. "You…" Blockbuster recoiled, but then smiled. "Excellent timing." He said, pulling the box containing the kryptonite out of his pocket. But before he could open the lead box, Superman zoomed over and grabbed the giant's arm, snapping it like a twig. Blockbuster fell to the ground in agony.
"Why come after me, Superman?" He groaned.
"You're smart right… let's see if you can solve a little riddle." Superman said.
"A riddle?"
"What do you call a crime lord with a big head, and a broken arm?"
"What?"
"Dead bait." Superman said with a grin, firing a beam of heat vision into Blockbuster's enormous cranium. Superman then threw the corpse into the large wooden desk on the other side of the room, crushing it. With his super hearing, Superman heard his target approaching. He quickly zoomed out the window.
Nightwing kicked down the doorway into Blockbuster's office shortly after taking down the rest of the guards. But when he entered, he saw the dead, smoldering body of Blockbuster.
"What the…" He began to speak, when a taxi cab suddenly flew through the office window! Nightwing ducked underneath the sailing car, just barely avoiding it. A stream of oil was leaking out from under the still sailing vehicle, and a beam of heat vision flew into the room, striking the oil and causing a huge explosion that sent Nightwing flying into the opposite wall.
When the smoke cleared, Superman was in the room, looking down disdainfully upon Nightwing.
"Superman?" Nightwing gasped.
"What's up Dick?" Superman said, closing in on the young hero. Then he looked out through the hole in the window, as if he could hear something coming. He probably could. He smiled. "Show time." Superman said, picking up one of Nightwing's escrima sticks, which he had dropped during the blast, and threw it toward Blockbuster's body.
The escrima stick, thrown by Superman's powerful arm, hit with a heavy impact and suck deep into the dead Blockbuster's flesh, making it look like that was what killed him. Then Superman kicked open the box containing the kryptonite, and the radiation immediately began to affect him. He fell the ground, being harmed by the kryptonite. What was he up to?
Less than a second later, Supergirl arrived, flying in through the hole in the window. "Clark? I saw the explosion, and then I heard your voice and I… oh God!" She exclaimed, seeing her cousin being killed by the radiation. She was still too far away to be affected by it.
"Kara… he- he did this…" Superman groaned, pointing to Nightwing. "He killed Blockbuster… I tried to stop him but he had kryptonite…" Superman said, directing her gaze toward the body of Blockbuster, which had just been impaled by Nightwing's weapon.
"Oh my God…" She looked to Nightwing in disbelief. Then released a burst of super breath, blowing the box of kryptonite out the door and down the hall. Superman stood, slightly weary.
"Kara this is insane! Don't listen to him! I don't know what's going on here but-" Nightwing started, but was then struck by a powerful kick from her.
"Sorry Dick, but this really doesn't look good for you." She said, trusting her cousin. Nightwing glanced down the hallway. His only chance was to get to that kryptonite, but would he be fast enough? He decided not, he would need some sort of distraction. But what could distract a pissed off Superman and Supergirl?
Nightwing decided it would be better to think somewhere where his life wasn't in danger. He withdrew a grapple and fired it outside, it latched onto a tower outside the building. He began pulling himself out of the room on the grapple, but Superman was faster. He flew in and snapped the line with his bare hands. Nightwing began falling down, and then Superman started soaring down toward him. Nightwing drew two black and blue birdirangs and threw them up toward his attacker, but they simply shattered against Superman's flesh.
Nightwing back flipped out of the way just as Superman sped up, and the man of steel missed his target. Nightwing then planted his feet on Superman's shoulders and sprung out toward a series of barns out in the parking lot behind Blockbuster's place. Nightwing fell into one of the barns and immediately hid behind a wall, trying to come up with a strategy of some sort. There was silence for a moment, and then he heard two sets of footsteps coming in behind him. He leapt up and flung a punch forward. A hand grabbed his fist, and a kicked made contact with his jaw. Nightwing stumbled back and drew his remaining escrima stick, but then saw that the other two people in the barn were not his attackers. They were two women. Huntress and Black Canary!
"We found him." Black Canary stated.
"Yup. What now?" Huntress shrugged.
"Wait, what are you two doing in Bludhaven!" He asked, somewhat suspicious of their motives.
"Oracle sent us. Batman called her and said you might be in trouble." Black Canary explained.
"Figures… he'll never let me leave his shadow, will he?" Nightwing said resentfully.
Suddenly, there was a huge crash, and an entire side of the barn caved in! Superman and Supergirl floated in, staring their enemies down with superiority.
"Clark… what's going on?" Supergirl asked.
"I'll explain later. But for now we cannot allow these killers to leave." Superman said.
"This'll be fun." Huntress said, loading her crossbow.
"Looks like we're in for a brawl tonight. I hope your at the top of your game, leotard wonder." Black Canary said, looking to Nightwing.
But then they were interrupted when there was another blast, this one on the other side of the barn. The back of the barn collapsed now, and standing another barn behind it, silhouettes against the moon, were the figures of Green Arrow and the villain Sonar.
"Let me guess, P.O.V.?" Huntress called.
"You know it. Pretty sweet deal, really." Sonar called back.
"Oliver…? How did you get mixed up in all this?" Black Canary asked.
"Like I told Batman, I'm just ahead of the game. It's not too late for you to join, Canary." Green Arrow said, readying his bow.
"Not a chance Ollie." Black Canary said, pain and disbelief in her voice.
"Look at this party, here. Superman, Supergirl, Nightwing, Huntress, Black Canary, we hit the jackpot! Looks like we're in for war." Sonar cracked his knuckles, and amplified the sound to make it seem like a blast of thunder.
"We are so gonna die." Nightwing sighed. "But not without one hell of a fight."
Note From the Author- Great battle coming in the next chapter, everyone. I was planning to put it in this chapter, but I decided it was getting pretty lengthy already, so I'll have Chapter Eleven up tomorrow. And to all of you who have been reviewing about the Wonder Woman, you won't be disappointed… that's all I'll tell you.