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See No Evil: Round 2 (ch. 75)
🕑 Added 2022-02-02 16:00:21 +0000 UTC"Revy? I need your help," I said, reaching out to her through my contacts. "Cassandra's been kidnapped by the League of Shadows." I told her, my voice decidedly calm. Perfectly even. It didn't at all reflect how I felt inside. My thoughts were tainted red by an all consuming rage that refused to be restrained. Like a pot that had boiled over. Red hot anger surged through my veins… I could only compare it to how I felt when I realized that the Joker had taken Jack.
All consuming wrath that dominated every thought, until lashing out and wreaking pure destruction upon the person who thought they could get away with this became the only response I could think of. It had been nothing short of a miracle that I had managed to pull one over the Joker in that state, and against the League of Shadows…?
"I'm on my way," Revy told me, instantly picking up on the cold fury in my words. I heard her curse before she ended the call, and started making her way to me. I was tempted to recall 2B, but I decided against it. I was about to do some rather terrible things. I could feel it in my bones. I was about to spill oceans of blood and stack bodies until they could rival mountains. 2B had come a long way when it came to her reverence of humans, but I think that would be too much for her to handle.
Miranda was out for a different reason. Simply put, this was a move. Possibly just by Lady Shiva who wanted her daughter back, but it was equally possible that this was a move by the Light. And if it was the latter, I needed Miranda and Tifa to be on top of things to prepare for the blow that could be coming, because the kidnapping would be a distraction, a red cape for me to charge at.
And if that was the case, then I must be a bull, because I would fucking charge at it, and I was going to gore the fuck out of everyone standing behind it. To that end, I gave an order that I had waiting on standby for months now. Immediately, it went into effect. It would piss off the League of Shadows, but that was the point.
Tifa gave me a call as I headed up to the roof of my building. I accepted it before the first ring had finished. "Cassandra was just teleported out of her ballet class!" she told me as I soared high up the building in my express elevator. My grip tightened on the handrails as I watched the floor counter flicker upwards at a rapid pace.
"I know, I'm getting her back right now," I told her. A Boom Tube under her feet. I should have prepared for that. I knew how stupidly overpowered teleportation could be. I had dozens of examples to work from, and I hadn't prepared. That was on me. That was completely my fault. This was my fault. I knew a sucker punch was coming to keep me in line, but I didn't prepare adequately. They found a hole in my defence and exploited it.
I saw Tifa bite her lip through the video call as I arrived at the roof and the elevator doors opened, finding that Revy had already beat me here. "I know you'll get here back, Vergil. Just be careful. I… I can handle things here." she spoke, and I could hear how desperately she wanted to come with me. To help rescue Cass. I had underestimated her, I thought, and not for the first time. I thought I would have to talk her into staying, but she came to the same conclusion I had herself.
"Coordinate with Miranda and be on high alert. This shouldn't take long," I told her as I climbed into the vertibird and took a seat. Revy was inside, dressed in her combat suit and carrying her favorite sniper rifle, and enough sidearms to make an armory blush. At her feet was a duffel bag that was filled to bursting. Looking at the haul, which I knew had to have been assembled in a hurry, I had to admire the efficiency of my Androids and courier system.
"You didn't say you would be careful," Tifa pointed out as the doors closed.
Revy spoke up, just loud enough for Tifa to hear through my speaker, "He doesn't need to. I'll make sure your loverboy comes home in one piece," Revy reassured her as the vehicle began lifting itself into the air. I saw Tifa smile at Revy's words from her position in Lowtown. She looked reassured. I should have been the one to do that, but the words just wouldn't come. The Light had managed to get to me. I could admit that. They knew I had soft spots, and they decided to poke at them.
And I would fucking burn everything they had ever held dear to the fucking ground and salt the earth in response.
The call ended, leaving a heavy silence in the plane. I was make plans -- evacuation plans for a quick get away. Cass was on Infinity Island, but my coverage was lacking there. I had managed to sneak some bombs on the island, but security was tight. Ra's didn't leave many holes to exploit, so I didn't have the same viewing of his island that I had in Lowtown. And, unfortunately, Cassandra was in one of those blind spots and it was maddening. After this, I wouldn't stop until I could see every inch of the entire planet at all times. I would have no blind spots and something like this would never happen again.
"How do you want to do this?" Revy questioned me, and I looked at her sharply. She saw the answer in my gaze. "Alright, if you want to. S'not like I'm going to complain," she said, offering me a one armed shrug. "But… I thought you had left this behind?"
I frowned, "Left what behind?"
"Getting your hands dirty. You're the golden boy of the world right now," she pointed out, making my brow furrow. She glanced away from me, and I wondered if that's why she had been avoiding me for the past couple of weeks. I might have tried to reassure her, but this wasn't the time. Every millisecond that Cass was on Infinity Island was a millisecond too long.
"Revy, I'm always willing to get my hands dirty," I told her, leaning in my chair as I made my plans. I would scorch the fucking Earth and there wouldn't be a Light left to regret their actions by the time I was done with them if they were behind this.
Revy seemed to accept that answer with a small, curt nod. We traveled to Infinity Island in silence, the trip was a relatively short one as my ship pushed it's top speeds. It wasn't as fast as my rockets, but it shattered the sound barrier several times over. A trip from Gotham to Switzerland had taken a couple of hours, but now it hardly took thirty minutes to reach Infinity Island in the Mediterranean Sea.
Revy vanished from sight when my ship touched down. Just before the doors opened, I grabbed the duffel bag, and when the doors slid up, I saw that we were on a white sandy beach. It was also quickly evident that we weren't alone.
Talia Al Ghul was a beautiful woman. Clear middle eastern features made her poison green eyes stand out that much more. She stood with a handful of her assassins, all masked. All except for a single other girl in her late teens to early twenties. Brown hair, lightly tanned skin and dark blue eyes.
I think her name was Kassandra, if memory served. I hadn't seen her in person until just now, but I knew that she was Vandal Savage's daughter. One that he was willing to trust the War World to. I had been passively looking for her, but Vandal Savage was good at covering his tracks.
"Vergil St. Jude, it's a pleasure to finally meet you," Talia greeted me, a sly smile on her face as I approached. Dress shoes weren't made for shifting sands, but I managed. I didn't return the greeting until I was standing directly in front of her and her troupe of assassins. I didn't fail to notice how Kassandra tensed, ready to attack me the moment I entered striking range.
I dropped the duffel bag at Talia's feet, not saying a word. Her eyes flickered down to it, a hand twitching, but it was Kassandra that knelt down and unzipped the duffel bag. She flinched back when she saw what was inside, but it was Talia's reaction I was interested in. Her eyes narrowed a fraction, and her lips curled down.
It couldn't count as ripping off Jason if he never became the Red Hood. But bringing the heads of agents that belonged to the enemy was one hell of an opener to a conversation. If was a statement of intent and ability.
"Most would call this as a declaration of war," Talia remarked, her eyes flickering back up to me, looking away from the heads of the spies that the League had in Gotham.
"You'd have better luck dealing with those that do, because this is a warning shot," I told her, my voice blunt and cold. "You know exactly why I'm here. Unless I see Cass by the time I count to ten, you can consider every single League of Shadows agent dead."
"Speak with more care," Kassandra interrupted, standing tall and taking a step forward. "Threats will do you little good here and the League of Shadows is not an enemy one makes lightly." It sounded like she was trying to give me genuine advice, but the arrogance in her tone grated on my senses. I met her gaze flatly…
Then I smiled. "You're very right about that, Kassandra." She shifted, not liking that I knew her name. "I shouldn't be making threats. I should be making promises." I looked to Talia, who lost the confident and welcoming air. She was on the back foot. She was uncertain.
They didn't expect this, I thought with more than a little amusement. I doubt that they thought every threat I gave them was an empty one. We weren't in the business of delivering empty threats. However, they underestimated just how fast I was willing to press the big red button to go absolutely fucking nuclear. They shouldn't be. I thought I had made myself absolutely fucking clear during No Man's Land.
One of mine, for all of yours.
I made a show of taking out one of my phones, pressing a button on speed dial, then putting it on speaker. "Your orders?" One of my black ops teams spoke, his tone flat.
"Commence operations," I said before hanging up, my smile never wavering as I tucked the phone into my pocket. Kassandra looked increasingly uncertain, while Talia regarded me much like one would a coiled snake. She hid her apprehension well. "One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten." I counted down, and I could feel the tension growing by the second, but they were too proud. So damn proud that they weren't willing to give in to threats.
Right on the dot, my phone rang. I took it out of my pocket and answered. "All operations have been completed."
"Excellent work," I praised him before hanging up.
Kassandra was first to speak as the assassins surrounded me, "What did you just do?"
"Every League of Shadows agent, sleeper or otherwise, has just been murdered," I responded calmly and Kassandra looked absolutely floored, while Talia barely blinked. Still, they weren't prepared for this level of extreme escalation. Because they were dead. Batman had thoroughly mapped out the organization, and I had my own findings. There were thousands across the globe, and every single one of them had been just murdered by the shadow I assigned to them. Their heads would be cut off and I'd build a fucking temple out of their skulls to stand as a monument on why you should never fuck with me. "The ones on Infinity Island are all that's left of your organization. Now, I'm going to count to ten again, and if I don't see Cassandra by then, I'm going to systematically murder everyone on this island and then sink it to the bottom of the ocean."
Kassandra just gaped at me, but Talia was starting to worry me a little bit. I had her on the back foot, but her reactions were too subdued. That could just be because of her poker face, but something was wrong. She just found out that ninety-nine percent of her organization was dead. I had perfected my poker face, but it would crumble the moment I learned that nearly all of Sainthood Enterprises and Lowtown had been wiped from the face of the Earth.
Something was wrong. I felt it in my gut. Still, I had to deliver.
"One. Two. Three-" I started, only to be cut off by a familiar sound. A Boom Tube. My gaze snapped to it, a wormhole of golden light that shifted like a trillion strands of light woven together, yet individually distinct, but my focus was on those that stepped out of it.
Leading the way was Vandal Savage. He appeared calm and collected, but there was a faint smirk on his lips. Ra's al Ghul followed behind him, also calm, but he moved with an air of distinct annoyance. Behind them both was Lady Shiva -- a woman in her mid thirties, dark hair, dark eyes and clear Asian features. She was almost the spitting image of Cassandra, just aged up, I thought as Cassandra walked out after her. Her hands were bound by cuffs that seemed specifically designed to be unpickable by the wearer, with each finger in a joint lock.
Her eyes widened when she saw me, still dressed in her ballet attire. Cass looked unharmed and that was an immediate balm on my soul. The raw sewage of rage and hate in my veins lessened, but it wouldn't be gone until we were back home. But, for the first time in about an hour, I was able to breathe without feeling like my lungs were being crushed.
"St. Jude," Ra's greeted me, stepping forward. "I do hope that was a mere bluff. I would be… most upset if you truly have undone centuries worth of work." Now that I was able to see colors other than red, I thought quickly about the situation. Vandal Savage was here. That told me that this was a move by the Light. One that came a lot sooner than expected.
"I'm afraid I don't make empty threats, Ra's. For what it's worth, I do wish you had chosen to arrive before my first countdown ended," I told him, feeling his sharp gaze stab right through me. There was a fury growing in his eyes, his lips curling back as he started to lose his grip on his iron self control. Even Talia looked a bit disturbed now -- she had thought I was bluffing too. That's why she was able to brush off my words.
Vandal Savage, however, laughed. It seemed to surprise even him as a bark of laughter escaped him, making all eyes turn to him. Revy was at the treeline, her shot already lined up. All the while, my back up plans and contingencies were progressing nicely.
"My apologies, Ra's," Vandal Savage said, the apology doing little to soothe the irate immortal assassin. "We expected a reaction, but it's been a very long time since I underestimated someone so."
"Not sure why you did," I remarked, drawing the attention back to me. "I told you exactly what would happen if you tried something like this. Now, free Cassandra."
It was Lady Shiva that spoke up, taking a very dangerous step forward and leveling a sword at me. "I shall do no such thing. Cassandra is my daughter, after all." Cassandra shifted at that, her lips tightening in a way that said she clearly didn't agree with that. She was edging away, body tense and ready to move.
I took in a sharp breath, cocking my head as I unflinchingly met lady Shiva's gaze. "Firstly, don't you fucking dare call Cassandra your daughter, you piece of filth. You don't have the right. And you can shove your bullshit excuse that 'you were doing it to create the perfect warrior' or what the fuck ever right up your ass, lady. It's revolting. I'd rather be bathing in liquid shit right now than be standing within a hundred feet of you."
It was evident that Lady Shiva didn't care for the insults. Her eyes narrowed dangerously, a fury that matched my own rising in her eyes from deep in her chest.
"Secondly, I know about your little tiff. David Cain murdered your sister, yeah? The person you loved the most in the world?" I said and her eyes flashed. Lady Shiva was not someone easy to rile, but it was a lot easier when you knew exactly what nerves to poke. Her story was a sad one. I might have even felt bad for her, but I felt nothing even resembling pity.
Lady Shiva moved, darting towards me like a raging bull. I didn't move or hide behind a red cape. Cassandra shouted when Lady Shiva's blade struck my throat, only to be stuck there, straining against my barrier less than a millimeter from my skin. "You will not speak of what you do not understand," she snarled at me.
"But I do understand -- you loved your sister, then David Cain killed her for some bullshit reason, because she was holding you back right? So, you fucked him, gave birth to Cass and hoped that she would become strong enough to kill you. That about it?" I asked her, not at all bothered by the sword at my throat. It trembled as she tried to push it through my barrier, but she didn't have any luck beyond bending the tip of her sword. Lady Shiva didn't respond to my taunt, so I continued, ruthlessly poking at her nerves until they wept blood.
"Is that what this was? You kidnapped Cassandra to have her kill you?" I asked, but that didn't fit. There would be no reason for Vandal Savage to be here. This was a move by the Light. Targeting Cass… it could be one of three things. It had been a favor to Lady Shiva. It was pure chance. Or it was a distraction or justification.
The latter seemed most likely. The Light picked Cass because of her relation to Last Shiva, and hoped I wouldn't look beyond the surface that a mother wanted to be reunited with her daughter. That this was being spearheaded by Lady Shiva and Ra's. I imagine there would be talks of compromise as I was reeling from how easily Cass had been kidnapped, but instead, they were reeling from the fact I had murdered most of the League of Shadows to prove a point.
The question remained, if that was their misdirect, then what were their true intentions?
As I thought it through, I looked at Lady Shiva, nothing but contempt in my gaze. "If you want to die so badly then slit your wrists or throw yourself in the ocean. I don't care. Don't go dragging other people into your elaborate form of suicide. It's pathetic," I bit out. Her lips peeled back into a ferocious snarl. Her blade left my neck so she could try to thrust it through one of my eyes.
Instead, her head jerked to the side and she collapsed in a heap. Instantly, everyone went on alert as Lady Shiva dropped, red blood leaking out of her black mane of hair, dying the white sand red. My gaze flickered to Cass, who stared at her mother's body with a deeply uncomfortable expression. I really wouldn't have ordered it Revy hadn't taken that shot, but I couldn't do anything about it now.
Ra's was furious, but I could see that it wasn't just at me. He turned to Vandal Savage, who watched the display with calm eyes as I dropped a card on Lady Shiva's corpse, sealing it away so she couldn't be resurrected without my permission. "This was not the plan," he bit out.
What was the plan? There was something I was missing. An important piece that would make this little display make a lot more sense.
The assassins were on guard, looking for the enemy sniper that had just dropped their strongest warrior. It just goes to show that it didn't mean shit how strong or good you were when it came to martial arts if you took a bullet to the back of the head. As her blood soaked into the sand, I felt things shift between me and Ra's.
Before, we had been curious rivals. Now, I had cost him too much. Taking Lady Shiva's life was a step over the line.
My priorities shifted. Not only did I have to get Cass out of here, but I had to kill Ra's. For good. Meaning the destruction of his Lazarus Pit. Honestly, I just might sink the entire island out of principle now.
"With that out of the way -- Cassandra. Free her and give her back to me," I said, looking to Vandal Savage, knowing that he was the one in charge here. Kassandra continued to watch me carefully, but with how easily Lady Shiva had been dropped, she was far more worried about the unseen sniper.
"In exchange for Lady Shiva?" Ra's began to bargain, making my eyes narrow ever so slightly. That sounded reasonable enough, but the timing was off. I expected posturing. Instead, he jumped straight to bargaining. Did he understand and accept that I just had him by the balls? Or was it connected to that one piece of information that I was missing?
I tilted my head, "Ra's, are you really going to make me count again?" I asked him, using the leverage that I had with merciless intent.
"I'm not sure who else you have left to murder," Ra's said and that…
That was bait. Because I could absolutely just drop Talia. He knew that. I knew that. Hell, Talia knew that. It was obvious. So, him saying that didn't make any sense.
Unless he wanted me to say it. Out loud?
My eyes narrowed as I felt the rug being pulled out from underneath me, leaving me in a free fall as I rapidly came to a terrible conclusion. All the pieces clicked into place and that little hint was all I needed to get a peek behind the curtain. With it, the truth was revealed and one fact dominated my mind.
I had completely and utterly fucked up.
My expression didn't so much as twitch as I became so incredibly aware of how badly I just fucked up. Worse, it was so obvious in hindsight. Despite my boasting, I had fallen for my own trick. I fell for the misdirection of the fluttering red cape and missed the asshole conquistador that dipped out the way to stab me with a sword.
All of theirs for one of mine.
They used that to lure me here. To catch me in the act of my bloody vengeance against those that had touched one of mine. They knew I would come, they knew I would get blood on my hands, and they prepared -- I had no doubt that I was being recorded as I spoke. From where, I wasn't sure. And I had just confessed to murdering a large number of assassin's and taunted a woman before killing her.
It wasn't as bad as it could be, but it was still pretty bad.
Fuck. Fucking fuck.
Okay. Shit. God fucking damn it. Alright. Okay. This was… not great, but I was aware of the trap I had just walked into. I knew what they planned. They were going to sweep my company out from underneath me -- I was the sole proprietor, but if I was in prison, I couldn't lead my company and it was now too big to fail. Meaning that there would be an interim CEO chosen by the Light that would steal my company from me.
I knew their plan. I knew their goal. It was just a question of what I could do to flip this around?
I…
I had an idea.
"Out of respect for someone we both have respect for, you won't watch your daughter's brains get splattered over the sand," I told Ra's, stepping into his verbal trap without missing a beat. Talia frowned at me but the others glared. There was still time to turn this around, all evidence to the contrary. I had two real options and they were a real fork in the road.
One was to run my mouth and implicate everyone that I could to make the tape completely unusable. However, that had a fatal weakness of the evidence being doctored to protect those that I tried to take down with me. The tech was already there. And if the Light was working with the Reach on this, then it would be child's play. I was certain of it too, because I painted too tempting of a target on my back for the Reach to just ignore. I was the dominating influence on the planet. If I went away, then things opened up for them.
So, that left option number two.
"However, I do believe our relationship has soured a bit too much for my liking. And when you've been knocked to the ground like this… sorry to say it, but I don't intend to help you get back on your feet again. So, I'm forced to finish you off," I said, making Ra's' eyes widen before I pulled the same trick that they had.
The ground beneath us gave way to a plane of light as my teleportation tech kicked on with a thought. My back up plans were all giving green lights so everything had gone smoothly. Data, samples, and prisoners had been rescued and were being teleported out. In a blink, I found myself standing on the ship that I had sent for us. A modest yacht a hundred miles off the coast of Infinity Island.
I looked off the bow of the ship, Cass right behind me as only Vandal Savage, Kassandra, and Talia were on board the ship. They all bristled for a moment before their attention was quickly stolen by a flash of light coming from Infinity Island.
Nuclear bombs were too messy for my taste. Especially when I had so many viable alternatives. Yet, I couldn't deny that the sight of the rising mushroom cloud didn't send a shiver down my spine. The cerulean blue sea rippled as the shockwave hit us, a small wind brushing my cheeks that carried the echo of the single most powerful bomb that had ever been detonated on the planet Earth. It was even radiation free.
"You…" Talia seemed at a complete loss for words as she watched the destruction of Infinity Island. Of her father. Of the League of Shadows, because she was all that was left now.
I sighed as I shook my head, "Me what? Honestly, take some responsibility for your own actions. I told you all exactly what would happen if you ever touched one of mine and you're still shocked that I did exactly what I said I was going to do?" I questioned, making a tsking noise. I had to act like I was on camera right now. I had to assume that everyone in the world would see this. And despite people on the internet cheering me on, I knew that the media would tear me into shreds.
I had to do damage control for my reputation before it could be damaged. Take control of the narrative even as they used it against me.
To that end… "It might be a good thing. Oh, I'm sure that you'll miss your incredibly fucked up ninja family, but it's good to be out with the old and embrace the new."
"Was it for that reason you crashed the world's economy?" Vandal Savage asked me, standing by my side as Revy helped Cassandra out of her restraints. I… I wanted to help her deal with everything, but right now, I was in a fight for not only my life, but everyone's lives. This conversation was going to decide the fate of the planet.
And Vandal Savage was going for the proverbial throat.
"Pretty much," I agreed with a nod of my head, confessing to a crime that wouldn't be brushed over. Like it had been after I stepped out of Leslie's Clinic what felt like a lifetime ago. "It was pretty easy, truth be told, a few assassinations here, some hacking there, and the economy was gone, making way for Saints Quartz of all things. I can't believe I managed to set up a gacha currency as the world's first unified currency. I can't tell if it's hilarious, sad, or both."
"But, it can't stop there," I continued, acting like a supervillain and monologuing my reasons for my actions. "The world needs to change. To shake things up and establish a new order. Ra's Al Ghul was a relic of a bygone era -- I mean… he called China the Orient. And, sorry Savage, but I fully intend to be the one standing at the very top. There's no room for other two bit dictators anymore. Only for me. I alone will decide humanity's fate and the fate of the universe."
I felt like a complete tool, but it was working. I watched the mushroom cloud rise higher and higher.
"Many before you have said much the same," Vandal Savage dismissed with a small shrug of his shoulders. "But I take no offense to you or your actions… I would expect nothing less from my son."
There was a bad joke. Trying to get the heroes to flip on me when they saw this? Inventing a bullshit relation between us? Worse, the heroes might fall for it. My records were left vague on purpose, which made it easy for Vandal Savage to insert himself as my father if he wanted to.
"Hope you aren't looking for a tearful reunion, Dad," I told him. I wondered if he actually thought that I might be his kid. That would be something I could use, though I doubted that he would have any soft spots for his kids.
"I would be disappointed in you if there were tears, son," Vandal Savage responded evenly, but there was a ghost of a smile in his voice.
The bell had rung. Round two with the Light had officially started…
And I was already on the ropes.
Comments
Z3r0Sama
Great chap. Hopefully we get another Barbara chapter in the future. I really enjoyed seeing her viewpoint change as time passed.
Z3r0Sama
No, more like not lose. Vergil has no intention of having to be the one to deal with whatever flavour of crazy the multiverse decides to vomit over the Earth on a weekly basis.
Denis Safiev
The only ones who can even try to remove Vergil from power are the heroes. So that’s who the final clash will be against. Vergil will be the first supervillain of Earth… to win.
