The police officer stood on the corner in the hazy heat of the sun. He was the very epitome of authority with his gun hanging idly at his hip, and the street reflected in his over-large sunglasses. Behind him lay the station, a small yet significant flow of cops coming in and out of its glass doors.
Barry, who had insisted that they come here, promised that these law enforcers would have at least an idea on Yan's whereabouts. So far their quest had been less than successful.
"Come on, you haven't heard anything? At all?" Barry asked, fully disguised in his Flash costume. He thought they would be more forthcoming to his alter ego, rather than some random guy asking questions.
"I already told you." The officer said in a full, almost emotionless voice. "I've heard nothing about mind control, and certainly not about this woman you mentioned."
"Then how about cases like the Black Spider one?"
"Oh, sure. We get people denying their crimes all the time." The cop said so sarcastically that even Mineko understood that he was mocking them. "That doesn't mean that they're connected."
"You know that's not what I meant." The Flash said in a stern, yet somewhat confused tone. The police had never been this rude to him before, at least not when he was in costume. "Well, are there any new gangs that have been particularly active of late?"
The officer, who had barely moved during the entire conversation, tensed slightly. It didn't appear like a reaction to the question, but to something only he could hear. His attitude changed completely after that. All of a sudden he seemed willing to help.
"Now that you mention it, there is one." He said lowly. "Been targeting primarily the lower regions and slums of Central City, but they've become major threats already in places like Gotham. Last I heard they were operating out of some warehouse in Lawrence Hills."
"Why is it always an abandoned warehouse?" The Flash whined, rolling his eyes behind his helmet. "Can't it ever be like a fancy hotel, or a five star restaurant?..."
"Those places are too well populated." Mineko answered despite the question obviously being rhetorical. "Besides, if you ever caught a gang at a restaurant you'd be too busy eating all the food to catch them."
"That's what the super speed's for." Barry said with a wink. "I can do both."
Without another second to waste, The Flash turned turned back towards the cop and gave a nod of gratitude. "Thanks for the information. If I find anyone there I'll bring them back for questioning."
"Very well." The officer replied in a tone that didn't suit him at all.
Mineko's eyes narrowed at the man, but she was swiftly lead away by Barry who seemed too distracted to notice.
"Are all your law enforcers that nonchalant?" She asked curiously.
"Not usually... maybe he just had a bad day."
"I suppose that could be the case."
"Trust me, they've got a difficult job, especially in this city. They've earned the right to be a little grumpy." Barry stretched his arms above his head in preparation, then extended them out towards Mineko. "Ready to go?"
She still despised the feeling of being carried. That much hadn't changed, but she assumed that travelling at a regular speed with her was just as irritating for him. She had started to perfect the art of compromise when it came to him. They had started to make a half decent team.
The warehouse, when they arrived a mere few seconds later, was just as eerie as Barry had feared. It was a large structure, engulfed primarily in darkness. It looked as if it would fall in on itself at any given time. Chalky paint fell in fragments off the door leading inside, leaving it to be nothing more than a bare tarp.
At Barry's apparent unwillingness to go inside first, Mineko manoeuvred out of his grasp and back onto her feet. When her palm pressed firmly against the cold frame it squeaked on its amber hinges. The door loosely swung open, and now all they could see was a large empty room.
Vines were the only things that filled the dark void. Ivy, to be specific. It gnarled its way through broken windows, tangling its leathery shape throughout the wistful abode.
The undefinable source of darkness draped over the walls like tapestries as they took a few wary steps over the rotting wooden floors. Each creak set their hearts racing, but no one ever appeared to investigate the sound.
"This place is deserted." Mineko stated after another thorough glance around the room. "It doesn't look like anyone's been here in years."
"There has to be something we missed like a... trap door or something?" The Flash murmured, rubbing his chin with his index finger as if in deep thought. "Maybe one of those bookcases that lead to a secret room?"
"Why would there be-" Mineko paused, then sighed in realisation. "This isn't a movie, Barry."
"It could be!" The Flash replied hyperactively. "What if they're filming us right now for some reality T.V show about The Flash and his samurai apprentice?"
"I am not your apprentice." Mineko grumbled. "And if you start searching for camera's I'll destroy your remaining dolls."
"They're not dolls, dude... that's so uncool. They're action figures."
"Which is a fancy way of saying that it's an expensive doll."
The Flash gasped, placing his hand over his chest to feign insult. "That hurt."
Apparently Barry wouldn't have any need to start searching the area, because not long after their conversation had ended someone appeared in front of them with a loud crack that sounded oddly like thunder.
Upon first glance, the man looked like a gladiator. He wore a golden helmet of solid brass, and was adorned with large bracelets of the same colour that ran up the length of his bulging muscles. He was shirtless, which gave the illusion of misguided confidence, but with the abdomen of a body builder no one could blame him. It was the pants that gave him away, they had none of the delicate intricacies of a gladiator's armor and all the messy stitching of a pair of modern tights.
"Savitar..." The Flash said with a mighty exhale. "I'm really not in the mood for you."
"He's possessed." Mineko said abruptly. "Look at his eyes."
Barry's upper lip twitched, obviously hoping that it wasn't true... but it was. The moment he gave the villain a second look he noticed the dead-like pupils and snowy white irises. "God damn it..."
Savitar let out a cackle of laughter, but it held little joy beyond what he was being forced to feel. Then, in the blink of an eye, there was another deafening sound but this time it was of The Flash being thrown into the back wall. Cracks surfaced from where he had landed and the man gave a pained groan.
"How many people do you know that can run that fast?" Mineko asked, precisely at the worst possible time.
"Ah... I'll get back to you on that."
Barry pushed back up to his feet, but was knocked back off of them and right through the roof. The old ceiling didn't put up much of a fight, and so he was sent hurtling a few extra feet into the air. Mineko, whilst Barry was screaming at the top of his lungs on the way down, created a strong force field made solely of wind around herself. She had no chance against a speedster, but she could at least slow this Savitar down if he wished to attack.
Immediately afterward, she concentrated on The Flash. She brought her hands out in front of her, scrunched them into fists, then rotated them. When Barry hit the ground he was still yelling so loudly that he hadn't realised that Mineko had softened his fall.
"When you're done wailing like a newborn, perhaps it would be prudent to look for the man that tossed you through the roof." Mineko said with a slight shake of her head.
The Flash's eyes snapped open, then swiftly looked over his own body to assess the damage. There didn't seem to be any... or, at the very least, he still had all of his limbs. "O-Oh right... Good idea."
Mineko's ears were bombarded by a series of sounds previously unheard of to her; the sounds of two objects moving faster than light colliding and propelling each other into opposite walls of the room. The entire building shuddered at its foundations and the interior was soaked with yellow streaks of lightning as the speedsters were locked in a superluminal clash.
At this moment, Mineko realised that she couldn't even comprehend their movements let alone join in. They moved too quickly for her eyes to even perceive them at all. She saw nothing but the cracks in the concrete, burn marks shaped like boot prints and static charges as Barry and Savitar duelled.
There were a few times where she tried to concentrate all of her attention on finding them, but it was simply impossible. Unfortunately, this wouldn't be the last of her worries. The door to the warehouse was swung behind her, and once she turned in reaction to the noise, she saw about ten cops filing into the room... including the one that had sent them there.
The sunglasses he had previously been wearing were tucked into his shirt pocket. Now his eyes were uncovered for all to see, and they looked identical to Savitar's. As did the other law enforcers.
"Officers." Mineko said quite civilly as the group pulled out their guns.
"She doesn't leave this room." The leader said as if completely ignoring the fact that she could hear him. "Boss' orders."
In an instant, all ten of them were shooting and the sound pierced through Mineko's skull painfully. She still hated the sound, but having knowledge of the weapon seemed to give her some solace. The force field placed around her sent the bullets in an array of different directions, all completely missing their target.
The shield she had made dropped from existence and she swiftly took out her sword with a grimace. The next wave of bullets came, and this time she merely focused on slowing them down enough to be visible to her highly trained senses. She unsheathed her katana, and deflected each bullet that came her way.
The ten men weren't in any position to react, they merely raised their guns and tried again. Each time Mineko grew closer to them, cautious yet determined to knock Yan's control right out of them.
Finally, she was close enough to slash at a few of their wrists and force them to drop their guns. With this new opening, she jumped right in the middle of them and started fighting them off. It wasn't as graceful or coherent as one would assume. The fight was just an entanglement of arms and legs, swinging in one direction to another in the hopes of hitting something.
A few of the officers tried to pick their guns back up, but Mineko swiftly made another clean cut along their knuckles and they'd instantly drop them. In the distance she could still hear Barry and Savitar pushing each other around and weakening the warehouse's structure. Soon it would fall, and so she had to finish this fight quickly.
Whilst ducking and blocking multiple attacks from every direction, she managed to find a moment to grab one of the cops by the arm, dislocate their shoulder, then ram the handle of her katana into their skull. They fell completely unconscious, but the others didn't seem even remotely bothered by their fallen comrade. She did this again to a few more of her attackers, and was left with seven more still standing.
That's when she brought the fight outside, sheathing her sword in preparation. It was easy to make them follow her out the door, because they did so automatically. This halt in the chaotic battle gave her enough time to take to more out. She simply waited for the two fastest cops to make it to her, then banged both of their heads against a nearby pole. Then there were five.
As they rapidly approached her, Mineko started throwing punches at every angle necessary. They rarely dodged them. In the end their faces were covered in blood, some with broken noses and others with large cuts under their eyes. One more well placed hit was enough to render another three unconscious, and the last two were taken out with a leg sweep that was quickly followed by a kick to the temple.
The samurai took a deep breath of the polluted air and made an expression of disgust. She couldn't even relax or recollect herself in a place like this. She glanced around at the bodies scattered on the ground, knowing that they would wake up soon; confused, disoriented, and in a lot of pain.
The warehouse, that was still at a close distance, trembled on its foundation. It was going to collapse. Mineko wouldn't have thought anything of it... if it weren't for the three police men that were still knocked out cold inside of the building.
She ran as fast as her legs would carry her. Compared to people like Barry, it would look like she wasn't moving at all, but apparently she was still fast enough to drag two of them out. When she returned for the third, a rather small cop compared to the rest, the ceiling had already started to cave in.
She picked the man up, hunching over to shield him from any falling debris. The woman channelled any amount of strength she could muster to slow the wreckage from giving way on top of them, but it was heavier than anything that she had tried her powers on.
Her hands curled into fists around the victims uniform, and a grunt of effort sputtered from her throat. Knowing that she couldn't hold it for much longer, and that if she moved her concentration would falter, she instead focused the built up air pressure onto herself. She thought that this might give her enough speed to get out of there, like a bullet, but instead it shot her straight through a hole in the collapsing warehouse. For a moment, however fleeting, it looked as if she was flying, that is until she was tossed right into a nearby lake.
She emerged completely soaked, and attempting to keep the cop's head above water. Somehow, she managed to swim to shore with only one arm available to cut through the liquid but it wasn't without its difficulties.
She tossed the man's limp body with the others and wiped the water from her eyes, still unsure of what she had just done or how.
By the time she had averted her attention back to the warehouse it was already a pile of dust. The vines, however, were still poking out from the wreckage as if nothing could tear them down. Mineko's eyes narrowed. She could almost guarantee that this was Barry's doing.
Ironically, that was when The Flash appeared next to her, holding Savitar by one of his glistening arm bands. "Did I miss anything?"
Mineko raised a judgemental eyebrow at the man and pointed towards the destruction that his fight had caused. "You couldn't have been a little more careful?"
"Oh... shit. I'm sorry." Barry said sincerely. "It was hard enough to avoid populated areas. I had to keep him contained."
He looked back at the wreckage, but that's when all emotion seemed to leave him. Instead, it was replaced with a sickening, doe-eyed look as he began walking towards it. When he stopped, he did so next to a woman. One wearing nothing but plant life on the upper and lower areas of her body. The only thing more prominent than that was her hair, it was long and dark red.
"I knew those fools would fail." She spoke in a voice that seemed to whisper desires they had never even dreamed of. "But that just leaves more praise for me when I succeed."
A vine sticking up from the rubble shot towards Mineko and wrapped around her ankle. She frowned at the sight. Unsheathing her sword, she swung it downward and cut the plant with little to no effort. She huffed, completely unimpressed. She then walked nonchalantly towards the woman, slicing through any shrub or weed that got in her way. When she reached the woman she simply socked her right in the jaw and she dropped to the ground.
Barry finally snapped out of whatever trance he was in, and upon spotting Poison Ivy, he groaned in annoyance. "I friggen hate when she does that..."
"Does what?" Mineko asked cluelessly.
Barry blinked a few times, a little confused. "You mean... you didn't notice? She produces pheromones that make people temporarily fall in love with her."
"Is that what was happening? I thought you were just being a pervert."
Barry squinted at the samurai. "She's not even my type, I don't know why it always works on me."
Mineko shrugged. "Is that all she can do? Just grow plants and flirt with desperate losers?"
"Yeah... that's about it-" Barry's voice trailed off then he took a sharp inhale of surprise and realisation. "Wait... was that a joke?"
Mineko smirked, rolled her shoulders, then winked in confirmation.
"... You've been spending too much time with Wally." He sighed though there was the slightest hint of a smile on his lips. "We should clean this place up. Take Savitar to jail, and the officers to the hospital... I'm not sure what to do with Ivy though. She's a Gothamite. It's probably best that I return her to Arkham."
"Does she usually visit Central city?" Mineko questioned.
"Well, I've never seen her outside of Gotham. I can tell you that much."
"Then it's likely that Yan's influence has increased in Gotham... maybe that's where she's headed." Mineko pondered. "Do you know anyone there that could help track them down?"
There was a brief silence that filled the air before he finally answered "Yeah... I think I might know someone."
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