The Inquisitor
Chapter 36
The Injustice Gang Part 5
A/N: So, Mnuchinboogaloo gave a very interesting review and while I did PM him a response, I thought that I'd put it here as well as it was a pretty good question regarding Inquisitor Monroe and thought I should share the answer.
I will say this about Inquisitor Monroe. He has a bit more of an eccentric (by inquisitorial standards) view of things and I think that it wouldn't do to call him either a strictly puritan or a radical. He's a more of a unique take on the *Censored due to spoilers T_T* faction of the Inquisition. And as for him being Puritan or Radical...well he will NEVER use Chaotic weapons or artefacts as he knows full well how using such items will always lead to corruption no matter what the short-term benefits are. That being said however he is willing to accept aid from...other sources like *censored due to spoilers T_T*
-Gotham City, 111 Kane Avenue-
It didn't take long for Batman and Ivy to reach the next group of hostages, especially given how the woman was all but carrying them there on enormous vines. It took only a few minutes for the pair to get to the next level where the hostages were being held. What the two found when they arrived wasn't exactly what they had been expecting. Sure while Batman had no doubt that the sidekicks would be able to take on Parasite and Metallo, there was a part of him that was worried that they might still be fighting or even need help when he arrived. Needless to say, he was pleased to say that he was wrong.
Instead they saw Superboy, Troia, Miss Martian and Aqualad all standing in front of the hostages, their gasmasks donned. That he had somewhat expected given his current company who was arching a crimson eyebrow in either exasperation or bemusement. No one was quite sure which but Batman suspected it was probably a mix of the two.
The first one of the group to speak was Aqualad "Sorry but we need to check a few things here," he stated before holding up a small scanner and waving it in front of them for several seconds. Eventually the machine beeped and Aqualad checked the readout "They're both completely clean of any mind altering spores," he stated before turning to Miss Martian and asked "Anything…nefarious in her thoughts?"
M'gann shook her head after a moment "No," she said, more than a little surprised by her own words "She's completely committed to rescuing the hostages, though there's one in particular she seems really anxious to get out of here, a Doctor Henry Birch. She's also fully willing to be put back in Arkham or 'any other deep dark hole you have,' afterwards." The name of the doctor didn't ring any bells for any of them but Batman seemed like he might know of him.
Still though, even after they confirmed who they were the four who while reluctant, started to remove their gasmasks and when Superboy removed his Batman noticed the telltale signs of Kryptonite exposure. Batman then scanned the room and saw that while the hostages were not only unharmed but relieved, if somewhat apprehensive at having such a well-known supervillain close by. Especially when she started to look them over for a few seconds before she shook her head.
What grabbed Batman's attention though was the dismembered torso of a certain cyborg in the middle of the room and his eyes narrowed "What happened here?" He asked in a tone that brokered no argument.
Almost immediately Aqualad looked somewhat hesitant to speak on the matter as did the others and they looked like they were about to say something when Miss Martian interjected "Parasite managed to copy Superboy's powers and since the only real source of the only thing we had that could stop him was Metallo's kryptonite heart, I decided that it would be the most tactically advantageous to use his. He was also priming his weapons and was aiming them directly at us, so I didn't have time to 'play nice.' Besides he'll be fine, his backup power supply will keep him alive for hours. That's more than enough time to get him to Strikers where they can put in a non-Kryptonite heart to keep him up and running."
The cold clinical way she spoke reminded Batman far too much of the Inquisitor for his liking. The way that the other members of the Team looked at her with both concern and unease "I see. I'll speak with you after the mission but this cannot happen again."
At that Miss Martian looked like she wanted to glare right at the Caped Crusader but said nothing at first but eventually muttered "Don't expect me to hold back or show mercy if it means putting innocent people at risk."
'Too much like the Inquisitor,' thought Batman. He also looked over at the other members of the Team who were becoming even more concerned than they were previously, when they looked at their friend. The whole situation didn't make much sense, true the Inquisitor had been training the Team extensively as of late, but they showed no sign whatsoever of taking on his ways of thinking. Then Batman remembered what had happened in the border region and how Miss Martian had stabbed Match, a clone of Superman along the same vein as Superboy before letting the Inquisitor kill him.
Had something in the young girl's mind snapped during that nightmare, or was it just the start of what was happening now? Either way after the mission, she'd need to be speaking with Black Canary more frequently. Batman would also need to speak with the Inquisitor on this matter. Something was going on and he had every intention of getting to the bottom of it.
However there were other things that they needed to deal with. Immediately Batman turned to look at the rest of the group who looked like they were more than ready to either get the hostages out or move on. Before either could do so however a hauntingly familiar voice came over the PA system.
"Well Batsy it looks like you and your friends have made a two for three victory in our little game, especially after the newcomer came in." The Joker cackled before his voice became far less jovial "Ivy, Harley and I are very disappointed in you, helping out some goody-two-shoes in tights. Why I don't think I've seen Harley seem so disappointed in one of her friends in…well ever. You should be ashamed of yourself, saving innocent people when you should be killing them!"
All in all, the Joker almost sounded like a disappointed parent more than a supervillain at that moment. While to some of the people there it was a surreal experience but from those who knew the Joker it was pretty much par for the course.
"But, I must digress. You and your friends better get up here soon because we've got a gas chamber filled with a lot of innocent people, including some really, really, really aggravating employees from Arkham and if you don't get up here soon, we'll fill them full of happy gas."
The PA cut out with the sounds of the maniac's laughter and the freed hostages shuddered at it. In fact the only one who seemed to either resist the urge to do so or was so used to it was Batman. "Superboy, how are you feeling after you got hit by Parasite?" He asked. Superboy grunted and easily crushed a piece of furniture before answering "Probably the worst headache of my life, but I can fight."
Batman nodded "Good, you'll need to keep the hostages here safe." Counter to what would have happened before, Superboy didn't complain or even try to refuse, instead he just gave a confident yet reassuring look "No one will get past me," he vowed.
His teammates gave him a smile and continued onwards, this time using Poison Ivy's oversized vines as a platform to carry them up to where the last group of hostages were being held.
-Gotham City, 111 Kane Ave. Forty-Eighth Floor-
Doctor Henry Birch and the rest of the hostages had been thrown into a hastily constructed gas chamber at gunpoint from the Joker and his band of thugs. Birch knew that while he wasn't in danger from the Joker Venom thanks to his meta-gene he knew that everyone else in chamber was under very real threat of dying in agony the moment that the Joker decided to push the button on the console just outside the chamber.
The moment he was in, Birch tried to look for any way out but his attempts were stymied by the other hostages who were either panicking, begging for mercy, or Birch's case trying to find a way out. Unfortunately for everyone trapped inside the contraption, while the chamber's construction may have been rushed it was still more than rugged enough to prevent anyone from getting out.
The idea of blocking off the vents with some of their clothing was quickly dismissed as well. Even if it would work, the vents were located too far above them for it to be of any real use. Besides the particles were small enough . Holding their breath was out of the question as well; given how some variants of the Joker's poison gas could just as easily be absorbed through the pores in someone's skin as if they inhaled it. The only difference was that it would take a few extra seconds to take effect rather than almost instantly.
The only one other than him who seemed mostly calm was Lois who looked at him with a sardonic smile and asked "You doing alright doc? You seem pretty calm for someone in this kind of situation."
Birch shook his head and let out a small snicker "Oh, believe me, I'm terrified." He stated, as while his meta-gene would more than likely him alive through all of this, he would prefer not to watch everyone else die horribly around him before being subject to whatever the Joker and his pals would do to him in response to surviving. "What about you? You seem rather collected yourself."
Lois just gave a small, sly smile "This isn't the first time I've been captured by a Supervillain and I hate to say, I've gotten somewhat used to it," She said.
"I'm positive that our rescuers will be here any m-" she started before a loud "boom" could be heard and the resulting shockwave from the explosion shook almost everyone where they stood as the wall separating the outside from the large room exploded inwards. "Aaaaaand there it is." She stated.
What everyone saw wasn't entirely what they had been expecting. They saw Batman and several of the League's sidekicks, which was about normal. What they didn't expect though was the fact that not only was Poison Ivy with them but that she was carrying them up there on a massive platform made out of vines.
They had all heard the Joker's little taunt over the PA system but to actually see it was another thing entirely. The sidekicks, Batman and Ivy immediately jumped off of the platform and surged forwards at the criminals the instant landed.
The moment they hit the floor they rushed forwards. Joker's goons all raised their guns only for them to be flung out of their hands by Miss Martian's telekinesis and far away from them. Lacking any ranged weaponry, each of the thugs pulled out a baton or a bladed implement of some kind.
They didn't stand a chance. The sidekicks began to deal with them quickly and efficiently while Batman and Ivy went straight for Joker and Harley Quinn.
The fight between the Ivy and Quinn though was what drew the entirety of Birch's attention. Harley Quinn was jumping around her former friend, trying to smash her with her comically sized hammer and tried swinging it at her, all while trying to get her friend to come around to her side "Come on red!" She pleaded "You're on the wrong side, we're the good bad guys here not the bad good guys!"
Poison Ivy sent tendrils of vines and roots at Quinn who nimbly jumped, ducked and danced around them with the skill and grace of a professional gymnast. "No! For once I'm doing the right thing! You can stop too Harley! You don't have to be the Joker's little pet, you can be better than that! You can be better than him!" she shouted.
For a brief second the former psychiatrist seemed to consider the offer but then started swinging her hammer again but the way she did it showed how reluctant she was to do so "Well, it looks like I'll have to try and knock some sense inta ya!"
"I could say the same thing to you!"
Birch watched as one former villain and one current villain continued to fight one another with the two either dodging or blocking incoming attacks. Harley was able to dance around almost every strike whenever they came at her, all the while Ivy was able to keep the Joker's girlfriend at a distance and away from her. True Harley could easily pull out one of her comically oversized pistols or any other assortment of lethal ranged weaponry but she never did. She'd likely have a better chance at either stopping or even killing Isley but throughout the fight Harley Quinn's hands never went for her even more lethal assortment.
When Birch realized that he came to the conclusion that Harley, despite fighting against someone who was trying to stop her 'puddin' couldn't bring herself to try and kill a friend. As the fight continued, Ivy eventually managed to get a decent shot in and a vine wrapped around Harley Quinn and hoisted her upwards in an instant. Harley's oversized hammer fell from her grip and she immediately started to reach for her bound leg and began prying at the vines holding her upside-down.
Harley had a look of utter betrayal on her face as she said "I thought we were friends Red!" she almost looked on the brink of tears. Isley looked Harley in the eye, her expression both serious and resigned "Friends don't let friends commit crimes and acts of terrorism."
It was saddening to watch two friends fight but Birch knew that Isley had probably saved her friend. At least temporarily. She'd still be in Arkham but, maybe he could try to reach out to Quinzel there. It was a longshot, to be sure, but it was worth a try.
The sidekicks meanwhile had already taken down the last of Joker's thugs, even those that had clearly been enhanced by the way of some kind of Venom derivative. The Joker was now the only one that was still standing, though considering everything it was kind of a miracle that he was. His face was covered in cuts and bruises and blood was seeping down the side of his mouth and out of one of his nostrils.
Despite his seeming plans all falling down around him he was still grinning like the maniac he was. While most heroes unfamiliar with the clown would simply write off what Joker was doing what he normally did; Batman wasn't fooled for an instant. "It's over Joker, you've lost!"
At that, the Joker smirked and pulled out a small detonator, "Maybe, but I've got one last gag that'll leave everyone in stitches!" Before Batman could try to wrestle the detonator out of the Joker's hands he pressed down on it.
The air pump next to the container that the remaining hostages were trapped in started to churn to life, and everyone knew exactly what was coming next. Almost all of the hostages started to panic and began pounding on the glass in a vain attempt to escape. Even though many of the captives continued to scream as loudly as they could, the only thing that most could hear, was the cackling laugh of the Joker.
Not one to waste time the Caped Crusader's brow furrowed as he pressed a small button on his gauntlet, there was a slight humming noise before the lights went out for a brief second as the power went out taking all the power from the makeshift gas chamber as well. In the dark the hostages missed seeing the perplexed expression on the Joker's face even as Batman drove a brutal right hook straight into the side of Joker's face, sending him sprawling onto the ground, seemingly unconscious.
Batman turned to the rest of the team who had already equipped and activated their night vision goggles "Get them out of that machine! Now!" He ordered.
No one needed to be told twice as Troia and Superboy rushed forwards and quickly ripped the door off its hinges ushering the hostages out of the gas chamber with lit flares to help guide their way. Batman already moved quickly to disarm the device so that when the back-up generators kicked on they wouldn't have to deal with the Joker Venom escaping the chamber.
Within moments they were done and the lights were back on seconds after that. When that happened Batman spoke into his communicator "This is Batman, the last group of hostages have been rescued and the last of the Injustice Gang is in custody."
There were a lot of sounds of relief over the comm. channels when they heard that.
At first Poison Ivy searched the crowd but she quickly zeroed in on one of the hostages in particular and started to make her way towards him. The other hostages who saw her and knew of her started to keep a careful distance from her, despite the anxiety she seemed to be showing.
However before she could say anything a certain warden Sharp who was standing nearby shouted "S-stay back! You degenerate! What are you doing here?!" He blustered indignantly. Doctor Birch simply sent the Warden a flat, extremely annoyed stare and said "Warden Sharp, please do us all a favor and shut the hell up!"
Much to everyone's shock the warden backed down but didn't look all that happy about it. "Hello doctor Birch, are you alright?" She asked sounding more than a little concerned.
He gave a small smile and said "About as well as can be expected." He then gave her a serious look "I assume you didn't hurt anyone during your escape?" He asked and she shook her head.
"the only things that bruised the guards were their pride as I tied them up in some vines roots, but I didn't hurt them." She then had the grace to look somewhat sheepish "Though I did cause a little bit of property damage as I escaped but I made sure none of the plants did any damage to the cells, no one else could have gotten out," she added that last bit at the end to reassure her audience.
"Thanks for not hurting anyone Isley I appreciate it." Birch said with a smile.
At that one of the other hostages started up "Wait, wait, wait!" he yelled "How do we can trust her? How do we know she hasn't hypnotized or whatever it is she does to those heroes and they're going to kill us?!" he demanded causing the crowd to start muttering fearfully amongst themselves. Isley looked a little crestfallen at that but she supposed it was to be expected, she did have a certain reputation for things like this.
Batman and the others looked like they were about to say something in her defense, but Birch beat them to it.
"If she did that then why did she even bother helping us in the first place? Besides if she really wanted any of us dead she would have either had Batman and the other heroes start killing us or use some kind of toxic spores to do it." The speaker then shut his mouth as he realized that fact.
Birch then turned his attention back to Isley and said, "You do realize though that breaking out of Arkham even for this won't look very good for you right?"
Poison Ivy then shook her head, almost incredulous at his priorities "I don't care about that, I only care that you and everyone else is still alive!"
That was something that caused the whisperings to come back, but they weren't hostile or fearful. Instead, they were now extremely curious. 'Wonderful. The rumor mill and the press are going to have a field day with that one.' Thought Birch sardonically.
He turned back to Isley and said "Regardless, thanks for coming to everyone's rescue." With that Isley smiled, it wasn't one of the smirks she had while she was in custody or out committing crimes. Instead, this one seemed almost, shy of all things.
"Excuse me Poison Ivy?" a certain raven-haired reporter asked, having walked up to the front of the group "Would it be possible for me to ask you a few questions?" The former villainess blinked "I'd prefer to be called Isley please. And I guess I could answer a couple."
While Lois Lane started to question Ivy, one of the hostages, a beautiful woman with platinum blonde hair ran over to the heroes and asked "When you rescued the other hostages did you find anyone by the name of Evan Gregory? He's my fiancé, the Joker had his men take him and six others." Silver St. Cloud's voice was tinged with worry.
Batman and everyone else knew exactly who she was talking about, Evan Gregory was a US senator that was huge supporter of the Justice League. "Batman to the rest of the Team, I need you to do a headcount. Check for Evan Gregory or any of his supporters!"
There was a brief pause before each member of the team reported a negative.
A few heartbeats later the heard the voice of the Inquisitor over the comm. channels; his voice calm yet dire "I think I may have something on the thirty-fifth floor."
"What's going on?" The Caped Crusader asked and when he heard the reply, he wished that he hadn't asked.
"Bodies, seven of them. Almost all of them been battered and mutilated beyond all recognition. From what I can tell, they've been dead for some time now, likely before the rescue was even launched." There was a pause and then even worse news came next "I just found an ID on the floor, I'm not sure which one of the corpses it belonged to but it's for a Senator Evan Gregory. The strange thing is several of them are holding makeshift weapons. It looks like they all killed each other."
A chill suddenly went down the Caped Crusader's spine and a grim feeling hit him "Inquisitor get out of there immediately, head back to a defensive position and wait for us. Now!" He ordered and only received a static laced reply of "…didn't….-peat…tran-…."
At that there was a sickening laugh coming from the Joker. Everyone turned to look at the Clown Prince of Crime, who had a chilling look on his face "So…I wonder what the Inquisitor's afraid of? Failing to save everyone? Not being unexpected? Me? In a thong?! Oh wait, that last one is your worst fear isn't it Batsy? eh-hehehehehahahahahaha!" His cackling laughter billowed out and suddenly everyone knew exactly what was happening with their team leader.
Batman immediately grabbed a syringe filled with the counteragent for Doctor Crane's fear toxin that he carried on him at all times from his utility belt, and was about to tell Ivy to take him to the Inquisitor's location when the syringe literally flew out of his hand and into Miss Martian, who already had her gasmask on and was flying out of the window they came on before anyone could move to stop her.
Batman then yelled "Miss Martian what are you doing? Get back here immediately!" he shouted but the girl completely ignored him.
-A few minutes earlier-
The Inquisitor had been walking up the winding staircases for quite some time. While most would have chafed at climbing up such a ridiculous number of stairs, Dante was unbothered by it. Years of physical training and experience had kept his body in peak condition. The only thing he had to worry about was an ambush; as the stairwell he was in was a near perfect place to use to ambush him from above.
But surprisingly enough, no ambush ever came. The more the lack of an attack came the more that Dante believed that there was something more going on. The fact that every door that he found that should have lead out of the damn stairwell was sealed off by steel shutters certainly didn't help.
Eventually though he found one that wasn't sealed off and with no extreme amount of reluctance stepped through. It wasn't one that led into the floor that the other hostages were being kept –that one was completely sealed off- but he had little choice. It was the only way forward and he had no real alternatives but to stay in a murder-hole.
As he walked out of the stairwell he reminded himself that he wasn't exactly in a position to pick and choose where he was going. He had to continue onwards, even if every instinct in his mind told him that he was stepping into a trap of some kind. However he didn't have much in the way of choices, to stay in that stairwell was an enormous risk, one that he wasn't willing to take.
The instant he stepped through the threshold however, the door behind him slammed shut and the security shutters sealed shut behind him, cutting off any path of retreat. 'As if I needed any more evidence of an ambush.' Dante thought to himself.
While he was reluctant to push on, he knew that whatever this trap was, it was being poorly constructed. Anyone, even the greenest of novices would conclude that this was some kind of a trap. He felt like an idiot if he was to keep going forwards but it was the only way for him to go in order to rendezvous with the rest of the Team.
"This is Batman, the last group of hostages have been rescued and the last of the Injustice Gang is in custody."
The rest of the team all gave sounds of relief and Dante allowed himself to feel a smidgeon of it himself. They had completed their mission and rescued the hostages. So what was going on here? Someone or something was still in control of at least part of the systems and keeping him from reaching the rest of the Team. But what was the point of that? They had clearly lost. Unless there was something else going on that they didn't know of.
He continued forwards as he had to get to the other stairwell on the other side of the building and use that one to rejoin the rest of the team. While time was of the essence though, Dante moved cautiously and checked everywhere for signs of either ambush or some other form of trap. The lack of anything did nothing alleviate his suspicions. There was some kind of trap here but he didn't know what it could be, and that concerned him.
Eventually the Inquisitor found himself in front of the door leading into the stairwell but, of course it was sealed off by the security system. Cursing his ill fortune he was about to see if he could turn back and go back into the other stairwell when another steel shutter fell down in the direction of the previous staircase and one of the doors in the corridor opened, Dante knew all too well what kind of an invitation this was.
Sighing though, the Inquisitor raised his AK-12 and started to move into the doorway. He knew that he was entering into some sort of ambush but he was more than certain he could eliminate whoever or whatever was thrown at him. The Inquisitor slowly walked through the door to see another luxurious apartment. But what awaited him on the other side hadn't been what he had expected.
There were seven corpses strewn all across the floor, each one mutilated beyond all recognition with blood and viscera strewn all across the floor. Some of them had their heads almost completely caved in, with bloodied fragments of skull, bone and bits of brain scattered all over the floor. The one who had been presumably wielding the weapon was up against the wall nearby, apparently having died from been stabbed in the chest and throat several dozen times. The neck was so thoroughly cut apart that the Inquisitor could actually see some of the spinal column through the gaping wounds.
The other bodies weren't much better, as the one that had once held a now completely crimson knife had apparently had his weapon hand along with his legs hacked off with a meat cleaver of all things. The soundless scream coming from his gaping mouth told Dante that his death hadn't been a particularly quick or painless one.
Two other bodies were completely headless, one having been severed from the neck while the other still had it's lower jaw. Dante guessed that the one with the cleaver was the killer. The one who had used the cleaver was kneeling in the center of the carnage, completely covered in blood and like some of the other bodies had a look of pure, utter agony and horror on what was left of his face, which was almost completely unidentifiable.
One of the man's eye sockets was a bloody ruin with the ocular organ having been completely destroyed, likely by the one who had been wielding the knife from earlier. The other was open in wide eyed horror. His nose was broken completely and pieces of skin had been torn away to the point where one could partially see inside of the man's now ruined mouth.
With all of the blood on him, it was incredibly difficult to tell what exactly had killed him, at least until he managed to see the slit throat behind all of the blood. Given everything, and the lack of other wounds it looked like it was almost certainly a self-inflicted blow.
The more he thought about the situation the less sense it made. Why did these men kill each other? It made no sense. From what he'd gathered of the Joker, he only did something like this when there was as big an audience as possible. While forcing these men to fight and mutilate one another for his own amusement was precisely something that the Joker would do, he would also likely try to do it in front of either the other hostages or livestream it so that everyone could watch as well.
This, this kind of atrocity wasn't something that the Joker or any of the other members of the Injustice gang would seemingly pull. Or at least not in this kind of fashion. Perhaps that strange newcomer that Robin, Catwoman Artemis and Kid Flash had dealt with earlier might have done something similar but that was doubtful. He seemed to want kill others himself.
Besides even if they had been physically forced to kill one another, why would they mutilate one another to such horrific extent? If these men were all Chaos worshippers then it would make far more sense, but Chaos wasn't truly prevalent on this world so the Inquisitor had to rule that one out.
The Inquisitor was about to open a comm. channel to the rest of the group to inform them of his discovery when Batman's voice came over the vox feed.
"Batman to the rest of the Team, I need you to do a headcount. Check for Evan Gregory or any of his supporters!"
While the other members of the team started to check and quickly they started to give negative responses, Dante quickly said "I think I may have something on the thirty-fifth floor."
There wasn't even a pause as Batman asked what was going on.
"Bodies, seven of them. Almost all of them been battered and mutilated beyond all recognition. From what I can tell, they've been dead for some time now, likely before the rescue was even launched."
Dante then noticed something in the massive pool of blood from earlier. It was a small black leather wallet, something that was easy to miss in the mess he had stepped into but it was there. The Inquisitor walked over and opened it, and found a small driver's license with the name "Evan Gregory" written just beneath it.
"I just found an ID on the floor, I'm not sure which one of the corpses it belonged to but it's for a Senator Evan Gregory. The strange thing is, several of them are holding makeshift weapons. It looks like they all killed each other."
Just after he finished speaking static started to overtake the communicator "Inq-…-ere…ba-…-tion…us…-ow!"
The Inquisitor cocked an eyebrow and said "I didn't copy that, please repeat last transmission."
The only thing he received was nothing but static. In any event he couldn't stay here, he had to find a more defensible location. Whoever was responsible for this slaughter was likely nearby, possibly hiding somewhere in the apartment. The Inquisitor quickly moved towards the exit and swung open the door. The instant that the door was open there he was sprayed with some kind of an aerosol. The Inquisitor coughed and stumbled back, the acrid stench so bad that it made him sick to his stomach.
The Inquisitor truly wished that he hadn't lost his helmet during the fighting before his separation with the rest of the Team. If he hadn't then he wouldn't have been exposed to whatever the hell this concoction was. He quickly slammed the door leading into the apartment shut and his mind began to swarm with the possibilities of whatever the gas had been. However he didn't have very long to ponder what he was just hit with.
Soon his vision began to swim for several seconds before he managed to regain his equilibrium. There was a loud cracking and crunching noises coming from behind him. He turned from the door he saw something that should have been completely impossible. The bodies that were laying there were starting to spasm erratically. Momentarily taken aback, Dante tried to regain himself, even as his heart started to pound. He knew what this was, he had seen it time and time again but how? How could it be happening here?!
The sounds of bones cracking and flesh tearing filled the room as Dante watched as the torsos of the bodies split open. Out of the chest cavity of one of the corpses, a long slender hand with long talon like nails shot upwards, followed by another arm that ended in a large crustacean-like claw. It pulled itself out of the corpse and was quickly accompanied by several others. They were entities that the Inquisitor had seen many times before, and while there were many things that haunted his nightmares, these were the ones he detested the most.
"Join ussssssssss. Join the prince and you will have everything you ever-" the beast's temptations were cut short when the Inquisitor's chainsword was shoved through its face and out the other side. Dante ignored how the hairs on the back of his neck were standing up; how his heart was pounding faster and faster; and how his eyes had widened considerably.
Of all the ruinous powers' servants these things were the ones that had always unsettled him. It didn't' matter how many times he faced them or how many he sent screaming back into the bowels of the Warp, they still managed to drive more than a little fear into him.
The Inquisitor pulled out his weapon and allowed the Warp spawned horror to fall face first into the floor where it started to disintegrate. The others charged at him and as he defended himself he shouted into his communicator, hoping that it wasn't being jammed, "This is the Inquisitor, I am under attack by hostiles! You have to quarantine the entire building! Now!" He shouted but could only get static coming through on the other end.
"Dammit!" he swore as he continued his fight, tearing another daemonette in half with his chainsword. Wherever this taint was coming from he had to root it out and destroy it, quickly! He'd wipe out every living thing in the building, no the city if that was what it took. The taint of Chaos could not be allowed to spread throughout Terra, and it wouldn't! Not so long as he had a breath of air in his lungs and drop of blood in his veins!
The daemonettes went down one after the other. Years of training and experience had honed his body and mind into a weapon against such horrors. If this was anywhere else, Dante might have asked himself why the daemons were going down so easily or so quickly. In his past experience such things never went this well! However with the adrenaline flowing through him and the unmistakable feeling of fear, he didn't truly think about it.
Once the last of the abominations was destroyed he was about to try contact the rest of the Team again but he felt something nearby. In less than an instant, the Inquisitor turned and with finely tuned reflexes grasped whatever was there by the throat. It was a figure that was seemingly made out of shadows "I hit you with enough to break the minds of a dozen men! What are you?!" the voice was strange, like someone using a voice modulator of some kind but Dante didn't get a chance to really think about it as the shadowed thing stabbed him in the throat with its strange needle like claws.
The Inquisitor reflexively released his grip on his victim as he felt something flowing through his system. His head swam for several moments again before he found himself surrounded by more of the Daemonettes. The Inquisitor's chainsword began to roar again as he pulled back on the throttle. He began his work in earnest. Slaughtering each of the Daemonettes that materialized without hesitation.
After he finished his duty, he sheathed his chainsword just as he heard that same modulated voice again "Fascinating, it's all so fascinating. Despite being under the influence of such a heavy dose, the subject seems to-"
Once again Dante struck at the thing made of shadow, not knowing or caring what it was. The Inquisitor grasped it not only be the throat but also grabbed the shadow's right arm preventing him from struggling against him. The thing's left arm was batting away at him but the blows were weak at best. The shadow started to struggle with its left arm but the Inquisitor pushed the arm back and started bending it in a direction that it most certainly should not be bent.
A split second later there was a crack of bone and the thing in front of him all but shrieked in pain "W-Why?! Why aren't you scared?! You should be on the ground screaming!" It shrieked. Dante looked contemptuously at the thing "I've faced down a thousand nightmares made real! You monster, you are nothing!"
He then turned to look at the glass window just a few meters away and started to drag the abomination there, knowing just what to do with it. The thing seemed to get a similar idea and its struggles continued. He was close to the window when the thing sprayed him with that same gas again. Only this time the inquisitor braced himself for it and when he looked down at the thing, he saw that it had now had the form of a daemonette.
Acting completely on Instinct the Inquisitor reacted by simply doing what he was going to do earlier. He flung the Daemonette out the window, with the abomination screaming endlessly as it fell. He knew he would not hear the splatter nor did he care to. While a greater daemon would have likely survived such a fall, but a lesser daemon? Certainly not.
Now, he had to go and purge the building, destroy everything alive within and then burn it to the ground. He had to move quickly-
His left arm twitched. It was only a mild one at first but then it started to spasm almost uncontrollably.
Dante looked down and what he saw utterly horrified him. His arm had grown in size, and was now ripping through his carapace armor like tissue paper. There were mouths, eyes and tendrils sprouting on random sections of his arm. He was mutating. Those daemons must have corrupted him somehow!
There was only one single chance he had at saving his soul from damnation. He had to die before the corruption spread and pray to the Emperor that his soul remained uncorrupted!
The Inquisitor drew a small combat knife and held it up to his throat. He had to make sure that he died as pure as possible. It was the only way now. It would be a quick clean death, more than he deserved for the corruption that was eating away at him and then he would go to the Emperor to stand judgment!
Just as the tip of the blade was about to touch his flesh, another window shattered and suddenly the Inquisitor was on the ground, and when he tried to go to the blade, a group of fleshy tendrils wrapped around his limbs. He looked up and saw another Daemonette, this one having a disgustingly long arm extended into several long whip-like tendrils, which wrapped around his arms, keeping them as far away from the pouches that contained his equipment as possible. He let loose a roar of rage at being denied a clean death.
Miss Martian was flying at near breakneck speed towards the other side of the building, ignoring every last demand or plea coming in through the comm. channels as she did. She needed to move as quickly as possible and despite Batman being, well Batman the longer that the Inquisitor was under the fear toxin's influence. And the longer he was under that kind of chemical…well considering all the horrific things she had seen during those nightmares and attempts at meditation, that left a lot of emotional scars that would be reopened, and in the worst possible way.
It took less than a minute for her to reach the other side of the building and see Scarecrow being thrown out the window. When she saw the monster she felt an almost overwhelming urge to simply let the monster hit the ground for he had done. He'd simply be out of his cell in a few weeks, murdering dozens of innocent people, and traumatizing potentially hundreds more; all so that he could continue his twisted 'research' into fear. M'gann didn't even have to do anything, she could easily say that she either hadn't noticed him or that he was too close to the ground for her to get to him in time.
Eventually –and with no small amount of reluctance on her part-, she decided to save the bastard's life. She had to slow his descent before levitating him back up as to simply stop his fall at that speed would be the same is if he simply slammed into the pavement below. The Martian slowed the madman down and then slowly lifted him back up, ignoring the pleadings that were spilling from his lips as she did. Her face wore an expression of complete and utter contempt towards him.
Without so much as uttering a single word, she used her telekinesis to bend both of his legs in such a manner that they quickly broke. The bone crunching noise was almost silent compared to the horrific screaming that Scarecrow was making. He continued to writhe in midair for a time, even as M'gann removed the syringe gauntlet mounted on the monster's right arm and crushed it, making it useless, and quickly did the same with the gauntlet in his left arm, which was used to spray fear gas at his victims.
The monster was completely powerless and she had every reason to keep him that way as she broke his last remaining limb like a toothpick. As before she completely ignored the sadistic fiend's cries of pain before overloading his brain, causing him to pass out and his flailing to finally cease completely. M'gann remembered that overloading the minds of non-psychics could potentially cause serious brain damage to them, possibly even putting them into a near permanent coma or even rendering them braindead.
In this case however she couldn't bring herself to even remotely care about Scarecrow's wellbeing. M'gann had seen what was in his mind, she knew that the bastard wouldn't stop and even after she had just prevented his death, the only thing he could think of was how to not only escape Arkham but also see if he could make his way to Seattle to get more 'research data' on the Inquisitor.
With that she quickly flew up to where the Inquisitor was located and what she saw, shocked her.
He was holding a knife up to his throat and was less than seconds away from running it across his throat.
Miss Martian telekinetically tossed Scarecrow onto the floor without a care as to how he landed and flung her hand forwards, her right arm transforming into a series of tendrils that moved quickly to restrain him completely. His arms and legs were quickly bound as far away from each other as possible to keep him from using any of his concealed weapons. The instant that he was on the floor Miss Martian pulled out the syringe filled with the cure for Scarecrow's fear toxin.
He looked up at her with undisguised hate and fear. "It wasn't enough for you abominations to destroy my homeworld, it wasn't enough to torture everyone I knew, everyone I ever loved to insanity or death! Now my body has to bear mutation and corruption?! No I will never-"
The Inquisitor was cut off when Miss Martian inserted the needle for the syringe in the side of the Inquisitor's neck and pressed down on the injection mechanism. The blue liquid soon entered the young man's body and within seconds lucidity returned to the Inquisitor's eyes but the anger remained "What the?! What are you doing now Daemon?! What are you-"
He wasn't able to finish his sentence as M'Gann hovered Scarecrow unconscious body right in front of him and he immediately got the hint of what was going on. "I-I see." He stated as Miss Martian released him and he took a look around looking at the corpses of the Senator and his aides. "Those…things I was fighting, they were all…" he trailed off, sounding more uneasy as he spoke.
M'gann nodded "They were part of Crane's toxin, they weren't real."
The Inquisitor started to grind his teeth in self-anger at how he was deceived for several second before he looked down at his left arm and he started to sag in relief. He let out a bated breath and looked at M'gann with a confused and uncertain look in his eyes "You, I…" he trailed off, completely uncertain as to what to say.
Eventually though he found the right words, "You saved my life, and my sanity. Thank you." The look in his eyes told her that he meant it. Judging by the look on his face, he was almost in disbelief that he said those words directly to her. She started to pass him his helmet and psy-maul "We should regroup with the others, they'll want to know about what happened to the Senator and his supporters." He said gesturing towards the only corpses that were on the ground.
Before he could take his helmet M'gann looked ashamed as she said "Before you put that on, there's something you should know."
At that the Inquisitor looked puzzled before he gestured for her to continue. She looked more nervous than ever before and then, as though drawing on some hidden font of strength, she spoke once again "When I looked into your mind when we first met I mostly got random images and scenes, but there were a lot of them. I tried to use meditation to make sense of what I saw and when I tried to stop they kept coming as dreams for me."
At that the Inquisitor took on a much more hardened expression and M'gann found herself looking away as she continued "I know it's not an excuse but at the time I was new to Earth and how everyone did things, I didn't realize how much I was violating your privacy! I wasn't trying to look for your secrets or anything I was only trying to figure out what I did wrong and….and…" she trailed off for a moment.
"I'm sorry, I know that it's stupid and pointless to say it but I am sorry."
When M'gann looked up he saw that the Inquisitor's face was warring between pure anger and complete and utter confusion. She kept herself from trying to look into his thoughts as well. Miss Martian had already done enough, she didn't need to make things even worse than they already were, if such a thing were even possible.
For several seconds the Inquisitor didn't say a thing, but eventually he spoke, his tone hard "Is that why you saved me? To use that act and whatever gratitude I might have as a bargaining chip to appease your conscience?"
M'gann shook her head "I did that because I thought it was the right thing to do. Because I didn't want you to suffer all of that all over again. I understand why won't trust me, but it's the truth…I'll accept whatever act of retribution you see fit."
She looked down again and for several seconds the Inquisitor said nothing and after what felt like an eternity he spoke "Look me in the eye."
Reluctantly M'gann raised her head to look at him and he had an expression that said that lying would be a very bad idea. "Have you told anyone about what you saw in my memories? Anything at all?" he asked.
She shook her head "I haven't told anyone anything, not one little thing."
He seemed surprised by her answer but at the same time seemed to almost stare into her, as though he was a psyker probing at her mind. Eventually he let loose a breath and said "I see, and while my experience may say otherwise…I find myself believing you."
At that she almost felt her jaw unhinge in shock "Don't look so surprised, over the past few months I've observed you doing things that go against everything I've ever seen from a xeno. The way you defend humans, how you acted towards that boy during Bialya and now this. Either you are a master of deception or you are…different from the xenos I have encountered, and I think that the latter may be correct in this case."
"So where does this leave us?" M'gann asked her shoulders somewhat tense.
"If any of the League find out about what you have seen, which is more than likely after this. You may tell them of the xenos that plague the galaxy I call home. You will not tell them anything about Chaos. Unless I say otherwise, no one, not friends, not family and especially not the League may know of Chaos. You understand why."
It wasn't a question and M'gann knew all too well just how dangerous even knowing Chaos existed would be. The more people knew about it, the more power and influence grew. M'gann knew how much damage those abominations could do if given the chance, and given how someone like Batman investigated everything in order to fully understand the nature of a threat, he'd just play right into Chaos' hands. And while Batman was a strong willed individual, it was unlikely that he could hold out against that.
M'gann pushed those thoughts form her head. Right now they had other things to deal with. "What about him?" asked the Inquisitor gesturing to the currently unconscious Scarecrow while he placed his helmet back over his head. M'gann's face took on a look of contempt. "Let's just say I overloaded his mind and he'll probably be in a coma for a very, very long time."
The Inquisitor gave a nod of approval though he probably felt that the monster should suffer far worse than being in a coma "Good, at least now the bastard won't escape to victimize anyone else."
A short time after Miss Martian had left she returned with the Inquisitor and for the first time, Doctor Henry Birch got to see the protector of Seattle in the flesh. While first impressions were sometimes misleading or even entirely wrong, Birch saw something in his body language that screamed that he wasn't an ordinary hero –though he already knew that from how more ruthlessly he treated criminals in comparison to other heroes-. The body language for one was much different than anyone else in the room, the only one who could come close to it was Batman but this was different.
The Inquisitor was almost every inch a professional soldier, but there was also anger there, a lot of it too. Then there was something else, but he wasn't quite sure what. It was something that made him stand apart from the other heroes. It also made him wonder 'Where in the hell did they find this guy?'
It was at that point that Quincy Sharp who had at that point had been thanking the heroes for their timely intervention started to march up to both Miss Martian and the Inquisitor, the latter of whom didn't seem like he was in any mood to deal with him. "Ah, Inquisitor, Miss Martian I wanted to thank you for helping to save us and-"
At that the Inquisitor's head snapped towards the man like a whip! "You want to thank me." It wasn't a question and despite the voice modulation, there was an undercurrent of anger and mild contempt "If you really wish to thank me, then I suggest you and your incompetent colleagues actually do your jobs and either execute those things over there or put them into a facility where they won't be able to keep escaping!" He pointed directly at the Joker and Harley Quinn who were cuffed and being ready to move towards a police van for transport back to Arkham.
The Joker grinned before letting out a cackle as though partially agreeing with the Inquisitor's assessment.
Warden Sharp looked like he was about to start blustering at the Inquisitor, but one other hostage came up to them, this one was Silver St. Cloud who had a look of fear, apprehension and a small amount of hope. "Inquisitor, Miss Martian. Where's Gregory? Is he okay? The Joker had him and several others taken earlier, did you save them? Are they being taken down for medical attention?"
Miss Martian looked uneasy about speaking but the Inquisitor looked at her dead in the eye and shook his head "By the time we managed to reach him, he had already been dead for some time." Silver St. Cloud brought her hands to cover her mouth as she started to cry as the news hit her. "I know it is no consolation but you should know that he did not suffer, nor did any of his supporters, they all died instantly and without pain."
Birch was almost certain that the Inquisitor was lying about that but at least he was trying to mitigate the damage. It seemed as though under that exterior the young man had at least some compassion.
As everyone was taken back out, Isley held out her hands for a pair of handcuffs, readily and willingly accepted them even though some of the hostages she rescued didn't want her to be treated in such a manner. Isley just gave them a small smile and said that it was fine. She did turn to look at Harley who was being loaded into the back of a police van along with several others and asked "I know I don't have much right to ask especially after what she did but, could help her?"
Birch let out a bated breath before giving a look at Isley "If I'm allowed, I'll do everything I can to help her Isley. Her recovery though, will depend on her."
Isley gave her doctor a kind smile, one of understanding "Thank you, so much. For everything you've done for me."
Birch gave a smile of his own as he watched her be escorted into another vehicle, this one more of a hazmat truck in design.
Birch also watched as Silver Swan was taken into the back of an ambulance of all things and there were several police vans behind and in front of it. Not only that but he noticed that Wonder Woman herself was also in the back of the ambulance. How curious.
He also spotted a handcuffed Latin American man being shoved into an unmarked black van with heavily tinted windows. The doctor didn't know what to make of it but figured that it would be best not to ask too many questions on that front. Right now, all he wanted to do was give his statement to the police and go home. It had been a long night and he wanted to get as much sleep as he possibly could, something told him that it would be a very long day when morning came.
Little did he know how much that thought would be proven correct.
To be continued.
A/N: So, I FINALLY finished what a buddy of mine has christened the 'Die Hard' Arc. It's just a few more things now and then we have something really big, something that will change everything…forever.
