Chapter 10

Last chapter the group was lead to Tokyo by Mariko, who then acted like a normal girl and walked Robin and his friends into a trap. They escaped, however thanks to Super-boy who well—he wasn't very gentlemanly, though if you ask me if a girl throws the first punch it's fair game! Right? Right? Anyway Mariko then got a way but not before Artemis shot a tracking beckon on her. Now they're going to regroup and compare notes. Here we go ONWARD TO THE BATTLE FIELD!

"Takumi nii-chan!" A young Mariko shouted happily knocking on the door infront of her. The door opened to reveal the blue-black haired boy. Takumi looked down at Mariko and smiled.

"Mariko-chan! What are you doing over here?" he asked, Mariko looked to the ground.

"Momma and daddy are fighting again. Mariko didn't wanna hear it anymore." She said somberly, then looked up and smiled, "So Mariko decided to come to Takumi nii-chan!"

Takumi frowned as he went silent for a moment. He then smiled.

"Alright Mariko-chan; come on in. You can help me with my homework." He said with a laugh. Mariko smiled.

"Takumi nii-chan, Mariko's a middle schooler; she can't do high school work." She giggled as she walked in and a large white dog barked.

"Sumi-chan!" Mariko shouted happily as the dog toppled her over and began licking her face. Takumi laughed.

"True but you're a genius remember Mariko-chan?" He said shutting the door behind him, Mariko sat up and rubbed the dog's head.

"I am?" She asked.

"Of course Mariko-chan! In fact one day," Takumi said then pretended to act secretive and knelt down to whisper into Mariko's ear, "One day you're gonna change the world."

Mariko gasped.

"You really think Mariko will do that. She's that smart?" She said happily. Takumi nodded, glad to make Mariko happy.

~0~

"Miss Mariko?" Tony's voice said, "Miss Mariko; are you alright?"

Mariko shook her head snapping herself from her daydream stared ahead, in front of her stood an old rundown apartment building. Mariko glared; what in god's name was she doing here of all places?

"It's still standing after all." She mumbled. Tony gave a look of confusion.

"What is this place?" he asked. Mariko shook her head once again and looked to Tony.

"The reason the world is so rotten." She mumbled, then walked off, "Let's go, those losers will find me soon."

"Yes Miss Mariko; but if you don't mind me asking, why didn't you remove the device? They'll catch you again you know." Tony said, Mariko turned and glared.

"I know that! That's part of the plan remember? I'll let them think they have me; then I'll capture Robin." She said, "Savage-sama said I could have him after all."

Tony pulled the hat to his outfit over his face as he glared. He didn't like Robin; if anything he despised him. However he didn't want to make Mariko upset so his thoughts would remain to himself as he followed her.

"Let's go; I don't want them to find me here." She hissed. Tony lifted his hat and nodded following behind her, he was suddenly stopped by Klarion randomly popping up in front of him. Tony bumped into him.

"You really are a masochist; aren't cha?" He asked, Teekl meowed, sitting on his shoulders. Tony frowned.

"I am not." He said, Klarion gave him a look as if to say 'seriously?' he then looked behind Tony and smirked.

"You know why she hates this place right?" he asked, Tony shook his head. Klarion smiled.

"Because this is where her family was murdered." He said darkly, "While she watched."

~0~

"When I find that girl I'm going to make her wish she never messed with me." Conner growled as he sat in the Bio-ship with the rest of the Team.

"Relax Conner; getting angry about it now will do you no good." Kaldur said, "Artemis; where is she now?"

"She's still moving; lucky for us she hasn't figured out we tagged her." She said, looking to a handheld device.

"Yeah but for how long?" Wally asked, "This girl's crazy; and her android isn't much fun either."

"Tony's not an android, he's a human being." M'gaan said, "I could read his mind at the Cave when we first sent Mariko to Belle Reve."

"Doesn't matter anyway; when we catch her this time I'm making sure she doesn't get out." Robin hissed.

"She really gets under your skin doesn't she Robin?" Zatanna asked. Robin nodded.

"She's childish, and has no concern for human life. Everything's just a game to her. She picked off innocent civilians without so much of a second thought." He said, "On top of all that, this is probably just some ploy to get me to go with her."

"You've got it bad. She can't really be that obsessed." Wally said, Robin narrowed his eyes.

"Well she did nearly level a shopping center just to get her hands on him." M'gaan said, the group went silent. When suddenly Artemis exclaimed.

"She's stopped! Not far from where we are." She said, M'gaan nodded and piloted the bio-ship towards Mariko's location.

When they landed Mariko was nowhere to be seen. All that surrounded them was a leveled building, with left over pieces of scrap metal and brick.

"So nice of you to finally show up." Mariko's voice said, the group readied themselves. Then Mariko stepped out from behind a pile of rubble.

"Mariko; where's the tower?" Robin demanded. Mariko cocked her head to the side; she was still wearing the cosplay of Ai Enma; the only difference is that her eyes were their normal color and a yellow belt hug around her hips.

"In Mitano; a few subway trains and a taxi that way." She said plainly pointing in a direction. Artemis pulled her bow and aimed it at Mariko.

"You know what he means; where's the tower you built?" She hissed. Mariko smirked.

"Oh that; that doesn't exist." She said with a shrug, "Even if I did create something so powerful I wouldn't waste my time on some political old men. I just wanted to get you guys away from your precious Justice League."

"It was a trap." Kidflash said, Mariko shook her head.

"No; just a means to end my boredom." She said with a shrug, "And I'll admit, other than being tossed around like a ragdoll by Superboy, this was a lot of fun. However, I believe it's time for me to end this."

"Etatival reh won!" Zatanna shouted, however Mariko's body did not leave the ground. She smirked.

"Haha baby magic." A whining voice scoffed, suddenly the dust and leaves swirled around in a cloud until Klarion stood between The Team and Mariko. "Still haven't learned anything have you? You're weak."

"Sorry for that little interruption but I really have no intention on being hurled into the air a third time with you people." Mariko said, "Klarion really is rude boy isn't he? He's only here as a precaution. So you're little witch-girl won't attack me again."

"I'm not a witch-girl." Zatanna growled. Mariko gave a sadistic smile.

"Oh that's right you're not; you're the daughter of a Lord of Order aren't you?" She asked, then paused, "Oh no, that's wrong; Nabu took your father from you didn't he? How's that feel. It's gotta sting."

Zatanna glared at Mariko debating whether she would try another spell, but with Klarion there she really couldn't do much.

"Aw what's wrong Magical-girl? Aren't you going to hit me with another spell? I bet your father would, or Nabu; which do you call him by the way?" Mariko asked, with genuine curiosity but it had an edge to it, "I just love it when someone's life is miserable; shows just how rotten the world really is."

Suddenly an arrow shot through the air, it broke apart and a net came around Mariko and Klarion. Klarion however managed to escape by teleporting from under the trap. Mariko glared at Artemis who smirked.

"And I love it when the bad-guy stops to chat; makes it easier to catch them off guard." She said, Mariko paused, then smirked.

"Well played archer." She said, "You manipulated a sociopath; but I would have used the pointy ones instead."

"Looks like you're magic repellent just ran out." Zatanna said, Mariko smiled.

"Yeah but you won't do anything; otherwise you'd be just like Klarion." She said with a sly grin, "And you don't want that now do you? What would your father think?"

Zatanna glared.

"Gag reh." She mumbled and walked off as a cloth wrapped around Mariko's mouth. It muffled her words but not her laughter.

"Should we bring her to the Bio-ship?" Artemis asked. Mariko turned.

"Bo-hmp?" She mumbled through her gag; that was something a tad foreign for even her. Aqualad thought for a moment, debating if that would be wise. He was told about what she was capable of; even saw her work first hand in Tony. Speaking of which where was Tony?

"Keep your guard up this may still be a trap. Her cyborg Tony isn't around." He said, Mariko sighed boredly as the Team looked around and waited.

"Eh-hm." She mumbled, then pointed to the gag around her mouth. Zatanna glared over her shoulder, then mumbled an incantation, the gag disappeared and the net then formed into rope around her body.

"Honestly Magical-girl you need to lighten up. Don't you know life's one big joke?" she asked with a twisted smirk, Zatanna glared, "Anyway; I dismantled my cyborg, he's of no use for me now."

The group fell quiet, deathly quiet as they realized what Mariko was saying. She dismantled him—no, she killed him.

"You dismantled him? He's a human being!" M'gaan shouted, Mariko frowned.

"Not really. Oh sure his skin and some parts of him are organic, as well as his mind but he was no more human than Superboy over there." She said then laughed, "It's funny really; I put so much work into him it was almost sad to take him apart again."

"You killed a human being!" Robin shouted grabbing Mariko by the hair only to have her black wig fall off. Mariko stared up in confusion as her blue-green hair fell along her shoulders and back.

"He was when I cracked his skull, but not entirely when I shut him down." She said, "And as I've said before I have no regard for human life. Unless of course you're talking about human experimentation, Tony however was a defect."

"He was your friend." Kaldur said, Mariko scowled.

"He was a project."

"You're sick. Sick in the head." Conner shouted grabbing the rope that bound Mariko and pulling her off the ground.

"Yes, yes I am, but what does that make all of you?" she said with a dark grin, "If I'm sick because I think of human life as nothing more than a means to end my boredom; what does that make you, people who bully and beat down on people like me—who are nothing more than victims to this O' so rotten world."

Robin glared and walked up to her. Mariko smirked.

"You're no victim; you're a deluded human being—strike that—you're not even human." He said, Mariko's smirk fell.

"You say that like it's a bad thing." She said, "Humans are weak, and Lust for power, so they take it out on those who can't defend themselves. That's why we have war; that's why children are killed in their own homes or sold into slavery, because humans. Are. Weak."

M'gaan who was standing with an upset Zatanna, looked over to Mariko. She was hiding something, something dark. Something that was probably beyond their comprehension. M'gaan stared at her and began to really focus all her energy into Mariko's mind.

That's the end of this chapter, the next chapter will be done with Mariko as Narrator, ah I think it's called narration in the first person? I tend to get the different type of narrations mixed up. Oh well, but she'll be narrating, maybe—I haven't decided yet. Hm, oh well Review! 'See you later armadillos—unless I see you first. Haha!'