Chapter 23: Not a Monster

Authors Note: I love all the feedback you guys gave me on my last chapter. Okay, we are on the last of chapter for Sam's arc next one will be Phoenix and then Thanatos after that it will get back to the main story with taking down Slade and then beyond that. Okay let's get started.

Disclaimer: I do not own Batman.

Shadow was currently in battle with Bane as they had just crashed through the walls of his office and into the training room. They both rolled into the center of the room as they regained their fighting stances.

"You really want to continue our fight amigo!" Shadow snapped as his veins flared up.

"Please," Bane chuckled. "I live for moments like these!"

Bane then reached down on his belt and started twisting a valve. Shadow then heard the pumping of venom and noticed that Bane's muscles were getting bigger. He groaned in pain as his veins started to show through his arms and his red eyes glared at Shadow.

Bane let out a roar and charged at Shadow. Shadow charged at Bane as well and fired a stream of ice at the front of Bane's feet. Bane took his next step and slipped as Shadow leaped up and jumped on his shoulder and ran down his back. Bane crashed down on the ground leaving a crater as Shadow landed back on the ground. He turned and fired a bolt of electricity at Bane stunning him momentarily before he reached his limit and stopped firing.

Bane got up from the ground and cracked his neck before stomping over to Shadow. He brought his fist down on him but was to slow as he crashed his fist into the ground. Shadow charged up his strength and landed a punch across his face. Bane shrugged it off and rammed his shoulder into Shadow's stomach knocking him on the ground.

Shadow was about to get up when he felt Bane's foot press down on his chest crushing him down on the ground. Shadow let out a growl of pain as he tried to lift Bane's boot off of his chest, but Bane was too heavy and too strong to even budge an inch.

"End of the line amigo." Bane said in a venomous voice.

Shadow glared at him before clutching Bane's ankle and charging up his Adonis power again. He sent a surge of electricity through Bane's leg and to the rest of his body as his hold weakened on Shadow. With one final push he was able to lift Bane's foot off of his chest and rolled out of the way as Bane stomped back down on the ground.

Bane whipped his head at Shadow to see him jump up and land another heavy punch to the center of his face. Bane staggered back as Shadow sprinted towards him and rammed his shoulder into his stomach tackling him to the ground. Bane landed hard on his back trying to shake the pain from his face. He was broken from his trance when he felt someone walking on his chest. His vision was a little blurry as he looked up to see Shadow standing on top of him. Before Bane could react Shadow kneeled down and sent multiple punches to Bane's face. Bane let out a grunt every time he felt Shadow's fist slam against his face. Having enough of that Bane brought his right arm up and swatted Shadow off of his chest. Shadow tumbled to the ground but quickly leaped out of the way when Bane jumped up and crashed down on the ground he was just lying on.

Shadow got to his feet as did Bane as the two walked towards each other again. Shadow picked up the pace and started running towards Bane as he did the same. Bane held his fist back and sent it to Shadow's face but Shadow was too quick as he dropped to his knees and slid between the opening in Bane's legs. Shadow quickly got to his feet and jumped on Bane's back and started tugging at Bane's venom tubes. Bane tried to reach back and pull him off but his arms were too big for him to reach. With one final pull Shadow ripped the tubes out of Bane's back spraying venom everywhere.

Shadow flipped back onto the ground and looked up at Bane to see that his veins and muscles were slowly decreasing in size. Bane slowly turned to face Shadow as the venom dripped from his back.

"Smart move," He said as he dug in his pockets. "But I don't need venom to break you!"

He then pulled out a small black ball and threw it at the base of Shadow's feet. The ball split in half and emitted the same purple glow that sent Thanatos hovering in the air. Shadow hovered ten feet in the air and spun around trying to get his footing.

"What the hell is this?" Shadow snarled.

"An anti-gravity bomb." Bane sneered as he slowly walked towards the floating Shadow. "Leonae gave it to me. You are not the only one to be resourceful."

Shadow then lowered near Bane who held his fist back and sent it into Shadow's stomach. Shadow let out a gasp of air as he grabbed him by back of his neck and pulled him out of the gravity field. Bane then grabbed his ankle and held him over his head.

"Get ready to die!" Bane snarled as he prepared to break Shadow's back.

Before Bane could bring Shadow down on his knee burst of energy landed in the center of Bane's chest, he fell on his back as Shadow landed face first on the ground. Shadow let out a groan as he looked over to see Reaper with his scythe gun.

"You're welcome." Reaper snickered.

"Nah, I had it under control," Shadow panted. "He was just gonna snap my back in half like a twig."

The two chuckled as Reaper helped Shadow up to his feet. The two looked down at the brawler to see that he was breathing. Shadow shook his head in disappointment as he looked at his friend.

"Not gonna lie, a tough guy like Bane going out like that is kind of a bitch way to take him down." Shadow explained.

"Eh, what are you gonna do?" Reaper asked rhetorically.

"Call Red and tell him to bring the Raven down." Shadow ordered. "Gauntlet took my bike and went after Leonae."

"Got it!" Reaper said as he pulled out his phone.

(!)

Gauntlet was currently chasing down Leonae on Shadow's bike over the slums of Gotham. Gauntlet was determined to get Kris back and take down Leonae. The two were currently flying over the slums of Gotham as Gauntlet tried to think of a way to take down Leonae's jet without hurting Kris. Gauntlet and Leonae flew over the abandoned part of Gotham when Gauntlet got an idea.

He examined the controls on his jet bike as he found what he was looking for. He activated the targeting system on the bike and aimed ahead of him. Once he was locked on he fired a flare ahead of him. Leonae was blind as he lost control of his jet. When his vision became clear his eyes widened to see Gauntlet perched on his bike. Before he could maneuver Gauntlet jumped off of the bike and landed on the front of the small jet.

"Dammit!" Leonae yelled as he tried to shake Gauntlet off.

Gauntlet clenched his iron hands into the metal frame of the jet as he heated up his hands. He melted the windshield of the jet and ripped through the glass he then clenched the controls of the jet and made them go haywire from the heat. Sparks flew everywhere as the jet started to go out of control. Gauntlet held on for dear life and made a quick grab at both Leonae and Kris.

Kris let out a scream as Leonae and Gauntlet struggled against Leonae in the air. Leonae had his left claw out and tried to land a cut across Gauntlets throat, but he couldn't get a good reach while falling down hundreds of feet. Gauntlet then reached into Leonae's coat and pulled out one of his anti-gravity bombs.

Gauntlet grinned as he placed his feet on Leonae's chest and pushed him off into the unknown. Gauntlet dived towards Kris and wrapped his arm around her waist and held her close. He then took a deep breath as he clicked the button on the bomb and held it out in front of him, before they hit the ground the bomb went off and they safely floated in the air.

"Whew," Gauntlet sighed. "That could have been ugly."

"Really, that's all you have to say?" She asked rhetorically. "I was kidnapped, threatened, flown around in a jet and sent falling hundreds of feet in the air and all you say is, 'That could have been ugly.'."

"Well it could have?" He joked.

Kris let out a heavy sigh as she rubbed her temples but then started to laugh sheepishly.

"Well, it was better than our date." She said sheepishly.

The two laughed as they embraced each other. Gauntlet basked in his girlfriend's warmth as the two held each other. Gauntlets pulled away briefly ready to kiss her when something shined in eyes. He looked over Kris's head and immediately pushed her out of the way. Kris landed on the ground hard and looked up ready to scream at Sam when her eyes widened to see him blocking Leonae's claw with his gauntlet.

"Persistent little bastard aren't you!" Leonae growled. "But what can I expect from the heir to Vulcan the volcano god!"

Leonae then brought his foot up to Gauntlet's chest and kicked him off as he extended his other claw and proceeded to attack Gauntlet. Gauntlet dodged and blocked every hit causing sparks to fly with every strike. After the last hit Gauntlet pulled back and held out his hand, he fired a stream of fire at Leonae, but he countered it by creating a barrier of dark matter causing the flame to disburse.

"Dammit!" Gauntlet growled.

"What, you didn't think you could take me out that easily did you?" Leonae chuckled. He then held out his hand and fired another aura of dark matter and slammed Gauntlet to a nearby building wall. The pressure was slowly crushing him against the wall as Leonae walked up to him.

"I gotta say I'm a bit disappointed." Leonae snarled as he swiped his claw across Gauntlet's chest leaving three horizontal cuts behind. "I was expecting more of a fight and yet your still that whimpering child who got lucky all those years ago." He then swiped across Gauntlet's face knocking off his goggles. "You know I remember how I tried to kill your girl and you burned me and sliced my face with my own knife. Well, let's see if you can do it again."

Leonae then pulled away from Gauntlet still leaving the dark matter hold on him as he slowly walked over to Kris. Both Gauntlet's and Kris's eyes widened as Leonae's claws shined in the moonlight.

"No, leave her alone, she has nothing to do with this!" Gauntlet yelled.

"Oh-ho, that's where you're wrong," He sneered. "If you have nothing to lose then you have no reason to hold back, and that's how I like it!"

Gauntlet let out a scream as he tried to break free but it was no use. Just as he was about to give up all hope his gauntlets started to glow orange as did his eyes.

Leonae stood over Kris as she was frozen in fear. Leonae smirked as he licked Gauntlet's blood off of his claw.

"Scream if this hurts my dove." Leonae said in a low voice. Kris held her arms up hoping to protect herself, but the attack never came. She looked up to see Leonae coughing and groaning as he clenched his throat.

Kris started to feel it as well as she felt her throat go dry, but it didn't stop there. Any puddles of water that were around on the ground started to fizzle out and the cold air around them suddenly felt warm. Both Leonae and Kris looked over to see Sam walking towards Leonae but something was way different about him.

His entire body was on fire but he wasn't in pain, the fire hovered around his so much that it created an image of Vulcan behind him, his gems glowed bright and his gauntlets glowed orange but his most unusual feature were his eyes. His eyes glowed a dark, fiery orange as he glared at Leonae. They were filled with anger, pain and death as he glared at the false king.

Kris was afraid.

Afraid of what Sam was becoming, afraid that she might die but what she was really afraid of was Sam. She stared at his eyes those burning eyes. She knew those weren't Sam's eyes because when Sam looked at her it was like he didn't see her at all.

"So the crazy bastard inside you has finally awakened has he?" Leonae chuckled as Sam remained silent. "What, no witty comeback or stupid fire puns?"

Sam still remained silent as he stomped towards Leonae, he fired off a dark matter blast but that only stopped Sam for a minute and kept on walking. Leonae raised an eyebrow and fired a concentrated drak matter ball hoping to tear him to shreds, but Sam calmly raised his hand and fired a red fire ball at Leonae's attack when the two collided, it exploded upon impact. When the smoke cleared Sam was still walking towards Leonae, who let out a scream and charged at Sam.

He rushed towards Sam with both claws drawn ignoring the heat as he got closer with each step. When Leonae got close enough he brought his claw down on Sam who grabbed him by the wrist. Sam's hand burned Leonae's wrist just by touching it as he went to stab him in his chest. Sam grabbed his other wrist and again burned Leonae's wrist.

Leonae let out a scream as Sam melted the blades on Leonae's wrist turning them into mush on the ground. Sam then gripped Leonae's wrist tighter and sent a surge of energy through his wrist and up to his shoulders. Leonae saw his veins glow orange for a second before he arms exploded.

Leonae fell to the ground screaming as Kris let out a scream of her own as well. Sam must have heard because he looked over at her and immediately felt sad. In an instant Sam's eyes returned normal, the fire dispersed and his arms went back to being regular gauntlets.

He slowly walked over to Kris and knelt down next to her. He offered her his hand and looked at her with his light orange eyes.

"Kris, are you alright?" He asked, she said nothing. "Listen, I'm sorry about what you just saw. I…I was just trying to protect you. I know I screwed up but please…Let me help you."

Tears still rolled down her cheeks as she slowly took his hands and was lifted off the ground. She then wrapped her arms around him and started to sob in his chest. As the two rekindled their love for each other Sam heard the screech of The Raven fly above them. Shadow hopped off the jet and ran towards Leonae with his sword drawn.

"Not a good day to be a bad guy huh Leonae?" Shadow said as he raised his sword ready to strike. Leonae groaned in pain as Shadow brought his sword down, but was stopped by Sam. "What gives?"

"He's not worth it," He said in a low voice. "He has no arms and he is in no condition to fight, besides he's just doing his job he was just a soldier."

"Fine, we'll leave him for the cops, oh by the way." Shadow said as he pulled out a data file and gave it to Sam. "There's a government facility that keeps a lot of mutated children outside of Gotham some might be your friends."

Sam looked down at the file and nodded as he handed the file back to Shadow. He then walked over to Kris and led her to the jet.

"First we get her home." He said.

"Wait," Shadow said stopping Sam. "Why didn't you really kill him?"

"Huh…I'm no saint but I sure as hell am not a monster, besides I didn't want to get fired for being too brutal."

"Was that a fired pun?" Shadow asked blandly as he looked at him questionably.

"Maybe." He said as he put his goggles back on and took his girl back home.

After dropping off Kris the team went to the government labs only to find them abandoned with nothing but a few storage supplies and Leonae's men.

"What the hell I thought this was a base, but this place is just a big damn closet." Shadow growled.

"It was, once," Thanatos said as he looked over the files. "It's been disbanded by Batman and the J.L.A a few years back."

"Damn." Shadow growled by being beaten by Batman again.

"But what about these guys," Hitgirl said as she held up a fallen guards head by his hair. "There are no files on them."

"They are ex-demon head assassins." Ronin said. "I recognized their moves when we fought them."

"How can they be ex-members?" Phoenix asked. "I thought they got killed by those guys for ditching?"

"No, they exile them or they get away either way they are abandoned. They are usually kicked out because they disobey orders and cause more damage that needs to be done, and mostly…it's because they are insane."

"Well no matter we'll send the coordinates to the police and let them take care of things from here." Breeze said as she started typing away on her portable computer.

"By the way Gauntlet, where's my bike?" He asked as Gauntlet looked a bit nervous.

"Hey, there are more assassins let's go get them!" He exclaimed.

"No, there is no one there now where's my bike." Shadow asked more sternly.

"Don't worry, I'll go get them!" He said heroically as he ran out of the building.

"SAM!" Shadow shouted as he ran after his young comrade.

(Meanwhile)

In Arkham's hospital Leonae laid on a hospital bed as he was kept alive on life support. He was once a soldier but was now a crippled man whose life might as well have been over. He laid there with only the thought of killing Sam on his mind. He was broken from his thoughts when a dark figure hovered above him.

"It hurts doesn't it?" The man said. "The pain the humiliation, it's unbearable I can assume. You want revenge but you can no longer have it."

"What…do…you want?" Leonae groaned.

"To offer you redemption." The man said. "You want your revenge you want your crown I can give it to you. That is of course if you're interested?" Leonae thought of it for a second and then nodded.

"I'm interested." He groaned as the man snapped his fingers and had two of his men carry him out of the hospital.