If you do not read my other story, let me explain why I have not updated. I was in the hospital for about two weeks for non-COVID reasons. I have been gradually recovering for the past three weeks after that. I finally recovered enough to concentrate and write these stories properly. Thank you for understanding.
Chapter 9: Rescue the Criminals
Ivy looked at Harley, who just shrugged her shoulders the best she could while chained to a wall. The unmasked clown princess looked back at the Archivist, "Are we supposed to know who this 'Ken Tennessee' is?"
"I think he said Ben Tennyson."
"Yeah! That guy! Fen Tennis!"
"Harley..."
"What?"
"Silence!" The Archivist stomped on the ground, the metal groaning from the sheer force of the blow, "If you do not know Ben Tennyson, then be silent!" The strange creature paced back and forth, muttering to itself and swinging its smaller, deformed arm around, clearly agitated.
"That doesn't seem good..." Ivy bit her lip. The Archivist was, obviously, missing a few screws from the very beginning, not just because of his appearance but the unhinged air he seemed to walk around with. It was not hyper like Harley, or a state of being like Joker, but an animal that had been broken and pushed too far. Whatever was agitating him, did not bode well for those who were his prisoners.
"Master Vilgax! That is a brilliant plan, yes...yes... The spare parts, I can make use of them. The drones have proven to be no match for Tennyson before. Something new, something unexpected! Brilliant master, indeed sir..." The Archivist spoke to nothing, groveling and bowing to the empty air. Most of the prisoners looked at one another in fright and disdain, some of them having seen similar states of beings from their prolonged time at Arkham.
"I will begin immediately Master Vilgax! Oh yes, oh yes!" The Archivist turned, scurrying out of the room in excitement.
Silence filled the room, dread quickly following as a few of the prisoners resumed their whimpering, having stopped before in terror of the Archivist noticing.
Harley turned her head towards Ivy, her eyes deadly serious, "I bet he'd be a blast at a rave."
/o/
"Well this isn't good..."
Gwen and the motley group of superheroes currently squeezed into the Batmobile, were currently at the edge of Gotham Bay, the hovering piece of alien tech Gwen was using dropping onto the ground.
"Problem?" Batman came up behind Gwen, Ben close behind as Batgirl and Supergirl stretched by the Batmobile.
"The tracking spell stopped. I'm not sure why exactly, but it got us this far. Only problem is, by my last reading, the origin of Vilgax's robots is probably underwater, out there." Gwen pointed out towards the ocean.
"Gee Gwen, that's a real small radius to cover. I mean it's only the freaken Atlantic ocean! You've got to be kidding me!" Ben slapped a hand to his forehead, shaking his head as he let out a sigh.
"Hey! That's why I said this wasn't good, and I told you the tracking spell is not perfect!"
"Gwen, if it pointed us towards a mountain range I would complain less! At least that would have a reasonable limit! This is the ocean we're talking about here."
"Oh yeah? If you're so good, why don't you track the drones? Huh? I don't see you doing anything helpful!"
"Children. Enough." Batman stepped between the two bickering cousins, "I know you're both on edge because of this old enemy of yours, but we don't have time for this. Gwen, the information you got us is enough, this means that we don't have to waste resources looking around the whole of Gotham City, or the areas around it. These drones have only appeared in Gotham from the reports I have seen so far, so that means their base can't be too far off from the city limits. I'll have Fox focus Wayne Industry satellites to a thousand square miles off of Gotham Bay, since I already checked there a few nights ago for any sort of base."
Both cousins nodded at the Dark Knight as Batgirl and Supergirl approached the trio, "Lovers' spat?"
"We're cousins."
"Eh, not the weirdest thing ever..."
"Barbara!"
"It's Batgirl while I'm dressed like this, Lucky Girl."
Ben turned to Batman, an eyebrow raised, "You have a satellite?"
"Satellites"
"How rich are you?"
Batman actually smirked as he ended his call with Fox, "Enough."
"And how much is enough?"
"Enough to put me on equal footing as Superman."
"So cool..."
The three girls looked at Ben and Batman, before looking at each other. Gwen rolled her eyes, "Boys."
Batgirl and Supergirl nodded their heads in agreement.
/o/
Turns out, when you own a multi-billion dollar company whose one of the biggest tech companies in the world, directing a satellite or three was a pretty quick process. Fox had news for them in only a couple of minutes, letting the team know that a few miles out from Gotham Bay, there was a concentration of energy similar to that of the drones. Summoning the Batboat, Batman plus four teen superheroes journeyed out to the middle of the ocean, right on top of the base's location.
"Thank you Fox, if I don't contact you within twelve hours, you know what to do."
"Of course Mister Wayne, though I pray to God it does not come to that."
Ending the transmission, Batman turned to the four teens, "We've located their base of operations. Judging by the images Fox was able to see of the surface, the base is located deep underwater. We'll be heading under." Batman held up a metal cylinder, roughly the size of his palm, "These are emergency rebreathers, in case you get stuck out in the water, they will last you an hour. Do not try to use them for an underwater battle. If worse comes to worse, swim up and make do with battling near the surface, understand?"
Each hero nodded, gratefully accepting the small contraption along with pairs of underwater goggles.
Ben doubted that he would need one, but took one in case of an emergency. One of the others could lose theirs or have theirs get damaged.
"Are we all ready?"
"Hold on, can you open the hatch? Let me suit up." All eyes turned to Ben, who was cycling through his watch while Batman opened the Batboat up. Nodding his head, Ben stood up, "Guess I'll go with this one, it's hero time!"
Ben jumped out of the boat, slamming his hand down onto his watch at the same time. A green flash enveloped him just before he touched the surface of the water. A big splash shook the boat, making the rest of the heroes grip their seats.
When four sets of eyes looked over the edge of the boat, two gasped when they saw a big mechanical head sticking out from the surface of the water. It was rounded at the top, with two cup shaped glass horns sticking out from its head, filled with water. Green eyes stared back in amusement, his voice a slightly higher pitch than usual, "Gets em every time!"
Batgirl recovered from shock faster than Supergirl, trying to look nonchalant, "Not bad Tennyson, but you'll run out of new tricks eventually."
"There's potentially ten million species in my watch."
This time, Batgirl could not hide her surprise as Supergirl let out a low whistle, "Hot damn."
"I haven't seen that one before." Gwen looked down at the red robot-like creature, "You're sure it can fight and breath underwater?"
"I'm sure Gwen, the watch gives me a kind of really basic run down when I am looking through the aliens in the watch. This one is called... Overflow!"
"Overflowing with a big ego?"
"Bite me, not-Batman."
"That's Batwoman to you."
"You're not old enough to be called that."
"Guys? More important things to do right now?" Gwen shook her head, turning to look at Batman, "I'm sorry about him."
Batman let the barest of smiles grace his lips, "I'm sorry about her."
Both Overflow and Batgirl responded with a 'I resent that' before trying to jinx one another.
"Alright. Overflow, stay close to the boat. While it is made to be tough, underwater combat is always tricky. If there is trouble, we will be relying on you to handle the brunt of it."
"Got it." Overflow gave a small salute before diving under.
"Seat belts." Batman sat back down in his seat, pressing a button to close the hatch before putting on his own harness. The others quickly followed suit as the Batboat started to dive, its form changing slightly to accommodate the new environment and becoming a Batsubmarine. Batman took manual control, predicting that any auto navigation would be scrambled the closer they got to the base.
The three girls looked out the viewing port to see Overflow swimming alongside them, waving. Supergirl and Gwen, now going by Lucky Girl, waved back while Batgirl stuck her tongue out and made faces at him the best she could with a cowl on.
Overflow, having a robotic face, could not manage the same range Batgirl could, but did his best to make funny faces.
"We're nearing the base." At Batman's words, Batgirl pointed to the front to let Overflow know.
Nodding his head, Overflow pushed his arms behind him, firing a stream of water from the cannons attached to his forearms and propelling himself forward and ahead of the Batsub.
Lucky Girl let out a small gasp, recognizing their destination instantly. The base, as it turned out, was actually half of a battleship. One from Vilgax's fleet.
"You recognize it." Batman kept his attention forward, but having heard Lucky Girl's quiet gasp.
"Yes... It's part of a battleship, one of many. Part of Vilgax's fleet." If any of them heard Lucky Girl's voice tremble, none commented on it.
"Hey! The side is opening up! Drones are pouring out!" Supergirl's sharp eyesight could see what was happening far before any of the others could.
"How many?" Batman readied the torpedoes, pressing a few buttons here and there.
"Too many!"
"Get your rebreathers and goggles ready! I don't think the sub will last long."
"And there goes another Bat vehicle... Alfred is going to have a fit." Batgirl muttered under her breath as she pulled out her own rebreather, getting ready to use it at a moment's notice.
"Lucky Girl, how well can you move around underwater with your powers?"
"Pretty well, why?"
"I only have have two DPVs that we can use. Batgirl and I will need them if we are forced underwater."
"DPVs?"
Batgirl spoke up from the back, "Diver Propulsion Vehicles. It's like an underwater scooter that divers use to move faster underwater."
"Got it, I'll be fine Batman. Just worry about yourself and Batgirl."
Batman nodded as Supergirl pointed, "Here they come!"
Red beams of heat sliced through the water, just barely missing the submarine thanks to Batman veering to the left. Two torpedoes fired back in retaliation, hitting two of the drones and exploding.
Overflow, using the water cannons on his arms, fired high speed ropes of water, cutting through three drones simultaneously. He made sure not to stray too far from the Batsub, keeping in mind Batman's instructions as he fired blasts of high pressure water left and right.
The drones numbered at maybe thirty now, swarming around the two targets like jellyfish as they fired streaks of red laser through the ocean water without a problem. Overflow's head snapped back as one of the shots pierced the Batsub's left side, causing sparks but not inflicting enough damage to make it stop.
Back inside the submarine, Batgirl cried out in alarm, "We're hit!"
Batman maneuvered the sub to the left, grunting at how the controls were starting to fight him, "We still have motor functions, if there is a leak, call it out! Just a few more meters before we eject. I'll give a count down of five, put your goggles on, prepare your rebreathers and release your seat belts when I do!" The three girls nodded, slipping their goggles over their eyes in preparation.
Outside, they could see Overflow battling drones left and right, using a continuous burst of water from his cannons as a blade, cutting the drones that came too close with their metal tentacles trying to grab at him.
As soon as the sub got close enough to the sunken battleship to satisfy him, Batman called out in a loud voice, "Five!" The girls immediately put their rebreathers into their mouths, "Four!" They released the harnesses keeping them secured then prepared for the coldness of the ocean, "Three! Two! One!" Batman slipped his own rebreather into his mouth and goggles over his eyes, unclasping his seat belt before slamming his fist onto the eject button on the side.
The top of the Batsub shot off, flooding the compartment with water almost instantly. Supergirl moved the fastest, shooting away from the now sinking submarine with her super strength and slamming her fist into one of the drones that came near.
Purple tendrils shot out from Lucky Girl's hands, wrapping around two drones before smashing them together. Batman and Batgirl each held onto a DPV, quickly making their way towards the battleship.
Lucky Girl, Supergirl and Overflow formed a semi circle, covering Batgirl and Batman's backs as they reached the side of the battleship. Taking out two rectangular devices each, Batman and Batgirl set breaching charges on the hull of the battleship before swimming back. Both nodded simultaneously before pressing the detonators on their belts. A small underwater explosion covered their sights before clearing.
To their disappointment and slight shock, there was barely a scratch on the ship.
Batman signaled towards Overflow, the red alien swimming over, his voice coming out clear as day despite being underwater somehow, "What's up?"
Batgirl pointed towards the ship before making motions with her fingers indicating a square then pushed her hand forward.
Nodding his head, Overflow swam up to the hull of the battleship, pressing his hand cannons against the surface before upping the water pressure. The ropes of water cut through the metal like butter, piercing all the way through before Overflow started slowly moving his arms in the shape of a large square, creating a human sized hole on the side. The metal square he cut blew out of the ship's hull from the sudden decrease in pressure, forcing Overflow to dodge right as water rushed into the sunken battleship.
"Lucky Girl! Supergirl!" Overflow shouted across the water, catching his cousin's and Supergirl's attentions. When they saw Batman and Batgirl swimming into the battleship, both ladies nodded before quickly making their way towards the hole.
Overflow fired shot after shot of water, covering them as they made their way inside. As soon as they were through, he took a deep breath before pressing the Omnitrix symbol on his chest, changing into Diamondhead in an instant. He quickly made his way inside the ship turning around and just managing to cover the hole with his crystals before any of the drones outside could reach through.
Panting heavily, Diamondhead stayed on his hands and knees, water dripping off of him as he stared at the dark metal floor covered in a layer of seawater.
"Is everyone alright?" Batman switched on a flashlight, providing them with some light.
"I'm here."
"Present."
"Thank god the suit was made to be water resistant."
Diamondhead just waved a hand, indicating he needed a minute.
Batman nodded before taking a look around. As soon as he and Batgirl had entered, they were prepared for a fight but nothing had happened. There were no guards, no drones, not even an alarm when they entered. The lights were dim or more so, Batman suspected, on emergency lights. It barely lit up the room they were currently in, some kind of storage center judging by the empty glass tanks and crates.
"Strange, if our attack did not trigger the alarm, I expected a breach in the hull to have." Batgirl looked around, doing her best to squeeze water out of her red hair that stuck out from under her cowl. Robin had once suggested she cut it short so it did not stick out, but she vetoed the idea with a frosty glare. She stated how hair was a girl's pride and that boys did not get to decide how or if they should cut it. The Boy Wonder had wisely dropped the subject after that.
Lucky Girl and Supergirl were doing the same with their hair, looking around the place as well.
"I suspect this ship is running on limited power. If what Lucky Girl said was right, this is only half of a fully functioning battleship." Batman moved towards the door, testing if it would open automatically. When nothing happened, he started to feel around the door, looking for some kind of manual override.
"A space battleship." Diamondhead had caught his breath, standing by his cousin to make sure she was alright. The other two girls rolled their eyes at how Ben had to make that distinction clear, as if battleship was not a cool enough description for their current location.
"Ben, it's not in space." Lucky Girl gave Diamondhead an amused smile.
"But it's meant to be in space. It's a spaceship, but way bigger and meant for battle. So it's a space battleship."
"Grow up, Tennyson."
"Bite me, Gordon."
"You have to buy me dinner first."
"Are you asking me out?"
"In your dreams."
"Which are not about you in any way."
"Guys!" Lucky Girl shook her head, still smiling but purposely walking in between the two, making her way over to help Batman.
The Dark Knight was looking the door up and down, glancing at Lucky Girl when she came over, "Something isn't right."
"What do you mean?"
"The state of this ship, the drones abducting criminals in such mass quantities, how you described your old enemy, none of this adds up to make sense. Something is off."
Lucky Girl shot two purple tendrils out from her hand, piercing the door in the middle and slowly ripping them open to make a doorway, "Vilgax is tricky half the time, straightforward the other. We've learned to just not underestimate him and proceed carefully."
Batman nodded in agreement before turning to address the other three, "Come on. And stay quiet unless absolutely necessary. We don't know what to expect beyond this point."
Diamondhead and Batgirl quieted down, nodding their heads. Supergirl raised a hand, "Let me go first then, even without a flashlight, my eyes are better than all of yours. I'll see trouble coming."
"Alright, Supergirl will take point with me, Lucky Girl and Batgirl in the middle, Diamondhead you will take up the rear."
Batgirl looked at the crystal-being besides her, "Diamondhead? Was that the best name you could come up with?"
"Hey! I was ten years old!"
"Wait, you're not ten years old now?"
Supergirl laughed, covering her mouth with her hand before making her way to the door.
As Batgirl smugly followed her, Diamondhead grumbling under his breath, vowing his revenge.
/0/
Supergirl strode forward with confidence, squinting her eyes a bit. Unlike her cousin, she was still developing her own powers and needed to focus a bit more to use her x-ray vision properly. She shook her head, turning her x-ray vision off, "This place is so big, even seeing through a few layers of the ship is not really helping me. I just see more empty rooms and barely lit corridors."
Batman had his flashlight pointing down the hall, the strong beam of light somehow making the metal hallway look more, foreboding.
"The prisoners are probably on the lower levels. More space for the amount of prisoners they abducted. If they are trying to conserve power, they probably have everything withdrawn from eighty percent of the ship. I'm going to bet that if we find the prisoners, whoever is behind all this is going to be close by." Lucky Girl had her right hand lifted up in the air, a purple sphere of mana surrounding her fist and providing more light around the group while Batman shined his flashlight towards the front.
"Vilgax will probably be gloating to the prisoners, being the smug squid-face he is..." Diamondhead snarled, balling his hands into tight fists.
"We don't even know if Vilgax is here Ben."
"Come on Gwen, if that blast didn't kill us but send us here, then there is a high chance that Vilgax was sent here too. He was within the range of that blast."
Lucky Girl's lips thinned, her expression turning into a frown.
"Stop." Supergirl held her hand up, making everyone get into their battle stances, "I hear something."
Everyone stopped to listen, but no one else heard anything but the silence.
Trusting Supergirl's super-hearing, Batman stepped closer to her, "What do you hear?"
Supergirl frowned, tilting her head slightly, "It's...like a shuffling. Feet dragging against the floor?"
"Mechanical?"
"No it's not a drone, the sound is too...light. Organic. But it's...weird."
Batgirl shared a look with Lucky Girl before turning back to her best friend, "Weird how?"
"It's an uneven drag and step, I would say someone is dragging something but it sounds...off. It's getting closer." Supergirl pointed forward, everyone getting ready as Batman shined his flashlight towards the end of the hall.
At that moment, from around the corner, a hand gripped the wall, as if someone had fallen and was using it for support. When they saw it was a human hand, everyone but Batman relaxed.
"Maybe it's one of the prisoners. Did they escape?" When Lucky Girl made to take a step forward, Batman snapped his arm out, stopping any of them from moving. Lucky Girl looked up at the Dark Knight, "Batman?"
A low moan filled the air, the sound making the girls shiver. While it sounded human, something about the tone made their skins crawl. What followed the hand around the corner made them want to vomit.
It used to be human, that much was clear. Whatever it was, had a human face that was disfigured and sagging to the right, missing half of its hair while the other half was in patches. The left arm was stubby, overweight while the right one was long, and lanky. Too long, like someone had stretched it out so much that it was hanging down the creature's side and dragging a few feet behind. The monstrosity's body was tilted towards the right, making it favor its right leg which was unfortunate, because it seemed broken. Its left leg looked normal, covered in a khaki's pant leg and a boot while the other leg was bare and sickly. The right ankle was bent in a weird way, forcing it to drag its foot sideways across the metal floor. The skin was a sickly green, eyes glossed over and its lower lip protruding out in an eternal pout. No ears were visible, only two holes being where they should have been.
It was shuffling forward, dragging its arm behind itself. With every few steps it took, it would let out a long, drawn out moan.
"What in the living hell is that?!" Batgirl took a step back, fighting hard not to lose her lunch.
"My god... Is that...is that a person?" Lucky Girl felt sick but also heart broken, seeing the pain the unfortunate creature seemed to be in.
"Is that what happened to the prisoners? Why the hell would anyone do that?" Supergirl pointed at the monster, her body shaking with rage.
"Vilgax is a monster, plain and simple. Although I don't know why he did this, it doesn't surprise me." Diamondhead's voice was hard, full of anger but not surprise.
"This is bad. Criminals from Gotham have been disappearing for days, maybe weeks. If this is what he has been doing, I fear we won't find many people to rescue." Batman kept his gaze on the thing shuffling forward. He doubted whoever made this creature just let it wander around the ship. Did they release purposely? Hoping the heroes would be discouraged? From what he had heard about this Vilgax, he did not doubt it, but was that all?
"We should help it..." Lucky Girl spoke softly, taking a few steps towards the deformed creature, "We can't just leave it like this..."
"Lucky Girl, wait!" Batman jumped forward, grabbing Lucky Girl around the waist and yanking her back and away just in time. The creature had stiffened when Lucky Girl got close, the barest signs being enough for Batman to see. Faster than any of them thought was possibly, the creature had lashed its long arm out like a whip, slamming its hand into the metal wall where Lucky Girl had been standing.
"What the hell?" Batgirl drew one of her explosive batarangs, chucking it at the creature. The small explosion was made to disarm or knock back, not be lethal in any way but the creature before them exploded into goo, green spews bursting everywhere.
"Ew, gross!" Supergirl stepped back, a foul stench filling the air.
"Did I just...kill him?" Batgirl looked stunned, still staring at where the creature was.
"It. It was no longer human." Batman nodded at Lucky Girl who thanked him for the save, before turning to look at Batgirl, "That was not human, that was an unfortunate man's body that was twisted into a weapon. You did not kill anyone, you defended yourself against a monster. Do not doubt that."
Batgirl nodded a little numbly, her hands shaking a bit. Batman internally grimaced. This situation was not what he had in mind, and they were treading on dangerous grounds. This was a psychological attack as much as it was a physical one. This Vilgax was not just evil, he was sadistic.
"Guys... I hate to be the bearer of bad news...but more incoming." Supergirl pointed down the hall again where more creatures were stumbling around the corner. They were in different states of grotesque deformity, as if someone had hacked and sewn people together in random, mismatched ways.
"This is horrible..." Lucky Girl shook her head, "It's so senseless..."
"The enemy is trying to shake us, and make us careless. Stand firm, and stay together!" Batman drew his taser knuckles, charging them up.
"They're already gone, not even the watch can fix someone like this. The least we can do is...give them peace." Diamondhead transformed his hands into blades, pointing them at the creatures and firing shots of sharp crystals. A few tanked the shots, having their bodies pierced but still moving forward while others crumbled to the ground from the damage.
"He's right." Supergirl refrained from using her heat vision, having seen what Batgirl's explosive did to the first one they saw. She shot forward, slamming her fist into one of the creatures that came close and sent it flying down the hall.
Batgirl nodded, drawing a collapsible staff from her belt and activating it. She twirled the metal staff around her body before charging at the creatures alongside Batman. Lucky Girl drew mana to her hands, twisting her hands together as she shot two tendrils of purple energy out to slam a group of the deformed creatures away.
Diamondhead charged forward, switching from long range to close combat since his teams took the offensive, "Whoever did this, is going to pay..."
/0/
"Hey, did ya hear that?"
"The only thing I can hear is your damn singing, Harley..."
"Aw shucks Red, yer makin me blush!"
"That's not what I- You know what, forget it."
"What I mean is, don't ya hear that? Sounds like fighting." Harley gestured with her eyes upward.
Ivy blinked before straining her ears. All she heard were the snores or whimpers of the other prisoners, the occasional creak of metal and rattling of chains. "I don't hear anything hon."
"Really? I am pretty sure I hear Batman fighting."
"Harley..."
"What? I do!"
"Why would Batman be fighting, here of all places?"
"Maybe he's coming to rescue us!"
"Now I know you're crazy."
"Oh come on Red! You know Batsy has always looked out for us, despite us being criminals. He wouldn't leave us to die down here like this."
"Harley, Batman does not 'look out for us' in any way!"
"Ah ah! Red, I know for a fact Batsy has rescued you once or twice before when you were in a pickle! Same for me actually. Batsy might fight us and throw us in prison, but he'd never let us die or get too hurt."
Ivy opened her mouth to retort but froze, thinking about it for a few moments. Now that she mentioned it, Harley was right in that regard. Still... "I think you put too much faith in Batman."
"Wanna bet?"
"No Harley."
"Bet all your stuff! I'll bet all my stuff!"
"Harley no..."
"Harley YES!"
/0/
Batman had the sudden strange feeling a clown was thinking about him. He really hoped he was not going crazy, much like his arch-nemesis. The Dark Knight dodged the over sized hand of one of the deformed creatures trying to grab his neck, slamming one of his taser knuckles into its side and using the full blast. The creature let out a horrifying scream, convulsing before dropping to the ground. He learned early on that using the low setting did nothing to these creatures, so upped the amp to one he would use on supers. Not quite the Superman setting but close.
He turned around to see the team had taken down the rest of the creatures, all of them looking uninjured but clearly disturbed.
"When I find this Vilgax guy, I'm punching him in the face. Twice. Maybe thrice." Supergirl wiped some gunk she hoped to never know from where, off of her shirt.
"Fine with me." Batgirl collapsed her staff, placing it on her belt with an angry huff.
"You need to get in line, Vilgax is mine." Diamondhead was over by Lucky Girl, making sure she was fine before glaring down at one of the downed creatures.
"We can decide who gets to hurt whom later. We need to move. If this is what is being done to the stolen prisoners, then we need to hurry. They may be criminals, but they do not deserve this." Batman kept his knuckles on but made sure to keep the charge off for now. He turned, making his way down the hall, "Supergirl, seeing as how we ran into a horde of these creatures, try looking with your x-ray vision again. We might be getting closer."
Supergirl nodded before switching her vision, looking left and right then up and down, "I see some prisoners! A lot of them down below. Maybe four or five levels down. They're in a big open room, chained to the walls. Some are in some kind of...stasis pod in the floors." Supergirl then looked back up, "There are more creatures spread randomly around the corridors, but it looks like all the ones on our level came towards us when the first one exploded."
Diamondhead spoke up, "Do you see Vilgax anywhere? He is big, really big. Roughly twelve feet tall, squid face, and usually wearing armor."
Supergirl took another look around before shaking her head, "I don't see anyone like that but I do see a room I can't see into. It's shielded by some kind of energy field. But it drawing a lot of power, my infrared vision can see a lot of head centered there. I'm betting he's in there."
"Alright. Batgirl, Supergirl, Lucky Girl. Head below, free the prisoners. Diamondhead and I will head towards the shielded room." When Lucky Girl made to argue, Batman held his hand up, "There is a reason I separated the teams like this. Batgirl is the most familiar with the criminals of Gotham next to me. Having her there would make it easier to deal with them. Lucky Girl, you are the only one with the power to evacuate all of the prisoners if the need arises. I am assuming you can make some sort of bubble with your powers to keep air in and water out." Lucky Girl nodded slowly, "Which means, we would need someone on the outside to protect you if the need arises. Supergirl is the most suited for that role."
Batman turned to look at Diamondhead, "I need Diamondhead with me because only you and him are familiar with this environment and technology, as well as the enemy we are now facing. If you are helping the prisoners, then I need Diamondhead with me to confront the enemy."
Lucky Girl still looked like she wanted to go with Batman but nodded her head again, "You're right, I'm best suited to help the prisoners get out of here, and their safety should be the priority."
"Thank you for understanding." Batman turned to Supergirl, taking her aside to talk to her about where to go and how far they needed to move up.
"Ben?" Lucky Girl touched her cousin's crystal arm, "You okay?"
"Yeah I just... I didn't expect..." Diamondhead sighed, scratching at the back of his head, a nervous tick he never quite grew out of as a child, "Vilgax here, the messed up stuff being done. I thought...no, I guess I hoped we wouldn't see him again."
"Me too Ben. But maybe...this is good." When her cousin gave her an incredulous look, she laughed quietly, "I mean, this whole situation is horrible but... This gives us a chance. A chance to find some sort of closure." Her eyes steeled, "Find him Ben. And end this once and for all. For our family. Our friends. For Grandpa."
Diamondhead nodded, placing his forehead to hers, "For Grandpa."
I hope you enjoyed, again if you did not read the beginning notes, I was out of action because I had some health complications that put me in the hospital and had me out of commission for a few months. I am still trying to update better!
Next chapter, the confrontation.