Chapter 18. Hunted
The ride to Gotham's morgue was short. Half way there however, the team split to their respective targets. Batman was waiting on the back entrance of the morgue. Having called a few favors to be able to get in late at night.
The walk to the preservation room was silent. Only the steps of the five people down the hallway could be heard. Garfield holding Meliah's hand while she walked straight ahead, numb, her mind blank. Trying not to cry and give in to the trepidation in her heart. But she knew if Garfield wasn't holding her, she would have run ahead already but was also afraid to find what she was hoping was a lie.
Once at the door, the coroner let them in, went straight for the compartment and pulled it open. No one moved. The room was cold and they could see the fog their breathing caused. The lights were dim but bright enough to be able to see detail. The body was covered with a white sheet.
Meliah was shaking but Garfield knew it wasn't from being cold. He gave her hand a gentle squeeze and they both walked closer to the open drawer. The coroner, who had been waiting patiently, slowly removed the cover from the cadaver's face.
There she laid. A somber expression. There were cuts and bruises. Lips pale with hints of blue perhaps from drowning or even the cold she was being kept on. Meliah stared. Not a sound but her breath was shaky. Garfield thought that indeed a long time had passed since the last time he had seen Meliah's mother. Older of course, but somewhat different.
"Have you performed an autopsy?" Asked Meliah to the coroner in a monotone much like Raven's.
"No. its policy not to invade a body until is claimed or a decision from the authorities have been taken"
"Did you check for other marks other than the obvious ones?" Asked Meliah, still not looking away from the frozen body.
"Broken ribs, dislocated ankle…"
"Scars?"
"Scars? Yes, as a matter of fact yes. Two large ones into the hairline on the right side of her head"
"What?!" she said and let go of Garfield's hand to get a closer look. Careful not to touch the skin, she moved the hair away from the left ear of the corpse. Then, with a sharp move, turned to the coroner who gasp when he saw the blue orbs disappear into crystal shreds. And in front of him, her nails changed into large claws.
"MELIAH STOP! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" yelled Beast Boy. He knew what the coroner had seen, her eyes changed, and that only meant she was really upset. Saw her intent on the doctor and tried to reach for her hand but she flicked it in such a way that it cut right thru the corpse's left cheek.
"This" she said with disgust and peeled a piece of the frozen piece of skin. When it ripped, it showed another layer of skin with a slightly different tone.
"This is why I asked about the autopsy… this is not my mother" she said to the Batman then turned to the coroner who had gotten over his surprise of her to take a closer look. He put his gloves on and took the discarded piece to the table where the light was the brightest.
"Some kind of … silicon?" mused the doctor, turning it this way and that then looking at it thru a magnifying glass.
"What about the blood, they checked the blood to confirm her DNA." Asked Robin. Garfield had carefully grabbed her hand to steady her shaking. She had her eyes closed.
"Probably the blood was her mother's and once that was confirm there was no more reason to check anymore." said Batman. Suddenly, Meliah opened her eyes, turned on her heels and started to walk out of the room. Beast Boy caught up with her in the hallway, he could hear Robin calling Cyborg in his communicator.
"Wait!" said Robin, he was running towards them. "They found the place Red X had been in, but they're gone. There're traces of fresh blood and warm equipment. They left not too long ago"
"M, wait, where are you going?" asked Beast Boy when Meliah started to walk again.
"To save my mother" she said thru gritted teeth.
"How are you going to find them?" he said while grabbing her by the shoulders.
"The same way I did before" and tried to move away but his grip was strong. "Garfield, let me go! We are wasting time arguing"
"No, its too dangerous. You're planning on using yourself as bait…"
"It worked before"
"And you also got hurt. You almost died. Let us help you."
"Do you have a better idea Garfield?" She glared menacingly. He didn't have an answer but Batman broke the silence.
"We need to move. We are being surrounded" he had pulled a small screen and showed several red dots slowly approaching from all directions.
Meliah gasped at the screen "He's hunting us" and started to breath fast and started to hyperventilate.
"M, what's wrong… who is hunting us?"
"He's cruel… you have no idea… every time …I tried to escape… they sent him after me… Any form of animal that I took… he was prepared for"
"M, we can take him, you have me now. You don't have to fight alone anymore." she calmed down a bit at his words and closed her eyes.
"The darts. Stay away from the darts. They are filled with a power cancelling solution and with my powers severed like that, the sedatives can make effect. She cant come out until the effects fade away but that can take days" she said and opened her eyes, blue again."
"Who is this hunter?" asked Robin, checking the activity outside from behind a curtain. The lights on the parking lot were dim but there was no one in sight yet.
"Alec Natovsky. A poacher. Known to be in the illegal animal contraband. Land, air or water " Answered Batman. "He's the only one I know that uses… suspicious substances to get his prays"
"We need to move, I see them now" Said Robin closing the curtain slowly. Then opened his communicator "Cyborg, do you read me!"
"Loud and clear Robin, we're on our way to the morgue now, we'll be there in a few minutes"
"Make it fast, we're being surrounded. And tell the girls to be careful, they're using power cancelling darts as weapons"
"Roger that. Cyborg out."
"C'mon, lets go to the roof. We can get on the T-Ship from there and…"
"I'm not leaving without my mother" Meliah said standing her ground while the others started to walk towards the stairs.
"M, we wont, but we need to regroup. We don't have enough resources here to find her" with a frown she complied. Run up the stairs along the others.
The roof was dark. A few ventilation domes, pipes that run along the edges and corners. The building was three stories high and gave them ample view of their surroundings. And they could see them now. Men armed aiming in all directions of the building and quite a few aiming to the roof.
In the far distance they saw explosions in the sky. Blue and green lights illuminated their view. The T-Ship was being attacked.
"That's right you piece of animal. There is no one to come and help you. You better come down now or the entire building will be blown to pieces."
The bulky man said. His voice thundering thru the silence. Beast Boy turned into a mouse and climbed the edge to look at their new adversary. He was big, with short blonde hair, combat boots, and a sleeveless shirt to show his overgrown muscles. A belt around his waist with several pockets and another one across his chest with what could be seen as bullets. It reminded Beast Boy to Duke Nukem. Even with the never ending cigar on his mouth and shades but with a heavy accent.
"Dude, that guy came right out of the video game" Beast boy thought out loud when he came back and turned back to his human form.
There was another explosion. Bigger this time. And they could see lights approaching in the sky. This distracted the men for a moment.
"Gar, you said we have no resources here to get my mother. The way I see it, we have plenty down there…" then turned to him the moment her eyes crystallized again then continued "And we only need one" she said with a smirk and turned fast and run to the edge turning into a falcon mid-air. Men started shouting and shooting at the bird but this one glided its way down in a spiral motion avoiding all the darts.
"Meliah!" Beast Boy yelled and jumped after her turning into a T-Rex. The rumbling the ground made when he landed made a few of the men loose their balance and with a swing of his tale, the green dinosaur sent them flying across the parking lot. Meliah had turned into a cheetah right before she landed and was running at full speed jumping on the other men and knocking them down with her claws.
Batman and Robin had jumped off the building on the back side. Darts bounced off Batman's armor and Robin repelled them with his bo staff moving it with his finger at blinding speed. When that resulted futile, the men restored their attack with real bullets. This didn't phased the duo as they approached the men. Rolling on the ground, managed to kicked their legs and hit them on their back or chest. The sound of the T-Ship's turbines was heard above the building and a shower of star bolts came to their aid. Cyborg was busy deflecting the cannons aimed at the T-Ship.
On the front of the building, Beast Boy had turned into a gorilla, jumping and running around the men, trying to get their guns. Meliah, who was in full use of her powers now, turned into a anaconda and wrapped herself around the panicked men that didn't expect such a display of animals in one night. The hunter however, had run to the trees nearby and was aiming at Meliah, but Raven, who had sensed the man lurking in the shadows, appeared behind him and with her dark energy, encased him and threw him against a tree.
But more men were coming out of the forest. Whatever explosion they had created earlier had managed to drive them out their way and more armed men, either bullets or darts, were aiming at the two changelings who so far had been agile enough to avoid them. Raven had come out of the trees and using her magic, was throwing rocks or dumpsters to their attackers. At some point she was blocking bullets on one side and stopped darts in the air from the other side. She was distracted and didn't see the hunter aim at her with what looked like a machine gun. Beast Boy and Meliah saw him and his target but this time Beast Boy was too far and Meliah had lunched herself to the hunter as a gorilla but he had already shot a few rounds.
All in slow motion happened in seconds. Beast boy run with all his might towards Raven who was still too far from him, Raven had heard the gun go off and had turned the direction of the noise. She didn't see the bullets but saw a huge gorilla fall on the hunter and at that moment she was knocked down on the floor and someone was over her protecting her with their body while the bullets sped past them over their heads.
"Are you ok beautiful?" asked Red X after the bullets stopped. It was the first time she had been saved by someone else other than Beast Boy. She looked at him wide eyed.
"I'm fine, thank you" she said and pushed him off her the moment they heard guns being reloaded. She got to her feet and lifted a dark shield in front of them. Feet spread open and arms extended straight ahead almost over her head as beast boy had come in within range.
"I can help" he said behind her on her ear. "Take it!" she ordered and he came in front of her in between her spread arms, her eyes glowing white. He seemed to be looking straight at them while he circled her waist with his hands looking for the clasp. "Don't make me regret it X" she said thru gritted teeth trying not to loose her concentration on the shield. He took the belt off her hip and placed it on his waist and softly grabbed her chin and said "Never dreamed of it beautiful" and disappeared the moment Beast Boy was at her side.
"What was that for?" he asked, he looked angry. She wasn't sure what he was referring to "Focus !" she said and lower the shield enough to encase the guns of the remaining man. Red X had used his arsenal of rubbery Xs and trapped the majority of them. "Not bad" she said out loud.
"You can't be serious!. How can you let him…" Beast boy started to say. He was angry and it hurt to realize it but he was also jealous. But the moment he started to speak, Raven's eyes glowed red and turned to him.
"Don't even go there Beast Boy, why don't you go bother the one that likes to put her legs around you" This took him by surprise. Rage seemed to be in full command and now she was angry at him. But she shook her head and brought her fingers to her temples and eyes no longer red said "Beast Boy go, she's in trouble". With that he stepped back and was about to go when the hunter spoke up again.
"You simple minded creatures. You think you can bring me down that easily? Ha! Think again. Look what I got" he said while walking out from the trees and pulling and unconscious Meliah by the hair. With a collar around her neck.
"MELIAH!" called Beast Boy but got no answer.
"I like how you think, like an animal…" He gave him an evil grin "but I hunt animals for a living so every time you will fall in my trap"
The others had gathered next to Raven and Beast Boy. "LET HER GO ALEC!"
"Ha! I see you know who I am little man. Well, if you want your friend back you are going to have to do as I say"
"WHAT DO YOU WANT!?" Yelled Beast Boy. Angry and frustrated.
"You of course, to add to my collection. So the pretty kitty here has someone to play with. In fact it will be interesting to see you play together. I am much curious to know what kind of puppies we'll get from you two. I already have high offers."
"YOU SICK MANIAC WHAT MAKES YOU THINK THAT…"
"Oh but I don't think… I know you will do it. I will make sure of it." interrupted the hunter with a grin.
"AND WHAT IF I DON'T?" Beast Boy yelled. At that moment Meliah started to gain consciousness and fell the pain at her hair being pulled. "Let me go you idiot!" she struggled to get free but he just pulled her more. She tried to morph into anything but to no avail.
"HA! don't even try it or you will hurt yourself. What you have on is a power cancelling collar. Specially for you and don't worry. Your friend here will make you company"
"LET HER GO"
"NO!…but I have a better suggestion. You better come here and come with us willingly or…" he said and pulled up to stand by the hair and pulled a razor sharp hunting knife to her neck. "She will not live beyond tonight"
Beast Boy was furious but felt useless. He had no choice but to comply. His nails were digging into the palms of his hands but he ignored the pain and closed his eyes and in between deep ragged breaths he said "Fine, I'll come"
"Beast Boy, NO!. Don't" Yelled Meliah but the hunter had grabbed her by the neck and she couldn't breath.
"I said I'll come.. don't hurt her anymore"
"Beast Boy!" Yelled Raven and made the attempt to move, her dark energy encircling her fists.
"No, no, no… don't even try your tricks… Look around you. One step out of place and you wont even know what hit you" The hunter said. They looked around and confirmed what he said. Silently and at some point, there were hundreds of armed men aiming at them. Even if they tried to attack there was no way they could move far. Even Raven knew her energy barrier wouldn't withstand that kind of attack for very long.
Beast Boy walked slowly towards the hunter who motioned for him to stop "Take your belt off. No pockets or communicator devices" another man came to make sure he wasn't concealing any weapons and with a sign the hunter gave him, he placed another collar on Beast Boy's neck. Tied his hands tight behind his back while the hunter did the same with Meliah. Then pushed her and fell on her knees next to the green Titan who was now also on his knees.
"If any of you even think on follow us, I can promise you this. You wont see…" He said while getting two syringes out of one of the pockets on his belt and from another a small bottle with a brownish color. "Your friends…" filled out the syringes one by one "Ever again" and with that, injected the liquid on each on their necks. They fell to the ground unconscious.
He called two of his men to pick them up and walked away. A few of the armed men followed the hunter and his pray but a great number stayed, still aiming at the superheroes and the thief. They watched a chopper lift off from its hiding place within the trees and fly over their head behind the building until the noise of the turbines faded in the distance.