A/N: As always readers, a pleasure to write for you again. Now there might be some delays in my next few chapters. I'm writing a book and I need to concentrate on writing that, but don't worry I'm not going to leave you guys hanging. There is just going to be some delays in between chapters.
Now to the story.
Sorceress stared at the holomap; red pinpricks littered the map, concentrated in Metropolis, London. Central City, several cities in Cuba, Africa, Italy, Greece, and many more less prominent concentrations in Canada and Australia.
"I've cross-referenced your case files from two years ago to murders that have been happening in the last six months" Batman said, hitting a button on the console and several files opened up, lines connecting them to their corresponding dots. "these are the files"
Sorceress put her hand out and touched it to the holofile and it opened up as the technology interacted with her movements. She looked at the CSU photo's and splaying her fingers to blow up some images.
As she expected, Torment was not discriminate in race, gender, or orientation. However something had changed in his MO, he no longer tortured his victims, at least not with the same pleasure he had before. Broken bones and flayed skin was surgically done, with a precision and ruthlessness of someone looking to get something out of the victim quickly, to not spend more time than necessary on them. no sexual assault, nothing to suggest that Torment was getting anything out of this other than magic.
"He's become more ruthless, more methodical" Sorceress said "as I thought when I came across the first body, but I had hoped at the time that the woman had been something of a pick me up. But as I thought he is getting ready for something, something big"
"Any theories as to what that might be?" Wonder Woman asked, standing next to Batman and giving Sorceress a measured glance.
"World domination?" Sorceress asked with a chuckle. Neither of the heroes laughed "right well, no not really, and I don't think he's the type for world domination, he just wants to inflict pain, torture, and suffering, things that he takes pleasure in. world domination requires well . . . work, that's a lot of people to either kill or suppress, a lot of rebellions to squash not to mention keeping an administration of some sort to help with all of it. no Torment in the grand scheme of things just wants to enjoy himself, not deal with the pressures of overruling an entire world"
"Alright, so what's our next move?"
Sorceress looked at the most recent cases, the ones in Metropolis
"I draw him out" Sorceress said "in the infirmary he contacted me, tried to kill me, because he's afraid that I will stop him, which I will once I figure out where he is and what he's up to"
"a good idea" Wonder Woman said
"He can sense where you are" Batman said "how are you going to get close enough to find out what he's up to"
Sorceress ran her thumb over the scars on her palm, a habit that had popped up after Torment had tortured her when he had tried to drain her powers. The scars reminded her of his unpredictability, of his sadistic nature, to never underestimate him.
"I don't know" Sorceress muttered "if I could just . . . dampen my powers, I could sneak into his base if I can find it."
"exactly" Batman said "I'm assigning Shadowwalker to you, he'll be able to dampen your powers without a problem and he is a natural spy, he'll be the best for this mission"
Sorceress felt her stomach plummet
"I only needed a place to start looking Batman" Sorceress said smoothly "Metropolis is has the most recent cases, I'll start there, Luna might be able to "
"No" Wonder Woman said "one of the most important rules of war, one man is not an army, and an army is not one man. You cannot do this alone Sorceress, in this you need a partner. AS I recall you said that you thought that this Torment was not working alone, therefore can you afford to not do the same?"
Sorceress ground her teeth together, she would have been annoyed if it had been anyone else, but now she was frustrated and angry. Of all the heroes Batman could have picked he picked the one that got her blood boiling both in a good way and a bad way.
Damn him she thought
But she had to do this logically, and if the imbecile could get her close enough to Torment to figure out what he was up to, well she would grin and bear it.
"Fine" Sorceress muttered "tell him to meet me in Metropolis, midnight on Saturday, I need to make a few rounds, meet a few contacts, and see if they have any information."
"Good, go" Batman said
"I would have been gone, problem is I don't know how to get off this damn station" Sorceress growled and Batman's lips twitched.
"J'onn will take you down to the surface" Wonder Woman said
"Good" Sorceress said "Come on Luna"
Sorceress walked out the door and turned down the hallway but then realized she had no idea where to go.
She was about to walk back into the room when she caught Wonder Woman's voice
". . . work too hard, Bruce" she said quietly "relax"
"I have cases to work on Diana" Batman grunted
"Bruce we need to talk about this" Wonder Woman said "things have been . . . tense between us since that night"
'I have work to do" Batman said then he sighed "that night was . . . stupid Diana, it never should have happened, relationships within the office are never a good idea."
"Damn you Bruce" Wonder Woman said angrily "is that all I am to you? A coworker?"
"No" Batman said shortly
"Then what am I to you" Wonder Woman asked and Sorceress decided that now was a good time to find a way off this station.
She signaled Luna and quickly made her way to the next hallway.
So she wasn't the only one having problems with her love life. Batman seemed to be having just as much trouble as she was; only she didn't have an Amazonian to deal with.
She continued to wander the halls of the station trying to find her way to the deep blue of aura that was J'onn, but it was like knowing where the end of the maze was but not how to get from start to finish.
"Damn it" she growled and she became aware of a presence behind her, a turquoise colored aura that was familiar and she tensed.
"Need a hand" Superman said behind her.
"not from you thanks" Sorceress said
"oh I just thought you looked a little lost" Superman said floating around in front of her with a smirk.
"You know you have two feet" Sorceress pointed out sweetly "I'm sure they would appreciate being useful again"
Superman glowered at her but did not come down.
"Do you feel all high and mighty keeping your head above everyone else's?" Sorceress asked "or are you trying to impress me?"
"magic users" Superman muttered and turned and floated away.
"Lovely chat" Sorceress called after him "jerk"
Luna scraped at the floor and whined.
"I know Luna" Sorceress said "I don't like it much up here either.
It took her another half-hour to find J'onn, manning what looked to be a communications station in what looked to be the main hub of the station.
"Ah Sorceress" J'onn said "are you ready to return?"
"yes" Sorceress said "yes I am"
"if you will step onto the pad" J'onn indicated the raised circular platform with a band of lights ringed around it.
She stepped onto it and Luna sat next to her.
"I hope we meet again" J'onn said with a serene smile and he pressed a button.
Light flared for a moment and she felt a tingling in her fingers then the light faded and she stood in an alley in Metropolis.
Snapping her fingers, she was dressed in civilian clothes and she cast an illusion over Luna, so that whoever was looking at her saw a large Great Dane. Conjuring a collar and a leash she fastened them onto Luna and they made their way into the busy streets of one of the largest cities in America.
She needed to get an apartment which meant making an alias and the appropriate documents. And she would also have to visit Jack and Helen.
Since being "dead" Sorceress, the former Karen Larsing had been visiting her old partner and her godchildren every holiday and birthday, and perhaps a few surprise visits here and there. Only this time it would not be a friendly call. She knew she would need a place to stay and she hoped that jack would know somewhere that wouldn't ask questions.
Sorceress stood at a crosswalk and waited for the light to turn when she suddenly felt a very familiar presence, not too far behind. The aura was hard to catch but that was after all the only reason she spotted it in this sea of multicolored auras around her. Luna suppressed a growl as she felt him two and as the light changed they crossed over the street with the crowd and after a few yards turned down an alley way, where Sorceress hid behind a dumpster quickly and hunched down next to Luna.
They didn't have to wait long as their stalker turned down the alley in the next instant and as he passed Sorceress grabbed him by the front of his shirt and pushed him up against the wall.
"what the hell do you think you're doing Shadowwalker" Sorceress hissed and Luna snarled at him.
"you still owe me dinner" he said with an arrogant grin that Sorceress wanted to slap off his face. "Batman said I was assigned to help you"
"I said meet me at midnight" she snarled "not midday, you might have just cost me my operation"
"have not" he argued "Batman briefed me, sort of, said you can sense the guy"
"I can sense everyone" Sorceress growled bitterly and let him go. She couldn't see his scars but she guessed he had them covered with makeup. Without his mask he was quite handsome, heart meltingly so and Sorceress hated it. his eyes as with all previous encounters seemed to look through her and without her mask it made her feel even more vulnerable. "that doesn't explain why you decided to follow me"
"I want to know who I'm working with"
"ever heard of a thing called privacy" Sorceress snarled.
"ever heard of a thing called betrayal" Shadowwalker countered "I've been double crossed more times than I care to admit"
"I didn't even want you on this operation" she said "why would I double cross you? And who the hell do you think you are thinking you could even get away with it"
"oh I should probably introduce myself . . . again" he said with a cocky grin "Justin Carter, at your service"
"you can take your service and shove it up your ass" Sorceress growled and she turned to go.
"touchy" Justin said
"Damn straight" Karen said and started down the alley, taking a shortcut to Jacks apartment.
"wait" Justin said and he was suddenly in front of her.
"Ugh" Karen threw her hands up in the air "will you stop doing that, what will it take to get rid of you"
"I'll stop popping up like that if you tell me what to call you when we're out of uniform" Justin said "come on I told you my name"
"good for you" Sorceress said, jumping up and catching the ladder rung of the fire escape. She began climbing and looked down at Luna, "Stay out of sight girl; I'll bring you to Jacks once I reach him. Alright"
Luna snorted in an almost human like fashion and sat in an alcove, out of sight and well hidden in shadows.
"good girl" Sorceress sent her a grateful thought and received a wag of Luna's tail in response.
"oh no you are not getting rid of me" Justin said "Bats said stick to you, so I'm sticking"
"well go tell Batman that he's an idiot" Sorceress called down.
"I suppose I could just call you Sorceress and let all of the eavesdroppers and gossipers know you're a super" Justin said in mock dismay.
Sorceress froze and twisted to look down at the man following her up the ladder.
"You wouldn't dare" she whispered
"not if you tell me your name" Justin said and Sorceress sighed. It wasn't as though she had much of a choice, nor was there any point; he knew what she looked like without the hood or face cover. Looking back down at him she glared her infamous death stare.
"It Karen, jackass" she said and she kept climbing
Sorry about the short chapter guys, it was more of a filler chapter than anything else. Please R/R