It was strange to you how quickly things had escalated. You had walked in boldly to both intimidate the mob, and see their reaction for future reference.
However it seemed they were so terrified of the mythos of the Talons, especially with the swarm that had recently upturned the Lords' first event since gaining power, that they instantly thought of the situation as a fight or flight one.
And they knew running wasn't an option.
'Damn, I kinda feel bad'
In spite of what your thoughts had hollowly echoed, you lifted a foot up and stomped on the edge of the circular table with such force that it flipped onto it's side towards you, cracking the man in the chin in the process.
Crouching down behind your new cover, you did so just as bullets from the men hiding behind the box-filled environment were fired.
'So it really was an ambush'
As the men who were previously sitting at your new cover sprinted to get out of the no mans land that had formed, you pulled out both your lethal and non-lethally load guns.
Since they were in your site as they had moved from the obstructed view the table provided in their panic, you shot one of the retreating men in the leg and the other in back of the head.
Both a real bullet and false one was fired, but they could barely be heard over the storm caused by the barrage that your new cover was stopping.
They both fell to the ground, but you ignored them now that they wouldn't be apart of this fight. Instead, you focused on those that were previously at the table who were now hiding behind crates. Due to this, they just barely had a side view of you from behind the table.
It was enough for a shot to land if they were given time to reorganize, so there was enough motivation to move.
Hooking your right leg discretely over the left edge of the table, you pulled back slightly and rolled backwards. The result was that the table moved with you, going in a counter-clockwise position and covering your left.
At the same time, you reached into a satchel- like belt Hugo had prepared for you, going for the throwing knives you collected from the Talons during the Auction that Black Mask had kept.
Apparently he had told Hugo that it was untraceable, but still kept one of the five that you were found with. Or rather, stabbed with. So, you were down to using four of the weapons that almost killed you. Just great.
Before you could be exposed to the gunmen in front and diagonal of you, you threw one of the spare throwing knives towards one of the two low hanging lamp lights that illuminated the warehouse, cutting what kept it suspended.
Right as it crashed to the floor, from your crouching position you side-stepped from your cover to behind a crate to the right of you,
At the horrifying sight, a symphony of bullets rained down which you ignored as you made your way from behind one box to another, reaching a man who's back was up against a crate and his legs in front of him as he attempted to catch his breath.
Not able to hear you due to him covering his ears and the bullets that most definitely had his ears ringing, the man opened his eyes tiredly before they snapped open.
Only a few inches from his face, you didn't move for a second before taking your lethally loaded gun, and slowly bringing it up to the man's thigh.
Shooting, you heard a "It's over there!" followed by more gunshots as you maintained eye contact with the man, who although wincing and in undeniable pain, covered his mouth with a hand in order to not make a sound in front of you.
Cocking your head to the side as a demonstration without words, the man weakly nodded before mirroring you and exposing his neck, allowing you to knock him out with a precise strike.
'Knew my acting skills would come in handy, starring in Hamilton was no fluke after all'
A shuffle to your right made you turn your head slowly, which caused the man hiding in a similar position to the one you just knocked out to panic from his position a few crates down.
"IT'S OVER HE"-
Propelling yourself to your side, your fist slammed into the man, cutting him off as he fell unconscious. It was too late though as your position had been given away, evident by the gunfire slamming into your crate and cutting you off on either side.
Clangs echoed from metal hitting metal, which felt like thunder continually rippling through your spine with your position of your back to the box. A numbness began to sink into the area, but it only served to further energize you. You'd take that over getting hit by Rose any day.
Waiting, you did so until the gunfire stopped. Then, the first step of someone moving quietly broke the momentary silence brought by the ceasing of bullets.
Instantly, you twisted as your lethal gun shot up from cover, and you fired shots in that direction without looking.
Judging from the yell and curse that followed, it seemed one of your bullets had hit it's mark.
Panic and discord ran through your attackers and they once again opened fire in your direction. While they did that, you backed up a bit front he crate to get a proper look at the closest source of light.
As it was identical to the first, you instead shot the light out, causing another wave of panic to go through the group as they lost their last source of it.
More shots came towards you, and you patiently waited until they died down, either due to a need in reload or the realization none of their bullets were hitting
After a few more seconds of this, it seemed to be the latter.
"Did we get 'em?" A voice questioned from the darkness.
"We agreed to never say that after the Museum incident" Another replied, his voice shaking.
"I don't know- I just don't fucking know" This time, a third voice interjected, a bit of a whine in it as they couldn't contain their fear.
Fighting a myth had that effect.
The sound of metal on metal to the left of where you should've been made the group aim in that direction, the result of you using one of your throwing knives.
Right after, the sound of glass being shuffled around directly next to the men made them instantly turn and prepare to fire.
"Wait..! Wait- it's me! It's too hard to see and I was shot so I...." A voice trailed off, one the group recognized. They could hardly view him though, although they recognized that he had been shot in the leg by your previous bullets.
"Guys hold! It's J!" One of the others called, causing them to exhale but still hold tension at the fact they could barely see in front of them.
"We shouldn't be doing this. We should be ru-running right now" A voice spoke, trying to usher her companions to leave with her.
"We can't. And I don't mean that loyalty shit, but our executive expects we come back with something from our shitshow of a plan"
"Boss'll be dead for failing, we don't gotta worry about hi"-
"We may be grunts, but I wouldn't put it past Penguin to not only leave it at just him. He'll fuck all of us over. Remember Huey?"
A silence fell over them as they stared at the spot in the dark where they were last given your position, one that was heavy. There were certain forces in Gotham you simply couldn't fail.
"Where's J?"
Instantly, the group moved their view to where they last saw the man, but there was only an empty space. Shards of glass littered where he should've been.
"Ah fuck fuck fuck fuck"
The group instantly tried to scan their surroundings. It was already clear to them the myth they were up against had slipped from it's pinned down position, now they had to relocate it. They had to.
Everything was louder in the dark. An occasional creak from the old metal structure, faint sounds of men readjusting their grip on their guns, even the faint shuffling as they repositioned their legs before they got sore.
One of the men was pacing a little bit, his anxiety unable to stay behind his stern facade. He seemed older than the rest.
"Someone calm him down" One of them whispered, although said whisper was shaky as they too couldn't completely contain their nervousness.
"Knew I should've left Gotham. Fuck, why is everything here so cheap?" He muttered, his pacing not stopping.
Before someone could shut him up, the man's eyes snapped open and he stopped completely.
For a few seconds he didn't move. Then, after a bit more time had passed, he started pacing again.
Footstep after footstep echoed throughout the warehouse, and once again his companions grew irritated.
A woman opened her mouth, about to curse him before he saw him put a finger to his lips.
Becoming quiet in return, the group watched puzzled as he continued to pace, still looking around at the surrounding darkness with their guns aimed at chest-level.
Lifting his foot up and starting it's descent like he had every time previously, the man paused just before his foot touched the ground.
A footstep echoed throughout the warehouse.
The blood of everyone present ran cold, an immediate dryness settling into their throats followed by a feeling of stillness that stopped them from moving.
Instincts mattered the most in moments of imminent danger, and when they take over, rational thoughts like moving don't work on the body. You either react, or don't out of fear of what you'll find.
A man's eyes went wide along with this, as he realized the footstep originated from just a few feet behind him.
Before more than half of a yell could get out as he attempted turned around, a gloved hand wrapped around his mouth and under his shoulder as he was yanked into the black.
Immediately a response, more out of fear than practice, showered down on the area where the hands had emerged from. The rain of bullets being even louder due to the echoes of their environment.
Right after this, a metal clang from somewhere completely opposite of where the intruder should've been sounded out, causing all heads to whip there.
Then, another clang came from a completely separate corner of the darkness, causing panic to build within the already frightened group.
"There's more than one?!"
"We're gonna die!!!"
"EVERYONE TRY TO"-
He was interrupted by frill scream from the woman of the group as she shot into the darkness in front of her, before to her right a forearm shot out of the darkness.
Nailing her in the chin, the hands then grabbed the assault rifle she was using, before using that position to bring it's elbow up and thoroughly cause the woman to crumple to the ground.
As she fell unconscious, a faint outline of a white mask backed up into the darkness it came out of.
Fire was reigned down into said direction again, but the second a reload was necessary a bullet slammed into the skull of one of the men, causing them to crumple.
It's point of origin was once again the target of another barrage of bullets, but like before it was as if they were shooting into a void. Their target never where it should've been.
No, it was more accurate to say that their target was apart of that void.
"I can't do this!!" One of the remaining four men yelled out as he started sprinting towards the warehouse's exit, running into the darkness to do so.
"Fuck this" Another one muttered, her decision being influenced by her previous teammate. Just before following them into the pitch black though, there was a half yell followed up by a thud.
Then there was silence. At this silence, the woman turned around to get back to the remaining two men, but as she did so a hand wrapped around her ankle from behind and she fell.
Letting out a scream as she was dragged out of view, the remaining men opened fire as the scream was suddenly cut off, although they already knew from the sounds around them their shots didn't do much.
Standing back to back, the remaining two rotated, looking around their surroundings and listening for any sudden moves.
Suddenly, one of the men were shot in the leg. As he yelled in pain and shock, the other opened fire to where the gunshot sounded from.
With his partner now holding his leg, the other man saw a faint shadow amongst his surroundings, and began to shoot at it as it moved from crate to crate.
Noting the gun in it's hand being aimed at him as it moved, the man rolled out of the way. Although he looked back in shock as the bullet slammed into his kneeling partner's head. Yet, there was no blood.
The last remaining lackey didn't notice that though. Such details were lost on him in his panicked, adrenaline-induced state.
His shaky breathing was loud, louder than it should've been in the now completely silent space. One that was bustling no less than ten minutes ago.
'What did we do to piss off one of those things! This wasn't supposed to happen'
His eyes going a bit distant, the man's aim with his gun dropped slightly as his breathing got heavier. It was as if his body was on fire due to the sheer anxiety coursing through him.
Then, directly in front of him, the faint outline of a white mask appeared.
The man's breathing didn't change as he stared at it, but it did as the figure took a step out of dark. Reality had just then set in.
Aiming his gun at the figure approaching him with slow steps, his weapon shook as he couldn't keep his arms straight. How could he?
It was approaching. The end. Whatever soul the thing in front of him used to have had long since vanished. He could see it.
As it took another step, he could see that the myth in front of him was not malicious. Rather it was far above that. It was malevolent.
He wasn't there. The purpose that made the living corpse in front of him moved just so happened to include him as a casualty. He was simply unlucky.
His instincts, which had been screaming at him previously subsided. His body, along with his mind had realized there was simply no point. A futile struggle is more painful than that of acceptance.
Letting the gun drop to the floor with a clatter that echoed throughout the space, the man put his head down as the footsteps continued. Until eventually, they stopped right in front of him.
Closing his eyes, the man barely felt it as a metallic bat was swung into the side of his skull, and he fell to the floor as his consciousness dwindled.
For a moment, the figure stood there, unmoving as the place that was once lively now set in as completely desolate.
"Oh goody!"
You yelled out, before hopping from one foot and pushing off to the other in excitement. While this was happening, you were clapping your hands over your head.
"I missed this~" A vulgar tone in your voice, you sighed contently at your surroundings. The previous difficulty of fighting Characters throughout your time here not present during this mission.
Taking a breath in, your joy turned analytic as you scanned your body.
One bullet that graze your hip. One embedded into your right shoulder probably by hitting a bone, which was going to start leaking blood soon. Lastly, one that went through your calf when you were running from the remaining man.
'Thank god for my little show, if they actually coordinated and didn't panic I would've been a tad fucked. Batsy's precedent really makes things easier to give them a little fright'
Slipping a hand under your sweater and two undershirts, you felt one of your puncture wounds. It seemed the one that was previously opened by your scuffle with Static had once again been teared.
'Being skewered twice in one fight really fucks a guy over. Skewers. Should I see if anyone's selling nearby?'
Walking out of the warehouse, you paused. 'Wait, I need to check the weapons. Also....ugh...I gotta pick up the throwing knives'
Unfortunately, you only had a limited amount. Although it would do good to leave behind one to further give proof to the Talons being responsible for this incident, just the mask was enough. Also, you needed those as they were in limited supply. By that you just had four of them.
Besides, based off of what you saw, the men were pretty convinced by your performance enough as is to spread the word.
Searching the warehouse based off of memory, you managed to find two before being stuck on the last one. You were too caught up in the thrill to remember clearly every move you'd done.
It was a terrible feeling. Like loosing your phone when you were sure you left it in the living room. But instead, you second guess yourself and check the kitchen. After that, you search through the couch cushions like that wasn't the first place you looked. Then, you check in your kitchen cabinets in the off chance you were stupid enough to leave it there.
Only to finally find it in your pocket. That's not where you found the knife, of course, but you did find it near the shattered glass where you took out the first light.
What? The place was completely dark, so seeing in front of you more than six feet was hard. That's how you reasoned you stepping over the knife four times at least.
There was also the fact you were a bit distracted by kicking in the skull of whatever unfortunate guard began to come to.
'It's like playing soccer' Giggling, you kicked another man who had flinched slightly in his 'sleep' in the side of their head on your way to a crate.
You needed to wrap this up though. Too much time had been wasted and your injuries were getting worse the more time they were left untreated. If Static were here you would've had someone to keep you and your actions in check, but being alone on a mission for the first time in a while allowed your priorities to wander.
"Alright, where should I dump the goods? Can't have Black keeping everything" Muttering, you tried to remember whether there was a dock nearby.
Looking through the boxed items, you saw that in spite of way less than reported, there were still weapons being transported.
Although it was a fake operation for an ambush, it seemed there was still a small amount of truth to Black Mask's words.
'Wait, this was an ambush. Oh yeah, I forgot' You chuckled a bit.
Indeed, this was an ambush. Therefor, that meant someone, or more than just one someone, was supposed to be here. Someone who was going to show up. Someone who was going to show up where you were.
'God fucking damnit' A dry chuckle escaped you, one that was low.
Duck
Dropping stomach first to the ground and collapsing onto your two extreme injuries, you heard the faint whistle of air being pierced as something slammed into the crate behind you.
Suppressing a pained yell at pain, you ignored the feeling of your bandages getting damp due to blood seeping into them. Your stomach was getting ripped open but the facade of a Talon needed to stay.
Struggling to do so, you turned your head so that you could at least see what had caused your senses to flare up so suddenly.
Penetrating it half-way through and now thoroughly engraved into the crate, was an arrow.
Eyes going wide, you pushed the extreme pain you were feeling into the back of your mind.
Twisting onto your back, you then winced as you rolled backwards as a means to get off the ground, staying in a crouched position.
Eyes frantically scanning the dark around you, you gave up nearly immediately after a single look back at the arrow and instead bolted from your spot.
Realizing you were too predictable, you broke into a slide in order to reach the safety of a nearby crate for cover, another arrow whizzing over you.
Slamming your back against your new cover, you didn't dare to look out from over it, already knowing who you were going up against and the serious danger that came with them.
'Why did it have to you, you fucking Green Arrow wannabe. I never liked you, Arsenal'
Okay I finally got this chapter out. Been a hectic week but I WILL get back on schedule soon enough.
This chapter was really fun to write, I mean I wrote most of it in just one day so that goes to show. Anyways, hope you enjoyed and like always any questions will be answered here.
See ya next chapter,