DCU: Split

Chapter 236: night of betrayal (2)

Vey ducked beneath the Talon's sword at the last possible second, the ancient blade passing so close above him it clipped strands of dark hair loose beneath the edge of his mask. He twisted sharply on one foot and caught the Talon by the forearm and shoulder in a brutal clinch before it could recover.

Electricity exploded outward.

The modified glove discharged violently into the creature's body, blue-white sparks racing across gray skin and black armor while the Talon convulsed in place. Vey stepped inward instead of away, driving the sharpened end of his cane directly through the Talon's torso.

The conductive metal turned the entire weapon into a circuit.

The Talon spasmed violently as the current surged through its body, smoke curling upward from beneath cracked armor plating before the creature finally collapsed twitching onto the floorboards.

Vey was already moving again.

Another Talon lunged toward Batman from the side while a third dropped unnaturally from the ceiling above. Vey's hand disappeared beneath his coat and returned holding the heavy modified pistol he'd been developing in secret for weeks.

The weapon roared.

Not cracked.

Not barked.

Roared.

The reinforced handgun detonated in Vey's grip with enough force the recoil physically jolted his upper body backward. The specialized round punched directly through a Talon's skull, the creature's head snapping sideways in an explosion of bone fragments and blackened blood before the body crashed limply through a desk.

Even Batman glanced briefly toward the weapon.

Then another Talon charged Vey head-on.

Vey pivoted smoothly, bringing the crackling cane upward—

The window exploded inward.

Glass erupted across the room as a dark figure crashed through the opening riding atop the back of a Talon. Robin flipped free before landing low against the floor while the undead assassin tumbled violently into the wall behind him.

"Sorry we're late!" Robin shouted.

A smoke pellet hit the ground immediately afterward.

The room vanished into gray haze.

Vey barely reacted.

His mask shifted automatically to infrared, the smoke dissolving into outlines and heat signatures instantly. He saw Robin moving toward Batman. Saw another Talon collapsing near the doorway.

And then—Movement. Far too fast.

Kid Flash burst through the smoke like a lightning bolt, yellow energy crackling around him as he ignored the Talons entirely and headed straight for Vey.

"What—"

A cable wrapped violently around Vey's torso.

An arrow streaked through the shattered window from outside and anchored into the wall behind him just as the wire tightened around his arms with brutal force. The momentum yanked his elbows backward painfully against his ribs before secondary restraints locked into place.

Vey staggered half a step in genuine surprise. The smoke finally began thinning. His infrared vision caught them all immediately. The defeated Talons scattered across the ruined room.

Robin standing near Batman. Kid Flash skidding to a halt nearby. Artemis visible through the shattered window outside with another arrow already nocked.

And Batman—Batman standing directly in front of him.

Watching silently.

Vey looked down at the restraints binding his arms before laughing weakly beneath the theater mask.

"You betrayed me, Batman?" he asked rhetorically.

Batman's expression beneath the cowl remained unreadable.

"Lincoln March."

The words hit harder than the restraints did. For the first time in a long while Vey went still. Completely still.

Then slowly his head tilted to the side.

"Ah," he murmured quietly. "That."

Robin frowned immediately.

"That?" Robin repeated incredulously. "You had someone assassinated!"

Vey's masked face turned slightly toward him, "Allegedly."

Kid Flash snorted, "Oh my god he talks like a lawyer."

Batman stepped closer, "You broke the agreement."

Vey was silent for a moment before giving a faint shrug despite the cables restraining him.

Vey's weak laughter returned quietly, "I really thought we were bonding too Bats."

'Kieran, take control. This needs your subtle touch.'

Inside the fractured landscape of their shared mind, Vey stepped backward while Kieran smiled faintly and adjusted imaginary cuffs at his sleeves.

Vey's body language softened subtly despite the restraints. The wild theatrical energy dulled into something calmer. More refined. Even his breathing changed rhythm.

Kieran tilted his masked head slightly toward the younger heroes, "Though I feel obligated to remind you," Kieran replied smoothly, "I can be rather vindictive when insulted. Bringing the kiddie team to arrest me feels deeply disrespectful."

"Honestly," he sighed, "I find this insulting. Batman brings children to restrain me?"

Kid Flash frowned immediately, "We're not kids."

Kieran's attention snapped toward him instantly, "Oh please," he scoffed. "You're a cheap knockoff of the Flash. Your name is literally Kid Flash." He let out a short laugh. "How embarrassing."

Wally bristled instantly. Behind the mask Kieran smiled slightly.

As he spoke, something unseen spread outward from him in subtle waves. No visible energy. No glowing light. Just influence. Pressure slipping quietly into cracks already present inside the mind.

Emotions amplified. Irritation became anger. Embarrassment became humiliation. Kieran's eyes flicked briefly toward Superboy, interesting.

Superboy reacted even faster.

In Kieran's perception their emotions radiated like shifting colors. Wally's aura darkened steadily toward red irritation while Superboy's surged violently almost immediately, unstable rage blooming beneath the surface like gasoline catching fire.

Batman either didn't notice or chose not to respond. He stepped forward instead, reaching down to haul Kieran upright by the restraints.

That was when the explosion happened.

A deafening bang echoed from somewhere below the house followed by a violent shockwave that rattled the entire structure. Dust burst from the ceiling while distant shouting erupted beneath them.

Then came the gunfire. Heavy footsteps thundered up the lower stairwells.

Kieran laughed softly.

"Oh," he mused, "did I forget to mention my friends?"

Wally snapped, "Shut up JUST SHUT UP!"

Kid Flash blurred forward in a streak of yellow lightning and slammed directly into Kieran's restrained body, driving both of them violently backward across the room.

At the exact same moment Superboy roared. Not at Kieran though, no he roared at the wall.

His eyes locked onto something only he could apparently see before he launched himself forward in fury, smashing shoulder-first through reinforced wood and plaster hard enough to crater the adjoining room.

Robin barely reacted in time, "Superboy!"

Kieran hit the far wall hard enough to crack paneling behind him. Pain exploded through Vey's body as the restraints pinned his arms painfully backward.

Then ecstasy followed.

Inside their shared mind Kieran stepped around Vey while Vey grinned beneath the mask. In his perception his own aura burned brilliant gold, radiant and consuming like a miniature sun flooding warmth through every nerve ending.

Pain became pleasure.

Constraint became exhilaration.

Vey inhaled sharply.

Then dislocated his own thumb.

The sound was wet.

A horrible grinding pop followed as the joint folded unnaturally backward beneath the restraint wire. Tendons stretched grotesquely while his wrist twisted violently enough to partially tear the skin.

Robin visibly recoiled, "What the hell—"

Vey moaned softly in pleasure.

The second hand came next.

This time the shoulder partially tore free first.

A sickening crunch echoed through the room as Vey forcibly collapsed the joint inward, muscles twitching violently beneath the skin while the wire restraints slipped just enough for one arm to slide free.

Blood dripped steadily down his fingers.

Vey stood slowly afterward. It was not natural he stood like a marionette dragged upright by invisible strings.

His damaged arm hung twisted for half a second before snapping back into place with another nauseating crack.

Batman's eyes narrowed immediately.

"Miss Martian," Robin shouted while firing a grapple line toward the raging Superboy, "stop KF!"

Wally was already screaming across the room. Artemis caught him around the shoulders as he tried rushing past her toward Kieran.

"Why won't you love me?!" Wally yelled furiously.

"What?!" Artemis shouted back in complete confusion while trying to restrain him. "KF what is wrong with you?!"

Meanwhile Superboy tore through another wall like a berserk animal while Robin desperately clung to him, "Snap out of it, Superboy!"

Batman moved instantly.

The lower doorway exploded inward as armed Underpass operatives flooded into the upper floor. Suppressed weapons barked while flashlights cut through smoke and debris.

Batman met them head-on.

A batarang cracked into the first man's knee before Batman drove an elbow into another's jaw hard enough to send teeth flying. He moved through them like a living shadow, cape whipping violently while gunfire erupted across the narrow hallway.

And through all of it— Vey stood smiling grotesquely beneath the theater mask, his freshly dislocated fingers twitching unnaturally as golden ecstasy radiated through his mind like sunlight.

Vey rolled his shoulder slowly as the joint settled fully back into place with a final wet pop. Blood dripped steadily from his mangled fingers onto the hardwood floor while the room descended into chaos around him.

Kid Flash was still shouting incoherently while Artemis struggled to restrain him near the shattered window. Across the room Superboy slammed Robin through another section of wall before Miss Martian finally managed to force herself partially into his mind. The young kryptonian staggered violently, clutching at his head as conflicting emotions ripped through him like hooks beneath the skin.

Batman meanwhile was still fighting.

The hallway beyond the bedroom had become a storm of movement and shadows. Underpass operatives flooded upward through the stairwells in coordinated waves, suppressed gunfire cracking through the smoke-choked corridors while Batman dismantled them with brutal efficiency.

One operative raised a pistol toward Batman's back.

Batman caught the man's wrist without even looking, redirected the shot harmlessly into the ceiling, then used the attacker's own momentum to hurl him bodily across the room.

"Hey Batman," Vey called casually.

Batman turned immediately.

The thrown operative flew directly toward Vey.

Vey sidestepped lazily, the unconscious man slamming hard into the wall behind him before collapsing limply to the floorboards.

"Looks like your sidekicks need help restraining Kid Flash and Superboy," Vey observed conversationally. "Wouldn't it be unfortunate if they got loose in the state they're currently in?"

The room seemed to pause around the words. Not silence exactly. Wally was still yelling. Superboy was still snarling somewhere behind Robin and Miss Martian.

But everyone nearby froze for just a second.

Batman's cape shifted subtly as his posture tightened. Vey spread his ruined hands slightly, blood streaking down the black gloves.

"It's your choice," he continued smoothly. "A chance at me…"

His gaze drifted toward the younger heroes struggling desperately nearby.

"…or helping the children."

Batman's expression darkened instantly, "You planned for this."

Vey's mask turned slowly toward him, "Of course I did."

The sheer honesty of the answer made the atmosphere somehow worse.

Batman stared at him for several long seconds. The cowl concealed most of his expression, but the tension radiating from him was unmistakable now.

Batman could continue pursuing Vey and risk Superboy or Kid Flash fully losing control inside a densely populated Gotham neighborhood—Or he could protect his team.

The choice lasted less than a second. Batman moved immediately toward Wally.

The instant Batman committed, Vey gave a pleased little hum beneath the theater mask.

"Good choice."

He motioned calmly toward his operatives.

"Pick up the wounded. We're leaving."

The Underpass members disengaged immediately. Two hauled injured men upright while another dragged away an unconscious operative Batman had dropped earlier in the fight. They retreated professionally, weapons still trained toward Batman and the others as they backed toward the stairwell.

Vey walked directly past Batman during the retreat.

For one brief moment they stood shoulder to shoulder while Batman forced Kid Flash down against the floor with Robin's help.

Neither spoke.

Batman's fists clenched hard enough the armor around his gauntlets creaked faintly.

Vey's grin widened invisibly beneath the crying theater mask.

Then he kept walking.

Behind them Wally screamed again while Superboy nearly tore free from Miss Martian's psychic restraint.

Batman immediately shifted fully into containment mode, moving to help secure his team before the situation spiraled even further out of control.

And just like that—Vey escaped.

Again.

But both men understood the truth now.

This was far from over.