#rusalkasfury

[the-schwayest-batman-around]

Task At Hand: Lorelai Larson

OOC: This is another drabble request requested by the mun behind @digital-darwinism. This will be unlike Batlink and be steeped in previously established interactions, roleplay canons and such, which I will attempt to make reader friendly, but be warned. While there may be homages to the comics as they are now, not everything will line up exactly where they are. Secondly, this will be a very Terry McGinnis/Batman Beyond lite series of drabbles, while taking place within the same continuity as Batman Beyond. Special thanks to @rusalkas-fury​ for allowing me to use her character and aiding me in writing.

~ ~ ~

Everyone was on the lookout for her. The newest rogue of Batman had practically exploded to priority number one in one single episode of the talk show, Skye’s the Limit. Lorelai Larson, once famed singer and musician turned criminal from Queen City had gone onto TV and slaughtered her parents in a bloody display of power and revenge. Terry had been stopping a gang war in the lower levels and didn't hear about it until it was far too late.

He patrolled everywhere, practically pulling three all nighters straight. No one had found her and Bruce had combed over every available route she could have gone. Barbara was using every patrolman to find something but no one was turning up anything. They were at a loss yet Bruce insisted to keep an eye out for oddities.

“Anything could lead back to her” he had told Terry. “Even if its minor, keep an ear out.”

Luckily, Bruce’s gambit paid off. Gotham's Airport was a busy place and problems rose up all the time. Late flights, bad attendants and more. But Bruce had found an odd complaint about a woman in first class who had her ticket stolen but everyone had said she had given it to "someone" willingly. No one could remember the details and each gave a random answer. Different looks, ages, genders and more. But it was where she was going that was the biggest problem.

"Why go to Santa Prisca?" Terry asked as the batmobile flew over the sea. "There's nothing there?"

"Laying low for starters. There's plenty of criminal contacts in there and according to some of the staff in Arkham, she was trying to use a pen pal system with someone on the island. One of the addresses is familiar. Stay safe and be cautious. You don't know what you're going up against, but take some of the plans we developed."

~ ~ ~

He found out why Bruce was concerned. The place in question was Bane’s old manor. The manor was even more heavily fortified than the last time he had been here. Before, Chappell had been working on his cover. Now it seemed like a small army walked around Bane’s compound. Terry was sure the old man would have died. He was in worse shape than any of the people from Bruce’s generation and yet the former Batman had never told him that the back breaker was gone for good. As Terry tried to find some entrance, he could hear the mutterings of the guards nearby and snuck closer to listen in. One of the guards was talking about their latest guest, who was visiting the boss and they were developing something in the underground lab. If Terry wanted to know what was going on, he had to see for himself. This could concern more than just Lorelai. Sneaking around with the camo feature had become second nature to him at this point. Avoiding the servants, he made his way deeper and deeper. All the while, Terry was repeating the same questions over and over in his head.

Why had Lorelai come to Santa Prisca? There were hundreds of places in the world she could hide. Thousands of people and even more fans who would house her willingly, though they might need a nudge with Lorelai's song. Even if she didn't want to stay in the states, why not somewhere else? Why this prison island? Why Bane's home?

Finally, he found himself outside of the lab. Picking the lock was easy with his experience. It was even faster with the right bad gadgets. Opening the door, Terry was greeted to a large lab set up. Several vats and tubs of chemicals hung from the ceiling. Several different tubes spun their way into beakers and other chemical concoctions. Terry even saw very large centrifuges. Terry's mind immediately went to what one person had said so long ago.

"In the end, he needed Venom just to keep going. It got so bad he couldn't even make it himself. He had to trust someone."

This had to have been where Chappell had whipped up the Venom in the first place for Bane. It was still surprising he had found all of that stuff here and Bane was still alive. Perhaps someone else was making it. But this much?

Terry wandered around, examining the chemicals until he saw something. While not as large as the other vats, this was ground level. Approaching closer, he could see something orange, sticky and occasionally bubbling had filled the item. While it was hard to see exactly what was inside, Terry could see a general outline.

A person?

Terry immediately moved to the computer terminal attached to it and began to try and hack his way in. If this was a prisoner or someone else, he had to get him out of here.

It was a human male, roughly in his 20s or 30s. That much Terry could tell from the documents he could see. Well over six foot, three hundred pounds and whatever was in here was also making sure his heart was at a steady beat. It was almost as if they were keeping this body alive. But for what?

Terry had been too focused for too long as he heard the door open and spun around, batarang instinctively out.

"Don't you TOUCH him, Batman!" The escapee and metal singer, Lorelai Larson, Rusalka shrieked at the Dark Knight. A sheer blind rage that took over when she saw the batarang especially near the vat.

Terry hadn't expected Lorelai to show up. He probably should have been wary and had the camo still on, but now it was too late. Lorelai was looking straight at him and seeing red. He had to act fast. Tapping the side of his cowl over his ears, the first part of Bruce's defenses to Lorelai kicked in as he still had the batarang up in his other hand. "You're not going anywhere Lorelai."

"I don't PLAN on going anywhere. And you certainly aren't dragging me back to Gotham!" She felt her fist growing heavier, wanting to pull the water in from around them, but being very cautious. She wasn't coming for him in a blind rage yet, already a sign something wasn't quite right.

"You killed your parents, you hijacked a family and put countless others in jeopardy because of what you've done." The last time Lorelai had killed, it had also been bloody. Her boyfriend had stabbed himself until he was almost a pile of blood soaked flesh and organs. Yet even that hadn't been as severe as this time.

"You got one chance to give yourself up Lorelai. Take it."

There was a cool sensation behind Terry, almost a tickle at first, but then a heavy water fist crashed down on the back of his head. It wasn't her full force, though.

"Consider that a warning, Batman. Take it."

His body crashed down hard. Water was still a large and powerful substance and Lorelai still was getting better and better at it. Groaning, he stood up as Lorelai gloated.

Okay. The gloves came off for Rusalka. Batman rushed to a nearby vat and lept above. Using the higher ground, he hurled a set of bolas at her.

She reacted quickly, a wall of water springing up between her and the bolas. Training these few weeks had been rigorous, but well worth it. Lorelai didn't back away from Batman, she moved closer, angling herself between him and the body in the tube.

“I’m ending this now” she hissed as she took in a deep breath. Soon a song began to fill the room as Lorelai, protected by her water wall, began to sing higher and higher. A sweet little melody filled with the intent of Batman going to the nearest wall and bashing his head against it until his skull caved in. Yet the Dark Knight wasn’t stopping. In fact, he dodged another attack and remained  aware. The singer looked stunned. “How are you--”

“I don’t always need sonic batarangs to stop you.” He had come prepared. All the other times, Terry had gone to face Rusalka with no planning or adequate equipment. Yet time had passed since her first incarceration in Arkham. Bruce had began working on several pieces of equipment to properly combat the newest metahuman. Ways to destabilize the water, ways to contract her voice, and even some new strategies Terry was using in the simulations. The latest device was a special earbud modified from Shreeve Tech and some of Bruce’s old equipment. Most everything he was listening to was being tuned to lower octaves. Everything Lorelai was saying was being auto-tuned.

Not that he was going to tell Lorelai that. By the looks of it, this only seemed to further anger the singer as she sent a new wave of water hurling at the Dark Knight. He dodged again, and again. He waited until he found the right opportunity. Grabbing one of his batarangs, he hurled it at Lorelai. Her water arm caught, the batarang sinking into the arm. However she looked stunned when it began to bubble and part of it caught fire.

The lab was suddenly rocked with a small scale explosion. Water flew around them, the smell of something burnt was in the air as the second wall of water lost its consistency for a brief moment. Lorelai crashed by a nearby table, her hair blown back as the water shielded her. “THE HELL WAS THAT!?”

“Potassium and sodium batarang” Batman called out, now hiding in the ceilings. He’d try and lure Rusalka into unease. The room had good acoustics and he’d try and use it to his advantage. “While you were in Arkham, I’ve been prepping for you if you went rogue.”

“SOME SLAGGING ASSURANCE YOU WERE READY TO TAKE ME DOWN AGAIN!” Her ears were ringing. The explosion had been too close for comfort and her ears were ringing. And now the Bat was hiding. The singer looked this way and that, attacking any shadow that dared to move. “YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND BATMAN! THEY HAD TO DIE!”

“No one deserves to die. They were bad parents, Rusalka, but you had no right.”

“AFTER EVERY LITTLE THING THEY PULLED, THEY DESERVED EXACTLY WHAT THEY--GOD DAMN--GET OUT FROM WHERE YOU’RE HIDING AND FACE ME!” Rusalka was gnashing her teeth, glancing around as Batman began to creep slowly down the wall from behind, hiding behind the vat.

The ringing was beginning to end. Now she was hearing something nearby but she couldn’t quite place it. “I’m free now Batman. Free from them, free from my old life. Let me live already! Especially once I’m free from YOU!”

She whirled around and hurled a water construct hurling at the source of the noise. Batman had inched out of his spot and aimed and hurled the Batarang. Rusalka wasn’t slowing down her fist. Batman dove out of the way as the Batarang stuck and the fist crashed...against the vat.

He didn’t even see the look of dread on Lorelai Larson’s face before it happened. But he heard the wailing shriek when the explosion went off. The batarang caused a mini-explosion once again, but the fist had crushed the vat, causing leakage of some of the goop inside. Terry didn’t even see the man before the equipment was caught in the explosion and magnified it.

Feeling the force, Batman toppled over and over until he gained his footing. He saw the fire go off as Lorelai rushed over. She knelt down but the substance was on fire. The room was filled with a burning smell that was more disgusting than the last. Terry recognized the smell from the few times he had smelled it. The sickening smell of burning flesh.

Lorelai knelt down, stunned and silent. Terry did his best to pull himself up to his feet. “What was--”

He didn’t get a chance to finish that sentence. The siren singer’s screech was loud enough to make Terry wince. Pipes began to groan as finally the lab’s safety feature began to kick in. The sprinkler system began to come in and spray down the fires.

Terry had just gotten rid of Rusalka’s troublesome water constructs and instead gave the now enraged metahuman even more ammo. And she was ready to use every drop of water to slay him. He didn’t have much time to rush for cover. Trying to upturn one of the tables, that plan was ruined when a larger construct of water crushed the table. Like a krakken’s tentacle, the thing smacked Batman into the nearby machinery. Again, and again, and again. It was hammering away blindly as another long tentacle was being formed. All the while, horrible shrieking was coming from the room.

Lorelai wasn’t trying to hypnotize Batman. She was screaming and just wishing for one thing. Death. The most painful, horrible death she could manage. While Terry could handle watery environments, being smacked around by living water was not what Bruce had in mind when designing the suits.

The tentacles stopped as it batted Batman across the floor. He could feel every hard object he crashed against before coming to a stop. His body ached and he could feel the water pouring around him. He could see Lorelai advancing towards her. A bloodlust filled her as one tendril of water was following her. It was curling itself into a handle and becoming more solid. Lorelai was forming it into ice.

She’d improved since Arkham. Terry wasn’t going to have much of a chance to think since she was forming a bladed weapon with one purpose in mind. She was stomping closer and closer, the water covering everything in the lab.

“Die” she hissed through grit teeth. “Die and let me live!” She raised the blade and Terry had to act fast with the last trick he had.

He didn’t reach for a batarang. With enough water surrounding him, Terry knew this could work. It’d hurt, but it was better than being stabbed. Slapping his hand on the suit’s saftey feature, the suit sent a dischange. Normally, only anyone touching the suit would be greeted by a sudden, sharp discharge of electricty. The suit was drenched in water. The floor was coated in it and Lorelai was standing in it covered in her drenched travel clothes. Her heavy breathing was suddenly replaced by a harsh yelp of pain.

Doubling over, she fell over, heaving as something rushed at her. “No!” she shrieked as Batman raised a fist. “NO! N--”

~ ~ ~

“One switchblade. Slightly used...”

“Stand up straight.”

She was going to flay Batman for bringing her back to Gotham...for doing what he did to that body.

“One bag of...crystals?”

“Healing crystals.” Lorelai said, doing her best to not tug at her inhibitor collar. Batman had slapped one on her when she was out like a light.

“Did we tell you to say something?”

This new staff member...Walker or whoever, was quickly gaining ground on her shit list.

“Two bags of...sage?”

“Seriously?”

Byrd was still here though clearly not used to getting things like sage. Maybe not as bad as some of the guards but she wouldn’t mind killing his ass.

“One coupon for Beefee Burger, expires at the end of the Month. One tube of black lipstick. One journal filled with...poems? That seems to be everything.”

All hers and now the Arkham Institute had its grubby little hands on it again. She was finally free of this place. And now, Batman had dragged her back here. He had slapped an inhibitor device on her, stuck her in the back seat and had to listen to her scream every curse word and sound she could muster on the flight back to Gotham.

“Right...” Owens sighed. “Well, I’ll get the Bear’s autograph on this. Is the mask on tight, LIly?”

“Double checked it myself” the new guard, Lily Walker, said. “Do we have any standard procedures for metahuman inmates?”

“With Ms. Larson here, we’ll have to call one of the other staff members to prep her for a proper shower. We still have her designed cell in here. We’ll get here in there with some of her clothes and finish the processing.”

“Well, I hope you enjoyed your time out there, because you aren’t going back to the outside for a long time, Larson” Lily said.

“You’re new here...I hope you realize deal with new fish like you like it was nothing” Lorelai hissed. Of course, the mask was built with some annoyingly frustrating tech that modulated her voice. She hated this. She hated every second of this.

“You aren’t leaving for a long time, Rusalka.” Reggie Byrd, the other guard on duty helped Lorelai into a nearby gurney to transfer her to her cell properly. No TV show or good behavior was going to save her like last time. “Some of your fans even started sending stuff here after what you did.”

Lorelai stared up at the lights as she was rolled down the hall. She could hear some familiar inmates. The sobbing hiccups of one of the newer fish at Arkham, pleading that he didn’t belong with the Jokerz. The deep breathing of what could only belong to Patrick Fitz, the Ratboy, and his cell. He was still recovering from the last riot it seemed.

On and on she rolled. So Arkham would be her home away for now. Fine...she’d use the time to work on her case. Her “help” in Santa Prisca would find some way to aid her. Legal aid or maybe a proper way out of this urine soaked, insanity ridden hellhole. There were perks to staying in Arkham. Her mail was managed, a lot of the inmates didn’t mess with her and she had actual friends here.

She could use the time to think...plan...get rid of that murderous, sadistic Bat-

“Reg!”

The gurney stopped as footsteps began echoing from down the hall.

“Obadiah? What the slag are you doing here?”

“Picking her up. Special orders.”

Lorelai was trying desperately to see what was going on. The gurney was limiting her motion and she couldn’t peer down the hall with her mask also obstructing the view.

“Special? But Arkham’s where’s she staying. Hoffman said--”

“You and I both know Hoffman is going to lose this election, Byrd. That Blackout and everything with those pardons didn’t earn him any favors. Fox looks like the real contender. Anyways, ‘nough about politics. It goes higher than that.”

She knew that voice. She was dead certain she knew that voice but...no...no it couldn’t--

The footsteps stopped as Byrd opened a letter and looked through it. His mouth grew taut as he read the letter. “Looks legit.”

“Legit as it can get. Come on, I’ll take her off your hands.”

Finally, the man came into view. He was a rotund man, slightly balding and with dark, hateful eyes. Yet the smile he gave was of joy. It was malevolent joy, but joy all the same. He might have been wearing a Power House uniform, but Obadiah Collins, the meanest, most anti-meta guard that had walked the halls of Arkham grinned down. “You’re coming with me, Larson.”

Lorelai’s eyes bugged. “No! NO! NO!” IF Collins was picking her up than...oh god. She was going to that woman. That evil, vile woman. The Power House wasn’t a holding place for a trial. It was a slagging death sentence. Lorelai began to write and wriggle.

Furiously kicking at her binds. she began to pull at her restraints. “INMATE! STOP!”

“I’M NOT DYING!” Lorelai screeched in that auto-tuned mess of a voice. She wasn’t going to be subjected to Dr. Mara Sable’s torture. “I’M NOT GOING BACK!!!”

The walls of inmates began to laugh and bash their hands against their plastic walls. Lorelai was breaking free as Collins took several steps back as Lily grabbed Lorelai’s arm and began with Reggie’s help, began to force a sedative into the siren’s system.

~ ~ ~

Name: Larson, Lorelai

Alias: Rusalka

Crimes:  Two counts of murder in the first degree, manslaughter in the first degree, kidnapping, attempted murder, attempted manslaughter, theft

Powers: Two known metahuman abilities. The ability to preform advanced hydrokinesis. While the extent of her powers is unclear, she has shown to form water constructs and control ice to an extent. Her second ability is a “siren song” where she can control others to do her bidding. Only stopping the song, disrupting the message or knocking out herself or the controlled.

Recommended by: Dr. Mara Sable, MD of Gotham City. Warden of the Mara Sable Institute.

APPROVED

[the-schwayest-batman-around]

Behind the Music

There had been growing coverage of the Arkham inmates for some time now. It had first started with Walter Shreeve going on ‘Skye’s the Limit’ with his doctor. Then the lawsuit began to bubble up and interviews began to happen. Latonya Choi was talking a special interest in this and interviewing several of the inmates.

Bruce had asked Terry to at the very least, watch them. It would help him better understand some of the people he fought. Maybe some of them would show a kindness never before seen, or perhaps Terry could find new hidden agendas underneath the surface.

Tonight was a new interview. It wasn’t with Latynoa Choi but instead a music television network. This person had been a lover of music and studied several criminals throughout the US that utilized it. The person had started to make a mini-series and it was getting some good traction. The Pied Piper out in Central City had been one of the first but an aged Music Meister had been another. Now, there was a new episode: Lorelai Larson, better known as Rusalka was going to be interviewed for the first time since her arrest. 

Terry was at home, door closed as he listened to the intro of the show on his laptop. He had his headphones on but his finger on the mute button just in case they somehow decided to have Lorelai not wear any sort of protection and belt out a new song for everyone to hear.

[the-schwayest-batman-around]

Arkham Is the New Blackgate: Siren’s Cry

((OOC: This takes place during the Blackout and in between the break in Dark Encounter. Also it was co-written with the mun of rusalkas-fury.))

Most people would assume Obadiah Collins hated Davis Dusk and bullied him especially. There was a lot of reason to hate the kid as Obadiah put it. He was a spoiled brat who was trying to put on some changed airs after being a mayor killer and falling off the wagon and hurting someone very close to the Police Commissioner.

But that simply wasn't true. He didn't just hate Davis. He hated plenty of the inmates but the metas usually earned his abuse. He was no Lyle Bolton by any means, and Collins never went out of his way to hit them unless they deserved it and he knew he could get away with it. It didn't happen unless one of them rioted.

A new inmate was some new pop sensation: Lorelai Larson. Killing her boyfriend and nearly offing her parents, she had tried an insanity plea and was currently locked up in Arkham to avoid the Power House. For Obadiah, he felt he should remind the idol that this wasn't going to be some lofty place to relax and vacation.

More than once, Collins had come to remind her that some mail had to be confiscated. "Your freaky fans are sending you stuff that isn't legal, Larson." he reminded. "Letters too. You should get on your fancy fan page and make some post with the rules and stipulations." Of course, he pulled some mail that was just disgusting. Legal sure but he didn't want to indulge this celebrity's little fantasy of what she did was right.

Anytime Lorelai walked by him, he made her stop and make sure the mask was on nice and snug. "No malfunctions like last time" he was sure to remind her. "Remember that, Larson."

Larson...he never called her by her first name or her inmate name. He was always sure to do that if he got her alone or she was with another inmate. He made sure she had it bad just like Davis did. Davis had even muttered he was particularly rude to her despite crime being not as severe as his own.

Finally, he had walked into her cell during a tossing of the cells. "Figured you ought to know Larson" he said, a little grin on his face. "You're in the news today. Not about some appeal or anything. Nah...your folks." He had been sure to turn it on and watch as the Larsons were on GCN Today to talk about their daughter. More importantly, they wanted to tell the world about the new tell-all they would be a part of. The world had to know about the person they had once called their daughter.

That was several hours ago. Now Arkham was faced with a blackout just as severe as the first one that had plagued it thanks to Rewire. Only this time, there were several metahumans who's inhibitor collars and devices had no power to support them.

They were free again.

To say Lorelai was angry was a severe understatement. She’d sat and batted her eyes prettily at Collins, though when he left, she screamed and turned that cell upside down, ripping books, punching the wall, tearing her mattress off of the bed and sobbing. Her parents were supposed to protect her, but all they cared about, all they’d ever cared about was making a buck off of her. She’d been regularly writing her mother after Claire tried to apologize to her, but now she knew it was to just get her daughter’s secrets, her view of Arkham.

She happened to be on her way to appeal to Ghoul, or Nepenthe, or even Charlie to get help to make her parents suffered. Maybe Zhora could hack their account, leak their personal information. Destroy their lives as they destroyed hers.

Looking up, she heard the scuffling around, the cries, the screams, yells of joy from other inmates. They were loose. Hell was empty and the devils were all in Arkham. That suited Lorelai just fine, she was one of the devils now, too. Roaming the halls, she began to bash her face against the walls, trying to loosen that collar, trying to get it off. Then she would find Collins, then she would find her parents.

The intercoms were blaring now. Dr. Bennett was pleading with his inmates but also telling everyone just how terrible the situation was.  “Attention Arkham: patients and personnel. Our power grid has been compromised. Due to the improvements placed on this facility by A.E. Tech, this means all patients will be locked in their personal quarters until our power is up and running again. We are under lock-down, people.”

Inmates were running rampant. Some like the Jokerz were rushing around causing mayhem however they could. Others like the Golden Oldies decided to make their way to other's cells if they wanted company. "How often has Erebus and Nyx graced Olympus like this?" Maxie Zeus could be heard, letting out a wheezy laugh as he followed a man coated in scars to go see Magpie or another inmate that had lasted the test of time in Arkham.

It wasn't long before Lorelai's device made a few beeps before slowly turning off. The power was out for the Institute but the metahuman's powers were back on.

For a moment, she stood in the middle of the chaos, a moment of calm as she heard the mask begin to shut down. With a simple click, she smiled and moved the thing off. It hit the floor with a loud metallic thump. It was level playing field for her now. She wasn’t afraid of what any other inmate could do to her, she could crush them easily.

Then, she began her hunt for Collins.

Any of the inmates nearby stopped in confusion when they heard a metal thud. They looked around confused before seeing Lorelai standing there. "Who's the babe?"

"Babe?"

"The babe with the power."

"The who with the--" The inmate spotted Lorelai and whistled. Whoever this new person was, she was a stunner. "Hey you. Whatcha doing in Arkham?" They began advancing towards her, devious smiles spreading over them.

Lore turned when she heard the whistle, every instinct telling her to back away, but she stood her ground. She would not back down, especially not for a few dumbass inmates. “I’d suggest you leave. I’m really not someone you want to corner.” That was a fair warning, right?

The two looked, almost chuckling. "Can you believe this? She must think she's Holly Day."

"Yeah but I think she's got a better bod than that super nut."

"You want to have some fun in the dark?"

“I warned you.” Lorelai said, her legs shaking. She didn’t want to sing and bring attention to herself. “Stop it, and let me go on my way.” She wasn’t used to men coming on to her. She always had her parents to filter them out, or Chris to protect her from it. Now she was by herself.

The two men chuckled. They didn't realize who this was. They didn't seem to realize just what power this person had. They had heard she was some meta but if she ended up here instead of the Power House. How bad could this one person be, they thought.

Well, the warning wasn’t taken. Showtime. Lorelei let out the hypnotic tone from her mouth, willing them to fight each other, tear each other apart like the dogs they were.

“And I said move aside.”

Both began to wobble this way and that as Lorelai gave them commands. They had once been brothers in arms and fellow Jokerz. Now the two lunged at each other, drunkenly fighting each other and trying to beat each other with whatever was nearby.

"Ah! Ceto! How good of you to walk on Olympus" Maxie Zeus, delusional as always, waved happily at the young girl. "When did you come here?"

Ceto? What on earth was he…? Oh! This must have been Maxie Zeus. Davis had told her about him. He didn’t look bad for an old guy, either. She waved back pleasantly. “Only a short while ago, Zeus.” she said easily. “Have you seen C.O Collins?” she asked, not knowing what name Maxie had picked for the portly guard.

Maxie smiled, drearily at the young woman. "The mortals and the oracles are busy no doubt. When the gods are busy, they are not privy to such sights. Almighty Zeus is never wrong about that." He laughed heartily at the idea. "No doubt they are holed up somewhere private. Will join the festivities, young Goddess?"

Lorelei softened when she listened to the old man, shaking her head. “No, no. I am going somewhere to make my own festivities, dearest Zeus.” she said, giving him a small smile. “Please, head to the safest point on Mount Olympus.” she said it out of courtesy, not dumb enough to think Maxie couldn’t still pack a punch in his condition. With a final wave, she hurried along the dark hallway.

She wished her powers had something to do with light, that would make the process of finding the CO quicker. Where could he be? Probably somewhere with donuts.

~ ~ ~

Time ticked by and everything was happening so fast. News got out that Batman was inside the Arkham walls and trying to restore the power. Collins didn't care. He could do that but he wanted to at least dispense some deserved justice on his end.

Every CO was handling the blackout in their own way of dealing with the loons. Byrd was barking out orders and rounding up patients and inmates however he could, stashing them into the "safe zone". Perkins was guarding the juvenile wing from anyone who wanted an easy hostage. He even heard the new guy, Rasmussin, was looking for any metas if he could. He was doing the same, but he was doing something that needed to be done.

He was alone, hunting down any metas himself. Monsters like Davis Dusk, Larson or the others who tried to escape the Power House thought Arkham was all easy. That they could waltz around, enjoy some R and R and then leave for their home. It wasn't that simple and he didn't tolerate cheaters, especially those scum sucking metas. So he was doing what needed to be done.

He was rounding up any inmates and patients sure. Of course, if any of them resisted, he had to make sure they wouldn't be going anywhere. He'd easily handle that. And if things got out of hand well...tough. That happened, even in Arkham.

Collins was falling a cold trail. Some splicer nut was running around, trying to hunt someone, but not having any luck. Collins aimed his flashlight ahead of him, looking for any signs. He wasn't sure where he was but it didn't matter. He had to be close to one of them.

Lorelai was on her own hunt for Collins. She’d followed what evidence and paths she could, knowing he’d be looking for someone like Davis or maybe Zhora. However, more of the hunt was just plain dumb luck. It was dark and she couldn’t see much, meta or not, she couldn’t see in the dark. She could tell by the steam and the heat that she in the boiler room of the Institute, but she had no idea how she’d even managed to get herself down there.

Her stroke of luck came when she saw the beam of the flashlight, hearing Collins grunting and swearing to himself. It was showtime. She moved from behind the machinery directly into the beam of his light with a wicked smile.

“Fine night for a walk, isn’t it, Collins?” she asked.

The voice made him stop as he flashed it. There was that large walking head of hair. Collins glowered and raised his club. "So you're out of your cell, huh Larson?" he said coldly. Figured that another meta nutjob would be out and about. Still, it made it all the easier for him.

"Back to your cell. Now." There was no 'Don't make me hurt you' or 'This is your only warning'. He was already holding that baton tightly, flashing the light in Lorelai's eyes. The faintest smile was on his face too.

“No.” the siren smiled, feeling so powerful being around the water, it almost felt like it was coursing through her veins. “A lot of people are curious about how my song works.” she said, twirling a strand of hair around her finger. “Would you like to see?”

"That was your last threat, Larson." Collins sneered at her and lowered the flashlight. Instead, he raised his club and began to walk at her. He was going to strike her hard and show her who was in charge.

“I was hoping you’d say that,” she replied, humming a few notes briefly before launching into her song. “You know, I just had two Jokerz fight to the death up there…they didn’t even touch me, so what do you think I’ll do to you, you pig?”

Collins stopped dead in his tracks. He felt as if he was tumbling into what some of those people in the detox center described a trip. He was falling, feeling weightless and yet to everyone else, he was standing still, his harsh features softened.

“Put your face to that furnace. Right up against the side of it. I want everyone to see the monster that’s beneath all that padding of fat.” she whispered. “You won’t hurt anyone ever again after I’m done with you.” she hissed, her intention projected through the song.

He turned and opened the door. Pipes littered the room. Pipes for any water throughout all of Arkham came and went here and it was all controlled along with the heat from a generous donated furnace. It was state of the art with comfortable cooling and heating options. With the winter still on them, the heat was generally what was used. With the lack of power, it wasn't as boiling hot, but still dangerous. Collins was about to take a step when something wrapped around his arms and legs and he crashed to the ground. Those looked like very familiar bolas and...

"I'm only going to say this one" said a stern voice. Even in the darkness, a large imposing figure in black and red could be seen. He had been heading to Aristel Kiebeth’s office but the path was blocked by the debris from the TITAN rats Patrick had unleashed. Moving to another route, he eventually heard a commotion and saw two Jokerz having beaten each other to death. After asking another inmate (and a familiar one at that who was happy to see him), Terry had rushed down to find the siren  "Go back to your cell, Lorelai."

“Batman, how good of you to show up. I can do you both in at once, and be done with it. Effective. I like that!” she made sure she was far away from him as she took in a deep breath to sing her siren song, hoping both of them would walk into the furnace, burn themselves alive.

The first time Terry had fought Lorelai, he had been unprepared. Lorelai had hidden her metahuman power of a hypnotic singing voice from everyone. Terry had been saved thanks to the Batsuit safety feature. The time after, Bruce had developed a possible way to block it out.

When news of the blackout reached Terry and Bruce, they had prepared for the worst case scenarios. Knock out gas, baratrangs, bolas, even ice batarangs if Inque or Clayface showed up again. All this and more before Terry was given something else if he did run into Lorelai.

This time, he was ready. He reached behind him and pressed a button on a studier looking batarang that had a faint glow to it. Almost at once, a loud screeching reverberated around the halls. Bruce had used his sonar tech and converted it into a weapon of his use. Sure, it was good to disorient Man-Bat splicers, but for Lorelai, this would be the failsafe against her song.

"No open mic night, Lorelai."

Lore shrieked when she heard the battering go off again. She thought she’d destroyed the stupid thing in the first fight! No matter, she had the upper-hand now. While her song was tuned out, she raised her hands. She looked up at Batman and smiled before clenching her fists.

The pipes gave a collective groan, beginning to shake under the pressure Lorelai was placing on them. “Hope you can swim!” she shouted as the pipes began to burst, water exploding from them in a shower of hot water.

He had thought this could be easy. Silencing her song would be enough. The problem was they were in the one place that could ultimately cripple a lot of Arkham. Even if somehow Nissa and Zhora got the power back on, with enough damage, Lorelai could burst the pipes and break down several walls and cause untold damage. What was worse, she could give people easy access to escape.

And on top of all of this, Terry realized as the water began to pour into the room that suddenly, Lorelai was getting enough ammo to become incredibly dangerous. "Oh slag" Terry muttered.

The water that seemed to be coming from everywhere began to move uniformly into a second pair of arms for Lorelai, a giant pair of fists to be exact. She slammed them into walls, knocking down the foundation of some of the weaker areas. Arkham was an island. If she got access to the ocean, who knew what she would be capable of doing.

“What, Batman? Can’t face me now without your little gadgets?”

"If you tear down these walls, you're going to flood this place" Terry tried to yell. Rusalka was slowly gaining power. He had to wonder if Bruce had ever faced someone with elemental powers like that before. He was already running over his options as quickly as he could.

"You're going to not just drown me and Collins, but a lot of innocent doctors and patients!"

“You can’t guilt me, Batman. By time this place floods, people will be able to evac. We’re at the bottom of the Institute. And don’t tell me you think every single life in here is worth saving. Though looking at how you saved that piece of shit, you probably do. You have poor judgement.” the pipes gave another groan.

He had to act fast and unfortunately, he could only do so much to stop her. He could use the electrorangs, but it would surely hurt her and Collins. With the amount of water around her, it could even kill her. He had another solution though. Producing another batarang, he aimed not at Lorelai herself, but at the watery arms she had produced. This wasn't just any batrang though. The ice-rang would quickly freeze over any water it came in contact with. He prayed that maybe, it would stop Rusalka in place.

It was over, the siren thought, but then she noticed she could still move the water - now ice- arms. In fact, they were like wrecking balls now, and she took a swing aiming for Collins. The uppercut from the other hand came for Batman

He saw the ice coat the water and at first the horrified look on Lorelai's face. Before he could even relax, something horrible happened. The ice began to move and Lorelai's face turned into a wicked grin. She could move ice? Terry had now just given her even more dangerous weapons. He moved the still disoriented Collins out of the way only to be smacked into the ceiling with a yelp of pain.

With Batman out of the way, Lorelai advanced on Collins, wanting to smash him into the ground. It wasn’t just for her that she went after him, but for Davis, and especially for Nikhita. He’d been treating those two like garbage for too long, and now it was done. “Remember that day you smashed me to the ground for a malfunctioning collar?” she whispered, her voice trembling with excitement. “I swore I’d kill you that day, and now it’s come. Did you think it would end under a filthy meta?”

Terry crashed to the ground, the suit already sparking. He'd have to repair this after the fight, but Rusalka was already advancing towards Collins. He was tied up, unable to move or flee if he wanted to. He pulled himself up and knew he had to act fast. Pulling out his grapple mount, he fired it at Rusalka back and pulled back. "I'm not done with you yet" he snapped.

“LET ME GO!” Rusalka shrieked, losing her balance, one of the ice-fists dropping to the ground and breaking. The woman turned and tried to strike Batman with her own fist, using her free hand to try and form another weapon from the water.

He was slammed into the wall again, grimacing as Rusalka advanced towards him. If those weapons were like any of Inque's transformations, he had to stop that from touching him. He moved shimmied his arm out and looked around. There had to be something here that could stop Lorelai. He looked around, his eyes trying to find something when he found a certain pipe.

It'd be a gamble but it was worth a shot. With one well placed aim, he fired a batarang at a pipe over them as it exploded. But it wasn't water that burst from the pipes.

It was raw sewage from hundreds of patients and doctors. Lorelai shrieked as it covered her, trying to shake it off desperately. “You’ll regret that!” she yelled, attempting to summon forth more of the water. However it felt like lifting up bricks, when usually it felt as natural as breathing.

“What did you do to me?!” she cried, gagging on the sheer disgust of what she was covered in, and trying to assess what on earth Batman had done with her powers.

The smell was horrible, but not a foreign one. He had been in the sewers plenty of times and the lower levels smells just as bad. The room was now covered in things he didn't want to think about. Food that had been put down the garbage disposal, waste of various kinds and so much more splattered all over. He'd smell horribly but his gamble paid off. Ice was still water but what about non-water objects.

"Stopped you" Terry said. The fist holding him back was now gone and Rusalka had lost both of her edges. "I'd surrender if I were you."

Lore snarled, raising both of her fists and lunging at him. She wasn’t going to give up any time soon, and she would fight until she couldn’t anymore. Revenge was a spiral she couldn’t see out of, and it was her sole fixation.

She moved at him but Terry could tell she was not like Ten or Inque who regularly fought. Splattered with what looked like dessert and other sludge, Rusalka was ready to strangle him. He wasn't going to let that happen. He pulled back and punched Lorelai hard in the gut.

That was enough to make Rusalka wheeze and sink to her knees, clutching her gut in pain. Without her powers she was a next to useless fighter.

Terry moved, taking her hands behind her and cuffing them. "I'd hoped you got better, Lorelai" he muttered as he began to pull out of the horrible smelling room. Even if it didn't break any walls that he knew of, the smell and cleanup alone would take a while.

“Don’t feed me that line,” Rusalka snarled at him, still hissing in pain from the hit, and humiliation from being covered in only god knew what.

He was still on limited time and several more criminals were running around Arkham. "Someone is going to pick you up and clean you up" he said. The same went for Collins, who was slowly coming from his trance. Pulling out a capsule, he cracked it open, knockout gas wafting from it and in front of Lorelai.

“You…bastard…” she groaned before falling into unconsciousness. Terry turned, the room was still flooding with water, cracking under the pressure. He didn’t have earth moving powers but if he didn’t do something, Arkham could flood and swallow up anyone. He had to act fast.

He had a plan. It was a temporary solution, but it would have to do. He began to pull out his ice capsules, flinging them into the wall. They had been planned for Clayface or Inque if she somehow showed up. Right now though, this was the more pressing issue. Ice crackled, spreading over the wall. More and more, ice spread around freezing the spot. He knew he couldn’t use any debris from a batarang or C-4 to collapse a ceiling down on the spot and plug it. If he did, he could risk opening up the spot. This was still risky, but it was a plug at least.

After what felt like almost all of his ice gadgets, the spot was plugged. He looked over Lorelai and Collins, tied up and Lorelai smelling foul. His body ached from the abuse and he was no closer to getting to the Kiebeth’s office. He had to hurry. 

“Batman?” He looked up. A battered Officer Byrd was making his way over. “So that is you...right?”

Terry paused. “Yeah. I hope so. What’s your kid’s name?” He had to ask. With Randy Daggett inside, everyone could be him. Byrd rolled his eyes. “Slagging kid hasn’t been caught? Danny. He’s my nephew and he’s safe. I’d ask but I can see you’re wet.”

He looked down and grimaced. He was covered in some garbage wasn’t he. “I’ll take care of it” he muttered. The smell would attract some unwanted attention but he had to hurry. “Can you take these two to the safe zone?”

“Yeah...what was Collins doing?”

“I don’t know but obviously, Rusalka fought back. I need to stop another inmate. Where’s the fastest way to the doctor’s offices?” Despite a bewildered look, Byrd pointed Batman in the direction and he was off. He had to find Aristel and fast.

[the-schwayest-batman-around]

Swan Song Pt. 4

((OOC: This takes place before Arkham is the New Blackgate and deals with a certain inmate we’ll be seeing soon!))

Terry groaned as he opened his eyes, a loud noised blaring into his ears. He looked over to see Bruce over him and something nudging his hand. He was on the medical table with the bright operating lights humming. But there was something else before Bruce switched it off.

“Good to see you’re awake.”

“What happened?” Terry groaned. “Last I remember, I was…” Rubbing his head, he was trying desperately to remember what had happened. Finally it clicked. “There wasn’t a kidnapping. It was Lorelai herself. She’s the one who—“

“I know.” Bruce walked over, his cane echoing throughout the cave. “I saw it through the feed. But how much do you remember?”

It was an odd question and Terry blinked. “Well…I remember us fighting, getting her parents out. They’re fine right?” Bruce nodded. “After that, she said something and then…it gets foggy.” It wasn’t like the time he was on Lethilium. It was something different, hazy. Trying to remember, he finally shook his head. “Nothing. Why?” Bruce motioned for him to come to the computer as he pulled up a video clip.

“Larson was able to brainwash you into her puppet.” He played back the video, minus the audio. Terry watched as he saw himself stumble to the kitchen and pull out a large glinting knife to stab himself. “If it wasn’t for the safety lock, you might not have made it back.”

“How was she able to do that?” Terry said. “Do you think she’s a metahuman or maybe something from Shriek?”

Bruce was quick to shake his head. “Larson had no special equipment on her from we saw. An operation would be too invasive and for it to give her the powers over that, she’d have a mark on her throat. She probably has powers.”

Slag. Terry shook his head, Ace trotting over to look at the two humans now at the computer. There was something puzzling her. “So how come no one heard about it? She’s a big time celebrity and she never went public?”

“She might have hidden this for who knows how long” bruce speculated. “Or maybe this is recent. Davis Dusk managed to hide his abilities and he was the son of a politician. Just because you’re in the spotlight doesn’t mean someone has any secrets.”

“You would know, right?” That earned a quick look from Bruce, but Terry got his point. Lorelai might have hidden this from most people and the way she was acting with her parents and her boyfriend, if they did know, they might have kept a lid on that. “Do you think Chris tried to use her voice to get famous?”

“It’s possible, though her powers would need to be studied. We only have the footage from the batsuit and what we know of from the people she has hypnotized.”

“So how come you weren’t effected? We had a com link going on.” If anything, Bruce would have been enraptured by the song too, right?

Bruce glanced over momentarily. “It’s possible like Spellbinder, Larson’s powers can only effect those its directed at. You were the target this time.” For once, Terry was glad it didn’t have she somehow didn’t command ‘Batman’ to stab himself, otherwise Bruce wouldn’t have been able to save him either.

“So now we have an angry singer bent on trying to kill her parents and run for it. She must be getting scared after killing her boyfriend and maybe getting closer to her.” He suddenly remembered something.”Did they find her?”

“No. She’s currently missing and the Larsons are in police custody. They’re safe. For now.” Terry didn’t like that ‘for now’ comment, but Bruce had a point. If Lorelai was strong enough to hypnotize him into nearly killing himself, who was to say she wouldn’t try again.

“Please tell me you have an idea on what to do to combat her sound.”

“Something like that.”

~ ~ ~

Lorelai was running. She hadn’t run this much in her entire life, but Batman had thwarted her, and suddenly her neat plans had begun to unravel. He had rescued her parents, she was going to beat herself bloody. Home invasion, a crazy fan. There were plenty of those, right? She kept moving. Her parents were probably in some safe house and she would have to draw them out. The radio station would help her with that.

Her lungs burned as she ran, their fate sealed in her head. All of the control, all of the restriction would be gone. Freedom was in her grasp if she just finished the job. That’s what kept her running.

~ ~ ~

Bruce motioned for Terry to go to his workbench where Terry saw a very familiar set of earpieces. "What's with the old batarang?" Terry said. "And is it bulkier?"

"Right now, we don't have enough time to counter a way to deal with Larson" Bruce turned in his chair as Terry picked up the little black buds. "It's a sonic emitter. It'll be loud enough to hopefully drown out Larson's siren song. I had a few weapons designed for when I went up against Kirk Langstrom or any Man-Bats back in the day. It’s temporary but this could hopefully stop her sound attacks."

"Schway." It would mean he'd have a disadvantage though. Now he suddenly realized what Bruce had probably been playing to snap him out of his funk. "Bruce, are you sure this is a good idea? What if she tries to sneak up on me or anything?"

"You've trained enough. I'm going to work on a more longterm solution but we don't have the time. Larson's out there and she could kill again soon.” Terry nodded but that begged the question. Why didn’t Lorelai just gun it? She could hypnotize anyone she wanted, grab a trip out of the country and never look back. Bruce picked up on this and of course, had an answer. "Larson's gone to great lengths to free herself from the people who harmed her. Her boyfriend was first and now she's not going to feel safe without getting rid of her parents." It sickened Bruce just thinking about someone wanting to go so far. But then again, he saw enough reason that the Larsons weren't good people to begin with.

"Plus she still needs the money and they have access to it. But she can't walk into the station. They'd arrest her."

"No...but if her powers are strong enough, she could cause a mass panic elsewhere as a distraction." Bruce paused. "But she's on the run. She wouldn't try and go to a big public area. She’d be spotted by the police and Barbara has probably put out warnings to the city to have a look out on her by now."

"Even if she did try and disguise herself, everyone is talking about her. Someone might just find her. She's been missing and everyone would want to try and claim they found her" Terry said. He remembered all the people he had heard talking about Lorelai. All of the classmates, the random citizens gossiping and so on. With paranoia and fear at a high, someone would spot Lorelai quickly and be found out. She wouldn’t be able to run and hide now, not with her public image. "Where can she hide out? She doesn't have any other friends or family. Would she try and go to the bank and just get the money?” No, that wouldn’t be right, she would still have to kill her parents. “What about a distraction? Maybe she’d cause a riot at some part of the city and with the cops stretched thin, she’d find her parents.”

Bruce shook his head.

He was right. If she wanted to cause some distraction to lure her parents out, it'd been to be somewhere nearby. He combed the city map, trying to find anything. However after his third sweep, he paused. "Wait..." He looked closer. "What if she didn’t want to go in public?”

Bruce stopped, looking at him "What do you mean?"

"Do you think she could use her song over the phone or the airwaves? She didn’t effect you because she was focused on me. But what if...hypothetically, she could cast a mass hypnosis over the airwaves and get everyone?" Bruce had that thought too. Many of the sound villains he had faced had done that. Even Spellbinder had done an attack on the airwaves before. But Bruce followed Terry's eyes and stopped.

"There's a radio station nearby her home." He said. "Larson probably did promotions before and they'd want a scoop so..." Oh god...even if the police station didn't have the radio on, anyone listening would go into a frenzy of Lorelai's creation. Grabbing the Batarang, Terry grabbed his mask and suit. "I have to stop her!"

"Terry!" It was too late. Terry had hopped into the Batmobile and sped off. He prayed he found Larson in time and maybe even prayed that Larson wasn't going to head to the station. She could turn herself in or anything. But he knew better...

~ ~ ~

Lorelai had made it to the station. She panted as she finally reached the place, confident her song would hold anyone on her tail off. She was a celebrity, it was hard to remain anonymous. Striding in, she began bursting pipes to cause the workers to vacate and see what the issue was. No one else needed to get hurt, no one who didn’t deserve it would be hurt, that much would be determined.

But if she reached a mass audience and hypnotized them with her siren song the people would be able to rise and search and destroy until the rock her parents had slithered under was overturned. Now all she had to do was get to a microphone…

DJ Rick Bebop was a DJ who loved playing 'the classic classics', as opposed to the classics of what some of his audience listened to. Still, the station would dabble in a little bit of everything and he'd promote big people sometimes. Grabbing his water, he was sipping it in the break room when he heard mass chaos. "What's going on?!" he squeaked as he saw a stunning woman walk in.

"L-Look I don't know what's going on but--"

With a flick of her wrist, she made the water cooler burst, hitting Rick with enough force to knock him to the wall. She gave him a slow smile.

“Lorelai Larson…no…no, that’s not my name anymore. Call me Rusalka. And I’m taking over the air tonight.” Her mind went back to her hobbies, to her love of music and one of the few gifts that Chris had given him that she held close to her now. She would wear it and blaze a new path that Lorelai Larson, caged and helpless, could not break free from.

The DJ crashed into the wall with a thud and flopped to the floor. He groaned, looking over in fright. "Please don't hurt me!" he shivered. The station was now gone as he tried scrambling towards the door. Nearby, a small room with windows and several microphones could be seen. A large sign that wasn't lit had the word "On-Air". This had to be where she needed to go. With turning on the mics in the room, Lorelai's voice would be heard over the airwaves once again. But it wouldn't be a simple song anymore.

“No, I won’t hurt you if you do as I say and put me on.” she purred, opening her mouth to begin her song to hypnotize him into putting her on the air. She didn’t have the technical know-how to even begin to work the equipment.

Rick slumped over as the song began to play. He was captured by the music and somehow it beat out everything he had once heard before. Forget the Rolling Stones, forget David Bowie...this was the music for every generation. He stood up and began to stumble to the door. Opening the door, he took one step into the booth before all hell broke loose.

A loud noise that almost seemed like a jet engine roared nearby as something black came crashing through the window. Rick snapped awake as he screamed, Batman landing near him. "B-Batman!" he yelled.

Batman looked up at Larson. Slag...he was right but he was just in time.

“Batman?” Lore asked, her eyes narrowing into slits as she glared at him. “Why can’t you leave well enough alone?!” she yelled.

"Larson..." he said standing up. "Lorelai. I’m going to give you one more chance. You don't have to do this. What your parents did to you was wrong but murdering them and your boyfriend isn't going to solve anything." He wanted her to surrender. He wanted her to realize that she could still walk away from this. "Just one last chance. You can turn yourself in and you can tell everyone what happened. Going on the air to do whatever you plan on doing isn't going to help."

“That’s not my name anymore, Batman…it is Rusalka now.” she whispered, her hands trembling, trying to seem brave, but she was faltering. The only things that kept her going were her fear, and rage. “You know nothing about fixing my problems! I’m not turning myself in. If I go down…I’m taking my devoted parents with me. Now GET AWAY!” she cried before beginning the song again, this time looking for a weapon to take Batman’s head clean off

Terry was ready. Even if Tim had insisted some people deserved a chance, but had reminded him that not everyone could be saved. Gripping the old, rather heavy batarang he jammed a button and threw it to the ground. A loud wailing siren began to pierce the radio booth as Terry grimaced. It wasn't anywhere near as loud as Shriek's attacks but it was still uncomfortable to hear.

For someone with perfect pitch, it was pure agony to hear that shrill, shrieking batarang. “What the hell are you doing?!” Lore shrieked, but she couldn’t even hear her own voice above the wailing. She opened her mouth to sing again, and again she found herself blocked. What was she supposed to do without her voice?!

Leave it to Bruce to make old gadgets still work. "Drowning you out" Terry said as he advanced towards her. He was ready for the worst when she tried to sing again but her song wasn't anywhere near as loud as the siren. He didn't know how long the batarang's battery would last so stopped her and muting her was key.

Lorelai backed away, not wanting to be cornered by any man, hero or not. She looked down, the water still overflowing from the cooler. With another flick of her wrist, enough water hit the door to knock it off of its hinges, and flying at Terry. “You’ll find I’m not so easy to ignore, Batman!”

Before he could even cuff her he felt something slice the side of the batsuit. Wires sparked as he gripped his side. Something had struck him again. He turned and saw a wet trail behind him. "You have other powers?!" he said in shock, trying to speak over the loud blare behind him.

Lore held her hands out, spheres of water and ice forming before she hurled them at Terry, aiming for his head. “You didn’t think my voice was the only one, did you?” she laughed, it sounded almost girlish. It was as though she was a child, picking the wings off of a butterfly.

Slag. Terry dodged as best as could, hiding behind the nearby table as ice was pelted at him. He suit could take some damage but it wasn't immune enough to deal with all the punishment. She wasn't going to give up and this needed to end. Taking one of his bolas, he hurled it at Lorelai to try and tie her up.

Lorelai was quick enough to dodge him, growling. Then, her attention moved to the batarang on the ground, hurling the water and ice at it in an attempt to silence it so that she could use her song. She was beginning to grow tired from using all of her powers at once.

Terry looked over his supplies. In a cramped space like this and with all the equipment around, he couldn't use everything. If something fried too much, the fire alarm could go off and Lorelai could have even more power. However he saw the singer turn her fury on the batrang. The ice snapped the machine to pieces and soon the siren stopped.

The room was silent and the Dark Knight only had the auto-playlist faintly playing "Janie's Got a Gun". Terry only had one more gadget that could stop the siren. He braced himself, panting as he looked at the newly named Rusalka.

Sweet, blissful silence filled the room and Lorelai smiled, gearing up to sing Terry a song that would make him swan dive from the roof of the building with no chance of using his jets or his wings. Just a free fall until he hit a car or the ground. This would be the last thing he would hear, her sweet voice, and then nothingness. All things considered, she thought it a rather merciful way to go.

Terry's reactions were quick as Lorelai took a deep breath. His hands flew to his belt and grabbed three small pellets. With precise aim, he hurled the pellets at Lorelai. With any luck, these would do it. ‘Knockout gas don't fail me now.’

He managed to hit her just as she took her deep breath, breathing in all of the knockout gas and staggering away, coughing. She pounded her chest, looking at Terry with fury, running at him which turned into leaning into him with a cry of rage before her eyes rolled back, slipping into unconsciousness

Terry grabbed her as she slumped into his arms. She was done. "I got her..." he said.

"Barbara's on her way with GCPD. You saved a lot of people."

"What about Larson's parents?" Terry said. "They drove her to this..." It was their bad parenting which had driven them to this. He grimaced as he finally cuffed the woman and sighed. They'd get off probably and who knew what they would do now that Larson had done all of this.

Even if Lorelai had killed, her whole life had been controlled so heavily by her parents and they’d probably get away. He looked over the scene one last time and had Lorelai ready for the GCPD when they arrived.

[the-schwayest-batman-around]

Swan Song Pt. 3

((OOC: This takes place before Arkham is the New Blackgate and deals with a certain inmate we’ll be seeing soon!))

Trying to find someone in Gotham City was one of the trickiest things he could do. The city was massive, stacked high into the sky with everyone rushing around to get where they needed. It was easy to hide in Gotham, and it was just as easy to hide someone.

Gotham had been quiet with many of his rogues being sent to Arkham or Iron Heights. It had been almost uncannily quiet, but soon news hit. A superstar had vanished after collapsing on stage and on her way to the Wayne Memorial Hospital. The problem was it had been on a busy road and none of the ambulance drivers seemed to remember what happened.

Terry had gone over the possibilities. Maybe Spellbinder had tried to hypnotize her for a ransom. But what would Billings want with a big celebrity and why hadn't he made any demands? The Jokerz would have made a much bigger mess. More than anything else, there was hardly a struggle which felt the most off.

The list of possible people was way too small. However, Bruce managed to find a lead. There was a person who had been particular crushed upon hearing about this. A fan who won a radio contest for front row seats and a backstage pass had left almost immediately taking the same route as the hospital was. No one had seen the person, Emily Jones, since the concert, though there was movement in the house and takeout still ordered.

Something strange was going on and right now, Jones was the best lead. Terry had snuck into the house, avoiding the rumba bustling the floors and opened the basement door. Albums and a poster was downstairs, but more importantly, there was a sound coming from there. Pulling out a batarang, he whirled around but stopped.

Jones, the young teenager was staring at the TV. For someone who had once been pulled away from a live autograph signing kicking and screaming by her parents she was eerily quiet, despite her idol being stuck in here with her...supposedly. Her eyes were glazed over, dazed and in a trance. Terry moved closer and waved his hand in front of her. She didn’t respond, even when he stood right in front of her and a feeling of dread sinking into his gut.

"We got a problem" Terry said into the com link.

"What is it? Is Lorelai hurt?"

"Larson's not here" he said. There were clothes still laid about and the garbage can was full. Someone had been here and there was a particularly large strand of hair on the couch. "But this person's zonked out of it like the paramedics."

"That is strange..." Interesting or fascinating was probably the other word Bruce would have used, but he was clearly piecing this strange mystery together. Terry was doing the same as well.

Terry bit his lip, looking over everything. Nothing was adding up. Why was Jones out of it too and where was Larson? This wasn't back at square one, but this added some new dilemma. “So the fan that might have had her is zoned out like the medics and there’s no sign of Lorelai.” This was turning into something fishy and his mind was going back to the parents and what Shriek had said. Had they really had a hand in this? “Think I should pay the parents a visit?”

“Maybe, but there’s something else. I just picked this up over the police feed. It’s about Chris, the boyfriend. He’s been killed.”

Terry stood there, stunned. “Killed? How? When was this? What happened?”

“Not too long. It was on your way to Jones’ location. The landlord and a few tennants heard some screaming. They thought he was watching a movie or working on a song.” It made sense. Terry remembered all the horror movies in the home and screaming wouldn’t be too out of place. It was too perfect to hide a murder when no one would blink at something strange. “There was something off though?”

“What?”

“Before the screaming, the neighbors and landlord swore they could hear singing.” Terry was at a loss for words but Bruce made it clear what he had to do. He had to go to the home and see if he could find anymore clues.

~ ~ ~

The sheer amount of blood wasn’t something she had expected. She’d made Chris stab himself dozens of times, with various cutlery.  It took a full five minutes to sink in that the mass of bloody pulp on the floor was her boyfriend, that she’d made him do it. She gave a cry, backing away from the body, tossing a kitchen towel over his head. Stumbling back, she knew she had to get out of town. The bruise from where he’d hit her was beginning to bloom on her cheek, but he would never, ever hit her again. And if she made it out of the city on time, she would never be hit again.

She needed money. She was twenty one years old and she never had her own money. It was all in her parents’ hands, and she needed to pry it from them and get out of dodge.

~ ~ ~

The Batmobile rushed through the city. Bruce had called the paramedics and police over to the Jones home. She was fine, though stuck in the same trance as the paramedics. With any sort of luck, it would wear off soon. Still, something wasn't adding up.

"Larson's gone both times and the people are stuck in some sort of trance. Now all of a sudden her boyfriend is stabbed and killed. It doesn’t make any sense.” The police were probably swarming the place trying to find any sort of clue. Stabbing wasn’t anything Shriek or Ollie would do, he knew that. If for some reason Walter did have a reason to kill Chris, he would have tried to use the same trick he had tried on Bruce or tried to blast his head apart. The singing though...that was what made Terry the most confused. Why did they hear a song? It couldn’t have been from a CD otherwise someone would have mentioned a radio playing. “It doesn't make any sense" Terry muttered aloud. Either they were dealing with some stalker super fan or there was something Terry wasn't realizing.

“There was no forced entry either” Bruce said. “Someone went in easily and left without making too much noise.”

Terry was running over everything he knew. Chris, driving his girlfriend to play one too many times was now dead after she had vanished. Someone had heard a song before he died and according to Bruce’s new information, the stabbing was at angles where it was self inflicted. That didn't make any sense. Chris was far from suicidal and the only lead he could imagine now was the parents. But what would they have to gain from all of this? Maybe they could have gotten in, but they would have been noticed and Bruce had said they were in the spotlight often these days. So with no forced entry either their killer was let in by Chris, managed to sneak in or...

Terry was hit with a thought. What if the person could always get in? Each time there was a strange thing happening in this case, there was always one thing in common. Lorelai Larson was still missing. He didn't have any concrete evidence but Terry hit the thrusters on the Batmobile.

“Terry? You’re passing the apartment.” 

“I’m not going there” Terry said sternly. “There’s two people who may still know what’s going on and they have answers I need to know. And if they’re not involved, then maybe they’ll be next.” The next targets maybe...

Finding the lavish Larson home was easy. Terry activated his camo and flew down to the window. The Batmobile was parked in the sky and out of the way. Landing right outside the window, Terry could see movement inside. He activated his mic and pressed his fingers against the pane of glass, activating his listening device.

Claire and Seth Larson had been having a quiet dinner at home, hoping their daughter was safe wherever she was. Chris would take care of her from there, no need to worry. But of course Claire was worrying about her little girl. Exhaustion, the doctor had said, dehydration. Well, how long would that set the tour back? How long would she be lying in bed gathering dust.

“Sit down and eat your supper, Claire, for Christ’s sake.” Seth said from the table, cutting into his filet mignon. Oh yes, they’d been eating like kings after Lorelai shot her first commercial. He remembered a time when he was struggling through business school, and Claire herself about to become a big shot model. They still had no money, and they didn’t until Lorelai sang for that Gotham’s Got Talent show and a major children’s choir discovered her. The director had made note of how much potential little Lorelai had if her parents nurtured it.

“I can’t help it, Seth.” she sighed, those bright green eyes looking back and locking with his brown ones. “I hate the thought of her in there all alone.”

“She’s not —“ Seth began, only to be cut off by the door opening.

“I’m not alone, mom.” Lorelai murmured, leaning against the doorframe. “I need money.”

Seth and Claire looked to each other in a haze of confusion.

“Lorelai, you’re supposed to be at the hospital!” Claire cried, her daughter continually murmuring ‘I need money. Money. Money.’

“What the hell do you need money for, Lorelai?! You have tons of it!”

The siren looked over to her father, her neck cracking she whipped it around so quickly.

“No, YOU have tons of it! I’ve never had access to any of my money!” she cried. “All you’ve done is spend it on Porsches, and fur coats, and vacations! None of which I was ever a part of. No, I bought all of those things for you. And I’ve come to collect.”

“You are not in any position to have that tone with me, young lady!” Seth growled, rising from his chair, fist curling against his side.

“YES I AM! You’ve never let me be in control of my own life, and now I’m taking control, going back to The Netherlands. And you. won’t. stop. me. I’m cutting the leeches off now, dad. Your tour of easy street ends now.”

“What about Chris?” Claire asked, taken aback, her pale face drained of color.

“He tried to stop me too.” she said quietly. “But he won’t ever stop anyone again ever.” she paused, looking her parents over. They were very clearly not budging on her money, so she’d have to take it the way that she found worked for her. She sang, willing them to their knees, throats out like lambs for the slaughter.

“What are you doing Lorelai!?” Claire shrieked, trying desperately to wriggle away.

“What I should have done a long time ago, mom.” the siren smiled sadly, handing her mother and father both the steak knives they had been previously using on dinner.

~ ~ ~

The recording was picking up an argument. Mr. Larson was shouting at someone. Mrs. Larson was shrieking that this had to stop. But there was a third voice. A familiar voice Terry had heard when looking over as much research as he could about Lorelai Larson.

He peeked around and saw the not kidnapped woman, furiously looking at her parents. There was a look in her eyes that he hadn't seen before. Terry knew that look though. He had seen Willie Watt make a face like that when he finally decided to cut everyone away and finally be free of everyone. It looked too familiar and Terry realized what this could mean.

Suddenly, Terry could hear a strange sound echoing through the room. His hand recoiled, his fingers tingled and he felt lightheaded. Whatever that was, he needed to stop it. Right now, Larson needed to be stopped. "I'm going in."

"Terry wait--"

Bruce wasn't going to reach him in time. Terry burst through the window. Glass pelted the floor as Terry landed. He could clearly see the singer, crazed and with a dangerous look in her eye. It was Lorelai...just like his gut feeling had been saying. "Larson! Stop!" He barked.

Lorelai yelped when she heard Batman burst through the window. When her song stopped, Seth took the opportunity to grab his wife and throw the knives far away from them.

“Get out of here, Batman, this doesn’t concern you.” she said, her eyes moving from him back to her parents, like a hunter on prey. She hummed a few notes, and Seth slammed his wife’s head into the wall. After doing it twice more, there was enough to leave a stain of blood there. Her parents’ screams of agony were music to her ears.

She rounded back to watch their anguish.

“All of my life, I’ve never had any control. It was always you doing it for me, making me do things I didn’t want to do, making me work until I dropped, stealing my money…well…never again. I have control now.” she whispered, her voice trembling.

"Larson...Lorelai stop this" Batman was doing her best to calm her down but here was a new, mad fury in the starlet's eyes. What was even more terrifying was seeing Lorelai hum a tune and saw Mr. Larson beginning to assault Mrs. Larson.

Right now, getting those two out of here and stopping Lorelai was the important thing. Whatever was going on, had to stop. Pulling out a smoke pellet, Terry aimed it for Lorelai's feet. With any luck, he could get the Larson's away fast.

Pulp. These two would be pulp like Chris was. Nothing but meat and teeth. However, Batman dropped the smoke pellet and Lorelai danced backwards. She didn’t like loud noises, ironically enough, despite being part of a symphonic metal band. Clair and Seth were out of her spell, huddling away from her, Seth desperately whispering to his wife to see if she was okay.

Lore turned, waving her arms, trying to clear the smoke. Coughing, she focused on the water flowing through the building, causing the pipes in the house to completely burst with a primal scream.

“No!”

Now was his chance. Terry began to make his way to the Larsons. Clair didn't look well. "You two need to get out of here" he said. "Call the police and I'll--" Suddenly a new sound erupted. Cracking and grinding sounds as the wall burst and Terry felt something crash into his back, knocking him to the ground.

He groaned, gripping his side and looking around. That felt like a whip but he didn't see anything. "Run!" he yelled at the Larsons.

Seth didn’t need to be told twice, Claire was worse for wear, dazed and out of it. He scooped his wife up and ran for his life outside. Now Lorelai’s attention had drifted to Terry.

“You ruined it, Batman! Now I’ll have to find them all over again!” she groaned, running a hand through her hair. “But if you’re going to be around to keep ruining my day…maybe I should sing you a lullaby…put you to sleep…” she cooed, beginning to sing softly.

Lorelai was livid. He hadn't seen anyone this angry since Sabine Thibodeaux was unable to find and mind wipe Alex Bellamy. Instead of a crazy gas gun, now Terry was dealing with phantom whipping and whatever Lorelai had done. He pulled out a batarang and took aim.

"Lorelai. Stop. You don't need to do this. There's--" He stopped as Lorelai began to sing. Soon the world began to distort and his body began to loosen up. The world seemed to become less and less of a problem and all of his worries began to fade into oblivion. Bruce yelling at him over the com link, buying something for Dana to apologize for missing another date, even focusing on Carter in Arkham all seemed to vanish.

There was just a sweet melody playing and it soon began to be the only thing in his mind.

Lorelai smiled as she made Terry do a little dance for her, right to the kitchen to grab the biggest knife she could find in the house. She’d make him stab himself like she made Chris do it. She laughed, watching him pull out a carving knife.

“See, isn’t it easier when you don’t fight? A few moments of pain, and then nothing…”

"Terry! Snap out of it!" Bruce's words couldn't reach him as Terry stumbled in a trance to the kitchen. His eyes were glazed over, a nearly happy expression over his face as he pulled a freshly sharpened knife from the pantry.

He took aim and was about to thrust when he stopped. His body fidgeted but couldn't move. There wasn't resistance that Terry was suddenly feeling deep down in his conscious. He wasn't fighting the program. Bruce instead had activated the fail-safe switch, making the suit become rigid and unable to move, no matter how much Terry wanted to move. Bruce had only used it twice but this time, he was saving Terry's life.

The siren stopped her song, stunned into confusion when Terry stopped. She hadn’t stopped singing, so why had he stopped doing what she wanted him to? “What the hell?!” she whined, yanking the knife from his hand.

“I’ll do it myself, then.” she snarled, pulling her arm back, ready to strike him.

Terry was still in a trance, unsure of everything going around him. The singing may have stopped but it in his head. It was more than just some catchy jingle or something else. It was his life. It was his everything...

"MCGINNIS! TERRY!!!" Nothing was reaching him and Bruce had to do something. Typing furiously at the computer, he reached for another button. Suddenly, Terry's suit whirled into a new position as his wings unfurled. He barely dodged Lorelai as he shot at her. But he wasn't attempting to tackle her, instead the Dark Knight blasted through the window. Terry was still unsure of his surroundings, but the automated beacon inside the suit would hopefully take Terry back to the cave to get properly dealt with.

[the-schwayest-batman-around]

Swan Song Pt. 2

((OOC: This takes place before Arkham is the New Blackgate and deals with a certain inmate we’ll be seeing soon!))

It had been a few days and there was still no luck. Terry had combed the city and records and there wasn't much of anything. Superfans were crying and making sad proclamations on the net about their beloved idol. News outlets even in Metropolis were starting to reveal that the new sensation was missing. Terry could barely go into a class without someone muttering about it. Rumors were running around, from plausible to outright insane. .

Terry was worried and all of these things were giving him more conviction to find this missing person. But there was still nothing until Bruce contacted him. There was an interesting connection that they hadn't explored. Bruce had been going through most of the files on Lorelai Larson and any notable person that might hold a grudge. The former lead singer and ex-girlfriend of Chris was still all the way out in Queen City and had an alibi. That would have been the top if it wasn't for a certain sound engineer. A certain sound engineer that had been spotted a few times on camera backstage, had a history with the band, and been a problem for Gotham City for a while.

"Shriek..." Terry didn't think Shriek was suddenly stopping so low as to hold someone hostage, but he'd have to see with his own eyes. He made his way to the last known home of Walter Shreeve, Bruce insisting that he'd keep digging. Even if Walter wasn't their person, maybe he'd give them a clue. That didn't stop Terry from at least being prepared if something happened.

He truly did need to consider moving to another flat. The last time he spent a few months in Arkham, squatters came to Old Town and trashed the place up. This time, however, at least his friends in Undercloud were able to keep the place tidy enough to look somewhat lived in--but not abandoned. Still, winter was over. Now was as good a time as any to get some spring cleaning done.

Besides, if he opened the windows here, he could see his old lab. Why wouldn't he want to watch from a distance and seethe in cold anger that some new upstart wanted to turn that place into a new business? What did they know about the industry?

Or maybe housekeeping wasn't priority #1 after all. Getting back to work on his newest invention, now that he had the time, would be the best bet. As he swiped his card key to get in, nothing but dim lighting and silence was there to greet him.

Home sweet home.

Part of him was glad to see that Shreeve wasn't hiding out in some abandoned tunnel with his newest master plan or doomsday weapon at least. The Bruce in him was saying that they could possibly be in another place though and Shriek didn't want to just hold up in a dank place that could easily flood like last time.

Creeping inside, he didn't bother to activate his camo feature. "I want a word with you, Shreeve."

"At least you have the decency to show yourself," Walter growled, narrowing his eyes as soon as he saw the shady figure in front of him. "Sneaking up on a deaf man is low, even for you. What do you want?" Chances were Batman would be blunt about, as he tended to be, but Walter couldn't quite figure out what the issue was this time.

He'd been participating in a community service program to help install emergency radio stations for the lower levels. Their neighborhood watch communities needed more tools at the ready to report mass gang violence, flooding, and major disasters. "I'm staying out of trouble."

At least the guy wasn't running for his sound suit. Terry was happy about that, but it stopped there. Still, he knew he wasn't wanted but that was a given. Terry had caused Shreeve's hearing during their first fight and he was probably one of the biggest villains he fought regularly along with Spellbinder, Inque or Big Time.

"I'm hoping you are. But there's something you know I want answers. You know of a singer named Lorelai Larson, right?" He’d start simple and work his way towards harder questions. Shreeve had to know that this wasn’t just some random visit to make sure everything was okay.

"The girl on the news. Yes. How could I not? She's the soundbite of the month," not that he heard it. "I might not be able to hear the news anymore, but I can still read." Her face was plastered all across Gotham City and the infamous Have You Seen Me? slogan.

"And I'm guessing you're here because you found out that she and her band recorded one of their first singles at my lab. I ran a recording studio on the side to make ends meet before the Wayne-Powers buyout." Anyone could have used their Google-fu for that. "You think I had something to do with her disappearance?"

At least Shriek wasn’t taking this the wrong way. "I just want some answers Shreeve." At least he wasn't calling him Shriek. That was a surefire way to get this going nowhere. Plus, Shreeve wasn't trying to hide anything, not yet. There was some conspiracy to this. Maybe Shreeve, jealous and needing money, tried to nab one of his first clients. Plus there was a lot more to the case that didn’t help his motive, but he’d see if Shreeve told him willingly or if Terry had to say why. That didn't solve the lingering problem. Kidnapping or any sort of abduction wasn't really Shreeve's MO. Murder, manipulation, holding the city for hostage and mass panic sure...not kidnapping though.

"Where were you on the night of the concert?" he asked.

The answer was going to be mildly uncomfortable for Batman to hear, but he'd have to hear it anyway. There were cameras everywhere that could vouch for where Walter Shreeve was on the night of the disappearance. "You really don't know? I was at the concert. They have engineers on hand to help with the lights and with the sound system."

That was as far as he was willing to share. Some incriminating evidence from the attempt at the Meniscus relief fund concert right after Joker Night was still on the top level of the stage. Walter's plan had been to serve as the senior sound engineer for the concert that night, have Ollie take over, and then go up there to get the goods without anyone knowing. "And if video footage isn't enough, I also have my invoice."

"More like I wanted to hear it from your mouth" Terry said. Bruce had pulled the footage before, but it was a strengthening a case against Shriek. He was there the night of the kidnapping and had held her hostage. And yet Terry couldn't get the idea out of his mind it didn't feel like him.

"What about afterwards? I know the concert was cut short since Larson collapsed and had to be taken to the hospital." It was along those roads that the ambulance was found, everyone dazed and confused and no sign of Lorelai.

"After Miss Larson fainted on stage, the roadies and the on-site security wanted to get her to Gotham General ASAP. Someone called an ambulance and all hell broke loose. You don't seriously think that--" Oh good lord.

"I knew what people would think. That's why I didn't go with the concert staff toward the ambulances. If you comb through the vid-footage again, you'll see me leaving for my car." And, unfortunately, Batman would see Ollie right with him. "I treated myself to drinks at the Underworld and went home. And, yes, somebody can vouch for that."

He probably did and maybe there were a few who weren’t just Ollie. Shriek realized quickly why Terry had been asking those questions but he didn't get too angry with him. Even now, the medical staff could barely remember anything. They heard something and then...nothing.  However he knew something else. Underworld was in the opposite direction from where the ambulance had taken her.

Even with an alibi, Shreeve was somehow backstage. For what, he didn’t know, but he was the best eyes and ears (figuratively speaking) he had right now. "Was there anything strange going on backstage?" he asked. "It's not everyday a singer collapses in front of an audience."

And here it came. Batman was suspicious in regard to this from the moment it happened. "I think this is the point where I want to consider getting my lawyer involved. Am I your suspect or am I free to go?" It wasn't exactly the world's most helpful answer, but--

Nah. Batman would twist it back on him, anyway. He'd share. "That concert was held the same place as the Meniscus relief concert after Joker Night." Joker Night felt so long ago now. "Some of my old equipment was still lodged on the top tier of the set, near the control brain. Ollie and I wanted to disassemble it for further research. That isn't exactly a crime. Also, it isn't the cause for what happened. If that device had gone off, everyone would have felt it--not just Miss Larson."

He was going to have to think of a few ways to make Shreeve talk if he tried to keep quiet unfortunately. He hadn't done anything wrong and trying to use the same old "Batman tricks" was going to make the guy bitter and angry. He wasn't a bully, not to these guys. Thankfully, Shreeve was going to talk.

He felt the place had seemed familiar. He had stopped Shriek from activating his device after Undercloud has asked him too. The whole time seemed like a haze, with Joker Night, Doug, Bruce, Tim, and then Vigilante, which was still a sore spot. "Good to know you two wanted to clean up your mess." There was a small edge to his voice, making it clear he didn’t trust Shreeve and Ollie suddenly deciding to dismantle that equipment now of all times.

"And what about Ms. Larson herself? Was she or the band acting off?" The boyfriend rubbed him the wrong way still. He was cocky, arrogant and honestly Terry wondered just how much the guy loved him, if anything.

Walter merely shrugged. twisting the knob so he could go inside his home. Batman wasn't invited to go with him. Not without a warrant. He did, however, leave his head craned out of the door so they could finish this conversation. "Again, you are assuming that I came close enough to the performers to notice the cause for the collapse. Ollie and I were right in the middle of the auditorium with our equipment when she fainted.

"Before the show, Ollie wanted to meet the band and see if he could get an autograph. I may have let it slip that I'd recorded their first diamond album. I briefly said hello before the show and shook hands. That girl looked exhausted, but she insisted she was fine."

He stepped closer to the door, but didn't kick it down. He wasn't an agent of the cops and he could enter if he wanted, though not without Walter freaking out. He'd behave for now, though he'd try and sneak a peek at the window later and see if anything odd was happening.

That said a lot that Walter wasn't exactly an VIP backstage, using some old contacts to sneak him and Ollie in to meet the band. Still, it wasn't illegal enough to revoke his parole. "Never took you two as metal enthusiast." Go figure, music had a way with people. Though something did catch his attention.

"She was tired?" he asked. "What about after that? Or were you not close enough?"

"There's a lot you don't know about us. I'm more of a jazz and classical opera guy myself, but I do enjoy metal." Hell, he'd even been the keyboard player for a band in college as a way to meet more people. It opened all kinds of doors for him and the other guys. That felt like a lifetime ago. "Look, I've told you what I know. I hope you find her, but she's not here."

Walter wanted to wrap this up but he'd try and get as much answers as he could. "Then you won't mind me asking one or two more questions" he said. "You're one of the few people who know about her and the band that isn't being hounded by the cops I bet. So...what can you tell me about her boyfriend?"

Oh, that merited a bitter laugh. "I'm not being hounded by the police? That's a new one." And he couldn't have sounded more sarcastic if he tried. "Chris, the boyfriend? He's a self-absorbed little shit who thinks that band is entirely about him. I don't think he has it in him to do anything, but he's a dreg."

At least that part seemed true enough. Chris rubbed Terry the wrong way in too many ways. "I'm guessing he was like that even back when you recorded some of the first stuff with Larson in the band?"

"Oh, yes. My lab assistant at the time--he doesn't work for me anymore, so good luck finding him--used to call Chris the prima donna behind his back. Everyone else was rather easy to work with, but nothing was ever good enough for that little bastard."

"And is there anything else you want to tell me? You and I both want her back safe so if there's anything you're not telling me Shreeve, it's going to be helpful finding her." She was innocent from what he could tell. She had a bad boyfriend and seemed to be overworked but there had to be something in all of this. Some clue he was missing.

"If I were you, I'd check the parents. They're a couple of fame-crazed parasites leeching off their daughter's talents. It wouldn't surprise me one bit if the abduction was just another staged publicity stunt by those two."

~ ~ ~

“His story checks out” Bruce said over the com link. “He was in clear sight of any camera during the concert.”

“So he’s clean?” Terry asked.

“Maybe. Although being backstage for his equipment isn’t comforting either” Bruce said. “And being purposely in front of the camera might be some misdirection.” Leave it to Bruce to try and see conspiracies in the small things, though he had a point. Walter getting his equipment back wasn’t good. “What about his apartment?”

“He wouldn’t let me in so I had to sneak peeks at the windows. It looks clean and the neighbors would have noticed him dragging in Lorelai if he did kidnap her or if he was holding her up in another place.” They back at square one...to an extant. “Looks like the boyfriend is bad news. Seems Lorelai was tired.”

“Funny you mentioned that” Bruce said. Terry could hear him tapping away at the computer. “I checked the travel times. The Larson family have a home nearby and Lorelai only got into town the night before.”

“What, she didn’t get any sleep before her concert?” That was pretty extreme, especially for a singer. “So what about the parents? Do you think the Larsons would do what Shriek said?”

“Doubtful.” Again, Terry could hear Bruce working at the monitor to pull out his handiwork. “There was apparently some problems not many people know about on her fan sites. Lorelai might be an up and coming singer but she didn’t have access to her money. Her parents had most of it.” Terry could see bank records and dozens of them. The names were signed under the two parents and hardly anything with Lorelai’s own name. These weren’t small purchases either from the looks of it. For a former model turned manager mama, Mrs. Larson loved the high lifestyle and hubby wasn’t too different. “They’d want to keep the money going.”

“Not even with a story like this to boost sales?” Terry asked. It seemed Bruce had the same thought, wondering silently. “I can keep an eye on them? Maybe they’ve left the house and--”

“They’re staying home or going to news stations. They’re in plain sight.” Bruce said. Terry grumbled, leaning back in the batmobile cockpit seat. Were they really back at square one? Bruce could tell what was going on. “There might be something though. There was one other person of interest you can check out. She has spent time in jail, but nothing that would compare to the Jokerz or Shriek.”

The Batmobile computer showed the file. Emily Jones was around his age, but went to a community college. She was one of the rabid fans of Lorelai, having even gotten into fights to try and see her concerts before. The worst offense was sneaking onto a flight bound for Central City. She was a self proclaimed “Super Fan #1″ on her social media page. “Well she sounds...healthy.”

“She was at the concert that night” Bruce explained. “She actually managed to get backstage. There’s more though. Her home is on route to the hospital they were taking Lorelai to, and no one has seen her at her job since then and her parents are on a trip down south.”

“And I thought the Jokerz were the only superfans I’d ever have to deal with.” It was a lead and the best one they had. Activating the thrusters, Terry shot the Batmobile towards that part of town. 

~ ~ ~

“This is Chris. Look, I don’t like you not returning my calls” Chris muttered, He was on the phone and again greeted to the voicemail of the Larsons. It’d been that way for the last few days and it was driving him up a wall. Crumbled music sheets and planners were strewn about the work room and yet another one of Lorelai’s slagging skeletons had been thrown against the wall.

“Batman may be on the case, but when are you going to help me with my problems. I’m having to cancel a bunch of dates and tours now that Lorelai isn’t here. It’s hurting me and it’s going to hurt you too.” He grumbled, taking a depe breath. “Look just...you hear something call me, okay? I--”

There was a sound at the door. He hung up and slowly grabbed his bat. It was Gotham after al and it was cheaper than a gun, something he didn’t know how to use. The door was creaking open and he couldn’t see who it was at first. “Whoever the slag you are, you picked the wrong house to break into, dreg.”

Several minutes later, nearby tenants could hear horrifying screams throughout the building coming from the room.

[powerhungryrewire]

Arkham is the New Blackgate: Metas in a Can

He was getting out of the library. Some inmate had made a passing comment that at this point, Davis had probably gone through most of the library and it felt like it. Still, he managed to get his mind off things. He was trying new things and had exhausted most of the nonfiction section and was turning to the sci-fi and fantasy section. Maybe it was because Willie had rekindled his love of scifi or Lorelai's love of the fantastical...or maybe both.

He was making his way down the hall, flipping through the book calmly. He had nothing else to do, thankfully.

[durveda]

Arkham is the New Blackgate: Wounded Pride

Lore had been trying to hide the short circuiting collar for some time now, nearly three days. It would sometimes shock her, but it didn’t hurt more than what happened to her at the Power House, and so she soldiered through it, hoping no one would notice her occasional twitches of pain. At least now she had her voice, she reasoned, lost in thought as she headed towards the library to find some more movies to watch with Davis later.

"Can you get those forms signed?" Nikhita nodded to the CO in question. She wanted to keep things brief as possible. Collins was someone that just made her feel sick as possible. They were getting someone new into Arkham and they had numerous forms to fill out.

"Yes, Officer Collins."

"So...how have you--"

"I need to get going" Nikhita insisted.

"Oh. Yeah" Collins straightened his shirt and Nikhita walked by. She saw Lorelai and smiled at her, whispering a quick hello.

Lore stopped and gave a half smile, more of a grimace of pain. She hated seeing Collins hovering around Nikhita like some desperate puppy. It made her absolutely sick! Of course she wouldn’t say as much and keep cool politeness between them to the world. However, the collar decided to choose that moment to shock her again. The singer yelped in pain, trying to hurry away before either saw the source of her cry.

Collins had just been ready to make a quick sneer at Lorelai and be on his way. The damn metahumans were like cockroaches and just invading everywhere. First it was that lady in the basement, then it just grew. Davis came next, then another and another. Soon it was everywhere and he swore that they'd be getting the trash from the Power House here soon enough.

But that changed when Lorelai yelped. Nikhita spun around and Collins stared at her. "What the slag is wrong with you?" he barked. "Hey! Get back here!"

“Nothing!” she winced as she held her neck, trying to force herself to give them both a smile. “I-I just tripped is all…I’m such a klutz!”

It was a pitiful lie, but she thought maybe if the collar completely short circuited she’d be able to at least have some kind of freedom in here. Build a life that was more comfortable, and that way if someone bigger than her tried to mess with her, she’d have level playing field.

"Stay right slagging there!" Collins advanced towards her, glaring at her and pulling out his stun baton. Nikhita hurried over, looking horrified. "Hands off the collar!"

"Officer Collins I--"

"Hands up in the air, right now inmate!" Already other inmates and patients were looking over in concern.

For a moment, Lore didn’t see Collins, she saw Chris, ready to strike her with a heavy fist. Her breath stopped and she shook her head, backing away. All that registered was that this man was going to hurt her if she stayed still long enough to let him.

“I didn’t do anything!” she yelled back at him.

"Officer Collins you need to calm--" Nikhita wasn't being heard. Collins gripped his baton and had a fire in his eyes.

"Then hands off the collar Larson! You want ISO?! Hands off and up in the air now!"

Lorelai snarled at him, attempting to back away further. “You’re going to hurt me either way!”

Well, if he was going to hurt her, she may as well test her powers with this short-circuiting collar. She tried her best to pull water from the nearby fountain, but it was no good, she was nowhere near strong enough to fight the technology of the collar.

Nikhita's eyes were wide with shock. Water had been pulled from the water fountain nearby and tried to hit Collins. But Collins wasn't stabbed or pierced or whipped or anything. Instead, he just had a wet shirt. And now he was angry.

With two large steps, he grabbed Lorelai and tore her hands off her collar. "You've been messing with the collar, huh freak?" He hissed.

Up close Lorelai realized exactly how much smaller she was than Collins and it was terrifying. Her anger had a tendency to cancel all rational thought, and she had tried to attack the bastard.

She cried out in pain when he grabbed her. “I swear I haven’t! When they put it on me, they said it may malfunction! It’s the first of it’s kind…”

Forcing Lorelai to the ground, Collins growled. "You're getting the mask back on you!" he barked. He was already radioing it in. "And you're going to ISO for attacking a guard."

"Officer please!" NIkhita tried. Again, she was being drowned out by all the noise.

“GET OFF OF ME YOU SON OF A BITCH!” Lorelai shrieked, seeing red, flailing beneath him. If she was going to ISO, she may as well go down fighting. Normally, she would have looked to Nikhita for some support, but she was shaking and flailing too much to even think about her friend.

The doctor were rushing in already. Already they had a needle and were planning on settling her down. "Hold her down!" cried one of the doctors. "We need to calm her!"

"Please everyone just--!" Nikhita cried out but everyone was in a panic.

Lorelai shrieked in pure panic of so many people pinning her down so that she couldn’t move. Her wide eyes looked around the room for someone to help. They landed on Nikhita and she whimpered. “Help…me!”

The doctors finally pinned her down. One quick injection and Lorelai soon became weaker and weaker, drifting to sleep. "Put her back in the mask" Collins insisted. "And put her in ISO too. She attacked me."

Nikhita stood there, nervously glancing around before stepping forward. "Officer Collins, you provoked her." This stunned the man and another doctor nearby.

"Provoked? She was hiding the fact the collar was broken!"

"And instead you shouted at her. She's a special case. Shouting at her is only going to agitate her."

"So I suddenly can't do my job? I make sure these people and things don't overpower us" he insisted angrily. Nikhita glared back angrily. As Collins began to move, Nikhita stepped in front of him.

"What if she tells Doctor Bennett about what you did? Or anyone else?" It seemed that made him calm down. He still looked confused but these words were starting to reach him. "This could lead to something terrible. Another scandal on top of everything else."

"Are you telling me to ignore this? This inmate tried to attack me."

"All I'm saying is, a strike might be the most you can do. She attacked you, but you provoked her when it was unnecessary. Right now, Arkham doesn't need another scandal. You don't want to lose a job...right?"

She wished Collins would lose his job and just be gone. But sticking Lorelai in ISO was something she didn't deserve. Collins was silent, contemplating.  ~ ~ ~ "Hey...Lorelai?" They were back in her cell, Nikhita sitting next to her bed and stroking her hair. There were bandages where the collar might have hurt her and anything that happened in the scuffle. "Lorelai...are you awake?"

Lore groaned in pain, her body stiffening up and trying to twitch away, screaming since that was the last thing she could remember. Pain and panic, a tightness in her chest, heaviness and no more. Then she realized it was only Nikhita and she relaxed. This was a friend. Her fight or flight mode was still going haywire

Nikhita smiled and stroked her hair. "Hey..." she whispered. "Look what happened...I'm sorry I couldn't help sooner. But I talked with everyone. Collins changed his mind. You have a strike but you also have to wear the make while the collar is being repaired. It's the best I could do."

“You saw him try to scare me in the hallway, though.” she whispered, allowing Nikhita to stroke her hair. Something about it was soothing to her, like when her mother would sing her lullabies as a child.

“Thank you for everything you’ve done, Nikhita.” she sighed, wincing upon feeling the burn from the collar on her neck. Then her face dropped when she mentioned the mask. Tears welled up in her green eyes. “That’s why I was hiding it to begin with. If you knew it was short circuiting I’d be forced back into the mask…and then I kept it a secret because I just…I don’t know I wanted a leg up if one of the bigger inmates started something with me.” her voice broke as she felt tears roll down her cheeks.

That mask was Lorelai’s own personal hell. It was as good as being mute.

Nikhita quieted her down, continuing to be as calm as she could. But even she admitted this was so sad to see. "You don't deserve to be scared and deal with this" she whispered. "Especially after what Officer Collins did to you. I'm so sorry. But I'm sure Arkham will try and get a new collar for you soon. I know you hate the mask, but we'll go back to what we were doing before. The mask can come off in your cell but the staff has to wear the headphones. When you walk around outside, you have to wear the mask. I...I wish I could do more. I'm so sorry."

“No one understands me when I wear it!” she cried in frustration. “It’s like using emojis in a text message! No one can tell what emotions I’m feeling just by listening to the automatic feedback sound of my words.” she gave a bellow of frustration, though she stayed close to Nikhita, not going to hurt her. “It feels like I can’t breathe sometimes when I think about wearing it! It’s like a prison inside a prison.”

Nikhita was glad they were alone. She wrapped her arms around the young singer and kept her close. "It's okay..." she whispered. "It'll be okay. You can cry it out. I'm right here for you."

Lorelai’s lip quivered defiantly for a moment before she sobbed into Nikhita’s chest. Thankfully she didn’t have her stage makeup on, or else a giant face print would be on the front of Nikhita’s white coat. She was trapped like a rat and the thought made her queasy. She felt like a dog with a muzzle when she wore the mask, unable to fully communicate to her peers.