A Strange Form of Honour

Disclaimer: I own nothing but my original characters and works, if you recognise it from somewhere else, surprise it isn't mine.

Betad by morde24, Atrius, Hermes, Priapus, Marethyu, Old man of the mountain and TheDonFluffles

The Guild of Gamers: The Nightmare

Chapter 03: A Strange Form of Honour

You know, it wasn't a bad plan that the police came up with.

Reading the report of Mr. Adams death, I chuckle to myself darkly.

No, it wasn't a bad plan at all, but they made one slight mistake. My voodoo dolls will shrivel when the victim dies, and the doll I made for him is still in perfect condition.

I do not appreciate their attempts to play me for a fool, and this calls for something special indeed.

I was actually going to release them, I was even going to be a gracious killer and release one of them if he didn't manage to kill himself as he got a single kill. It wasn't what I promised but I felt like being nice since he tried.

And then they tried to fool me. They tried to deceive me, and that I very much don't approve of. You might even say it has pissed me off.

Heading back out, I head back to the sewers as I move through the city. They're expansive, and with off screen travel I can use them to get around the city with ease.

Getting within distance of the police station, I start my search as I look for the allegedly dead Mr. Adams.

I can use my voodoo doll to track my victim, and I can sense his fear so finding him isn't even particularly difficult.

But while I could absolutely grab him right from under them, I don't. That's not what I have planned, because it ain't Mr Adams fault the police lied to me, is it?

Instead, I watch and find a police officer who knows Adams is alive and follow him instead, it doesn't take long before he heads somewhere isolated to take a smoke on the roof.

This is probably the riskiest thing I've done so far, but spite is one hell of a motivator.

The cop doesn't even see the bottle flying towards him until it smashes against his head, dazing him and forcing him to breathe in the sedative.

He tries to turn around, but I've already slipped back into the shadows and all he can do is sluggishly look around, his gun in hand.

He falls to the ground after a few seconds, trying to reach the door back into the station, and waiting until my cool-down is done, I slip back out and grab him, pulling him through my world as I abduct a police officer right from their station.

Taking him to the sewers, I take his gun and find something to cuff the man to and simply bide my time. He has enough id on him for me to find out where he lives, and the picture of him with a young boy that shares a resemblance to him makes me smile. You'd be surprised how much you can find out about someone just from what they're carrying on them.

His phone is locked, but the all powerful Face ID has it open in short order, giving me even more to work with as I look through his messages.

I should make a counter to my sedative, so I can speed this part up but for now I'll just have to wait patiently.

"Wha- where-"

"Ahh, you're finally awake. Good afternoon, Officer Doyle," I say, I'm making my voice sound deeper for obvious reasons. It's not perfect but it'll do until I have a better way to do it.

Never thought those acting classes would come in useful, I only took them because I had a thing for this hot goth girl who was really into the whole drama scene. She was the sexiest bitch I'd ever seen, it was a shame she turned out to be a serial killer, but I guess we have that in common now.

"Oh fuck, look, you have no idea what you're doing. You think we're looking for you now, you know what we do to cop killers in Goth-"

"Now, now. I have no desire to hurt you Officer Doyle, I just have a simple question for you," I say, kneeling down to his level. "Whose idea was it to lie about Mr Adams death? You were watching him, no doubt as part of his suicide watch to prevent him from completing my orders. Whose idea was it?"

"You think you can intimidate me?" he laughs. "I've been a cop in Gotham for twenty-two years, I'm not gonna be intimidated punk in a mask-"

"Do you think Harry would be?" I ask, making him freeze. "That's your son's name, right? What about your wife, Elena? She's a very beautiful woman, it'd be a shame to mar that beauty just because you weren't polite enough to answer a simple question."

His bravado vanishes quickly as he goes silent, paling slightly.

"If you aren't going to answer, please just tell me so I can end you and move onto the next officer. I'm sure some of your coworkers aren't quite as brave as you, or perhaps just less willing to sacrifice their families," I say simply, playing with the hunting knife in my hand.

I've been experimenting with different blade types, but the hunting knife seems to be the ideal weapon for this.

"Gordon, it was Gordon's idea," he says, making me smile.

"Ahh, it was? I expected you to tell me that it was Batman's idea to be honest, but that's why I decided to… double-check," I say happily. "Was that so hard?"

"My family-"

"Will never know how close they came to becoming a statistic, you told me what I wanted to know and I am a man of my word, don't worry… I'm sure someone will find you down here eventually," I say, dropping the key for his cuffs a couple of feet outside his reach as I turn and walk away.

James Gordon, the father of Batgirl…

Hm, that gives me a terrible idea. It'd be an absolutely atrocious idea to target Batgirl/Oracle, that would draw Batman's full attention onto me if I attacked a hero…

But what if I kidnapped a hero by accident? I obviously have no way to know that Barbara is Oracle, so if I was to kidnap her just to get to her father…

It's still a terrible idea, but I'm absolutely going to do it. I need to target the heroes eventually, and frankly Babs is a good first target since she's wheelchair bound.

Gotham PD apparently prefers physical files to digital, either that or they keep both as I appear in their archives.

They're not particularly well sorted, but it doesn't even take me that long to find the records on their officers, including a home address.

Out of spite, I steal basically every file I can. They'll know I ransacked their archives, but the station has surprisingly few cameras in it.

It will mean they'll know that the killer they were looking for just walked into their station and robbed the place.

As an act of kindness, I carve 'check the sewers' into the wall, I don't want Officer Doyle to starve down there. He told me what I wanted to know after all, and I do have my own twisted form of honour.

Vanishing again, I head towards Gordon's home. Barbara isn't there when I arrive, but that's because it's a school day and she's in University.

She definitely lives here, either that or Gordon has a teenage mistress. I'll admit, while I'm waiting for her to come home, I do have some second thoughts about this.

She's the first hero I'm going for, even if I'm going to pretend I don't know she's a hero. This is bigger than just grabbing some random civilians, but I'm going to have to go after the heroes eventually.

It's a lesson in patience as I bide my time, but she does arrive eventually, wheeling herself in. She looks tired but I imagine she's balancing being Barbara during the day and Oracle at night so I'm not surprised.

The Gordon house has obviously been modified to make things easier for the crippled Barbara, a chair lift installed on the stairs as she heads upstairs.

I always wondered why Barbara stayed crippled in DC, where magic and sci-fi tech can be found just about everywhere. It seems difficult just to move around her home.

As she reaches her bedroom, I reappear outside her room and toss several vials into the room at her.

I'm not taking any chances.

She can't exactly run away, and in short order I hear her slump to the floor as she falls out of her wheelchair.

Well that was easy.

…hey, Shiro. You there?

Yup.

Exactly how secure is the computer in my lair?

— Bruce Wayne (Batman) —

Rushing towards Gordon's house, his mind raced. Barbara had a button on her wheelchair she could press to send an emergency signal to the Batcomputer, but she'd never used it before.

Until today.

Arriving at the house, he let himself in as he rushed towards where the signal was coming from, his heart dropping as he spotted her wheelchair, lying on its side with no Barbara in sight.

The sight of some vials on the floor made his eyes widen ever so slightly, 'Legion' as people had dubbed the killer.

Why target Barbara?

The answer came to him a moment later. They kidnapped people to blackmail their loved ones. This might not even have anything to do with Oracle, and everything to do with James.

Zatanna had been shocked when her scrying spells utterly failed. She said it should have had a result even if he'd already killed them, but her spell simply returned nothing and she didn't know what that meant.

They'd theorised that whatever Legion had that was preventing technology from recording him was far more powerful than just that, and was even preventing magic from finding him or the girls he took, but that was just a theory that they couldn't prove.

He wouldn't leave Barbara in this maniac's hands, but he had nothing to work with once again. Searching the place intensely for any clues at all, he scowled as he found nothing.

Getting a message with a link from Tim, telling him to watch it immediately he opened up the link and checked the MHO thread he'd been linked to.

MHO was a surprisingly useful source of information, he even had an account that was known for having completely ridiculous conspiracy theories.

He used it to push the idea that Bruce Wayne was Batman, along with 'evidence' that any moron could see was wrong or misrepresented.

But nobody knew that XxVoid_CowboyxX was really Batman, and they never would. They were too busy mocking him for his ridiculous takes.

Shaking his head, he started to read the thread and his eyes widened.

The original poster? A newly made account simply named Legion. He immediately logged onto his MHO Moderator account and started trying to trace the poster.

The first post was simply a video with no message at all.

Starting the video, he watched as the man that was rapidly becoming infamous appeared on the screen.

"I am a man of my word, I want you all to understand that. I am a killer, yes. A monster, but when I said I'd release Mr. Adams' family if he fulfilled my orders, I meant it," Legion started, staring into the camera.

"So when I heard that Mr Adams had ended his life, I was prepared to release my guests as promised… however, then I found out that I was lied to. Mr Adams is very much not dead, sitting in his cell. I do not appreciate being lied to, so I decided to find out who was responsible for this deception."

James had the idea of faking Adams' death, of course he'd had the same idea but James had already thought of it and gone through with it.

"James Gordon, our beloved police commissioner, thought he could deceive me. I find this rather aggravating," Legion continued, before he moved and slowly turned the camera to the side, revealing Barbara, stripped to just her underwear.

She was clearly unconscious, her hands chained above her head to a wall that looked very similar to the cells he'd taken the pictures of the hostages in.

"This is Barbara Gordon, our hard-working commissioner's daughter. I'd have grabbed his son as well, but I didn't feel like making a trip to Arkham. Now, my demands this time are extremely simple. James Gordon is to make a live press release admitting he lied about Mr. Adams death by the end of the day, and he is to have Mr. Adams with him, as well as have his phone on him and turned on. If this is done, I will release Barbara unharmed. If this thread is deleted, I'll take that as a refusal and the fates of Miss Gordan, along with Mr. Adams' wife and daughter, will be sealed. You have until midnight."

As the video ended, he growled. He shouldn't have been surprised that all attempts to trace the poster failed, it was obviously their power, but the fact that 'Legion' felt so confident that he'd post videos online infuriated him.

He was also utterly unsurprised when he got a call from Gordon less than a minute later.

"I've seen it," he said, in lieu of a greeting.

"What should I do? I can't let anything happen to Barbara," James said immediately.

"Do the press release, we need to play his game for now," Batman replied, glaring at the grinning mask in the video's thumbnail.

The thread was going wild of course, with everything from posters claiming it was a hoax to posters mocking the police for trying to lie to a super villain.

Spotting someone commenting on Barbara's barely covered body, he rolled his eyes and gave them a 3 day mute and a warning. He couldn't delete the thread, he didn't even want to risk locking it and annoying Legion who clearly enjoyed the attention.

Not while he had Barbara.

— Barbara Gordon —

Waking up chained to a wall was surprisingly not a new situation for her, her past as Batgirl had led to her being captured quite a few times and that helped her keep her cool.

She'd been stripped, the cold air on her body told her that, but she still had her underwear on so she didn't need to panic just yet. She'd also been blindfolded, so she listened carefully.

She could faintly hear someone crying, they weren't that close but it definitely meant she wasn't alone. She could also hear footsteps moving away from her.

She didn't call out, sometimes it was better to let people think you were still unconscious to buy yourself time.

Her captor was almost certainly the one walking away, but if she waited she could listen out and hear if anyone else was moving around.

If she was lucky, she might even get to hear a conversation while they thought she was still unconscious from whatever they did to her.

"I know you're awake," a voice said, making her mentally sigh. Worth a try.

"I don't know what you want, my family isn't wealthy," Barbara said, her voice quivering slightly.

She had no proof they knew she was Oracle so she has no plans to help them find out.

That meant playing the part of the scared hostage.

"I know," the voice said simply.

So it wasn't money he wanted.

"You don't need to worry, Miss Gordon. As long as your father does as I have asked, you'll be free from this place by this time tomorrow," he continued.

That immediately sounded familiar, making her eyes widen behind the blindfold. Legion, as MHO had dubbed Gotham's newest killer.

A killer that now had her in chains. What had he asked her father to do? Bruce would definitely be searching for her but she was well aware of how ineffective the search for Legion and the missing women had been so far.

"Please, just let me go- I won't tell anyone-"

"There's no need for begging, my dear. Not for the next seven hours at least. You should save your energy because if midnight passes and your father has still chosen to not obey my orders, then you'll need to beg, to tell you the truth a part of me is hoping he doesn't, we could have such fun together," Legion said with a chuckle, sounding very close as she shivered at his tone.

"What do you want?" Barbara asked, making him chuckle again.

"A great many things, but we can talk about that later," Legion said easily, walking away from her as she heard a door close.

Wonderful.

She knew how to pick a lock, but she had nothing on her to use and from the feel of them she was wearing some heavy manacles, not simple cuffs.

…plus she was a cripple, even if she got out of the cuffs she'd just flop onto the floor, so with no clear path ahead of her she sighed and simply waited.

Her arms were going to kill her at the end of this, even if Legion kept his word and let her go. That's assuming her father could do whatever he was demanding, because she didn't have a clue what he even wanted.

Still, she'd been through too much to be truly scared even in a situation like this, her mind still trying to work out as much as she could to help capture Legion later.

— James Gordon —

With James Adams in cuffs beside him, he faced the cameras with a defeated look on his face.

"In an attempt to make the killer dubbed 'Legion' keep his word, we lied about Mr. Adams suicide," James admitted, going to speak before he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket.

He already knew who was calling him, and he knew he didn't have a choice but to answer it. Accepting the call from a blocked number, he didn't even get a chance to speak before Legion's voice came through.

"Put me on speaker," Legion ordered, making him hesitate before he pressed the speaker button. "Can you hear me, Mr. Adams?"

"I can, I tried to-" James Adams started immediately, looking desperate as Legion's calm voice cut him off.

"Oh, I know you aren't to blame for this foul deception, in truth you've already failed, but I haven't harmed your family yet. I decided to make an exception due to this… interference," Legion continued. "I just need you to answer a simple question. Are you willing to die to make up for your failure?"

"Yes! I tried to kill myself but they-"

"That's all I needed to know, Mr Adams. Don't worry, your family will be just fine."

As Adams went to speak, his eyes widened and a scream of utter agony left him as his skin started to turn red.

It took him a moment to realise what he was seeing, it looked like he was being burnt despite there being no fire. James Adams thrashed around, unable to move thanks to being cuffed to the table, as the gathered press and police officers were forced to watch him burn alive, the smell of burning flesh filling the room.

— Markus Gray —

Watching the voodoo doll burn to ash, I turn back to the screen showing the press conference with a smile.

I don't know whether they're too shocked to end the live footage, or they fear my response if they ended it early, but either way it's extremely effective.

Some people rush towards the screaming James Adams, but with no sign of what is causing the damage they can do nothing but stand there helplessly as his thrashing finally comes to an end, collapsing against the table, his skin blackened and steaming.

"Do not expect me to be so… generous in the future," I say simply, making James Gordon stare at the phone in shock.

"G-generous? You call this generous?" he asks, horrified and furious as I chuckle.

"Is it not? He failed to fulfil my orders, and yet not only did I assist his suicide, I'm even going to release his wife and daughter. I'd be well within my rights to keep them both for his failure." I say simply. "That is generosity, I will not extend such kindness to my future partners."

"And Barbara?" Gordon asks, making me chuckle.

"Yes, I did say I'd release her didn't I?" I say slowly, pausing as I watch him staring at the phone in anticipation and fear. "But then, you lied to me didn't you? Would it really be so unfair of me to tell a little lie to you?"

"You-"

"But I'm in a merciful mood today, so I'll forgive your attempt to deceive me, you simply have to apologise," I say, grinning under my mask.

This feeling of power is unlike anything I felt in my last life. Forcing the Police Commissioner to apologise to a serial killer on live tv?

"I- I'm sorry for lying to you," Gordon says, making me smile. He doesn't mean it of course, he'd say anything to save his daughter.

That's admirable, I like people who'll do anything to save their loved ones, they're going to be very useful to me after all.

"There, was that so hard? You'll see your daughter soon, Commissioner. I just hope you learn from this mistake, because I will not be so forgiving in the future," I say calmly.

Ah, it's a shame to give Barbara up so quickly but as I glance over at another voodoo doll on the side, I smile to myself.

Somehow, I'll live.

"Goodbye, Commissioner. Oh, and I do hope you found Officer Doyle in the sewers beneath the station, he was very helpful in working out whose idea it was to lie to me."

Ending the call, I chuckle to myself. The fear I caused by burning someone alive on live tv, without even being there, is worth more than any fear I'd get from Mr Adams' family and Barbara.

She's ever so slightly afraid, but this is Batgirl we're talking about. It'll take more than a cell and some chains to terrify her.

As for just how much more? Well, I've cursed all three of them to sporadically see a shadowy figure watching them. I've also made voodoo dolls of all three.

I could be theatrical about this, but I don't want to give Babs any more to work with than she's already worked out, so I simply toss a vial into each cell and wait as unconsciousness takes them.

Pausing as I take a look at Barbara's unconscious athletic body, barely covered by a nice black bra and panties, I sigh.

It really is a shame, but I'll have other opportunities to live my teen fantasy of fucking Batgirl.

For now, I'm going to keep my word because I want people to see me as someone who will keep his word.

…I never said where I'd release them, and after a moment I decide where to drop her off.

Leaving Barbara in the cell they'd tried to hide Adams in, I slip away with a cackle. It's got to start getting under their skin how easily I can come and go through their own station.

The mother I place in Barbara's bed back in the Gordon household, using my new power to suppress the tiny cameras that weren't there last time I came here. Batman's work no doubt.

The daughter I leave in the changing room of a busy clothing store, using my power again to disable the cameras that definitely shouldn't be watching the rooms.

Returning to my lair, I smile to myself. A productive day.

Sure, I was kinda looking forward to putting my dungeons to use, but there will be plenty of opportunities in the future for that.

Perhaps Barbara will find herself at my mercy once again, but that's for the future. Now I can just bask in the feeling of the slowly growing terror coming from Gotham.

Skill Upgraded

[Recordless]

While active, you cannot be recorded, appear on camera or be picked up by scanners. You leave no trace on any electronic device. Any audio recordings of you become a garbled mess, you appear as an indiscernible blurred figure in pictures and videos. You also leave no fingerprints or other physical traces. In addition, your power warps memory and causes people to become unable to remember your voice or any details they may have picked up from you beyond what you want them to remember.

[The Nightmare]

You have the ability to enter the dreams of people sleeping near you, taking complete control of their dreams. They cannot wake up naturally while under your influence, and anything that is done to their 'dream self' will carry over to their true body.

As the house shakes again, I pause before I smile to myself. I can work with that. Suddenly the name of my 'system' makes more sense.

And I don't think Gotham is ready for Freddy, or a discount Freddy Krueger at any rate.

Still, I think it's time for me to make another appearance as Markus, heading back to my apartment with a small smile.

Do you know how many rats are in Gotham? In a 100 mile radius?

I honestly don't know the exact number, but I can tell you it's a lot. You see, I didn't want to risk my life attacking Falcone thugs, but do you know what I don't mind?

Risking a few rats.

As I head to the Iceberg Lounge, I reach out with my powers and take control of a swarm that grows with every passing minute as they head towards their destination.

The swarm doesn't feel like a hundred tiny minds to me, but one single organism that responds to my whims.

I have a growing appreciation of the sewers, they let me and my swarm travel throughout the city with minimal risk of discovery, and while I buy a drink at the bar, my ever growing swarm starts to gather under my next target.

Do you know what else I found in those oh so handy police files? Locations. I already had the start of a map to the criminal hotspots in Gotham, but the police files have done a lot to fill it out.

For instance, there's a bar in Falcone territory that they apparently use for meetings. There's no meeting right now, I think, but it's still a regular hang out for Falcone thugs, lots of tough looking guys in nice suits.

There's a single rat under a table, watching it all… and a few thousand more currently bursting out of the sewers and rushing into the bar.

"Aren't you a little young to be hanging out at a place like this?" the bartender asks, an attractive older woman with brown hair. She's not serious, that's obvious as she hands over my drink, instead giving me a teasing smile.

"Don't worry, I'm old enough to appreciate all the wonders this place has to offer," I shoot back with a sly smile, making her giggle as I take a sip of my rum and coke.

Around eighty-three miles away, screams ring out as a swarm of rats flood a bar, biting and gnawing at everyone as they swarm the bar-goers.

Some guns are pulled out, but what good are they? A single shot is fired and a single rat dies, hundreds more charge the Falcone enforcer as he screams, his flesh being stripped away by the swarm.

Some tries using baseball bats, it doesn't make much more of a difference.

"Oh really? I'm sure the girls will be happy to hear that, not often we get a pretty boy like you in a place like this," she continues, giving me a flirty smile as I chuckle.

"Just the girls? What about the women?" I ask, my eyes roaming over the tight dress she's wearing.

"Who knows? I guess we'll have to wait and see," she giggles. I'm pretty sure she's just angling for a good tip, but I don't mind. It's just part of the job.

I'm not leaving my drink unattended at a place like this, I don't need to worry about being date-raped (probably) but I'm not taking any chances.

Watching the dance floor while I finish my first drink, I send my swarm scurrying back into the sewers.

The job is done, sure some of them survived but they'll wish they didn't given how many bites they have, plus who knows what these little guys were carrying.

With my control loosened, the swarm disperses and scatters in every direction, but I can reassert my control with a thought.

It's a start, but the Falcone family is a massive organisation, it'll take more than that to even make a dent. That was more of a… declaration of war, which happens to not match Legion's MO.

They'll be looking for a metahuman who can control rats, not Legion.

One dancer draws my eyes, and not only because of her unique hair colour, split down the middle with the left half pink and the right half brown, and as she notices me watching her I realise that her eyes match, her left eye brown and her right eye pink.

She gives me a smirk as she goes back to dancing, shaking her ass which is wrapped in some very tight white jeans, a matching white tube-top barely covering her large breasts and blatantly displaying her lack of a bra.

There's something different about her, something that puts me on edge as she happily dances in the dead centre of the dance floor, uncaring of how many eyes she's drawing.

She's far from the only girl wearing such skimpy clothes, in fact there are plenty of girls wearing less than her, some very short skirts and dresses occasionally moving to reveal tiny thongs or no panties at all, but none stand out like her.

It takes me a moment to realise what I'm sensing, it's fear. Not her fear, she's not afraid in the slightest, it's the fear of everyone else in the club.

It's why none of the guys are approaching her despite her being the hottest girl in the club by far, they're all afraid of the short curvy girl dancing.

I'm not used to smelling fear that wasn't caused by me, it's a new experience and somehow she knows it as she gives me a smirk.

I'm not particularly surprised when I hear a soft voice in my head, having already worked out that there's something very wrong about her.

'You're better entertainment than most of the new gamers, Markus.'

Ah, someone else from the Guild then? Did Shiro send you?

'…let's go with that.'

I very much did not, I think my exact words were 'no, Neo, you shouldn't go and mess with the new gamer just because you think he's fun.'

'…I thought you were being sarcastic, and that I should do it. Plus, I'm not messing with him, just saying hello.'

Ah, would this happen to be the horny wife you mentioned earlier?

Smart kid.

Meet Neo, she's literally the worst person in existence and that's saying something with me around.

Ah.

Pausing, I look over at the still dancing Neo for a moment.

Lucky man.

Yup.

And why is she in my world?

Probably because I told her she couldn't play with the admin console for your system. She never actually bothered learning how to use the console anyway so she'd just have hit random buttons until something funny happened.

I see. Thank you.

'I'm still here, you know.'

Trust me, I know. Kinda hard to miss.

I'm ignoring you out of spite.

Neo pouts at Shiro's words, helping herself to a random club-goer's drink.

Look, I don't want Neo pouting at me for the next century so good luck? She shouldn't go that far, she knows the rules.

Does she listen to them?

Somehow, the sudden laugh I hear from where Neo is still stealing people's drinks doesn't fill me with confidence.

Eh.

It occurs to me that her following the rules wouldn't particularly help on account of the fact that I don't know the rules either.

She starts making her way over to me, and the nice bartender from before quickly whispers something to me.

"Be careful, she's been here all night and she's killed four people already."

'They started it…'

Somehow, I don't believe that for a moment.

Her smile only grows at my response, and she quickly finishes the glass she stole, tossing it over her shoulder back at the poor fool she stole it from.

She points at something on the menu and gives the bartender a dangerous glare.

"I'll pay for it," I say simply, saving her from Neo's wrath because it's blatantly obvious that she's not planning on paying for it.

The bartender lets out a sigh of relief as I pass over the money for the rather expensive drink Neo wants, making it for the impatient girl.

'Trying to get me drunk?'

Somehow, I doubt anything on this menu could get you even slightly tipsy.

'Who knows, only one way to find out~'

"I'd like a refill as well, same as last time," I say, getting a smile from the bartender as she passes Neo her drink, my own drink being far simpler than the cocktail Neo's sipping.

So, what brings a horrifically powerful goddess like you to a place like this?

'Why, you of course. I don't normally bother wasting my time with new gamers before they finish their first world and come to the Guild Headquarters, but for you I'll make an exception.'

She sounds sultry, but she's also the wife of Shiro, a literal super-god who casually brought me back from the dead with superpowers. I'm not that stupid.

'Aww, not planning on dragging me to the dirty toilet stalls and fuck my brains out? Shiro won't mind.'

Somehow, I very much doubt that. That's the least believable thing I've heard since I got to his world. Why don't you tell me why you actually came here?

'Your loss~ but fine, I wanted to give you a quest but Shiro, spoilsport that he is, wouldn't let me. So I decided to deliver it in person, lucky you!'

Lucky me.

Taking my drink, I take a sip and look over the club again. This isn't how I pictured this night going, I was just planning on making an appearance, getting a couple of drinks, maybe getting laid.

'It's not too late for that last one~ even if you're too much of a pussy to bend me over the bar and pound my tight little cunt, there's still that cute bartender. Why don't we grab her and take her to your dungeons, we could have a lot of fun.'

I'm trying not to attract attention to this form, though I can't say it's not tempting.

'That's because you're a sadist at heart, why do you think you fit so well into this role? Most of them have an… adjustment period, but not you. You dove right into it, the adorable little monster that you are.'

Hey, that's not fair. I'm not adorable, I prefer handsome or breathtaking. Adorable is for kittens.

'Next to me, you are a little kitty.'

Okay, fair point but still. You really gotta hurt a man's pride like that? So, what does the almighty Neo want from little old me? How can this mere kitty help an all powerful goddess of evil like you?

'Oh, I like you. Yes, the almighty goddess of sex and murder has a quest for her obedient follower, and she rewards very well. I want you… to kill a hero. Or just break them so badly they're dead in all the ways that matter if you'd prefer to keep them.'

Hm, a little ahead of schedule but that's nothing I wasn't already preparing myself for.

'Tonight, and I want it to be brutal and slow, I want them to suffer in agony and beg for your mercy, only to find that you have none to give.'

Okay, that's a little harder. Still not impossible by any stretch of the imagination. I just need to pick the right target. Any specifics or requirements for this hero or do I just need some over-enthusiastic do-gooder in tight spandex pants?

'See, I knew I liked you for a reason. I don't care who, just pick a superhero and destroy them. Don't worry, despite my reputation, I'm not completely unreasonable. I'm not expecting you to go pick a fight with Superman, or even Batsy. Hero, sidekick, bullshit powers or just a funny costume and some training.'

And that makes things easier.

So, one night to impress my new boss's wife?

'It gets even better than that, because for tonight only you get a sidekick of your own! I'm not going to help you with anything you couldn't already do, I'm not going to make this easy for you, but watching you made me realise it's been a while since I actually went and had fun like the good old days, meeting new people and stabbing them repeatedly. So, let's go cause some mayhem, boss!'

Heh, taking a sip from my drink I give Neo a smirk. I've had a very productive day so far, but I get the feeling that my night is going to be even better.

Well, Neo. I think we have work to do.

Downing my drink, I give her a smirk.

"Shall we get out of here?"

Finishing her own cocktail, she grabs my hand and leads me to the door. I might have accidentally made myself a reputation at the Iceberg Lounge but fuck it, somehow I think this will be worth it.

'This is going to be fun! I haven't killed regular mortals in eons, when you get this old you kinda forget your younger days.'

Why, you don't look a day over twenty. Now then, there's just one question left.

Who should we invite to be our lucky third member? It's not like DC is lacking in do-gooders to choose from.

— Bonus Scene — Barbara Gordon

…Legion was going to pay for this.

Not the kidnapping, though he'd pay for that as well, but the unexpected downside of the entire thing.

Her father was convinced that the killer would come back for her again, and because of that he'd insisted that she be put under protection.

For the foreseeable future, she was stuck with a police escort, and that meant she couldn't go to the Clocktower and do her job as Oracle.

To make it worse, Bruce agreed, which meant she had no way to get around it.

Sighing to herself, she continued bathing and tried to ignore the fact that a police officer was literally just outside the door. At least they'd given her a female officer.

She was sure they'd stop escorting her everywhere eventually, Gotham didn't have enough cops for them to have one babysit her for too long, but that didn't change the fact that this was about as much privacy as she'd get for the next week or two.

Washing her hair, she froze as she spotted something out of the corner of her eye. She'd pulled the bath curtain closed, but she could just make out a figure standing directly on the other side of the curtain.

Holding in a panicked shout, she gripped the curtain and ripped it open before staring at the empty bathroom in shock.

She knew what she saw, it was definitely the outline of a hooded man, but… no, Legion could apparently get into just about anywhere, he was still stalking her.

He had to be.

"Barbara, are you okay?" the officer asked, making her hesitate. "I thought I heard-"

"I'm fine, I just slipped slightly," Barbara said with a sigh, leaving the curtain open this time as she went back to cleaning herself, constantly expecting to see Legion's grinning mask staring at her.

She should probably get someone's help with things like this anyway, but she could admit that she was an extremely stubborn woman as she carefully pulled herself out of the bath.

Awkwardly drying herself off and dressing herself, she left the bathroom with a frown and went to her bedroom.

She had to keep the door to her room open, and while the officer was polite enough to stay outside her room, it didn't change the complete lack of privacy as she laid in bed.

Spotting someone standing in the corner of her room, she sat up quickly with a gasp, before blinking.

There was nobody there…

Her sudden movement drew the attention of her babysitter, but as she looked around the empty room, the officer gave her a sympathetic look.

She'd take offence to being treated like a traumatised victim, but it helped lower their suspicion.