All the world is a stage, and everyone has their part
Who: Jack Kelly [cowboy_newsie] and Batman [kingofrooks], Black Mask [ebony_mask] and Batman [see above].
When: The 16th, post-sirens.
Where: Black Mask's hideout.
Summary: Batman finally finds out where Black Mask is keeping Jack. He goes for a rescue. Then Black Mask comes back.
Warnings: Violence. Mentions/explicit descriptions of torture, gore, drugs and drug abuse. Stuff like ( Read more... )
When: The 16th, post-sirens.
Where: Black Mask's hideout.
Summary: Batman finally finds out where Black Mask is keeping Jack. He goes for a rescue. Then Black Mask comes back.
Warnings: Violence. Mentions/explicit descriptions of torture, gore, drugs and drug abuse. Stuff like ( Read more... )
Not so for Black Mask. Not so when his silence has gone on for so long, and no matter how Batman strains, he cannot even hear the skittering of Black Mask's feet across the metaphorical floorboards of the mobs. He has gone so silent, and comes back with a great bang before going silent once more.
It's a gamble for Matches Malone to take up the little 'job' of finding the Joker's hideout, and a greater gamble to stake that it is him who has Jack Kelly in his custody. But Batman's advantage is that he knows exactly how Black Mask works, and he knows instinctively that the addictive nature of the new drug - which, oddly enough, doesn't seem to have a name that everyone has decided on - is Black Mask's handiwork. He also knows exactly the motivation behind taking Jack Kelly- if he has truly stolen him away.
Finding the Joker is harder than he has thought, and Matches Malone knows that he has abandoned some things for this 'little errand'. But if this is a way of putting his two greatest enemies here behind bars, then it will be worth it, because then he can deal with the bigger picture without being constantly tripped up by these two. It's made ever easier by the fact that the two of them clearly hate each other, and Matches Malone has taken note of the coordinates of the Joker's hideout and sends it to Black Mask.
Batman, on the other hand, has slipped into Black Mask's hideout while the man is out hunting the clown, and he knows exactly how much time he has. Jack Kelly has been bundled away to Skye, and Daedalus Yumeno is now taking care of him. There is little to heal physically, but Yumeno's presence is simply because Batman trusts no one else to take care of the boy while he does some hunting.
And hunting he is. He is waiting, hiding within the many shadows of Black Mask's hideout, keeping the lights out. The sirens have rung out already, and the Darkness is kept out by the bars on the windows and the thick door, but the patch of darkness within the house is more dangerous than Black Mask could have ever known. Batman has been keeping his anger in an iced box and now he has taken it out, curling it around his hands like a poisonous snake, slowly milking out the venom to throw it in the man's face- so it will burn him. Like acid, eating away at skin.
In the dark, Batman smiles, and waits. ]
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High on success. High on adrenaline. High on sadistic glee.
Even if Joker hasn't been blow to bits and incinerated, the message has been sent: war has begun.
Things are finally starting to feel like the old days again. Pre-gang war, of course, but with his rising influence, it is now only a matter of time before he instigates the next phase of his master plan.
Before the end of next year, Black Mask wants Siren's Port to be a war zone.
His new face stretched into a triumphant grin, he whistles Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture as he enters his house.
He'll help himself to a scotch on the rocks before moving to the basement to check on his prisoner.]
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Black Mask no longer deserves his name. His face is healed over, the skin grown back, and Batman knows that it's because of Jack Kelly. The weight of the boy in his arms still haunt him, and there is Jack's blood on his armour and here Sionis is, enjoying the fruits of his labour. Of Jack's torture.
There is something else, too. The man in the basement, with the ruined face and tortured body. The rot is starting to set in, but not enough for the damage Sionis did to be erased. How much pain was that man in? How much did he suffer before he died? There is no way of Batman to even figure out who he is right now, and he doesn't even know if that man has a family, or a history. All he is now is a corpse, a disfigured and ugly one, and made so under Black Mask's hands.
He moves fast, a shadow leaping out from the sides of the staircase leading down to the basement. His hand closes around the back of Sionis's neck, and he slams his face against the wall, the impact travelling up Batman's own arm to his shoulder, and he hisses out his words so hard that they are almost mangled. ]
I see you gained a new face, Sionis. [ He presses harder. ] Shame that you'll lose it again.
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Batman. Of course, it has to be the flying freak, doesn't it? No one else knew his M.O. as well as the Bat.
Thinking straight is difficult with the pain throbbing in his head and neck, but he doesn't ignore it. He can't. He knows, having made a study on pain, it never helps to ignore pain. Better to embrace it. Use it to fuel his rage.
To love it, in a way.
Blood runs down his face even as it slowly begins to heal and Roman spits a few teeth to the floor in a bloody clump. Then he rams his elbow backward in Batman's direction, hissing.]
How did you find me?
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The man still can speak. That really won't do, will it. He pulls Sionis around until he's facing him. ]
You got careless.
[ His voice is little more than a hiss, and he can't help but smile, sharp-edged and cruel, at the blood on Sionis's face. Good. ]
Got greedy, didn't you?
[ Then, he shifts his hand down Sionis's elbow to his forearm. He grips tight, and twists.
If Sionis moves at all, that arm is going to break. ]
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He doesn't want his arm to be broken, but in the grand scheme, a broken arm is better than getting hauled in; he's been in the Port long enough to know chancing the system here is riskier than chancing Gotham's, and he doesn't have the clout he does there to grease the wheels.]
I got rich, fly boy. And like all bottom feeders, you got attracted to the scent of a fat wallet. I'm nowhere near the richest, but boy, oh boy, I'm flattered you're acknowledging how dangerous I am.
[Yes. Far better to be temporarily crippled and free.
He sneers at Batman.]
Thanks for the compliment.
[He slams his head in the direction of Batman's jaw.]
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But he grits his teeth and just reaches forward and tries to grab Sionis by his neck and slamming him back against the wall. He barely even understands the words that Sionis is saying now, the roar of blood and anger in his ears drowning out everything else- except that last line.
Batman's lips peel back, showing white teeth that might be a little stained with blood from where he bit onto his own tongue. He snarls, more like a beast than a man. ]
Thank me later.
[ And he's ducking down, sweeping his leg out to take Sionis off balance and send him down to the ground. His rationality - what little bit left of it that's not consumed by rage - reminds him that he's not here to kill him, merely to disable- just to disable, damnit. ]
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He coughs harshly, caught between laughing and trying to breathe.]
You're takin' this...way too personally, Bats...
[His hand dips into his jacket to retrieve his gun. If he can get it out in time, he'll aim for Batman's lower leg.]
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He's not paying attention to the hands, but the glint of metal catches his eye easily enough, and Batman is leaping forward to slam the gun and the wrist down to the ground. ]
Am I.
[ A cold stare. ]
This is par for course, Sionis.
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And it's worse than facing hyenas.
He doesn't even have a last ace in the hole; if Batman had been waiting, Kelly is already free.
So much for the hostage situation.
He can't even heal his fractured bones fast enough to deal with the onslaught.
Lying on his side, he glares up at Batman, an evil gleam in his eyes, and he hisses through clenched teeth.]
It's as if you'd found Batgirl in my basement instead of Kelly.
[He starts to laugh, kicking out his uninjured leg at Batman's shins.]
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But he doesn't notice it. Not the close call, or the pain, and he reaches out and grabs onto that uninjured leg even as it smacks against his shins, hitting against the metal-plated armour. One hand against the ankle, the other reaching out to sink his nails into the thigh, pulling Roman close. ]
Do you think that makes it better? [ Using brute force, he shoves Roman's leg up, until it's bent and flattened, parallel against the floor. He doesn't take his hand off the ankle. ]
Do you really think I won't find you, Sionis?
[ Crack.
There goes that ankle. ]
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He's never seen Batman this enraged, never this brutal, not even the time in the Batcave (Bat...clocktower?) For the first time, he believes in Batman's capability to kill.
And it's terrifying.
Black Mask has been killed twice before, and he's come back twice before. He's not afraid of dying. He can take pain.
It's the possibility of not coming back at all that scares him.
Howling in pain, he throws up his arms, palms open.]
Ok! I surrender now!
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His mind suddenly freezes, the blood stopping cold in his veins. Batman pauses. Just- stops, suddenly, like a car that has its brakes suddenly slammed on. His hands flattened out against Roman's ankle, right above the break, and he
breathes. ]
Good choice.
[ And he rocks backwards to his haunches, sitting on his calves as he takes out his NV and sends an anonymous message to the police.
A crime has been committed at [ insert coordinates here ]. Please send a team for pickup.
He looks at Black Mask, then stands up. ]
You're going away for a long time, Sionis. [ Soft, and silky. ] Count your luck.
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