Chapter 24: Anarky Reigns pt. I

Word Count : 7629

Blackgate Penitentiary. A solitary facility situated out on an island in Gotham Bay. If you are sent here, that means you are one mean criminal. Boasting security that only the likes of Arkham and Belle Reve can beat, this facility was designed to contain Gotham's many criminals that were deemed legally sane, thus not deserving of a cell in the asylum. And today, another batch of such criminals were inbound by boat. Five of them, huddled together with their hands cuffed and fearsome guards standing above them.

"Almost there now," the driver announced as the boat approached a jetty, one of the few ways this prison kept in contact with the outside world. Already on sight where ten guards to greet the new batch of prisoners. The exchange happened quickly, with the prisoners getting roughly dropped off on the jetty before the boat set off back to Gotham.

"Alright, scumbags. You've earned yourselves a vacation here at the premium Blackgate Penitentiary, where you'll be staying for the next decade or so if you're lucky. I'll be your guide of the evening, and the first one to ask for my name gets a baton to the balls," the captain of the guards explained with a sneer on his lips, clearly not all that pleased at seeing this batch of criminals.

"Then that means I'm in the clear, so what's your name?" the only female amongst the prisoners asked cheekily with a taunting grin on her lips. The captain said nothing, instead he walked up to her and slammed his baton into her stomach, causing her to temporarily double over as the oxygen in her lungs was forced out. To her credit, all she uttered was a slight grunt from the blow and showed no signs of being hurt by it.

"That one was for being a smart-ass," he offered as an explanation before striding back to his group of guards. "Now get a move on! We ain't got all night!" with that said, the prisoners were not so gently guided inside the prison. First place to visit, the closet, or whatever the hell they call the place they store prisoner clothes. Unfortunately, they ran into some unforeseen obstacles when it came with retrieving the clothes.

"What the hell do you mean by that?" the captain demanded of the nervously fidgeting guards in charge of the clothes.

"We got orders from higher up. Apparently they're to be provided with special clothes," one of them bravely explained, only to shrink back when he became the subject of the captain's full glare.

"Special clothes? What kind of bullshit is that? We don't provide anything 'special' to criminal scum like these," he stated furiously while pointing a thumb at the five prisoners, who patiently stood on the sidelines and observed the whole situation calmly. Well, except for the female, she had a definite twinkle of mirth in her eyes. The captain made a mental not to beat her up some extra before clocking in for the night.

"Hey, don't shoot the messenger here, I'm just telling you what the higher ups have told us," the guard defended himself while raising his hands in a surrendering gesture. Needless to say, the captain was not pleased, but he knew better than to disregard his superior's orders.

"All right then, bring out whatever the hell these guys are supposed to wear," he grudgingly ordered. All too happy to comply now that they were in the safe zone, the guards brought out the items, which only made the captain even more confused.

"What the hell is this?" he asked as he inspected the clothes. Really, what kind of prisoner was allowed to wear scaled mail and a mask colored half black and half orange?

"That one would be mine," the female prisoner announced cheerfully, right before she struck. Somehow, she had gotten free of her handcuffs, and was now breaking bones left and right with strength far greater than what anyone her age was supposed to possess. She broke an arm by the elbow, a spinning kick dislocated another one's jaw and she most likely crushed her third victim's windpipe with her fist. The guards were momentarily frozen in shock, but the captain managed to snap them out of it.

"Stop her!" he shouted in panic, but it was too late. The other prisoners had broken free as well and were taking down the remaining guards with frightening ease.

"Damn you!" the captain screamed in anger as he reached for his holstered gun. Alas, he was too slow, as the girl was upon him in an instant, one hand keeping his own in an iron grip while the other was clamped around his throat.

"This just ain't your lucky day, is it?" she asked rhetorically with a psychotic grin on her face. She never even gave the captain time to answer before she snapped his neck like a twig, and then casually threw his body aside like a ragdoll.

"Well, that's one nuisance dealt with," one of the prisoners commented casually as he broke the neck of the last guard.

"Then let's suit up and get this show on the road," another prisoner stated as he strode over to the suits laid out for them. Wordlessly, the others followed his lead, stripping out of the current attire and donning their suits. Now they were no longer simple criminals, now they were true supervillains.

"I was actually worried that the higher ups wouldn't be able to smuggle all our equipment in here for us," KGBeast remarked as he attached his cybernetic gun to his left wrist.

"Hey, there was nothing to worry about. Those guys have connections in all the right places," Electrocutioner assured him while strapping on his electric gloves.

"Well, in any case, we're in now, so what's our next move?" Firefly asked as he fired off a quick burst of fire from his flamethrower to make sure it worked as it should.

"Shouldn't it be obvious? We do what we do best; create anarchy," the fourth member of their group, Anarky, announced, dressed in all white like a ghost, with a black "A" stamped on the front of his suit.

"Then what are we waiting for? I'm itching for some action," the last member spoke gleefully as she donned her two toned mask, her lone eye filled with bloodlust.

It was a rare day when the whole team was gathered at the Cave to train together. But in Krieg's opinion, they were still far too many for his taste. Nevertheless, orders were orders, so it was no use complaining. At least he got a chance to train with one of the few humans on this accursed team, rather than have to endure the presence of those infernal xenos and abhuman.

"That's another point for me, Krieg," sadly, said human had decided to make it a competition on who could score the most hits on their targets on the improvised shooting range. Completely useless, in Krieg's opinion. What did it matter who had the most points at the end anyway? 'Even when interacting with fellow humans, their thoughts and actions are so illogical that they might as well have been xenos,' he thought to himself. Though he had to admit, however grudgingly, that it was impressive how she achieved such level of accuracy with such an archaic weapon.

"Come on, aren't you even going to say anything, or are you finally admitting defeat?" Artemis teased him, to which he only answered with a light grunt before he fired one shot with his shotgun at a moving target, scoring a hit.

"Oh, giving me the silent treatment, huh?" Artemis questioned as she too fired an arrow and scored a bullseye.

"No, I just haven't had a logical reason to retort to your childish comments," Krieg answered monotonously as he fired a second shot, barely managing to score a hit.

"You don't need a logical reason, you just need to say something witty. Then I say something in return, and you retort, and so forth. That's the essence of banter," Artemis explained while scoring another bullseye.

"No worthwhile information is exchanged in this so-called 'banter' of yours. Therefore, I see no reason to participate in what is essentially a waste of time and energy," Krieg retorted as he managed to score a bullseye of his own. It brought out a groan from Artemis, just as two targets appeared down range simultaneously.

"You can be such a stiff sometime, you know that?" she stated while firing two arrows at the same time, both striking their respective targets.

"So I have been told," Krieg answered as two targets appeared for him as well, he hit the first one, but had to waste two shots on the second target before scoring a hit. At that moment, the timer they had set up rang, signaling the end of their competition. 'About damn time,'

"So, I got 53 points," Artemis proudly proclaimed with her hands on her hips.

"Congratulations, you won," Krieg droned with an uncaring tone as he hung his shotgun on his back and walked away, receiving a flabbergasted look from the blonde archer.

"Hey wait a minute, you can't be sure of that, you never told me how many points you got," she insisted, dearly desiring to hear how well she had done against the brooding soldier.

"Doesn't matter, I never counted them to begin with," he revealed without either stopping or even turning to face her. He left her gaping like a fish from that. 'Seriously? Here I try to be a bit more social with him, and he doesn't even try to socialize back,' she thought to herself in disbelief. A hand suddenly landed on her shoulder, and it took all of her willpower not to leap out of her skin from that. Turning around, she was not surprised to find Robin there, even though she could have sworn he had not been there just a minute ago. Artemis was never comfortable with how he was able to sneak up on her like that, but knew better than to complain. The little troll would just be motived to do it even more.

"Don't take it too personal, he's like that to everyone," he explained to her. Artemis was still quite skeptical.

"Look, I'm not even gonna pretend to be the most social person around here, but Krieg is just impossible. He treats everyone like they are beneath him or nonexistent, he has zero sense of empathy, and he doesn't even seem to care about anything beyond brooding in whatever hole he got in Los Angeles," she said irritably as she looked the way Krieg had disappeared to.

"I will admit, he can be quite an ass when we're not on a mission," Robin admitted, ignoring Artemis' quietly murmured "That's an understatement," before continuing. "But he's always had our backs when we're on missions, putting himself at risk to save us. Heck, neither I nor Wally would even be here if it wasn't for Krieg," if anyone else had told Artemis that, she would have had a hard time believing it. After all, Krieg seemed more like the kind of guy who would abandon his team to die if it suited him.

"Still, it doesn't mean he has to so cold towards everyone all the time," Artemis grumbled. Robin just patted her shoulder in support.

"Give him time, I'm sure he'll come around sooner or later," he assured her. If anything else was meant to be said, it was put on hold when Batman's voice echoed out of the comm system.

"Team, report to the main hall," his order had every member of the team moving in a hurry towards the main hall. When Batman gave an order, you did not want to be late. Within five minutes, they were all gathered in front of Batman. Not wasting any time on pleasantries, Batman cut right to the chase.

"Six hours ago, five hostiles breached security at Blackgate Penitentiary, killing most of the guards and releasing all the prisoners," the revelation was met with worried glances among the team, but no one spoke up. "Gotham PD has the island in quarantine, but they lack the means to recapture the island. So far, the objective of this attack remains unclear, as no threats or demands have been given. Unfortunately, the Justice League is currently spread too thin to respond to this threat, and we suspect that they have hostages to deter an all-out assault,"

Here, Batman paused to look each and every member of the team in the eye. "Which is where you come in. Your mission is to infiltrate the island, rescue the hostages and gather Intel on this attack," Anticipation spread across the team like wildfire, the only ones maintaining their cool being Krieg and Aqualad.

"Expected opposition?" Aqualad inquired, already calculating the best course of action.

"Three of the hostiles have been confirmed as KGBeast, Electrocutioner and Firefly, the last two remain unconfirmed. Apart from those, there are also the unknown numbers of inmates who have been let loose," Batman explained. Those did not sound as favorable odds to them in Krieg's opinion. Electrocutioner was a minor threat, but KGBeast was a notorious assassin with over 200 confirmed kills, and Firefly's pyrotechnics would easily incapacitate both Aqualad and Miss Martian.

"I suggest you gear up for an infiltration mission. You leave in 20 minutes, dismissed," the moment Batman had uttered those words, the team scattered to get their gear ready. But as they made ready, Krieg could not shake the feeling that something unpleasant was waiting for him at Blackgate.

Hours later, and the team was approaching Blackgate Penitentiary in the camouflaged Bioship. The atmosphere was tense, for this promised to be their hardest mission to date, and none of them wanted to disappoint their mentors by failing.

"Ten minutes out," Miss Martian reported, causing Aqualad to turn towards the team in his seat.

"Alright, this is how we'll do it. We'll split into four teams to infiltrate the penitentiary. Krieg and Artemis, you'll take out any guards in the towers and provide sniper cover. Robin and Kid Flash, you'll sneak in topside. Me and Superboy will use the sewers. M'gann, you'll stay with the Bioship to provide a quick getaway should the need arise," the orders were given swiftly and were met with silent nods of acknowledgements.

"And all of you, be careful in there," he added as well in concern. He only had seven teammates, he had no desire to have that number reduced. Silence fell over them again, until Miss Martian spoke up again.

"We've arrived," the announcement had all of them standing up from their seats.

"Miss Martian, establish a mental link," Krieg had to bite his own tongue to stop the scathing remark he had been about to say. Aqualad was team leader, so what he said went, no matter how much Krieg detested it.

"Link established," the xeno's voice spoke inside his head, and no doubt in all their heads. a barely noticeable flinch came from Krieg, but he quickly buried his discomfort and focused on the mission at hand.

"Krieg, Artemis, you're first," Aqualad stated through the mind link as a hole opened up in the floor. Beneath them stood a guard tower, its search lights on and constantly sweeping the rocky shores beneath it. With the help of organic cables created from the roof, the duo silently slid down on the tower's roof. The moment their feet made contact with the roof and they had disconnected from the cables, Krieg held up a hand towards Artemis, who nodded in affirmation as Krieg activated the infrared vision in his mask.

"Three hostiles. Two outside patrolling, one inside manning the searchlights," he warned Artemis, who made ready an arrow with knock-out gas.

"I'll take the one inside. Can you deal with his two pals?" she asked. peering slightly over the edge, he could see them. Former prisoners, still dressed in their prison uniforms, and armed with assault rifles.

"No problem," Krieg assured her as he made ready with his wrist mounted gun. Krieg struck first, waiting until the two guards had just walked past each other before he stood up and placed a tranquil dart in each of their necks. Before they had even fallen unconscious to the floor, Artemis had anchored her legs to the roof and hung her body upside down off the edge, firing her arrow at the unsuspecting third target. He went down coughing from the gas.

"First tower secured," Artemis reported through the mind link.

"Robin, Kid Flash, you're next," seconds after Aqualad gave the order, Krieg spotted two heat signatures sneaking along the roof below them.

"Artemis, we should neutralize the other towers. It will deprive them of their eyes out here," Krieg suggested, trying to suppress his revulsion at using this infernal mind link.

"Good idea, Krieg. You two do that, me and Superboy are already deploying down below," Aqualad spoke. Krieg therefore made a quick scan with his infrared visor over the other towers. Three in each, no problem whatsoever.

"There are only three hostiles located in each tower. Let's split up here, it will go much faster," Krieg instructed before using a grapple gun to swing over to the next tower. He hung beneath the outer platform used by snipers to patrol, waiting until the coast was clear to climb over the edge. Both guards on the outside took a dart to the neck, and the third one was disposed with a quick chokehold that made him pass out.

"We've reached the entrance, but it's electronically locked. Need to hack the system," Robin reported.

"Artemis, continue clearing out the towers. Krieg, provide observation for them," Aqualad quickly ordered. Making sure that his targets had been neutralized, Krieg took up position outside to scout for the duo below. It did not take long for him to spot trouble.

"Alert, four guards are approaching your position, two from each direction," he warned them as he eyed all six heat signatures below him in the courtyard, two of which were trapped right between the four others.

"No problemo, guys, I've got this," Kid Flash cockily assured them, right before one of the heat signatures became a blur of motion. Seconds later, the four hostile heat signatures stopped moving and Kid Flash returned to Robin.

"Alright, we're in," Robin finally reported as he and Kid Flash slipped inside.

"All towers have been secured," Artemis reported seconds later.

"Good work. We've entered as well. Remember, priority targets are hostages, Intel is secondary," Aqualad ordered, something Krieg saw no value in. Who cared about hostages? They should have focused all their attention on gathering Intel, or better yet, take down the criminals behind this attack.

"Krieg, Artemis, set up a firing arc to cover the outside. Br prepared to provide cover at any second," those orders snapped Krieg back to reality, and he shook his head to clear it of distracting thoughts. There was no point lamenting over that which would never happen, just focus on the here and now.

"Setting up firing arc," Krieg responded tonelessly as he took up position where he could easily observe the entire courtyard.

So far, everything seemed to be going smoothly, with no errors or misses. Which was why Ravager just knew that something was about to happen. From personal experience, she knew that nothing ever worked out as one had hoped. But if she was honest with herself, she actually hoped that something would happen. Seriously, she was a girl of action, she was not meant to just sit around like this. Oh what she would have given to have a hero to fight with just about now. Especially if said hero had a gasmask with a white skull painted on it.

"How's everything going?" she asked of her partner for this mission in a bored tone, just wishing for this mission to be over already. Said partner was currently seated behind the now deceased warden's desk and working on his computer.

"No problem whatsoever. We should soon be done here," Anarky answered absentmindedly as he typed away at the computer, receiving a miniscule nod of acknowledgement from Ravager.

"I sure hope so, 'cause I'm getting tired of this," she said while stretching her limbs. That earned her a light chuckle from Anarky.

"Getting tired already? We've only been here four hours," he teased her, eyes never straying from the computer screen in front of him. He received a deadpan look from Ravager in return, not that he noticed it.

"We've been here for over eight hours now," she stated. That caused him to look up in puzzlement before glancing at the clock.

"Well, would you look at that, time does fly when you're having fun," he remarked with an unconcerned shrug before he went back to work. Ravager did not like that attitude one bit.

"Easy for you to say, you've got something to do. I'm just here to protect your sorry ass in case things go south, which they probably will the longer we stay here," then, as if a thought had struck her, she narrowed her eye suspiciously at Anarky. "By the way, what the hell is taking so damn long anyway? You should have been done a long time ago," as she said this, she moved around the desk to get a better look at what he was doing. But Anarky just turned the screen away from her.

"Nu uh, no peeking. This is very delicate and confidential work, after all. You wouldn't want to tell your employers that you got a little too curious with their dealings," that threat, spoken with such a teasing and lighthearted tone that one would be forgiven from missing the actual threat, had Ravager freeze right in her tracks. And she had good reason to, her employers were not that kind to those who dug too much into their business uninvited.

"Very well then, be all secretive about it," Ravager relented as she turned her back to him, right before she spun around with a sword drawn and held it at his throat. "But know this, Anarky, if you try any funny business under my nose, I'll castrate you before gutting you like a fish. Got that?" Anarky, to his credit, did not even flinch from the threat or the sword at his throat.

"Is that a threat, miss?" he inquired innocently, one of his hands grabbing a gun from under the desk. At the inquiry, Ravager grinned like a bloodthirsty lunatic.

"Nah, I'm not into making threats. That was a promise," here, she paused to lean in until there was but a few inches separating their faces. "And just so you know, I always keep my promises," after having whispered those words, Ravager still lingered close to Anarky with her sword to his throat. Just as he thought bloodshed was unavoidable, she pulled back and sheathed her sword and went back to casually lounging around the office. Finally free to continue, Anarky resumed his work, becoming once again completely emerged in whatever the hell he was doing. At least, he was until someone called him through their comm system.

"Anarky, I've lost contact with the sentries we posted in the towers," that was the ever gruff KGBeast reporting in, and his words brought out two completely different reactions from the duo present at the office; annoyance from Anarky and anticipation from Ravager.

"You think the might be lazy and ignoring you?" Anarky asked, though it was clearly obvious that he did not believe his own theory in the slightest.

"No, no way. I think we're dealing with capes here," KGBeast reported. 'Of course it's capes, it's always capes,' Anarky thought to himself. They never knew when to leave things be. Still, he only needed a few moments, then it would not matter what these heroes did.

"Investigate, find whoever's snuck unto the island and kill them," Anarky finally ordered, receiving a quick affirmative from KGBeast before he disconnected. Of course, that was when he noticed how Ravager was all but bouncing in excitement, a psychotic gleam in her lone eye.

"Ooooh, finally! Someone to kill!" she exclaimed happily as she made her way towards the door, intent on fighting whoever had just saved her from boredom.

"You're not going anywhere, Ravager. You're staying right here," however, Anarky just had to put a stop to her plans with those words before he contacted the remainder of their team. "Firefly, search the interior of the prison and smoke any intruders out. Electrocutioner, take some extra men and guard the hostages,"

"You got it, boss,"

"I'm on my way,"

With that dealt with, Anarky turned his full attention to Ravager, who was glaring murderously at him. Clearly, she was but one wrong spoken word from fulfilling her promise from earlier.

"Why the hell must I stay here?" she asked furiously. It was not fair in her opinion that she was stuck inside this boring office while all the others were out there having fun.

"Because those three should be more than capable of dealing with whoever snuck into this facility. Sending you out there would be a waste of our resources, so you're staying here," Anarky explained calmly, being used to murderous hotheads by now. Of course, his order was not received all that well by Ravager.

"Who the hell cares if it's a waste? I want some action, and nothing will happen while I stay here," she protested, but Anarky was unmoved on this point.

"What you want doesn't matter here, I'm in charge of this operation, which means you're to do what I tell you," he state with finality. Ravager kept up the glaring contest with Anarky for a few moments more, but in the end she relented. He was right, their employers had placed him in charge, so he had the final say in all matters during this mission. And this was why she preferred working solo.

"Fine, if you're going to be such a baby that you can't be alone for a few minutes, I'll stay here and keep you company," Ravager finally said tauntingly as she leaned against the wall with her arms crossed over her chest. Anarky chose to ignore her jab and went back to work. Silence thus fell between the duo, a stark contrast to the noise about to erupt all over the penitentiary.

"I hate sewers," Superboy grumbled as he and Aqualad slugged through the prison's waste.

"I confess to not being overly fond of them either, but we'll have to endure it for the sake of the mission," Aqualad answered from where he walked at the front. Superboy just grumbled something too lowly for the Atlantean to hear the words spoken.

"Not to worry, we're almost there," Aqualad assured him, as he just ahead could see an access hatch. Though when they tried to open it, the hatch would not budge at first. That little problem was quickly solved with the right application of super strength. Now finally out of the stinking sewers, they found themselves inside the lower levels of the prison.

"Okay, we're in, now what?" Superboy inquired. Aqualad was about to answer the question when he was tackled by Superboy. It proved to be a life-saving move, since a stream of fire passed through Aqualad's former position seconds later.

"Well, well, look what we have here," Firefly commented humorously before letting loose another stream of fire at the duo, forcing them into cover. "And here I thought this mission would be boring. Now I have two lost little boys to deep fry," while obviously amused at first, that amusement swiftly vanished when Superboy came running straight through the fire, his clothes badly damaged but his skin completely unblemished. Superboy sought to tackle Firefly to the floor, but the pyromaniac was too quick for that as he activated his jetpack and soared right over the Kryptonian.

"Dammit, stay still!" Superboy shouted in agitation as he chased after Firefly, who fired multiple incendiary grenades all over the place, turning the spacious room into a burning inferno.

"So you can punch me into next week? No thanks. You may be too young to be the real Superman, but I'd recognize a miniature clone of the Kryptonian," Firefly countered. That only infuriated Superboy even further as he lunged at him with a furious roar. Alas, Firefly had too much maneuverability in the air for that to work, demonstrated with how he just moved to the side and blasted Superboy with fire when he flew past.

"Olé!" Firefly called out mockingly. Meanwhile, Aqualad tried to provide support to his friend, but the fire raging around him was sapping his strength. Already he had a hard time maintaining his water swords as he struggled to stay upright.

"Team, we've run into at the lower levels. We need back-up," he called through the mental link as he wiped away beads of sweat drenching his forehead.

"Yeah, sorry, can't help you at the moment. Got my hands full," Robin reported back moments later, sounding highly stressed.

"Pinned down topside, unable to provide support," Krieg reported shortly after that. Even through the mind link, they could all hear that he was in pain. This was definitively not good in Aqualad's mind. But there was nothing to do but fight on and trust his friends to make it through.

"Don't anyone of you dare to die now. We'll pull through, and we will win," with that last mental command, Aqualad plunged headlong into the fray, despite barely being able to focus in this heat.

So far, everything was going according to plan. Only a few guards had hampered their progress, and they had been dealt with quickly and efficiently. As a matter of fact, Kid Flash had just taken out another guard in their path.

"Man, this is simply too easy," Kid Flash commented as he returned from hiding the unconscious guard somewhere he would not be found right away.

"Yeah, but these are only the small fry. We still got the big fishes to worry about," Robin reminded him while they snuck down the corridor. A locked door was easily hacked and they were inside the levels containing the prison cells. Hundreds of them, divided equally among five levels.

"KF, check the place out. We don't want to be caught unprepared," Robin instructed, with Kid Flash only nodding in understanding before he was off, clearing each level in about three seconds each. However, he came to a sudden stop when he was halfway done with the fourth level.

"Yo, Rob! Come take a look at this!" he called back down to his friend, who swiftly joined him thanks to his grapple gun. He found Kid Flash standing just outside one of the cells.

"What's up?" Robin asked. Kid Flash said nothing, merely pointing inside the cell. When Robin looked inside, he found two guards tied up and gagged on the bunks. They had found the hostages. Ten of them, spread out among the cells.

"Come on, let's get them out of here," Robin decided as he began working on opening the cell in front of him.

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that, not without a fight at least," someone suddenly announced from above them. Caught completely by surprise, both Robin and Kid Flash spun around to face whoever had called out to them, which turned out to be Electrocutioner, standing on the fifth level. Problem was, he was not alone, as well over thirty armed prisoners stood alongside him, all aiming their weapons at the pair.

"So the Justice League decided to send their brats to stop us. I must say, I'm a bit insulted that they don't have the balls to come and face us themselves," he mocked before giving an uncaring shrug. "Oh well, I suppose they'll learn their lesson when we send your corpses back to them," well, this was certainly not good.

"Team, we've run into at the lower levels. We need back-up," Aqualad's voice suddenly spoke in the duos head, just before the gunfire began. Robin hastily threw a smoke bomb to the floor, shielding him and Kid Flash long enough for them to escape the gunfire and desperately seek cover.

"Yeah, sorry, can't help you at the moment. Got my hands full," Robin answered back stressfully as he struggled to stay ahead of the enemies' line of fire.

"Pinned down topside, unable to provide support," Krieg answered a short moment afterwards, sounding like he was in pain from something. Okay, this mission had seriously gone from bad to worse here.

"Don't anyone of you dare to die now. We'll pull through, and we will win," Aqualad assured them all, though at the moment those words sounded more than a bit hollow, considering their dire situation.

"KF, I'm about to throw a few flashbangs at these guys. Once they go off, get a running start on them," Robin instructed as he brought the aforementioned flashbangs.

"You got it, Rob," Kid Flash answered without hesitation. Then, Robin threw them into the air, and a couple of seconds later they went off. Kid Flash was instantly in motion, racing up the stairs like the devil himself was behind him with a whip. Robin was not far behind him thanks to his grapple gun.

Sweeping his eyes back and forth across the prison for the umpteenth time, Krieg once again found no trace of an enemy. Some might call this boring, but Krieg called it necessary. One could never tell when an enemy would strike, so one could never afford to let one's guard down. Constant vigilance! From another tower across from him, he spotted slight movement, but paid it no heed beyond frowning in displeasure at the tower's occupant. Artemis was far too impatient in his books, already beginning to restlessly pace back and forth in her tower.

He was half tempted to reprimand her across the mind link, to get her mind back on the matter at hand here. But in the end, he decided against it, for somewhat selfish reasons. He was growing tired of taking the role of Commissar with these imbeciles, having to constantly get their focus back on the mission. That accursed abhuman Aqualad was team leader anyway, let him deal with the morons. Yes, that sounded good enough for him.

But then he had no more time to think about those things, because he could have sworn he saw movement down below. It was fleeting, and barely visible to his infrared sights, but his instincts were telling him that he had truly seen something, and Krieg had learned to trust his instincts during his time on this Earth. Slowly and methodically, he let his eyes wander from one end of the prison to the other, constantly on the lookout for whatever he had seen. Every inch was thoroughly inspected from his position, but he saw nothing.

Eventually, he grudgingly conceded that he may have imagined it, and rose from his crouched position to make a quick sweep on the other side of the tower. The instant his torso had risen above the railing, he was throw back by a bullet slamming into his chest. His back was thrown into the wall behind him, pain flaring up in his chest as he wheezed for breath. 'By all the demented Warp denizens, that one hurt,' lifelong training took hold instantly, and he began checking himself over for damage. 'Kevlar and ceramic held, no bullet wounds,' he suddenly hissed in pain as his fingers not so gently prodded the impact area. 'Broken ribs most likely, problem breathing suggests damage to lungs,'

"Team, we've run into at the lower levels. We need back-up," the voice of Aqualad suddenly spoke in his head.

"Yeah, sorry, can't help you at the moment. Got my hands full," Robin's answer followed seconds later. It still grated Krieg that he had to endure this abominable mind link, but he was not so stupid as to dismiss its value here.

"Pinned down topside, unable to provide support," he responded as he attempted to move to a better position, the action causing the pain in his chest to intensify.

"Don't anyone of you dare to die now. We'll pull through, and we will win," he supposed that was Aqualad's attempt at motivation. Not that it mattered to Krieg, he had an enemy to deal with at the moment.

"Artemis, can you see the shooter?" he asked of his teammate. It took a few moments, but an answer finally arrived from the blonde archer.

"Nothing, I can't see any… Wait, scratch that, I've got a visual!" another few moments of silence followed, which ended with a string of Vietnamese curses. "That's KGBeast!" sometimes, Krieg really did wonder if the Warp was out to get him. Having memorized as many of Earth's villains as possible, he was decently familiar with this particular one, and he was bad news in every sense of the word.

"Do you have a clear shot at him?" Krieg asked, already planning on how to take this foe down.

"No, he's in too much cover, and it's too dark," she answered, forcing Krieg to restrain a sigh of resignation from coming out. 'Wonderful,'

"I will attempt to relocate, get into a better position," Krieg stated as he forced himself up. The second his head poked out into the open, a storm of bullets impacted against his position and forced him to dive back into cover.

"Change of plans," he commented irritably. This was obviously going to take a while.

Another night passed, another sleepless nightmare endured in total darkness. There was no light for him, no noise, no disturbances, and yet he could not sleep. He was tired, he wanted to sleep, he wanted to dream, but he knew that would never happen. He was doomed, doomed to forever be denied that which others took for granted. In a way, it was almost funny, how he only learned to appreciate the feeling of dreaming when it was taken from him. But even if it was funny, he could not find it in himself to laugh about it. After all, in Arkham Asylum, there were only two people that found it in themselves to laugh.

Suddenly, the door was opened, and he was nearly blinded from the light spilling in from the hallway. That light served to illuminate a gaunt and skeletal shell of a man strapped into a straitjacket. Three days in isolation, all because he tried to tear that one inmate's throat open with his teeth. Really, they were overreacting if they asked him. Besides, that guy deserved it, the way he kept staring at him when he thought his back was turned. But he knew differently!

"Congratulations, Johnny boy, someone's requested your transfer to another mental institution," the guard at the door said with an uncaring tone as he walked in and hoisted John's malnourished frame up on his feet and led him out of the cell. John never even tried to fight back, his mind was in too much confusion for that. Transfer? Why would he be transferred? Who requested it? Where exactly was he being transferred to? These questions and many more plagued his mind as he was led through the notorious asylum. Passed the cells did they pass, which John almost suspecting of getting thrown in one the second they passed it.

That never happened, and he was soon out of the cellblock and led further onwards. Finally, they arrived at the the front doors, were a trio of men waited alongside the warden, who looked quite relieved to be rid of him. A quick exchange of papers occurred, with the warden writing his signature before he gave a satisfied nod and the guard who had been escorting John stepped back.

"He's all yours now," the warden said as he and the guard strode down the corridor, disappearing deeper into the Asylum.

"Alright, let's get going already," one of the trio, probably the leader, announced before his two companions walked up and stood on either side of John. With the mysterious leader at the head, they strode out of the Asylum, into the cold night air. Strangely enough, a limousine was waiting for them at the bottom of the stairs, with the chauffeur holding the door open for them. The leader stepped in first, with John herded inside after him before the two guards stepped inside as well. The chauffeur promptly closed the door and rushed back to the driver's seat. Moments later, and they drove out of Arkham's gates.

There was only silence at first, as the two guards sat like motionless statues next to him and the apparent leader. Speaking of their leader, he was giving John quite a few bad vibes. He could not really place it, but there was a certain feeling of wrongness about him, and he did not like it. The fact that he was dressed in a black suit, complete with sunglasses in the middle of the night like he was Agent Smith, and John did not find him particularly pleasant to be around. Then again, who was he talk?

"John Dee, patient at Arkham for a year, suffering from a rare mental illness that prevents you from dreaming, deemed criminally insane and a danger to the public due to multiple assaults and homicides," the leader listed off from a sheet of paper in his hands. John said nothing, preferring to wait and hear what this was all about.

"You are an interesting man, Mr. Dee, and I see potential in you," he continued, now fully addressing John. What he was talking about, John had no idea whatsoever.

"If… If you're interested in making a few bucks out of me, let me tell you that…" John tried to argue, voice raspy from not having been used in a long time. But the strange leader interrupted him with a laugh.

"No such thing, Mr. Dee, I have something else in mind," he explained. At John's confused, yet intrigued look, he elaborated. "I represent a very special organization, an organization that has been steadily growing these last few months. Lately, my master has been interested in hiring people with special potential. I thus showed him my analysis of you, and he agrees with my assessment. You, my friend, have a very special potential. I am therefore here to extend and offer of invitation to you," the explanation left John's head spinning. Him? Special potential? But then, another question popped up in his head.

"But what about that whole transfer thing to another institution?" he asked in confusion.

"That was merely a convenient way to get you out without raising suspicion. Trust me, by the time they actually think to verify that you actually reached your destination, we'll be long gone," the leader explained while waving a dismissive hand in the air. Still, John looked more than a bit pensive about it all.

"And what if I refused your invitation?" he asked cautiously. A moment of silence followed, before the leader addressed the chauffeur.

"Stop the car," he ordered. The moment the car came to a complete standstill, one of the guards opened the door for John, to his great puzzlement.

"If you want no part in this, then you're free to go, no strings attached," the leader explained while gesturing at the wide open door. Needless to say, John was stumped.

"Just like that?" he questioned in disbelief. From what he had learned over the years, nothing was that simple.

"Just like that," the leader confirmed. John looked out the door, seeing an alley waiting for him. It would be so easy to just walk out and disappear, never to be found again. But he did not, he was intrigued by the offer handed to him. In the end, for better or worse, he stayed in the limousine.

"So what exactly is this organization of yours?" John asked as the door closed and the car started up again. In response, the leader smirked at him.

"Let me put it like this," he began to explain while reaching for his sunglasses. "It is an organization that will change the world. Forever," as he said the last part, he removed his glasses, and John let out a gasp of shock at what he was seeing. There were no eyes looking back at him, at least not any normal eyes. Instead, there was an unnatural flame burning in each socket, its color constantly changing. Whoever this man was, he was not fully human.

"What are you?" John found himself asking, bringing another chuckle out of the man.

"I am the messenger of my lord. My underlings refer to me as Lord Kobra, but you may call me Adrian Forge," he introduced himself while extending a hand to John. Hesitantly, he shook the offered hand, taking note of the strange eight-pointed star tattooed on his wrist. He had a feeling that the coming months would be highly interesting for him.

Originally, I had planned to make this just one chapter, but then I scrapped the original idea in favor of a better one, then I modified the new one, then I came up with even more ideas, then I dropped one or two of them in favor of even better. And in the end, I found that I had amassed so much material for this chapter that it would be best to just split it up into two parts instead.