Brightest Lights Cast The Darkest Shadows

[prometheanplans]

Though infested with vice and crime, Gotham has never been lacking for a good nightlife, and the 3rd Avenue Nite Club is just one of the dozens of nightclubs and cabarets that litter the streets. One of the oldest, its history goes back at least fifty years, although it has spent the past fifteen years vacant and forbidding. In the three short

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[prometheanplans]

The evidence Prometheus was able to unearth about the Monk was apocryphal at best, so he's proceeding into the subterranean corridors cautiously. No telling when a fanged minion is going to leap out from a hidden chamber. To even the odds, at least, he dispenses with his civilian disguise quickly, donning the familiar helmet and feeling much more confident as it slips into place.

He doesn't go much further before a trio of well-dressed men step out from around a corridor, palms open. These must be the Monk's underlings.

They're all normal humans, and Prometheus could break them with more ease than he dispensed of the bouncers. Fortunately, they have more brains than the hired muscle. They're not here to fight him. They're here to take him to the boss.

Prometheus is escorted to a large pair of doors, thick oak and painted solid red. Red seems to be an ongoing theme with this Monk.

The Monk's quarters are cast in almost total shadow. Clearly the Monk's vision is superhuman. Fortunately, thanks to his helmet, so is Prometheus's.

The Monk himself is there, garbed in red robes, perched atop a sprawling throne. He watches Prometheus expectantly.

"My name is Prometheus." he says by way of introduction, approaching the dais and bending his waist in a half-bow. "I've come here with a business proposition for you, Mr. Tepes."

[jla_undead]

"I... know who you are. Yes." He doesn't rise from his ornate seat, but does lift a hand to show that Prometheus can be in a standing position. He smiles an incredibly false smile.

"You know what I am, and I know who you are. I believe the Batman even knows of my existence in Gotham, or at least suspects it, but as I no longer command devilish minions to run around in the night, I am of little concern. No more a bother to him than the Penguin. So that makes me beg the question... What business proposition brings you to my club?" Tepes smiles again, wider this time, and his fangs show. No mention of the vampire Batman and no mention of the recent attacks...

[prometheanplans]

Prometheus rises to his feet smoothly, meeting the Monk's eyes. He can see the fangs there in that false smile. His own smile is less toothy, but every bit as deceitful.

"I'm in a position to know a great deal about what the Batman knows. He's aware of your minions throughout the city, as I am." Straight to it, this one. "I've been chatting with a fellow who thinks much the same way we do. I think..." He tilts his head, offering the Monk a cunning grin, "We should pool our resources. We share a mutual enemy in Batman and we each want the same thing."

[jla_undead]

"Cutting through the chaff, hmm?" The smile stays fixed on the Monk's face, and he waves all his minions but two very attractive ladies away. Getting up from his throne, he slips the hood that had been in one of his pockets over his head, and caresses the arm of one of his servants.

"Beautiful. Delicious. And yes, your words whet my appetite, Prometheus." His stare makes one of the girls take a straight razor and cut down her wrist, and begin to pour the blood into a goblet.

"If what you talk of is more power, and of course, some measure of revenge... I'm listening." He takes the goblet and raises it in a toast.

[prometheanplans]

The sight of the mannequin-faced girl dragging the razor down her arm doesn't even make Prometheus flinch.

"Words aren't enough to whet our appetites, Tepes. You've got the means to make this city into your own private army. What you don't have is the knowledge it takes to bring the Batman to his knees. Our mutual friend will bring that to the table. I understand he is quite familiar with the man behind the Bat. He knows his strengths. His weaknesses. And his deepest fears. He brings them, and we use them."

"As for me..." he continues, withdrawing from the chain around his neck the Cosmic Key and holding it aloft for the Monk to see.

There is a clicking sound, a flash of light... and suddenly the room has one extra occupant.

When Prometheus liberated Niccolai Tepes's business card from the effects of Julie Madison, he took Julie Madison herself along for the ride. Now Julie is in the room, having been transported here from the Ghost Zone. She is chained to a cross, blindfolded and unconscious. She's still dressed, at least.

Prometheus looks back to the Monk, his grin now something quite sinister and not unlike Tepes' own fanged smile.

"Let's just say I'm the type of guy who has something for everyone."

[jla_undead]

He puts a straw in the goblet and sucks the blood up into his covered mouth. it has the potential to look comical, if he wasn't drinking a woman's blood. A woman who looks near to passing out, as her blood drains over the floor. He lowers the goblet once Julie Madison appears on a crucifix.

"What an enchanting gift." He tosses the goblet to the ground, and the unwounded female goes for it, frantically kissing around the edge of it, where he's touched. "And a wonderful proposal."

"An army, you say?" He takes a couple of paces towards Madison, and runs a finger, and its sharpened fingernail, down her leg to her foot. "That would be quite the enterprise. I would need a far better base of operations though. There's scarcely enough room for my creations in the cellar here."

[prometheanplans]

"Lucky you." The Cosmic Key is replaced under his cloak, replaced this time by a photo, which he hands to the Monk in two fingers. He watches his treatment of Madison interestedly.

"My boy took the liberty of setting aside a place. Not for you - the general doesn't live in the barracks with the troops - but a place to put that army we'll be building up. He tells me you've got enough beds for a thousand bloodsuckers. Should give you more space to stretch your legs than what you're working with now."

"As for a proper headquarters..." he muses thoughtfully, "I'd say a lot of prime Gotham real estate is going to opening up to us in the near future. We might want to sit tight a little bit longer on that one."

[jla_undead]

"Well that shows promise." He gives the photograph a cursory glance before returning his attentions to Julie Madison, raising her trouser leg to reveal bare skin beneath.

"I can feel the bloodflow. Hear it pulse." He turns back to Prometheus. "I would need to hear more of your plan. An army is all well and good, but look at what happened to Brainiac last year, and his army of replicants. Completely obliterated, from what I heard. We need an actual plan formulated to prevent the Inquisition from hammering on our door."

He cocks his head at Julie Madison again. "I would feed in your presence, Prometheus."

[prometheanplans]

"Hey, don't let me stop you." Prometheus spreads his hands, leaning back against one of the stone walls. "I'll save the shoptalk until after dinner."

Finding a comfortable spot, Prometheus settles in to watch.

[jla_undead]

Niccolai Tepes is not a messy eater. He slowly caresses the lower part of Madison's left leg, stroking every inch with his long, boney finger, and then squeezes. He makes a sound which could be described as an exhale. Except he doesn't breathe.

And then sinks his elongated fangs into that soft flesh. His hood still on, his eyes are barely visible. But they can be seen to roll back in utter pleasure as he begins to drain blood out of the attractive woman.

[prometheanplans]

Prometheus watches the scene in morbid fascination. He's grateful he went back for the helmet - it's recording the event for future reference, both to study for weaknesses and perhaps to send to the Bat to yank his chain. He's well aware that Julie Madison is... sorry, was, one of Batman's most outspoken supporters among the high society of Gotham. With any luck, this'll send a message to the rest to keep their mouths shut about the Batman. Or about supporting him, anyway.

He mentally notes that Madison is still unresponsive. Prior to his departure he injected the woman with a slow-acting stimulant. By now she ought to be up and screaming. The fact that she isn't is a clear indicator that among the Monk's repertoire of powers is the ability to induce some sort lethargy.

Watching the Monk sate his thirst, Prometheus wonders if Tepes can drink without using the trance. Huntress in particular would look good in steadily-paling skin and slowly ebbing screams.

[jla_undead]

The Monk draws back with a satisfied sigh, wipes his mouth with the inside of his hood, and then removes it. There's still a slight amount of blood over his chin, but all told he's a pretty clean eater. "If I wasn't as powerful as I am, I would be what the drug users refer to a as "buzzing" by now. Remember that. I could taste the stimulant in her veins, and for a weaker member of my covenant, that could trigger a violent reaction."

He touches Madison around the throat, and then plants a lingering kiss on her lips, biting into her lower one gently, before stepping backwards. He chuckles. "A good meal. I appreciate it. You may consider me invested in your scheme, Prometheus."

[prometheanplans]

For the first time, Prometheus is truly surprised. The dosage he gave Julie was powerful but minuscule. For the Monk to detect it, his senses must be enormously developed. Not just his sight, then. And if his vision and taste are superhuman, it stands to reason his other senses as well. Powerful enough to identify a man's identity by tasting his blood, hearing sharp enough to detect the tiniest traces of uncertainty or hesitation in the human heartbeat. Yes, it's no wonder the Monk has come to power. His enhanced senses alone give him enormous advantages over his followers, common humans all, and suspectible both to his charisma and his manipulation.

Fortunately, Prometheus is not the common man. Still, Hush was right to tell him to be careful with this Monk. Prometheus suspects he has other reserves of power yet to be seen.

The matter is treated lightly by the Monk, so Prometheus chooses not to acknowledge it. How fortunate that what he said today was mostly the truth for a change, since he now has strong reason to suspect the Monk has the ability to detect lies. If so, it would be a very useful ability in the days to come.

"Our shared associate will drop by in a few days. Trenchcoat and bandages, you can't miss him. He'll get you set up with some more living space, and then we'll go from there." One more crooked grin before he leaves, a harbinger of things to come.

"Looking forward to working with you.", and then with a click he's gone.