The Inquisitor
Chapter 39
Harm and Secrets part 1
A/N: I was originally going to make this all one chapter but I had to split it up into a two parter due to how huge it became.
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-Gotham City, Arkham Asylum Medium Security Ward, Cafeteria-
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The medium security ward of Arkham Asylum was one of the lesser-known areas. After all when one thought of Arkham, they thought of the maximum-security wing; whose cellblocks that were built to house criminals like the Joker, Killer Croc or any of the other myriad of psychopaths that were contained. Instead, the medium security ward was less like a maximum-security prison and more like an actual psychiatric facility, albeit one that still had some very heavily armed guards. Though instead of rifles with live rounds, each one was equipped with a shock baton and tranquilizer rifles.
Of course, there were a second set of guards that were fully equipped with military grade weapons if it turned out that nonlethal methods weren't working. And given that a certain supervillainess was added into the mix, everyone was instructed to wear gasmasks whenever she was in the area. Sure, it seemed as though Poison Ivy had changed, but one could never truly be sure in what was considered Gotham's madhouse.
The cafeteria section for the inmates of this portion of the facility was filled with inmates. Each of the inmates were to keep at least a three-foot distance away from one another while eating. They also only had access to plastic forks and spoons, no knives whatsoever and they were to return their utensils after each meal; and were searched after the meal was finished.
Sitting at one of the tables was a former college student-turned member of the Injustice Gang. Vanessa was poking at some of her food with her plastic fork. It had been a few weeks since her involvement with the Injustice Gang, and a few days since she was remanded to Arkham Asylum for mandatory psychiatric evaluation before the courts could figure out what to do with her.
"You realize that poking your food isn't the same as eating it right?" asked the woman across from her. Vanessa looked up from her food and saw Poison Ivy herself sitting across from her. Vanessa's eyes widened at the realization that she was seated right across from a supervillain. Before she could say anything Ivy just waved her hand reassuringly and said "Relax, I'm not going to hurt you. Not even for poking your spinach repeatedly with a fork."
Poison Ivy then proceeded to take a decently sized bite from the greens that were on her own tray and within a few seconds of chewing swallow it.
Vanessa blinked at the display. From what she heard Poison Ivy was obsessively protective over plants, and to see her just eating them like that was…not what she was expecting. Poison Ivy seemed to have noticed and answered her unasked question. "I've changed quite a bit. I'm not the deluded maniac I once was and I'm not going to hurt anyone anymore."
"I had heard that you broke out to save the people that…" Vanessa trailed off remembering her own part in that whole thing and started to look back down in shame. "Look I'm not going to give you some shitty platitudes. But from what I've heard you were abducted and brainwashed to do everything you did during that little event right?"
There was still shame in her voice as she gave a small "Yes…" in response. There were a lot of holes in her memories, both during her time as the Silver Swan and what happened before. In fact, she'd go so far as to say that it was hard for her to remember a lot of things; there were some blank spots that seemingly stretched back years. She could remember who her mother was, and several members of her family, along with Diana but there were so many blurs, and blanks that it was maddening.
Vanessa was brought out of her thoughts when Poison Ivy spoke up again "Don't let yourself drown in regrets, especially if it was something that you had no real control over. I did horrible shit too, but unlike you I wasn't brainwashed into it, and I'm still trying to find some way to make up for it. From what I can figure you didn't kill anyone, sure you hurt a few people but if it was permanent damage everyone would have heard about it by now and even if you did, you weren't in your right mind, you didn't know what you were doing."
She supposed that was true; however, there was one other thing that was nagging at the back of her mind "Wait. Why are you doing this? Why are you trying to help me?" She asked.
There was a moment or two of hesitation before Poison Ivy answered but the answer was as simple as it was complete "Because someone should."
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-Mt. Justice, Training Room-
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'Another day, another long training session,' was the thought going through almost all of the members of the Team as they went through a series of spars between each other. For the last few weeks the intense training sessions had continued and had even increased in severity. Despite the ever-increasing intensity of their training, at no point did their leader, the Inquisitor seem even winded by it. Even after they had finished for the day when all of the Sidekicks were heading for the locker rooms, drenched in sweat, and breathing heavily the Inquisitor never showed any signs of being tired.
It was insane that he could do half of what they did and he never once seemed so much as winded. Add to that, he kept telling them that he was able to complete much worse when he was only ten years old. It made the sidekicks all wonder just what in the hell the guy was made out of. More than that, they wondered whether he was just trained to never show how tired he was or if he had some kind of meta-gene that prevented him from getting exhausted.
Currently though most of the team had finished up the sparring session that the Inquisitor had set up and were mainly watching the last two people finishing their spar.
Once again it was Troia trying to best the Inquisitor just as she had ever since she had joined the Team. As they watched the pair once again face off against each other Robin looked over at Kid Flash and asked, "So is this the eighth time she's challenged the Inquisitor?"
Kid Flash shrugged "I think it's the twelfth actually."
The only one of the group that seemed to be confused about what's going on was Zatanna who looked over at Aqualad and asked "So what's going on? What's the big deal with the Inquisitor sparring with Troia?"
At that Aqualad let out a bated breath and said "During the Team's formation Troia challenged the Inquisitor to a sparring match because he wounded her pride, she lost, badly. Since then, she's continued to challenge him to a rematch and, well she's never won once."
"So why does she keep doing it if she just keeps losing?" Zatanna asked. Kid Flash, Robin and Aqualad gave shrugs simultaneously "Pride maybe? I mean she was taught by the best of the best on Themyscira, and seeing as how she rarely if ever lasts more than 30 seconds against him…maybe she wants to show that her way of fighting works."
Zatanna looked thoughtful and Artemis spoke up too "You know I did notice that whenever Wonder Woman fights, she seems to favor a mixture of fighting like Troia and other martial arts but at the same time, she also seemed to have replaced some of the stances and moves that Troia seems to keep using."
Throughout the conversation the only one who hadn't spoken was M'gann who was watching how both the Inquisitor and Troia moved and fought. She watched the movements of both, and she found that she knew exactly who would be the victor in this match.
The sparring match continued on with the Inquisitor and Troia both using blunted training swords. Eventually Troia seemed to start gaining the upper hand in the fight until she knocked the Inquisitor's sword right out of his hand and had her sword up against his throat and she had a smile that was almost smug as it was victorious "Yield to me Inquisitor!" She demanded.
Everyone could already imagine the Inquisitor giving Troia the flattest look he could possibly manage behind his helmet at that point. He also wasn't the only one. Not a single one of the other members of the Team could ever see him yielding to her in any shape or form. Even the most recent recruit into their ranks could see that. Sure, enough however, they were right.
Less than a second after the demand for surrender was given, the Inquisitor had batted away the sword arm ducked underneath the instinctive retaliatory strike that Troia swung at him, grabbing her attacking left arm in the process. With a speed that bordered on the insane, the Inquisitor hefted her over his shoulder and tossed her face first onto the ground like a sack of goods.
Capitalizing on this the Inquisitor grabbed the fallen blade, pressing his knee up against Troia's back. He then placed the blunted blade up against the skin of her throat and said "Victory is mine," in a simple, matter-of-fact tone that brokered no real argument.
Troia seemed to contemplate fighting back but instead of doing so she instead accepted her defeat. The Inquisitor then stated, "I never yield."
His voice was as cold as it always was but there was something in it that sounded as though he had been utterly insulted by the demand Troia had made during the spar. M'gann could hear it in every syllable and judging from some of the looks that the others had, they could see it as well.
Troia however wasn't seemingly done though "But by that logic, I had you beaten as well earlier when I had you disarmed!"
The Inquisitor shook his head and explained. "No, you had me disarmed, not dead to rights. Any true threat would not simply 'give up' at that point, in fact they would likely use it to get you to lower your guard for another attack with a concealed weapon or would use it as a suicidal assault in an attempt to take you with them."
It wasn't a pleasant thought to think about, but it made a lot of sense."
Walking away from the Amazon the Inquisitor turned and addressed the Team as a whole "Now, due to your…improvements these last few weeks, you will all be given three days' worth of leave." At that many in the Team felt their jaws drop at the Inquisitor's generosity. Why he was doing it they had no idea but none of them really wanted to look a gift horse in the mouth on this one.
"You may do whatever it is you want during this period; however in the event of any sort of crisis or other event requiring you to return to the Cave, you are required to drop whatever it is you are doing and return immediately. I also expect that everyone to be here on time and ready for duty after the third day. Remember, this is a privilege not a right. If any one of you abuse it in any fashion, I can easily take it away permanently. Am I understood?"
There was a simultaneous "Yes Inquisitor!"
The Team's Leader gave a curt nod and gestured for them to get moving before he started to head straight for the Zeta Tubes.
The very instant that the Inquisitor was gone, Kid Flash turned to regard the rest of the group and asked "So this is for real right? This isn't some sort of bizarre psychological test he's putting us through?"
If any of the others were being honest, they weren't entirely sure either. In a few moments however they all turned to M'gann who looked surprised by the attention and blinked in confusion "What?" She asked.
"We were wondering if you might know," Superboy stated bluntly. While Superboy had come a remarkably long way since he was taken out of his stasis pod; he still had some difficulties with showing some tact when it came to social interaction at times.
This was especially evident at the current moment as M'gann gave Superboy a flat look "Why would I know what he's doing?"
"You did get to see a lot of his memories and were in his head at one point, so you probably know him better than we do." Artemis pointed out. M'gann just shook her head again "Just because I was in someone's head once and saw more than a few memories that doesn't mean I know everything about someone. I have no idea why he suddenly decided to give us some time off."
The rest of the Team quickly seemed to realize that they probably weren't going to get an answer on that front. "Well, at least we have some vacation days. Why don't we all get cleaned up before we stink the training room up?" Aqualad suggested with a small smile.
Everyone gave a small chuckle at that and headed for the locker rooms.
As the girls went about their business, cleaning themselves off in the women's locker room Artemis spoke up "So, I was wondering…do any of you want to have a girl's night out since we have three days off?"
That wasn't quite what most of them had been expecting. However now that they each thought about it, they had completely cleared out their schedules as they had expected that they would be in for nonstop training until the weekend. "So what would we do?" asked M'gann curiously.
That was perhaps the one problem Artemis had and for a moment she struggled to come up with an idea. Fortunately though Zatanna seemed to have some ideas "Well New York's Museum of Natural History has a temporary exhibit on the sword of Beowulf."
"You mean the sword that was used to slay Grendel in that old story, right?" Asked M'gann to which Troia shook her head "No, Beowulf used his bare hands to kill Grendel and used the sword to slay his mother and later a giant dragon."
Everyone looked over at Troia and seemed surprised by her answer "What?" She asked.
"We didn't really take you for a reader of classic literature," said Artemis. Troia shrugged "One of my sister's friends, Alexa asked if I could send her back some books, as she loves reading new stories. I can't deny that there are more than a few that have piqued my own interest as well."
"Wasn't expecting that, but what kind of books?" Asked Zatanna her expression curious. Troia gave a small smile and said "Just some things here and there. Although I did find myself enjoying going through some of the stories that were based off of the stories of ancient Greece and seeing what they got right and what they got wrong. Some of them were understandable, while others made me laugh at how ridiculously wrong it was even if the story was more than entertaining."
She then snickered, a rare thing to see Troia do. In fact, for a second, those that knew her wondered as to whether or not they were looking at an imposter "What?" She asked.
"It's just kind of weird seeing you laugh at something," Artemis stated bluntly. Troia gave a look of mock offense "I can appreciate the humor in something, I'm not Batman after all." At that everyone let out a chuckle at that one.
"Well, the exhibit's supposed to be open tomorrow, I say we head then. Afterwards we can hit the city itself, take in some of the sights. Anyone interested?" There were a series of affirmatives between the girls.
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-Inquisitor's Secondary Base, Seattle WA-
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"We managed to get a few things out of Doctor Desmond, turns out he was reporting to a group of about seven members, they gave him funding for Cadmus' genetic experiments in exchange for him running projects on their behalf. The lab's main entrances were destroyed but even the slightest possibility of an army of genetically engineered monsters right underneath Washington DC is more than a little concerning. I don't know who the Justice League decided to inform, but until now this didn't cross my desk! All we were told initially was that a maniac scientist had gone on a rampage after running an experiment on himself."
Amanda Waller was more than a little angry at what she had just discovered and seemed to be planning seeing how many heads could roll in the matter. Dante however was relatively calm. If anything, he seemed to have expected something like this and who could blame him. It would take a lot of reach to keep something like this covered up. "The fact that Superboy came from this same facility is also a serious cause for concern. You said you've been keeping an eye on him?"
The Inquisitor nodded "Correct, at the time I considered the clone a possible infiltrator, but from my observations it is unlikely that the clone is a willing enemy spy. Superboy is far too blunt, too earnest to be of any real use in such a role, though it would not surprise me if the clone was a sleeper agent of some kind, waiting for the right trigger at the right time to eliminate several individuals of key value.
However I think that our real priority would be to further investigate Lex-Corp and Brain. Luthor's hatred of Superman, and the Justice League is quite well known. I doubt the League even bothered to truly investigate the connection between the two and now that we know of the Light, I wouldn't be surprised if he is either a ranking member in the organization or made to think he is. Brain would of course be of great use as a scientist to such an organization."
Waller nodded, Luthor was the kind of person who needed to be one of the people in charge; his ego would not allow anything otherwise. The Inquisitor then continued "I would investigate Luthor myself but given his location, any infiltration attempt I might make would run the risk of being spotted by Superman which would lead to some uncomfortable questions from the Justice League."
"I'll see if I can get some of my people in on it. Anything else on your end?"
"A few things, there have been several attempts by outside crime organizations to gain a foothold in Seattle. They were all unsuccessful. In essence it seems as though there are some group attempting to fill the vacuum left by Kingman and his ilk. I have some plans to deal with the annoyance soon enough."
What Dante left out was his own suspicions on the matter. There was a possibility, however unlikely for a certain organization using this power vacuum to get their own agents into the city. Of course it was even more likely that they already had agents in the city via less direct methods, and had for months.
One of the primary organizations attempting to do this were certain members in the Italian mob, one of who had a base in New York. It was time to ensure that this particular organization would be far too busy dealing with…other problems than taking control over the underworld in Seattle.
"Though, you and I both know that we will need to…acquire Lex Luthor or one of his subordinates for interrogation. He's the best lead we have on the ones we are hunting."
That much was obvious, and both of them knew it. While they could put Luthor on surveillance, that would only work for so long before the Justice League bumbled into it and made things more complicated, considering how he was on their watch list. No, they needed to get ahold of either Luthor, someone close to him or gain access to his personal computer systems. None of these would be easy by any stretch of the imagination and both of them knew it.
"You're suggesting that we abduct a US citizen without any real evidence of wrongdoing or having any charges levied against him. This would have some serious consequences if it got out." Waller stated, her voice curious yet almost reluctant.
The Inquisitor scoffed "Then we make sure it doesn't get out. You didn't strike me as someone who was unwilling to dirty their hands Waller."
Waller shook her head "This is a bigger deal than that. If it gets out it would deal a lot of near irreparable damage to the US' international reputation." She trailed off for a second before she sighed. "Before we try to grab him, we'll first need someone high up on Luthor's payroll and then make them talk and confirm our suspicions. Then we take Luthor."
The Inquisitor gave a nod. Such was an acceptable course of action he supposed. Because while the Inquisitor cared little for the international reputation of the US –their leaders were far too timid when it came to doing what needed to be done- he could understand that his ally's hands were somewhat tied in the matter. Besides, the more he thought about it the more he realized that Luthor was too public a figure, and they had no idea where Brain was located so capturing and interrogating him was out. Subterfuge would be needed to win the day in this case, not brute force. That would need to come later after this "Light" had been exposed.
"We'll need to wrap this up for the time being Inquisitor. We'll speak again soon." Declared Waller while Dante simply nodded and ended the call.
The Inquisitor went over to a small map of New York City which was marked out with known gang locations. Eventually his gaze settled on one single spot in particular 'Yes, this area would do quite well.'
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-New York City, Outside of the Museum of Natural history-
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The next evening the four girls exited the Zeta-Tube leading to a small alleyway just a short walk away from New York's Museum of Natural History. Naturally they were all wearing civilian clothing and were only carrying concealed weapons on them. After all just because they were off duty that didn't mean that there wasn't the possibility of encountering some random psychopath out on the streets. Better safe than sorry after all.
They walked out past the alley and into the bustling streets of New York. Like always there were hundreds of cars clogging the streets and huge crowds of people walking around. As the saying went, New York was the 'City that Never Slept' and it was an apt moniker as the girls saw the bustling activity around them.
As they did Troia found herself taking in the sights and sounds of everything all around her and while she had been in several towns and cities before, this was something else entirely. The city was so abuzz with life that it was amazing, the entirety of the Amazons wouldn't even be able to inhabit a quarter of the city. The only problem was the sheer amount of noise that was everywhere. How anyone could stand it all was beyond her.
"Pretty loud huh?" Artemis jokingly asked with a small smile on her face. Troia nodded "How can you stand all the noise?"
Artemis shrugged "Well I grew up in Gotham so it could get pretty loud there too, you just get used to it I guess."
Troia supposed that made sense but still, how could anyone get used to this?
The group walked for a little while before they reached the museum. When they arrived though they found that there was a huge crowd of people by the entrance which was being blocked off by the police. The four girls looked at one another, confused as to what was going on.
They walked over towards the entrance, hoping to find out what was going on and heard more and more people asking about why they weren't being allowed into the museum. "What happened?!" And "Why can't we go in?" Were common demands from the crowd.
When they were about to try and make their way to the front of the group to ask similar questions the telepath in their number simply said "I just read their minds. It looks like there was someone who came in and stole the sword, seriously injuring several people in the process."
At that Troia looked over at the group and said "I think it's safe to assume that we aren't just going to ignore this correct?"
The looks and nods she received in response was just as she expected. Sure it was their day off, but at the very least they could see if they could at the very least help catch whoever was responsible for the crime.
As they moved to a less conspicuous location to put on their uniforms and equipment Artemis quickly brought something up "Uh, M'gann I thought that you were taken off duty? Is it alright for you to take part in this?"
M'gann gave a small, almost conspiratorial smile "I've only been barred from taking part in missions, no one ever said I couldn't lend a hand outside of them."
Everyone gave similar expressions to Miss Martian when they heard her say that.
It only took a minute or two but soon everyone was ready to head out and soon they did so. As they did however M'gann noticed some conflicted emotions and there were more than a few surface thoughts that M'gann had to concentrate to keep out of her head coming from Zatanna. M'gann made a note to ask her about it later.
When they had finished getting ready they approached the cordon of police officers who –along with the civilians- all seemed surprised to see a group of heroines there. There was a brief moment of confusion and more than a little bit of surprise on the NYPD officers' faces but to their credit they regained their composure almost instantly.
One of their number almost immediately walked over to the group and said "Gotta say we weren't expecting any heroes to show up here today."
Artemis was the one who spoke up first "Well we were in the area, thought we'd help out. Is that cool?" She asked and the officer in charge gave a shrug "Let me check with the higher ups first." There was a few minutes as the officer spoke into his radio informing his superiors about the new arrivals but they soon heard an affirmative answer coming from the radio.
The leading officer gave the group of heroes a small smile and said "Well it looks like the higher-ups aren't going to turn away some help on this one." He looked over at the other officers who were all voicing their own support of the group.
The leading officer took the girls into the museum and as they walked the man started to explain "I'm not sure if you know what's going on or not but I'll lay it bare anyways. Last night someone broke in to the exhibit that was going to house an old sword for a couple of weeks. Sword of Beowulf they call it."
The group passed by several other police officers and forensic specialists who were going over just about everything. Several of them gave the heroes some curious looks but otherwise paid it no real mind. It wasn't uncommon for members of the Justice League or their affiliates to get involved in certain investigations and some of them must have figured that this was one of those times.
The heroes noticed that for the most part so far the areas that they had passed seemed relatively clean. There hadn't been any sign of any break-in or anything similar to that. It was only when they got to the exhibit area itself did they start to find clear cut signs that a crime had been committed.
There were numerous broken glass display cases but aside from the one that contained the sword, nothing had been taken,
There were also large bloodstains on the floor and five body-bags that had already been filled and were being wheeled out of the room. Zatanna looked more than a little queasy at the sight but the others less-so. The other girls had seen some incredibly disturbing things while they and the rest of their number were out trapped in the Bialya/Qurac border region. None of this was anywhere even close to how bad that had been.
Was it horrible? Yes. Absolutely. Was it among the most depraved, inhumane and disgusting acts that a human could produce? No, at least not by comparison to the horrors that went on in that middle-eastern warzone.
The officer who had let the four of them in was the first one to speak up. "From what we can tell someone smashed their way in, killed five of the guards and a museum curator while putting another three into the hospital in critical condition."
Given what they had just seen, it was actually surprising that there was anyone left alive given the aftermath. "What are their chances?" asked Troia but the officer shook his head.
"We don't know," he spoke honestly "We haven't heard anything since they were taken to the hospital. Only that they were all undergoing emergency treatment and that they weren't sure if any of them would pull through."
M'gann having seen the amount of security cameras in the museum since she and the others entered asked "Did the security cameras pick anything up? I mean this place has dozens of those things, so they must have seen something."
The one of the CSI specialists shook his head "We checked, the main power to the museum had been cut, literally. Someone sliced through the cables and then made their way over here."
"Doesn't this place have backup generators?" asked one of the cops. The CSI specialist nodded "It does but it takes a few minutes for it to start up. Our suspect must have used that time to get here and take the sword,"
Zatanna looked over the damage caused and started to think on what she was seeing. She had only been in training for a couple of weeks at this point but even she could tell that this wasn't something any professional thief worth their salt would do at all. Catwoman for instance wouldn't have been this brazen, nor would she have hurt innocent people like this. She may have been violent against gangs, murderers and other such criminals but against innocent people? No the worst she'd do is knock them out or tie them up and taunt them before marching out with her prize if they managed to catch her out in the open, but she'd never outright murder an innocent.
M'gann brought Zatanna out of her thoughts by asking her next question "Do you think this guy had someone on the inside?"
One of the cops shook their head "It's a possibility but if you want my opinion, if he did have someone on the inside, then they weren't being very helpful. The only thing that they might have done was cut the main power. They either didn't tell the thief about the guard's schedule like when they switched shifts or tried to draw as many of them away as possible."
"Not to mention that the thief wasn't very subtle or restrained regardless." Artemis said, knowing she was stating the obvious "Even if the guards were being drawn away they would have heard the glass shatter and come back."
While this would explain the brutality of the attack it didn't give any of them any real info on who the killer could be. Zatanna however, soon spoke up "I think I have an idea on how we might be able to get some more information. It's like a magical version of those holographic recordings that some security companies are developing. It might help."
At that the lead cop said "By all means." And gestured for her to give it a go.
Zatanna didn't waste any time as she raised her hands and said "Wohs su tahw deneppah ereh nehw eht dorws saw nelots!" She chanted as her arms started to glow blue.
Within seconds a series of blue spectral figures began to take shape. Unfortunately none of them had any real facial characteristics but some details could at the very least be made out; mainly the shape and build of those involved. There were even voices that went along with it.
Most of it was nothing but mere idle talk for a minute or two until they all seemed to notice something "Why'd the lights go out?" One of them asked; "Loose wire somewhere maybe?" Said another.
Other possibilities were thrown around by the guards; but just as quickly as they started when another figure came around the corner. It was a man judging by the build, and one could easily tell that he had long hair. Before anyone could ask him who he was he started his attack.
He rushed the nearest guard and slammed him head first into a nearby display case; shattering it and impacting the poor man's head into the stone tablet contained within, knocking out the first guard. Then just as quickly as he took out the first guard, he went to work on the others as he drew an almost oversized knife.
He targeted the next closest guard by moving in close before slicing outwards at his neck, slicing it clean open. The next he stabbed upwards in between the ribs of his chest. He was moving so quickly that the guards didn't really have a chance to use the batons they were carrying. Another had the blade jammed into his throat, while a fourth found a knife buried into his and then pulled it out before stabbing it into the man over and over again.
He was just as vicious with the other guards as he was with the first three he butchered as he was quick. By the end all of them were on the ground either dead or dying. The thief then shattered the glass casing protecting the sword and picked it up by its arm-shaped sheath and said "Abannan afol Beowulf."
The 'fingers' of the sheath moved, allowing the thief and murderer to draw the sword.
One of the victims watched the sight and said "H-how?" in between coughing up blood from his wounds "Only those who are pure of heart can wield the sword of Beowulf."
While everyone couldn't see the expression on the killer's face they could almost hear the smirk in his voice "But Harm is pure, pure evil." Then almost expectantly, started laughing as trails of golden light emerged from the sword and struck out at those that remained.
When that was done the man left as quickly as he had entered, leaving the other guards to find the grisly scene. Then the glowing blue specters faded into nothingness; leaving behind a very bewildered group of police officers and sidekicks. Soon enough though the cops regained their wits and began speaking with one another. The officer in charge was giving out orders to look into this "Harm" fellow and to keep dusting for prints and checking for anything they could use for a DNA analysis. If this 'Harm' was a criminal that had been taken into police custody before then they must have had something on him in the national database.
"Sorry I couldn't give you a better picture of him," said Zatanna but the cop in charge just gave her a bewildered expression. "Are you kidding? You've already given us one hell of a lead on this! You've done good kid!"
Zatanna smiled a little at the praise.
Of course at this point there was little more that the sidekicks could really do to help and they were escorted out of the crime scene soon afterwards. They weren't able to help as much as they would have liked but at least they managed to give the cops the chance at a lead in the case.
After the four sidekicks had left the area they found a place they could turn back into their civilian garments. "So now that our original plans are effectively in the gutter, what should we do now?" Asked Zatanna. For several seconds no one really had any answers until Artemis spoke up "Well, I do know a good pizza joint around here."
Everyone turned to look at the archer for an explanation as to how she knew this, but she simply said "I've been to New York a few times before."
It was a good an explanation as any.
Soon everyone was in a relatively nearby pizza restaurant. They had already given the orders that they wanted and were waiting for them to be finished. In the meantime however the girls decided to chat amongst themselves, mainly about things that were going on in their own lives. "-so I ended up working with my uncle on one of his projects, and eventually I got introduced to the rest of the Team. It wasn't as exciting as what happened with the others." Artemis finished.
M'gann smiled, "Still it sounds like an experience. What about you Donna?"
Troia gave a small smile and said "I wanted to get out of home and experience more of the world like my older sister, make more of a difference than simply staying at home doing nothing. Here I feel like I'm actually accomplishing something."
Then the group turned to face the newest member of the Team and Artemis asked "So the rest of us have spilled our guts on why we joined up, what about you?"
Zatanna felt a little put on the spot but eventually she spoke "Well I've always wanted to follow in my dad's footsteps, ever since I was young I've looked up to him and well…you know how it is. The only problem was that dad wouldn't let me join in on the family business, said it was 'too dangerous.'"
That wasn't what the other girls were expecting and they quickly grew curious "So what happened? Why did he change his mind?"
Zatanna shrugged "No idea. He's been pretty distant lately and spends more time in his lab than he does at home or out at his job. One day I tried to convince him again and he decided to give me a shot pretty quick; it was really out of character for him to just give up that easily and while I wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth I was really tempted to ask if he was doing all right. It's like he's been obsessing over something for a while now, and he won't say what."
"What do you think's going on?" M'gann asked curiously but Zatanna just shrugged "No idea, dad's gotten pretty interested in some things before but never like this. Whatever it is, it's probably pretty important."
Zatanna looked over at M'gann and asked "What about you? How have you been doing lately?" M'gann wasn't sure where the newest member of the Team was going with this. Clearly the questioning look must have been evident on her face as Zatanna elaborated further "I mean, you and the others never seemed upset about me taking your spot on the team."
M'gann seemed to understand then and she shook her head "You haven't 'replaced' me, I'm still on the Team I'm just inactive for the time being." She shrugged, unconcerned "I'll be back at some point I'm sure, but you're doing a good job filling in and I think that you'll still be on the team even after I get put back in."
The reassurance made Zatanna smile.
The conversation continued on for a while until eventually Zatanna asked another question "So Donna, I've been hearing that you keep going for a sparring session against the boss. What's all that about?"
Donna looked somewhat embarrassed by the reminder of her failed attempts at besting the Inquisitor and said "To be honest it's kind of a pride thing, I want to prove to him that my people's ways of fighting are not something he can look down on. But I don't understand it, he's beaten me almost effortlessly each and every single time I've tried to fight him using my people's way of fighting."
There was a pregnant pause at the table before someone spoke up rather quietly "…It's because you're predictable."
The amazon looked over towards M'gann and with a look of irritated confusion "What does that mean?"
Miss Martian must have realized how that sounded "Sorry, what I meant was that to him, your way of fighting is very predictable."
That kept Troia from misunderstanding her point "How do you mean?" she asked, curiosity now filling her tone. "You have to understand that to him, each of your blows he can see coming because of his training and to be honest, after a while someone can get a sense of exactly what you're going to do, and he capitalizes on that knowledge.
Then there's the fact that the differences between your fighting styles is like night and day. You are fighting with techniques that haven't been updated in well over a millennia, even your sister has had to incorporate more modern methods of combat into her fighting style while keeping things that still work. He was trained in ways of fighting that were taught and improved upon throughout thousands of years of war and strife, ways that have time and time again been proven effective. Not to mention there's the completely different mindset you both have, simply put: you fight to win honorably, he fights to win."
Donna didn't really know how to respond to that one but she knew that it was correct. "You've given me a lot to think about." She stated, because what else could she say.
M'gann gave a small reassuring smile but before the conversation could carry on at all there was a loud thundering 'boom' as everything shook around them for a moment. The girls turned and saw a building a few blocks down had just caught fire.
.
-New York, Mafia Hideout a few minutes earlier-
.
The Inquisitor stared down at the man sitting down behind the desk, a bullet hole in his head. The man used to be a high ranking member in the Italian mafia, as were the dozens of dead men who littered the room, each one having been shot in the head. It wasn't a perfect frame up but given that and the explosives he had placed around the area it would be more than enough to send the mafia to war with the Chinese Triad. Tensions between the two were already at the breaking point in the city and it was only a matter of time before the powder keg went off.
This would be the spark that lit the fuse. With the Chinese Triad and Italian Mafia killing one another, their operations would be damaged considerably, thereby ensuring that neither side was able to extend their reach further for the foreseeable future. True some innocents would be caught in the crossfire, it was an inevitability after all but their violence would inevitably draw the eyes of law enforcement, and the criminals that weren't killed…well they would be spending a great deal of time in prison.
Dante was starting to make his way out when he heard what sounded like someone talking from downstairs in what was left of the lobby. He wasn't sure what to make of it but readied his rifle just in case and aimed it in the direction of the stairs in case someone decided to come up to see what was going on. As he did he started to make his way towards the nearby window. From there he could grapple out onto a nearby rooftop and detonate the explosives he planted, thereby dealing with any potential witnesses.
Before he could make his move, the floor nearby exploded in a shower of burning splinters. At first Dante thought that maybe one of the explosives he planted had gone off but that wasn't possible, the way he had set them and the nature of the explosives it would have taken a lot for them to go off without using the detonators embedded within them. No whoever was doing this was likely the source of the noise earlier.
Within a few moments an individual leapt upwards from the flames and onto the floor. Remarkably the one responsible for the feat looked as though the flames hadn't even touched him, which the Inquisitor took to be a rather dark sign. The man was wearing dirty jeans leather boots, a worn blue trench coat with nothing underneath it.
He had long dark brown hair that reached his waist and a scar that looked like four jagged claw marks running diagonally down his left eye, though said eye was undamaged. There was also a manic look in his eye. It was one that Dante had seen many, many times in the eyes of the servants of the Archenemy.
The crazed maniac –for what else could he possibly be- was also carrying a sword in one hand and a strange, arm shaped sheathe in the other. There were strange wisps of light coming from both the sword and sheathe. Then there was the strange glowing orange circle glowing on his chest, on the same spot as a person's heart. Dante felt the hairs on his neck stand up as he quickly realized that vile sorcery was at work here.
The man gave an almost smug looking smirk as he said "Harm has come for the skull faced it and soon it shall-"
Dante didn't let the heretical maniac finish his monologue as he pulled out his pistol –a suppressed USP- and fired several very lethal rounds directly at the heretic. None of them struck home as the bastard managed to deflect each shot with those strange wisps of light.
The Inquisitor continued to fire, if only to keep the maniac back as he drew his grapple gun and aimed it out of the window and at a nearby rooftop. He quickly holstered his pistol and withdrew a small detonator just as he fired the grapple gun. The heretic's eyes widened quite considerably as Dante was pulled out of the window and saw the detonator in his hand.
The instant that the Inquisitor was a fair enough distance away he detonated the explosives he had planted just a short time earlier. Considering his fortunes in dealing with such heretics, it wasn't likely that it would be enough to kill the bastard but it would be enough to slow him down, and likely frustrate him. It was a tactic that was very viable when dealing with certain groups of heretics, frustrate them until they thought they had their prey cornered only for said prey to spring an ambush and annihilate them.
Once the grapple gun had taken him to the top of a nearby building he saw that there was a billboard behind him, which helped to rule out any attacks from the rear. He checked his pistol and saw that he still had eight rounds left, it wasn't much. Especially given the protection against ranged protection the sword offered him; so Dante would need to engage the heretic in close combat. That was not a tempting prospect as he had no idea what kind of powers the sword bestowed upon the bearer. He'd have to use a flash grenade to stun him, then go in for the kill while using the psi-maul in order to at least dampen the sword's powers.
He wasn't sure if the sword could allow him to fly or jump great heights; though if anything the latter seemed more than a little plausible given how he had leapt a full story just a moment or two earlier. There was a pause for a few moments as he watched as nothing emerged from the burning building. The Inquisitor could already hear what seemed like sirens going off in the distance.
Dante continued watching, looking for any sign that his prey had left the building. Less than a second later he heard a loud bang coming from the left side of the building and then he saw a shadow leaping up over the side before he saw the same heretical madman from just a few moments earlier. He saw that aside from a few mild burns the heretic was fine. The sword must have been providing some protection from injury –yet another sign of its dark and corrupting origin- because the man wasn't wearing anything that could have possibly provided that level of protection.
"The it didn't think that would finish Harm did it?!" He shouted as he sliced downwards with the sword. Dante drew his chainsword at the same time and activated the throttle just as the blade impacted the weapon.
There was a shower of sparks as the blade was dragged down by the chainsword's teeth towards the pommel. It wasn't uncommon for those fighting against those wielding chainswords for the first time to forget that the weapon's teeth went downwards, so any bladed weapons caught in between the teeth would be forced downwards towards the hilt. From there, the weapon that the opponent was using would either be wrenched from their grip or they would be knocked off balance for a successive attack. Fortunately the hilt of the chainsword was well protected so as to keep the user's hand from most direct arm.
Unlike what Dante had at first anticipated when the heretic's weapon started to be driven downwards he immediately drew his weapon back before he was knocked off balance or the weapon was pulled from his grip.
"It should do better or suffer Harm." The heretic remarked with an insufferable smirk. Dante just barely prevented himself from rolling his eyes. Great this idiot was making puns based off his name. The lack of imagination in this one was even worse than most heretics he had dealt with.
The two continued their battle, each one trying to strike out at the other only for their opponent to either dodge the blow or parry the strike.
As Dante continued the fight he feinted with the chainsword. While normally attempting a feint with such a weapon was impossible due to its weight and size, there was one exception to the rule, if someone had a lightweight offhand weapon like a dagger, and the enemy wasn't expecting it, well the damage one could inflict would be immense.
Sure enough a dagger emerged from its area in the Inquisitor's sleeve and into his waiting hand. Not missing a beat as the heretic fell for the feint Dante struck out with the dagger. It was a slicing across the fool's chest and digging deep as it did.
Of course the damage was relatively minimal but it was enough to put Harm on the back foot long enough for follow-up strikes, which of course, Dante was more than willing to inflict on the bastard as he holstered his blade and drew his psi-maul and activated it. The wisps of light that were coming from the sword weren't as bright nor as sharp as they were previously though it clearly didn't do much to slow down or stop any of the skill Harm was showing; which it should have if the blade was aiding the heretic in such a fashion.
It seemed as though Harm's skills, as rough, unrefined, and untamed as they were, were not the result of the sword's influence. Dante had heard tales from his mentor about how daemonic weapons would grant their wielders enhanced strength, speed and skill in exchange for doing whatever deed the daemon within the weapon wanted done. Whatever this was, it wasn't quite the same as that.
Dante then heard the sound of a grapple gun's line impacting something nearby, telling him that he was about to have some guests. Whether they would be aid or a hinderance –though most likely the latter given what he had planned on doing to this heretic- remained to be seen.
Sure enough several members of the Team appeared, more specifically Artemis, Troia, Zatanna and Miss Martian. As for why they were here, Dante could only guess at. Whatever the reason however, things were about to get far more complicated.
To be continued.