Chapter 14: Fractured
"Hello, my brother." Lana's face suddenly began to change. Her eyes turned from dark purple to a lighter brown. Her skin darkened and became similar to James's skin tone.
James blinked, and saw the recognizable face of his sister staring back at him. He turned and suddenly fired a Solarium blast back into Senator Mosart's office. The energy flew around the scared lawmaker and knocked him out. Looking down, he could see police and paramedics arriving at the bottom floor of city hall. He quickly grabbed his sister by the cloak and flew away into the night.
"We need to talk." James/Nightshroud demanded.
"Like I have a choice." Hanna sighed.
James flew for a few minutes with his sister before landing back into the ruins to where James and Nero's battle took place. Setting her on a rock, he sat down in front of her.
"I had it figured out from the beginning." He started. "Your experiences as 'Lana' were too similar to what happened to Hanna. You also taunted me with my own history, and only two people knew that much about my teenage troubles."
She chuckled. "Correct. But how do you explain my appearance changing?"
"Simple." James answered. "You jumped into the vat of exobytes. Obviously everyone's bodies are different so the reactions will vary. However in your case, I theorized that you created a new personality. The name 'Lana' existed before that personality. I'm guessing you wanted to bury your old name after what you suffered through. So when your appearance changed after emerging from that vat, it was the perfect opportunity."
"However I'm also guessing that that new personality is also causing a change in your brain." James continued. "Let me be clear: I get that you went through hell, and you were there for months. But I think it was the exobytes that altered your brain functions and made you who you are now."
Hanna chuckled again. "Even now you still are the smartest in our family. You pieced together the whole story including the ones you weren't even there for. But you are wrong about one thing: The exobytes have not changed my personality or my brain function. In fact, I'm wondering why you even theorized that after what happened to you."
"What do you mean?"
"James, you destroyed your old high school." Hanna replied, nonplussed. "Your rage consumed you and out birthed a dark power. You don't remember?"
"I recently recovered those memories Hanna." James said. "My memories were sealed away by Batman after the destruction."
"Wait, your memories were sealed away!?" Hanna stared at him. "Why!?"
"Because if they hadn't, I would've become a threat." James answered. "Batman told me that if left unchecked, I would've become a supervillain right then and there."
"That old Bat's always two steps ahead of everyone." She shook her head. "By the way, normally I heal fast. Why can't I heal my leg with my kinetium?"
"I sealed the wound with my Solarium." James said. "I know you heal quickly like I do, so I did that to keep you here."
"Ah." Hanna sighed. "So it took you only six months to surpass me in power. If not, then I would've broken the seal already. How did you get so strong so fast?"
"I had plenty of training, and my body grows in strength with each battle I fight." James answered. "A perk with Solarium."
"Man…" Hanna looked up at the sky. "So what are you gonna do huh? Beg for me to stop? Psychoanalyze me so I'll become good like Poison Ivy?"
James looked at her. "You knew about that too?"
Hanna looked back at him. "Oh yeah. Long before you knew I existed I was watching you. I enrolled into Gotham University just to watch over you. But I was disguised as Lana by then. At the time you were the Valiant Warrior with the black and yellow costume like a bee."
He folded his arms. "Yeah whatever."
"Anyway." She continued. "I saw you take Pamela Isley out on a date, and I could not believe what I was seeing; you being 20 years old at the time and Pamela in her early 30s. You really take after our parents."
"Ha. Ha." James rolled his eyes. "Hey she was the first woman who ever loved me back. To be honest I really didn't care if she was a supervillain. She reciprocated my feelings and I really couldn't be happier considering my track record with girls."
"Trust me, if she had dumped you and left you behind, she would've been the next target on my list." Hanna chuckled.
James put his head between his knees. "You know, this feels good being able to talk to you again, but wrong at the same time."
"Well think about it." Hanna suggested. "When was the last time we spoke to each other?"
James stopped. "When was the last time…?"
He thought back to before the abduction and the school attack. Counting down the years, his eyes widened.
"6 years ago." He finally answered. "The same year I nearly killed Abby."
"Bah, she's fine." Hanna said. "I actually crossed paths with her recently."
"W-what!?" James asked incredulously. "When?"
"Last year." Hanna replied. "After Brainiac/Luthor's attack. I saw you as Nightshroud fight with the Justice League against him. But I also saw someone spying on you from the shadows. But before I tell you about that, you haven't answered my question."
"What question?"
"Well it's more of an indirect question really." Hanna explained. "Psychologically, you're normal. Obviously the powers inside you make you different from any average human, but you are a regular, normal person. I said that I was a bit astounded that you would think that my brain function would've been changed as to why I acted this way. You've acted crazily in the past but you're still normal. I'm practically the same."
"That's different Hanna." James looked at her incredulously. "That was an isolated event—"
"You're telling me that was the only time you ever lost control?"
He froze. She had him there. He had lost control of his anger many times since that incident.
"Nero." James answered. "He was always there…"
She nodded. "When you lost control that day and destroyed the high school, I was the first one at your bedside in the hospital. I was not in the school then. Senioritis. Go figure. Anyway, I still stayed next to you and kept you company."
"Yes…" James nodded back. I'm remembering now…you fell asleep watching me. The rage energy had damaged my body and I was in the hospital for a week. However I found that strange because a week is not very long for the injuries I had…"
"It's an energy that only you have." Hanna explained. "I don't know too much about it, but it's true."
"But anyway let me get back to seeing Abigail." She continued. "During the Brainiac/Luthor fight she was keeping a close eye on you. Unfortunately for her, I noticed and captured her."
"You…captured her?" James scratched his head. "How?"
"A kinetium blast to the back of the neck." Hanna replied bluntly.
He chuckled. "Well shit. That's pretty straightforward."
"Hey it works." Hanna smiled. "So I took her back to my headquarters and confined her there. I found out that she has superpowers too."
James nodded. "Yeah she did. She can manipulate the environment around her by altering people's thoughts and more. That's how she ruled the high school while I was there."
"Before I add to that topic, I need to tell you this James." Hanna spoke seriously. "All these people I captured and killed were for you."
James blinked. "What?"
"You've only understood half of what's been going on James." Hanna explained. "Those people not only ruined my life, but yours too."
"M-my life!?" He stuttered. "How!?"
"First, tell me." Hanna started. "What is Abigail's last name?"
James's mouth dropped open. "…Gullucci. She's half Italian…"
"And her father is Ricardo Gullucci a.k.a El Silencio." She confirmed. "It's no coincidence that Ricardo bought me in the sex trafficking business and his daughter tried to destroy you. You see our parents were actually quite popular around our hometown."
"Before we moved you mean?" James asked.
Hanna nodded. "Our hometown of East Meadows wasn't very large. A population of around 8,000 means people are bound to know each other. Since mom was a real estate agent/lawyer and dad was a criminal lawyer, they fought hundreds of cases together as you very well know."
"I do." James nodded. "They even took on some of the big corporations and won."
"Truth be told our parents would eventually come face to face with Emily Correia and her husband Ricardo Gullucci."
"Wait what!?" He shook his head in disbelief. "When did this happen?"
"Remember when our parents sent us to our godmother and godfather's house in Connecticut?"
"Yeah…"
"It was to protect us." She explained. "They knew who they were going up against and they wanted to keep us safe. What happened was that there was a family whose parents were supposedly robbed by a SuperMart supermarket. When they sued, they went up against the CEO of SuperMart: Drew Herney. My parents took the case and won. However Drew Herney was connected to Gullucci and Correia, because he too was involved in the sex-trafficking business."
"The CEO of SuperMart in the sex-trafficking scheme!?" James said startled. "Why? That guy is one of the richest men in the world! He's worth $20 billion!"
"Well after that case, he resigned from his post in disgrace." Hanna continued. "No amount of money can save a tarnished reputation. It turns out he's been involved in a multitude of scandals dating back 20 years ago. The guy was 44 years old then."
"Which means his connections to Gullucci put El Silencio himself in danger." Hanna explained. "However he blamed our parents for his misfortune, and swore to ruin them. He happened to be watching the case in the courtroom too."
"That's the reason why we moved…" James realized. "I didn't understand it before, but destroying the high school was not the only reason we moved."
"Correct." Hanna nodded. "And also—"
Suddenly Hanna was struck in a chest with a green blast of energy sending her into a wall.
James as Nightshroud quickly stood up and looked and saw George and Georgina standing on a rooftop nearby.
"James! Get out of there!" George shouted.
"No! Stop!" Nightshroud held his hands up. "I'm dealing with this! You don't need to attack her!"
But just then Lana flew high into the air and fired a blaze of energy blasts down onto the ground, forcing them to take cover.
"She broke the seal! What is she doing!?" James thought, incredulously.
"It's difficult to decipher…" Alcor finally spoke. "But I believe we've been misinterpreting Hanna/Lana's true motives."
"Make the links James!" Hanna called out, face changing back to Lana. "There is no such thing as coincidence with N.S.O!"
She the faded into a red haze as George and Georgina ran over to him.
"James! Are you alright?" Georgina placed a hand on his shoulder.
"I'm fine." He stood up. "But I think we've been chasing the wrong person."
Bruce Wayne stood on a balcony on top of the GCPD building next to Commissioner Gordon. Both men could see Arkham City in the distance with the criminals from Blackgate and Arkham Asylum being ushered into the new prison.
"I don't like this." Commissioner Gordon said. "Random rich guys turning up dead on the Gotham streets, and now Mayor Sharp is now opening a superprison right in our backyard. I just can't believe the city council would approve such a thing."
"The council is tired Jim." Bruce replied. "As are the public. They're sick of these breakouts and inaction. They think Mayor Sharp is going to fix it all by hauling all these criminals into a closed off slum of Gotham City. It won't work."
Gordon nodded. "There's no way that can work; all those criminals in one open space? It'll be madness. I couldn't stop the council from voting for it. And this TYGER group…"
"I'm going to try." Bruce answered. "Hopefully I can get the people to see the ridiculousness of this endeavor."
"I hope so." The Commissioner turned to him. "Good luck Bruce. And be careful out there."
Nodding, Bruce dialed for Alfred.
"Alfred." He spoke. "Call the local news media, I'm going to set up a press conference. Bruce Wayne is going to oppose Arkham City."