1,297The Inquisitor
Chapter 40
Harm and Secrets Part 2
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-New York City, Rooftops-
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The four sidekicks had a sneaking suspicion of what they might find when they heard the explosions and immediately went to see if they could help. The instant that they were back in uniform they rushed towards the site of the explosion as quickly as they could. It only took a few minutes for the group to make it to the site of the burning building, which, thankfully, was relatively easy to put out with the help of Zatanna's magic.
What made the situation even better was that no one seemed harmed by the explosion. In fact, it seemed to have been completely contained in a relatively small area. The building was closed so there wasn't anyone that was truly around nearby but people were starting to gather around the once burning building out of curiosity. Thankfully though they all seemed to be keeping their distance; especially as police and first responders started to arrive at the scene.
It took a minute or two for the girls to leave the scene afterward and head for a nearby rooftop. There was a small silence as the group took stock of what had happened just a few moments earlier. "Some day off, huh?" Artemis remarked.
Everyone let out a small, mirthless chuckle at the comment.
"So, what do you think caused the explosion?" Asked Troia who was looking at the building they had all just stopped from burning down. Zatanna simply shrugged. "Maybe it was a gas leak or something?" she asked.
Miss Martian looked puzzled by that, "Maybe, but wouldn't the explosion have been a lot bigger?"
"Maybe not. It would depend on how much gas was leaked before it got lit up," Artemis explained. So what do you think happened?"
The green-clad archer was interrupted by Troia, looking over at a nearby rooftop and saying, "Wait, is that the Inquisitor?" She asked, pointing at something off in the distance.
Immediately the group looked over to where the Amazon was pointing all the while Artemis said "No way that's him. I mean the odds are ridiculously huge."
As they looked however, it became very clear that it was indeed the Inquisitor and given that there was a second figure there and there was the tell-tale sound of their leader's chainsword, there could be no doubt. The Inquisitor was in Manhattan and someone was taking a shot at him.
Artemis immediately drew her bow, nocked an arrow, and aimed it squarely at the strange, long-haired man fighting with the Inquisitor. "Can you make the shot?" Zatanna asked.
That was the million-dollar question, especially given the circumstances involved. The range was pretty long, and while that normally wouldn't be too much of a problem, there was a lot of wind and other rooftops to consider, which would only make things more difficult to gauge whether or not she could land a hit; not to mention that there was every chance that she could hit the Inquisitor, especially with how he and his opponent were fighting.
Artemis concentrated on the target briefly before responding, "I'm not sure, but there's a chance I could just as easily hit the Inquisitor." Soon she lowered her aim, the bowstring slowly relaxing back into its place, and lowered her weapon as she looked at the others. Troia then gave a small, almost eager smile. "Then let us take the fight to the enemy."
While Troia had improved quite considerably in how she fought and acted towards others -especially those of the opposite sex- ever since she had arrived; she still occasionally showed an eagerness to be in the front of the fighting rather than using more subtle means.
She was at least willing to keep herself from doing anything stupid like rushing off alone. It was something that had been ruthlessly drilled out of her, and Superboy when the Inquisitor took over training. Their training was specifically constructed around situations where their usual approaches to problems would always end in disaster. Each of the missions normally had to do with either intelligence gathering or hostage rescue. In the event that they were discovered during the training mission, if the enemy spotted them, the intelligence would be worthless or destroyed, and in the case of the hostages, the ones guarding them would immediately kill them via bombs strapped to the hostages' chests.
While they weren't stupid enough to risk the lives of the hostages or the information they were supposed to gather, the ones they were up against were ridiculously aware of what was going on around them. The first few attempts the two made, they had their position made and the mission had failed before it had truly started.
The Inquisitor as always, was ruthless in his training. He explained that they would repeat the exercises until they succeeded or passed out from exhaustion. And when he said that, he had truly meant it. The Inquisitor watched from the observation room for hours, not moving, not truly saying anything until they finally succeeded, where he informed them that while they did complete the exercise they would be focusing all their time on infiltration missions due to their abysmally poor performance.
Troia brought herself out of those memories as they flew over to where the Inquisitor was fighting against an unknown adversary. Since Artemis and Zatanna couldn't exactly fly like their friends, the two had to be levitated via M'gann's telekinesis.
The four girls were there in less than a minute, and they found their leader still engaging in combat with his assailant.
The moment they appeared, they saw that the Inquisitor had broken away from the strange opponent, his chainsword in one hand, and a bloody combat knife in the other. The long-haired man in the trench coat had a large red slash across his chest and it was plain to see that he wasn't happy that the Inquisitor managed to land a strike on him.
However, upon seeing the new arrivals to the fight, his eyes widened, not in shock or fear as one might initially think, but in bloodthirsty anticipation. The manic smirk he gave only accentuated it. "Ah, more its to the slaughter; fortune must favor Harm this day."
The way the guy spoke was as bizarre as his appearance. He had a long mane of dark brown hair that reached his waist, and a strange claw-like scar at his left eye which apparently hadn't been deep enough to damage the orb beneath it. His garb however was little more than something one could find at any clothing store. He wore jeans, boots, and an unbuttoned trench coat and no shirt of any kind underneath it.
Artemis fired off a pair of arrows, all the while noting that if Wally were here, he would have called this guy a 'total tryhard.' If she were being entirely honest, she would have completely agreed with such an assessment. Especially with how the maniac talked!
"The its arrows do not impress," he said as he batted them away with contemptuous ease as he began to advance on the group once more, even as Zatanna chanted another spell, "Nrub sih draws line ti swole der toh!" She shouted.
The sword in the maniac's hand immediately began to glow a dull orange before turning cherry red. Even as steam radiated from the weapon its wielder showed no signs of being in agony as any other would in after so much as poking such a finger on such a burning hot piece of metal.
Then, just as quickly as the sword became superheated to temperatures that would have badly burned any normal human, it stopped, and the red glow dulled until it finally died. In mere moments, the sword looked as it had before, with no real change in its appearance. The strange-looking young man merely smirked. "Its magic does not impress either."
Miss Martian levitated some loose pieces of brick scattered on part of the roof and flung them at the crazed maniac who either leaned away from the attacks at the last moment or batted them away with his sword. Troia was about to rush the swordsmen when a small gesture from the Team's leader instructed her to hold her position. It was a testament to the training he put her and the others through that she obeyed without qualm or hesitation.
The Inquisitor spoke behind his helm into a microphone directly into their earpieces. "Let him talk, Troia. You are to take him slowly on the left; I will engage him directly, and we'll get him in a pincer maneuver. Artemis ready flash arrows, only fire if I give the word. Zatanna, use your witchery to pin him down, freeze him to the roof, or something. I don't care what you do but make sure he's as immobile as possible. Miss Martian, use your telekinesis to get that sword out of his hand; if that won't work, try and overload his brain."
His smirk only widened further as he looked at the group. "By the ridiculous garb, the its are likely the proteges of Zatara, Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter, and Green Arrow. Harm will study them to learn ways to kill their mentors."
Understandably, that angered many there, but through the private communication link they each held in their ears, they could hear the Inquisitor's voice speaking in an authoritative tone: "He is trying to bait you; do not let him."
Zatanna gritted her teeth for a moment or two before conceding. Instead of reacting with a threat of her own, she shouted, "Ezeerf sih sgel ot eht foor!" As quickly as the words left her mouth, ice began appearing at Harm's feet, and almost instantly, he found himself unable to move his legs.
This didn't seem to faze him much, however, as he –or, more likely, the sword he was wielding- was able to parry almost every blow landed against him and then launch a surprisingly good counterattack at them. Even when the Inquisitor first made an attempt to use his pistol armed with tranq rounds, Harm batted them out of the air with contemptuous ease when the Inquisitor and Troia began their own strikes.
However, as they did, the strange glowing mark on Harm's chest glowed with an incandescent light and he wrenched his legs out of the ice that had encased his legs from his feet up to his knees and he was back on his feet.
Harm pulled out a dagger and blocked the strike that Troia made with her own sword, the speed in which he moved and anticipated the attack was incredible, even as he began to parry blows from the Inquisitor's chainsword. However, despite parrying each blow, when Harm blocked a strike from the Inquisitor's weapon, he had a millisecond to pull his arm back before his sword was dragged downwards towards the guarded hilt and throw him off balance. Once he did that he would have to fall back further to get out of the chainsword's way. Harm could not do this indefinitely though and it was becoming clear that he was starting to run out of space on the roof.
The Inquisitor saw that Harm knew this and he had a look that was simultaneously manic and frustrated at the fight happening around him.
Soon Harm found himself a few feet away from the edge of the roof, and smirked, "Harm will not be denied. Harm comes for all and more Harm is left to do."
"We get it!" Shouted Artemis in utter exasperation "Your name is Harm!"
The Inquisitor ignored the words and swung his chainsword down even as a flash of light emerged from the glowing mark, blinding all of Harm's opponents as he leapt backwards and straight off the roof. Immediately the Inquisitor looked over the side of the roof. There was nothing; it was as though Harm had vanished into thin air.
'More damned sorcery!" The Inquisitor snarled to himself as he went over to the rest of the girls from the Team, more specifically a certain witch. The other girls looked somewhat nervously as he approached Zatanna and said "During the fight you were unable to provide any other support after Harm freed himself."
Zatanna knew the unasked question and answered as quickly "I'm sorry, I-I thought that if I tried it would hit one of you and I hesitated!"
The Inquisitor looked down at the witch for several seconds, a wave of disgust and fury all but radiating off of him "You must never hesitate in combat, witch. You will get yourself and everyone else killed! This kind of hesitation will not happen again."
It wasn't a request and they all knew it.
At that moment, Zatanna felt more intimidated by the Inquisitor than she ever did before during her short time with the Team. She immediately nodded and stood at attention "Yes sir, it won't happen again!" She declared.
The Inquisitor stared at her from behind his helmet's intimidating visage. Then he turned his attention to M'gann "I'm assuming that you were unable to overload his mind." The Martian nodded. "No matter what I did, he was able to keep me out. At first I thought that his willpower was just that strong but, it felt like there was something else…I can't really explain what it was, but it was as though something was amplifying his mental defenses."
The Team's leader nodded "I suspected as much." He then turned and addressed the rest of the female members of the team "And what exactly has brought you here to New York City on your…time off?"
The four girls then explained exactly what brought them there and Dante was honestly somewhat shocked that despite all the odds against it, somehow the five of them had met up in the same city at the exact same time that this 'Harm' had decided to attack him with the very heretical weapon that was stolen from the museum. Truly the God Emperor had a strange sense of humor.
"If you don't mind me asking though, what brought you here?" asked Zatanna, more than a little nervously, as she noticed the Inquisitor turn his gaze towards her once again. For a brief second Zatanna wondered if she had just doomed herself somehow but instead of rebuking her, the Inquisitor simply explained "There were several organized crime organizations attempting to move into Seattle, I came here to…disabuse them of that notion. By the time I arrived at one of their hideaways, everyone inside had already been killed, likely by a rival gang considering all the explosives they left behind. Then Harm showed up and I managed to escape before the building exploded."
The group seemed to accept his explanation though he did notice that Miss Martian seemed somewhat suspicious of his explanation but she didn't give voice to any of those suspicions. It was something that had started to take root at the back of her mind ever since they had been trapped at the border between Bialya and Qurac. A small seed of an idea that took root and by the time of the hostage crisis in Gotham had started to bud. Why did monsters who preyed on innocent people deserve mercy?
The lack of an answer she received from the Justice League only served to make her ever more frustrated. Especially with how they reacted when she sent Scarecrow into a near braindead coma. Even her friends had reacted with more than a little concern for a while afterwards, though when she had explained why she did what she had done they seemed conflicted on the matter, like they couldn't quite bring themselves to condemn or condone her behavior. It was something they had admitted when she spoke to them about it. M'gann had appreciated the honesty from them.
Dante had begun to replay the situation in his head even as one of the other girls started to debate as to why Harm had attacked them 'The heretic hoped to catch me off-guard, likely in an attempt to kill me but why? He doesn't strike me as a simple hitman so why…' Dante's thoughts trailed off as the answer became blindingly obvious to him and to Troia's as well; if her expression was anything to go by.
"He was testing himself." She said to which Dante gave a nod "Precisely. He seems to have no real formal training of any kind, more than likely he has learned through experience. For example his movements were more instinctive than practiced; he wished to overwhelm us with speed and ferocity alone instead of relying on skill and precision. When that didn't work he immediately retreated, like an ambush predator that failed to tear out the throat of its prey during its initial strike. It's clear he wasn't expecting the four of you to turn up when you did."
No one could find any argument against that analogy regarding their foe.
There was a pause for a few moments before Zatanna asked "So, what now? Do we contact the rest of the Team? The League?"
It seemed like a reasonable idea. This 'Harm' guy was clearly a threat so it would make sense to at least let the rest of the Team know before they-
"No, we won't be contacting anyone as of yet."
The words that were spoken by their leader made the girls gape at him. Before they could question as to why they were about to go into this, the Inquisitor elaborated. "If we call in support now, Harm will simply go to ground. True the media and the police could easily have pictures of him out within the hour and given what we've seen of him he may choose to take it as a challenge and go for a more...direct approach."
There was a sudden coldness in the air as the other sidekicks took that in and all started to grasp some of the implications. "Meaning he might just start killing people indiscriminately." M'gann stated in an angered tone. Dante nodded, "There's also the strong possibility that the blade he's using has other powers that he has yet to gain access to, or that the weapon's power increases the longer he wields it. One can never truly know with these kinds of weapons. We need to deal with him as quickly and efficiently as possible."
Zatanna seemed curious about what the Inquisitor meant by that but didn't say anything, especially since the others seemed to agree with him on the matter.
"Should we need assistance we will contact the League but we must attempt to settle this without intervention, but we cannot simply wait here for reinforcements."
The Inquisitor began to check the surroundings as everyone started talking and quickly spotted someone on a nearby rooftop. It was a young girl, perhaps no older than ten or eleven years of age. She was blonde and her skin was extremely pale, almost to the point where it was as though her skin had rarely if ever felt the touch of the sun. She wore a strange, hooded white cloak as well. She was gesturing for them to come over to her.
Soon everyone else noticed the girl as well, even as she continued to gesture at them to come over to her.
Before Bialya the group –save for the Inquistor- might have jumped at the chance to rush over and see who this person was and what she wanted, heedless that this might be some kind of a trap. The group looked over at Miss Martian who was already attempting to read the girl's mind.
In a few moments though the xeno shook her head "I can't get a good read on her. It's not like with a machine where I can't read the thoughts of something inorganic. It's like…she's there yet not there." Some of the others gave Miss Martian odd looks "I know how that sounds but that's what it feels like."
To the Inquisitor it almost sounded to the Inquisitor like some kind of astral projection, but why would this witch, whoever she was be doing that?
"Do you think this is some kind of trap that Harm guy might have set up?" asked Zatanna. The Inquisitor kept his gaze on the strange girl who was still repeatedly trying to usher them closer without pause, "Doubtful. This is too obvious to be some sort of trap. And this Harm seems to be far more like a sledgehammer in his approach. We will approach this girl, but keep a close eye on your surroundings, and Miss Martian, continue to try and probe her thoughts if you can."
There was a pause for a moment but Miss Martian spoke up and said "Well, while I couldn't read her thoughts, I was able to sense some of her emotions. The most potent among them were sadness, fear, and pain."
Fear was understandable given the situation; sadness however? Less so. Pain was also odd, but perhaps not unexpected depending on the type of pain that this girl was in. Despite the curiosity that Dante had, Artemis was the first one to ask M'gann however "I'm assuming that you don't mean physical pain."
M'gann simply gave a shrug, "It could be physical, emotional or both."
They began to make their way over to the neighboring roof, with the Inquisitor giving orders as they did "Keep an eye on your surroundings, even if this seems too obvious to be a trap, it is still possible it is one. Miss Martian, keep trying to find this girl's thoughts, I want to know what her plans might be if she is in league with this 'Harm.'"
The others in the group all gave an affirmative to their orders and approached the girl.
As they got closer the Inquisitor noticed that the girl seemed anxious about something but whatever it was, he wasn't sure. When they were close enough the girl looked up blankly at the group, and seemed slightly less anxious. "So what's going on? Who are you and why did you call us over here?" Troia asked.
The girl looked up at the group and said one simple, word. A word that was something that individuals like the Inquisitor were specifically made to uncover. "Secret."
She spoke it in a bland tone, and there was a strange quality to how she said the word. It was almost like she was struggling to get her mouth to work properly. Like she was speaking the word for the first time in her life and was still trying to get a grasp on the proper syllables.
Dante was about to demand that she reveal her real name but he found himself not needing to do so as Artemis quickly stated "Not good enough. Do you know Harm and does he have any weaknesses?"
Like a broken record the girl simply retorted "Secret." In the same strange pronunciation as before. Dante was about to forgo any and all niceties in front of the sidekicks and take a more –pardon the pun- inquisitorial stance on acquiring information from the girl. Unfortunately he didn't get the chance as the girl turned to face another roof top and frantically pointed at one that was in the distance.
Dante shouldn't have turned to look, especially with his training but he suffered the same lapse in judgment as the rest of the sidekicks did and turned to see the exact spot that she was pointing at. When he realized his mistake and then turned back to look at the girl, he had half expecting her to draw a weapon or use some form of vile sorcery to attack them but instead she was gone.
He would need to perform penance for such a novice mistake. "Where did she go?" Asked Troia.
They didn't need to wait long for an answer as the group checked their surroundings but soon saw that the same girl on the rooftop she had pointed to earlier. "I don't suppose anyone heard or saw anything before she disappeared and reappeared on us?" Asked Artemis.
Everyone quickly gave a negative and while Dante had seen Chaos sorcerers use portals through the Warp several times before, they were too obvious when they were used. Whatever it was that was making this girl teleport –for what else could it be- it wasn't the Warp. It was something else, and whatever it was, the Inquisitor didn't like it. This was some sort of witchcraft and he could never abide such things.
"So what should we do? Do we follow her or…" Zatanna started to ask but soon trailed off; only for the Inquisitor to state "For now we follow her."
The girls looked over at their leader and were more than a little put-off by his lack of caution.
"Right now she's our only lead, and while it does seem like a trap it seems too…obvious even for someone like Harm. So for now we will continue to follow, but keep an eye everywhere. Miss Martian, scan for any thoughts that might be Harm's." Everyone knew that it was a longshot to try and find the man that way given how many people were in the vicinity alone. It would be like finding a needle in a very, very noisy haystack, but it needed to be done.
Some might also say that what the Inquisitor was doing was reckless, there was a good reason behind it. At least in Dante's mind. They had likely only seen a small sliver on what the Sword of Beowulf was capable of, and it was likely that Harm didn't know what it was capable of either; unless of course he was holding back throughout that fight for his own amusement. Which meant that they needed to find and deal with the filthy heretic before the sword's power grew too powerful for them to combat. Who knew what kind of carnage that degenerate would bring, especially if he failed to control the blade's twisted energies!
When it came to potential corruption, any delay in response was unacceptable. It was why he and the others in the Inquisition were able to bypass the quagmire of Imperial bureaucracy. It was why they needed to wield near unlimited power in the Imperium as a whole. It was why he was so strident about stopping this threat immediately. To delay would only invite disaster.
As they continued to make their way towards the next rooftop even though she thought herself out of earshot Zatanna whispered "Is the Inquisitor usually this…intense during missions?" To which Troia nodded "Pretty much. You get used to it after a while."
The Inquisitor kept his eyes forwards even as made it known that he had heard them "Stay focused. No unnecessary chatter." His voice was clipped, to the point, and utterly authoritative. As one might expect, it got the point across to the two sidekicks and so they kept their mouths shut for the time being.
The group continued for a short time before they reached the next set of rooftops.
While they made their way over there however, a certain pair of eyes watched them, all the while muttering "The its are drawing close to home…such considerate its."
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The Inquisitor and the rest of the group managed to make it onto the next rooftop where the girl had once again vanished. 'Would it be too much trouble for this damned witch to simply give us a straight answer rather than just simply uttering 'secret' and pointing at a rooftop?!' He snarled to himself internally.
The group began to check the area but quickly found no real threat or ambush was nearby so they began to check nearby rooftops for anything but the only noteworthy thing was that there was a magic shop of all things across the street from the roof they were on. Though interestingly enough the neon sign on the shop read "Abel's House of Secrets."
The Inquisitor's gut instinct told him that this was likely far more than just some strange reference to the single word that the witch was capable of speaking. The only question was what? And considering the reactions of the others it would seem that he wasn't alone in trying to figure out what was going on.
"Why would she lead us to a magic shop of all places?" Troia asked.
The sidekicks were speaking with one another as they gave their won theories on why they had been led here but they weren't able to do so for very long. There was an impact on the ground that reminded the Inquisitor of a grenade –only with much less shrapnel- given the noise and the debris that was kicked up.
Soon enough though they heard a certain voice from the maniac they had encountered just a short time earlier "This is no coincidence, the its are on Harm's very roof! How did they know?! Tell Harm! Now!" He roared.
Dante said nothing to the heretic, but the others weren't as disciplined "Wait this is your place?!" Artemis asked, utterly bewildered.
Harm completely ignored the archer and instead struck out with his sword, attacking the group once again, charging them in a rage. Artemis reacted first, sending a pair of explosive arrows straight at the maniac. Unfortunately Harm grabbed both of the projectiles out of the air like they were toys. Less than a second later Harm threw them into the building behind him!
The resulting explosion wasn't enough to blast through the wall but it certainly damaged it.
Zatanna then pointed at a nearby water tower "Blow it open!" she shouted and Artemis did just that with another explosive arrow, even as the Inquisitor opened fire with his pistol, sending numerous rubber bullets down range, forcing Harm to block each attack with a swing of his sword. Miss Martian meanwhile was still trying to overload his brain all while flinging random pieces of metal and whatever debris was left on the rooftop. Troia meanwhile had her sword at the ready and was preparing to jump in the moment that Harm decided to try and get closer to the rest of the group.
The explosive arrow hit the water tower and blew it clean open, sending its contents pouring out. Zatanna gestured at the water and frantically shouted "Revoc mih htiw retaw dna ezeerf ti dolis! Revoc mih htiw retaw dna ezeerf ti dolis!"
The water engulfed Harm completely and within seconds was frozen solid.
The Inquisitor immediately reloaded his weapon and pulled out his combat knife, holding the blade in a reverse grip and he waited for the moment that Harm would break out of his icy prison. He didn't need to wait very long as the strange glowing symbol over Harm's chest began to intensify in its light. The ice began to crack, little by little at first and then suddenly it all but exploded outwards.
Harm was not only free of the ice block but he didn't even show any signs of being affected by the cold. Instead he only seemed furious.
"No more games!" Harm snarled; sending two trails of golden flames towards the group. The Inquisitor immediately ducked around the flames as did Miss Martian and Zatanna all the while Artemis and Troia found themselves separated from the rest of the group by the wall of fire.
The fire intensified and soon the Inquisitor looked down at the small yard behind the building before turning to his subordinates. "Miss Martian we're going over the side, slow our descent!"
Zatanna looked over at the Inquisitor like he was insane "Wait wha-" she didn't have the chance to say anything before she was pushed over the side of the building and was soon followed by both the Inquisitor and Miss Martian. The Martian was using her abilities to slow their fall to the point where they wouldn't even get a bruise from the impact.
There was a loud crash from back up on the roof and Dante suspected that the others had fallen through the roof of the building. Drawing his combat knife and chainsword he was about to tear use the latter weapon to tear apart the door and engage the enemy. He stopped however when he noticed a bright light coming from behind him.
Quickly he turned to face the disturbance and he, along with the rest of his group came face to face with Secret who had phased upwards out of the ground and was floating up in the air. Acting on trained reflex the Inquisitor sheathed his combat knife and drew his psi-maul, prepared to use it if this witch…projection or whatever it was tried anything. Given the circumstances he could easily activate his psi-maul and stop whatever it was the witch was planning on doing and then close the distance and cut off her head with a single strike from his chainsword.
He didn't have to wait long as Secret held out her hands close to her chest and it soon became covered in blood as a certain, utterly familiar dagger phased through her chest. "Harm's dagger…" muttered Zatanna.
For Dante however he was more than a little confused. This had to be some sort of witchcraft, to show them a vision of something that, for all intents and purposes would be Harm's dead sister. It made the Inquisitor wonder if this was some kind of ploy but if it was…what would be the point of it? What would it even achieve? They were already trying to deal with Harm so why this elaborate attempt at bringing them here just for some witch to show them some vision of Harm's dead sister and how she was murdered.
Dante had often heard tales of ghosts and spirits interacting with the mortal plane but had never seen a genuine one. Each and every time he had seen one it had always been the lies of Daemons that were attempting to worm their way into the minds of others by appearing as dead loved ones. However the Inquisitor found that this was very doubtful in this case, though one could never be too sure.
If what he was seeing was true though, he would make Harm pay for what he had done in blood, and damn the consequences. To kill a beloved family member, someone that Harm should have loved, protected and cared for until his dying breath, solely for the sake of the power of such a heretical weapon? It was enough to drive him to the very heights of rage!
He was about to march straight into the house to confront Harm, make him suffer and then end his miserable existence –witnesses and rules of the Justice be damned!- when the door leading to the backyard exploded outwards and out came Artemis and Troia, both of whom seemed to be retreating from a certain someone.
Artemis had lost her bow and was instead using her backup weapon, a small pistol sized repeating crossbow, while Troia sheathed the combat knife she had been given sometime earlier and redrew her sword.
Neither part of the group had the time to address one another as Harm stepped through door, Sword of Beowulf in one hand, while its arm-like sheathe in the other. He looked furious even as he said "The its defile Harm's holy place!"
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-A Few Moments Earlier-
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Right after the Inquisitor, Zatanna and M'gann went over the side of the building, Artemis fired off another arrow at Harm who simply threw his dagger straight at the arrow and the bow itself. The blade cut through the bow and its string like a hot knife through butter, missing Artemis' face by mere millimeters. Artemis attached her bow to its holster on her back and instead drew her sidearm, a small repeating handbow. It didn't do nearly as much damage as the bow she normally carried but it was better than nothing.
Troia meanwhile opened the door that lead to the roof and dragged Artemis in as well. Once they were inside Artemis slammed the door shut and locked it just as the wall of mystical flames impacted the place they had been standing just a second before.
"Come on we have to get back to the others!" Troia shouted as she pushed Artemis behind her.
The young Amazon was not foolish enough to not know that she was at a massive disadvantage in such close confines like this. The whole townhouse was cramped to say the least. With small boxes and random belongings strewn about the place there wasn't nearly enough room for Troia to fight properly. To make things even worse they were on Harm's home turf, and they had no idea as to whether or not he had lain any booby-traps in wait for an intruder.
Immediately Troia sheathed her sword which would only be a hindrance in conditions like this and instead pulled out the combat knife she had been assigned sometime after the events at the Bialya/Qurac Border Region. She never thought she'd ever need to use a blade outside of the ones made by her sisters on Themyscira and yet here she was. Not to mention what she was planning on doing with another weapon she had been given; one that if her mother and sisters were to see her use it, they would have decried her actions as unbecoming of an Amazon. To use trickery rather than honorable skill, but surely they would have understood the necessity given the situation she was in.
Troia and Artemis didn't need to wait long for Harm to make his appearance as he simply kicked the door down and looked utterly enraged by the defiance of his prey "The its seek to escape Harm in Harm's own home, such foolish its."
Artemis fired off a pair of bolts down at the bastard but he simply caught them like before and smirked. He was about to slice them to pieces for their temerity but then he heard a sound. The unmistakable sound of something rolling along the wooden floor. He looked down and saw a hand sized metal cylinder that had rolled to a stop just a few short inches from his foot. Harm's eyes widened as he looked up and saw that the two its were fleeing.
He didn't have long to rant in his head as the flashbang went off and Harm was momentarily blinded by the blinding flash of light that was the grenade's namesake. The sword he wielded allowed him to quickly regain his bearings much faster than if he didn't. Both of them were gone though by the time he did however.
His prey had tricked him! Him! The wielder of the Sword of Beowulf! Harm could hear the its making their way down the stairs and towards the door that lead into Harm's Holy Place.
Harm snarled and quickly followed after them. He heard the door leading to his 'holy place' slamming shut and he immediately rushed down to the first floor. The instant he made it to the doorway he used his sword to send a magical shockwave into the door, reducing it to splinters and he stepped out of the entryway he snarled "The its defile Harm's holy place!"
Artemis and Troia saw the makeshift grave site and were more than a little confused by what they were looking at until M'gann spoke up "Us?!" she all but shouted, enraged by the accusation and looking like she wanted to burn his mind to a crisp "You did this! To your own sister!"
At that all the pieces slotted neatly into place. The girl they had seen, 'Secret', had been some wandering spirit who had led them there to her grave. For what purpose? They weren't sure but what got their attention and fury was how Harm reacted to the accusation. He smirked and tilted his head, like it was all some big joke.
When that happened Miss Martian felt a spike of righteous fury emanating from the Inquisitor like heat from a star going supernova. The only other time she had ever felt him even remotely this angry was when she had entered her mind shortly after they had initially met but even then, that paled in comparison to this. And yet the only outward sign of his anger was that he tightened his grip on the hilt of his chainsword.
She could understand though. She had seen enough of his memories and what had happened not only to him but to everyone he had ever loved to know that he would be utterly incensed by the mere suggestion that someone would do it willingly and for their own power. It was impossible to distinguish between Harm and the actions of the many heretics and traitors the Inquisitor hunted down and killed after joining the Inquisition. When she saw the atrocities those monsters committed in the name of power from their 'gods'.
When M'gann saw it, she almost wanted to be the one to pull the trigger on the bolt pistol that sent them straight to hell.
And here she was, staring directly at the exact same kind of person who would, and had done almost the exact same things that those monsters from the Inquisitor's memories would have done.
She didn't get a chance to respond however as Artemis looked utterly disgusted by Harm's reaction "You're proud of it?! And you have the gall to write beloved!"
Harm's smirk only grew "No, not gall. Truth. She was the only thing Harm ever loved; that's why she had to go. Harm's heart had to be pure, Greta had to be cut out, excised like an infection."
Troia just looked at him, utterly aghast by what she was hearing "What is wrong with you?! How could you talk about your own family like that; and you did all that just to…to use a sword!" She seemed even more sickened with every word she spoke.
The Inquisitor, who had kept silent the entire time almost appeared as though he was deciding the best possible way to hack Harm apart with his chainsword. In fact he almost seemed like he was about to try his luck at doing just that when the wind started to pick up and the figure of a young girl phased upwards out of the ground at her grave. Everyone looked for a moment at the projection, even the Inquisitor watched as the unbound spirit went from transparent to looking just like any other person.
The wielder of the Sword of Beowulf however, had a completely different expression from the condescending smirks or the frustrated rage. No instead it was a look of utter shock and bewilderment, his eyes widened and it almost appeared as though the blood had completely drained from his face. It only lasted for a second or two though before he started smirking again "It attempts to cast an illusion spell. Harm is not impressed."
Zatanna looked at him, a knowing look on her face and said "Except I didn't speak, Harm knows that it can't cast a spell without speaking."
At that the self-assured smirk was utterly erased from Harm's face and gasped as he took a step back even as Greta's spirit walked past the group and towards her murderer. Even though he could have attempted to run, he seemingly didn't have the strength to move and instead pointed his blade at Greta, with it giving off sparks of electricity. Almost as though the blade itself was displeased by something.
"No!" Harm exclaimed eyes still wide with disbelief "Harm's heart is pure! Harm's not sorry! I'm not!" He shrieked in fear even as Greta walked through the blade like it wasn't even there the entry and exit points of it glowing with an almost heavenly light. As she walked up to him, her expression never once changed from utter stoicism. She didn't seem angry, instead she saw what she was about to do next as nothing more than a tasteless task.
She reached forwards and phased her hand through the glowing portion of Harm's chest and her brother cried out in a mix of shock and seeming pain. Making everyone wonder if she was going to rip out his heart. Instead she pulled out a glowing, fiery orange orb that almost looked like a miniature sun.
With a gasp Harm fell to his knees eyes still wide and seemingly in pain, even as he picked himself back up quickly enough to watch the orb literally blink out of existence. When that happened Harm's face became one of anger once more as he sliced out with his sword only for it to go through Greta like she was made of air, and given that she was already dead, the weapon inflected no wounds on her form.
The weapon suddenly became heavier than solid granite in its wielder's hand and it soon tilted downwards until it embedded itself completely in the ground and out of Harm's hands. The arm-like sheathe writhed in his hand as though trying to strike out its bearer until it literally wrenched itself free from Harm's grasp. It hovered in the air, and the sword, once heavier than solid stone, was now hovering in the air and it slammed itself back into the sheathe with the hand clenched over the hilt in a vice-like grip.
Everyone was about to move towards the bastard until there was a bright flash of something for several seconds. When it was gone the sword remained there laying on the ground while the Inquisitor and Harm had vanished. The group was about to try and find them when the Inquisitor's voice came over their communicators "Harm is fleeing. I am in pursuit."
Their boss' voice was calm but at the same time everyone could hear the ice cold fury behind the tone.
At that the rest of the group started chasing after him but as they did Zatanna asked "So we're going to back up the Inquisitor? I mean I know Harm's been tough but-"
Zatanna didn't get a chance to finish her sentence because Troia spoke up "But nothing, it's not the Inquisitor we're worried about. If anything we should be more worried about Harm, because I haven't seen the Inquisitor this mad since that one time."
The sorceress in training blinked "That one time?" she parroted.
At this point M'gann joined in while giving Troia a bit of a glare at the reminder "Bit of a story in and of itself, we'll explain later. But he's actually not as mad as that one time…given what I got from his emotions, he's actually even angrier than before. I'd say at least ten times more than that one…incident."
There was a pause "We need to get there faster," Troia stated as everyone started to do just that.
.
.
Harm was running faster than he had ever gone in his entire life. For the first time in his life he wasn't just scared, he was terrified, out of his mind at the monster that was catching up to him. After he started running a monster had begun chasing right after him. The Inquisitor, the one he had first meant to kill with the Sword of Beowulf had changed. He wasn't human. He never had been. He was Death, destroyer of worlds. The scourge of the wicked. And he had come for him.
When Harm took a glance behind him as he entered the construction site, he saw that for himself. The Inquisitor didn't have the appearance of a man anymore. No he had shed that the instant he was out of sight of his comrades. Instead he was clad head to toe in black robes with a skull where his head should have been, whose empty eye sockets had a crimson red glow.
Harm continued to run up the semi-finished concrete stairs even as the monstrous shade continued to follow right behind him. The body of the monster appearing to hover just above the ground as it started to gain on him. Harm continued to run to the top of the stairs, hoping that there might be a second staircase where he could lose the monster that was chasing him.
Once he got up onto the third story -the tallest section that the incomplete stairwell reached- he found that his hopes of using a second staircase to lose what was coming for him was all for nothing. There wasn't one and he heard the sound of footsteps coming behind him. He didn't know why that was given that the Specter of Death itself still hovering just above the ground where the legs should be.
The monster started to approach Harm, relatively slowly at first, as though it was trying to scope him out but Harm wasn't having it. He lunged forwards and swung out with his dagger. It was a poorly timed and executed attack and the monster grabbed at Harm and twisted his right arm until he let go of the blade. The dagger clattered to the floor and in an instant, Death slammed its other arm upwards into Harm's elbow, dislocating the limb.
Harm tried to pull back but the monster slammed his fist into Harm's face and he felt his nose break with a sickening 'crunch' even as he fell to the floor. Blood streamed out of the orifice as Harm put his uninjured hand to his nose to cover the bleeding, at least a little. Harm tried to get back up, only to feel another crushing blow land on his left leg. He felt his tibia and fibula snap like twigs.
He screamed once again and tried to get away as best he could but with his left leg broken, all he could do was scoot a few feet away and up against the half-finished wall that went up to his chest.
"P-please…s-s-stop." He begged. The monster said nothing and instead seemed even further angered by the words. Death swung his bony fist into his face, over and over and over again. He soon felt his skin split open and his cheekbone start to fracture. Several strikes later saw Harm's left eye begin to swell itself shut. Teeth were knocked out and he felt his jaw begin to crack.
It was only then that the Specter of Death finally spoke, its words a deep, unearthly rasp. "Tell me something heretic. Did your sister beg you to stop as well? Did she beg her older brother, the one who was supposed to be her protector, her caregiver, flesh and blood and the one she should truly trust to stop killing her, even as she choked to death on her own blood until she lashed out and left you with those scratches in a vain attempt to defend herself?"
He gestured to the claw-like scratches on Harm's face. "Did she do all that as you butchered her just so you could wield a heretical weapon to cause pain and misery everywhere you went?!" His voice went from relatively calm to the very height of righteous indignation in an instant.
Harm said nothing, instead only looking up at the monster in complete and utter terror. His lack of response was all the confirmation the Specter needed "As I thought. No, I won't stop. You will suffer as your sister did, until you beg for me to end your wretched existence, heretic."
As if to punctuate the monster's meaning, a crushing force came down on his other leg, breaking it as well. Harm's eyes widened in terror as he screamed in agony.
It was only when the others from earlier arrived on the scene did the monster finally stop. They called out to him but Harm could barely hear what they were saying, instead he tried to pull himself up from the incomplete section of wall that had a large enough gap that he could fit himself through, he'd probably die on the way down but he'd do anything to escape this horror!
Slowly, painfully as the others continued to speak and some even yelled at the monster before them, Harm managed to pull himself up just enough and he fit through the gap and then watched as the ground started coming straight at him at a great speed. Then just as quickly as he started falling, he stopped and was floating mid-air. He turned to see Death and the green alien standing close together, the latter's arm was outstretched as she used her powers to roughly toss Harm back onto the ground.
Death came up to him, his skull visage betraying the hate and wrath he intended to unleash upon Harm. Then Harm felt something slam into his head, and everything went black.
.
.
The Inquisitor looked down in abject disgust at Harm battered and unconscious body, before turning to look at the rest of the group. They all had expressions of either disbelief, resignation or in the case of M'gann, neutral acceptance. Dante didn't address what had happened and instead marched towards the staircase, and spoke as he did "Inform the NYPD that they have some wounded garbage they should pick up sooner rather than later."
With that he left without another word.
Zatanna looked at the rest of the group and had a look of complete horror on her face as she turned to look at the others. Why was no one attempting to stop the Inquisitor from just leaving? Why was no one saying or doing anything? "What the hell?!" She demanded, utterly bewildered even as Artemis started calling the police and informing them of the situation.
"Why you all so calm about this? This is completely messed up! Why aren't you arresting him or contacting the League or…" She trailed off, unable to properly convey what she was saying. She looked away from the mangled, yet somehow still alive body of Harm.
Troia placed her hand on the girl's shoulder and said "It's a very long and complicated story, I'll fill you in when we get back to the Cave all right? Don't worry, we'll contact the League and let them know." Zatanna noticed that Troia conveniently left out the fact that the League would do something about this incident with the Inquisitor. Zatanna also notied how…dispassionate M'gann looked throughout the whole thing.
.
-Bludhaven, Several Days Later-
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The day had been going as much the same way that almost every evening went in Bludhaven. Criminals were everywhere taking advantage of those less fortunate than them and the utterly corrupt police force were doing nothing to stop it all. In fact, they were profiting from the actions of the criminals almost as much as the criminals themselves. Yes, all in all it was just another day in the lives of everyone that lived in what was considered the most crime ridden city in the entirety of the United States.
At least that was how it went throughout the late afternoon/early evening, but at six-thirty something extraordinary happened at an old, abandoned office building near the center of the city. A beam of sinister-looking purple light shot out from the top of it and into the sky. The light was so intense that for a moment it could be seen by the majority of the city. Then a hole opened up in the sky.
It was small almost unnoticeable at first but that soon quickly changed. There was a hole in the sky several kilometers long that went up past the stratosphere and into space. And yet it could still be seen with wisps of what appeared to be smoke and tendrils of light were emerging from it.
At first it was almost a beautiful sight and everyone in the city stopped what they were doing simply to gaze upwards at the strange scene in the sky. This doubtlessly caused more than a few car accidents as the drivers within their vehicles were so distracted by what was going on above that they forgot to see what was happening on the ground right in front of them.
Then something else happened, that turned the looks of wonder into utter horror. Strange, inhuman creatures began to materialize seemingly out of thin air all over the city. These things, whatever they were had many different shapes and sizes, but each were so utterly alien in appearance that it was difficult for anyone to understand what they were. Then, they began slaughtering everyone and everything they could find.
Some did this with daemonic blades, others with tentacles, claws, sprays of acid, or noxious ichor and other such weapons. Then there were those that used more esoteric means to kill whoever they found. Flames would burn into anyone unfortunate enough to be caught in them but instead of simply killing them by burning them to death it would horrifically mutate anyone and anything the strangely colored flames came into contact with. People would find themselves growing new limbs, eyes, and heads. Bones would grow, break and then grow again as the human body was so utterly changed that it could no longer be considered human at all.
Most would die before the transformation was finished but a handful managed to survive the transformation and their minds were so utterly shattered and corrupted that they would simply seek out other people and attack them on sight.
The screams of the dead and the dying could be heard for miles outside of the city; though there was another sound, shrieks, roars and cries of beings so utterly unamicable to anything on the mortal plane that there was nothing that they could be compared to. Those that were fortunate were killed outright, but those that were not were dragged away screaming to a fate that was doubtlessly worse than any death.
The police and the various criminal gangs of the city attempted to fight back, but it was a futile gesture at best. While a hail of small arms fire brought down some of the lesser beasts, others didn't seem to mind or even notice the damage. Those who didn't flee as quickly as they could were overwhelmed and killed just the same.
At the center of all the carnage was Giovanni Zatara, who at the highest floor of the old office building was conducting the ritual itself. Weeks and months ago his past self would have never even considered doing anything like this, in fact he would have put the safety of the people that his ritual was killing at the highest priority. Now the screaming, yapping mewling fools down below were not even a priority or concern to him. He barely even noticed them after a while.
No all that mattered to him at that point was the plan to harness the very power of the Warp. Nothing else was a concern. It had taken him days but he managed to prepare everything, and now he could feel it. The power of the Warp was beginning to flow through him and while it was certainly painful almost excruciating…it was a good pain.
He ran his hands over his head as a bead of sweat began to form on his forehead and felt strange pointed lumps beginning to form on his head. Almost like horns…but he paid it, nor did the strange markings and scales on his arms any mind either. Giovanni could feel the universe begin to tremble at his approach. Why even the gods would surely know his name now!
As he continued the ritual, Giovanni smiled, all his teeth now razor sharp points, his voice no longer his but something else, something that no mortal voice could ever dare to attempt to imitate "Now…it begins."
And so the world trembled as Chaos itself took its first steps onto once fertile soil.
to be continued.
A/N: So are we excited are we hyped? I've been teasing this for…well forever at this point and now things are going to change. Just to be clear though, some characters are going to die, and I know that doesn't mean much in the DC universe, characters die one week and then come back the next, but that's not going to happen here. When someone dies in this story they stay dead. Period.
And another clarification during Harm's little…episode, the Inquisitor obviously didn't transform into the Grim Reaper or anyone like that. That was just Harm losing his mind either due to the sword rejecting him or his own mental state deteriorating.