Lunatic stood in the middle of the deserted Gotham street, staring at the building in front of him, a small grin dancing across his face as he considered his next move. To the uneducated mind, the building looked quite innocuous, just another four-story brownstone surrounded by several others, all vacant, of course.
When Lunatic left Titans Tower, he originally planned to head straight to Metropolis and murder Lex Luthor outright, but then He decided on a better idea, one that suited his love of chaos quite nicely.
It had been almost a trifling matter to break into Lex's office and download a copy of all the different addresses where the bald-headed prick's hidden laboratories were located; a few of them made even Lunatic's eyebrows rise, as he knew that the U.S. Government would want several words with Luthor if they knew some of the experiments he had going on across the planet. Batman would DEFINITELY be interested if he knew what this building, located almost in the heart of his city, was being used for, and all under his nose at that!
Once he had the addresses, Lunatic quickly wiped all evidence that he was ever there and left, eager to begin making Luthor's life a living hell; that was what Lunatic had decided on, death would be too easy a penance for Luthor. No, instead, Lunatic would take everything from the prick. Bit by bit, Lunatic would destroy his empire, until the only thing Luthor had left was his life, and that would be the last thing that Lunatic would take. Then he would consider Luthor's debt paid, and not before.
"Stretching his arms over his head, Lunatic released a satisfied sigh as his back cracked; quickly cracking his neck and then his fingers, Lunatic stared once again at the building, a large insane smile beginning to form across his face as he stepped forward,
"Time to play…"
XXXX
Doctor Robert Monroe sighed wearily as he looked up from the report he'd been working on for Mr. Luthor concerning the latest batch of genetic experiments the Doctor had been tasked with; their latest attempt had resulted in another failure, and the subject had, unfortunately, been put down soon after.
Lounging back in his chair, Doctor Monroe ran a wrinkled hand across his face, he'd been working too hard lately, perhaps he should ask Mr. Luthor for some time off before the workload killed him. Though nearing his sixtieth year, the Doctor looked far older, undoubtedly brought upon by the ungodly hours he put his body through. Doctor Monroe was dark-skinned, with a ring of white hair that encircled his head, save for his bald dome; his eyes were stone gray and gazed out with an almost intimidating aura, showing the sagacity within. Age and stress had ripped his once youthful features to shreds, leaving a wrinkled and tired old man behind.
Releasing another tired sigh, Doctor Monroe wondered how his life had come to this; he had four PhDs, was widely regarded as one of the premier intellectuals on genetic biology, an almost entirely new field of study, and yet was trapped six floors underground trying to make a weapon for a narcissistic billionaire. When Lex Luthor approached Doctor Monroe, the scientist thought that he had gotten the deal of a lifetime; all his experiments would be covered by Luthor, and he would be given free-reign to take genetics farther than anyone could dream possible, especially since under Luthor's employment, Doctor Monroe wouldn't have to worry about the government's laws about what was considered 'ethical.'
But after nearly three years of working for Luthor, Doctor Monrow was beginning to wish he'd never made this bargain; all his time lately seemed to be consumed in creating a 'weapon' capable of taking down the man of steel, by order of Luthor. Millions of dollars had been pumped into the project, and yet all they'd encountered was failure after failure
As Doctor Monroe took a drink from his coffee cup, his thoughts angrily wandered toward his associate, Mark Desmond, who had actually managed to create a clone of Superman, only for it to fall into the hands of the hero when a group of children had invaded one of CADMUS' labs several weeks ago. Had the moron decided to share his work, perhaps Monroe and his team could have done the same, and his genetic experiments might be further along than they were. Instead, Desmond had chosen to play his cards closer to his chest than was necessary and not only lost the clone, but had also stupidly transformed himself into irreversibly into a monster!
Shaking his head in derision at the stupidity of his colleague, Monroe rose from his chair and stretched his arms over his head as a yawn escaped him; feeling the satisfying pop of several kinks in his neck and back, Monroe pulled his lab coat off the nearby hook and threw it over his expensive grey suit. He'd just reached a hand out for the door, eager to get back to work, when music began to play throughout the lab, making him pause; outside his office window, he could see the rest of his team also pausing in confusion as the music grew louder in both tempo and bass.
True, this building wasn't one of Luthor's more secure sites, only housing half a dozen scientists and a little over a dozen security personnel, but surely someone wasn't stupid or crazy enough to attack it, were they? As the thought crossed Monroe's mind, he couldn't help but swallow nervously. He backed away from the door a few steps before quickly reaching the phone atop his desk and punching in the number for security.
For a few tense seconds, the line buzzed before Monroe heard the unmistakable click of someone answering, causing him to sigh with relief.
Before he could speak, however, a voice rang out in Monroe's ears, far younger than he had expected,
"We're sorry, we are unable to answer your call at this time, as all the security personnel are currently unconscious. But please don't worry, we'll be down momentarily."
The dial tone sounded after that, and Monroe slowly pulled the phone away from his ear, staring at the receiver in shock for a moment before that gave way to fear; someone actually WAS attacking the facility, and with the majority of the security personnel upstairs, unconscious if the voice had been truthful, that just left six guards down here to keep him and his team safe.
Unable to keep his hands from shaking, Monroe all but ran out of his office to find the chief security officer and inform him of what was happening. Just as he exited his office, Monroe heard the elevator doors ding open, followed by an insane cackle that made goosebumps run up his skin.
XXXX
As Lunatic entered the building, a manic smile plastered on his face and the large boombox resting on his shoulder, held there by his right arm, his eyes took in his surroundings with an almost lazy glance.
A long hallway led to a dark brown desk, behind which sat a man in a black security uniform, complete with a beret that nearly covered the left side of his face and made Lunatic roll his eyes. Behind the man, a silver pair of elevator doors stood, with the only other doors being a pair of mahogany on either side of the hallway.
"Can I help you, boy?" The man behind the desk asked in a condescending tone,
"Indeed, good sir," Lunatic smiled, "I would like access to the illegal laboratory that lies beneath your floor."
The man scowled at that, and his hand reached under the desk, making Lunatic's smile grow as he realized what was about to happen —glorious violence.
"I'm sure I don't know what you mean, sir," the man replied coldly, "As you can see, this is a simple apartment complex. I think you should leave."
"A simple apartment complex? Ha! That's a good one," Lunatic laughed, "Is that why they have such an intimidating fellow like yourself guarding the front desk?"
"We have many wealthy individuals staying here," the man sneered back, "And they value their privacy from the riffraff."
"Meh, not the worst thing I've been called," Lunatic shrugged, lowering the boombox to the floor, "But we both know that the only 'wealthy resident' you have here is Lex Luthor." A moment later, the doors on either side of the room slammed open and a dozen muscular men in the same black uniforms stepped out, each carrying an electric baton.
"You should have taken my advice and left…" The man behind the desk smirked as he rose to his feet and pulled a baton from his hip, "Now, that ship has sailed, I'm afraid."
"Hmm, let's see…" Lunatic smiled, doing a quick mental count, one arm across his chest while the thumb of the other rested under his chin, "Twelve of you against one of me… Sounds like even odds to me. But first! Some mood music…"
Reaching down, Lunatic pressed a button on his boom box, flooding the hall with music, and making more than one of the security guards wince at the explosion of noise; slowly rising to his feet, Lunatic grinned at the scowling men before him,
"Well then, shall we begin?"
The men exploded into action, rushing toward the grinning child, batons raised to beat him into submission as Lunatic's arms snapped out, and two black and red striped metal baseball bats flew out of the arms of his coat and into his waiting hands.
*Word Up by KoRn begins playing*
Quickly ducking under a baton swing, Lunatic responded by bringing the bat in his left hand up and slamming it under the chin of the attacking guard, literally lifting him from his feet. Lunatic followed this up by spinning on his heel and slamming the bat in his right hand into the guard's stomach, sending him crashing into the guards behind him and creating a mass of cursing bodies.
Issuing a quick rooster crow of victory, Lunatic rushed forward and quickly dropped to his knees, sliding between two rising guards and slamming his bats into their kneecaps, relishing the way they fell to the ground with cries of agony. Seeing that two more guards had managed to untangle themselves from the mass of bodies, Lunatic snapped his arms out and hurled both bats at them, grinning like a Chesire Cat as the bats connected with their skulls and sent them back to the floor.
Before he could rise to his feet, someone grabbed the back of Lunatic's coat and roughly pulled him into the air,
"Filthy street rat!" A voice screamed into the boy's ear as he struggled wildly,
"Hold him still!" Another guard snarled as he approached and raised his baton,
"What do you think I'm trying to do!" The guard holding Lunatic shouted back.
Raising his arms into the air, Lunatic quickly slid out of his coat and landed cat-like onto the floor just as the guard swung his baton, inadvertently slamming it into the chest of his friend, and causing him to collapse to the ground holding his chest as he gasped for air while his attacker blinked stupidly at his actions.
Back flipping away with a cackle, Lunatic finally stopped and examined his work; of the original twelve, only six were still standing, staring at the six others Lunatic had managed to bring down so effortlessly.
"You know, for a group of such strong men, I'm kinda disappointed," Lunatic smirked, "Are those muscles just for show, or are you actually incapable of taking down a single kid? Either way, I think Luthor should get his money back."
Two of the guards snarled at that and lunged forward, only for Lunatic to smile as he lifted his arms into the air, causing the two men to rise as well.
As the remaining guards watched, wide-eyed, Lunatic began to twirl his hands as though conducting an orchestra. The two men began flying across the room, slamming into the walls and ceiling as their shouts began to dwindle to silence. With a final smile, Lunatic flung his hands down, causing the two men to slam into the floor with such force that the tile actually cracked.
"Tilt," Lunatic smirked as the other guards stared in horror at the broken, bleeding forms that had just seconds ago been their friends.
Pulling his top hat from his head, Lunatic bowed to the remaining four men, a cruel and insane grin on his face that made the men, as one, take a step back.
"Gentlemen…" The little madman smirked, "Who's next…?"
For several seconds, no one moved, and Lunatic rose back to his feet and placed the top hat back on his head before cracking his knuckles; finally, the guard who had been originally behind the desk threw his baton at the boy as he screamed,
"Screw this! Luthor ain't paying me enough to get killed!"
Lunatic swatted the baton away as the man ran past him. A moment later, the rest of the guards followed him, all looking over their shoulders as they ran to ensure that the demon pretending to be a child wasn't following them.
Alone in the hall, Lunatic looked over his attackers' groaning and broken bodies before beginning to cackle merrily; this was certainly shaping up to be quite the fun day!
With a snap of his fingers, the boombox melted away, and the music stopped just in time for the phone behind the desk to begin ringing; skipping happily to the desk, the boy answered the phone and said happily,
"We're sorry, we are unable to answer your call at this time, as all the security personnel are currently unconscious. But please don't worry, we'll be down momentarily."
Hanging up the phone with a laugh, Lunatic pressed the button summoning the elevator as he whistled a jaunty tune; such fun, indeed.
*Music Ends*
XXXX
Lex Luthor swallowed his all-consuming rage with visible effort as Mercy read him the report; one of his genetics laboratories, situated in the heart of Gotham City, had been burned to the ground. The scientists and security guards that had been employed there had been found trussed and badly beaten not far away, unconscious in some dirty trash bin by a group of homeless people looking for food. Lex had wanted to question them immediately but had been informed that the severity of their injuries made such a thing impossible for quite some time. All the research had been destroyed, and the servers wiped, ensuring that all data from the facility was irretrievably gone, and that was what enraged Luthor the most; scientists were a dime a dozen, he could always find more, but six years of genetic research? That was priceless, and it was now gone.
"Get out…" Luthor hissed, causing Mercy to look up from the report with surprise, "I said, GET OUT!"
Hurling an expensive decanter of cognac at her to emphasize his point, Lex watched as Mercy quickly dodged out of the way, causing it to shatter against his office door; immediately, Mercy all but ran out of the office, leaving Lex leaning over his desk, breathing hard, his palms resting atop the wood desktop.
"Tut, tut, Lexxie…" A voice called out, causing Lex to jump in alarm, "You should learn to control your temper…"
Narrowing his eyes in anger, Lex quickly looked around his office, yet could not find the origin of the voice, until it spoke again,
"Up here…"
Looking up at the ceiling, Lex felt his face twitch as he saw Lunatic sitting cross-legged on the ceiling of his office, grinning madly down at him; with a wink, the boy dropped down, flipping once before landing softly before Lex's desk.
"You…" Lex growled, "You're the one who destroyed my lab and assaulted my staff…"
"Really showing that intelligence, there," Lunatic quipped, taking a seat in front of Lex's desk, and crossing his right leg over his left before resting his clasped hands on his knee.
"Give me one reason why I shouldn't call Mercy back in here and have her rip you limb from limb…?" Lex hissed, his anger rising as he saw how little his threat affected the boy, who simply grinned back at him.
"Because the only result of that decision would be another employee spending some time in intensive care…" Lunatic grinned back, his smile growing wider.
Quickly taking a stranglehold on his temper, Lex sat down and spoke in a much softer tone,
"I must say, I'm surprised at how brutal you treated my employees. Several of them will be lucky to ever walk again if the hospital reports are to be believed. I would have thought you heroes were against such tactics. Even Batman doesn't go as far as you did, brat."
"Well, there's your first mistake," Lunatic sneered, "I'm not a hero."
Lex took a moment to digest that information before speaking again, carefully aware of the danger he was in,
"I suppose you're here to kill me for my part in Jump City's destruction, then?"
"I will admit, I had considered it," Lunatic replied, "It would be all too easy for me to do so. After all, look how easily I managed to invade your office, even with all your fancy security."
"So, why are you here?" Lex demanded, "Our interactions may be few and far between, but I somehow feel that gloating is beneath you."
"And you would be right," Lunatic nodded, "Gloating is such a puerile action,"
"So? Is this the part where you kill me?" Les asked again, his right hand slowly reaching toward the button under his desk that would summon security.
"No," Lunatic replied, surprising the man, "Death is permanent and final. What I have planned for you is far worse, and will make a lasting impression…"
"Oh? Do tell…"
"You made a very grave error, Luthor," Lunatic replied, looking down at his hands so that Lex could not see the boy's eyes, "Your mistake was thinking that I'm a good person. I'm not, I never was. I was good for Arcane, solely for him. And you hurt him, you took something precious from the only person to ever treat me with respect. So, I want you to run, I want you to run as far and as fast as you can. And I'm gonna hunt you. From now until the end of days, you will know no quiet sleeps, no gentle nights. You will know no love, no happiness, no peace. You will know only fear, despair, and loss. And when I have hunted you for a thousand years, when I have taken everything that you care about, and left your empire a smoky ruin of death and destruction, you will understand the barest sliver of what you have awoken in me. So run, Luthor. Run and hide, and let's see how far you get."
At the end of his speech, Lunatic looked up, and Lex visibly gulped as he saw the boy's eyes had turned into cat-like slits; maybe it was Lex's imagination, but he could swear he heard 'Oh Fortuna' echoing softly in the background as Lunatic made his speech. The shadows of the office even seemed drawn to the boy, giving the little madman an almost unholy level of intimidation as Lex stared and tried to keep his calm demeanor.
Before Lex could respond, a blinding flash of light lit up the office, temporarily blinding the man; when his vision returned, he saw, to his surprise, that he was alone. Quickly pressing the button under his desk, Lex tried to regain his composure; he would never admit it, but that crazy little bastard had actually managed to scare him. Just a little bit. But if Lunatic thought he was just going to roll over and let the little bastard tear his empire down, that boy had another thing coming. Plans would have to be implemented immediately to ensure that all of Lex's remaining laboratories were fortified and made more secure. Let Lunatic try and take Lex's empire; many had tried before, and in the end, Lex was always the last man standing on the battlefield.
XXXX
Author's Note:
Word Up is the property of KoRn, and as such, I claim no ownership over it; the same goes with Oh Fortuna, which is the property of Carl Orff. This will be the last time we see Lunatic for the foreseeable future; we may see snippets of his war against Lex, here and there, but this will be the last chapter I write with him in it for a while. Simply put, while I love the made little dude, he's hard to write, and I'm running out of gags and stuff to work into his repertoire. Don't worry. I'm not getting rid of him; I'm just putting him away for a little while.
In the next chapter, Harry will meet his new team. Let me know if you liked this chapter or didn't, as it helps me become a better writer. Until next time!