Chapter 33: Retribution Part 2
Authors Note: Whew looong chapter, I'm sorry if some of this drags on or is cut short I just couldn't stop. I'm weird so sue me. Okay part two everyone I have the final chapter to the Hush story arc. Also, illusiveman has a back story up about his main character Red Crosshairs give it a read. Okay here's some more action enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Batman.
While Thanatos and Bruticus fought down in the streets the Shadow Warriors were still restrained by Ace's power. Shadow grunted in pain as Leonae strutted up to Gauntlet brandishing his silver claws.
"I knew I had a good reason for getting out of bed this morning!" Leonae exclaimed as he held the tip of the blades up to Gauntlets cheeks. Gauntlet's face broke out in a scowl as Leonae leaned his face towards Gauntlets ear. "Just so you know I'm gonna take my time carving up your girl into little pieces."
"Go to hell Leonae." Gauntlet grunted, he then leaned his head back and smashed it into Leonae's face. Leonae staggered back as Shadow fired a bolt of electricity at Ace. She was thrown back into the wall as the manipulated warriors along with Frost and Leonae attacked. When Gauntlet fell to the ground Leonae used his dark matter power to restrain him to the ground as he went in for an attack.
He raised his claw to strike him down when he felt something wrapped around his wrist preventing him from killing Gauntlet. Leonae let out a snarl as he glared at the person responsible. Judging by the frame of the body it was a girl also her outfit consisted of a maroon miniskirt with matching fingerless gloves, boots, and a top that covered her chest and exposed her back. Leonae couldn't see her face due to it being covered by a hood and a pair of sunglasses.
"Sorry buddy, no killing for you!" She exclaimed as she yanked back on the whip and knocked him on the ground.
"Who the hell are you?!" Leonae snarled as he looked up at the girl who snapped her whip back.
"My name is Star and I'm a Shadow Warrior." She said with a grin.
"I will slaughter you!" Leonae growled as he drew his second pair of claws, but was once again knocked down as someone crashed through the walls. Leonae was thrown back by the debris as he looked up to see Theodosia who wore a black sleeveless shirt with a red superman logo on the chest. Along with that she wore black fingerless gloves, dark green cargo pants and black combat boots and black shades.
"I will kill you if you touch her!" She growled. Just then she was knocked to the ground by an energy bolt. She looked up to see Reaper with his tacky looking scythe gun aimed right at her head.
Just then Ronin jumped in and attacked Reaper with his scalers. Acting on instinct Reaper unfolded his gun back into the scythe and blocked. Ronin went in with a few quick attacks, but Reaper blocked each of his attacks with his scythe before tacking a swing at his head. Ronin ducked as Reaper spun around only to reassemble his gun and fire at Ronin. Ronin was knocked down onto the ground as the pain from the bolt burned his chest.
Ronin went to fire again when he felt someone grip his shoulder. He turned and his eyes widened as he saw Red Crosshairs with his fist held up high and dive straight towards his face. Reaper fell to the ground knocked out cold. Red then walked over to Ronin and helped him remove the armor plating that was still burning from the shot.
"You alright comrade?" Red asked as helped him up.
"I'm fine." Ronin grunted. "Let's go help the others."
Hitgirl and Breeze, who was armed with a silver cutlass, were engaged in close quarters combat as Hitgirl dodged every hit. Hitgirl then pulled out her combat knife and swatted away the blade as best she could, but Breeze was too fast. Breeze then raised her blade and swung down firing off a strong gust of wind knocking Hitgirl to the ground unconscious.
Nightwing and Dusk were teaming up against Shadow as the two drew their blunt instruments. Dusk charged in with his tonfas each hit being blocked by Shadow. While those two were fighting Nightwing dived in and kicked Shadow in his chest knocking him down on the ground. Any other day Shadow could have mopped the floor with them but he didn't want to seriously injure them. Dusk was his brother and at one point Nightwing was also his partner.
It was moments like this Shadow wished Hush hadn't stolen his none-lethal weapons and escaped to the top floor. Shadow was ready to defend himself when a dark figure crashed through the windows and drop kicked Nightwing into his chest knocking him onto the ground.
"What the hell took you so long?" Shadow grunted as Batman stood next to him.
"I had to escort Kris and Dr. Hoenheim out of the panic room." Batman explained. "It's a long way up."
"And it'll be a longer way down for Hush." Shadow chuckled as the two engaged their apprentices.
Batman dodged a swing from Nightwings clubs and landed a punch into his stomach. Nightwing fell down gasping as Dusk pumped up his strength and brought his fist towards Shadow. Shadow also enhanced his strength and caught Dusk's fist. Shadow gripped it tight and twisted it slowly, Dusk grunted in pain as he glared hatred at Shadow, who now had his fist raised. Shadow leaned his fist back and smashed it into Dusk's face knocking him out cold.
Shadow looked over at Batman and gave him a thumbs up, Batman nodded as he went over to deal with Ace. He moved behind her to remove the chip when he was suddenly pushed back by a gush of water. Shadow looked over to see Frost with ice covering his fist. Shadow was about to deal with him when he felt something wrap around his ankle. Shadow recognized it as Gallagher's shadow as it also reached for Leonae and Gauntlet.
Shadow was getting pulled out of the building as he saw that Ace was slowly regaining consciousness. Shadow saw the chip on her neck like Gauntlet said and took a shot at it with his electricity. Ace let out a scream of pain as Shadow and Gauntlet were pulled out of the office floor and into the upper levels.
Shadow and Gauntlet landed on the floors in the main hall of the Wayne-Tech which was just below Bruce's office. Shadow got to his feet and helped his friend up as they looked around for Gallagher and Leonae. The main hall led to multiple offices of Wayne's board members that had a lot of space and two large windows on each end. Perfect for illuminating shadows.
"Welcome boys!" A voice exclaimed.
Shadow and Gauntlet both turned to see Gallagher and Leonae standing together as they looked ready for a fight.
"It ends here." Shadow grunted.
"It most certainly does kiddo." Leonae sneered as he smacked his claws together creating sparks with each smack. Gallagher chuckled darkly as he turned his gaze to Gauntlet; he raised an eyebrow as he looked over his arms.
"I thought I tore those off?" Gallagher asked.
"Medical science has its wonders." Gauntlet chuckled. "I still have a score to settle with you."
"Well then I think it's time to get things started then." Gallagher said as the veins on his face started to glow amber. "Hey Jayden, did you know that you're Adonis power not only affects me but my shadow as well?"
Juts then the shadow that extended from Gallagher's feet to Shadow's feet popped up in front of the two heroes and started to transform. It arms started to bulge into a muscular form and its hands went from looking like human hands to razor sharp claws. Then its head started to morph into a more demon like form as its eyes glowed amber and its head had extensions extending out of each side of its head.
Shadow and Gauntlet both quickly aimed their hands at the demonic shadow and fired a fire and lightning bolt into its chest. The shadow disappeared as Shadow and Gauntlet dashed towards their opponents and engaged them.
Gauntlet swung brought his fist towards Leonae who brought his claw up in an 'X' formation over his face and blocked his attack. Gauntlet gripped Leonae's wrist and ripped them apart as he brought his head forward into Leonae's face breaking his nose.
"Gah," Leonae grunted as he clenched his now bleeding nose. "I swear when I am through with you, you will be begging me to kill you!"
Leonae's body was then covered in a purple hue as he fired of a burst of dark matter. It struck Gauntlet and pinned him against the wall with a strong force. The dark matter was slowly tearing at his skin as he was being forcibly pushed into the wall.
"C'mon kid let me see it." Leonae snarled, his eyes looking crazier than the last time they had met.
"See what?" Gaintlet grunted.
"That thing that took these from me!" He snarled as he motioned to his arms. "I want to kill it and you. Now show it to me!"
"Go to hell you freaking nut job." Gauntlet growled as he suddenly felt more pressure on him as the hue grew darker and darker. Leonae was about to raise his claw and strike Gauntlet down when he suddenly heard the sounds of Shadow and Gallagher fighting. Leonae's face then broke out in a twisted grin as he looked over at Shadow and back at Gauntlet.
"Well then I guess I'll have to lure him out then won't I?" Leonae chuckled as Gauntlet started to panic.
"Jayden, you better win this one." Gauntlet muttered to himself. It's not that he didn't have faith in Shadow it's just how can you kill someone when they are already dead.
(!)
Shadow brought his sword down on Gallagher who blocked with his sickle. The two locked weapons as they glared into each other's eyes. Shadow raised his foot and pressed it to Gallagher's chest knocking him back a bit before he ran after him. He raised his sword to attack but was jumped by his shadow as it raised its massive arm and smacked him down the hall. Shadow slid down the smooth floor and stopped when he hit the wall. Shadow didn't even have a second to recover before the shadow rose from the ground and gripped him by his neck.
Shadow was ready to fire a burst of electricity at the monster when he felt a bolt of electricity surge through his body. Shadow grunted in pain as he looked over to see Gallagher with a vicious smirk on his face.
"You still have my power?" Shadow grunted.
"Yes, and not only is it your power it is a perfect copy unlike the formula I gave Hush." Gallagher chuckled causing Shadow's eyes to widen under his glasses.
"You gave him a copy of my power, how-what the hell are you!?" Shadow snarled as he still continued to break free from the shadow.
"I'm what you call a soul eater." Gallagher explained. "Every once and a while a being like me comes out every century or so and we devour souls. As long as we devour souls we can stay in the world of the living if we don't then we go back to hell. We use these to absorb the souls," He explained as the slits on his palms opened up revealing his technique on how to eat souls. "But here's a bonus, when we absorb the soul of a super human we can absorb their power as well."
"So what you're just a specter from hell?" Jayden snapped.
"To sum it up, no." Gallagher smiled as he reached his palm up to Jayden's head. "I work for something far more evil someone by the name of Trigon."
Gauntlet's gauntlet started to glow as he heard the spirit of Vulcan twist inside his soul.
"Silence him!" Vulcan snarled in his head.
"Now, no more talking." Gallagher whispered as he went to absorb Shadow's soul.
Just as Gallagher was about to consume Shadow's soul, Shadow's eyes and veins started to glow brighter and brighter before his entire body fired off an energy field, vaporizing the shadow. Shadow fell to the ground as Gallagher flew back with horribly burned skin. As he clenched his face he started to let out a psychotic laughter.
"Your energy field," He muttered. "Not a bad tactic, but it also depletes your power and now I can take my time carving you to pieces." He chuckled as he pulled out his small sickle from his belt
Gallagher charged up his own Adonis power and used his super speed to charge at Shadow. Shadow barley blocked the attack as he struggled against his strength. Gallagher pushed down harder as the tip of the blade sunk into Shadow's chest. Shadow started to grunt in pain as Gallagher's smirk grew wider and wider.
With one final push, Shadow knocked the blade out of Gallagher's hands and sliced his arm off. Shadow expected to hear a scream of pain, but he only heard sadistic laughter. He looked over to see Gallagher pick his arm up and place the end of it to his shoulder. Shadow looked on in disgust as he saw small black skin bits snap out of his hacked arm and reattached itself.
"Dammit," Shadow grunted as he looked on at the grotesque healing technique. "Okay, stay calm. If Batman can figure a way out of this so can I." That's when it hit him. "Of course his head, if I decapitate his head there's no way he can come back!"
Shadow knew deep down that he only read something like that in an old dark magic book in the J.L.A archives. He took a deep breath as he raised his sword and charged towards Gallagher. Gallagher's arm had just healed as he saw Shadow run towards him. Shadow pulled out a few throwing knives and threw them at Gallagher who leaned his head back and dodged them. When he raised his head back up Jayden held his sword back and swung it towards Gallagher's neck.
The blade cut clean through his neck causing Gallagher's head to go flying back. Jayden smirked as he had finally taken down his enemy for a second time. Just then Gallagher's hands jumped up and clasped both sides of the temples. Shadow, Gauntlet and Leonae's eyes widened in shock and horror as Gallagher slowly reattached his head.
"B-But…" Shadow stuttered as Gallagher's head was reconnected to his body. His face broke out in a sharp gasp briefly before his face broke out in a twisted grin.
"I'm curious after killing me what did you plan to do next?" Gallagher asked sarcastically. "You can't kill me Jayden, I'm already fucking dead remember?"
Just then Gallagher's shadow reappeared and picked Shadow up by his feet and smashed him on the floor head first. Shadow let out a grunt as he drew his sword and stabbed it in the wrist letting him go. Shadow staggered to his feet as Gallagher took advantage of his weakened state and started to beat him.
Gauntlet looked on in horror as he watched his leader and friend get beaten by his friend. Gauntlet started to feel Vulcan's true power course through him, but he suppressed it. If he let him get out Vulcan would end up killing Jayden in the process. Leonae noticed him struggling and decided to torment him.
"It hurts doesn't it?" Leonae snickered in his ear. "Just like when I made you watch your friends get captured and slaughtered back in those sewers all those years ago. I carved them up slowly and painfully to the point where they begged me for death." Gauntlet started to get enraged by his comments as he started to emit strong flames from his hands. "This is why I like Gallagher so much. He has a similar outlook on life. He murdered his own parents and left his own brother to fend for himself taught himself how to survive and came back from hell to exact his revenge."
"Yeah, well when you and him go down there," Gauntlet strained as he lifted his head up from the ground. "You can spend all the time in the world comparing how psychotic you are!"
Gauntlet then fired a burst of fire into the ground crumbling the ground beneath them. The two fell through the floor and into another floor of office cubicles as Gauntlet broke free from his restraints. Leonae quickly got to his feet and fired a wave of dark matter at Gauntelt, who dodged out of the way and fired a beam of fire into Leonae's chest.
Leonae fell back as the fire beam scorched his skin clean. As strong as the attack was Leonae's rage was stronger as he ignored the pain and unsheathed his claws again. He let out a growl of rage as he charged at Gauntlet and swung his claws at Gauntlet.
Gauntlet blocked with his gauntlets as spark flew between the two. Leonae held his hand back and thrust it towards Gauntlet's face the young hero caught it in time as he grabbed Leonae by his wrist. He struggled to keep him from running his claws through his face as Leonae swung down with his other claw. Acting fast, Gauntlet twisted his wrist behind Leonae's back and restrained him from attacking him.
"Let go of me you little bastard!" Leonae snarled.
"Not a chance, consider this payback for me losing my arms!" Gauntlet snarled as he heated up his free hand and cut through Leonae's socket severing his robot arm. "Leonae, you will never break me!" He snarled as he started beating down Leonae. "You failed!"
Gauntlet then raised his fist and slammed it into Leonae's face knocking him out cold. Gauntlet pulled out his customized magnum and aimed it at Leonae. He was ready to put an end to Leonae when he heard Shadow scream in pain.
"Next time, I will end you." Gauntlet swore as he rushed back to help Shadow.
Meanwhile Shadow was being beaten down by both Gallagher and his mutated shadow. He would occasionally blast him with electricity as the shadow popped up out of the ground and attacked Shadow.
"You know as I continue to beta you within an inch of your life I find this all hilarious as to how similar you are to Batman." Gallagher insulted which caused Shadow's blood to boil as he looked up at him from the floor. "Not because of your mortality or your will, but because you both always fail to keep this stinking, shitty city safe.
"Wha-What do you mean?" Shadow groaned as he tried to lift himself from the ground.
"Well think about it, every time you or the batman try and do good it only comes back to bite you in the ass twenty times worse." He stated as he started counting off his hand. "The Red Hood a comical villain who did card tricks and magic acts was knocked into a vat of chemicals now he's the most evil criminal this world has ever seen. Leonae, a mercenary who took orders and did his job got burned by Gauntlet now he's a dark matter controlling psychopath with robot arms and then there's me!" He said in a cheerful voice.
"A simple leader or a two-bit gang, got killed by you, came back seven years later and now I am the closest thing to a god you'll ever come across." Just then the shadow lifted up Jayden from behind his shoulders bringing the two face to face. Gallagher enjoyed seeing the man who killed him broken in front of him as he leaned into his ear.
"Everything that's happened this month is your entire fault." Gallagher whispered as Jayden started to take in what he said. "All the criminals that are working together to take you out, your poor planning and your lack of leader ship, is your teams downfall." Jayden then felt his heart sink into his stomach as he felt like he was slowly losing the will to fight. "You will never escape your guilt, not even in hell!" He then motioned for his shadow to finish off Jayden as it raised him over his head. "I have your girl, I have your power and I can't die! You failed again Shadow now die!"
The shadow raised Shadow above him and was about to break him over his knee when a bright burst of orange energy hit Gallagher in his hand. Gallagher let out an ear shattering scream as a burst of red aura erupted from his body and into Shadow's body. Shadow's veins glowed bright red once again as he fired as burst of electricity into Gallagher's chest knocking him back. Shadow then looked over next to Gallagher to see Gauntlet with an orange hue emitting from his body.
"Sam!" Shadow groaned as Gauntlet charged up his arms and fired a beam of fire into the shadow completely destroying it. Shadow fell to the ground and let out a breath as Gauntlet rushed over to help him up.
"Are you okay?" Gauntlet asked.
"I honestly don't know anymore." Shadow admitted. His brief encounter with his mortality would have to wait as Gallagher got to his feet.
"Shadow, Vulcan told me how to beat him." He explained as the two readied themselves. "Those suction things on his hands are his weakness. If we blast enough power into him we can kill him!"
"Let's do it!" Shadow exclaimed as he and Gauntlet rushed towards him.
Gauntlet and Shadow quickly made a grab for Gallagher's hands as he opened them up to absorb their powers. Unfortunately he was to slow as the two warriors were too fast and grabbed each hand. Shadow fired another surge of electricity into Gallagher's left arm as Gauntlet fired his energy into his right arm. Gallagher let out another scream as the veins of his right side glowed red and his right veins glowed orange.
"You know Seth you're right about me and Batman failing," Shadow grunted. "We all have a past we regret and create villains as much as we stop them. But as long as heroes like Batman exist, everyone can look towards the future with high hopes and not dwell on the past!"
Gauntlet looked at his leader with courage as his face broke out in a cocky grin. The two fired one last burst of energy into Gallagher's arms as his body started to emit a strong light. Gauntlet and Shadow quickly broke away as Gallagher was suddenly lifted off the ground and started to glow brighter and brighter. The immortal killer let out one last scream before vaporizing into nothing but ashes.
When the smoke cleared Shadow and Gauntlet cautiously walked over to the ash pile on the ground to make sure that the mad man was gone for good. They watched the ashes for another minute and finally concluded that Gallagher was finally gone, and hopefully for good.
(!)
Meanwhile, Batman had just dodged one of Frost's icicles as he dived in and landed a jump kick to the young clone's face knocking him out cold. He was a challenge but Batman had dealt with worse as he felt himself get lifted up by Ace. Her telepathy was working fine, but her mind control was starting to weaken thanks to Shadow blasting the chip.
Jervis was still using his own hypnosis to manipulate her into doing what he wanted as he ordered her to vaporize the Shadow Warriors, both normal and temporarily mind controlled. He was about to succeed when he felt a small hand grasp his shoulder. His blood froze as he slowly turned around. His eyes widened as he saw the mask assassin Hitgirl behind him grinning like a sociopath. Before he could react the young assassin struck the center of his face knocking him unconscious.
The second Jervis went down Batman saw Ace clench her head in pain as she let out a small groan. Batman quickly rushed over to her as she fell and went to grab the mind control chip off the back of her neck. He gripped it as hard as he could and yanked it off her neck, crushing it in his fist.
The second it took for him to break the chip all of the Shadow Warriors and Dark Knights fell to the ground changing back into their normal costumes. Everyone looked over the crew in concern as Jenny went over to Dusk, Theodosia ran over to Phoenix and Red went over to Breeze. They slowly came around and drifted back to reality as Hitgirl went over to aid Reaper as well.
When Reaper awoke he instantly jumped to his feet and looked around the room with anger in his eyes. His gaze fell upon Hitgirl and still didn't soften as he stomped over to her.
"Where's Phantom?" He snapped at her.
"Flynn calm down." Hitgirl said calmly trying to soothe him, but failed as he grabbed her arm.
"Where is he?" He snapped again as he squeezed her arm to the point of hurting her.
Red along with a few others were about to go over and knock some sense into him when someone beat them to it. Whisper grabbed him by the wrist and twisted it behind him as she pinned him to the ground.
"Who the hell are you?" Reaper grunted as he felt the pressure start to build up in his arm.
"That last girl you want to get rough with," She snarled. "Now apologize!"
Whisper let go of Reaper as he jumped to his feet. Part of him wanted to tear this newcomer apart, but that changed when he saw Hitgirl rubbing her now bruised arm. Reaper felt nothing but hate for himself as he walked over to Hitgirl and took his mask off.
"I'm sorry Hilary." He said softly as he took her arm and rubbed it gently.
She then leaned her head into his chest and rested it on it as she wrapped her arms around him. Reaper breathed a small sigh of relief as he wrapped his own arms around her.
"He's gone by the way."
Everyone looked over to see a now half destroyed Thanatos as he staggered into the room, barley holding himself together.
"What do you mean he's gone?" Ronin asked as he and Red helped him sit down against the wall.
"I saw him get in a car and drive away after I defeated Bruticus." He stated. "My guess is he didn't like the odds he was up against."
"He always did run plays in his head and divide up a probability." Reaper said.
"Okay, so what's the plan now?" Jenny asked.
"Where's Jayden?" Ally asked as she stood in front of everyone.
"Oh crap he's fighting Gallagher, Gauntlet too!" Hitgirl exclaimed.
"The Batman is gone too." Theodosia said.
"Well, we know where to go, top floor." Red stated as he clicked a few buttons on his computer to call in the Raven.
(!)
To say Gauntlet was having a bad week was a bit of an understatement. Getting a bad report card was a bad week, getting stood up by a girl that was a bad week. Getting your arms ripped off, your girl kidnapped, beaten down by and old enemy and now fighting the Batman. This was beyond a bad week, it was hell. On the plus it was a sick pleasure of Gauntlet's adrenaline to actually see what he could do against the Dark Knight himself, but on the negative he would prefer not to be crippled for life.
Gauntlet was lucky enough to land a punch to the side of Batman's face, but he received an upper cut to his chin knocking him on his ass. Gauntlet looked up at the Dark Knight who gave him a disgruntled look before going after Shadow. Gauntlet quickly rubbed his chin and reached for his chain whip. He untied it from his belt and slung it around Batman's upper body stopping him in place.
"Why are you doing this?" Batman grunted. "Your letting him commit murder, you're not like that!"
"Oh yeah, did my black listed file on your computer say that!?" Gauntlet snapped. "Anyways, he's not murdering anyone he's ensuring that what happened to us this week never happens to us again." He snarled as he tightened the whip around Batman. "I know Shadow told us if we ever encounter you that we should let him deal with you, but I don't think he'll mind if I bust you up a little."
Just before he had a chance to light up his whip Batman reached up and tied the chain around his spiked gauntlets and broke free from the chain. He then pulled out his stun gun and placed it on the edge of the whip and sent a jolt of electricity through the whip and into Gauntlet.
Gauntlet let out a cry of pain as he flew back a few feet. Gauntlet quickly pulled out his magnum and fired a few ignited rounds at Batman. Batman was quick to dodge each shot as he reached into his belt and pulled out a nitrogen grenade and threw it at Gauntlet's hand encasing both his hand and his gun in a block of ice. Before Gauntlet had time to melt the ice Batman skidded next to him on his knees and wrapped his left and around his neck while raising his right hand for a strike.
"Crap." Gauntlet muttered weakly as Batman brought his fist down into Gauntlet's face, knocking him unconscious.
Batman let out a tired sigh as he went after Shadow, hopefully without running into more interuptions.
(!)
Shadow had just entered Bruce's master office. This place was bigger than a lower middleclass house, as he walked into noticing the paintings and statues of certain artist around the room. He saw his target Hush standing in front of the large window that took up the entirety of the wall, with his arms folded behind him.
"Hush little baby don't say a word," Shadow sang as he cracked his knuckles. "Shadow's gonna take you to another world."
"Cute, did you stay up all night writing that?" Hush said in a low voice as he turned revealing his bandaged face. "You really have no idea what you are up against are you?"
"Just another dumbass criminal who over stepped his boundaries." Shadow snickered. "What were you thinking coming after me would do?" Hush started to walk away from the window and towards Shadow menacingly.
"It was my plan to take Ace and turn you and your friends into Royal Flush gang members." He explained as Shadow just stood there as his face broke out in a scowl. "After that I frame you and your friends by attacking the Mayor and allowing the use of the mechs. Then once all the paper work and the witnesses were dealt with I would let those clowns I hired take their revenge and doing the world a favor by ridding it of you."
"Then you turn the mechs on everyone and take over Gotham while still taking the identity of Bruce, thus destroying his reputation." Shadow finished unimpressed.
"It would have worked if that emo girl hadn't shown up and saved you." Hush grunted, of course referring to Whisper.
"No, Batman was still alive, even if you did succeed in killing me, he would have ended you." Shadow gloated. "But you don't have such luxury anymore, because I am going to end you myself."
At this Hush grunted in disgust as he was now face to face with Shadow.
"You really think so highly of yourself, don't you?" Hush asked rhetorically. "Let me tell you something, I may be a villain but I know a hero when I see one and you are no hero boy."
"I know that, I never claimed to be a hero," Shadow said. "Gallagher said something like that before me and Gauntlet sent him back to hell."
"Of course you kill him, because you enjoy the killing." Hush chuckled as Shadow's glare grew darker and darker. "Some say that you are like Batman, but I know who Batman is and I know who you are. Believe it or not we were friends in one point in our lives, truth be told I have some respect for him and his team." His glare then hardened as he looked down at Shadow. "But you and your team…you are a bunch of fucking clowns. You are only doing this to get back at Batman. You and your whole team are a bunch of renegades who are using power you don't understand for your own selfish purposes. You call yourself a leader you are nothing but a joke."
Shadow was really starting to doubt himself as he thought back to everything that happened. Gauntlet got his arms ripped off, Hoenheim got kidnapped, Thanatos was almost killed and his whole team was manipulated into working for a mad man. Was he really not fitted to be a leader?
Was Batman right all along?
Shadow then glared back at Hush with his eyes glowing red from his Adonis power. Hush saw the glow and started to chuckle as he walked backwards towards the window.
"Go ahead, kill me." He taunted. "That's all your good for, and we all know you enjoy it."
Shadow stared at him for what seemed like hours which were probably only minutes as he looked down at his hand. He thought about it, hell what was there to think about, he was evil. He deserved every ounce of pain and torment Shadow had lined up for him.
Shadow then thought back to Gallagher and how badly he mutilated him when he was younger and how his past literally came back and bit him in the ass. Shadow's veins dimmed down and his eyes went back to normal. He was a warrior of peace not a killer. He would give Hush his first warning and if he crossed him again he would end him.
Shadow looked up at Hush ready to tell him he would let him live when something shiny reflected in his eyes. The setting sun was shining down on Hush but Shadow made the object out to be a silver Beretta. Hush fired a round at Shadow, but Shadow dodged it and whipped out his own magnum and fired a round into Hush's head. His brains stained the clean window as he fell down onto the ground dead.
Just then the doors burst open revealing Batman with burn marks on his suit compliments of Gauntlet. Batman looked at Shadow with concern but that quickly turned to disappointment as he walked over to Hush's body. Shadow waited for Batman to make a comment about Shadow's ways but he still remained silent. There was no fight, not lecture and not look of concern from Batman. For once Shadow started to feel like he did something wrong.
"Congratulations, you killed him." Batman said in a deep voice. "You can go now."
"Bruce, he tried to kill me!" Shadow said in his defense. Then he thought about what he just said, and realized he was justifying his actions. He never did that with Bruce, not since he was a kid. "Who cares he was a monster he nearly killed my team he knew who we were he was too dangerous!"
"It doesn't matter." Batman said in a low voice. "Just go."
Just then Shadow felt someone pull on his arms. He turned to see Ally and Jenny pull him out of the room.
"C'mon lets go the cops are about to swarm the building!" Jenny exclaimed.
"Let's go home Jayden." Ally said softly. "You have a tired team to tend to."
"Yeah…yeah let's go." Shadow said, exhausted from this whole ordeal. Before he left he took one last look at Batman who was still looking down at Hush. He couldn't tell if he felt guilty that he couldn't help his former friend or failed to save Hush.
"He got what was coming to him Batman is just upset that me and my team won and he lost." Shadow thought as he continued walking with Ally and Jenny. "He never acted that way when other criminals died by Shadow's hand so why was this one different. Was Batman trying to save me from killing him? Why would Batman care about me I'm no longer apart of his crew? Besides, I know I did the right thing…right?"