Chapter 19

"Smile! Smile!" Sander Cohen, the mad artist screamed with a deranged smile adorning his face as he threw fireballs, one after the other at the Team.

In a matter of minutes, most of the abandoned building was on fire because of the dangerous pyrokinetic that they were fighting. The intense heat was already affecting Miss Martian and Aqualad and they were struggling to not collapse from it. And it wasn't just that. Smoke was filling up the rooms causing their eyes to water and made it harder for them to breath.

Their enemy was not some pushover even if he was alone and not in his proper state of mind. The world's greatest heroes may have trained the Team but Sander Cohen had more than ten years of experience of surviving a war that drove many to the edge of their humanity. Through his deadly cunning and brutality, he ruled an entire section of Rapture on his own and there were countless other Splicers who had attempted to overthrow him.

As you can see from the man's current situation, they were never successful. So the Houdini Splicer had the advantage of experience over the four young heroes.

{We have to get out of here before the whole building comes down on us!} Robin warned the others as he back flipped over another fireball.

"My! What an outstanding display of athleticism," the crazed man complimented the Boy Wonder when he saw the boy perform acrobatic feats to avoid being singed.

{No, if we don't stop him here, he'll burn down the entire block! We have to keep him contained.} Aqualad said as he blocked a fireball from hitting him with his water bearer while he carried a heat stroked Martian over his shoulders.

{But I bet some fresh air wouldn't be so bad.} Kid Flash said after he created a small tornado with his superspeed to blow away the flames near a wall, specifically the one where Sander Cohen posted the pictures of superheroes on.

{Artemis, Robin, destroy the wall!} Aqualad ordered.

The archer and the Boy Wonder took aim and let loose their respective explosives on the decorated wall and promptly blew it up, letting the smoke out so that they could breathe properly.

"Watch yourself you clumsy sows! That's my work!"

"Don't you know who I am!? I'm-" the Splicer began to say but he was interrupted when Robin brought out his stun gun and shot him with it, sending volts of electricity coursing through the mad artist's body.

But the volts of electricity that the Tazer had were nothing compared to an Electro Bolt so it only served to make the Splicer angrier than before.

He raised his hand to throw another fireball but Kid Flash slammed into him with his shoulder. The quick attack didn't really have much power to it but the speedster moved fast enough for it to hurt and knock the man off balance.

Robin brought out his collapsible bo-staff and he fully extended it with a twirl. He lunged at the Splicer and swiped with the staff from the right. The Houdini Splicer let out a cry of pain as the metal rod impacted on his left side. The assault didn't stop there however. Artemis, using her bow as a melee weapon, smacked his head with it. As the man once again stumbled from being attacked, the blond archer used his momentum to throw him to Aqualad who slammed his water hammer on him, which sent the deranged artist crashing through a wall.

{Did we get him?} the speedster asked warily when Cohen didn't come out of the hole that his body made.

A huge explosion suddenly decimated the remains of the wall to reveal an extremely cross Cohen. He was fuming in both meanings as his rage became more evident when smoke started to pour out of his mouth and nostrils like a demon straight out of hell.

"No, no, NO!" the berserk Splicer screamed, "Don't you see? I am trying to fill the disgusting city with beauty. And you brats are getting in my way!"

"I will burn you all to cinders!" he raised both of his hands in the air. A fireball began to form between his palms. But this was no ordinary fireball; it was expanding until it became bigger than the man who called it out.

The Team decided then and there to do the most sensible thing in this kind of situation such as getting the hell out of there!

Kid Flash grabbed Robin and Artemis by the cuff of their shirt as he ran to the hole that led to the outside. Aqualad with Miss Martian still passed out on his shoulder then closely followed them. They were able to jumped out of the building in the nick of time as a huge explosion blew up a large portion of the building.

A nearby fire hydrant burst open, sending out a powerful flow of water that was manipulated by the Atlantean to catch the Team before they hit the ground. The water acted as some kind of platform for the young heroes that slowly placed them to the ground.

A few minutes later, the dilapidated building started to collapse on itself, its structural integrity not being capable of withstanding the damages done to it. It may have been a short fight but the building was already old and broken down so it was a miracle that it didn't breakdown earlier and while the Team was still inside.

"Did you think that he survived that?" Artemis asked no one in particular, still staring at the remains of the building. She was not really expecting the answer to be a "no" but she was hoping that it would be the end for the mad man.

"If he was a normal human, then there's no way for him to have survive that," Robin said.

"But he is far from that or at least…not anymore," Aqualad narrowed his eyes at the scene before them.

There was a high possibility that Cohen was still alive because the man probably had immunity to fire or a resistance to it with his pyrokinesis. Not just that, he also had the ability to teleport like Siren except it appeared to be weaker than the Rapturian.

So it was safe to say that they have not seen the last of Sander Cohen.

00000

It had already been more than three hours since Siren was separated from the group and it had been almost three hours since they were able to successfully contact her. Now they were in Arcadia, off to meet up with an associate of Dr. Tenenbaum.

Navigating through the sunken city had been difficult without the Alpha Big Sister but they still had the map to the city with them so they weren't completely lost. Though they did take a couple of wrong turns every now and then. Eventually, they made it to the only botanical garden in Rapture.

On several occasions when they first entered the manmade forest, a new type of Splicers attacked them. This new type could teleport and throw fireballs, quite similar to how a Big Sister fights but they were physically weak compared to them so the Justice League and Superboy didn't have any difficulty in subduing them.

The communicator began to beep, signaling an incoming call.

[Oh yes, there was one thing that I forgot to mention about Herr Porter.] the voice of Dr. Tenenbaum spoke through the radio.

"What is that?" Batman asked.

[He's…not like you. He was forced to undergo extreme splicing that severely altered his genetic code. Despite all of that, he still retained his clear state of mind so you don't have to worry about him losing control.]

The Dark Knight couldn't help but be suspicious at learning this information. He couldn't be the World's Greatest Detective if he wasn't skeptical about everything. So far, he only knew of two people who were heavily spliced yet still kept their sanity and those were Eleanor Lamb and her father, Subject Delta.

He disregarded the idea that Porter was like Siren since she was a special case and the fact that Porter was clearly male. Siren had explained to him that preadolescent girls were the only viable host for the ADAM sea slug on a biological and technical level. So that left him with one theory.

"He's a Big Daddy, isn't he?" it was more of a statement than a question but the woman's silence was the answer that he needed.

Before anymore could be said, Superboy suddenly turned to glare behind them, eyes narrowing and muscles tensing.

"The Big Sister's following us," he announced to them as he saw the female Protector prowling in the shadows made by the trees with his x-ray vision. He could see the bones of the slim figure crouched in a stance that didn't look overtly hostile. It just seemed like she was merely observing them.

"She must be trying to see if we're a threat since we don't look like we're Splicers," the Kryptonian thought, eyes not leaving the Big Sister.

00000

Superboy was correct. The Big Sister was merely watching them, having never seen any other normal humans before besides Mother Lamb. But the reason for her actions was different to what he thought it was.

Big Sister Iota couldn't help but be fascinated by these new specimens especially the one with black hair and blue eyes. It looked younger than the other monsters and it was most likely around the same age as her.

She didn't know what drew her to the creature. Was it the fact that in spite of not sensing any ADAM in its body, it can still easily overpower other monsters?

Iota had witness it casually tossing aside Splicers like there were ragdolls. It was like a Big Daddy without his armor, battling his way through many monsters to protect his Little Sister. It's how she imagined what a hero who was saving others would look like.

The Big Sister violently shook her head as blood was rushing up her face. She was baffled by this unknown sensation that she was having. Was she sick or something? Perhaps she had eaten something that didn't entirely agree with her?

She shook her head again.

No, that would be impossible because she was incapable of getting sick ever since she became a Little Sister.

The adolescent Sister was broken out of her thoughts when the monster that she was admiring turned to scowl in her direction as if it could see her. It didn't seem likely though since she was hidden far away from their location where she could watch them with her enhanced vision.

At that moment, their eyes met. Piercing blue ones made contact with the eerie glowing yellow eyes of the Big Sister though the former couldn't see the latter's eyes due to the helmet. But it was enough to make Iota's heart throb uncontrollably like it was attempting to come out through her chest. She also became incredibly light-headed up to the point where she couldn't take it anymore and then fainted.

00000

Back with Superboy and the Justice League

Superboy rushed off to where the Big Sister had fallen after seeing her suddenly collapse. Earlier, one of the Splicers that tried to attack them suddenly collapsed even though none of them had touched the mutant. The Justice League didn't know what happened exactly but he did through his super hearing. The Splicer's heart just stopped beating.

He recalled that ADAM was slowly killing them and that eventually all of their bodily functions would cease to work. He thought that the same or something similar was happening to the Big Sister. Siren may have told them that the bodies of Big Sisters don't degenerate because of the sea slug implanted inside of them but she also said that Big Sisters were a relatively new discovery and there were not much findings concerning about prolonged exposure to ADAM.

He did know one thing though and that ADAM was unstable. Siren may have been the only Big Sister that retained their right state of mind but Connor couldn't help but be a little disturbed when he saw the English girl confront the enemy Big Sister. It seemed that ADAM left even Eleanor unstable and there was no telling if it would happen again or worse.

These thoughts flowed through his mind as he made his way to the unconscious form of the Big Sister.

00000

Siren and Zeta

The memories of the fight with the Big Sister were finally coming back to Siren. She was quite brutal against her opponent but she was glad to see that she didn't try to kill her despite being consumed by bloodlust. With a little help from her father, she subconsciously held back her full strength so she wouldn't kill the Big Sister. She had many chances to finish her up but she didn't. Batman must've had one bloody hell of an impression on her.

Siren then frowned when she remembered the exact Plasmids that she used against the Big Sister. The last Plasmid that she used was Insect Swarm but the problem was that she didn't even equip it when she was at the Gene Bank. She only filled the six Plasmid slots with Telekinesis, Teleportation, Incinerate, Electro Bolt, Winter Blast, and Cyclone Trap, not Insect Swarm.

She activated Insect Swarm to see if she really did have it in her arsenal. She was hardly surprised to find several honeycomb-like growths around the palm of her glove with half a dozen hornet-like insects crawling along them.

A surge of memory that was not her own hit her.

The pathetic excuse of man also known as Stanley Poole stood before the Big Daddy. The rat pleaded for mercy and gave out promises that the Protector could easily tell were false. Each word only served to anger the metal giant even more until he could no longer stand it.

With a mighty roar, Subject Delta grabbed the man by the neck and slammed him to the wall. Honeycomb-like growths appeared on the palm of the Big Daddy's free hand. He then forced open Poole's mouth with his big fingers. Once the snitch's mouth was opened wide enough, Delta let loose a swarm of killer bees down the man's throat. He watched the man's body thrash in pain. Having numerous insects pelting your insides with countless stings would do that to anyone.

A strangled barking sound was then produced by his marred voice box. Delta wondered what this noise that was coming out of his mouth was. He then had a moment of clarity of what it was: laughter.

He took joy from killing the selfish man responsible for his lost humanity. Stanley Poole was guilty for ruining Johnny Topside's life and God knows how many more. Now, Delta took his life for the man that the Big Daddy once was, for the many prisoners that Poole had turned in, and most importantly for his daughter, Eleanor.

Siren was pulled out of her father's memories when she suddenly heard a groan. Acting on instincts and reflexes acquired from experience, she jumped to her feet with hands raised, ready to summon a swarm of bees at any possible assailants.

But she froze in a metaphorical way when she noticed that it came from where she had placed the Big Sister. Many possibilities ran through Eleanor's highly analytical mind but only one out of all of them was deemed the most likely: the Big Sister was waking up.

00000

Gotham City

In a dark alleyway, a red smoke erupted out of nowhere and after it quickly dissipated, Sander Cohen walked deeper into the dark streets, brushing the ashes off his badly torn suit. He stared at the burning building with an unreadable expression on his face.

Cohen could feel that someone was standing behind him; he slowly turned around to see whom it was. Most people would run at the mere presence of the man standing there and even more would not like to be in the same room but not Cohen. He felt that he had found a kindred spirit, someone that shared his passion and then the said person started to clap his hands.

"Bravo my friend, you really do know how to handle the kids," the man said to him.

"Who are you?"

Instead of answering him, the man threw a newspaper on the ground, the headline said: KILLER ON THE LOOSE, THE MACABRE ARTIST STRIKES AGAIN and there were also some pictures of his work. The man slowly started to come out from the shadow, to reveal a pale white man with a big red smile. He flipped a card from his sleeve in one move.

The card turned out to be a playing card, the Joker to be precise.

"Here's my card. I'm a big fan of yours. Maybe we could work together sometimes, hmm?"

Cohen took the card while studying the man before him and the fire was starting to spread behind them.

The Joker looked around him before turning back to Cohen.

"You know what? It's starting to become to hot here for my taste, what do you say that we go some where more private...without the brats?"

Cohen gave him a smile before putting the card away.

"I'm always glad to meet a fan...And yes, I would very much like to go somewhere else...from those awful kids."

AN:

I apologize that this chapter wasn't as long as the previous ones. I just have a lot of stuff that I need to do at the moment. I'll try to wrap up the Deep End arc in one or two more chapters.

Pls. Review.