No one

'No one.'

There was another at the back of the monitor room. That was the root of commotion. He didn't dare approach it. He kept himself to the computers and large monitors. Apparently, cameras were installed in the upper levels of the cavern and they scanned and identified every person captured. The green square flickered from person to person, detailing their physical features, their age, and occupation, as well as two coded statistics.

However, the details never lingered. It was like an AI system built to maintain the capture of the Gothamites.

At the corner of all the monitors, an exclamation mark popped out. He squinted as words rolled out.

"'Chosen One Candidate Aaron Reigner has escaped. Please be on alert.' So it alerts the person watching that someone has escaped…" He glanced down and to his left. There were two corpses, dead judging by the lack of chest movement. "But I guess they're not gonna be seeing it."

He searched the row of monitors. On top of the cameras in the cavern, there were cameras of some sort of warehouse. No, a laboratory? A series of labs? The place had six unique floors, large and wide. On one particular floor, he saw overgrown plants and vines...

It was strangely recognizable….

The battle between the grunts of Leviathan and the Penguin raged. Although mute, he could witness the acts of **** committed. It was not pretty.

As he scanned the laboratories, he came to an intriguing conclusion: 'There are laboratories on top of this cave. Huh…'

The mystery of how they got here wasn't much of a mystery now. Leviathan drove them to this place in a van, went down an elevator till they reached the caves, and walked to the drop-off area: the cavern.

'Wait a minute…a hidden floor? Wait, this is…it's S.T.A.R Labs!?'

No fucking way. The secret base of Leviathan was the Gotham S.T.A.R Labs. Three stories high, six floors, glass walls…no, it couldn't be…

He had been here. He had snuck in. He had been so close–

'No, I can't think about it too much. Focus on the task at hand. It's what Cassandra would do, right?'

He needed something to lower the platform. S.T.A.R Labs or not, using the path where they came from was too risky. They would die. He was sure of it.

He found it. At the corner of his eye, there was a lever. He pulled on it without a thought. He heard the sound of gears turning. He peeked through the door. The platform was gone.

'Finally…'

The first batch to return on the platform were familiar faces: Noah, Henry, Maps, and even Todd. Out of the four, it was Maps who led them. Her enthusiasm carried over to much of her life, it seemed.

"It worked!" Maps exclaimed, bouncing from heel to heel. She looked just about ready to hug him. "Aaron, you're so cool!" Okay, she hugged him. It was awkward since he wasn't much of a hugger and she was a five-foot high schooler. He didn't know whether to wrap his arms around her or simply pat her on the head. He decided to go with the latter.

"Good work," Noah praised, high-fiving him. "It really was amazing."

Todd, although tepid, fist pumped him. Henry did the same. It was all very rigid but ultimately an expression of their gratitude. His heart fluttered while his face hardened.

"I appreciate the compliments but unfortunately we aren't done just yet," Aaron said. "I'm guessing there's a bunch of people down there waiting to come up?"

Their faces fell. He was right on the money. Aaron inhaled. "Here's the thing: you see that door behind us?" He threw a hand towards the general direction of the door. "You hear the noise? It's a battle. The Penguin is fighting against the leader of Leviathan. It's not fun."

The news dawned upon Noah like a tragedy. "Wait…so we're trapped. This monitor room…there's nothing more to it." He craned his head, searching for something. Anything. His face fell. Noah bit his bottom lip, his nerves catching up to him. "This is not good."

"Y-yeah. Um." Maps' voice hitched. "I thought…isn't there something on the monitors?"

Aaron casted the computers a skeptical glance. "I doubt it. I said it was a monitor room for a reason. I don't think there's a secret passage."

"It's…" Noah had been checking monitor screens, squinting. He had come to the same conclusion as him. "This cave is on top of…labs?" Noah kept quiet as he double-checked. "He's right. I see nothing here. There's a visual of the cavern below and the labs where the Penguin's men are fighting against Leviathan. But…that's it. That's all there is."

"A-are you sure?" Maps asked, grasping at straws. "Maybe there's like…um…a-a fake wall! Yeah, and it leads to a path out of here!"

"What are you, the leader of a detective club?" Todd remarked. Much to his astonishment, Maps' jaw fell and she struggled to conjure up words. The older males exchanged surprised looks.

"Y-yeah!" Maps proclaimed, utterly drenched in amazement. "How did you know!? Are you psychic?"

"H-huh? No? Lucky guess?" Todd said, rubbing his nape.

"Here's another lucky guess," Aaron said pointedly, "you were once a part of We Are Robin."

"H-how–what? No…" Maps chuckled and whistled unconvincingly. The widened eyes of the adults bore down on her with great curiosity. "No, seriously. I wasn't!"

"Don't worry, I won't tell," Aaron said. "I remember the law. You might be expelled, right?"

"I-I wasn't a part of it! Really, it was my friend Riko–oh!" Maps slapped her hands on her mouth. Her round face deteriorated into pure dread. "Um. I didn't say that."

'Riko,' Aaron repeated, brows furrowed. 'Riko Sheridan…?'

He eased up. This was not the time nor place to be speculating about Maps' precise relations to the Japanese woman.

"Look, Robin-shrobin, there's some folks waiting for a lift." Henry's words were sprinkled with unexpected firmness. "What should we do, Aaron?"

All eyes went to him. Aaron cooled himself down, strumming the beat in his heart, and regarded each of them carefully.

"I'll go."

"Go…go where?" Todd asked, not understanding. The others did, however, and wore tightened faces. "W-what? Go where?"

"One of us has to go beyond the door," Aaron said quietly. "I'll go."

"I'll join you," Maps said. "I'm–"

"You're a kid," Noah interrupted, touching her shoulder. "And you saw what Angel Breaker did–does. She beheads people without a second thought, like slicing butter for toast, except this time there's no magic water to save us. When we die…we die. End of story."

Maps gulped. A remainder of tough grit laid in Mia Mizoguchi's childish eyes. Impressive. But she feared **** too much to risk it.

"I'll be fine." Aaron offered her a sincere smile. Putting a hand on her head, he ruffled her hair. "Trust me."

Maps nodded silently, beady eyes meeting him. Aaron sent the adults a message: take care of her. They understood.

"Don't let anyone up just yet," Aaron ordered. "We can't risk a **** guy running through and ruining the element of surprise."

"Got it." Noah nodded like a soldier. Maps did the same, albeit with a **** smile.

The door appeared taller and stronger than it seemed. Made of a steely silver, its hinges broken from battle and clinging onto the wires connecting to it. It was closed but with a tiny push that would change.

Gathering his bearings and his fists, he proceeded through. The floor, the ceiling, the walls–his surroundings were silver and filled with dents. Bodies of Leviathan grunts laid everywhere. Dozens, their weapons broken and their heads bashed in. Lady Shiva and David Cain were a fearsome duo indeed.

Groans escaped some of the bodies. Shiva inflicted some sort of technique to paralyze their bodies. It was instantaneous from the look of things. The touch of a pressure point. The rupture of an organ.

The walls were lined with doors hiding stashes of weapons. Machine guns, laser guns, and…and even the anti-metahuman prototype weapon. He blitzed between depot to depot. Properly docked inside many of the metal cases were the anti-metahuman guns, untouched. He decided to steal one.

The hall's function was clearly vital to their operation and intended to prepare for an ultimate invasion of Gotham. He suspected Leviathan was going to storm the Penguin and his mobster alliances. There must have been a leak or a traitor because it was the Penguin who managed to ambush Leviathan. Oswald Cobblepots was not to be underestimated. He was one of Batman's longest standing enemies for a reason.

He trudged on through the hall, anti-metahuman weapon in hand. It felt strange considering Aaron himself was a metahuman. A tingly sensation went up his forearms. He double-checked his finger wasn't on the trigger.

'If I shoot myself, I'll lose my powers and probably my hold on the people I control. Namely, Hadiyah and Jaina. Losing those two would be a huge loss.'

Wearing inky black sweatpants and a grey v-neck shirt with a Daily Planet symbol, he couldn't confidently say he was in a state of combat. Flexibility was great but he preferred the tough defence of armour. Unfortunately, none were placed in the weapon rooms. He was essentially naked.

He snorted to himself. 'Not naked. This isn't like that time with Ivy.'

The noises escalated. Aaron ran.

In a matter of minutes, the narrow hall ended and he arrived at a new location. It was wide and littered with white desks and chairs. Chemicals and cylindrical tanks that looked straight out of Star Wars.

'A laboratory?' He put a foot forward while scanning his surroundings. This was the battle. The stench of blood prickled his nose. It was nauseating. He crouched down and pressed himself to a nearby desk to hide himself from view.

From his cursory glance, Angel Breaker was getting double-teamed by Lady Shiva and another woman. Her hair and complexion was brown and her skills were supreme. Together, with Shiva engaging Angel Breaker in close combat and the brown woman distracting from long range, they were pushing the infallible sword-wielder back.

"To think my two masters would team up. How the mighty have fallen!"

The comment was accompanied by a scream and a slash. The two ladies barely managed to roll out of it, the red and black slash remaining in place and distorting space, and launched at her with a series of kicks. They bounced from the walls and struck her from every direction. Angel Breaker spun and spun, countered and defended, pressured by the **** of the deadly women.

The long dark green skirt of the mystery woman fluttered. Her chocolatey shoulders and abdomen were bare. Her two blades were curved and thick, and her figure was top-heavy. Speed, flexibility, and agility were her focal points, her movements like a ballet dance. The tips of her toes bounced and her swords moved in tandem. Lady Shiva merged with her movements, her focused fingers and kicks arriving to strike afterwards like a never ending tsunami.

From her words, Angel Breaker was familiar with her opponents and it showed. Despite the elite branches of skill they displayed, she was able to block and counter on instinct. It would seem like Lady Shiva would come close to delivering a conclusive blow, but Angel Breaker was able to produce some sort of magic to escape it. An amplified swing of her sword, a boost in her speed, or an evasion that would lead to a powerful slash of magic.

They were pressing Angel Breaker, yet the distance never seemed to close.

Meanwhile, Mark Shaw the Manhunter was in an equally precarious situation. The Penguin and his three large, eight-foot tall henchmen were assaulting him nonstop. First with special guns, which proved ineffective, then their brass knuckles. The Manhunter was perhaps six feet tall yet he backhanded and kicked the henchmen like they were weightless. ****, the Penguin's umbrella machine gun assaulted him.

The Manhunter did not move as not a single bullet penetrated him. Concern crossed the mob bosses' features, his mouth parting.

"Oi! Orphan–"

The Penguin's pleas were met as David Cain hacked the Manhunter from behind. Leviathan's powerful leader shifted his focus. The mercenary was twice as effective as the three henchmen. Attacking, attacking, attacking, his blade battering the impenetrable armour. A mark formed on his backside. By the time he attempted to counter David Cain, the three henchmen recovered and three iron fists and a blade came together to pummel him.

Their efforts boomed like the great bell of London.

BAM! SLASH! BAM! BAM! SLASH! SLASH! BAM! BAM!

The boot thrusters of his armour flared up and he attempted to gain aerial distance. David Cain's own armour, however, was capable of super jumps and he caught Mark Shaw by the ankle and slammed him into a table.

'Should I be rooting for the Penguin?' Aaron asked himself, watching as the Penguin shot the fallen world leader with his umbrella gun. The full scale, body armour deflected the bullets but it was a sorry sight to see. Mark Shaw struggled to rise to his feet. A strange blue aura enveloped him.

"Your efforts are meaningless, Penguin." Mark Shaw's mask let out a puff of smoke and his armour indiscriminately unleashed laser beams. Aaron's eyes went wide as a stray blue laser beam nicked the chemicals on the desk he was hiding behind. Luckily, there was no explosion or any indication that he knew he was there. Mark Shaw was merely fighting now with his full power. His danger levels couldn't be exaggerated enough.

A scream pierced the air. A heavy thud hit the floor.

Aaron peered over. One of the Penguin's henchmen just went down. The sheer terror on Penguin's features did not bring Aaron ease.

'I guess I know who I'm rooting for then.' Bullets hurled and zipped in the background. Aaron winced. 'Hopefully he's got this.'

Aaron needed to focus his mind elsewhere. The people. The hundred and four Gothamites waiting for escape. This was a battlefield and even though there were less potential dangers that did not mean the overall danger levels had gone down. Quality over quantity, after all. It was clear Angel Breaker and Mark Shaw were villains capable of wasting armies away.

To the left, lodged way, way back, was something that switched his thought process.

Thick and multi-coloured and going down, down, down till it attached itself to a massive, circular machine. It was like a mini-sized version of the S.T.A.R. Labs' famous particle accelerator in Central City. A cylinder teemed with dark energy.

The hairs on his neck stood up. His eyes were captured by the machine and the downwards tubes connected. It was magnificent. It was…

Familiar.

Strange. The smell in the air. All of a sudden, his mind was reminiscing about a place. An image flashed. Trees and plants and a chilly wind.

'Don't tell me I'm in the–'

BOOM!

He dropped to the floor as a terrible explosion erupted. Smoke appeared from the top of his vision and he soaked up a toasty, acrid odour. The Penguin yelped and he threw out commands of retreat.

BOOM!

Another explosion. The Penguin's yells echoed but eventually disappeared.

The world calmed yet particles of red ember flew above. Aaron swallowed thickly. 'What the fuck is going on?' Fire. There was fire. But how much? Would the whole place burn down? Would everyone die? His thoughts accelerated like a train without an emergency break.

"Talia al Ghul…" Angel Breaker spat the name out with venom. Like a house cat not wanting to get caught, Aaron crawled to the corner of the desk and gazed out. The brown woman who had fought alongside Lady Shiva–one of her curved swords was broken, lying next to her, and she stood on her knees, the Angel Breaker blade pointed at her neck. Three desks were alight with scorching hot flames.

With a casual swing of her blade, Angel Breaker absorbed the fire. The red hue that had been shadowing the laboratory was gone. It was like it was never there.

Blood stained the floor from the dead bodies of the Penguin's henchmen. David Cain, on one knee and supported by his blade, struggled to catch his breath. The wires of his armour were exposed and malfunctioning and his mask was half broken, revealing his chiselled, silverfox features.

A horrible hacking noise drilled Aaron's ears. Mark Shaw, afloat, had Lady Shiva by the throat. The silverfox couldn't reach her. The most dangerous woman in the world was going red in the face and the **** noises escalated. His grip seemed like it could split her.

"You…" Lady Shiva gasped. She refused to give in, her face twisting in uncontrollable rage. "You…are…not…"

David Cain lunged at Mark Shaw, his armour burning through the last of its cybernetic functions. With his free hand, the Manhunter blasted him down into the wall. A hole was created. David Cain was nowhere in sight.

Mark Shaw turned to her, his scarlet gas mask exhaling small amounts of smoke. The tiny blue dots that were his eyes glowed.

"Apologies. Let us continue."

His cybernetic arm gripped her tighter. Lady Shiva resisted and resisted, kicking him with strong, well-placed attacks. Nothing worked. She was going to pass out. No, **** to ****–

Aaron wanted to move but how the fuck was he supposed to beat Mark Shaw the Manhunter? All this time he had been holding back, conserving his armour's technical abilities. And now, with its full power, Lady Shiva was a toddler in his grip. Even the Penguin was a scurrying rat.

Angel Breaker. Maybe he could do something against her…

"See this, Master Talia?" Holy fuck, Angel Breaker's voice was smooth. It was like Catwoman's except evil and blood-curdling. "You were once my superior but you turned away from the prophecy of the Chosen One. My prophecy. And now…I have surpassed you."

"Perhaps," Talia admitted, "but tell me this: who is he?"

A smirk curled up her red lips. "Hm~?"

"Who is that man?" Talia asked. The blade inched closer. Blood was drawn. Talia swallowed,. her Adam's apple bouncing and quivering, and pursued her curiosity. "The man who calls himself Mark Shaw. You know as well as I do that the real Mark Shaw–he is dead."